NES game carts with the name "Ben" written on them

[Optomon | 65]

Just for fun and curiosity, this can be thoroughly ignored if needed...

Does anyone happen to have any NES carts with "Ben" written on it in this manner below?

 

Ben was a kid next door where I grew up in California. He owned probably a hundred (ok so maybe 50) games and wrote his name on pretty much every cart. My mom bought a ton of his games at his garage sale in '95 for super cheap, like a buck a piece once he had 16/32 bit consoles. My brother and I have about a dozen or so of these still, but over the years they've disappeared or were sold, given away etc.

Most of these are likely in Southern California, or possibly in the Pacific Northwest.

Here's a list of what games we got from him, recalled from memory. These were some of them, but there are likely others. There are two lists, the first of what is believed to exist somewhere in the world and the second are ones that we have:

At large:

1. Adventure Island -- (likely sold in Portland Area in 2010s)
2. Back to the Future -- (Unsure if it was his, but very likely)
3. Baseball
4. Black Bass -- (likely sold in Portland Area in 2010s)
5. Donkey Kong Jr. -- (Borrowed by a neighbor and never returned in '96, Southern California)
6. Duck Hunt -- (a second copy exists somewhere)
7. Ducktales -- (likely sold in Portland Area in 2010s)
8. Golf
9. Goonies II
10. Gyromite -- (likely sold in Portland Area in 2010s)
11. Hydlide -- (Unsure if it was his)
12. Iron Tank -- (Disappeared in the mid-late 1990s, Southern California)
13. Kung Fu
14. Mario Bros. -- (This is largely speculative, it would have disappeared in the mid-late 1990s, Southern California)
15. MegaMan 6 -- (possibly sold in Portland Area in 2010s; we likely have a different copy that I bought at a swap meet in 2009)
16. Ninja Kid
17. Popeye -- (Disappeared in the mid-late 1990s, Southern California)
18. Raid 2020 -- (likely sold in Portland Area in 2010s)
19. Rainbow Islands -- (Disappeared in the mid-late 1990s, Southern California)
20. Solomon's Key -- (Unsure if it was his, our copy doesn't have his name on it, we may have re-bought it, still figuring it out)
21. Street Cop -- (Disappeared in the mid-late 1990s, Southern California)
22. Super Mario Bros.
23. Super Mario Bros. 3
24. Toobin -- (Borrowed by a neighbor and never returned in '96, Southern California)
25. Wrecking Crew -- (Disappeared in the mid-late 1990s, Southern California)

 

What we have:

1. Balloon Fight*
2. Bionic Commando*
3. Blades of Steel*
4. Breakthru*
5. Double Dragon III*
6. Duck Hunt*
7. Ghosts N Goblins*
8. Lolo 3*
9. MegaMan 3*
10. Metroid*
11. Mickey Mousecapade*
12. Mystery Quest*
13. Pinball*
14. Rampage*
15. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles*
16. Wild Gunman*

We're still trying to verify some of these on our carts, they could have washed off naturally somehow or are hard to find on the cart. On the Duck Hunt and Mystery Quest carts below, he wrote his name on the actual image of the game and is faint. But almost always, it's just a conspicuous "Ben" hastily written straight across the bottom.

 

 

Edited August 20, 2021 by Optomon

[croagunk | 798]

Doubt any of these have ended up in Canada. Would be cool to see if anyone had one, though. I’ve definitely seen lots of games with names on them. Just not Ben.

[Tabonga | 2,346]

(For those of you not in the know Ben was a rat in a horror movie.)

[Code Monkey | 2,014]

What's a 32 bit console?

[Californication | 1,490]

Yes, that sounds familiar actually. I think I bought some in San Diego maybe three years back from someone in Chula Vista.

I bought maybe a dozen games and half of them said Ben. Don't remember the whole lot or which ones where signed, but I remember I got Metroid, Kage, Wheel of Fortune, a few Mario Duck Hunts, Batman, Double Dragon, and the rest were slightly better names I think or I wouldn't have drove down.

Edited August 17, 2021 by Californication

[Hammerfestus | 3,891]

4 hours ago, Code Monkey said:

What's a 32 bit console?

These things were absolutely marketed that way in the beginning.  Definitely a hold over from the 16 bit console wars.
 PSX is 32 bits but ooh wait, Nintendo’s new console has 64 bits.  Whoa man.  Hear it’s supposed to be called the Ultra 64.  
Obviously at some point the bragging moved over to polygon counts.

[JamesRobot | 5,840]

4 hours ago, Code Monkey said:

What's a 32 bit console?

It's like a 16 bit console but more.  It's double.

[Dr. Morbis | 2,092]

5 hours ago, Optomon said:

Does anyone happen to have any NES carts with "Ben" written on it in this manner below?

