View Full Version : SNES Plastic Cartridge Protectors
Drath
10-29-2011, 05:57 PM
Hello there,
I have a lot of recent boxed SNES games and noticed some come with the plastic cartridge protectors, and some don't. Being the completionist that I am, I am wondering if ALL new SNES games came with these or not? Was there some that didn't, perhaps from a certain publisher? As far as I remember as a kid, all new games came with them, but... it's been awhile, haha.
Parodius Duh!
10-29-2011, 06:22 PM
not all of them did, mainly it was official nintendo published games (Mario world, Zelda, DKC, starfox, etc.)
RPG_Fanatic
10-29-2011, 06:22 PM
All SNES games came with them for the first year from what I can remember. Then some came with them and some didn't, then none came with them.
djshok
10-29-2011, 06:25 PM
Yeah, they just sort of cheaped out in the later years, kinda like Sega did and started selling Genesis games in crappy paper boxes.
Aussie2B
10-29-2011, 06:26 PM
No, they didn't all have them. Those that didn't just had plastic baggies. I'm pretty sure that all games at the very beginning had them, while all games near the end of the SNES didn't, although I couldn't say if there was a time period in which some did and some didn't simultaneously. I also can't pinpoint the changing point either. I'm pretty sure I was getting games from 1995 in baggies. How about games in 1994?
Shulamana
10-29-2011, 07:22 PM
I was wondering about this when it came to my boxed Final Fantasy III. It's complete except that it does not have either a dust sleeve or a baggie. I see listings on eBay that have dust sleeves but I wouldn't put it beyond people to add one because it looks "more complete" that way.
The game came out in North America in October 1994.
Leo_A
10-29-2011, 07:25 PM
The changeover seems to have been right around 1994. I became a SuperNes owner right around then and every game I got over the first year or so, 1st and 3rd party, had these plastic cartridge protectors.
Then, absolutely nothing I purchased afterwards did (Later releases, 1st party rereleases in the Player's Choice line, and the Majesco run of rereleases of 3rd party software)
Shulamana
10-29-2011, 07:32 PM
When did the change in cart design happen? Would be easy to figure out if it was just the old carts that had a sleeve.
BlastProcessing402
10-29-2011, 07:53 PM
Similar things happened with those black sleeves for NES games and the plastic cases for original GameBoy games. At some point Nintendo just stopped including them.
When did the change in cart design happen? Would be easy to figure out if it was just the old carts that had a sleeve.
It was definitely well after that point.
Parodius Duh!
10-29-2011, 08:03 PM
on a side note, why is nobody reproducing these cartridge covers and selling them?
VertigoProcess
10-29-2011, 08:05 PM
on a side note, why is nobody reproducing these cartridge covers and selling them?
The NES ones would be way easy to make its just some thin plastic folded and glued...
joshnickerson
10-29-2011, 08:29 PM
on a side note, why is nobody reproducing these cartridge covers and selling them?
Actually, I have seen some generic ones being sold new in a blister pack at Play N trade.
Leo_A
10-29-2011, 08:31 PM
It was definitely well after that point.
I wouldn't say that.
Going off the games I actually bought back in the day, every one that had the old style cartridge had the dust sleeve. But only 2 or 3 were the new cartridge style.
I'd say it happened at nearly the same time with just a tiny bit of overlap.
When did the change in cart design happen? Would be easy to figure out if it was just the old carts that had a sleeve.
1993 or so. Star Fox was never rereleased as a Player's Choice game, yet exist with both the old cartridge style and the new.
Shulamana
10-29-2011, 09:48 PM
on a side note, why is nobody reproducing these cartridge covers and selling them?
I have seen some listings for these but $1 each is too much. (http://www.ebay.com/itm/Super-Nintendo-Dust-Cover-SNES-20-piece-lot-/160671783868?pt=PDA_Accessories&hash=item2568c8dbbc)
Gameguy
10-29-2011, 10:08 PM
Similar things happened with those black sleeves for NES games and the plastic cases for original GameBoy games. At some point Nintendo just stopped including them.
All original Gameboy games came with plastic cases, they weren't discontinued until the Gameboy Color came out. I have some GBC games with the cases and I bought them new.
I would like to know which SNES games came with the covers, I used to think they all did so I added spare ones to every boxed game I found because I thought they just got lost. I'm hoping I didn't screw them up now.
Leo_A
10-30-2011, 12:01 AM
I would like to know which SNES games came with the covers, I used to think they all did so I added spare ones to every boxed game I found because I thought they just got lost. I'm hoping I didn't screw them up now.
