Namco: A Genesis Collecting Guide

[RoyalT | 161]

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:

[8bitsupremacy | 208]

I would like to add, that any game with Namco engraving on back of cart will also say Namco on the inside of box near tray, others will have standard Sega logo if back of cart says Sega.  It's something I noticed only because I had a few Namco cover art inserts and needed to harvest proper boxes to appease my OCD.  I'm sure you covered this above but I just glanced at the thread briefly while at work here...will dive deeper later.

Edited November 15, 2019 by 8bitsupremacy

[MovieTom | 39]

Excellent guide!

[The Count | 526]

Glad to see one of SGB's lists made it here. He has incredible knowledge.

Edited November 15, 2019 by The Count

[RH | 4,889]

Any clue what a 100% complete, good copy of the first version of Pac-Man 2 goes for? I know it’s common as dirt, but that’s a lot of inserts, which are obviously easy to lose.

[DefaultGen | 5,390]

10 minutes ago, RH said:

Any clue what a 100% complete, good copy of the first version of Pac-Man 2 goes for? I know it’s common as dirt, but that’s a lot of inserts, which are obviously easy to lose.

My guess is $20 and some luck on a CIB BIN. There are completed listings with an insert here and there, so it would probably be easiest to piece it together. I doubt people will ever be foaming at the mouth to have this 100% complete. Looks like a complete one went in August for $18 + shipping at auction.

Edit: Or get one now before Wata puts out an article!! Hype!

Edited November 16, 2019 by DefaultGen

[Rman | 23]

Awesome!!

[supergamboy | 61]

15 hours ago, 8bitsupremacy said:

I would like to add, that any game with Namco engraving on back of cart will also say Namco on the inside of box near tray, others will have standard Sega logo if back of cart says Sega.  It's something I noticed only because I had a few Namco cover art inserts and needed to harvest proper boxes to appease my OCD.  I'm sure you covered this above but I just glanced at the thread briefly while at work here...will dive deeper later.

Good information. In my guide I had it listed that only Phelios and Burning Force had Sega cases instead of Namco, but sometime I should check the full list against that criteria and see if it all lines up.

Thanks for bringing this one over @RoyalT

[RoyalT | 161]

15 hours ago, The Count said:

Glad to see one of SGB's lists made it here. He has incredible knowledge.

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

[ViKiNg | 276]

I saved all Supergamboy's guides, so i could provide the information if needed.

[DaddyMulk | 64]

Bumping this because I have an orphan Registration Card that matches none of the above. Fan Club type rather than Contest. System order (Question 3) matches the card for Splatterhouse 2, as does the Namco logo on the reverse side, but it doesn’t have the game’s name printed in the lower right. Any ideas? 
 

[OG Sega Steve | 12]

On 7/8/2022 at 2:14 PM, DaddyMulk said:

Bumping this because I have an orphan Registration Card that matches none of the above. Fan Club type rather than Contest. System order (Question 3) matches the card for Splatterhouse 2, as does the Namco logo on the reverse side, but it doesn’t have the game’s name printed in the lower right. Any ideas? 
 

So no replies to your query after nearly a year...a shame and a chocking!

Not going to be of any FACTUAL help here, just speculation but im gonna give it a tumble!
(this card does not match anything in my Genesis set)

SECTION 3 organised by
[8bit LEFT]     -    [16bit CENTER]     -    [HH RIGHT}

The fact that SECTION 3 completely fails to include SNES in the CENTER column brings one of two things to mind:
(1) - this was made specifically for SNES pack-ins so there was no need to include SNES as a choice because clearly the sender owned one. Scroll back up and look at #10 Pac-Attack (1993). Notice how SECTION 3 does NOT include Genesis as an option...because clearly you owned one if you were sending that card in. This is MOST likely your cards origin story.

or

(2) This card was created BEFORE the announcement (let alone release) of the SNES. Chronologically, this is totally possible based on the other options listed. This may have been used for a VERY small window of time in Genesis games or even in just one game for its first production run only upon which it was revised to include SNES. This seems LEAST likely.

[Enternal | 15]

Rolling Thunder 2 has a Gold sticker variant that is very rare. Similar to the Pac-Man 2 Lenticular it's stuck to the insert not the case.

[The Count | 526]

On 1/8/2024 at 5:19 AM, Enternal said:

Rolling Thunder 2 has a Gold sticker variant that is very rare. Similar to the Pac-Man 2 Lenticular it's stuck to the insert not the case.

Don't suppose you have a pic?

[Enternal | 15]

This is opening up another other rabbit hole of mystery that I have yet to see anyone tackle. Maybe perfect for someone in here?

From my limited research there are a small number of titles let's say 25 (I'm guessing here) but you see the same ones, with Rolling Thunder 2 being one. They are Sega Genesis carts that got exported. These were possibly only distributed by Virgin Record Stores in the UK and Australia. And likely only games that did not get a mega drive release in their country.

They were stickered prior to distribution then sealed and appear on the insert. (You can see this on the Ys III insert outside of the case)

A related area of research is also needed to the Super Sega Rewards Club.

 

Edited January 14 by Enternal

[Gloves | 11,759]

11 minutes ago, Enternal said:

Ah yes, Adol Christin, the buff he-man action hero of legend.

[supergamboy | 61]

Fun to sign onto VGS for the first time in a long time only to find one of my old guides hanging around the first page of General Collecting Discussion!

It's been a long time since the days I was refreshing eBay all day for new "sega genesis" listings. That's how I ended up identifying and documenting so many variants. But even then I would have been just watching US listings, so I can't say I've come across those before.

Edit: I did some research and put together my findings in a new thread here:

Of note, this sticker is on the case, not the paper insert, as you seem to imply. In addition, I found nothing indicating that these games were then "sealed" -- do you have a picture of a game with the import sticker that is also sealed?

In any case, feel free to toss any response or findings in that other thread. But I would NOT view these games as a rare sticker variants. They were US games that just got a sticker as part of the process for the game to be sold abroad. Not something for US collectors to track down, but maybe more of a project for Australian collectors (who already have LOTS of cool variants to hunt!)

Edited January 22 by supergamboy