NES cartridge variants

I already had a copy of Ivan Stewart's Super Off Road and picked up a second yesterday. After looking at the two side by side, I was struck by the differences in the cartridge labels.

Attachment 4506 Attachment 4507

Notice the difference in the "4 player game" icon in the lower left hand corner of the front label, along with the additional French language instructions on the reverse "Caution" label. Maybe the one with the red "4 player game" icon is from Quebec based on the bilingual reverse label?

The one with the French on the back would be the Canadian pressing. I have a few like that.

So, is there a Canadian cartridge variant for every single NES game?

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Originally Posted by tz101

So, is there a Canadian cartridge variant for every single NES game?

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I'm not sure. Probably not, but I know that there are a nice few of them. Canadian NES carts were distributed by Mattel.

I'm pretty sure Eddie's right on this, although I don't know for sure, I'd have to look at some more of my carts. I know that the two NES systems that I have both say they were distributed by Mattel, that's about it.

Were bilingual cartridge labels released in every province, or just in Quebec?

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Originally Posted by tz101

Were bilingual cartridge labels released in every province, or just in Quebec?

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Throughout Canada, I believe. In Canada, all products have both English and French of them.

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Originally Posted by tz101

So, is there a Canadian cartridge variant for every single NES game?

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No, like with Genesis games, it's mostly just on first-party stuff.

What does the code say on the cartridges? Is it NES-WU-USA on both? Most NES games released in Canada say USA on the code because they didn't bother making a separate one. The variants say CAN on them.

Looking at my Panic Restaurant cartridge, it says NES-PR-USA on the front but on the back it says USA/CAN and has English and French. So, it looks to me there might be some bilingual releases in the US.

NES-WU-USA-1 on the bilingual Super Off road cart, and NES-WU-USA on the other one.

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Originally Posted by eddiespruce

Canadian NES carts were distributed by Mattel.

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The bilingual variant in my pictures says "Mattel" nowhere on it.

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Originally Posted by tz101

The bilingual variant in my pictures says "Mattel" nowhere on it.

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I have a copy of Faxanadu that says NES-FX-CAN on it, but it doesn't say Mattel on it either. My guess is that Mattel was only written on the boxes, not the cartridges.

True, but Faxanadu has a Mattel logo on the box because it was a first-party game. Mattel distributed Nintendo's (and Mattel's own) games in Canada. I don't think they distributed any of Tradewest's games.

super off road is a big game !!! and damn those people who write on nes carts with a marker

Y, but I haven't given this newly acquired cartridge the "treatment" yet. You will never know there was marker there when I am done with it.

you could remove marker ? how