Giant Label Variation PHOTO Website. Check it out!

[Philflound]

I just found out that the new acquisition of Asteroids turned out to be the 1st box variation on the list. I didn't have a scan of it, so now I do. This has the white warranty box with the copyright date outside of it. It'll be up on the site within 10 minutes.

 

Can you believe I'm editing this because I don't feel like posting a new post, but I found a new Bowling variation. This has a white warranty box dated 1981 instead of 1978, just like some of the others I've been finding, outside the box. I'll scan and get this up in a few minutes again.

 

Phil

Edited July 21, 2010 by Philflound

[Philflound]

I need to do some comparisons. I think I have the Macau box for Combat, so I'll look and get that scanned. I'm going to revise some of the listings with better info... i.e. Rev numbers, standard/glue flap, Printed in, etc. I now have both boxes listing white letters and black letters on the side of Airlock and Bugs, so I'm going to scrutinize between the two to see if there are any apparent differences. I should have Data Age up on the site next month, so you'll see them. I'm going to scan the side of the boxes too to show the difference.

 

Phil

[Philflound]

I added the Macau Combat box. I also fixed the Combat box page. For some reason it wasn't in the normal format. I thought I had fixed all pages, but may now have to go back and review them all. There may be another minor change on this page regarding the missile touching the left edge of the box front. The Macau box had it, and it seems there are 2 other versions that do have it, but I'm going to verify this since I have those versions. There were other minor differences in the boxes but I seem to have misplaced the paper I wrote it on, so I'll have to go and do them over. It has to do with the tiny flaps.

 

I hope people are still reviewing the list and comparing photos when acquiring new items for their collections. I can't do this alone. Like I say before, just contact me via email at pdispenza@verizon.net with scans of any additions or changes. Thanks.

 

Phil

[tz101]

Suggestion: Many collectors have worn or torn cartridge labels that need replacing. Being good with photo editing, I have been quite successful in knitting hi-res scans of the front and ends together to make a printable cartridge label for a few games. Would you be open to posting the entire label scans for printing replacements? If so, then I will see what I can contribute.

[horseboy]

Suggestion: Many collectors have worn or torn cartridge labels that need replacing. Being good with photo editing, I have been quite successful in knitting hi-res scans of the front and ends together to make a printable cartridge label for a few games. Would you be open to posting the entire label scans for printing replacements? If so, then I will see what I can contribute.

 

 

That seems a little strange. None of the collectors that I know would want to have a repro label on any of their games. I do however know some gamers that wouldn't mind making their games look better.

[Rom Hunter]

Suggestion: Many collectors have worn or torn cartridge labels that need replacing. Being good with photo editing, I have been quite successful in knitting hi-res scans of the front and ends together to make a printable cartridge label for a few games. Would you be open to posting the entire label scans for printing replacements? If so, then I will see what I can contribute.

Oh, oh.

 

[Pioneer4x4]

Suggestion: Many collectors have worn or torn cartridge labels that need replacing. Being good with photo editing, I have been quite successful in knitting hi-res scans of the front and ends together to make a printable cartridge label for a few games. Would you be open to posting the entire label scans for printing replacements? If so, then I will see what I can contribute.

If I could get a REAL nice label for my Miner 2049er II. I'd use it, it a fairly rare game (to me) and it is so bad, it wouldn't hurt value. Not that I plan on selling it... Maybe if a new label is put on over the old one, so it is obvious it isn't original. I have an idea on how I want to display some of my games, and thanks to the harmony, I don't need to touch them anymore, so appearance will be very important.

[gamme]

Put AtariAge waterwarks in the paper like they do on the $20 bills so you know they are repros.

[Philflound]

Suggestion: Many collectors have worn or torn cartridge labels that need replacing. Being good with photo editing, I have been quite successful in knitting hi-res scans of the front and ends together to make a printable cartridge label for a few games. Would you be open to posting the entire label scans for printing replacements? If so, then I will see what I can contribute.

 

I'm using AA space for the website thanks to Al. I don't have time for another project, but if he's willing to do it on AA, then maybe you should ask him. Personally I don't know anyone who wants to replace labels, so I don't know how much of a demand there is for it. Also, putting a new label over an old one doesn't necessarily indicate you have a repro label. I've personally seen carts with 2 labels put on them by the manufacturer by accident. I don't force anyone to contribute. You help if you want to enhance the community, not because you want something in return.

