Code Monkey | 2,005 Posted February 3, 2021 Share Posted February 3, 2021 I'm trying to get official print and release dates for every single NES box, cartridge and manual. I have about 600 games from my own personal collection, with many variants, but I was wondering if I could source some information from all of you as well. These date codes will tell me when your particular item was manufactured and each code corresponds to a date. You can find the box, cartridge and manual codes in these places. If your box or manual were produced prior to 1987, you will not have these codes at all, the codes were introduced later into the NES lifespan. The box code is on the inner flap, under the product code. You can see this one is 91219 which refers to December 19, 1989. The manual is on the very last page at the bottom right. This one is 91209 which refers to December 9, 1989. The cartridge dates are on the chips inside. These are 9001 (PRG) and 8949 (CHR) which refer to the 1st week of 1990 and 49th week of 1989. I will be releasing all of this compiled knowledge to you, the community for free, so all of this is to help me help you. Thank you very much. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Code Monkey | 2,005 Posted February 4, 2021 Author Share Posted February 4, 2021 Please? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a3quit4s | 4,091 Posted February 4, 2021 Share Posted February 4, 2021 You are more than welcome to come on over and investigate my approximately NES 600 games, hell I’ll even offer you your drink of choice. I don’t mind taking a look at random carts here and there but this is asking a lot. You might get a club started for those seeking hardcore knowledge such as this. I wish you luck in your quest for information! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferris Bueller | 495 Posted February 4, 2021 Share Posted February 4, 2021 On 2/2/2021 at 11:36 PM, Code Monkey said: I will be releasing all of this compiled knowledge to you, the community for free, so all of this is to help me help you... Quoting the important part. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DefaultGen | 5,397 Posted February 4, 2021 Share Posted February 4, 2021 Here are some random ones you probably mostly have: Ninja Gaiden boxes: 90130, 90222, 90317, 90622, 90724, 90906, 91027, 00319 Super Mario Bros 3 (Left) boxes: 91208, 91219, 00119 Dragon Warrior (Star flap box): 91118 Die Schlumpfe (The Smurfs) NES-SF-NOE-1 box: 60401 (1996 babyyy) Zoda's Revenge box: 40111 (Printed backwards) Sometime this year I'm going to document all my personal codes (box and manual at least), but it will be a while. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Code Monkey | 2,005 Posted February 4, 2021 Author Share Posted February 4, 2021 3 hours ago, a3quit4s said: You are more than welcome to come on over and investigate my approximately NES 600 games, hell I’ll even offer you your drink of choice. I don’t mind taking a look at random carts here and there but this is asking a lot. You might get a club started for those seeking hardcore knowledge such as this. I wish you luck in your quest for information! I have just over 600 myself and it has taken me a looooooong ass time to do those. Western Canada is quite a long ways from Maryland but if I ever end up there I will message you! 1 hour ago, DefaultGen said: Here are some random ones you probably mostly have: Ninja Gaiden boxes: 90130, 90222, 90317, 90622, 90724, 90906, 91027, 00319 Super Mario Bros 3 (Left) boxes: 91208, 91219, 00119 Dragon Warrior (Star flap box): 91118 Die Schlumpfe (The Smurfs) NES-SF-NOE-1 box: 60401 (1996 babyyy) Zoda's Revenge box: 40111 (Printed backwards) Sometime this year I'm going to document all my personal codes (box and manual at least), but it will be a while. Oh, thanks! There's a 91208 Super Mario Bros. box? I think both of my boxes are 91219, that would mean neither of them are actual first prints, bummer. All of this will be available on my website where you can submit your own codes and dates so please do document them for me, thanks a lot. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mideast | 144 Posted February 4, 2021 Share Posted February 4, 2021 6 hours ago, Code Monkey said: I have just over 600 myself and it has taken me a looooooong ass time to do those. Western Canada is quite a long ways from Maryland but if I ever end up there I will message you! Oh, thanks! There's a 91208 Super Mario Bros. box? I think both of my boxes are 91219, that would mean neither of them are actual first prints, bummer. All of this will be available on my website where you can submit your own codes and dates so please do document them for me, thanks a lot. I can post a bunch of box codes I have, you just want the codes no photos? Are you going to put the posted ones in the database yourself, or