re4mat

I pinball! In Seattle we're blessed to have a few good pinbars, and there's the NW Pinball & Arcade Expo every summer down in Tacoma. Total Nuclear Annihilation is definitely a real gem. I also really enjoy the new Godzilla pin. And of course there's some of the classics, like Fathom, Taxi, and White Water. Twilight Zone is also a fave. I'd love to start collecting pins, but unfortunately I don't have room for any at the moment. I do have plans, also, to eventually make my own table.

Does anyone else see this when hovering over an avatar for someone who has more than 3 badges? They don't seem to be contained by the popup and bleed out of it rather than wrapping to the next line. (Or whatever the intended behaviour should be.)

Value is always such a tricky thing. I don’t generally sell anything in my collection(s), but I do like to know the values of things for insurance purposes. When it gets into the rare stuff, that presents an extra challenge. How can you tell how much it has appreciated over time if it never comes on the market? I have quite a few rarities in my collection, but one that I never see anywhere is ‘Through the Looking Glass’ for the original 1984 Macintosh. Written by Steve Capps, who was on the Macintosh team, it remains the only video game ever physically published by Apple. The diskette pops up every now and then for pretty cheap, but the packaging is the real star. I paid about 400 for my copy several years ago after looking for even longer. Who knows how much the next copy to surface will go for?

In October I went to the Portland Retro Gaming Expo and picked up some games for the collection. Finally got around to adding them to this thread: [4/7] The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX (GB/GBC, 1998) Added box, cart, manual, and tray. [100%] Ultimate NES Remix (3DS, 2014) Added game to collection. [100%] The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D (3DS, 2015) Added game to collection. Two more games down, and one that I just need to find the extra inserts for!

Sorry for the delayed response! I missed the notification until just now. Great question! I wish the forum software let you view the edit history, because before I added the sheet to my collection, I actually did have my reasoning typed out in the entry. My main guide for NES inserts was austin532's Ultimate 100% CIB NES Collector's Guide post. The date codes on the chips make the likely cartridge manufacture date sometime in Q2 of 1988. All the other warning sheets were used after 1988, and the NES-DOC warning sheet is the one for which we have the least information. So my reasoning was that, if my copy did have a warning sheet at all, then that's the only one that it could have been. (Unless the game wasn't actually packaged until the following year, in which case there's more options. However the chip shortage in 1988 would lead me to believe that they would have packaged the game and shipped it ASAP.) In austin532's post, that sheet was listed with a date of "(1989-1990?)". Is the question mark only applied to the 1990, or to the entire range? That wasn't clear to me, so I don't know. Do they mean that it was used between 1989 and 1990, or that they think it was used between 1989 and 1990 but the date range is actually unknown and could have been earlier and/or later? I mean, I have no idea what data they used to make that post with, but I put some trust in them as the post seems to be seen as authoritative in the community. So at the end of the day it's really just a guess on my end. I'm definitely open to discussion and corrections, which is one of the main reasons I made this thread. The goal, after all, is to have a truly complete collection. I've tried my best to! In my entry for that game, I used 0xDEAFC0DE's List of All North American Zelda Game Variants post to identify my box as variant #6, cartridge as variant #7, and manual as variant #5. Those three items — along with the hint book, cartridge sleeve, and styrofoam block — were purchased together in January 2005, and I'm going on the assumption that those components were together since the original retail purchase. (And that combination of box, cartridge, and manual does appear in 0xDEAFC0DE's list.) As I mentioned above, I used the date codes stamped on the chips in the cartridge to identify when the cartridge was most likely manufactured. I assume a couple months between the time the chips are manufactured (often in Taiwan, sometimes in Japan), delivered to Nintendo's assembly plant(s), and finally assembled and packaged. Depending on the fabrication plant's capacity (and in this case the chip shortage that was happening at the time), it could take anywhere from a day to a few weeks to have enough chips and other components (a lot of the chip manufacturers that Nintendo used, for example, also make other components, like resistors and transistors) to fill up a 10', 20', or 40' container. Once they've filled up a container, that container is loaded onto a truck, then possibly a train, and sent out to a port to get loaded onto a ship. Assuming it's going from Taiwan to Japan, it'd probably take a week at the most for the ship to reach the Japanese port and have its cargo offloaded. Then the container is loaded onto a truck which drives the container to Nintendo, or onto a train which goes to a distribution point to transfer the it to a truck. Once the chips arrive, they have to be received and checked in, and then placed into a queue. Lots of unknown timelines at each end of the process, but 1–2 months from chip manufacture to cartridge assembly feels about right to me. All that said, my main reference again for the inserts was austin532's post. Going with a Q2 1988 manufacture date gives us the Nintendo Fun Club REV-1 subscription insert and the 1987 R.O.B. poster as the ones that would have most likely been packaged with my copy. (Those two inserts I have a much higher confidence level in than the warning sheet.)

