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Piecing Together the History of Nintendo NES Game Box & Cartridges: Here are Some Clues to Use When Dating & Authenticating NES Boxed Games & Cartridges
- Promotional Copy in the USA
*A note about Box Flap Codes: Game codes seem to have been introduced to the box flaps of games sometime in the year 1987. Box flaps often feature a numeric code on them that seems to correspond to the date of production. Example: “81021” would translate to October 21, 1988. The first number indicates the year digit, which is followed by the month, then day. Please note that the earliest variations of black box games do not feature a code on the box flaps.
Dating the PCB Chips: Clues Inside the Cartridge
Say you don’t have a box to work with and you’re wondering when your game might have been produced. Or say you would like to confirm that the PCB inside your game is authentic and a likely match to the box that came with your game. Well, good news! You can peek at the game’s printed circuit board and find a date on its chips, most of the time.
The date format can vary by game.
Some chips use a YMW format, indicating the year, then month, then week of the month. For example, 5K2 corresponds to week 2 of October 1985. How did we get October? K is the 10th letter of the alphabet, and October is the 10th month of the year.
Other chips use a YW format, indicating the year then the week of the year. For example, 8549 would indicate the 49th week of 1985, approximatel
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Indicators that your Super Nintendo Console is a Rare 1-CHIP Model
Is my SNES a 1 Chip model? The very first Super Nintendo system was released in 1991 in North America. The Super Nintendo console delighted video game enthusiasts with its improved sound, visuals, and accompanying game library.
Although even the first Super Nintendo was groundbreaking in these areas, a later model released around 1995 called the "1-CHIP" SNES was especially pioneering. The motherboard design of the 1-CHIP SNES enables it to output better graphics than earlier revisions of this Nintendo system. The 1-CHIP is highly sought after by collectors because it offers some of the best gameplay visuals you can get on a Super Nintendo. It is also somewhat rare to find, which makes treasure hunting for it even more thrilling!
Prior to the year 1995 or so, Nintendo designed their Super Nintendo console motherboards so that they used 3 chips for graphics and central processing. These three chips are called the CPU, PPU1, and PPU2. When Nintendo revised the SNES motherboard around 1995, all 3 of these chips were combined into one single chip called the S-CPUN. This hardware change is what gave this model of the SNES more graphics processing power.
How do I know if my SNES is a 1-CHIP version?
1. Look at the serial number.
The serial number barcode is printed on a sticker located on the bottom of the console beneath a barcode.
One obvious indicator that you may have a SNES with a 1-CHIP motherboard design is if the console's serial number begins with "UN3". A 1-CHIP SNES serial number will always start with a UN3. However,
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The Basic Essentials of Soldering when it Comes to Gaming Systems and Video Game Save batteries.
Soldering can be scary for a lot of people at first. My first SNES save battery took me at least 50 minutes! Vegas Stakes! Now, it usually takes me 5 minutes. I wasn’t using the right equipment and obviously people tend to get better with practice. These are some suggestions for setting yourself up to solder!
- Buy a nice solder station. (Usually, will come with a roll of solder roll)
- Use the appropriate solder. (some elements work better with electronics than others) We recommend a 60 percent amount of tin and 40 percent lead.
- Use copper desoldering wick/braid with flux. (We recommend 2.4mm in width)
- Have flux handy! (No-clean flux preferred)
- Isopropyl alcohol. (preferred percentage minimum of 90%)
- Q-tips.
Let’s start with something simple:
- Power on your soldering station to approximately 600 to 650 Farenheit (You can use lower temperatures).
- Place your no clean flux on the old solder you want to remove.
- Cut a piece of copper wick braid to use for desoldering
- Copper conducts electricity, so be prepared for the braid to become hot
- Once your soldering iron is at the correct temperature place it over the old solder and hold it into place until you see the old solder s
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Nintendo 3DS Circle Pad Pro – The Weird, Bulky Add-On You Might Secretly Love
If you owned a Nintendo 3DS in the early 2010s, you might remember a strange accessory that made your sleek little handheld suddenly feel like an overgrown spaceship controller — the Circle Pad Pro.
It was big.
It was bulky.
It took a AAA battery (yes, really).
And for certain games… it was fantastic.
So what exactly is it, and why do collectors still talk about it?
What Is the Circle Pad Pro
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The $59.99 Kmart Sticker & Michigan’s Scanner Law: What Every Collector Should Know
- Always check shelf vs. scan. If it rings wrong, politely invoke the scanner law — and don’t forget to ask for your bonus. Surprisingly, I have mentioned this to a store after they decided to look up an item I was buying with a no return policy and scratched disc (We all know the one) here in Michigan before and they took the item to the back refusing to reprice even (Google Lens - everything is worth a million bucks there). I asked myself, " What path do you take? There is a higher road we all must ride eventually.
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Is it Nintendo Game Boy or Nintendo Gameboy?
Technically, the official spelling for Nintendo’s first handheld is two words: Game Boy. However, the majority of people type “gameboy,” even those of us who know it’s two words rather than one. Every one of Video Game Gem Vault’s Game Boy games were spelled the “Nintendo” way. Well, a lot of people asked,
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Which GameCube Games Don’t Work on the Wii? A Collector’s Guide
One of the Wii’s most underrated features is its backwards compatibility with the Nintendo GameCube. Pop in a GameCube disc, plug in your GC controller, and you’re playing like it’s 2001 all over again.
But here’s the thing — while almost the entire NTSC-U GameCube library works f
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Which PS3 Consoles Are Backwards Compatible and Do all PS2 Games Play on Them?
The Sony PlayStation 3 is well known for its powerful hardware and impressive library, but one of its biggest questions among gamers is backward compatibility—specifically, which models can play PS2 and PS1 games. Sony released multiple versions of the PS3 over the years, and not all of them retained the ability to play older PlayStation titles. If you're looking to revisit some classics, here's what you need to know about which PS3 consoles support backward compatibility and which PS2 games don’t work properly, even on compatible models.
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Where Did Mario First Appear? The Surprising Start (and Strange Early Days) of Nintendo’s Mascot
the rights to make a Popeye game. So they invented their own characters—Donkey Kong, Pauline, and the soon-to-be-iconic Jumpman, who was quickly renamed “Mario” (inspired by a real-life landlord, Mario Segale, who apparently wasn't thrilled about overdue rent).
By 1983, Mario switched professions from carpenter to plumber (because of all the pipes in Mario Bros.) and even brought along his lesser-known brother, Luigi. The duo started appearing in all kinds of titles, not all of which you’d expect.
Here’s where it gets weird:
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In Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! (1987), Mario randomly appears as the referee, calling knockouts with a cheerful little hop.
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