RoyalT

Geez, I've never heard of this, but based on your enthusiasm alone, I am going to give Myth a shot for sure.

No doubt. If someone can find a way to get the Virgin guide as well, I am struggling with that one.

Nice. GameTZ representing..

Part 2: Arena # Title Year Case Style Poster Reg Card Additional Inserts 1 Alien 3 1992 Sega 2 Back to the Future: Part III 1991 Sega 3 Battlemaster 1991 Sega Battlemaster Poster 4 Mortal Kombat 1993 Acclaim VG Blockbusters Yes CD single insert 5 NBA Jam 1994 Acclaim VG Blockbusters Yes Fleer Cards 6 Predator 2 1992 Sega 7 Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe 1991 Sega 8 Super High Impact 1992 Sega 9 T2: The Arcade Game 1992 Acclaim A couple of notes: Arena Entertainment was a publishing label for Mirrosoft and it released games prior to Acclaim’s purchase of the company in January 1992. As a result, some Arena games used normal Sega branded clamshells, even though the company is often associated with Acclaim. Even after the acquisition, it appears that games continued to use Sega cases for a time. Mortal Kombat and NBA Jam definitely used Acclaim style cases, and I’m pretty sure T2: The Arcade Game did as well. It is possible that other games also did, and perhaps some games were released in both case styles. I haven’t seen observed in both cases, but I’m learning about these subtle differences for the first time while researching these releases, and it seems reasonable that some of these games could have gotten a second print run with updated clamshells. Similarly, the “Video Game Blockbusters” poster doesn’t appear to pop up until the Arena releases in 1993 and 1994. NBA Jam has two releases, one whose cover mentions the ‘NBA Jam Session Fleer Cards,” and one that does not. I presume the release without the cards is a second, later release. I presume Mortal Kombat had more than one release and that not all releases of the game included the CD single insert, but I’m really not certain one way or the other. Flying Edge # Title Year Case Style Poster Reg Card Additional Inserts 1 The Addams Family 1994 Sega Yes 2 Arch Rivals: The Arcade Game 1992 Sega 3 Champions World Class Soccer 1994 Acclaim VG Blockbusters Yes 4 Double Dragon 3: The Arcade Game 1992 Sega 5 Ferrari Grand Prix Challenge 1992 Sega 6 George Foreman’s KO Boxing 1992 Sega 7 The Incredible Crash Dummies 1994 Sega Yes 8 Krusty’s Super Fun House 1992 Sega 9 NBA All-Star Challenge 1992 Acclaim 10 Robocop 3 1993 Acclaim Yes 11 Roger Clemens’ MVP Baseball 1992 Sega 12 The Simpsons: Bart vs. the Space Mutants 1992 Sega No 13 The Simpsons: Bart’s Nightmare 1993 Sega 14 Spider-Man/X-Men: Arcade’s Revenge 1993 Sega Dream Team Yes Inserts only in Mexico release 15 Steel Empire 1992 Sega 16 Super Smash TV 1992 Sega 17 Terminator 2: Judgement Day 1993 Acclaim VG Blockbusters Yes 18 WWF Super Wrestlemania 1992 Sega 19 WWF Royal Rumble 1993 Acclaim Yes I’m sure the chart above on Flying Edge isn’t complete, and I welcome input of any of the other games have registration cards or posters. I don’t think any of the Flying Edge games have additional inserts. Lastly, I figure I’ll mention Williams, since they were the publisher for two Mortal Kombat games. In total it appears that Williams published three games for the Sega Genesis: 1. Mortal Kombat 3 2. Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 3. Williams Arcade’s Greatest Hits Mortal Kombat 3 is a clamshell release. From checking eBay, it appears that this game was released in both styles of Acclaim case, regular and wide – though, I am not certain. My sealed copy very clearly has the regular style case: All the copies I have seen of Mortal Kombat 3 (regardless of the uncertainly over case style) have come with a vertical “Williams Warranty Registration & Free Drawing” card. In addition, it appears that a black sticker is covering the acclaim logo. I presume this would also be the case in a wide case-style release. There are two separate releases of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. The first release includes a color manual and two inserts. One insert is a poster for the Midway game NBA Hangtime, and the second insert is a “Williams Warranty Registration & Free Drawing” card. This registration card is similar to the one included with Mortal Kombat 3; however, the text on the card is read horizontally instead of vertically. The second release of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 includes a black and white manual and a Midway registration card. I believe this is also the same Midway registration card that was packed in with the Paper Boy games. Similar to Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, Williams Arcade’s Greatest Hits also has two releases, one with a color manual and one with a black and white manual. The inserts for each release mirror those of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Also of note, the first release of each game (UMK3 and Williams) has a cardboard tray with white inner cardboard; however, in the second releases the cardboard inside of the slide tray is brown, which is probably more "basic" or slightly cheaper to manufacture. Color manual release Black and white manual release My main goal in this “guide” was to cover Acclaim games, but in the end, I decided I wasn’t able to do that adequately without touching on Arena, Flying Edge, and Williams. I’m open to improving my guides, and if you see anything that seems off, please post in the thread!