 

Phil

[Philflound]

I discovered a new type of variation on the Ms. Pac-Man box. Box 2 is the 1982 box that does not have the "arcade" sticker on the front. The top flap is glued, but it does not have the little flap to tuck it closed. Instead, once you open it, it's open for good. I noted this now on the website and the updated document will contain it also. I guess that's why if you look at the back of box 2 for Ms. Pac-Man, it has 2 pieces of tape holding it closed. I never put two and two together. I'm hoping to find others, most likely from the 1982 era silver boxes that are similar in nature. Does anyone have something like Earthworld, Fireworld, Raiders, Realsports... or others that are like this? Let me know.

 

Phil

[A.J. Franzman]

Tz101, I have replaced several badly-damaged or missing labels on my carts in the past. My replica images are in this thread: The 2600 Label Thread (mine start in post #85). All of mine contain the word "Reprint" in fine print somewhere.

Edited July 27, 2010 by A.J. Franzman

[Philflound]

I started the Coleco page today and hopefully will have it done by the weekend. I'm discovering photos of variations that I had listed but had no scan of, or new variations altogether. This will slow me down a bit as I'd like to have accurate listings as possible. After I finish the Coleco section, I will update the giant list on the site with both MS Word and the PDF file so everyone can have the most current document. There's been several changes and additions to it since I last updated it.

 

Phil

[Philflound]

Finished Coleco way ahead of schedule. I also caught up with organizing my collection except about 20 boxes which I'll do tomorrow. I'm working on testing my entire inventory. I made a promise some time ago that I was going to make a $1 sale of games, so I'm going through everything, making sure everything works, cleaning up the carts, and so forth. Sometime tomorrow (today since it's almost 4am) I'll be updating the PDF and MS Word document on the site for all to see. As for the Coleco, I need French versions of some of the cartridge main labels, and many end labels. Also, if there are French (Canadian) versions, if I don't have box scans, I'd appreciate getting them and so would Rom Hunter. Anyway, I'll probably move on to the next few companies. Data Age isn't bad, so I guess the next real hurdle is going to be Imagic. Those silver boxes are killer on scans and you can barely read them. I'm hoping it won't be too bad.

 

Phil

[horseboy]

Is there anybody that actually collects all these minor variations? I think I would go crazy if I did this. I would have to scrutinize every cart that passes through my hands. It seems like such a daunting task. I can't even fathom the amount of work you have had to put into this thing.

[Philflound]

It's a lot of work, but probably a good 40% was already finished when I first encountered the list. There are people who collect variations, and variations are a part of pretty much all aspects of collectibles. Most variations don't have price differences and most people won't care when selling lots on Ebay. I do find it fun, and if I didn't, I wouldn't be doing it. I personally don't collect all variations, don't have the room for it. But I try and keep the rarer versions and will on occasion keep a few variations. Like I have the regular Raiders of the Lost Ark end label and Raiders Lost Ark version. I kept a fancy Galaxian end label version. I have the 1 line copyright Space Invaders and also the red box version. The list was out there for a very long time. The problem was that people would just say what the variation was, but sometimes it was not clear, or possibly you can say anything. That is why I went ahead with the scans to prove the existence of these things.

 

Phil

[horseboy]

I commend you for you work. I collect the major label/box variations myself. Seeing all those different labels and boxes makes me rethink what I consider a major variation though. Too much information. Cannot process.

[Philflound]

Alright, since I'm going through my entire inventory and testing all my carts (I think I still have over 1500 loose extras I believe), I found a new variation with Apollo's Spacechase. It's already up as version a and b. It's a bit complicated, so I'll let you read it. I have 2 of each, so I'm keeping them both as a C(ommon). Since I do have a vast amount of extras, as stated a few months ago, I'm going to let go a decent amount for a buck each. When I'm ready I'll post the list. What I want to do is maintain no more than 3-5 of a particular variation. Some games have few if any variations, so quantities build up fast. I'm putting together a couple of lots that will be popped on Ebay, and then the rest of the extras will be $1 carts, even ones that will continually sell for more. I need to ween my inventory. I already have a few hundred boxed extra games, so I don't necessarily need a ton of loose ones. And of course, I'm always buying more, so the inventory needs to keep moving.

 

Oh, I forgot one thing with Spacechase. I don't have a copy of the small molded "Games by Apollo" version, so I don't know if the label would be version a or version b. If you have one, please let me know.

