Divingninja

3 hours ago, Stormarov.45 said:

The flathead screw were continued to be used until stock had depleted. The chip dates are not related to the date they were mounted to the board.  Those chips are bought in bulk and also used until they are gone. 

There were many fab locations where these games where burned in to the chips and assembled and they worked on order making whatever game that the corporation needed more of, usually in 25000 unit lots.  This is represented by the quality stamp on the back 01-20... something.  After Konami was given permission to assemble their own carts they printed a 24 on their label instead of a stamp.

This game was probably not a refurb since they would have replaced the screws with security screws.  More than likely it was just made during that transition period where nintendo went to the 3 screw clamshell and security screws, (as with all 3 screw gyromites). Not many carts were made after that let alone refurbed.

So, the same thing is going on here.  After Konami received the right to assemble their own carts, the also were required to do their own refurbs. The extra stock for the 5 screw clam shells were used for this since they no longer fit inside the automated machine assembly lines which had now be refactored to used the three screw carts. But Konami, having not yet devised a way to "stamp" the back lable to denote a quality code, also Konami refurbs not being covered by the nintendo seal of quality anymore (or actually only for the moment since they were later allowed to use a printed quality mark later), left the back label off to denote that it was a Konami refurb.

Interesting theory. I imagine all these refurb places having different stock/inventory of piece parts available. So some may have used original screws that came with the game, some maybe replaced them all with security screws etc. I don't think Konami would purposely leave off the caution label on backs of their refurbs, unless they were trying to figure out a way to determine that they had already seen that refurb game in the past or something. I think it might be more likely that Konami marketing wanted some copies of games that were all 5 screw sleek for their ads or something or perhaps they were trade show games for display so they could identify them if they were taken or walked away etc.

For the gyromite, I wonder if someone "made" one to try and get more money on ebay etc,

Do you have pictures?

7 minutes ago, Ferris Bueller said:

I think I have some doubles from over the years that I'd love to trade for variants I don't have.

• Donkey Kong Jr. (3 Screw)
• TMNT (5 Screw)
• Track and Field II (5 Screw)

Looking for the following. No joke, I think this is all I'm missing for an "complete" set:

• Adventures of Bayou Billy (5 Screw)
• Base Wars (5 Screw)
• Castlevania II (5 Screw)
• Castlevania III (5 Screw)
• Defender of the Crown (5 Screw)
• Jackal (5 Screw)
• Mission Impossible (5 Screw)
• Q*Bert (5 Screw)
• R.C. Pro Am (5 Screw)
• Rollergames (5 Screw)
• Skate or Die (5 Screw)
• Snake's Revenge (5 Screw)
• Stadium Events (5 Screw) LOL
• Tiny Toon Adventures (5 Screw)
• Top Gun 2: The Second Mission (5 Screw)

I need that DK Jr 3 screw please.

1 hour ago, Stormarov.45 said:

So the seals changed in this order: Circle Seal, then Trade Mark Seal ( ™ ), the Registered Trade Mark Seal ( ® ).

As the law changed to allow for better trademarking rights over the few transitional years Nintendo upgraded their seal with marks as well.  Most original games had all three in this order. But the timing of the seal change was based sometimes on the legality within the local production areas and remaining stock. These were unrelated to the 5 screw and three screw clam shells but most of the time the 5 screw clam shells ran out way before the seal change.

So there was a period that Donkey Kong was produced with both the trademark and registered seal so both are legit.

Newer games received only the Trademark and Registered seal and no circle seal version. The very latest games (92 or 93 on) only received a registered trademark seal.

I understand the progression, but games do not always have all the variants. Like you could have a game that was mostly circle seal and then stopped production until a re-release after they were only using the Oval Seal R.

That is why we were curious to poll the population to see if many other people had that 3 screw DK variant with the TM or if it was perhaps a refurb pieced together from perhaps someone sending in a broken cartridge etc.

On 7/9/2020 at 10:04 PM, 3rdStrongestMole said:

So Donkey Kong is not refurb if it's R or TM right? Just picked up 3 screw TM and figured that would make sense for later releases.

Great question. Does anyone else’s 3 screw Dk have a TM after NES on front? Mine has an R

@Magus anything on the ajax database issues?

Glad you made it here!

On 5/11/2020 at 11:29 PM, Gloves said:

We're working on it! Bit of a hitch with game expos being cancelled so we can't really take em to those to sell, but things are still moving forward. The guys in charge of the shirts are determining how many of what sizes we should get, then we're gonna make the order. Do rest assured that on my life those who ordered shirts will get them! This is our first time as a group putting this all together so learning as we go, you could say.

Got the shirt and wore it out today!

18 minutes ago, nothingface023 said:

Hey dude, I just found this site the other day!  Haven't talked to you in a while.  Long live the variant hunters!

Nice! Glad you are here!

9 minutes ago, Divingninja said:

@Magus I see most of my collections again, but am unable to access my NES collection as I get some Ajax error when trying to go into it. The error says please see http://datatables.net/tn/7. I checked with a friend and they have the same issue.

What is this about and how do I fix it?

