Printed Box art Plastic Cases for cartidge games, yay or nay?

Hi guys, I wanted to know if anyone has dabbled with these game cases I see posted on ebay.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/CASE-ART-fo...3551?pt=Video_Games_Games&hash=item27decae59f

Like many of you on here I have a lot of cartridge games, and was really looking into someone way to organize them a little better.

Any thoughts or recommendations?

 

I would never dream of buying such a case. I absolutely loath fake cases, especially since they're fucking everywhere. I buy games because I want a real, officially licensed product. Most of the time these cases don't even look like the real boxes. I would be fine with people making these if they weren't constantly shoved in my face. And why you would pay actual money for one of these when you could easily make one yourself is beyond my comprehension.

The other thing that really annoys me is that sometimes sellers will try to pass off cases like this as if they're the real thing, or they simply won't mention it at all. That's very misleading, and a really poor business practice I think. It ought to be illegal - and I think technically it is, but nobody will ever be prosecuted for it.

 

Just like those "bit boxes" stupid things... and considering how many games you have buying one of these at $5 each is crazy.

 

I would recommend you go to videogameboxprotectors.com and buy some tray insert and box protectors and then go to nintandbox.net and print out some oem style boxes on cardboard. Looks way better than those VHS style cases in your ebay link and it's also alot cheaper.

 

Never. Complete waste of money, no collector in the world will ever pay you anything near purchase price for them if you were to sell these.
And they're not official, they're substitutes. I don't like substitutes, I'd rather look at a wall of blank cartridges if I were given the choice.

 

wow, interesting attitudes in here...

for me, i go legit with Sega stuff cause i love the clamshells, but i'm not paying anyone again for the same cardboard boxes that didn't hold up for me the first time, so yeah OP, those Universal Game Cases are great by me for NES/SNES/N64 stuff, personally. also if you check out The Cover Project you can print out original box art (sometimes superior EU/JP ones too!), and do em up how you please, it's nice to have some protection for your loose carts, even if NES ones need some modification.

to each their own, but i like em for systems that didn't bring sturdy boxes, but i do get the sentiment that buying them individually on ebay feels silly when you can just order them direct for better prices: http://www.mediashelving.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=W&Product_Code=USCG
people on forums sell them for even less sometimes, or you can go in on a bunch of them with someone else just to get what you need.

 

^ Thanks for the link and info. If I go that route these would cost less than a $1 each to make. I'm surprised to hear so much negativity. I guess it revolves around "faking" and the high ebay cost.

Honestly though I have to figure out something, having cartridge games (esp. N64 with no top labels) all lined up on a shelf I find unorganized and when I'm trying to find one game out of 60 it can be annoying. I still haven't really found another solution then to turn this:





Into this:




I guess there was the Nintendbox website, but they only had pal games :/

 

I am not against these for carts which is surprising since I tend to be a perfectionist. I want my collection to look nice and while just a row of carts has its charm I would prefer boxes in the end. Unfortunately since nobody is making quality repro boxes (only a matter of time) these are a good substitute. Would I buy these a $3.00-$5.00 that the people on E-bay are asking? Hell no... I'd find out who is making them and buy a case then go to a copy shop and have the labels done.

 

If you are just buying these cases to keep your games looking nicer on the shelf then go for it. I also don't understand why people are so against these. From a collectors point they are total crap BUT for keeping your games in a nicer presentable state they're pretty good.

Personally I would try to make a repro box like my Japanese style Run Saber box below. That was made out of 2 A4 sticker sheets but you can't tell at all. It looks like one whole box. If you check the net there are loads of resources for N64 cases or if you really want to you could make a custom one like I did.

 

I have no problem with people making these for themselves. What I have an issue with is people charging money for them, and spamming eBay and other places with them. What's even worse is when they don't mention that the case is a reproduction, but simply act as if it's a real box/case. And like you said, it's pointless from a collector's point of view. Why would you "collect" a facsimile some random person made of an actual case?

 

I agree with you there. At least mention that they are not original cases and meant as a tidy storage solution.

 

I'd assume that most sellers don't mention it because they figure it is a given. If a "collector" doesn't have the basic knowledge that NES games didn't originally come like that then they're an idiot.

 

I was mainly referring to one particular game store I've been to. They have a lot of games that come in cases that are very similar to the real cases, but have fake artwork. You have to really look closely to tell that they're fake, and they don't mention it anywhere in the store or when you buy stuff. Hence why I rarely go there any more.

It's less of an issue with cart-based games, since it's pretty easy to tell that they're fake. It's more of an issue with disc-based games, since the cases are easy to replace and then put fake artwork inside.

 

It should still be easy to identify though. No home/office-use printer (which is what shops usually use) can replicate anything remotely identical to a real insert. As others have said, you'd have to be rather blind to really think it's the real deal.

 

You'd be wrong on that one. We have a few Canon colour laser printers in the office which make fantastic prints. All you need is the right paper and you've got a very hard to spot fake. The quality isn't the same as a factory print but it's very close.

 

I wouldn't be pissed off about the clamshell cases for nintendo games, if you can't tell it's reproduced then you're a muppet.

Those making reproduction boxes and manuals (which is happening all over UK and Europe) though, that's an issue. People are buying cartridges only and putting them in these boxes of which the only way to tell is check the type of cardboard used, and the pictures on eBay make it almost impossible to check if the box is real or not. Then these "complete" go for stupid money.

I don't mind buying a solid reproduction where it is clearly noticeable that it is as such (like the hard to find 32X PAL games which clearly say Genesis on the back so you can tell, also the colours on the case are off compared to original), but the SNES/N64 are now becoming a problem.

I like many others though, was contemplating buying a heap of these clamshell cases and printing off covers to use for my cartridge/cartridge & manual only games. For some games, I can't justify the ridiculous purchase price of it CIB (games that go for $500-$1000+) so a cartridge w/out manual suffices for me.

 

Not me. I don't see it as an issue at all. Hell I welcome it. I hope they flood the market with perfect reproductions and crash the retro market. Then all the speculator, VGA whores, and gougers will vanish from the scene. A lot of people will get burned but we will be better off in the end.

 

I can appreciate that comment too, seen a mint sealed SNES game go for 54GBP, next week it was VGA graded and put up for 1995GBP - pathetic.

The only issue I see with the copied covers and manuals (though in a way I welcome it too, too many manuals are lost/damaged etc.) is that people are attempting to sell them as "original", thus burning a lot of unsuspecting people. I do think some games are ridiculously over priced, but I'd rather pay less knowing an item is reproduced than get stung myself paying a higher price - people leave this information out of the listing though on purpose, which is the part I dislike about this. MegaMan titles on SNES are notorious for reproduced stickers, boxes, manuals etc. Overtime even if it is clearly known an item is reproduced I think the price of the "original" will decrease (unless there is a person willing to pay the asking price) - most will turn around and go for the cheaper option as it still offers the same result.

 

So why would I be wrong on that one again?
Even very professional fakes (such as the Sapphire boot) can be recognized by experienced collectors in a heartbeat. There are slight colour differences resulting from different ink/age/paper type and so on. Don't forget that the specific paper used for official inlays is hardly ever used for selfmade bootlegs. You can find out within three seconds simply by touching it.

 

The average Joe or casual collector couldn't tell an original from a copy if I used the company laser printers. If they had an original to hand to compare it against then yes, they could tell because of the paper and maybe colour but to the naked eye with nothing to compare against its very hard to tell. Mandrake actually do this! I bought El Viento on the Mega Drive from them only to find it had a fake cover. The only reason I could tell was because of the poor job they did cutting it. The paper they used was very close to the real MD quality.