If I find any of these "Ben" carts, I'll let you know; in the mean time, if anyone out there ever finds an Adventure Island cart with "Basil" written on the back, it was stolen from me over thirty years ago and I'd like it back...

Edited August 18, 2021 by Dr. Morbis

[Optomon | 65]

6 hours ago, Californication said:

Yes, that sounds familiar actually. I think I bought some in San Diego maybe three years back from someone in Chula Vista.

I bought maybe a dozen games and half of them said Ben. Don't remember the whole lot or which ones where signed, but I remember I got Metroid, Kage, Wheel of Fortune, a few Mario Duck Hunts, Batman, Double Dragon, and the rest were slightly better names I think or I wouldn't have drove down.

Ah but were they autographed by the man himself? I'll have to post more examples, though I think my brother has the bulk of them.

Not sure he had any of those games, though I do have a Metroid with his name written on it three times. He had two Duck Hunts, a lot of launch titles. Still making the list, it looks like he had about 40 games that I knew of, and it's theoretically possible he didn't write his name on all of them.

EDIT: I added a list of only 35 of them to the first post. My original estimate might be way off, haha.

Edited August 18, 2021 by Optomon

[Optomon | 65]

1 hour ago, Dr. Morbis said:

If I find any of these "Ben" carts, I'll let you know; in the mean time, if anyone out there ever finds an Adventure Island cart with "Basil" written on the back, it was stolen from me over thirty years ago and I'd like it back...

I'm not sure why, but "Basil" does ring a bell. I might have owned one your carts. Definitely going to look for it. It very well could be Adventure Island.

[Tabonga | 2,346]

11 hours ago, Code Monkey said:

What's a 32 bit console?

One that costs $4 in hard specie.

[fcgamer | 4,754]

10 hours ago, Optomon said:

I'm not sure why, but "Basil" does ring a bell. I might have owned one your carts. Definitely going to look for it. It very well could be Adventure Island.

Plot twist, @Optomon@Dr. MorbisMorbisMorbisMorbisMMorM were friends back in the day, and that's how his cart walked off.

 

[Optomon | 65]

Well my mom bought Adventure Island off Ben, so... it was probably Ben.

[Californication | 1,490]

11 hours ago, Optomon said:

Ah but were they autographed by the man himself? I'll have to post more examples, though I think my brother has the bulk of them.

Not sure he had any of those games, though I do have a Metroid with his name written on it three times. He had two Duck Hunts, a lot of launch titles. Still making the list, it looks like he had about 40 games that I knew of, and it's theoretically possible he didn't write his name on all of them.

EDIT: I added a list of only 35 of them to the first post. My original estimate might be way off, haha.

I just remember half of them had a name on them. I am like 85% sure it was Ben. I bought them from a kid who had a different name. And the only other thing I remember is that atleast one of the games had a price label from Luna games. 

I switched out the backs on the better games and sold most of them. So some of the ones with a name on them are probably on different carts now.

[Optomon | 65]

Woops I wrecked this post... I'll have to say something important later.

EDIT: Ugh. Apparently, Rampage is the only "Ben" cart in my possession, so all the rest are with my brother in California. Going to ask him what he has from the old days. He tends to plaster his name on the bottom front part of the cart, so it was probably a different Ben if it were written on the back. 

Some names on my carts: "Donohue", "Cortez", "Chip", and "Gary". Nothing amazing there unfortunately.

Edited August 18, 2021 by Optomon

[Optomon | 65]

My brother has confirmed to have 12 "Ben" signed games. I updated the first post with the ones that we collectively have.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,593]

23 hours ago, Code Monkey said:

What's a 32 bit console?

Nintendo 64.  Pretty sure.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,593]

Every time @Code MonkeyMonkey asks what something is

[AdamW | 713]

18 hours ago, Optomon said:

I'm not sure why, but "Basil" does ring a bell. I might have owned one your carts. Definitely going to look for it. It very well could be Adventure Island.

OK, that settles it, there are only about five people in the world. Any more than that you may encounter are probably just figments of your imagination.

[Optomon | 65]

I had an Adam cart once, a copy of Castlevania.

But it might have been marked as Adam K, not Adam W, not quite sure.

But there's only five people in the world, so you just might be one of them.

[Hammerfestus | 3,891]

I’ve got a bunch of Pringle‘s games.  Written in glittery yellow paint marker.

[docile tapeworm | 4,204]

[docile tapeworm | 4,204]

i just sold it last week

[Optomon | 65]

Seems pretty sophisticated by Ben standards and style. He only used a non sharpie pen once that I know of. Will need to compare it. 

[darkchylde28 | 1,546]

4 hours ago, Reed Rothchild said:

Every time @Code MonkeyMonkey asks what something is

OH GOD, I'm literally crying laughing over here.  You've made my night with this one.