DoctorEncore | 3,691 Posted November 3, 2019 Share Posted November 3, 2019 (edited) Star Code Boxes The prevailing theory used to be that the star indicated the game was given away as a promotional item. However, as per previous discussions on NA and from my personal experience, the preponderance of evidence indicates the addition of a star probably represents an update to the sales and warranty info on side of the box to read "FOR SALE IN USA AND CANADA ONLY (+/- MEXICO)." As far as I can tell, the star code is usually found on first-party Nintendo releases that had an initial circle SOQ release, then continued production as an oval SOQ release. There is one known exception to this rule (Dragon Warrior), which only has an oval SOQ version. It seems that around the time of the switch to the oval SOQ, Nintendo updated their warranty and sales statement on the side of the box. It is likely that many of the first-party games that had their SOQ switched were shipped without the updated statement, hence the requirement for an update and the star revision. This would generally be the last revision for most games that had the star, with the exception of major changes and re-releases (LoZ, LoZ II, and MTPO/Punch-out!!!). I've attached a picture of my MTPO with star code and two copies of Dragon Warrior (-1 without start and-1 with star) for reference. These are NOT the Nintendo Power promotional copies of DW because they are the -1 revision. I don't have a non-star MTPO but I'm pretty sure it does not have the statement. I will thumb through my collection and eventually update this post to be more definitive based on your feedback and my own anecdotal evidence. Please let me know if you have any info to support or refute this theory. Star Code Box Games List (in progress) Spoiler Donkey Kong Classics (suspected, but never proven) Dragon Warrior Golf Legend of Zelda Legend of Zelda 2 Metroid Mike Tyson's Punchout Pinball Rad Racer Super Mario Bros Super Mario Bros 2 Star Code Box Pictures Spoiler Circle-T Manuals Late-gen releases and revisions have a Circle-T symbol on the front cover of the manual. This seems to indicate that the "Projection TV Warning" that was previously included as a separate pack-in sheet, has now been included within the manual. Evidence for this conclusion is two-fold: All manuals with the Circle-T that I have examined have the projection warning Several major re-releases/revisions that added a Circle-T to their manual have been examined and the only notable difference in the manuals is the projection warning. See pics below for examples. Interestingly, very late gen releases (July 1993 and on) drop the Circle-T and the projection warning. Big thanks to @0xDEAFC0DE for reviewing dozens of manuals to contribute to the list below. Circle-T Manuals List (in progress) Spoiler Blades of Steel (Konami Classic Series Version) Championship Pool (Red 4 Version) The Legend of Zelda (Classic Series Version) The Legend of Zelda 2 (Classic Series Version) NES Play Action Football (White 4 Version) Nobunaga's Ambition II Golf Grand Slam Galaxy 5000 Formula One: Built To Win Flight Of The Intruder Family Feud Dragon's Lair Double Dragon III Disney's The Little Mermaid Disney's Tale Spin Disney's Darkwing Duck Caveman Games Castelian Captain America And The Avengers Break Time: The National Pool Tour Race America Adventure Island II Advanced Dungeons And Dragons: Heroes Of The Lance High Speed Home Alone Home Alone 2 Hudson Hawk Ikari Warriors III Jackie Chan Joe & Mac Maniac Mansion Mega Man 3 Mega Man 5 Metal Mech Mission Impossible Monster Truck Rally NES Open Tournament Golf NES Play Action Football Ninja Crusaders Nintendo World Cup North And South Palamedes Paperboy 2 Pirates! Power Punch II Prince Of Persia Puzznic Kabuki Quantum Fighter R.C. Pro Am II Rollergames Shatterhand Side Pocket Silver Surfer Space Shuttle Starship Hector Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back Startropics Super Mario Bros. 2 Super Mario Bros. 3 Superspike VBall / Nintendo World Cup Tecmo NBA Basketball Tecmo Super Bowl Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III Tetris The Addams Family The Adventures Of Rad Gravity The Adventures Of Rocky And Bullwinkle And Friends The Bard's Tale The Blue Marlin The Blues Brothers The Hunt For Red October The Immortal The Punisher The Simpsons: Bart Versus The Space Mutants The Untouchables Circle-T Manuals Pictures Spoiler Star Code Manuals The prevailing theory is that this star was added to manuals that were revised to include a rear projection TV warning (RPTV). This is usually a brief statement saying "Nintendo recommends against using a rear projection television with your NES as image