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Thread: How many different variations of the NES version of Legend of Zelda are there?

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    Default How many different variations of the NES version of Legend of Zelda are there?

    I know of the following

    5-screw, gold, round Nintendo seal, no "hold reset when turning off the power" warning

    3-screw, gold, round Nintendo seal

    3-screw, gold, oval Nintendo seal

    3-screw, gray, oval Nintendo seal

    Mainly what I'm not sure of is if there are gold 5-screws WITH the "hold reset" warning, or if there are gold 3-screws WITHOUT the "hold reset" warning, or both, or neither, or any other sort of interesting variations (oval seal 5-screws or something nutty like that).

    I'm not really trying to collect them or anything, I'm just curious. I've got the 5-screw, that's enough for me.

    I'm also only really talking about US releases. I know there are probably Canadian ones and stuff that have differences (actually saw a Zelda 2 with a Mattel logo at a rental store way back in 88 or 89, blew my mind) but I'm not really looking for that sort of variation.

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    Purple Ganon time!
    <Sothy> its the internet <Sothy> who cares

    Quote Originally Posted by Daltone View Post
    This is a classic gaming site and the most active thread is a load of people wanking off to my little pony.

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    Quote Originally Posted by skaar View Post
    Purple Ganon time!
    I woke up this morning with a "Purple Gannon"........................................... ........so yeah......

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    Out of that list, one I'm pretty certain you're missing is the solid yellow cartridge, which IIRC is the rarest (Well, barring the prototype FDS Disc or Charumera Ramen ban, but this only specified NES versions).

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    Right, I almost forgot about that. It was only made for use by Nintendo Repair Centers.

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    Solid yellow Zeldas? Sounds like a band name!

    Anyway, does anyone know about when the "hold reset" transition happened? Before, during, or after the 5 to 3 screw change?

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    I am being 100% serious.

    Don't be curious. This is something you are better off not caring about.

    It's a slippery slope and you'll be dumber for it in the end.

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    Quote Originally Posted by portnoyd View Post
    I am being 100% serious.

    Don't be curious. This is something you are better off not caring about.

    It's a slippery slope and you'll be dumber for it in the end.
    Too late, I'm already curious. And it won't make you dumber, it may kill you if you're a cat, but I'm no cat.

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    Now I need an answer >< lol

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    Alright, alright, let's expand on this list;

    I've used http://www.zeldacollectorsmuseum.com as my source to verify some, along with my own memory.

    Known FDS Zelda;

    1) Zelda no Densetsu (version 1.0)
    2) Zelda no Densetsu (version 1.1)
    3) Charumera Ramen Ban Zelda no Densetsu
    4) Prototype Zelda no Densetsu that has been dumped

    Possible FDS Zeldas:
    1) Earlier Prototype Zelda no Densetsu shown in early advertising and the NES Zelda instruction manual.

    Famicom Zelda:
    1) Zelda no Densetsu 1

    NES Zelda:
    Copied from the list -
    1) The Legend of Zelda - USA (5-screw, gold, round Nintendo seal, no "hold reset when turning off the power" warning)
    2) The Legend of Zelda - USA (3-screw, gold, round Nintendo seal)
    3) The Legend of Zelda - USA (3-screw, gold, oval Nintendo seal)
    4) The Legend of Zelda - USA (3-screw, gray, oval Nintendo seal) (Possibly "Nintendo Classics" Version?)
    some others -
    5) The Legend of Zelda - USA (Yellow Cartridge)
    6) The Legend of Zelda - Hong Kong
    7) The Legend of Zelda - Europe (PAL)
    8) The Legend of Zelda - France/Netherlands (PAL)
    9) The Legend of Zelda Classic Series - France/Netherlands (PAL)