Full credit to SuperGamBoy for this OP - his guides come in very handy when collecting on the Genesis, where case/reg card/poster swaps happen all the time, it's nice to know exactly what belongs where. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ In this mini guide I’ll be focusing on all of the titles that Acclaim published for the Sega Genesis. This guide will not include games published by Flying Edge or Arena. Both Flying Edge and Arena appear to have become associated with Acclaim in 1992. Arena had been formed as a division of Mirrorsoft Ltd. in 1991 to publish Mirrorsoft’s games (with the Arena label) games for the Sega Genesis. The arrangement was related to contract issues with Nintendo. Acclaim acquired Mirrorsoft (and the Arena label) on January 6, 1992. Acclaim also created the subsidiary Flying Edge in 1992 and debuted it at Summer CES in June of that year. The final games for each label came out in 1994, after which Acclaim used its name on all of the titles it published. In the second post of this thread, I’ll post full lists of games published by Flying Edge and Arena. There are 27 Acclaim published releases for the Sega Genesis. # Title Year Poster Style Case Style Additional Inserts 1 Batman Forever 1995 Black/Silver Regular 2 College Slam 1996 Black/Silver Wide 3 Cutthroat Island 1996 Black/Silver Wide 4 Demolition Man 1995 Dream Team Regular 5 Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story 1994 Dream Team Regular 6 Foreman For Real 1995 Dream Team Regular 7 Frank Thomas: Big Hurt Baseball 1995 Black/Silver Regular Baseball Card 8 Judge Dredd 1995 Dream Team Regular AOL Disk 9 Justice League Task Force 1995 Dream Team Regular 10 Mortal Kombat II 1994 Dream Team Regular 11 NBA Jam: T.E. 1994 Dream Team Regular Orange Tip Card 12 Newman Haas IndyCar featuring Nigel Mansell 1994 Dream Team Regular 13 NFL Quarterback Club 1994 Offense/Defense Regular 14 NFL Quarterback Club 96 1995 Hyper Audibles and Black/Silver Regular NFL Merchandise Catalog 15 Revolution X 1995 Black/Silver Wide 16 Scooby-Doo Mystery 1995 Black/Silver Regular 17 Spider-Man: The Animated Series 1995 Dream Team Regular 18 Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage 1994 VG Blockbusters Regular 19 Spot Goes to Hollywood 1995 Black/Silver Wide 20 Stargate 1995 Dream Team Regular 21 True Lies 1995 Dream Team Regular 22 Venom/Spider-Man: Separation Anxiety 1995 Black/Silver Wide 23 Virtual Bart 1994 Dream Team Regular 24 Warlock 1994 Dream Team Regular 25 Wolverine: Adamantium Rage 1994 Dream Team Regular 26 WWF Raw 1994 Dream Team Regular Aura Interactor 27 WWF Wrestlemania: The Arcade Game 1995 Black/Silver Regular I’ve labeled this guide as a “mini” guide because the contents for all of these Acclaim releases are pretty similar. Every single Acclaim release includes a game-specific registration card and an Acclaim poster/insert. The main point of this guide is to direct you to which posters came with which games while also highlighting any additional inserts that came with certain games. To begin, there are two main posters that were packed in with Acclaim published games for the Sega Genesis. Games published in 1994, along with a few games in 1995, included a poster/insert with the text “Acclaim’s Dream Team!” Later in 1995, and