Looks like I am also getting an ajax error on my gamecube and playstation collections.

@Magus I see most of my collections again, but am unable to access my NES collection as I get some Ajax error when trying to go into it. The error says please see http://datatables.net/tn/7. I checked with a friend and they have the same issue.

What is this about and how do I fix it?

Hi all, if I had my old variant custom collections links, created from the collection tool, does anyone know how to recover that list at this point?

6 hours ago, Magus said:

Switch games are currently being added, should be caught up in few weeks. PS4 is a possibility in the future. But switch is the priority for now and getting the entire website switched over to the new one. Right now it is in beta. 

The collection tracker has been working, but the past few days it has been down because it is being worked on to get the prices to refresh on a more frequent basis. Which was a major complaint from users here that we were hoping to address. Unfortunately some of these aren't quick fixes, and since it is the weekend it is taking a bit longer.

It should be back early this week. If it takes longer i will give an update. 

Cool. Thanks for this. Will keep checking on it.

Dang. I’m having issues with the collection tracker too. After switching it all over from NA. What a pain.If it isn’t up soon I may switch to pricecharting’s tool.

4 minutes ago, austin532 said:

88 week 7.That's probably very close but there should be one even lower than that. Every chip I've seen was usually made about a month before the release date of the game. So a first print would have to be like 8804 if it was in fact released late February.

I know there is a rare 5 screw version of this game but little info is known about whether it's a retail one or repair job.

I'd guess that 5 screw was a repair job. Are there any non REV A boxes? Even if there are that doesn't always prove a 5 screw.

3 hours ago, austin532 said:

Looks like the latest date is 8834. August 22-28 1988. So it's not a first print unfortunately. I still stand by my theory that the first print came with the previous year inserts.

I have a 8819, 8819. Is that the first print?

11 hours ago, DoctorEncore said:

Ghost Lion (Oval Seal)

Box: NES-LL-USA (20821)
Cart: NES-LL-USA
Manual: NES-LL-USA (T)
Ghost Lion Poster: KEM-LL-US
Ghost Lion Response Card: KEM-LL-US
Nintendo Power Advert: GP-NES-USA
Seizure Warning Insert: NES-DOC-USA
Rough dust sleeve

  Hide contents

Gallery

 

I assume manual code is the same as box, right?

11 minutes ago, Hybrid said:

Yes it is it also had another cart stacked on top of it blocking the light you notice how it gets lighter as you move down the label

Ah, that makes sense. I stacked the two on top of each other and that does allow light to a certain point on the front label, but the other cart stacked on top would preserve the Orange Jaleco on the front. Just seems crazy it would have burned the text completely off. 

13 minutes ago, austin532 said:

I believe the very first print has the Club Nintendo insert and 1987 ROB Poster inserts. It's hard to find as shortly after they switched over to PMG-US NP Insert and 1988 NYPWP poster.

Is there a box date code on that copy that is early and would make sense? Or do you think they were using up old stock?

@Hybrid can you do that same comparison to the White’s on the front of the carts?

29 minutes ago, _Brink_ said:

Still interested to hear the opinions on  if some of these rare variants should be Wata graded to verify authenticity and to preserve.  I keep all of my variants in a dark room but Id love to be able to display them in a main area of my house.  (without the fear of my kids destroying or sun damage)

I like the idea of having “officially” recognized variants, and if there was some pattern or something WATA‘S level of experience could pick up on that would prevent counterfeiters that would be cool, but I fear getting them WATA graded could  also raise a ton of awareness and Lead to an increase in demand and price increases where counterfeiting Becomes more prevalent as scammers try and pull a fast one on your everyday collector.

Im torn too, Because more awareness brings more out of the woodwork, but may bring more fakes to the market and I really like the idea of these being found organically from people happy selling for the standard price of a copy.

I’d also probably be pissed too if WATA came back on like my Tennis or baseball and said sorry this shouldn’t exist.

Last one side by side with another copy. It isn’t as bright but seems like that amount of sun exposure would have at least faded the cart shell more right? Maybe not.

11 minutes ago, Hybrid said:

Hate to be the one to say but that's been in the light for some time there is still a hint of Jaleco on the top and the white nearby has that burnt look to it

Wish you could see it in person. The top doesn’t really look burnt to me and the label feels smooth everywhere. Here are some other pictures with different levels of light. First picture Has a camera flash so I wouldnt take too much stock on that one but I can see how the original picture I pasted does have some shadow. I can’t see JALECO anywhere. Maybe a slight TM? My eyes are not what they used to be though. Interesting enough to keep. Thought maybe a printing error. Stranger things have been found.

2 hours ago, _Brink_ said:

 

I have some Alpha Missions.  Its a sickness...

Wow! Why so many? Stock piling for trade bait? Or are you doing board revision codes and stuff too? I wish I had more time to look but the kids take up most of my time These days.

Thanks for watching my variant panel from Let’s Play Gaming Expo.  And good to know my list from NA are still alive somewhere.

Also, not sure if this is worthy of the list @Hybrid but I have a no Jaleco “blank” end Label bases loaded.