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Post by flagman02 on Jan 29, 2010 20:56:20 GMT 2
I recently purchased a Mario Bros Ym 105 in a plain white box as someone seems to be shifting a few on Ebay at the moment.Can someone please tell me the story behind these?.
Thanks,Richard
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Post by mpanayiotakis on Jan 30, 2010 2:42:14 GMT 2
Have you read my FAQ Richard?  Michael |
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Post by Aris on Jan 30, 2010 6:50:49 GMT 2
I recently purchased a Mario Bros Ym 105 in a plain white box as someone seems to be shifting a few on Ebay at the moment.Can someone please tell me the story behind these?. Thanks,Richard Hi Richard, I know some people were having problems accessing the FAQ (in the past) so, in case you're not aware of it, or, had problems accessing it, I'll answer your question here. There's some information about these "white-boxed" games in Mike's FAQ and on Patrick's site too. www.gameandwatch.chAs far as we know, Nintendo only packaged three of the games in these white boxes, which are often referred to as OEM boxes or OEM versions. OEM is an acronym (or short form) for Original Equipment Manufacturer. The three games were Black Jack, Donkey Kong II and Super Mario Bros. SMB is by far the most common of the OEM releases. Mike had 1 OEM Black Jack and 1 OEM Donkey Kong II game, but recently sold them to another collector late last year. I believe Paul also has an OEM DKII or BJ, I can't remember which one he has. I have never seen an OEM DKII or Black Jack on ebay. The boxes usually have the game's model number and name stamped on the front of the box, and if you ask me, looks kinda cheesy the way it's done. The model number looks like it was done with some sort of stencil template, and on the OEM SMB boxes I have, the game name looks as though someone wrote it by hand with a ruler underneath! One of my OEM boxes doesn't even have the name of the game on it, just the model number! It is believed that these games were never sold in stores, and were actually more of a DEMO or sample version of the game. Perhaps to let people handle the game and play it, without having to worry about wrecking a nice boxed version of the same game by repeated opening and closing of the large flap. (mind you, they released about 1 million SMB games, quarter of a million Black Jack games and 1.25 million DKII games, so, I don't see why they would need to make these OEM boxes. I mean, surely, they could have sent "demo's/samples" of the games in their regular boxes, no?) The last thing Mike's FAQ mentions is the contents of the boxes, and basically, there's a Multi Screen foam tray, a plastic bag, LR44 batteries, battery cover stickers and instructions. There is also a "NOTE" added to the FAQ that talks about a possible OEM box that may exist for the MEGO Time-Out version of games. Mike's note refers to Toss-Up only, but, I recall receiving a Fireman Fireman game several years ago from a seller in the US that came in the exact same white box that my Toss-Up game is currently in, and it's basically a white "sleeve" made out of cardboard. It's slightly larger than the foam tray to allow for it to slide right over the tray. When I say "sleeve", I'm basically describing a box that is open on both ends, so, in other words, there are no flaps on either end of the box. It doesn't open like the OEM boxes for SMB, BJ and DKII do. Hope that answers your question Richard. AC |
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Post by Gawaleus on Jan 30, 2010 9:25:08 GMT 2
Mike had 1 OEM Black Jack and 1 OEM Donkey Kong II game, but recently sold them to another collector late last year. Mike sold them to me  - Patrick |
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Post by flagman02 on Jan 30, 2010 11:43:39 GMT 2
Cheers for that Aris (i will be in touch with my serial numbers shortly).You say the contents of the box should include instructions but my one never.
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Post by Aris on Jan 30, 2010 19:04:39 GMT 2
Mike had 1 OEM Black Jack and 1 OEM Donkey Kong II game, but recently sold them to another collector late last year. Mike sold them to me - Patrick Hi Patrick, Yeah, I knew it was you, but, intentionally didn't advertise that, in case you didn't want everyone here to know.... It's better if the person that got the games volunteered that information, kinda like the winner of the NOA PO game.  ;D Congrats though on obtaining them, they really are quite rare. Like I said, I've only ever seen the one Paul has, and the two you now have. I wonder if anyone else has any??? AC |
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Post by mpanayiotakis on Jan 30, 2010 20:47:53 GMT 2
Actually, that's one thing I need to correct in the FAQ, the OEM games came with no instruction booklets.. One more reason to believe that these games were never meant to be sold..
Btw, if anyone has any problem downloading the FAQ, let me know and I can send it to you..
