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NES - Star Code Boxes, Circle-T Manuals, and Star Code Manuals


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10 hours ago, 0xDEAFC0DE said:

I tried to see how many scans I could find for the 5 manuals for Zelda 2 I know of. But, along the way I discovered another I didn't know about (the fourth below). The first 4 have no star, circle T, or RPTV warning. The next one has I think has the star code and the small RPTV warning at the bottom of page 1. The last one has the circle T and the full page RPTV and epilepsy warning on page 48.

Manual Scan Link
Circle SOQ No scan found, ebay pictures with copyright page https://www.ebay.com/itm/264494824566
Oval TM SOQ, 5-zip https://www.retrogames.cz/manualy/NES/NintendoNESTheLegendofZeldaII-TheAdventureofLink.pdf
Oval TM SOQ, 9-zip, no star No scan found
Oval R SOQ, 9-zip, no star http://www.thegameisafootarcade.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Zelda-II-The-Adventure-of-Link-Game-Manual.pdf
Oval R SOQ, 9-zip, star No scan found, ebay pictures with part of the copyright page https://www.ebay.com/itm/174090547854
Classic Series https://www.gamingalexandria.com/highquality/NES/Adventure%20of%20Link,%20The/Adventure%20of%20Link,%20The%20%5bNES-AL-USA-1%5d%20-%20Manual.pdf

EDIT: I forgot to note that the transition to the star manual happened after the switch to the Oval R seal. Zelda 1 is the opposite with a Oval TM seal and star code manual.

Nice detective work. I'm starting to think the star could mean there is a small transition statement for projections TVs, but we need some more research and pics.

I will look through Little Nemo and Play Action Football again today. Those both shipped with star manuals on the initial print. Play Action also has a Circle-T which really confused things, then lost the star on reprint.

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:V that’s what I was saying...

* and (T) mean the exact same thing.

My full theory:

1. -USA* and (T) mean that there is a rear projection TV warning in the manual.

2. -USA* manuals are for games that were released before the inclusion of RPTV warning in the manual. These games should be reprints rather than unique original releases.

3. (T) manuals are for games that were released AFTER the RPTV warning was printed in the document by default.

4. There should be no manuals with -USA* AND a (T) on the same manual. But there may be variants with them separate.

Edited by ThePhleo
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I went through my first of three bins of manuals and here's what I found so far.

Star Code:

  • 1943
  • A Nightmare On Elm Street
  • Battle Chess
  • Bigfoot
  • Blades Of Steel
  • Cabal
  • California Games
  • Championship Bowling
  • Code Name Viper
  • Crystalis
  • Dick Tracy
  • Disney's Chip And Dale Rescue Rangers
  • Goal!
  • Gremlins 2
  • Heavy Barrel

Circle T:

  • Golf Grand Slam
  • Galaxy 5000
  • Formula One: Built To Win
  • Flight Of The Intruder
  • Family Feud
  • Dragon's Lair
  • Double Dragon III
  • Disney's The Little Mermaid
  • Disney's Tale Spin
  • Disney's Darkwing Duck
  • Caveman Games
  • Castelian
  • Captain America And The Avengers
  • Break Time: The National Pool Tour
  • Race America
  • Adventure Island II
  • Advanced Dungeons And Dragons: Heroes Of The Lance

IMG_20191117_104336.jpg

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No definitive answer from Play Action and Little Nemo.

Play Action is SOQ R and has star and Circle-T on the manual cover. It does NOT have the additional Nintendo assurance statement and DOES have the long projection warning.

Spoiler

 

IMG_20191117_141347__01.jpg

IMG_20191117_135002.jpg

IMG_20191117_135101.jpg

 

 

little Nemo is SOQ R and has star only on the manual cover. It has a weird very small Nintendo assurance statement without the extra statement seen on some games.  It DOES NOT have the long projection warning, instead using a small projection warning at the bottom of the Table of Contents.

