Showing posts with label Pulse Line Carts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pulse Line Carts. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
I`m Back Again: My CIB Small-box Nintendo Famicom Collection
As the part of the title that precedes the colon states, I`m back. Well, I never left really, I have just been too busy. Today I am home sick from work (just a cold, nothing to worry about) and for the first time in 2013 I find myself with a few spare moments to devote to my beloved blog.
Ah how I have missed it. I thought I would do a post on one of my sub-collections - the small box early Nintendo carts CIB.
This is a very difficult to name series because it doesn`t quite correspond to the pulse line carts - Hogan`s Alley for example doesn`t have a pulse line version of the cart but has one of these boxes while Devil World, which does have a pulse line cart, was only sold in the larger silver boxes so far as I know. So tempted though I am, I can`t just refer to it as a CIB set of the pulse line carts even though that is almost what they are. That means, you know, just look at the pictures to figure out which CIB games I am talking about here.
These, along with the early Namco boxes of similar size, are my favorite Famicom games in terms of boxes. They just have the right balance of size, color and evocative-yet-simple artwork on the cover to lure me in. If I had been a kid in 1983 and been confronted with a sales display full of these I definitely would have bugged my parents for them until they became so massively fed up that they just bought me one to shut me up.
Come to think of it I was a kid in 1983. Lucky for my parents that they never took me to Japan.
Anyway, I only have 10 of these which means I am still a few short of a set. That includes some of the nicer ones like Mario Bros and Donkey Kong Jr. Math. Fortunately none of them are expensive so hopefully I`ll track them down at some point. Sadly that will probably have to be on Yahoo Auctions or somewhere similar as I don`t get out to the shops anymore like I used to.
Anyway, I think the Donkey Kong one is probably my favorite of the ones I do have. It is a very cool piece of pop art. I think once I finish the set my next project will be to try and devise some way of properly displaying them all as my current method (putting them in a box stored under the bed) just isn`t doing them justice at all.
Friday, September 23, 2011
Double Trouble Donkey Kong Jr. Style: Pulse Line versus Box Art
One of my recent Famicom purchases was another copy of Donkey Kong Jr. I`ve had the pulse line version of this game for quite a while, but I didn`t have the other version. The...uh...one on the right in the above photo.
The subject of today`s post is this duality exemplified in my Donkey Kong Jrs. Most of the Famicom Pulse line carts were released in two versions - the original pulse line version and the other version with the picture from the box art, which were released later.
As a point of nomenclature, I`m not actually sure how to refer to these versions. `Pulse line` is a convenient and descriptive term that is hard to mistake for something else. But what to call these other carts? `Picture carts`? That is short, but not very specific as most Famicom carts have pictures on them. `Box art carts`? Same problem.
Anyway, since I need to refer to them as something in this post, I`ll use the phrase `box art carts` to refer to the versions of the pulse line carts that have box art instead of the pulse line on the cover. Everybody clear on that? Good.
From a collector`s point of view, I`ve noticed some variations in the relative scarcity of the pulse line and box art versions of some of these carts. I think they can be divided into three categories.
1. Pulse Line Carts that have no Box Art version
To the best of my knowledge, the following pulse line carts never had a box art version released:
Donkey Kong 3
Pinball
Donkey Kong Jr Math
Popeye English
I could be mistaken and if anyone knows of box art versions of these carts, please let me know. I have never seen one myself though.
2. Pulse Line Carts that have Box Art versions which were released in roughly equal numbers
For some games that had two versions released, each version seems to have been released in roughly the same quantity and neither is harder to find or more expensive than the other. I would include the following games in this category:
Baseball
Golf
Devil World
Tennis
Mario Bros.
Mah-Jong
There is a bit of variation. The box art version of Mario Bros. seems to be slightly harder to find than the pulse line version, for example, but not too much harder and most shops charge the same price for each if they have them.
3. Pulse line carts that are much easier to find than their box art versions
For some reason a number of carts have box art versions that are significantly harder to find than the pulse line versions and most stores will sell the box art version for a much higher price. These include:
Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong Jr
Popeye
At Mandarake in town here, for example, they have both versions of Popeye available loose. The Pulse line version they are selling for 630 yen (about 9$), while the box art version they are selling for 2400 yen (about 30$). I`m guessing that the reason for this relative scarcity of the later box art versions is that the popularity of those games declined quickly between 1983 and 1985 and thus fewer of the newer versions were sold.
4. Gomokunarabe
This is the one cart which I can`t say for certain which category it belongs in. I have one copy of each version, so I can say that it belongs in either group 2 or 3, but I just haven`t seen enough copies of it in stores to know which is harder to find than the other. Anybody out there know?
Anyway, just thought I`d put this info I had rattling around in my head out there for reference if any of you are trying to collect both versions of these games!
The subject of today`s post is this duality exemplified in my Donkey Kong Jrs. Most of the Famicom Pulse line carts were released in two versions - the original pulse line version and the other version with the picture from the box art, which were released later.
As a point of nomenclature, I`m not actually sure how to refer to these versions. `Pulse line` is a convenient and descriptive term that is hard to mistake for something else. But what to call these other carts? `Picture carts`? That is short, but not very specific as most Famicom carts have pictures on them. `Box art carts`? Same problem.
Anyway, since I need to refer to them as something in this post, I`ll use the phrase `box art carts` to refer to the versions of the pulse line carts that have box art instead of the pulse line on the cover. Everybody clear on that? Good.
From a collector`s point of view, I`ve noticed some variations in the relative scarcity of the pulse line and box art versions of some of these carts. I think they can be divided into three categories.