Michael
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Post by Aris on Jan 31, 2010 18:01:13 GMT 2
Actually, that's one thing I need to correct in the FAQ, the OEM games came with no instruction booklets.. One more reason to believe that these games were never meant to be sold.. Btw, if anyone has any problem downloading the FAQ, let me know and I can send it to you.. Michael LOL! And here I was thinking my OEM games were incomplete because I was missing them the instructions from both of them! Yes, I think the fact that they didn't come with instructions essentially "seals the deal" that these games were NOT meant for sale, otherwise, how would you know how to play them??? AC |
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Post by mpanayiotakis on Jan 31, 2010 21:51:32 GMT 2
The sample game in the shop theory isn't so far fetched in my opinion.. (and I can't think of another plausible theory for the creation of these boxes either). You can't expect a shop to offer all games as samples to kids who want to play with them.. And it makes sense that Nintendo would choose these 3 games since they were made in the millions.. DK2 and Super mario were very popular games, one is multi-screen and the other is a wide screen one so you can sample the feel and the look of such a game in your hands. The only thing that puzzles me is why Nintendo chose blackjack as one of the oem games.. Maybe they thought it would be a huge hit..? Maybe it was part of some kind of marketing research to see whether people would be interested in this type of games.. ? I don't know.. Moreover if this theory is correct then the OEM boxes must be a lot rarer than we think (ok, dk2 and blackjack ones are already very rare..). Btw, there were 2 editions of OEM games.. Michael |
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Post by andycole on Feb 1, 2010 13:19:36 GMT 2
I would have thought a likely answer to the question 'why didn't they have instructions' was obvious. these OEM's could have been sent to distributors who inserted their own, sometimes localised, instructions and their own boxes. Like JI21 boxes and french instructions, for example.
The bigger question is why we only see the same 2 or 3 models. I don't agree with the sample theory. Like you said, why choose those 3 games? They would have chosen something better!
Andy.
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Post by Gawaleus on Feb 1, 2010 16:26:11 GMT 2
Yeah, I knew it was you, but, intentionally didn't advertise that, in case you didn't want everyone here to know.... OK, I see. But that is no problem for me if others know, or if someone else let others know. Like I said, I've only ever seen the one Paul has, and the two you now have. I have four of them now... Donkey Kong II, Black Jack and the two versions of Super Mario Bros YM-105. Patrick |
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Post by Aris on Feb 1, 2010 18:34:03 GMT 2
Hi Patrick, Okay, cool. Good to know! I have 3, one less than you, but, mine are all SMB. ;D AC |
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Post by Aris on Feb 1, 2010 19:06:47 GMT 2
I would have thought a likely answer to the question 'why didn't they have instructions' was obvious. these OEM's could have been sent to distributors who inserted their own, sometimes localised, instructions and their own boxes. Like JI21 boxes and french instructions, for example. The bigger question is why we only see the same 2 or 3 models. I don't agree with the sample theory. Like you said, why choose those 3 games? They would have chosen something better! Andy. Ah yes, the joy of being a G&W collector and having to work backwards to try and figure out why things were done the way they were.... LOL! It's an interesting point Andy, but, if that were the case, wouldn't these OEM games only, or least, mostly, be turning up in country's like Italy, The UK, France, Belgium, Australia and Germany, in other words, places that do have their own localized boxes and instructions? I know of the three OEM SMBs I have, two came from the US, and I'm not sure where I got the third one from. Even this seller from California, who seems to have found a small stash of them (but, for whatever reason, hasn't replied to my questions about how many he has, their serials, where he found them, or any other information he might know about OEMs) I'm sure, found them in the US, so, I don't think they were created for a "put your own boxes and instructions in your native language" reason. To me, the more I think of it, the more I believe the lack of instructions was because they weren't for sale period. They probably had the normal boxed games on some sort of shelving or in some sort of locked glass case behind the counter, and if some little kid came up and said, "Hey Mister, can I try that game?" the clerk could just reach down in front of him, where they kept the OEM versions, and say, "sure, here you go!" To your second point, that's what still baffles me! Why just three? And why just these three??? Black Jack wasn't made in large numbers, so, why was that one put in an OEM box? Especially since they already had MS game in an OEM box. Surely they must have known DK was going to be a big hit, why not put that one in OEM boxes? If they weren't going to do the OEM boxes for each and every game, and only chose to make a few, I still say they should have made one for each of the different "platforms" so, one (or more) for Silver, Gold, WS, NWS, MS, etc.... (okay, maybe not for TT games, but all the rest would be feasible!) I guess the other thing we don't know for sure, (or do we???) is maybe OEM boxes do exist for other games, but, we've only seen them for DKII, BJ and SMB.... It's possible that those white boxes we've seen Toss-Up come in, (and that I've seen Fireman Fireman come in) could very well be OEM for the Silver Series games. Lastly, why is SMB in an MS foam tray? Do you think the OEMs were originally going to be 3 different MS games, and at some point, they changed their mind and threw a NWS game in there??? It would be interesting to hear people's opinions on this topic. AC PS Hey Mike, you say there are 2 editions? Can you expand on that please? |
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Post by Gawaleus on Feb 2, 2010 10:05:08 GMT 2
PS Hey Mike, you say there are 2 editions? Can you expand on that please? I guess Mike is refering to these ones:   Patrick |
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Post by devster on Feb 2, 2010 12:04:20 GMT 2
Well I remember that you could play the games in shops before you bought them.
I know I went to a shop with friends and played the games, just can't remember what ones.
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The game itself however is in superb condition (not even a scratch). If it is the game you need, I have it right here.
Sept 21, 2017 3:14:36 GMT 2
Dec 5, 2015 3:12:04 GMT 2
;D
