Divingninja

1 hour ago, Romarqable said:

I'm probably going to end up making a topic about it, but I collect system box variants and the Challenge set out of all US NES console boxes had the most variants. There's a total of 24 system box variants that I know of, if you include the Sharp NES TV, 23 without. There were a total of 6 Challenge Set variants, of which two showed only the cart on the front.

 

That leads me to believe they likely packed in with just the cart and manual at some point before switching to boxed copies or they switched to cart only to save on having to pack in the game boxes.

 

Truly interesting stuff if you ask me. 

Would love to see your list! I too collect system box variants.

2 hours ago, ThePhleo said:

It’s nice to document these thing as unexpected patterns emerge the more data is collected.

People used to brush off those flap codes as irrelevant information until @0xDEAFC0DE figured out that they were date stamps when I pointed out that manuals have them as well in the bottom right corner of the last page only typically a few digits off. Not sure if it’s correlated to me pointing it out or coinciding events.

Together we all discovered they started this around October 1987.

Now there’s people out there documenting the Famicom date codes, and PAL stuff and finding NES games printed all the way up to the US launch of the N64!

Information matters, no matter how useless it might seem at first. It can cause a complete paradigm shift in the way people enjoy the hobby when enough is collected and freely shared!

I’m one of those people who originally brushed off that 5 digit code as something I wasn’t going to collect variant wise- not knowing, but assuming it was just like a production factory number or something. But now that we know it is a date code and matches a manual I get to extend the variant hunt on NES and now have more to collect!

2 minutes ago, Stormarov.45 said:

BLUF: You may have a majority of similar variants in the challenge set Mario 3 boxes but there is no guarantee on version or date codes. There may be several different ones that came with this set.

These all came from inside the NES Challenge Set console box. Like other consoles boxed with games in the early days, (i.e. Deluxe editions) the whole boxed game was included and the challenge set sticker was just slapped on in.

So the result is that multiple date codes of Mario brothers will have come in the challenge set. It was literally whatever boxed stock they had lying around. You may have different ones coming from different packaging facilities.  There would also be very little trust in the concurrence of the inserts even though by the time Super Mario 3 came along Nintendo had gotten better about this. 

Was there a challenge set that came without a “boxed” Mario 3 and just had the cart and manual?

I have a Mario 3 manual I suspect would have gone inside without a 5 digit code on it.

11 minutes ago, Proveaux said:

Here are some I have I saw in first post.

I want one of those 3 screw gyromites.

2 hours ago, Romarqable said:

I have a 3 Screw DK, 3 Screw DKJR, 3 Screw Gyromite and a 5 screw Alpha Mission. 

I think they need picture proof to add ya.

11 minutes ago, ThePhleo said:

They’re close most times, rarely on the same date.

I don’t think I found a 100% CIB game yet without a manual within a few days of the box.

Same here.

6 minutes ago, ThePhleo said:

Yep! Unfortunately they weren’t introduced until October 1987. So anything before that is guaranteed NOT to have it. Manuals also have these codes on the bottom right corner of the last page!

Also, third party self-manufacturers and *some* Nintendo printed games don’t use these codes.

The box and manual run codes don’t always “match” either.

2 minutes ago, Code Monkey said:

Is this July 9, 1993? Does this date always refer to the print run?

 

Yup. 09JUL93.

Does anyone have a list of unconfirmed but suspected complete games and their inserts they would be willing to share with me?

I intend to go record all the 5 digit codes on my boxes and manuals and make a list and could share that in trade if anyone would like info for info.

1 hour ago, Goodvibes said:

Just want to revisit this as I never got any feedback. Does anyone else have a different print date than this for bb2?

 

Also was there just one run of power blade 2? My copy I bought from an old rental with inserts tucked inside for years came with tai-nes-us-4 but I’ve heard it also came with -5. So I’m curious if there’s more than one print run. I’ll have to check what the print date is on my copy.

