How do you tell promo Power Strike SMS from regular one?

[drwily008]

I found this http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=8169314327&ssPageName=STRK:MEBI:IT auction and this http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=8168265769&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT auction. I am bidding on the top one. What's up with the difference in price? Am I being an idiot and bidding to high. I want the rare one for my SMS collection but just cant see the difference in price! -Thanks

[maxlords]

Simple. The mail order one has a blue/white insert, like both of the links you posted. The other version....retail one, has a full color insert. Both of those are mail order versions. I tend to see the mail order version more frequently myself, but I'm told that both versions are about equal in rarity.

The regular version was released for sale when the sales of the mail order one were surprisingly high, from what I understand. Both verisons had a limited run.

[drwily008]

Hey thanks alot Maxlords!! That's what I thought but the other one went for so low I second guessed myself. What is the most you would pay for it? I know that is a common question but it would help alot to get some advice!

[RevQuixo]

Simple. The mail order one has a blue/white insert, like both of the links you posted. The other version....retail one, has a full color insert. Both of those are mail order versions. I tend to see the mail order version more frequently myself, but I'm told that both versions are about equal in rarity.

The regular version was released for sale when the sales of the mail order one were surprisingly high, from what I understand. Both verisons had a limited run.

Actually I'm pretty sure the "fulll color" version was the Canadian version. I'm sure some of them permeated the US marketplace, but they weren't originally intended for teh US market.

[Raccoon Lad]

Yeah, the full color version is the "international" one.

[jgenotte]

[Shamless Plug] If you dont win either of those auctions, I have one with a blue/white box. PM me if interested [/Shamless Plug]
:D

-james

[-hellvin-]

Go for either of the ones posted. It's "supposedly" rarer. The description on the back of the box is pretty funny.

[maxlords]

Really? Hmmm....I thought there was a limited domestic release of the full color one. Or did Sega decide to release the international one after the mail order one did so well?

[eightbitonline]

i'm in canada and have found one in the wild that was white/blue. also, the one in the first auction is being sold from canada. it still could've been mail order but i'm "jus' sayin' ". :)

for the record i sold mine privately for $35... after consulting with maxlord about rarity and value. i'm not a big sms collector so i don't know the prices that well. i wish i coulda gotten the $61 that the above seller did.

[RevQuixo]

Really? Hmmm....I thought there was a limited domestic release of the full color one. Or did Sega decide to release the international one after the mail order one did so well?

Well if anyone finds a full color Power Strike with a barcode that starts with 010086 that's a US release

Anything that starts with 4974365 is European (Or Japanese but that is moot in this example)

0690440 is the start of the Barcode for the Sticker Sega used for Canadian releases.

It's all in the barcodes.

[-hellvin-]

Really? Hmmm....I thought there was a limited domestic release of the full color one. Or did Sega decide to release the international one after the mail order one did so well?

Well if anyone finds a full color Power Strike with a barcode that starts with 010086 that's a US release

Anything that starts with 4974365 is European (Or Japanese but that is moot in this example)

0690440 is the start of the Barcode for the Sticker Sega used for Canadian releases.

It's all in the barcodes.

Not all the games follow this pattern from what I've noticed in the past. Offhand I can remember that montezuma's revenge and rc grand prix NTSC copies have different barcodes. My Euro Star Wars also does not start with the one listed. I could turn around and grab em off the shelf and type the different codes but that's a lot of work ;D. It's mostly a good code to follow but there are some variances. I'm still hoping to find a complete sonic with a US barcode ;D.

[pseudonym]

ok then. what does the four digit code at the bottom of the box mean? these are all i really find in canada so i assume these are international versions. i've seen sms games with the longer code (ie: 0690440) but i don't see them as often as the four digit ones.

[anagrama]

My understanding was that remaining copies of the blue/white version were later sold in US stores aswell, rather than being exclusively mail-order. Not sure where I heard that, though.

[anagrama]

ok then. what does the four digit code at the bottom of the box mean? these are all i really find in canada so i assume these are international versions. i've seen sms games with the longer code (ie: 0690440) but i don't see them as often as the four digit ones.