 

Phil

[Philflound]

Is there anybody that actually collects all these minor variations? I think I would go crazy if I did this. I would have to scrutinize every cart that passes through my hands. It seems like such a daunting task. I can't even fathom the amount of work you have had to put into this thing.

 

It's funny that you ask this question. I just received the new Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide this past Sunday. I always look forward to a new price guide for pretty much any collectible. Anyway, I'm browsing at the beginning area where each dealer/collector gives their take on the past year's sales, what's hot, what's cold, etc. and someone mentions a variant article in the guide. So going through the 1000+ pages I find it toward the back. The author goes to great length to describe and categorize all the various variants that can exist and goes company by company stating each of those variations. Most of the items he lists are not listed separately in the guide, some are, but he states how some collectors must have each and every version of a comic book printed.

 

Which brings me back here. Though there may not be many, there are those collectors who probably want each and every version of a video game ever made. Sometimes people collect only a select handful of variations of a particular game, and by pointing out each and every one of them, they acquire the knowledge of what is out there to choose from. I personally like the color versions of Activision and also get the blue text labels when I find them. There are also black text and white text versions of most Activision games, which don't seem to intrigue me. I believe these are for the most part international, though that's not the reason why I choose not to get them.

 

With the old giant list of variations, most of these listings were never put into the document. I chose to add any and every foreign version of US company games. That included the addition of Coleco's titles under the CBS label.

 

So hopefully there are some collectors out there who use and enjoy the photo website, however they please. Even if it's only to say, "Wow, look at all those Combat variations!"

 

Phil

[Philflound]

It took a couple of extra days, but the giant variation document is now valid and up to date with both MS Word and PDF versions on the site.

 

Phil

[Philflound]

I discovered something interesting while going through the Activision carts. The ones that the two prongs have a spring face down. The ones that don't have a spring, the prongs face up towards the label. So far this holds true for all that I've found.

 

Phil

[Philflound]

I found a couple of manuals that weren't in the giant list. First is a black and white paper Skiing version for Activision. The other is a Galaxian 1983 manual. They took the original manual and put a Made in Taiwan sticker over the Printed in USA on the bottom back. They also took a large rectangular silver sticker and covered the top right and a very large one covering the entire middle information. I just received a 1987 Taiwan boxed version of Galaxian and this is the manual it came with. Probably didn't want to print new ones at the time and just recycled old ones with some stickers.

 

Phil

[Philflound]

While going through manuals, I had discovered that there was a variation with Barnstorming where a TM or ® was next to the Activision title. I thought I mentioned this already. Today I was looking at the Barnstorming carts. I'm almost completely through the Activision through Coleco inventory. Anyway, the same variation occurs with the Barnstorming color label that the instruction manual has. I've already updated the photo site on the Barnstorming cart page. I can see no other difference with the two color labels.

 

Phil

[Philflound]

I discovered something interesting while going through the Activision carts. The ones that the two prongs have a spring face down. The ones that don't have a spring, the prongs face up towards the label. So far this holds true for all that I've found.

 

Phil

 

Ok, it's not true. I found both Bridge and Chopper Command where all prongs face in one direction regardless of spring and no spring. It was worth a try.

 

Phil

[Philflound]

Ok, folks. We now have some more variations. As I've mentioned in a few other threads, I'm testing my entire inventory of I believe over 1500 loose carts so I can sell with confidence that the games work. Well, I just discovered a few variations with Space War picture label. For some reason, I thought I remember this having a variation in the old old list. I may have removed it since I had no photo proof of it at the time, but now I do. I actually found 3 versions of it with the normal Cart 1. I'll be posting this some time in the next day since I'm going to scan them and show arrows where the exact variations are easiest to spot.

 

On the other hand, after testing 41 copies of Space Invaders, I took a closer look at the text version with the Taito copyright which 21 of the 41 I have are these. I'm finding several end label variations. There are mainly 2 versions of this variation with the main label, one has a thin font, and one has a thick font. The end label on the other hand seems to have at least 3, maybe even 4 versions. Problem is that these are the most common, many end labels fall off and may be reattached to either version. So I'm going to leave it with 2 variations. I will however scan all the end labels and make a note with these 2 variations that any of these end labels can be found on either one.

 

Phil

Edited August 25, 2010 by Philflound

[Philflound]

The Space Invaders end label description is now up with good details. Have fun.

 

Phil