are we saving them to input ourselves when your website is live? Is it generally accepted that boxes, manuals, and chips were printed every day? Or are the codes really an indication of weekly/sparse print runs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Code Monkey | 2,005 Posted February 4, 2021 Author Share Posted February 4, 2021 6 minutes ago, mideast said: I can post a bunch of box codes I have, you just want the codes no photos? Are you going to put the posted ones in the database yourself, or are we saving them to input ourselves when your website is live? Is it generally accepted that boxes, manuals, and chips were printed every day? Or are the codes really an indication of weekly/sparse print runs? Photos not required but if you send them, I'll verify the dates are accurate. I'll take whatever you have, or if you'd send photos so you don't have to write them out, that works for me as well. I'll be entering them into my database myself, it's not something I have open to the public at this time. Boxes, manuals and chips were printed on specific days and definitely not every day. If you look at a few posts above, the Super Mario Bros. 3 boxes have known print dates of 91208, 91219 and 00119. There are no other known dates for these currently, so if you find a box, it will likely have one of these dates on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mideast | 144 Posted February 4, 2021 Share Posted February 4, 2021 (edited) 6 minutes ago, Code Monkey said: Photos not required but if you send them, I'll verify the dates are accurate. I'll take whatever you have, or if you'd send photos so you don't have to write them out, that works for me as well. I'll be entering them into my database myself, it's not something I have open to the public at this time. Boxes, manuals and chips were printed on specific days and definitely not every day. If you look at a few posts above, the Super Mario Bros. 3 boxes have known print dates of 91208, 91219 and 00119. There are no other known dates for these currently, so if you find a box, it will likely have one of these dates on it. Mine is 00418! Feels good to be rare lol. And it actually looks like it was printed over a previous code Edit: Previous code seems to be 00312 if you can't see in the compressed photo. Can somebody shed some light on why they'd print it one day, then reprint it? Was it too light the first time? Edited February 4, 2021 by mideast 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mideast | 144 Posted February 4, 2021 Share Posted February 4, 2021 Or were you talking about just left Bros. boxes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Code Monkey | 2,005 Posted February 4, 2021 Author Share Posted February 4, 2021 1 minute ago, mideast said: Or were you talking about just left Bros. boxes? Those codes were just Left Bros. but I'm looking for all variants of all NES games. More please! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mideast | 144 Posted February 4, 2021 Share Posted February 4, 2021 (edited) More Nintendo published stuff: Anticipation 81021 Dance Aerobics 90120 Dr. Mario 00922 Faxanadu 90522 Final Fantasy 00905 NES Play Action Football 00723 StarTropics 00416 Super Mario Bros. 3 00418 Super Spike V’Ball 91207 Tetris 2 30823 To The Earth 90825 Zoda’s Revenge: StarTropics II 40111 StarTropics II is printed backwards same as @DefaultGen's, but a day apart. Photos on Imgur Edited February 5, 2021 by mideast 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RH | 4,895 Posted February 5, 2021 Share Posted February 5, 2021 (edited) I was about to come here and ask how do you decipher those stamps to figure out the date? Is it different for GB games? What does 30607 mean? Edited February 5, 2021 by RH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mideast | 144 Posted February 5, 2021 Share Posted February 5, 2021 Konami published: Adventures of Bayou Billy 90627 Batman Returns 30204 Blades of Steel 90830 Castlevania 90922 Castlevania II: Simon's Quest 90330 Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse 01207 Contra 81209 Double Dribble 81130 Gradius 90626 Jack Nicklaus Golf 91223 Tiny Toon Adventures 2 30219 TMNT III: The Manhattan Project 11210 Top Gun: The Second Mission 91201 Track & Field II 81226 Images in Imgur 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mideast | 144 Posted February 5, 2021 Share Posted February 5, 2021 5 minutes ago, RH said: I was about to come here and ask how do you decipher those stamps to figure out the date? Is it different for GB games? What does 30607 mean? It should be the same as what @Code Monkey said above. June 7, 1993 The first digit is the year: 7 = 1987 8 = 1988 9 = 1989 0 = 1990 1 = 1991 2 = 1992 3 = 1993 etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RH | 4,895 Posted February 5, 2021 Share Posted February 5, 