creepsthething

If anybody wants it, there's a loose copy of Donkey Kong Land 2 (DMG-ADDE-USA-2) that's out and about. I'm already a proud owner of this cartridge variant. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Donkey-Kong-Land-2-Nintendo-Game-Boy-1996/383781735270?epid=2304&hash=item595b2c8b66:g:ZwEAAOSwn9JflwwB

Looks like they were all sold around November/December 1999. I am still in awe in just seeing that my mockup (which I made in July) was correct. I was expecting the -2 SML1 cart to come in the previous KA rated box, much like how one of the USA variants of SM64 came in a box that didn't match the cartridge. Very interesting stuff.

Wow, I can't believe it. What's the boxdate for it, if any?

Just found out that there's 2 specific versions of the 1st Players Choice rerelease of Donkey Kong Land 2 (DMG-ADDE-USA-1). if your copy of DMG-ADDE-USA-1 uses a DMG-DECN-10 PCB (used from 1997 through 1998), then it's from 1998. BUT, if your copy of DMG-ADDE-USA-1 uses the DMG-DECN-20 PCB, then it's from early to mid-1999. (This was the case for my copy of DMG-ADDE-USA-1, bearing a ROM chipcode of 9934.) The second revision of the game (DMG-ADDE-USA-2) ALWAYS uses a DMG-DECN-20 PCB, no matter what.

Anybody want a loose copy of Rated E DKL1 (DMG-YT-USA-2)? https://www.ebay.com/itm/Donkey-Kong-Land-Nintendo-Game-Boy-Gameboy-Tested/174488744178?hash=item28a056f0f2:g:N-UAAOSwXq1fkIGb

On a slightly unrelated topic, I have submitted new release data for these releases on GameFAQS, because a majority of these (especially rated E SML1 and SML2) weren't on there yet. To get them accepted into the website, I used some images from this topic as proof. A majority of these are Players Choice (with some having the solid black E rating). These include: Donkey Kong Land 1 (Players Choice, Rated E) Donkey Kong Land 2 (Players Choice, stencil E) Dr. Mario (Best Buy, Rated E) Ducktales 2 (Players Choice) Golf (Players Choice) Kirby's Pinball Land (Players Choice) Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (Target, Rated E) Pokemon Red and Blue (solid black E) Street Fighter II (Players Choice) Super Mario Land 1 (Players Choice, Rated E) Super Mario Land 2 (Player's Choice, Rated E) Tennis (Players Choice) Tetris (Players Choice) Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 (Players Choice) Of course, there are some that don't have a box art yet (e.g. Rated E SML1 for obvious reasons), but you guys can (hopefully) supply that, right?

One thing I've also noticed is that there was also a 1998 Game Boy Pocket bundle from Toys-R-Us (notice a pattern here?), and it came with the Tetris Attack game. This had the E rating on the box of the bundle, but the cartridge might have came in 2 results: A: The cartridge stayed the same (DMG-AYLE-USA, with a KA rating) or B: They (possibly) made another label for the game with the E rating (possibly DMG-AYLE-USA-1). But have you ever seen a DMG-AYLE-USA-1? They did that for Dr. Mario and Legend of Zelda with THEIR bundles, so why not Tetris Attack? I know it's least likely, but they probably did, and we haven't found it yet.

From what I've noticed, the Rated E Dr. Mario (DMG-VU-USA-2) is actually not that rare. There's a listing on eBay for $10. I also found out (a few months ago) that the Rated E Dr. Mario didn't come as a Players Choice rerelease, but rather, a 1998 Game Boy Pocket bundle from Best Buy. This is further proven by the fact that there's nothing denoting the cartridge as a Players Choice rerelease, only the E rating and the Nintendo logo. The "Link's Awakening" no-PC E rating variant (DMG-ZL-USA-2) is also from a 1998 Game Boy Pocket bundle, albeit it was from Target.

Ah, now I get the point of the numbers. I looked at some of mine, and it checks out, too.

This strange box is the month code. 4 boxes with 3 dots each, a total of 12 dots (for every month of the year). With every month of the year, another dot is removed. (e.g. if it was manufactured in May, it would have 5 dots missing. If it were manufactured in December, it would have all 12 dots missing.) In the case of my copy of G&WG1, there's 10 dots missing, meaning October. The Y is to denote the subtype of the DECN board. There are other letters (and letter combinations) sometimes used, like I, K, Ca, or Hs. The letters in the circle are NOT the month code, as I have a copy of Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 with a Y in the circle (much like my G&WG1), and a PCB manufacture date of April 1997 (not pictured), completely contradicting the statement above.

Sorry for any confusion, but I meant the PCB manufacture date. And it's very likely they were manufacturing a Players Choice SML1 around June and used a board made 5 months earlier. It also kind of explains why both the ROM chip and the mapper chip have the exact same chipcode of 9726.

Also, something off topic here, but my copy of Game & Watch Gallery 1 (sad to say, it isn't a -1 or -2) has a ROM chip date of 9849, uses a DMG-DECN-10 board with a manufacture date of October 1998, and a battery date of 98/11, meaning my copy of the game must of been from (at the very least) December 1998, or even January 1999!

I was expecting it to have a newer revision or something, but for Nintendo to use the same version of the game for over 10 YEARS really boggles me. What's the PCB manufacture date on the back? I'd like to compare them to these images I took.

Sorry for any confusion, but I was asking @Splain about the cartridge's PCB and manufacture dates. I only have 2 copies of the DMG-ML-USA-1 (KA players choice) variant, one from January 1997 (with a ROM chipcode of 9726) and one from February 1998 (with a ROM chipcode of 9810). And also, I was looking on eBay and found a DMG-ML-USA using a DMG-BEAN(K)-02 board from November 1995. I don't know if anyone's interested in it though.

Just a little question about this one specific cart here. What is the ROM chipcode and PCB manufacture date of this specific cart? Just curious.

Oh, GOD. mockups much???

Yes, that is correct.

Hello guys, I'm a bit new here. So we haven't found a box of SML1's Rated E variant. I believe this is what the box MAY look like. I MAY be wrong, who knows. Good luck.