My cart, box copy of BB2 with no inserts is the same code as yours

5 hours ago, 3rdStrongestMole said:

Yeah, guess I'm confused. These are the only ones I see anywhere for 5 screw even, but haven't dug that deep

2 hours ago, ThePhleo said:

Wanna save me the hassle of buying every California Games manual on eBay hoping for a 00416 and sell it?

My CIB feels more naked than the people on the cover without it!

I wouldn’t normally since I don’t have a double, but I’ll swap you for your extra 00712 I guess if you want to do that.

19 hours ago, ThePhleo said:

So I can confirm I have two posters in two different (shitty) boxes.

00711 in gold ink, and 00416 in gold ink. Curiously, both manuals in these boxes are 00712. It's kinda driving me nuts since I don't have a 0041X manual

My other two copies of California games do not have this poster, but their flap codes are 90213 in black ink (90214 manual), and 91026 in grey ink (no manual)

Both of my spare manuals for this game are also 90214.

 

Edit: Oh, and all boxes have Oval TM seals.

I only have the 90213 box with 90214 manual, but i do have the 00416 manual as well. It is oval seal R with a star on it.

On 11/28/2020 at 3:51 PM, Goodvibes said:

No on wiz’s list for tecmo super bowl it lists a trifold card separate from the quick reference card which I’ve never seen before.

 

For the tengen coupon I’ll have to check the catalogue, I do have the separate $5 coupon though.

Is that trifold card for NES or was it like an SNES one?

1 minute ago, Code Monkey said:

You can read the tabs. All CAN codes are Canadian and all USA or no-codes are USA.

Cool. Thanks.

13 hours ago, Code Monkey said:

There are a lot of Mike Tyson's Punch Out!! box variants.

 

How many of these are CAN vs USA?

5 minutes ago, Code Monkey said:

I've been collecting variant information for years and adding it to a database. I've already built a tracker for my own personal collection with all the variants but I'm going to be adding more functionality and opening it up to the public soon. If you want to help, you can figure out how to use the eBay API to pull sold listing prices because I can't figure out how to do it since they removed it from their FindCompletedListings API.

Ooof. I’m not super computer savvy, but I had a pretty good loose cart variant list on NA back in the day. Not sure if you have all that in your database yet.

On 11/24/2020 at 10:25 PM, Code Monkey said:

Something is in the works.

What is in the works? Can I contribute?

15 hours ago, DoctorEncore said:

OEM.

Very nice. What is the going rate on bags?

5 minutes ago, DoctorEncore said:

I got bags for days boys. Just let me know how many you need.

Like OEM bags or aftermarket bags?

Ferris got me His extra 3 screw dk jr. Please add me to the list as a proud new owner! Thanks!

23 minutes ago, PII said:

@_Brink_ You seem to have the first Track & Field game pictured, rather than Track & Field II.

I also have a highly suspect track and field 2 oddly enough also from laketown.

I have found a total of 3 TMNT in the wild. 
1 in Arkansas,

1 in ABQ, NM and

1 in Mildland, TX

not sure we will have much luck with a standard location

I don’t think quality control would have allowed the copies to be sold without a back label in my opinion. Couldn’t someone have sued the company for the lack of caution etc?  One of the old ezine’s back in the day I think I Was the one with the theory they were perhaps kiosk or the first like not for resale cartridges for NES which may have been part of the reason for the security bits on 5 screw carts without the caution label- so people would know they were Kiosk/NFR .

11 hours ago, Stormarov.45 said:

This is not always a given.  The Code on the box, (The cart sometimes) and the manual do NOT coincide. They pertain to different versions of boiler plate, and are revised sometimes at different times, (the box less frequently).  The versioned serial code

This serial code (with versioning) is also not 100% across the Nintendo Seal changes.  Sometimes the seal changed but the serial did not.  Although, this may have been before they decided to "version" the serial numbers.

 

Sorry should have been more specific. I meant the date code on the manual for ghost lion since it was not specified