for both releases in 1996, Acclaim instead packed in an insert that I refer to as the “Black/Silver” poster. The word Genesis is written in silver on a black background. For each insert I’ve tried to show what it looks like when it’s folded up and when it’s completely unfolded. Both of those posters are blank on the opposite side. Acclaim’s Dream Team! Black/Silver Poster Here are all of the games that used the “Acclaim’s Dream Team!” poster: And here are the games that included the Black/Silver poster: Acclaim (and its subsidiary labels) also used a poster that read “Video Game Blockbusters.” This poster has Acclaim, Arena, Flying Edge, and LJN logos in the top right corner. I have seen the poster packed in with some Arena games and at least one Flying Edge game. Maximum Carnage is the only Acclaim title to include the “Video Game Blockbusters” poster. A note on Maximum Carnange: this game has two releases, one with a black cart and one with a red cart. The boxes, manuals, and inserts for the games are identical. The only difference between the two releases is the color of the cart. When sealed, the red cart release had a sticker on the outside indicating that the cartridge was red. Maximum Carnage was also packaged with a comic book, three lapel pins, and a certificate of authenticity for a release through QVC. The release for that package was the one with the red cartridge, and the game itself was sealed, just as it would have been at retail. The box holding the game and the pack-in items was also sealed. As this package was released through QVC, I don’t count it as something that Acclaim “published.” NFL Quarterback Club had its own poster that was two-sided. One side shows offensive plays and the other defensive plays: NFL Quarterback Club 96 included a hybrid poster. One side of the poster is the Black/Silver poster included with games released in 1995 and 1996, and the other side features “Hyper Audibles”: NFL Quarterback Club 96 also included an NFL Merchandise Catalog: In addition to NFL Quarterback Club 96, four other releases had additional inserts that came with the games. Frank Thomas: Big Hurt Baseball included a Frank Thomas baseball card. The card has an acclaim logo on the back and appears to be unique to this game: Judge Dredd came with an AOL diskette in a special sleeve that was adhered to the back of the clamshell, underneath the shrink wrap. The art design on the sleeve matches the back of the boxes artwork so that the sleeve blends in: NBA JAM T.E. included an orange insert that reads “Read Carefully Before You Lace Up The Shoes!”: WWF Raw appears to have included an insert for Aura Interactor. This insert is a more recent discovery for me, but I’ve seen it with two separate copies of the game. For Acclaim releases, there were two kinds of cases. The vast majority of games use a clamshell case with a cart holder that is the same size as a normal Genesis cart. A few titles in 1995 and 1996 used a new case with a larger cart holder, one that could have accommodated an EA games cart. The games that I know about that used the new case style are: College Slam, Cutthroat Island, Revolution X, Separation Anxiety, and Spot Goes to Hollywood. There may be others, but those are the five that I have observed. Regular case: Wide Case:

Full credit to SuperGamBoy for this OP. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ This guide took a bit longer to put together than I expected, but now that it's done the end result was quite satisfying. It wasn't until the very end that I looked at everything in chronological release order and saw some neat patterns emerge. This is the third "guide" I've done - check my signature for links to my guides on Konami releases and Sega Club games. So for the Genesis, there are 12 Namco releases, one of which has 3 separate releases, resulting in 14 total games to collect. Here I'll list them in roughly release order. I used the release years from Wikipedia so it may not be perfect and I may not know which game was released first in any given year, but how I've presented it the patterns line up nicely anyway. 1. Phelios (1990) 2. Burning Force (1990) 3. Marvel Land (1991) 4. Quad Challenge (1991) 5. Powerball (1991) 6. Rolling Thunder 2 (1991) 7. Splatterhouse 2 (1992) 8. Rolling Thunder 3 (1993) 9. Splatterhouse 3 (1993) 10. Pac-Attack 11. Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures (has 3 separate releases) (1994) 12. Weaponlord (1995) Here are all the games together, in what roughly should be chronological release order. 1. Phelios (1990) When Phelios was released, Namco did not yet have its own custom clamshells. I've never seen Phelios with a registration card. 2. Burning Force (1991) 3. Marvel Land (1991) 4. Quad Challenge (1991) These three games all include the same registration card with the text "Join Our Fan Club and Receive a Free Poster" Also of note, Burning Force also did not have a custom Namco clamshell case. From Marvel Land and after Namco releases began using their own clamshells, but from what I've gathered Phelios and Burning Force still used Sega-branded clamshells. 5. Powerball (1991) With the release of Powerball, the registration card changes slightly. The back is still the same as Burning Force, Marvel Land, and Quad Challenge, but the front reads "Join Our Fan Club" and no longer offers a free poster. 6. Rolling Thunder 2 (1991) Rolling Thunder 2 appears to be the last Namco release to have a "generic" registration card. The registration card is unique to Rolling Thunder 2 but doesn't list the name of the game on the registration card itself. 7. Splatterhouse 2 (1992) With the release of Splatterhouse 2, Namco games began getting custom registration cards for each game released. 8. Rolling Thunder 3 (1993) With the release of Rolling Thunder 3, the registration cards began to shrink in size. 9. Splatterhouse 3 (1993) 10. Pac-Attack (1993) I do not yet own a CIB copy of Pac-Attack with the registration card. I have a sealed copy in my collection and was able to confirm CIB contents via an eBay auction. 11. Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures (1994) Pac-Man 2 has 3 releases for the Genesis. The first release has a hologram on the cover and is in a Namco case. The second release comes in an Acclaim case. The second release may have fewer inserts than the first release, but I am not positive - this is the one game with contents of which I am not certain. The third release is a Majesco cardboard re-release. My copy is sealed, but it should have only a Majesco Sales Inc. generic registration card. [UPDATE]: It has come to my attention that there is another (fourth) release of this game. The fourth release comes in a wide-style Acclaim clamshell case and the cartridge shell is also Acclaim branded and says "Assembled in Mexico" on the back. I've added pictures as one of the respones to this thread. This release has a Ballistic sticker on the back, so I would assume that this release includes the Majesco Sales Inc. registration card. The second release of Pac-Man 2 does not have a hologram on the cover. In addition the G.A. rating of the game now has a red colored background. The registration card is identical to the one for the first release. With the release of Pac-Man 2, the registration cards rotate and are read vertically instead of horizontally. As mentioned above, the second release uses an Acclaim case (just like later Konami rereleases also used Acclaim clamshells; however Konami used black sticker to cover up the Acclaim logos. Not pictured: the back of the cart for the first release reads Made in Japan, while the back of the second release says Assembled in Mexico (but is a Sega cart shell and not an Acclaim cart shell). The cardboard box release uses a Sega cartridge shell and was Assembled in Mexico. There may be a fourth release of this game. I am still investigating the variant and will update if I have more details. 12. Weaponlord (1995) Namco's final release for the Genesis was in a cardboard box. As I did not photograph a Namco case earlier, here is one for reference: Except for Phelios and Burning Force (Sega cases) and the second release of Pac-Man 2, every clamshell Namco release should use this style case. Lastly, here are all the games lined up in the chronological release order I've outlined above. You'll notice a very orderly progression of the spine designs:

Credit to SuperGamBoy for this OP. Porting over from a previous site that has been reduced to ashes. I have found this type of information to be essential for collecting on the Genesis. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ A little while ago I put together a “guide” for Sega Club releases. I thought I would follow it up with a collecting guide for Konami games released for the Sega Genesis. This project has taken me a little longer than I expected as I had overlooked a few variants. In going back through my games I also realized that one or two of my games needed completing, which delayed the process. A few of my games are sealed, so I may end up requesting some pictures from other users to fill in a few “gaps.” For collecting purposes, I count 14 main Konami releases for the Sega Genesis. This number is debatable and I’ll name the other games and briefly spell out my reasoning after the list. Animaniacs [1994] – 4 total releases Castlevania: Bloodlines [1994] – 3 total releases Contra: Hard Corps [1994] – 3 total releases Double Dribble: The Playoff Edition [1994] – 1 release Lethal Enforcers [1993] (Big Box) – 1 release Lethal Enforcers II: Gunfighters [1994] – 1 release Rocket Knight Adventures [1993] – 1 release (two print-runs with UPC change) Sparkster [1994] – 1 release Sunset Riders [1992] – 1 release Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist [1992] – 1 release Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters [1993] – 2 total releases Tiny Toon Adventures: ACME All-Stars [1994] – 2 total releases Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster’s Hidden Treasure [1993] – 4 releases Zombies Ate My Neighbors [1993] – 1 release Including all variants, there are 26 total Konami releases for the Genesis. Additional releases: Junction [1990] – developed by Konami for arcades but licensed to Micronet who ported and published the game for the Genesis This game has one release. A sealed copy was opened by galacticlint and it contained no additional inserts Frogger [1998] – developed by Konami in 1981 but published by Hasbro Interactive / Majesco Sales Inc. (no prominent Konami branding) This game has one release. It includes the standard Majesco Sales Inc. registration card. The Main Releases: These five games all include the same inserts: a non-game-specific red/white Konami registration card and a “16 Bits Coming At You head On!” foldable poster. Rocket Knight Adventures, Sunset Riders, Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster’s Hidden Treasure, Zombies Ate My Neighbors, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Hyperstone Heist I've recently realized that although these registration cards do not state the name of the game on them, they do have identifying numbers in the bottom right corner that line up to each separate game. Check out the second post in the thread for more information on registration cards. Castlevania Bloodlines and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters include a game-specific red/white registration card and a “How Many Hits Can you Take?” Lethal Enforcers poster: The registration card for Castlevania: Bloodlines is slightly larger than the one for Tournament Fighters. The registration card for Castlevania: Bloodlines has the numbers 16005 right corner. Tournament Fighters has the numbers 16006. Animaniacs and Double Dribble: The Playoff Edition include game-specific red/white registration cards. I do not believe these games included the Lethal Enforcers poster. The registration card for Animaniacs has the numbers 16014 in the bottom right corner. I currently only own a factory sealed copy of Double Dribble and can't check the registration card for its identification numbers. These next four games include only a game-specific white registration card. Contra: Hard Corps, Lethal Enforcers II: Gun Fighters, Sparkster, Tiny Toon Adventures: ACME All-Stars The registration card for Contra: Hard Corps has the identification numbers 16011. Sparkster has the numbers 16012. My copies of Gunfighters and ACME All-Stars are sealed. Lastly, here is the Big Box release for the first Lethal Enforcers game: Lethal Enforcers includes a game-specific red/white registration card and a "How Many Hits Can You Take? Lethal Enforcers poster. The inserts are in the same style as Castlevania and Bloodlines, I just listed Lethal Enforcers separately because of the big box. Variants and Re-Releases: Konami re-released many of its games either under the Konami Classics label or as cardboard releases (or both!). The Konami Classics games were pretty similar in appearance to the original releases but included the word “Classics” in small print under the Konami logo. Four games were released in clamshells with the Konami Classics logo. Each game includes a white non-game-specific registration card. Animaniacs, Contra: Hard Corps, Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster's Hidden Treasure, and Tiny Toon Adventures: ACME All-Stars The Classics logo for Buster's Hidden Treasure is slightly different, with a large, cursive letter "C." These registration cards say 16000 in the bottom right corner. These games were assembled in Mexico and utilize recycled Acclaim cases. The corners of the hang-tabs are sharp. Inside the clamshells and on the backs of the carts, the Acclaim logos are covered with black stickers. Konami also released two of its Konami Classics games as cardboard releases. Animaniacs and Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster's Hidden Treasure each got two cardboard releases: fliptop and slide box. All four of these cardboard releases (and every cardboard Konami release) contain only a "Majesco Sales GENESIS Classics" registration card. These releases were assembled in Mexico, like the clamshell Konami Classics releases, but the carts are not reused Acclaim carts. Castlevania: Bloodlines received two cardboard releases, both slide box and fliptop. Both releases include only a "Majeso Sales GENESIS Classics" registration card. Contra: Hard Corps and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters also received cardboard releases. Both games include only a "Majeso Sales GENESIS Classics" registration card. Group Pictures: These images aim to show side-by-side comparisons of any game that had more than 1 release.