retention may occur." Some games started with a star on the manual then lost it on a revision (NES Play Action Football), started with and maintained it (Little Nemo), and others added it as a revision (LoZ). There are also many games with both the Circle-T and star (Play Action Football), which further muddies the water. Big thanks to @0xDEAFC0DE for reviewing dozens of manuals to contribute to the list below. Any help here is much appreciated. Star Code Manuals List (in progress) Spoiler The Legend of Zelda Little Nemo NES Play Action Football (White 4 Version) Super Mario Bros/Duck Hunt 1943 A Nightmare On Elm Street Battle Chess Bigfoot Blades Of Steel Cabal California Games Championship Bowling Code Name Viper Crystalis Dick Tracy Disney's Chip And Dale Rescue Rangers Goal! Gremlins 2 Heavy Barrel Hollywood Squares Hoops Ivan Ironman Stewart's Super Off-Road Jack Nicklaus' Greatest 18 Holes Of Major Championship Golf Jeopardy: Junior Edition Journey To Silius Kickle Cubicle Little Nemo :The Dream Master Loopz Low G Man N.A.R.C. NFL Ninja Gaiden Phantom Fighter Punch Out!! Rad Racer II MTV Remote Control Road Blasters Rocket Ranger Side Pocket Skate Or Die 2 Snake Rattle N Roll Spot Startropics Super Gloveball Super Mario Bros. / Duck Hunt / World Class Track Meet Super Mario Bros. 3 Swords And Serpents Tecmo World Wrestling Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles The Adventures Of Gilligan's Island The Bugs Bunny Birthday Blowout The Mafat Conspiracy Reference Threads Spoiler https://connect.gocollect.com/discussion/11056/dragon-warrior-mail-away-letters https://connect.gocollect.com/discussion/comment/3097039#Comment_3097039 Extra Space Edited May 6, 2020 by DoctorEncore Formatting, Info 2 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0xDEAFC0DE | 1,277 Posted November 3, 2019 Share Posted November 3, 2019 I think you're pretty much right with the start code on boxes denoting the addition of the "For sale and use in ...". However, Zelda 1 provides a small exception. The star code and the for sale label both were added at the same time to the Oval TM box. But, when the box was updated to the Oval R, the star was removed from the code (see pictures from two ebay listings below). Additionally, the Classic Series rerelease also did not have a star code (but the box code was changed to NES-ZL-USA-1). I'm curious to know what seals are on your MTPO and DW? If they are both Oval TM, I'm guessing the star code only came on boxes with that seal. EDIT: I looked at the Wata thread you linked, and they have a picture of a Oval R Super Mario Bros with the star, so there goes that theory. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoctorEncore | 3,691 Posted November 3, 2019 Author Share Posted November 3, 2019 (edited) 6 minutes ago, 0xDEAFC0DE said: I think you're pretty much right with the start code on boxes denoting the addition of the "For sale and use in ...". However, Zelda 1 provides a small exception. I answered you in the other thread, but just to get everything in the right place, here was my answer. Awesome. Thanks for posting all this stuff. I'll eventually update it to include the manual info too. Then we can have all star info in it's own thread. MTPO and DW are both oval SOQ. I'm quite sure it only applies to oval SOQ games. And besides DW, only oval SOQ games that started as circle SOQ Edited November 3, 2019 by DoctorEncore Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0xDEAFC0DE | 1,277 Posted November 3, 2019 Share Posted November 3, 2019 1 minute ago, DoctorEncore said: I answered you in the other thread, but just to get everything in the right place, here was my answer. Awesomeh. Thanksfor posting all this stuff. I made a topic about it in the collector's corner. I'll eventually update it to include the manual info too. Then we can have all star info in it's own thread. MTPO and DW are both oval SOQ. I'm quite sure it only applies to oval SOQ games. And besides DW, only oval SOQ games that started as circle SOQ There are actually two variations of the oval seal. One has a TM in the lower right (see picture below), the other has a ®. Which one of these do you boxes have? Also, Zelda 2 came with a star code. Picture from an ebay auction with Oval TM seal below (https://www.ebay.com/itm/264486988906). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0xDEAFC0DE | 1,277 Posted November 3, 2019 Share Posted November 3, 2019 While, I'm posting I'll copy over my manual information from the other thread. I don't care if you copy it to the first post or just link here. That thread is where I heard about the projection TV warning in the manual. Here's the quote from the_wizard_666, "The asterisk on the manual designated a minor addition - when projection TVs were introduced, a warning leaflet on the use of the NES with projection TVs was inserted. The warning was later added to the manual instead. Older releases that were reprinted with the warning inside the manual have an asterisk beside the code - usually after, but sometimes before. Later games didn't need the asterisk, because they never had a printing without the warning. As with anything else involving reprints, there are some titles who's * variant manuals are rarer, and some who's non-* variants are tougher to come by. But as with screw variants, etc, they don't really command a premium." Despite only owning 6 manuals (I'm a loose NES guy), I happen to have two super mario bros./duck hunt manuals one with the star and one without ( what a coincidence, I only own one cart. I got the other manual at an estate sale in a dust sleeve with a non mario game). I only found three major differences. Two are the Oval TM or R, and the © 1988 or © 1988,1989. But, below I have a picture of a Zelda manual that has the star, Oval TM, projection warning, and © 1987,1989 (credit for the picture goes to @rondy, I hope he doesn't mind me sharing). So, the only consistent change is the addition of the rear projection TV warning with the star. For Zelda 1, there are at least two revisions of the manual with the NES-ZL-USA-1* code. One I posted above and below is the other with the Oval R seal (again credit to rondy). Also, the Classic Series manual was NES-ZL-USA-2 (no star). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoctorEncore | 3,691 Posted November 3, 2019 Author Share Posted November 3, 2019 1 hour ago, 0xDEAFC0DE said: There are actually two variations of the oval seal. One has a TM in the lower right (see picture below), the other has a ®. Which one of these do you boxes have? Also, Zelda 2 came with a star code. Picture from an ebay auction with Oval TM seal below (https://www.ebay.com/itm/264486988906). Nice detective work. So there are at least two exceptions to my circle to oval seal theory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
austin532 | 467 Posted November 3, 2019 Share Posted November 3, 2019 So now we need to see if there are any oval seal * boxes with an ®. If so then the box code starts over when it switches to an ®. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0xDEAFC0DE | 1,277 Posted November 3, 2019 Share Posted November 3, 2019 45 minutes ago, austin532 said: So now we need to see if there are any oval seal * boxes with an ®. If so then the box code starts over when it switches to an ®. There is. Look at the second link in the OP (the black box WATA guide) and go to the second post with the picture. There is a Super Mario Bros Oval R with a star Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoctorEncore | 3,691 Posted November 3, 2019 Author Share Posted November 3, 2019 3 hours ago, 0xDEAFC0DE said: There are actually two variations of the oval seal. One has a TM in the lower right (see picture below), the other has a ®. Which one of these do you boxes have? Also, Zelda 2 came with a star code. Picture from an ebay auction with Oval TM seal below (https://www.ebay.com/itm/264486988906). The Dragon Warrior and MTPO that I have in my collection both have the oval SOQ TM. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OptOut | 8,883 Posted November 3, 2019 Share Posted November 3, 2019 Great work here lads, keep it up! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoctorEncore | 3,691 Posted November 3, 2019 Author Share Posted November 3, 2019 (edited) 12 hours ago, austin532 said: So now we need to see if there are any oval seal * boxes with an ®. If so then the box code starts over when it switches to an ®. The real question is whether SMB Oval SOQ TM has the star code and updated sales/warranty statement. Will have to do some investigating there. Also I looked into the Play Action Football manual situation and I'm starting to think the red 4 version was actually the first print because it comes with a non-star manual (pics below). I always assumed the red 4 was the revision since it's so much clearer and seems like a better graphic, but I may have been wrong. I'll get a copy and look in the manual for any of the differences listed above. The box codes do not appear to indicate a revision (i.e. no -1 on either version). Further complicating the matter is Championship Bowling, which apparently started with a blue 4-player symbol and transitioned to the red symbol. In this case, Nintendo did consider it a major revision and added a -1 to the box (tough to see on last pic but it's there; will update when I have a copy) Edited November 3, 2019 by DoctorEncore Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