Spoiler

 

IMG_20191117_135550__01.jpg

IMG_20191117_135315.jpg

IMG_20191117_135347.jpg

 

 

Edited by DoctorEncore
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1 minute ago, Code Monkey said:

Do you need another sealed Play Action Football? There's one at a pawn shop here for $25.

No, but thanks for offering. I just need the red 4 version and I can get it on eBay for under $20 shipped. It won't offer much clarity here, but I need it for my variant collection anyways.

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40 minutes ago, ThePhleo said:

:V that’s what I was saying...

* and (T) mean the exact same thing.

My full theory:

1. -USA* and (T) mean that there is a rear projection TV warning in the manual.

2. -USA* manuals are for games that were released before the inclusion of RPTV warning in the manual. These games should be reprints rather than unique original releases.

3. (T) manuals are for games that were released AFTER the RPTV warning was printed in the document by default.

4. There should be no manuals with -USA* AND a (T) on the same manual. But there may be variants with them separate.

Well, we definitively have NES Play Action Football (White 4 Version) with both a * and Circle-T on the manual (pictured above). The question is, is this an exception? A mistake? Or does the star mean something else?

With a little more digging, I think we will know for sure. That being said, I agree that the star is probably supposed to indicate the brief projection warning as seen in the Little Nemo pictures I just posted. If @Code Monkey or I look through our huge manual collections, we will probably be able to confirm.

Edited by DoctorEncore
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On 11/3/2019 at 5:22 PM, DoctorEncore said:

Yeah that seems correct. I'll have to get my red 4 version to confirm everything. I did find a pic of the inside of the first page of the manual and it is different. It adds a disclaimer statement. The star manual has the rear projection warning at the back.

inCollage_20191103_172035641.jpg

 

15 minutes ago, ThePhleo said:

Any way to get a full scan of those two different NES Football manuals? I’d love to do a pixel for pixel examination of each page and see what differences there are.

If you go back a little further in this thread, you'll see the post above. The only difference I know for sure is the additional Nintendo assurance/warning as pictured. I suspect the rest of the manual is exactly the same. But I don't personally have both to compare.

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I found scans for both variants of Play Action Football.

Star Code: https://www.gamingalexandria.com/highquality/NES/NES Play Action Football/NES Play Action Football - Manual.pdf

No Star Code: http://www.thegameisafootarcade.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/NES-Play-Action-Football-Game-Manual.pdf

Edit: I just realized the Star manual was scaned unbound so the page order is weird.

Edited by 0xDEAFC0DE
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7 minutes ago, 0xDEAFC0DE said:

The scan is completely wrong, he has mages 5 and 36 next to each other. Others he has inserted blank pages.

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1 minute ago, Code Monkey said:

The scan is completely wrong, he has mages 5 and 36 next to each other. Others he has inserted blank pages.

See my edit. That scan was taken with the pages unbound, so the first page is paired up with the last page, and so on. The scan itself looks good though, it just has an annoying page order.

Anyway, I went through the whole thing and saw only three differences: the cover, page 1 with the addition of the "All products are licensed..." at the bottom of page 1, and a redone 90-day limited warranty page.

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1 hour ago, Code Monkey said:

I'd upload the rest (including a page with another difference) but I get an error that I'm only allowed to upload 14.65 mebibytes. Why can't I upload more than 4 photos?

Unfortunately there is an attachment size limit per post. You'd be better off uploading to imgur and then copy/pasting or drag/dropping.

 

25 minutes ago, 0xDEAFC0DE said:

I am noticing a trend with the Circle T. They all have this at the bottom of page 1.

I've not seen any no star, Circle T manual with that.

I've noticed this as well. Will eventually update original post.

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11 minutes ago, DoctorEncore said:

I've noticed this as well. Will eventually update original post.

