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Why are there so many carts on the market without the box? What did these people do with the boxes? Even for the older Genesis titles that came in clamshells there are a large number on the market that don't come with the box.
For a number of games I don't mind but there are some that I do like the box art and I do wonder what people did with them as there are far more carts without the original case then CDs.
I attribute this to most of the population being complete dumbasses.
I've notices that on the US ebay there's many more loose carts than there is on UK ebay. Maybe it's got something to do with the US VHS tapes and NES games coming in easy to damage cardboard boxes.
I was in a game shop a year or so ago and they had about 60 Mega Drive games all lined up for Ģ6 each (needless to say they went unsolde), then one day I went in and they'd take them all out of their cases, slapped 99p stickers on each cart and thrown them in a bargin bin... I nearly cried, even at Ģ3 a game I'd hve bought a shedload of them.. It was just a waste!
I dunno about anyone else, but when I was a wee one, my mom made me throw out all the boxes. Even the nice plastic clamshells.
Every Genesis game I've bought since I've moved out, I've kept the box.
IMO it's because up until a few years ago, most people didn't think of game boxes as collectible and valuable; they were just packaging that you would toss like a ramen box. There were collectors, of course, but 'normal' people and casual gamers didn't keep this stuff until the rise of DVD-style cases with the PS2, XBOX, and Gamecube.
That just goes for the States.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Genesis Knight
I think this is what I'm talking about. For me, the boxes were never disposable because they were made out of plastic and held the cart and the instructions.... where else would you keep your instructions? I'm not talking as a 'collector' but even as an 8 year old I kept the boxes because they were part of the whole package... It's a bit like going to a hardware shop and buying a set of 50 drill bits (or whatever), then getting home and throwing the metal case that hold them and tells you what size is what away.
Sorry about the super-imaginative analogy, but It's very late for me :cool:
Its a conspiracy by Nintendo to drive down the resale value of competitor's games by subliminally telling people to throw away old game boxes. Much to their dismay, it backfired and people also threw away Nintendo's cardboard boxes as well.
Thats the most creative idea I could come up with.
I agree with JDB236455 that you don't need to be a collector to value the boxes. I still have the cardboard boxes for old purchased VHS tapes. I keep the boxes for DVDs. Neither of those things are collectible to me. The plastic box for a Genesis game is every bit as awesome and important as the plastic box to hold DVDs.
Sounds dead on.Quote:
Originally Posted by Joe Redifer
I was shopping for a number of games and only looking at boxed copies. I couldn't believe how many were missing their instructions. The boxes made it so easy to keep everything in one place and in nice shape. I've ALWAYS kept the boxes and instructions and in fine shape and I've only become a "collector" more recently.
But then, most of the toys from my childhood are still in incredible condition. Maybe I'm just weird that way.
Slightly off topic, but is there any source online for getting replacement clamshell cases? I was thinking of replacing everything and printing my own inserts, but the only way I know of getting them is to just buy cheap complete games on ebay and gut them (which makes me sad.)
Yea in my experience it seems to be mainly a US thing. I dunno why it was though I never threw away anything as a kid I just don't get it but it was the norm back then. Even today it actually still happens a lot, not as bad as with the 16-bit generation but its still fairly common. Ive been doing inventory at a new GameStop and it seemed ridiculous to me how many PS2 and Xbox games come in disc only. I know at the end of the day its the game that really matters but why, WHY throw away the cases?Quote:
Originally Posted by Genesis Knight
Ha, I stated that a while ago in the Haul-thread...
Indeed, about 80% of games on eBay Germany come with box, and at least 60% with manual too.
I found it a pain to search on eBay USA, because of the irritating sale-methods there. Most sellers only use stock photos...here in Germany, there are no stock photos, but only pics made by the seller himself. So when I browse eBay USA, I always see pics of the covers, with the title "game xyz, GREAT CONDITION!!!". Only when reading the description carefully I notice "this game is in a great condition and has been tested. It comes with cartridge only". It really hurts the fun of searching eBay. In the end it is only a small number of games that are really complete.
I understand that the cardboard-boxes have been damaged and maybe then thrown away through the years (so I looked for months to get a complete copy of X-Perts), but with the clamshell-cases itīs a complete mystery.
I believe videogames were a greater hype in the US than in Europe back in the days, and still nobody cared about the boxes. Even the idea of throwing away such good plastic-boxes seems absurd to me; people didnīt throw away their VHS-cases either, nor do they throw away their DVD-cases today.
So I only look for games on eBay USA when they are almost impossible to get here.
I never will be able to understand why on earth anyone would throw away the box. I remember when I first started seeing carts with out the plastic case when the Genny was still new and the stupidity of it blew me away. The logic in it escapes me. Though I have all the boxes for everything I bought back then.
eBay sellers that use stock photos are usually "stores" and if you see that they are using stock photos, avoid that store altogether.
Loose carts definately seem to be more common in the US, for every system infact, I guess back in the day all you American kids threw your boxes in the trash and had shelves full of carts.
I collected dinky toys for years which luckilly got me into the habit of always keeping the boxes for everything.