That's the part number. It's the same number on most US & European games.
US releases all credit "Sega of America" on the back, and have English-only boxes & manuals.

[pseudonym]

ok, what about the ones with multiple languages on the back of the boxes/in the manuals? where are those games from?

[anagrama]

Europe.

[vulcanjedi]

Yo

Back in the day you had to be a member of the sega club to get Power Strike. I remember cutting barcodes off of the back panels of 3 games to join the club and then having to cut the entire back panel from 3 more games to get Power Strike.

It is the first SMS game I remember that said it was from Tonka.

I don't remember ever seeing it in the stores after that. And it was a hot item on the BBS trade boards.

VJ

[RevQuixo]

Really? Hmmm....I thought there was a limited domestic release of the full color one. Or did Sega decide to release the international one after the mail order one did so well?

Well if anyone finds a full color Power Strike with a barcode that starts with 010086 that's a US release

Anything that starts with 4974365 is European (Or Japanese but that is moot in this example)

0690440 is the start of the Barcode for the Sticker Sega used for Canadian releases.

It's all in the barcodes.

Not all the games follow this pattern from what I've noticed in the past. Offhand I can remember that montezuma's revenge and rc grand prix NTSC copies have different barcodes. My Euro Star Wars also does not start with the one listed. I could turn around and grab em off the shelf and type the different codes but that's a lot of work ;D. It's mostly a good code to follow but there are some variances. I'm still hoping to find a complete sonic with a US barcode ;D.

That's because Star Wars and RC Grand Prix are third party published games.

I'm strictly talking Sega published games here.

Basically the first half of a barcode is the publisher Identifier.

I'll bet your Montezuma's Revenge stats with 073000

Slap that into the search engine in my website and viola:

http://vgrebirth.org/games/search.asp?keywords=073000

All Parker Bros. published games.

[NeoZeedeater]

Well if anyone finds a full color Power Strike with a barcode that starts with 010086 that's a US release

Anything that starts with 4974365 is European (Or Japanese but that is moot in this example)

0690440 is the start of the Barcode for the Sticker Sega used for Canadian releases.

It's all in the barcodes.
Excellent. This could come in handy for me as I'm trying to confirm all the Canadian "international" releases.


i've seen sms games with the longer code (ie: 0690440) but i don't see them as often as the four digit ones.

Canada got a mix of US and Euro style packages. I live in Canada and looking over my collection, I have quite a few with US barcodes and some in the US style with the UPC/Canada sticker on. A lot of multi-language boxes have no barcodes at all so you can't tell by looking at them if they were released in Canada or Europe.

[RevQuixo]

Well if anyone finds a full color Power Strike with a barcode that starts with 010086 that's a US release

Anything that starts with 4974365 is European (Or Japanese but that is moot in this example)

0690440 is the start of the Barcode for the Sticker Sega used for Canadian releases.

It's all in the barcodes.
Excellent. This could come in handy for me as I'm trying to confirm all the Canadian "international" releases.


i've seen sms games with the longer code (ie: 0690440) but i don't see them as often as the four digit ones.

Canada got a mix of US and Euro style packages. I live in Canada and looking over my collection, I have quite a few with US barcodes and some in the US style with the UPC/Canada sticker on. A lot of multi-language boxes have no barcodes at all so you can't tell by looking at them if they were released in Canada or Europe.

I would be interested in seeing your findings thus far for Canadian releases. I would imagine that anything you have with the US Sega barcodes are just that...US releases that Canadian stores brought in. Games with the European barcode likewise could either have a) had the sticker removed or b) been imported. I guess anything that Sega of Canada did would have had its own unique barcode if it was "official"

[NeoZeedeater]

I don't have much in terms of findings. These are some games that I remember seeing in Canadian stores back in the day that weren't US releases: Assault City, Basketball Nightmare, Battle Out Run, Out Run 3-D, Dynamite Dux, Gauntlet, Impossible Mission, Scramble Spirits, and World Games. I also saw Ultima IV which people tell me wasn't a US release although SOA did advertise it.

