SNES Box Question

[aingevt]

I recently had fellow DP member Pootle build me a few SNES cart reproductions. They are fantastic, but obviously loose. I put a lot of effort into designing some boxes for them, for display purposes only. I tried going to my local print shop to have them printed professionally, but they claimed they couldn't print on that type of paper (some print shop...). So now I have to print them myself. My question is, what kind of paper do I use to make them look and feel authentic and where to do I get it?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[Cornelius]

If I were to attempt this with just the resources I have available, here's how I'd do it. Print it out on some decent photo paper. That should be sturdy enough to glue, without wrinkling, etc., to a mocked up box made out of cereal boxes. Or glue to a spare Madden box. The biggest problem I see is that the glossy papers will be too glossy, but matte wouldn't be quite right either. Maybe there is some in-between option I don't know about. I'd probably go with matte if not.

I don't think my printers could handle cardstock thick enough, otherwise I'd try that.

Let's see those box designs!

[aingevt]

Thanks for the response.

I thought about printing it out in high quality and gluing it to something more sturdy, but I have access to a pretty substantial color laser printer, so I was hoping to just print directly to the box paper.

Here's a work in progress/lower resolution pic of the Star Ocean box:



I've since added borders to the pictures, created a new bar code to match the Japanese one and touched up a few other things so it'll line up properly when printed.

[Teknik_SE-R]

very impressive

the boys HERE would be very interested in your work. They might also have some tips in actual recreation of the boxes.

"local" links to box art projects:


SNES rental case inserts
CLickY


N64 box art project
CLickY


There is always something new happening here. I love Digital Press. :'(

[carlcarlson]

Great job on the box design, it looks very authentic. I'm sorry I don't have anything to add to the discussion, but keep us posted on the project, I'd love to see the final product.

How much did your Star Ocean repro cost?

[aingevt]

Great job on the box design, it looks very authentic. I'm sorry I don't have anything to add to the discussion, but keep us posted on the project, I'd love to see the final product.

How much did your Star Ocean repro cost?

Thanks for the compliments.

Including the cost of the donor cart I think it was somewhere around $90. I can't really remember though. I figured if I'm doing something as complicated and unique as this, don't even think about the cost (within reason).

[tubeway]

Ya know... Nintendo HAD to have supplied third party publishers with box design templates that they put their own artwork and information onto....

[gamescanner.org]

Ya know... Nintendo HAD to have supplied third party publishers with box design templates that they put their own artwork and information onto....

Boy, this is a very old post. But in reply, yes they did indeed. Now, I dunno why they are so impossible to find, but I bet some files do sit on some people drives. I had managed to track one down and buy it (the digital files) for a pretty penny... They "guy" said he has more...

I had purchased the cheapest one offered, TECMO Super Bowl III. Here's the pic. It came in PDF format with all digital assets, including original artwork in VERY high resolution. You could cover entire wall with it without seeing pixels.

[Tanooki]

I'm not entirely sure where to get it, but what you need is a thick grade card stock paper. Not the usual cheap thing card stock you could find at like Staples / Office Depot but a little thicker. If you're going for real authenticity the inside has to be cardboard colored/brown shaded and the outside should be a glossy white and that side you'd print your box to. If the printer is big enough or can handle it, I'd use a one print sheet template for the box and run it through, if not I'd find a way to do it where piecing together still makes it look and hold together correctly so at a glance it looks tight and only good inspection would reveal it as new.

[gamescanner.org]

I've done the research, but tx for the tips. In order to get the original look with cardboard backing, one needs to invest a bit. Digital print on white (thick) cardboard stock is cheap. But it's a digital print.
To get the "REAL THING", one needs to invest more dough in offset print. But now you're running into volume. Unless you know someone in printing business, it's gonna be hard to td. Still, I'm working on it...

[Gameguy]

You could just buy boxes premade by someone else.

http://uncletusk.com/

[Tanooki]

Tusk does fine work, probably the best, but they're also clearly marked as by him with an emblem as copies, so if you're going for accuracy in appearances you'll want to do your own.