    Satellaview (YES I AM GOING THERE):
    1) BS Zelda no Densetsu - Dai-1-wa
    2) BS Zelda no Densetsu - Dai-2-wa
    3) BS Zelda no Densetsu - Dai-3-wa
    4) BS Zelda no Densetsu - Dai-4-wa
    5) BS Zelda no Densetsu Map 2 - Dai-1-wa
    6) BS Zelda no Densetsu Map 2 - Dai-2-wa
    7) BS Zelda no Densetsu Map 2 - Dai-3-wa
    8) BS Zelda no Densetsu Map 2 - Dai-4-wa

    GBA:
    1) NES Classics - The Legend of Zelda - USA
    2) NES Classics - The Legend of Zelda - Europe
    3) Famicom Mini - Zelda no Densetsu

    Gamecube:
    1) Animal Crossing (included as hidden game)
    2) The Legend of Zelda Collector's Edition (included)
    Probably Dobutsu no Mori + as well, but I need confirmation on that.

    Wii:
    1) The Legend of Zelda (Virtual Console)
    2) The Legend of Zelda (PAL Virtual Console)
    3) Zelda no Densetsu (Virtual Console)

    ... and don't be surprised if this list has to be amended.

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    For the long list there was also the Legend of Zelda for the 3DS Ambassador program (probably to be released to everyone else later).
    My Amazon Store. Mostly odds and ends but it includes video games when I replace them with a better (or complete) game.

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    The 3DS VC version is already available for non-Ambassadors to buy in Japan.

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    Does anyone have a 5-screw with the "hold reset" warning or a 3-screw without the "hold reset" warning?

    That's the main thing I'm still wondering about, when this hold reset change happened, before during or after the cart casings were changed.

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    There's also a Korean version for the NES/Hyundai Comboy.

    Sorry OP that I don't have any info about USA screw/warning-label variants...

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    Quote Originally Posted by Kiddo View Post
    Alright, alright, let's expand on this list;

    I've used http://www.zeldacollectorsmuseum.com as my source to verify some, along with my own memory.

    Known FDS Zelda;

    1) Zelda no Densetsu (version 1.0)
    2) Zelda no Densetsu (version 1.1)
    3) Charumera Ramen Ban Zelda no Densetsu
    4) Prototype Zelda no Densetsu that has been dumped

    Possible FDS Zeldas:
    1) Earlier Prototype Zelda no Densetsu shown in early advertising and the NES Zelda instruction manual.

    Famicom Zelda:
    1) Zelda no Densetsu 1

    NES Zelda:
    Copied from the list -
    1) The Legend of Zelda - USA (5-screw, gold, round Nintendo seal, no "hold reset when turning off the power" warning)
    2) The Legend of Zelda - USA (3-screw, gold, round Nintendo seal)
    3) The Legend of Zelda - USA (3-screw, gold, oval Nintendo seal)
    4) The Legend of Zelda - USA (3-screw, gray, oval Nintendo seal) (Possibly "Nintendo Classics" Version?)
    some others -
    5) The Legend of Zelda - USA (Yellow Cartridge)
    6) The Legend of Zelda - Hong Kong
    7) The Legend of Zelda - Europe (PAL)
    8) The Legend of Zelda - France/Netherlands (PAL)
    9) The Legend of Zelda Classic Series - France/Netherlands (PAL)

    Satellaview (YES I AM GOING THERE):
    1) BS Zelda no Densetsu - Dai-1-wa
    2) BS Zelda no Densetsu - Dai-2-wa
    3) BS Zelda no Densetsu - Dai-3-wa
    4) BS Zelda no Densetsu - Dai-4-wa
    5) BS Zelda no Densetsu Map 2 - Dai-1-wa
    6) BS Zelda no Densetsu Map 2 - Dai-2-wa
    7) BS Zelda no Densetsu Map 2 - Dai-3-wa
    8) BS Zelda no Densetsu Map 2 - Dai-4-wa

    GBA:
    1) NES Classics - The Legend of Zelda - USA
    2) NES Classics - The Legend of Zelda - Europe
    3) Famicom Mini - Zelda no Densetsu

    Gamecube:
    1) Animal Crossing (included as hidden game)
    2) The Legend of Zelda Collector's Edition (included)
    Probably Dobutsu no Mori + as well, but I need confirmation on that.

