Are there other games/series or this an isolate item? It doesn't say 'not for sale' so it was supposedly available in large quantities? I saw a similar case for Rockman (or Rockman X, forgot) and DK Country, but those came with actual pencils inside, and with no internal separation and no game cardboard.
Strange that it has an English wall of text on a Japanese item. I would have loved to have had this when I was in school.
Yeah, it's a retail item, the 500 in a square on the back indicates the price. There's another Zelda one with a different design here: http://smame.jugem.jp/?cid=43 (3/4 of the way down) I've seen various similar "game" ones, like Mario, Dragon Quest, etc. I don't know if they were in the same series, but I'd say it's a pretty safe bet there's a couple of Mario ones to go with these. edit: Japanese stationery items from the early '90s almost ALWAYS has a wall of English text on it, haha
Thanks man, that link is a great page! I would love to own the other design. It has a plain 'LEGEND OF ZELDA' text with no Link artwork inside. The game is also different, with Ganon on the right side instead of Zelda. I was thinking '500' was the price, but because there was no yen sign I though it could be a catalog number or something else. Thanks for your confirmation. Seems like there were no pencils included then
This is just typical tat released for kids. Every popular anime or kids game ends up on some form of stationery set. You'd probably be able to buy this for pennies in Japan.
I had (maybe still have) a Dragon Quest version of that pen case. Bought in Japan in the early 2000s as new old stock. No cardboard inside though. I remember having paid less than 500 Yen for it but I never found one for sale when I looked online to compare prices. There must be more designs out there. Edit: That's the one: https://item.mercari.com/jp/m168887055/. Crazy price of course. Edit 2: Found one of the Zelda's marked as sold with a price of 3300 Yen: https://item.mercari.com/jp/m382427452/
That DQ one is by Enix so not the same series, just similar. edit - Same kind of thing: http://www.mandarake.co.jp/information/2008/11/13/12nkn06/
Thank you for your comment. I've lived here for 20 years so I see a lot more than you do. This is not something special. It's a kids stationery set that sold hundreds of thousands of units. Now if it was some limited edition thing it would be worth something.
No one said it was something special. You said it could be found for pennies in Japan; that's not true. It's not 1996 anymore, this sort of stuff (in unused condition) sells for a premium, whether or not you think it has value. ...?
Stop being arrogant. Even in the short time that I've lived in Japan, I've seen plenty of this stuff sell for absolutely nothing. Yakumo speaks the truth. You don't know what you're talking about.
You are looking at online auctions. He might be talking about shopping in actual stores in Japan. Online auctions like that are often targeted to overseas people that will pay a lot more for items. Also when he said pennies, he may not have meant that literally.
Hundreds of thousands is an exaggeration. I would say 1000 to 10,000 pieces produced at the very most. If anyone is willing to pay those prices for a pencil case they must be very rare. Keep in mind the so many would now be second-hand/damaged or simply thrown away. The designs are very cool.
I live in Japan, that's what I'm talking about as well. I like this kinda stuff, and I pay attention to the prices; Yakumo is just generalizing, I doubt he really pays attention, and DeChief is talking out of his ass, most likely. Yeah, yahoo auctions is skewed a bit by foreign buyers (mercari probably not so much) - and if you get lucky you might find something in an old stationery store or whatever - but it's simply not true that this stuff is next-to-worthless here. There are plenty of Japanese collectors, and as Beatbroken says, the fact that this is "tat made for kids" means that a lot of it is now scratched/dented to hell or in a landfill somewhere.
Thanks for the links guys! That Super Mario World case is really nice. I think it's worth whatever someone wants to pay for it. 3300Y is not cheap for what it is, but might be a steal for a Zelda collector who wants one in brand new condition. I follow a couple of series on Yahoo Japan Auction and prices fluctuate a lot. I don't think these cases have been produced in the hundreds of thousands of copies though.
I wonder what year this came out, when the game was originally released? Or was this sold as a 'retro' product?
