Have a search on eBay for SNES games. As your eyes scan down
the listings you will probably notice a couple of things. First thing will no
doubt be the hilarious prices that people think Fifa 96 is worth, but maybe
after giggling at that you may notice that the majority of listings are only
for the game cartridge. It certainly seems odd that every one of those games
once had a box, instruction manual even a little baggy that protected the game.
However over time these have been lost or even deliberately thrown away. I have
to wonder if other people place the same
value on boxes as I do; after all they are cumbersome, they more than double
the physical space taken up by the cartridge and are not needed to play the
game in anyway.
Originally of course boxes were designed to attract a
customer’s eyes; to encourage them to pick up a game they otherwise would have
had no intention of buying. With their exciting art work and enticing game
descriptions, every inch of a game’s box is geared towards the sale (I talked
more about the draw of this for my younger self in my Vortex review). So
logically, once you’ve bought it aside from offering a bit of protection to the
cartridge these boxes do nothing.
So why do I place a value on them? To me the box and the
game are one and the same. A degree of care was taken by someone to create box
art that encapsulates the experience of playing. Sometimes striped back and
emotive other times bright colourful and fun. Often the box itself exceeds the
game of course, promising much and delivering little. Occasionally the box is a
dismal representation of an excellent experience or indeed a misunderstanding
of what is important to the player
(Street Fighter 2 Turbo I’m looking at you –
no one wants to play as Honda in pink.)
But regardless of the specific image, it was a conscious choice to
package the game in this way. As such it seems remiss to dismiss it so
casually, to me it’s more than a disposable wrapper.
However, as with all things collectible if you want a box
you pay for a box, often an excessive amount. Sticking the phrase ‘Complete in
Box’ in a listing often gathers you twice the value should it prove to be true,
with a sliding scale for how well cared for these boxes are. To a true
collector CIB games seem to be the only way forward, and it is often said that the value of complete games will be constant (or increase) going forward as
less and less of them exist.
As is evident in the title for this blog, I like my pixels
boxed, I like my games complete. But this is at odds with my very conscious
self imposed limits on what I pay. If I’m eBay shopping on a limited budget I’m
simply not going to get the rarer or more sought after games that I desire so
much.
But, I found a solution I thought: Reproduction. For the price of £7 (including P&P) you can buy a replica box
for pretty much any game you desire. They’re all there, even for the rarest
titles and of course it means they are as mint as the day they were printed
(usually the day before you receive them and the day after you bought them). You
have to accept that they are not perfect, the print is sometimes less precise,
and metallic paint on the seal of quality is not shiny, and the cardboard is
white rather than grey. But does any of that matter if the goal is simply to
own a box and reunite it with a loose cart?
This is something that I wanted to explore, especially as I
wanted a number of rare games that if complete command prices of £40, £50, £60
or sometime even over £100. One such
game that I very much wanted was Rainbow Bell Adventures, the platforming sequel
to Pop N’ Twinbee. Given the obscure nature of the original, and the limited
appeal of a generically different sequel it was inevitable that the follow up
would have niche appeal and a limited print run. I never played it as a
youngster, but given my love for Pop N’ Twinbee I always wanted to. So when I embarked on this ‘buying lots of Super
Nintendo games’ adventure I looked at the price on eBay. ‘Buy It Now’s’ for at
least £40 for the
tattiest of boxes and auctions often having bids exceeding
that. This was not something I was willing to pay for a curio. I saw however an
auction for the cartridge on it’s own, and using a cheeky combination of
sniping and bidding unusual amounts, I won it for £10.08. With the game bought
I then looked for a reproduction box, evidently something I should have done
first. Again given the niche nature of the game, I couldn’t find anyone on eBay
who sold them. A Google search initially offered hope when I found a site
called NintAndBox who offer PDFs of game boxes for you to print and build
yourself, but even they didn’t have this illusive game.
I had no choice, should I want this box I would have to make
it myself, but luckily I’m pretty handy on PhotoShop. When armed with some
high-rez art work, some reference pictures, a SNES box template and a heap of
time I managed to make something not a million miles away from the unobtainable
box. Printing it was however a nightmare, the ink smudged on the glossy paper
I’d used, the glue wasn’t strong enough to hold the sides in place and the less
said about constructing it the better. But at the end of it all, when placed in
a protector I had a pretty convincing package. I even went as far to buy a
boxed mint copy of Fifa for £3 (including P&P) just to get the white game
tray, to put the cartridge in. Once the game came, I brought it all together
and placed it among my other games. I was happy, I had a boxed copy, I had a
cheap reproduction of what I wanted, I had a homemade lie.
Irony though has a habit of playing with your
happiness. A few weeks after I made my
Pop N Twinbee box I went back to my former hometown of Norwich and to an indie
game shop I loved. What should I see on the shelf? Only the rarity that is
Rainbow Bell Adventures. With my mates’ rate discount, I didn’t think twice
about buying it –even though I had at home something very similar that was
wrapped in the embodiment of my all creativity and devotion to collecting boxed
games. Placing the two side by side
fills me with equal amounts of pride and shame. My version has little
imperfections such as the wrong font for some text, incorrect screen shots and
slightly blurry health warnings.
However, even though I say it myself, it isn’t
far off. Quite a feat considering I had never actually seen a real copy before,
and had made it from best guesses based on images and information found online.
The colours are actually more vibrant in my reproduction, with no creases, edge
wear or the dents of twenty years. Indeed, even though I now own the original I
kept this fabricated reproduction – it hold its own memories, more recent but
no less real. Much like the original boxes, surely my clone is worth more than
being thrown away.
I now stand by the opinion, that reproduction boxes are a
stop gap, not a solution. Something
that’ll tide me over till the genuine article comes along. I certainly won’t
make one again though. It really isn’t
much fun squinting at low resolution images to read what the box’s text should
say or getting my fingers covered in black ink, sticky tape and glue. So if I
have to pay for a reproduction box, (at only £4 a time from this great guy) when added to the price of a
loose cart and a replacement game tray would I bother? For the majority of
games, probably not. When the real deal is listed frequently and relatively
cheaply it’s just too expensive for
something that lacks authenticity. For something like Earthbound or Mega Man X3
though I can’t deny that I would be tempted. When the difference between a
loose cartridge and a CIB game is a hundred pounds, the price of the real thing
moves from being justifiable to being excessive and not something I’d
entertain.
I guess it’s true of
any piece of art you’ve always wanted. You would love to have the original
master piece but if you can’t afford it, it’s better to have a copy than
nothing at all.
The only problem is a lack of instruction book – I wonder if I
could make those, it certainly would involve less cutting and sticking.
_________________________________________________________________
If you are interested in making your own Pop N' Twinbee - Rainbow Bell Adventures box I have included the box I made below.
Feel free to cut it out and stick it together - but if you do let me know how you get on!
Printed off your box, do you have more?
ReplyDeleteSorry no I don't.
ReplyDeleteI can certainly recommend you look at http://www.retroreplace.co.uk/ as their boxes are as good as you can buy. Pricey but worth it.
nice blog. Game Boxes
ReplyDelete