whew, just glad we got it all. I still think we'll find a few more of these Canadian variants out there, so the more exposure, the better. Thanks for all your work on this man, it's super valuable. Now to see what else we can port over.

Sorry, I had to dump these at the end, the pictures were so damn big, I'd have to start editing these in and bumping all the other posts down, so I'll just leave these pics here for now and clean it up in time. If anyone finds any new Canadian variants, please make it known here! Also, if you happen to own any of the ones without pics up currently, feel free to reach out. I do have Fantasia that I can update with shortly.

Updated with pics for Super Hang On:

58) ToeJam & Earl Left: US release; Right: Canadian release Canadian release on top, title is a tad larger Canadian release on its own 59) Tommy Lasorda Baseball Left: US release; Right: Canadian release Canadian release on top (no trademark logo) Canadian release on its own. I don't have the manual for this release. I am not sure what style it will be because this game was not released in Europe with the same name "Tommy Lasorda Baseball" - instead in Europe it was called Super League. 60) Wonder Boy in Monster World Left: US release; Right: Canadian release Canadian release uses a more red font color (unless my US release is sunfaded) Canadian release on its own Well, there you have it. I've added comparison photographs for every Canadian Genesis release in my collection. If I discover any additional games (beyond the 59), they will be added after this post. As I locate the 5 games I missing, I will add their photos and descriptions in the proper order for this thread, in which case I'll make a post to bump the thread and bring attention to the updates.

56) Taz-Mania Left: US release; Right: Canadian release Notice on the US release that isn't present on the Canadian release Canadian release on top. US release has a UPC barcode on the spine Canadian release on its own 57) Thunder Force II Left: US release; Right: Canadian release Canadian release on top. The two releases appear to use different shades of blue. Canadian release on its own

54) Sword of Vermillion Left: US release; Right: Canadian release Sword of Vermillion is a tough Canadian release to spot. It largely has the same cover as the US release, and the back cover isn't much different either. The backs of the two Sword of Vermillion releases are nearly identical as well. The US release has a border that the Canadian release doesn't have. The Canadian release does not have the typical multi-language game summaries. The Canadian release (top) does not use the "1 Player" logo present on the US release. Canadian release on top. Both spines appear identical Canadian release on its own. Note that Sword of Vermillion does not include the massive multi-language European Mega Drive manual, BUT it does have its own unique manual. Unlike the manual for the US release, the Canadian release does not have the Sega Genesis logo at the top! Credit to RoyalT for this catch. 55) TaleSpin Credit to @Ampplays for the photos!