The last item from my big buy from a couple weeks ago finally showed up! [9/10] The Legend of Zelda (NES, 1987) Added the fold-out NES poster. With that, Zelda 1 is now only missing the cartridge poly bag! In order to help me know where to focus efforts, I think I'm going to make a change to how I count games as either "Mostly Complete" or "Mostly incomplete". My reasoning is that, out of the 14 games currently listed as "Mostly Complete", 12 are only one item away from completion. So, from now on, the label "Mostly Incomplete" will now just be "Incomplete", and I'm going to change the criteria so that "Mostly Complete" means a game is missing only 1 item. This will mean that games missing more than that will now be considered just "Incomplete". (0% and 100(+)% complete games will be unchanged.) I'll make this change tomorrow evening.

Apologies if I'm necro-ing the thread, but I'm in the middle of doing some research on Metroid NES variants, and while the original post in this thread mentions that Metroid has a box, it's not on the list of manuals. I've just come across an eBay auction, though, which shows a manual: I hope it's okay to dig this thread up to report this. Just wanted to help make sure the list was as complete as possible.

@Memblers is correct: the main difference is in the chemistry. All batteries, regardless of chemistry, will self-discharge over time. The rate of self-discharge depends on the chemistry (including the construction and materials used) of the cell itself as well as other factors like temperature (generally speaking, higher temperatures increase self-discharge) and for rechargeable batteries the number of charging cycles it's gone through. Alkaline batteries, like the normal non-rechargeable AA/AAA/etc. batteries you mentioned, most commonly use potassium hydroxide (KOH) as the electrolyte. Like Memblers said, the reactions that happen inside the battery produce hydrogen gas. Eventually the gas builds up so much that the pressure overcomes the structural integrity of the battery and creates a rupture. At that point, the KOH inside the battery leaks out. KOH is a strong base and is well known for its corrosive properties, but it also reacts with the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to form potassium carbonate (K2CO3) crystals, and that's the white powder you see if you've ever come across a leaked alkaline battery. K2CO3 is also corrosive, and the crystals will keep growing as the KOH keeps coming into contact with the CO2 from the atmosphere. And even more fun is the fact that the crystallisation will tend to follow along conductive lines, like the metal connectors in the battery compartment, the copper circuit traces on the PCB, the pins of the chips, and so on. But it'll also happily eat away at plastic, paper, etc. (Which is why it's a bit of a fool's errand to keep things sealed that include alkaline batteries in their packages, like the original Game Boy or the version of Skyward Sword for the Wii that came bundled with the gold Wii Remote, as eventually the batteries will leak and start destroying the contents of the box as well as the box itself.) Those CRXXXX coin cells (like the CR2032 in NES cartridges or CR1616 batteries in GB cartridges) have a much lower rate of self-discharge, and so tend to last much longer. They're lithium metal batteries (typically lithium manganese dioxide) and their chemistry and construction makes for a much safer battery. For example, while they will also produce hydrogen gas from some of the reactions happening inside them, they don't produce enough to cause a pressurised condition. And even if there was a lot of gas produced they're built with safety release vents that are designed to prevent an explosive pressure build-up from occurring. Battery ruptures are not completely unheard of, but are usually due to external factors, such as high heat and/or humidity, damage (especially water damage) to the cell, or attempting to recharge the cell. (The old CRXXXX batteries used in NES/GB/etc. cartridges are not rechargeable.) Then you also have the 1/2 AA (a.k.a. CR14250) lithium batteries like you find in old Macintosh computers, for example. These can have different chemistries depending on manufacturer. Some (mostly newer ones) are manufactured with lithium manganese dioxide and are generally pretty stable. Others I've seen are made with lithium thionyl chloride, and those I've seen leak or sometimes even explode and destroy PCBs. (Google "exploding maxell batteries" if you want to see some horror stories.) And it's worth noting that those lithium batteries are not necessarily the same chemistry and definitely not the same construction as the lithium batteries you find in your phone, laptop, or in portables like the GBA SP or PSP. Those batteries swell with age as the gasses build up inside them, and its a good idea to keep an eye on them and replace them as needed before they wreak havoc on your devices. (Interestingly, the GBA SP's OEM battery appears to be lithium manganese, but I've had two of them swell. Of course it could have been manganese oxide rather than dioxide — the label didn't specify — and anyway the cell construction is clearly different than the coin cells, and that makes a difference as well. I do wish battery manufacturers were required to print on the label exactly what the chemistry used by the cell is. "Lithium ion" is simply not specific enough.) All that said, the self-discharging properties of all batteries mean that eventually those coin cells will no longer hold a charge, regardless of if they're kept in-circuit or out, and in order for the cartridges they're in to be able to function as intended will need to be replaced. Replacing them definitely doesn't affect the resale value of the games, as many retro game stores will even replace all batteries in games they sell as a matter of policy, and they still sell for the same price as they would if they had the original battery. Of course, if collectors started caring about original vs. replacement batteries, then that could very well change; but I personally don't really see that happening on a large enough scale to make a noticeable difference in the market. Replacing passive components to maintain the functionality of electronic devices is nothing new. While the same debates of "should we keep the originals even if they're dead or replace them" have been going on for decades, for example, in antique radio collector circles (especially with regards to electrolytic capacitors) it's generally a well-accepted practice to replace dead components as needed, and doesn't tend to affect the value of the device in question. (Unless the job is done incredibly poorly, of course!) Especially where corrosives are concerned, it's much better to replace a component when needed rather than let it damage or destroy the device. As far as the OP's question is concerned, if the storage conditions are good, then I wouldn't worry about those coin cells being kept in-circuit. They're unlikely to leak and your worst case is just finding that they've lost their charge over the years.

