SNES jumbo cartridge shells (with POLL!)

[phart010 | 1,707]

I was just pondering over my thrill for NES carts and to a lesser extent, SNES carts. Got me thinking, what is it that I like about NES carts? I realized it is because of the artwork on the labels. NES games have bigger labels than SNES games, so there's bigger pictures and more art. 

So then I got to thinking, what if there was SNES carts the same size as NES carts??

 Actually there is.. the Super Gameboy cart is like a jumbo sized SNES cart. Only thing is that it has a Gameboy cartridge slot in the place where you would normally have the label. 

What if they actually made a cart the size of the Super Gameboy cart, except it just had a massive label on it? These could be used as replacement shells for games with broken shells or destroyed labels. You could make them high quality like you do with repro labels, except there's no guilt in doing so because you'd never mistake it for a genuine cart or genuine label.

What would that look like? I decided to find out using Microsoft paint and Microsoft word:

Credit due to Buyatari, I stole his images of the original artwork for Megaman X (please dont sue me!)

Edited March 9, 2021 by phart010

[OptOut | 8,883]

Props on the MAD MS paint skillz bruh!!! Game respects game! 

[Dr. Morbis | 2,088]

Not only are SNES labels smaller, but NOA enforced the same design pattern on every publisher, which limited the actual artwork to a smaller box within the label and left a bunch of black dead space all around the picture (and especially to the right of it).  WTF Nintendo?!?

[phart010 | 1,707]

I was thinking something like this could be an all around win for OEM collectors, people that just want a display piece that looks cool, and repro makers.

If this type of shell could take off, OEM collectors would have to worry less about unintentional 1:1 fakes. People that just want something that looks cool get a game with a much bigger label with more space for label art. Repro makers have less to worry about pissing off collectors and there’s a whole new market that opens up for new label sizes and the new carts.

It’s a win-win-win situation. That’s all assuming that people would actually buy something like this. I was kind of thinking about running a Kickstarter just to see if there’s enough interest out there. I have a few ideas about who to contact for manufacturing high quality plastic shells.

 

Edited March 9, 2021 by phart010

[a3quit4s | 4,096]

I dunno print resolution was better by the time snes came out it seems like and snes boards are way smaller than nes so it just seems like a waste of plastic lol

[phart010 | 1,707]

Got bored

[fcgamer | 4,722]

On 3/10/2021 at 3:27 AM, phart010 said:

I was thinking something like this could be an all around win for OEM collectors, people that just want a display piece that looks cool, and repro makers.

If this type of shell could take off, OEM collectors would have to worry less about unintentional 1:1 fakes. People that just want something that looks cool get a game with a much bigger label with more space for label art. Repro makers have less to worry about pissing off collectors and there’s a whole new market that opens up for new label sizes and the new carts.

It’s a win-win-win situation. That’s all assuming that people would actually buy something like this. I was kind of thinking about running a Kickstarter just to see if there’s enough interest out there. I have a few ideas about who to contact for manufacturing high quality plastic shells.

 

I personally wouldn't be into it, as I'm definitely more on the collecting side; however, when you break it down like you do in the above post, I think it actually makes a bit of sense.

[fcgamer | 4,722]

Also, I'll throw this out there for what it's worth.

Old Taiwanense bootleg famicom carts looked like this. You can see the comparison to a regular sized cart, and people nowadays simply love these larger carts. It may just be because they are exotic, but I'm just throwing it out there.

[phart010 | 1,707]

I figured it’s time to follow up with my progress on this project. 
 

I hired a professional parts designer to take precise dimensions of original parts and create a design. He made a 3d model of the shell I envisioned. 
 

I had 3d prints made, and they are pretty slick, but in order to have the correct materials and perfect dimensions, you really need to do injection molds. I worked with a company that does injection molds and the molds cost upwards of $12k, this was before the massive inflation of the past year. It’s probably higher now.

I started down this path thinking it would be a neat idea and a little tangent to take my retro hobby on. In order to put plastic injection molds into production, I’d have to really order about $20k worth of product and sell them (in addition to purchasing molds) in order to make this project worthwhile. So essentially about $30k. 
 

Even then, I ran the numbers, at large volumes, with Amazon fulfillment or even using a 3rd party fulfillment center to lower costs, the shells still end up being too expensive to expect people to actually pay for. So this project would not be financially feasible alone.

The only way I could see it work is for a company that sells large volume of SNES games to take on the project and use it to sell their games. With that in mind, my design can easily just be reverse engineered, so there’s no use for me to be a middle man just for coming up with this design.

So if anyone cares to pursue this shell design, have at it. I would be happy enough to just see it get taken seriously by someone and finally put into production.

Edited March 19, 2022 by phart010

[FireHazard51 | 2,043]

On 3/18/2022 at 9:31 PM, phart010 said:

I figured it’s time to follow up with my progress on this project. 
 

I hired a professional parts designer to take precise dimensions of original parts and create a design. He made a 3d model of the shell I envisioned. 
 

I had 3d prints made, and they are pretty slick, but in order to have the correct materials and perfect dimensions, you really need to do injection molds. I worked with a company that does injection molds and the molds cost upwards of $12k, this was before the massive inflation of the past year. It’s probably higher now.

I started down this path thinking it would be a neat idea and a little tangent to take my retro hobby on. In order to put plastic injection molds into production, I’d have to really order about $20k worth of product and sell them (in addition to purchasing molds) in order to make this project worthwhile. So essentially about $30k. 
 

Even then, I ran the numbers, at large volumes, with Amazon fulfillment or even using a 3rd party fulfillment center to lower costs, the shells still end up being too expensive to expect people to actually pay for. So this project would not be financially feasible alone.

The only way I could see it work is for a company that sells large volume of SNES games to take on the project and use it to sell their games. With that in mind, my design can easily just be reverse engineered, so there’s no use for me to be a middle man just for coming up with this design.

So if anyone cares to pursue this shell design, have at it. I would be happy enough to just see it get taken seriously by someone and finally put into production.

Maybe should look into the patient and selling the idea to companies that are making new SNEs games like Limit Run.  Having that bigger artwork to appreciate could be a thing for them to want to do.  

[phart010 | 1,707]

On 3/20/2022 at 4:33 PM, FireHazard51 said:

Maybe should look into the patient and selling the idea to companies that are making new SNEs games like Limit Run.  Having that bigger artwork to appreciate could be a thing for them to want to do.  

I was thinking about just mailing one of the prototype shells to Limited Runs physical address and seeing if anything happens. There mailing address is on the back of any game published by them. Older games say Raleigh NC but they have moved to Apex NC some time ago