51) Super Hang On Appended to the end of the thread. 52) Super Monaco GP Left: US release; Right: Canadian release Canadian release on top. Consistently from the cover to the spine, the Super Monaco GP title is much more red on the Canadian release and more orange for the US release Canadian releaes on its own 53) Super Thunder Blade Left: US release; Right: Canadian release The covers for both releases are just about identical Canadian release on top Canadian release on its own

48) Spider-Man Left: US release; Right: Canadian release There is a 50% Off Marvel Comics logo on the US release that is absent from the Canadian release Canadian release on top. Not too different. Black box grid is larger for the Canadian release. Canadian release on its own 49) Streets of Rage Left: US release; Right: Canadian release The US release has a large "1 or 2 Players At Once" logo that is missing from the Canadian release Canadian release on its own 50) Strider Left: US release; Right: Canadian release Huge "8 Mega Memory" logo on the US release that is absent from the Canadian release For whatever reason, the Canadian release has a trademark logo but the US release does not The US release includes the text "Stider is a licened trademark of Capcom, Inc." which is not included on the Canadian release Canadian release on top. Game title on the Canadian release is much smaller, and gain the US release does not have the trademark logo but the Canadian release does.

46) Sonic the Hedgehog 2 Left: US release; Right: Canadian release The US release has an orange/yellow border around the cover art. The US release also has a unique pattern for its border, while the bottom of the Canadian version has the standard "black box" look. Canadian release on top. US release uses the same design from cover, but Canadian release reverts to the more standard "black box" style. Canadian release on its own 47) Space Harrier II Left: US release; Right: Canadian release The covers are virtually the same, but the image has been cropped and sized differently. On the Canadian release a full energy blast can be seen that is nearly off of the cover for the US release. Canadian release on top. Colors seem brighter, and the spacing appears different, as well. Canadian release on its own

45) Sonic the Hedgehog I've identified four different Canadian releases of Sonic the Hedgehog: standard release, two Not For Resale variants, and one Canadian/Australian hybrid. Left: US release; Right: Canadian release Sonic the Hedgehog is the most well-known of the Canadian releases because the cover is so drastically different from the US release, and thus easy to spot. Canadian release on top Canadian release on its own There are two Not for Resale (NFR) releases of Sonic the Hedgehog in Canada. One has blue text and the other has black text This fourth release of Sonic the Hedgehog is a bit of a hybrid. The art insert is Canadian; however, the game was then subsequently released in Australia. The game uses an Ozisoft clamshell, Australian manual, and Mega Drive cart (made in Australia). Perhaps it is debatable whether this release of Sonic the Hedgehog should count as Canadian or Australian. I wouldn't necessarily count it as part of a Canadian set, but its a legit variant and does use the Canadian insert, so I've showcased it here.

43) Revenge of Shinobi Left: US release; Right: Canadian release Cover art on US and Canadian releases appear identical Canadian release on top. Canadian release has a Kanji character behind the title. Canadian release on its own 44) Shadow Dancer: Secret of Shinobi Left: US release; Right: Canadian release Canadian release on top. The spines are fairly different. No trademark symbol on the Canadian release Canadian release on its own. Apparently the Canadian release of Shadow Dancer used a Mega Drive cart. I bought it from a member on the forums and that's what I was told. So far its the only Canadian release of Shadow Dancer that I've come across. For Kid Chameleon, about half of the time I see the Canadian release it has a Mega Drive cartridge, so I'm inclined to think that Shadow Dancer may be similar

42) Quackshot Starring Donald Duck I've come across three different US versions of the game and one hybrid release, in addition to the Canadian release. I'll touch on each of those briefly after my comparison of the US and Canadian releases. Left: US release; Right: Canadian release Canadian release on its own Here are the three US releases One of the releases of Quackshot (maybe the first release) included a sweepstakes to win a trip to Walt Disney World. You can see that release on the far left. When the contest ended, some of those art inserts were still used, so the sweepstakes logo was covered up with a Genesis sticker. And lastly, a more standard release with no contest logo or cover up. Here is the contest version and the covered up one. Both of those backs mention that the Treasure Hunt promotion ends on April 30, 1992. The last release of Quackshot is a bit of a hybrid. It has a Genesis box, but a Mega Drive cart and a Mega Drive manual. Castle of Illusion also had a release like this, which I covered earlier in the thread. Hybrid release on top (compared to the "standard" US release). As you can see the Genesis Seal of Quality logo has been tweaked/updated. So its not simply the exact same box art with new cart/manual. Here is the standard release and the hybrid release side-by-side.