Ah, nevermind. I looked through my Adventure Island II manual (circle T, no star) and didn't find the "All products are licensed..." text. It does have the full page RPTV warning.

Also found the scan online for reference: https://www.gamingalexandria.com/highquality/NES/Adventure Island II/Adventure Island II - Manual.pdf

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My Castlevania III manual is pretty much the same as my Adventure Island II manual.

But, I noticed something else strange. I would have thought that all of the later releases would have the RPTV warning, especially first party ones. But, my Zoda's Revenge: StarTropics II manual has neither the circle T or a star. Looking though it, it doesn't have the RPTV warning although it does have "All products are licensed..." text. StarTropics II was a first party game released on March 1994, so I don't know what's going on here. Link to scan (https://www.gamingalexandria.com/highquality/NES/Zoda's%20Revenge%20-%20StarTropics%20II/Zoda's%20Revenge%20-%20StarTropics%20II%20-%20Manual.pdf).

I checked Wario's Woods and it's the same (unrelated, it has an ESRB rating in the manual which looks really out of place).

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Star:

  • Hollywood Squares
  • Hoops
  • Ivan Ironman Stewart's Super Off-Road
  • Jack Nicklaus' Greatest 18 Holes Of Major Championship Golf
  • Jeopardy: Junior Edition
  • Journey To Silius
  • Kickle Cubicle
  • Little Nemo The Dream Master
  • Loopz
  • Low G Man
  • N.A.R.C.
  • NES Play Action Football
  • NFL
  • Ninja Gaiden
  • Phantom Fighter
  • Punch Out!!

Circle T:

  • High Speed
  • Home Alone
  • Home Alone 2
  • Hudson Hawk
  • Ikari Warriors III
  • Jackie Chan
  • Joe & Mac
  • Maniac Mansion
  • Mega Man 3
  • Mega Man 5
  • Metal Mech
  • Mission Impossible
  • Monster Truck Rally
  • NES Open Tournament Golf
  • NES Play Action Football
  • Ninja Crusaders
  • Nintendo World Cup
  • North And South
  • Palamedes
  • Paperboy 2
  • Pirates!
  • Power Punch II
  • Prince Of Persia
  • Puzznic
  • Kabuki Quantum Fighter
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17 minutes ago, Code Monkey said:

Does every star code manual have a non-star code manual?

No. Little Nemo does not appear to have a no-star version of the manual.

Alternatively, Play Action Football (white 4 version) had a star which was removed for the revision (red 4 version).

It's all a bit wacky

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Did some more research and checked every manual of games released 1993 and on. I used http://www.digitpress.com/library/manuals/nes/ as my reference. It looks like around July 1983 is when they stopped using the circle T. All the manuals after that had no Circle T and no RPTV warning (except The Addams Family: Pugsley's Scavenger Hunt which has both). Here's the list of games with the Circle T, all of which have the RPTV warning.

  • Break Time: The National Pool Tour
  • Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Hillsfar
  • Bomberman II
  • Fire 'n Ice
  • Bases Loaded 4
  • Casino Kid 2
  • Kid Klown in Night Mayor World
  • Lethal Weapon
  • Tiny Toon Adventures 2: Trouble in Wackyland
  • Battletoads & Double Dragon
  • Cool World
  • DuckTales 2
  • Color a Dinosaur
  • The Addams Family: Pugsley's Scavenger Hunt

However, there was a scattering of manuals before June 1993 that didn't have the circle T. All of these do have the RPTV warning has well. 

  • Rollerblade Racer
  • Alien3
  • Mickey's Safari in Letterland
  • Zen the Intergalactic Ninja
  • Yoshi's Cookie
  • Kirby's Adventure

I don't see any patterns in these games. Yoshi's Cookie and Kirby's Adventure are both first party too.

For reference here's Yoshi's Cookie: http://www.digitpress.com/library/manuals/nes/Yoshi's%20Cookie.pdf

Edited by 0xDEAFC0DE
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