I don't own any of these to confirm the barcodes today although they were almost certainly limited quantity Canadian releases. So far I have only seen scans online of Dynamite Dux and Battle Out Run with Canadian barcodes. Almost every multi-language scan online has a Euro barcode which is understandable since they're much more common.

This site lists more games as Canadian international releases -
http://www.cgcc.ca/articles/view.php?article=Canadian%20Collectors%20FAQ

[CRV]

I would be interested in seeing your findings thus far for Canadian releases. I would imagine that anything you have with the US Sega barcodes are just that...US releases that Canadian stores brought in. Games with the European barcode likewise could either have a) had the sticker removed or b) been imported. I guess anything that Sega of Canada did would have had its own unique barcode if it was "official"

Is/was there a Sega of Canada? I believe all the SMS stuff there was handled by Irwin Toys (Irwin Electronics).

[RevQuixo]

I would be interested in seeing your findings thus far for Canadian releases. I would imagine that anything you have with the US Sega barcodes are just that...US releases that Canadian stores brought in. Games with the European barcode likewise could either have a) had the sticker removed or b) been imported. I guess anything that Sega of Canada did would have had its own unique barcode if it was "official"

Is/was there a Sega of Canada? I believe all the SMS stuff there was handled by Irwin Toys (Irwin Electronics).

Might well have been Irwin was the distributor...much like Ozsoft was the distributor in Australia....and Tonka the early distributor in the US The games were still "Published by Sega" though...hence my usage of Sega of Canada...might be a misnomer to call it such though.

[NeoZeedeater]

Is/was there a Sega of Canada? I believe all the SMS stuff there was handled by Irwin Toys (Irwin Electronics).

Yeah, there wasn't a Sega of Canada. After Irwin, it seems all Sega stuff in Canada was handled by Sega of America. Aside from the system boxes and Hang On/Safari Hunt you won't find the Irwin logo on any Canadian SMS stuff though.

[RevQuixo]

Is/was there a Sega of Canada? I believe all the SMS stuff there was handled by Irwin Toys (Irwin Electronics).

Yeah, there wasn't a Sega of Canada. After Irwin, it seems all Sega stuff in Canada was handled by Sega of America. Aside from the system boxes and Hang On/Safari Hunt you won't find the Irwin logo on any Canadian SMS stuff though.

Well whomever it was they were using the Canadian barcode until at least 1991:

http://vgrebirth.org/games/search.asp?keywords=069044

[anagrama]

The Overseas Game List at SMS Power (smspower.org) lists the follwing as having a Canadian release:

Battle Out Run
Cyber Shinobi, The
Dynamite Dux
Hang On / Safari Hunt
Impossible Mission
Out Run 3-D
Power Strike
Scramble Spirits
Ultima IV

[NeoZeedeater]

Well whomever it was they were using the Canadian barcode until at least 1991:

http://vgrebirth.org/games/search.asp?keywords=069044
I have the Canadian barcodes for a couple games that did get US releases if you want them: Lord of the Sword(69044 09681) and Alex Kidd in Shinobi World(69044 07044) but like I said most of my non-US games have no barcode at all.

[RevQuixo]

Well whomever it was they were using the Canadian barcode until at least 1991:

http://vgrebirth.org/games/search.asp?keywords=069044
I have the Canadian barcodes for a couple games that did get US releases if you want them: Lord of the Sword(69044 09681) and Alex Kidd in Shinobi World(69044 07044) but like I said most of my non-US games have no barcode at all.

Thank you much...missing the first and last digits off of those, but I can figure them out based on the fact that they are check digits..that are standard if you know how to read em

[NeoZeedeater]

Oh yeah, those off-to-the-side numbers.

LotS - 069044 096813
AKSW - 069044 070448

[RevQuixo]

Oh yeah, those off-to-the-side numbers.

LotS - 069044 096813
AKSW - 069044 070448

Added :)

[NeoZeedeater]

Cool. I just looked over my Genesis games. They're all US or Japan codes except for the Sonic games. Sonic 2's is 069044 010512.

[arrrggghhh]

My understanding was that remaining copies of the blue/white version were later sold in US stores aswell, rather than being exclusively mail-order. Not sure where I heard that, though.

I remember buying mine at Toys-R-Us.