In North America every single licensed NES game looked the same; same cart, same label shape, same grey color. This was not the case in Japan, were the licensing policies of Nintendo of Japan where much less strict. Publishers were not required to have their carts manufactured by Nintendo, so they were free to to vary their cart color, size, packaging, and even the shape and appearance of each individual cart, as long as it fit in the Famicom cart slot.
The Famicom version of Maniac Mansion is among the most unique variations I have seen. The game’s box is a clear plastic sleeve, with the label on the cart itself serving as the cover. The manual is tucked nicely in behind the cart in a moulded plastic tray,
The uniqueness does not end at the packaging, the cart itself is also quite interesting. The cartridge is a larger than average cart that has a dust protector that seamlessly fits on the bottom of the cart.
Another interesting feature, which I have only seen on other Jaleco carts, is that there is a sticker on the back of cart which has a screenshot from the game on it, almost as if it were the back of the box. My knowledge of the written Japanese language is pretty much zero, so I can only imagine that the text is also similar to the back of the game box also.
Maniac Mansion is one of my favourite NES games, and in my opinion the quirkiness and absurdest sense of humour prevalent throughout the game itself is perfectly matched by Jaleco’s unique packaging concept for the Famicom release.
Wow, that dust cover is so classy!
I’m totally jealous of how awesome Famicom carts look. When I see a bunch of fami carts with their awesome labels, unique shapes and bright rainbow of colors, I get sad thinking of how boring nearly all of my NES carts are (really? just Zelda and unlicensed carts can have cool carts?).
That looks great! Although I’ve been playing games for 22 years, I’m relatively new to Famicom collecting. That’s why last year I bought the famicom cart version of Kirby, thinking its pink cart indicated a limited edition! Thinking back it makes me smile, so that’s worth it. Now let’s earn back the 200 that I spent on it.. ;)
The price for boxed Famicom stuff on Ebay is pretty out of hand. Use a proxy service and buy from Yahoo Auctions JP… your wallet will thank you.
That’s some good advice! Just to be sure: the 200 was a joke! I spent 12 euros on a loose cart. It looks nice on display though!
Wow I had never seen that variation of Maniac Mansion. That’s one neat packaging :mustbuy:
Now I know where those bootlegs famicom games got their dust cover from ;) (those : http://scanlines16.com/blog-3/retro-gaming/nintendo-nes-famicom/famicom-chinoise-et-cartouches-x-in-1/?lang=en). Didn’t know any official releases had those.
Thanks! I love your site, by the way… even though I need google to translate it for me.
I also added your blog to my blogroll :)
You can access my site in english through http://scanlines16.com/en/
It’s using google engine but hey it’s probably better than french right? hehe