1. Pulse Line Carts that have no Box Art version
To the best of my knowledge, the following pulse line carts never had a box art version released:
Donkey Kong 3
Pinball
Donkey Kong Jr Math
Popeye English
I could be mistaken and if anyone knows of box art versions of these carts, please let me know. I have never seen one myself though.
2. Pulse Line Carts that have Box Art versions which were released in roughly equal numbers
For some games that had two versions released, each version seems to have been released in roughly the same quantity and neither is harder to find or more expensive than the other. I would include the following games in this category:
Baseball
Golf
Devil World
Tennis
Mario Bros.
Mah-Jong
There is a bit of variation. The box art version of Mario Bros. seems to be slightly harder to find than the pulse line version, for example, but not too much harder and most shops charge the same price for each if they have them.
3. Pulse line carts that are much easier to find than their box art versions
For some reason a number of carts have box art versions that are significantly harder to find than the pulse line versions and most stores will sell the box art version for a much higher price. These include:
Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong Jr
Popeye
At Mandarake in town here, for example, they have both versions of Popeye available loose. The Pulse line version they are selling for 630 yen (about 9$), while the box art version they are selling for 2400 yen (about 30$). I`m guessing that the reason for this relative scarcity of the later box art versions is that the popularity of those games declined quickly between 1983 and 1985 and thus fewer of the newer versions were sold.
4. Gomokunarabe
This is the one cart which I can`t say for certain which category it belongs in. I have one copy of each version, so I can say that it belongs in either group 2 or 3, but I just haven`t seen enough copies of it in stores to know which is harder to find than the other. Anybody out there know?
Anyway, just thought I`d put this info I had rattling around in my head out there for reference if any of you are trying to collect both versions of these games!
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Pulse Line Cart Bonus! Fun with Photo Effects!
Finally Some Pulse Line Carts
A couple months ago I picked up Donkey Kong Jr. Math. Hardly an epic game or one that I really wanted to play with, but it did complete one subset of my Famicom collection: the pulse line carts.
I love the pulse line carts. So simple, so perfect. They really remind one of just how long the Famicom was around. I mean, they were still making games for the thing as late as 1994 - the same year the Playstation came out. And Nintendo was still making new Famicom consoles as late as 2003 - well after the PS2 and Game Cube had been released.
But the design of the pulse line carts looks more like something from the Atari 2600 or Colecovision era in North America. Which, of course, makes complete sense because these ARE something from the Atari 2600/ Colecovision era. These were all released between 1983 and 1984 - well before the NES made its American debut and wiped out the last of the pre- crash game consoles still on the market. A lot of these games were, in fact, also released on those earlier consoles as well, and none of them (except Devil World - sort of) feature the scrolling element that made the Famicom/NES so distinct from its predecessors. These are creatures from a different era.
Anyway, I've been quite impressed by some of the photos other people have taken of them, like Bryan at the Gay Gamer's and "anonymous" here (edit: that photo was taken by Kendra) and I've been wanting to put some photos of mine up as well. So here they are. Pulse line carts at various locations in my apartment.
On the steps to my loft:
The hand-rails muck up the photo a bit, though at least they keep me from falling down:
On top of a Famicom box and Family Basic:
On top of my curtain rails:
On a side table with a potted plant:
Mario Bros. and Tennis soaking up some rays:
I love the fact that the combination of all the carts has the perfect balance of color. They look good just stacked up:
I do sort of wish they had made either more or less of them than fourteen. Fourteen is an awkward number to deal with when arranging stuff for photos. You've got limited options. You can put them in two columns of seven, but that makes it hard to see the ones in the back clearly:
Or one long row of fourteen, but that creates an unreasonably narrow photo:
Or four rows of three with this extra row of two looking very conspicuous at the top:
Fifteen would have been better. Anyway, other than that they are aces.
Gotta love that angle.
I love the pulse line carts. So simple, so perfect. They really remind one of just how long the Famicom was around. I mean, they were still making games for the thing as late as 1994 - the same year the Playstation came out. And Nintendo was still making new Famicom consoles as late as 2003 - well after the PS2 and Game Cube had been released.
But the design of the pulse line carts looks more like something from the Atari 2600 or Colecovision era in North America. Which, of course, makes complete sense because these ARE something from the Atari 2600/ Colecovision era. These were all released between 1983 and 1984 - well before the NES made its American debut and wiped out the last of the pre- crash game consoles still on the market. A lot of these games were, in fact, also released on those earlier consoles as well, and none of them (except Devil World - sort of) feature the scrolling element that made the Famicom/NES so distinct from its predecessors. These are creatures from a different era.
Anyway, I've been quite impressed by some of the photos other people have taken of them, like Bryan at the Gay Gamer's and "anonymous" here (edit: that photo was taken by Kendra) and I've been wanting to put some photos of mine up as well. So here they are. Pulse line carts at various locations in my apartment.
On the steps to my loft:
The hand-rails muck up the photo a bit, though at least they keep me from falling down:
On top of a Famicom box and Family Basic:
On top of my curtain rails:
On a side table with a potted plant:
Mario Bros. and Tennis soaking up some rays:
I love the fact that the combination of all the carts has the perfect balance of color. They look good just stacked up:
I do sort of wish they had made either more or less of them than fourteen. Fourteen is an awkward number to deal with when arranging stuff for photos. You've got limited options. You can put them in two columns of seven, but that makes it hard to see the ones in the back clearly:
Or one long row of fourteen, but that creates an unreasonably narrow photo:
Or four rows of three with this extra row of two looking very conspicuous at the top:
Fifteen would have been better. Anyway, other than that they are aces.
Gotta love that angle.
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