dmaxwell
02-12-2010, 05:59 PM
Hi all, I am in the middle of auditing my NES collection, and slowly I have been trying to replace my black box games with what I believe to be the 'original' release versions. Now, for completeness sake I often include Kid Icarus, Metroid, and Rad Racers with the black box games because they have the same pixelated covers.
Anyway, what I believe to be the 'first' release versions have the following traits (or lack of) on their boxes:
1) no country code at top left on back of box
2) no 'NES - GP' below the Nintendo logo near the bottom right on the back of the box
3) no 'Rev A' at bottom right on the front of the box
4) nearly all seem to have had the Nintendo circular sticker seal
5) Hangtab
6) original, round black/gold seal of quality on front of box
I have been able to find most of the games like this from the first release wave of black box games (10/85), and a couple from the second (6/86) but none from the third (3/87) or the 'silver' games.
Has anyone sorted out the differences, to know what came out when? I am starting to think the black box games from 1987 didnt ever have the circular sticker releases, but I want some confirmation if I can find it. Ebay pics didnt help too much. Does anyone here have copies of Volleyball, Soccer, Pro Wrestling and Slalom with the 'plain' box and a circular sticker seal? (pics if you can)
From my own research it appears the first re-releases lacked the sticker and had the 'NES - GP' but still didnt have the country code. The next re-releases had the NES - GP and the country code, but no 'Rev A'. The third had both, and the 'Rev A' seems to be the next modification; at this time the boxes seemed to have lost their hangtabs and got the oval gold and white seal.
The oddity of these seems to be the silver games. I have a Kid Icarus that has a country code but no 'NES - GP', and this is the only box I have like that. It still has a hangtab.
Anyway, what I believe to be the 'first' release versions have the following traits (or lack of) on their boxes:
1) no country code at top left on back of box
2) no 'NES - GP' below the Nintendo logo near the bottom right on the back of the box
3) no 'Rev A' at bottom right on the front of the box
4) nearly all seem to have had the Nintendo circular sticker seal
5) Hangtab
6) original, round black/gold seal of quality on front of box
I have been able to find most of the games like this from the first release wave of black box games (10/85), and a couple from the second (6/86) but none from the third (3/87) or the 'silver' games.
Has anyone sorted out the differences, to know what came out when? I am starting to think the black box games from 1987 didnt ever have the circular sticker releases, but I want some confirmation if I can find it. Ebay pics didnt help too much. Does anyone here have copies of Volleyball, Soccer, Pro Wrestling and Slalom with the 'plain' box and a circular sticker seal? (pics if you can)
From my own research it appears the first re-releases lacked the sticker and had the 'NES - GP' but still didnt have the country code. The next re-releases had the NES - GP and the country code, but no 'Rev A'. The third had both, and the 'Rev A' seems to be the next modification; at this time the boxes seemed to have lost their hangtabs and got the oval gold and white seal.
The oddity of these seems to be the silver games. I have a Kid Icarus that has a country code but no 'NES - GP', and this is the only box I have like that. It still has a hangtab.