A whooooooole bunch of inserts showed up today! Here's what we've got: [8/10] The Legend of Zelda (NES, 1987) Added the rear projection TV warning insert. [NES-USA] [10/11] The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES, 1992) Added the Top Secrets / Messages from Sahasrahla leaflet [SNS-ZL-USA] Added the Consumer Information and Precautions booklet [SNS-USA-2] [7/10] The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures (GC, 2004) Added the Health and Safety Precautions booklet [45749E] [100%] The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (GC, 2006) Added the Health and Safety Precautions booklet [45749E] [4/5] The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD (Wii U, 2013) Added the electronic game manual leaflet [80557A] Lots of progress! Zelda 1 for NES is one step closer to completion, Link to the Past for SNES is just one insert away, Four Swords Adventures just needs the big box and poly bag for the GBA cable, Twilight Princess for GC is now complete(!), and Wind Waker HD just needs the games advertisement insert!

Two more inserts showed up today, both for Zelda II for NES! [8/9] Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (NES, 1988) Added the fold-out NES poster Added the epilepsy warning leaflet [NES-DOC-USA] The game is now only missing the cartridge poly bag!

Two more inserts showed up today! [4.5/8] The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time [Collectors Edition] (N64, 1998) Added the Nintendo Power subscription leaflet [U/NUS-CZLE-USA] [6/7] The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons (GBC, 2001) Added the Nintendo Power subscription leaflet [CGB-AZ7E-USA] The Ocarina of Time leaflet is now the correct one, knocking out one mismatch. And the Oracle of Seasons leaflet getting added means that the game is now only missing a cartridge poly bag!

Interesting! I didn't know that there were variations for the Telephone Service Information insert! Is that the only difference? Are all the other inserts the same? And I definitely didn't know about the Charumera version! I'm reading the Gaming Alexandria piece you linked right now. Pretty fascinating. I doubt I'll go for that variation, but it's still cool to learn about.

Last week I went on eBay over the course of a few days and tracked down 16 components for various games. Today the first three showed up! I've updated the following entries to reflect this: [7/10] The Legend of Zelda (NES, 1987) Added the Nintendo Fun Club insert [REV-1]. [6/10] The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures (GC, 2004) Added the Nintendo Power subscription leaflet [54420A]. [4/5] The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (GC, 2006) Added the Nintendo Power subscription leaflet [58701A]. Four Swords Adventures is now in the "Mostly Complete" category! I only bought inserts, though, so for that game I still need to find the big box and inner tray. Still, it's progress! I did come dangerously close to also buying a Nelsonic game watch, but the inserts were already expensive enough and that would have doubled my spending. Can't go too crazy!

That's a great find! Were there only boxes, or did they also have some systems/games/inserts/etc. down there?

Generally-speaking, I'll ignore cameos. For it to count as a Zelda game, it either has to include enough of a Zelda game in it or the cameo is the main character of the game. So for example, Nintendo Land has the Battle Quest attraction, which is enough of a Zelda game in it to count for my purposes — even though you play it as your Mii and not Link! BS Zelda counts for the same reason, though that didn't have a physical release of course so it doesn't make the list. And then the cameo being the main character of the game would include, for example, Tingle's Balloon Fight. Even though the game itself is Balloon Fight, which is definitely not a Zelda game, its cameo is a Zelda character, and that character is the main character of the game, so that counts for me. Soul Calibur 2, Smash Bros., and Mario Kart may have cameos of Link or other Zelda characters, but they're not the main characters of those games, and so they don't count as Zelda games for my purposes. Pretty much it just denotes extra unofficial stuff I got. Those games marked as over 100% are ones that I bought unofficial manuals for, and so they're definitely extra. I've seen on Etsy some unofficial Switch steelbooks for games like Link's Awakening and Breath of the Wild, and I'll probably end up getting those because I am obsessed. They'll go into the collection, but aren't official, so they'll also drive the percentages higher above 100%. I keep going back and forth on Skyward Sword's preorder swag, though. I mean, the Steelbook is an official Nintendo component, with the HAC-029 embossed on the inside spine like other official Steelbooks that were included in special editions, and a proper EUR part number listed on the cellophane's sticker. On the other hand, I only got it and the keychain by preordering the game from the UK Nintendo store. And while I keep my North American cartridge and (unofficial) manual in the Steelbook, the game is technically complete with just the case/cover and cartridge. And technically the North American and UK versions of the game are of course two separate copies of the game. I just kinda lumped them in together so that I wouldn't have to create another entry for the UK copy.