They really fucked up Ebay with stores and the buy it now option. Sometimes I find it hard to actually find an auction there anymore. It has gotten out of hand. Everyone thinks they have treasure. $100 32x's and million dollar Plymouth Barracudas, they ruin everything. Then if you try to make any money selling they ding you every chance they get and then Paypal takes a cut too. I don't bother anymore unless I find something really good to sell. I just stick to Craigslist. It takes a bit longer to sell but at least its free and local though somehow I ended shipping that Aes joystick to Minnesota .
I admit Ebay isn't fun anymore. It was a total blast back in '99-02 but nowadays it is more hassle than anything.
Stock Photo = The Devil.Quote:
Originally Posted by Joe Redifer
Certainly not all of us. Even when I got the Genesis, I kept the cardboard box it came in and all of it's styrofoam parts.Quote:
I guess back in the day all you American kids threw your boxes in the trash and had shelves full of carts.
The only reason I could see for getting rid of the box is to save storage space. I still like ebay and really enjoy unearthing a bargin or selling an expensive Mega Drive game that I bought from a second hand shop for peanuts - me 1 Vs 0 starving children.
Ebay UK isn't bad as the US for sure, but i'll always pay extra for the box and manual.
If a manual is on sale for 50p and i just have the game itself i'll get it. I bought a box and instructions for an MD1 console a while ago... ok maybe thats a bit too far of me...
I have no idea why I see I lot of morons trying to sell a game on ebay without any instructions or box for 50 bucks. I remember back then, I always kept all the boxes and instructions for my genesis games. The case itself was plastic with a snap on compartment thingy and is meant to be kept in the box, not to be thrown away!. Hey weren't those video rental stores also guilty of stripping games? :?
But the thing is that although the Genesis games on US Ebay are usually not MIB, systems from DC onwards are all very easy to find complete (and that goes for PSX to a certain extent.) To me that indicates that the gamer mindset was more widespread by the late nineties and people were 'collecting' so to speak. The concept of game packaging as valuable had finally taken hold on a grander level.
Just try collecting Game Gear games! Some of the less common games can be really hard to find complete with box, instructions and the little plastic case. I can't believe how many are sold as loose carts even without the plastic dust case!
I buy a LOT of Game Gear games from the UK and Australia just because our friends overseas seem to be much more consistant about keeping the box (and keeping the boxes in good shape!). Shipping begins to be a pain, but so many US sellers overcharge for shipping anyway so it's kind of a wash. I just try to buy multiple games at a time from the same seller to make it worth the trouble. And since Game Gear isn't regional buying games from anywhere isn't an issue.
I can recall getting some NIB Dreamcast VMUs from France for less with shipping than I could get used ones here in the States. I couldn't read the seller's e-mails, but the transaction went through without any problems!
CDs break easy, carts don't. I think it's just that simple.
Personally I have most of my boxes, the ones I don't have I either got with no box or it got damaged. An example would be my Sonic cases since I always had those games out, so the cases just managed to be under beds and stuff since I was only 8 or whatever.
back when Funcoland aka Gamestop now first started in 1997 in my area, they kept the games complete for the most part, then over time as more and more systems/games came into the store they started throwing out cases to make room for more games, if anyone knows them the stores are usually very small
snes, gen, nes were the hardest hit, also the sega cd games were hard to find with the cases and back then they wouldnt let you take the display case off the shelf untill people started to complain about games not being complete, it took untill 2002 for them to get their heads out of their butts and i started seeing classic games with cases again but this was just before they stopped selling those systems altogether
i know this because a buddy i knew worked there and it ws his job to tear them up and throw them out, a few times he would just throw them away and let me know he did so and i would go and grab them :)
i didnt know this was going on untill i drove by a dumpster once and saw some torn up genesis/nes cases laying on the ground
i think when ebay really took off is when stores started to realize that complete games can fetch alittle bit more than just the cart or CD
N64 was notorious for being alot more with the box than without
$20 for a cart and $35 with the box. ugh i think thats why to this day i only own about 15 N64 games :)
I forgot abot the rental places. They do have alot to do with it. Most did not kep the cases and sold off thier inventory a bit later on.
Very true, infact almost all of my unboxed carts I got when my local 'VideoWorld' store closed down.
Blockbuster uses keyed CD cases for their CD games, so they'd usually throw away the original cases. You'll end up with those keyed cases (minus the yellow key) when they resold those titles.Quote:
Originally Posted by Iron Lizard
During the Genesis/SNES days, they'd just put the cartridges in a standard blockbuster case. The only games that came with the case, was when they sold the one used to display the games on the shelves.
Box art even on the spine does help grab peoples attention and the back of the box helps people remeber what game it actually is (far more then the label art on the cart). When browsing a stores collection of games, it is far easier for me to scan the sides of boxes then it is for me to read the side of carts.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lemmi_Is_God
Also back then most plots were only put in the manual so without the manual you actually have to search the Internet for them, a few like StarTropics for the NES had information in the stuff that came with the game that is required to get past a certain point (that again you have to search for on the Internet if you simply have the cart).
i know a lot of video stores near me like Blockbuster and the mom&pop video stores they would have the game complete when they 1st get the game but people would end up just keeping the book after they rent the game