41) Phantasy Star III Continued

41) Phantasy Star III

39) NHL All-Star "Match Des Etoiles" Hockey '95 This game is the only cardboard Canadian release. It came out much later than all of the other Canadian releases and is a bit different. I count it as part of the Canadian set because of the English/French text and that there are two separate releases (US release and this "Canadian" release). The release is different because it doesn't use the 69044 UPC and instead has a 10086 UPC used typically for US releases. It turns out I've sold my US release of this game. So like with Moonwalker, I'll have to first showcase the US release using pictures from eBay. US release front US release back Canadian release front Canadian release back For some reason, this barcode sticker was added. This is not the typical US barcode or Canadian barcode (at least not the one used for early releases). Its also odd because the Canadian release already has a barcode on its side/spine. Left side/spine of Canadian release. Notice there is no French text and no barcode. The box has a cardboard hangtab. Right side/spine of Canadian release. French text and UPC barcode. I went ahead and opened up one of the two sealed copies I had: 40) Phantasy Star II Left: US release; Right: Canadian release The covers are just about identical. The only minor difference is the Sega Genesis logo at the top. On the Canadian release the words "16-Bit Cartridge" have been added to the logo. Even the backs are nearly the same. Phantasy Star II is one of the toughest Canadian releases to spot or find. The Canadian release doesn't have the Sega of America text and it doesn't have the "1 Player" logo. Bottom of the US release with UPC Bottom of the Canadian release with UPC Canadian release on top Small difference in the spines. No trademark on the spine for the Canadian release. Also has the different Genesis logo What's even more tricky is that both the US release and the Canadian release have vertical "US-style" manuals. Canadian manual on the right. Notice how there is no "TM" for Phantasy Star. In addition, there is no Genesis logo at all Backs of the manuals. No reference to Sega of America on the Canadian manual. The US manual is copyright 1989 and the Canadian manual is copyright 1990 A small difference inside the manuals Canadian release on its own

36) Mercs Canadian release on top. Spine text is smaller 37) Michael Jackson's Moonwalker My US release of Moonwalker is currently in storage, so I'll have to use an image pulled from eBay. Here is the US release The Canadian release removed the border around the cover art and added the "16-Bit Cartridge" text at the bottom. Back of Canadian release Canadian spine (appears to be the same as the US version, based on images online of the US release) 38) NFL Sports Talk Football '93 Starring Joe Montana Left: US release; Right: Canadian release On the Canadian release the title is in a horizontal box, and on the US release its in a vertical box. The US version also has a "12 Megs" burst not present on the Canadian release Canadian spine on top. The spines also use the separate horizontal and vertical text boxes. US version also has a UPC on the spine I previously had two copies of this game sealed, the above of which I opened to document its contents. Now that I've covered all three Joe Montana games, here are all the games togeher

33) Kid Chameleon Canadian version on top. The coloring of the game titles are drastically different US release includes a "100+ levels 1850+ screens" burst not present on the Canadian release Canadian release on top, with much different design/coloring for game title Canadian release on its own. I have seen Canadian releases of Kid Chamelon that had a Mega Drive cart instead of a Genesis cart. I'm inclined to view them both as correct, with one being a variant. 34) Last Battle 35) Mario Lemieux Hockey

31) Joe Montana Football Left: US release; Right: Canadian release Canadian release on top Canadian release on its own 32) Joe Montana II Sports Talk Football Left: US release; Right: Canadian release Canadian release on top without the teal background behind the text Canadian release on its own