It will be impossible to know for some since they had production runs that overlapped the transition. But I'd say we can safely say that every release with the old cartridge style had one, every new release from approximately 1994 onwards didn't, and that all Player's Choice and Majesco rereleases lacked dust protectors.
treismac
10-30-2011, 12:20 AM
The NES ones would be way easy to make its just some thin plastic folded and glued...
I can't imagine the demand would be high enough to justify making them.
VertigoProcess
10-30-2011, 12:24 AM
I can't imagine the demand would be high enough to justify making them.
yeah... esp when you can still buy the originals for less then a dollar on ebay... i just bought over forty of them for less then a dollar each so i wouldn't have to worry about running out for awhile
joshnickerson
10-30-2011, 10:13 PM
I can't imagine the demand would be high enough to justify making them.
Apparently there is some demand...
http://www.wwgaming.com/games-images/nes-retro-sleeves.jpg
They come in SNES too...
http://cdn0.dascheap.com/inventory/images/Retro%20-%20Classic%20Games/Classic%20Consoles/Snes%20-%20Super%20Nintendo/Snes%20Hardware%20-%20Accessories/Snes%20New%20Hardware%20-%20Accessories/snes-game-dust-cover-sleeves.jpg?w=300&h=300
You can find them on Amazon and the like... they're made by the Retrobit guys, the ones who make those 2 in 1 famiclones.
http://www.amazon.com/NES-Cartridge-Protectors-Nintendo-Entertainment-System/dp/B001QY13C8
skaar
10-30-2011, 10:45 PM
Official NES games always had the sleeves.
Shulamana
10-30-2011, 11:39 PM
http://cdn0.dascheap.com/inventory/images/Retro%20-%20Classic%20Games/Classic%20Consoles/Snes%20-%20Super%20Nintendo/Snes%20Hardware%20-%20Accessories/Snes%20New%20Hardware%20-%20Accessories/snes-game-dust-cover-sleeves.jpg?w=300&h=300
In the amount of space it takes to put that fake cart in there they could fit two more dust covers in the package. :|
djshok
10-31-2011, 01:32 AM
That's pretty cool. I wish they sold them somewhere other than Amazon though.
jonebone
10-31-2011, 08:27 AM
As an SNES CIB collector, I've observed that games with the 3 sided white insert (as opposed to the square 4-sided insert) come without dust sleeves. The 4-sided ones should always include them as far as I can tell.
Orion Pimpdaddy
10-31-2011, 09:04 AM
I removed all the plastic protectors from my NES and SNES games and threw them into a box. For cartridge-only collectors, they just get in the way.
Parodius Duh!
10-31-2011, 03:51 PM
I removed all the plastic protectors from my NES and SNES games and threw them into a box. For cartridge-only collectors, they just get in the way.
hahaha wow. I beg to differ, I feel uncomfortable knowing my carts are now prone to dust and other shit around the house.
Sneak613
11-01-2011, 11:48 AM
hahaha wow. I beg to differ, I feel uncomfortable knowing my carts are now prone to dust and other shit around the house.
I feel the same as you. As a kid I always had the dustcovers, so why not now? It's all part of my retro/nostalgic memories... Thankfully I bought a bunch of them in a lot a while ago.. So nearly all my games (NES/SNES) have dustcovers..
I haven't seen too many around these days. Usually, when I see SNES games for sale loose, you won't commonly see them with dustcovers.
Meh, to each their own. :)
VertigoProcess
11-01-2011, 12:39 PM
I feel the same as you. As a kid I always had the dustcovers, so why not now? It's all part of my retro/nostalgic memories... Thankfully I bought a bunch of them in a lot a while ago.. So nearly all my games (NES/SNES) have dustcovers..
I haven't seen too many around these days. Usually, when I see SNES games for sale loose, you won't commonly see them with dustcovers.
Meh, to each their own. :)
i don't know about that the last 3 loose snes games i bought all came with them... i need to buy a lot of snes ones to have for back up... i already have nes ones... for the first time in my life all of my nes games are safe from dust... and they look way better sitting on the shelf...
Aussie2B
11-01-2011, 02:17 PM
It really depends on your storage. I have no problem incorporating the plastic covers in my storage methods. But if you're, say, stacking SNES carts on a shelf in vertical towers, then, yeah, I could see the plastic covers getting in the way.
Orion Pimpdaddy
11-01-2011, 07:54 PM
hahaha wow. I beg to differ, I feel uncomfortable knowing my carts are now prone to dust and other shit around the house.
Yeah, I used to think the same way. I tried to get all my SNES and NES games protected, but it just created problems.
It's hard to stack SNES cartridges with the plastic covers on them. The NES covers are a little better in that regard, but creates a separate problem for me; when stacked horizontally, the games tend to "glide" and fall out of the cases.
To protect against dust, I stack the cartridges with their openings against the shelf backing (or wall).