austin532 | 467 Posted November 3, 2019 Share Posted November 3, 2019 No, I'm pretty sure the white 4 player game is first. You'll notice on the side of that box of NES Play Action Football the sales and warranty statement is now in an easier to see red bar. Nintendo stuck with this until the end of the system's life. Also the manuals now had that red "Need Help With Assistance?" memo on them. The changed happened sometime in '91. If you need further proof, check the dates on the inside of both NES Play Action Football games. The red logo game "should" have a later date. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoctorEncore | 3,691 Posted November 3, 2019 Author Share Posted November 3, 2019 26 minutes ago, austin532 said: No, I'm pretty sure the white 4 player game is first. You'll notice on the side of that box of NES Play Action Football the sales and warranty statement is now in an easier to see red bar. Nintendo stuck with this until the end of the system's life. Also the manuals now had that red "Need Help With Assistance?" memo on them. The changed happened sometime in '91. If you need further proof, check the dates on the inside of both NES Play Action Football games. The red logo game "should" have a later date. Yeah that seems correct. I'll have to get my red 4 version to confirm everything. I did find a pic of the inside of the first page of the manual and it is different. It adds a disclaimer statement. The star manual has the rear projection warning at the back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
austin532 | 467 Posted November 3, 2019 Share Posted November 3, 2019 Does the non star manual also have the rear projector warning? I seriously think they just goofed with this. At the time they probably felt the manual was complete and there was nothing else left to add. Then came along the reprint and they were like "oh crap, we already used the *...uhhh.....just print it without I guess? Who's going to notice except a bunch of nerds 30 years from now on something called the internet" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoctorEncore | 3,691 Posted November 4, 2019 Author Share Posted November 4, 2019 4 hours ago, austin532 said: Does the non star manual also have the rear projector warning? I seriously think they just goofed with this. At the time they probably felt the manual was complete and there was nothing else left to add. Then came along the reprint and they were like "oh crap, we already used the *...uhhh.....just print it without I guess? Who's going to notice except a bunch of nerds 30 years from now on something called the internet" I will have to check when I get a copy of the red 4 version. I put an offer on a new copy but haven't heard back yet. The picture of the No-Star Manual was from an auction on eBay. No idea why they put the first page of the manual in the pictures section, but people do some strange stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rman | 23 Posted November 4, 2019 Share Posted November 4, 2019 This is some great info! Keep it up! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dewisp02 | 47 Posted November 5, 2019 Share Posted November 5, 2019 LOOOVVVEEEE THREADS LIKE THIS!!!!!!!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoctorEncore | 3,691 Posted November 17, 2019 Author Share Posted November 17, 2019 Updated the original post with info about Circle-T symbol on the manual which seems to indicate the addition of the projection TV warning into the manual. The star on the manual remains a mystery, so if anyone has any info, please let me know. I'll keep looking for games with versions that add the star with a revision. The transition from Oval SOQ TM ---> Oval SOQ R, may involve an additional statement on the Nintendo assurance page of the manual, but that is somewhat unclear still. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThePhleo | 2,184 Posted November 17, 2019 Share Posted November 17, 2019 1 hour ago, DoctorEncore said: Updated the original post with info about Circle-T symbol on the manual which seems to indicate the addition of the projection TV warning into the manual. The star on the manual remains a mystery, so if anyone has any info, please let me know. I'll keep looking for games with versions that add the star with a revision. The transition from Oval SOQ TM ---> Oval SOQ R, may involve an additional statement on the Nintendo assurance page of the manual, but that is somewhat unclear still. I think the Star Code is synonymous with the Circle T. Only way to prove my theory is meeting two criteria: No Star Code manual should exist with a Circle T (Or at least, very, very few should exist...maybe as a transitionary period) All star code manuals must have the RPTV warning in the book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoctorEncore | 3,691 Posted November 17, 2019 Author Share Posted November 17, 2019 2 minutes ago, ThePhleo said: I think the Star Code is synonymous with the Circle T. Only way to prove my theory is meeting two criteria: No Star Code manual should exist with a Circle T (Or at least, very, very few should exist...maybe as a transitionary period) All star code manuals must have the RPTV warning in the book. Interestingly enough, NES Play Action Football (White 4 Version) has both. Based on @0xDEAFC0DE's post above, LoZ has a transition to a star code manual. Unfortunately I don't have a copy with the star code manual to compare... yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0xDEAFC0DE | 1,277 Posted November 17, 2019 Share Posted November 17, 2019 12 minutes ago, DoctorEncore said: Interestingly enough, NES Play Action Football (White 4 Version) has both. Based on @0xDEAFC0DE's post above, LoZ has a transition to a star code manual. Unfortunately I don't have a copy with the star code manual to compare... yet. Interestingly, out of the 9 manual revisions I know of for LoZ, I was able to find 7 scans online. The only ones missing are the first print manual, and the first star manual. The first 6 have no star, circle T, or RPTV warning. The next two have the star code and the small RPTV warning at the bottom of page 1. The last one has the circle T and the full page RPTV and epilepsy warning on page 45. Manual Scan Link NES TM No scan found NES R, No Precaution https://web.archive.org/web/20191112053204/http://74.86.217.179/index.cfm?FuseAction=Element.View&etID=3&egID=1304&eID=1306 No code, Precaution https://www.nesfiles.com/NES/Zelda/Zelda.pdf Circle SOQ, Code https://zeldadungeon.net/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=52 Oval TM SOQ, 5-zip http://zs.ffshrine.org/legend-of-zelda/english-instruction-manual-scans.php -1, 9-zip https://legendsoflocalization.com/media/the-legend-of-zelda/manuals/ZeldaNESManual.pdf -1*, Oval TM No scan found, pictures of page 1 and 2 in my post above -1*, Oval R https://archive.org/details/LegendOfZeldaTheNESHiResScans Classic Series https://web.archive.org/web/20191112053152/http://74.86.217.179/index.cfm?FuseAction=Element.View&etID=3&egID=1304&eID=3214 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Code Monkey | 2,006 Posted November 17, 2019 Share Posted November 17, 2019 I have about over 500 NES manuals, I can take a look through, I have lots of circle-T and star codes. I can confirm I have a circle-T Tetris and I have also seen a star code for either Contra or Super C, I can't remember right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0xDEAFC0DE | 1,277 Posted November 17, 2019 Share Posted November 17, 2019 (edited) I tried to see how many scans I could find for the 5 manuals for Zelda 2 I know of. But, along the way I discovered another I didn't know about (the fourth below). The first 4 have no star, circle T, or RPTV warning. The next one has I think has the star code and the small RPTV warning at the bottom of page 1. The last one has the circle T and the full page RPTV and epilepsy warning on page 48. Manual Scan Link Circle SOQ No scan found, ebay link https://www.ebay.com/... Oval TM SOQ, 5-zip https://www.retrogames.cz/... Oval TM SOQ, 9-zip, no star No scan found Oval R SOQ, 9-zip, no star http://www.thegameisafootarcade.com/... Oval R SOQ, 9-zip, star No scan found, ebay link https://www.ebay.com/... Classic Series https://www.gamingalexandria.com/... EDIT: I forgot to note that the transition to the star manual happened after the switch to the Oval R seal. Zelda 1 is the opposite with a Oval TM seal and star code manual. Edited November 17, 2019 by 0xDEAFC0DE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
austin532 | 467 Posted November 17, 2019 Share Posted November 17, 2019 For the NES TM I assume you mean on page 2? If so, I have one. It came with a label 1 Zelda. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0xDEAFC0DE | 1,277 Posted November 17, 2019 Share Posted November 17, 2019 7 hours ago, austin532 said: For the NES TM I assume you mean on page 2? If so, I have one. It came with a label 1 Zelda. Yes that's correct. I do have pictures of the cover and copyright page, I just haven't found a full scan of the manual. For the purposes of this thread it doesn't really matter because the 5 revisions that came after it also didn't have the RPTV warning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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