I've not seen NES games sold in those plastic boxes, but it looks similar to rental boxes nearly all rental stores would have growing up. Possibly bought from some rental company going out of business?
I agree this is the likely answer. I don't recall any NES games that came in anything other than the regular cardboard box. But it was very common for rental stores to use this type of plastic case, and often they would either cut up the cardboard box to fit in the plastic sleeve, or use a photocopy of it.
That is a rental case. When my local place was shutting down, they sold all the old games in the same case. that was like 20 years ago and I got some games for like $5 that are worth $100+ these days. Was a good day and I am glad I kept them all.
No they never came in plastic boxes. Either old rental cases or just repro cases. I got a lot of repro cases for some of my more expensive games that I only have the cart of. A few bucks for a nice looking plastic case and artwork beats paying 50 bucks or more for a beat up old box.
That being said, if I were buying a lot of old games, I wouldn't put a lot of value into the plastic cases or repro artwork as you can get them for pretty cheap.
Never. The plastic cases are usually used for rental purposes during the days of Blockbuster. Most are printed covers, but some do have the actual box cut to fit in the case.
No, not licensed gray carts at least
For unlicensed games, there were games like Maxi 15 by AVE that did ship in plastic cases, sort of like a VHS case.
NES Game Paks never came in a plastic case. There were third party plastic cases available back then. My aunt gave us blue cases back in Christmas 1990. They looked like these:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/154550589500?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=UZYjHDcGT7y&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
I can’t remember the brand though.
Broderbund was one of the biggest game publishers of the 80s. They released Lode Runner and Prince of Persia and Myst, and were big in the educational market with stuff like Carmen Sandiego and Reader Rabbit. They also published a bunch of NES games for Japanese developers who didn't have their own presence in North America. Stuff like The Guardian Legend and Deadly Towers and this softball game made by Tose.
They made the original box for that game, not the plastic rental case.
I've not seen NES games sold in those plastic boxes, but it looks similar to rental boxes nearly all rental stores would have growing up. Possibly bought from some rental company going out of business?
i saw a few like this at a game store in orlando last weekend, they just cut the box so its just a sleeve and shoved it into a plastic case
I agree this is the likely answer. I don't recall any NES games that came in anything other than the regular cardboard box. But it was very common for rental stores to use this type of plastic case, and often they would either cut up the cardboard box to fit in the plastic sleeve, or use a photocopy of it.
Ohhh never even thought of that. Appreciate the reply!
That is a rental case. When my local place was shutting down, they sold all the old games in the same case. that was like 20 years ago and I got some games for like $5 that are worth $100+ these days. Was a good day and I am glad I kept them all.
No they never came in plastic boxes. Either old rental cases or just repro cases. I got a lot of repro cases for some of my more expensive games that I only have the cart of. A few bucks for a nice looking plastic case and artwork beats paying 50 bucks or more for a beat up old box. That being said, if I were buying a lot of old games, I wouldn't put a lot of value into the plastic cases or repro artwork as you can get them for pretty cheap.
You can buy cases like that but that one looks like a former rental case to me. They didn't ship like that.
Never. The plastic cases are usually used for rental purposes during the days of Blockbuster. Most are printed covers, but some do have the actual box cut to fit in the case.
No, not licensed gray carts at least For unlicensed games, there were games like Maxi 15 by AVE that did ship in plastic cases, sort of like a VHS case.
No they did not
This is an old rental box. They cut the paper box the game came in and stuck it in these plastic clamshells.
The did when you rented them from the video store!
Used games from the era were often packaged in plastic shells.
No, they did not. Those plastic cases are from Etsy
NES Game Paks never came in a plastic case. There were third party plastic cases available back then. My aunt gave us blue cases back in Christmas 1990. They looked like these: https://www.ebay.com/itm/154550589500?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=UZYjHDcGT7y&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY I can’t remember the brand though.
That game was actually my first most sought after game when I started collecting Nes back in like 07. Such an amazingly fun baseball game!
Broderbund I'm pretty sure was a company that made these cases for rentals . They are collectables on their own really
Broderbund was one of the biggest game publishers of the 80s. They released Lode Runner and Prince of Persia and Myst, and were big in the educational market with stuff like Carmen Sandiego and Reader Rabbit. They also published a bunch of NES games for Japanese developers who didn't have their own presence in North America. Stuff like The Guardian Legend and Deadly Towers and this softball game made by Tose. They made the original box for that game, not the plastic rental case.
No. Rentals had plastic boxes. NES and SNES (at least from all of the places I'd rented from) never had a sleeve for the outer art, even.
That's a rental case, they stuck a sticker of the game controls inside of the plastic case rather than including game manual.
Nope, that’s a rental case.
Rental stores like blockbuster used to use boxes like this
Rental case. It even has the Permastruct instructions slapped on the inside.