2021 16 minutes ago, mideast said: It should be the same as what @Code Monkey said above. June 7, 1993 The first digit is the year: 7 = 1987 8 = 1988 9 = 1989 0 = 1990 1 = 1991 2 = 1992 3 = 1993 etc. Hmmm, follow up question, how much earlier did they print some of these boxes before release date? I'm thinking about buying a game and the box seems to predate the release date by a few months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mideast | 144 Posted February 5, 2021 Share Posted February 5, 2021 2 minutes ago, RH said: Hmmm, follow up question, how much earlier did they print some of these boxes before release date? I'm thinking about buying a game and the box seems to predate the release date by a few months. That's a good question, you're saying the time between the box print runs and the day they actually hit the shelves? I know while going through release dates of the earliest Genesis titles there were a few cover inserts that have the exact 1989 artwork style and 1989 copyright on the back but the internet says were actually released in January/February 1990. Those are Forgotten Worlds, Phantasy Star II and Zoom. I guess all kinds of logistical delays are possible? That led me to believe the copyright on the back of video games doesn't necessarily mean it was released in that year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Code Monkey | 2,005 Posted February 9, 2021 Author Share Posted February 9, 2021 More please! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mideast | 144 Posted February 9, 2021 Share Posted February 9, 2021 1 minute ago, Code Monkey said: More please! Okay I’ll post some more when I get a chance to sit down and check them! Are you doing any beta testing on your site? I wouldn’t mind uploading them directly there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Code Monkey | 2,005 Posted February 9, 2021 Author Share Posted February 9, 2021 I don't have the interface built yet but if you did really prefer that, it will be available later this month. I'm still putting database tables and object classes together to hold the variant data. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Code Monkey | 2,005 Posted February 9, 2021 Author Share Posted February 9, 2021 2 minutes ago, mideast said: Okay I’ll post some more when I get a chance to sit down and check them! Are you doing any beta testing on your site? I wouldn’t mind uploading them directly there 2 minutes ago, mideast said: Okay I’ll post some more when I get a chance to sit down and check them! Are you doing any beta testing on your site? I wouldn’t mind uploading them directly there I somehow mess this up and forgot to quote you when I replied and now got it all messed up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoctorEncore | 3,690 Posted February 10, 2021 Share Posted February 10, 2021 Forgot that you can't see the collector's club we had previously discussed by PM. Here are a few box codes for ya for Tecmo Basketball: BK - 20928 or 09/28/1992 BK-1 - 30122 or 01/22/1993 N7 - 31016 or 10/16/1993 Others from the same thread: "My N7 is 30827 My BK is 20928 My BK-1 is 30122" "My BK is no sticker 20928 My BK-1 is 21216 with 016281271 sticker" 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaden | 151 Posted February 10, 2021 Share Posted February 10, 2021 Very interesting stuff. I'll have to look through my boxes and manuals to see when they were printed. I would look at my cartridges, but I don't believe I have the right screwdriver to open them. But I'll be sure to post those too if I can open them later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mideast | 144 Posted February 10, 2021 Share Posted February 10, 2021 6 minutes ago, Jaden said: Very interesting stuff. I'll have to look through my boxes and manuals to see when they were printed. I would look at my cartridges, but I don't believe I have the right screwdriver to open them. But I'll be sure to post those too if I can open them later. The screwdriver bits are pretty easy to get on eBay here's one for instance. 3.8mm opens NES and SNES games, and the 4.5mm opens Genesis games. But there are exceptions that it won't open such as unlicensed games, some early NES games, and EA Genesis games. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaden | 151 Posted February 10, 2021 Share Posted February 10, 2021 Alright, here are the date codes for all of my loose instruction manuals. Al Unser Jr. Turbo Racing - 00330 BurgerTime - 81122 Double Dragon 2 - 00710 Fester's Quest - 90823 Galaga - 91012 Golf - no date Ironsword - 00121 Millipede - no date Othello - 81121 Operation Wolf - 90919 Super Spike V'Ball/Nintendo World Cup - no date Tecmo Baseball - 81201 And I'll be on the lookout for that driver bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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