    Wii:
    1) The Legend of Zelda (Virtual Console)
    2) The Legend of Zelda (PAL Virtual Console)
    3) Zelda no Densetsu (Virtual Console)

    ... and don't be surprised if this list has to be amended.
    I saw a zelda this morning which looked a little different to me. Afterwards I asked my buddies to round up all our legend of zelda NES carts to see differences. There are 10 in total

    front :

    all are gold color

    bottom right corner :
    1x CAN
    5x NES-ZL-CAN
    2x NES - ZL - USA
    2x blank
    *note I am using this to reference carts in rest of this post *

    bottom middle:

    the one that says CAN has a circle nintendo logo
    out of the 5x NES-ZL - CAN 4 are oval nintendo logo, 1 is circle logo.
    out of the 2 ZL - USA one is oval logo, 1 is circle logo
    both blanks have circle logo

    bottom left :
    CAN - experience the challenge of endless adventure (not bolded)
    5x ZL-CAN experience the challenge of endless adventure. (bolded). 4/5 say Made in Japan underneath.
    both ZL- USA have made in Japan - seems as though one is bolded, one is not. Could be different fonts though.
    both blanks are blank.

    under Zelda :

    All zeldas which say CAN have a line under Zelda
    all other carts say experience the challenge of endless adventure in bold. One ZL-USA is not bolded


    Back of carts :

    screws:

    all are 3 screw with the exception of one. This being one of the blanks

    coloring of labels :

    all are black with exception of 2. Those 2 have red lettering starting with "If you are saving your game" Both of these are ZL-USA

    Top right of labels :

    All but 3 say REV-A . These three are CAN, and the 2 blanks

    bottom right :

    CAN : Nintendo CAN
    out of the 5 ZL-CAN 4 say Nintendo 1985 CAN, one says Nintendo CAN
    out of the 2 ZL-USA one says Nintendo 1985, other says nintendo
    both blanks say nintendo

    size of the word nintendo :

    CAN carts without dates are smaller.
    ZL-USA nintendo is much smaller

    bottom left :
    both ZL-USA carts say NES-ZL871104 the remaining 8 carts are blank

    screw variants :

    one of the blank carts have a 5 screw variant, remaining 9 carts are 3 screw,

    when searching google, I dont see many threads/posts regarding this. Usually it is just screw variants. Does anyone have any further information on variants and scarcity of different variants?

    I can post pictures if requested.

    Thanks.

    edit :

    Quote Originally Posted by BlastProcessing402 View Post
    I know of the following

    5-screw, gold, round Nintendo seal, no "hold reset when turning off the power" warning

    3-screw, gold, round Nintendo seal

    3-screw, gold, oval Nintendo seal

    3-screw, gray, oval Nintendo seal

    Mainly what I'm not sure of is if there are gold 5-screws WITH the "hold reset" warning, or if there are gold 3-screws WITHOUT the "hold reset" warning, or both, or neither, or any other sort of interesting variations (oval seal 5-screws or something nutty like that).

    I'm not really trying to collect them or anything, I'm just curious. I've got the 5-screw, that's enough for me.

    I'm also only really talking about US releases. I know there are probably Canadian ones and stuff that have differences (actually saw a Zelda 2 with a Mattel logo at a rental store way back in 88 or 89, blew my mind) but I'm not really looking for that sort of variation.
    both blanks do not he the hold warning. One is 3 screw, one is 5 screw
    Last edited by KWvintagegames; 07-05-2012 at 06:52 PM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by KWvintagegames View Post

    both blanks do not he the hold warning. One is 3 screw, one is 5 screw
    Just to clarify, this is the in game warning, not the warning printed on the label on the back of the cart?

    Either way, thanks for putting in all that effort!

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