RF Generation Message Board

So as I am getting closer to completing my NES collection I camd across a few questions I had and I was hoping this would help out other people who had the same questions.  Please feel free to add any other questions you may have.

How many games were released?  Licensed?  Unlicensed?

678 Licensed
90 Unlicensed
Total: 768 licensed and unlicensed

How to tell the difference between licensed and unlicensed games?

Nintendo's Official Seal is licensed.  Typical grey/gold cartridge.

Variations?

Zelda I, Zelda II Gold and Grey cart

Best way to clean up sticker residue/remove stickers?

Hair Dryer.  Use finger to "roll off" excess residue.  
Goo Gone - only use on plastic and metal.  Don't use on cardboard or paper as it will leave discoloration.  Good for sticker residue but leaves it oily
Goof Off 2 - good on markers and loosening stickers.  Don't use on boxes.  Regular Goof Off isn't safe on plastics.

How to get the blasted games to play?  Alcohol?  Replace the 72 pin connector?  More ideas?

Aftermarket 72 pin connectors are junk.  72 pin connectors seem to be hit or miss if they work.

Read this topic, it includes a nice video made by SirPsycho!
http://www.rfgeneration.com/forum/index.php?topic=9220.0

#1: Not answering that one. I'll leave it for someone more familiar.
#2: Licensed titles have the Nintendo Seal. Unlicensed do not.
#3: There are numerous variation types, including # screws, seal design (Oval/Round), Trademark/Registered Trademark (as Nintendo transitioned), the standard Publisher changes and Patch cartridges, and numerous reprints for the Black label games. I'm not sure what you're asking here - just variation to look out for, do people collect variations, or something else?
#4: No clue.
#5: No clue, as I have the same issue and replaced my 72 pin.

The total number of games seems to vary wildly depending on what list you use. I think that Nintendo Age's default "NES" list is as good as any, which says there are 768, including unlicensed games. If you want to count all variants, or all Aladdin titles as separate entries, it can go a lot higher. The licensed list is usually cited as around 677.

At the end of the day, I think that what determines 'completeness' is up to you. I don't think there's much sense in letting others determine if your collection is "complete enough", you know?

Edit: Here's (http://nintendoage.com/index.cfm?FuseAction=Search.NES) NA's list that I mentioned.

I second what Erik said and would like to add that for myself as an N64 collector, what's important in counting a game as part of the full set to me is that the game is unique. If it's a minor variant then it's not important, but if it has significant content differences (like Castlevania vs Castlevania Legacy of Darkness) or it's a special packaging variant (like the zelda collector's edition vs regular version) then I would count it. That's just my take on it, like Erik said in the end it's what matters to you that's important.

We talked about cleaning way back in episode 5:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMLELGmfjLc

768 total games, 677/678 is the typical licensed set count. Unlicensed is still open to debate to some degree, as some Sachen games did make it over here. The question is whether they were legitimately distributed here.

For 72-pins, I think the aftermarket ones are junk. I boil the originals, scrub them clean, and bend the pins. I jumped into the Blinking Light Win Kickstarter, and I think this will be a much better solution. I'm sure they'll sell more after the Kickstarter backers are taken care of.

If you want to get real technical, homebrew games are technically unlicensed releases, so the real number of unlicensed games is currently impossible to pin down.

People usually group them into their own category, due to their ever increasing numbers.

Oh, I'm aware of that, but it's still TECHNICALLY true.

2.  Is it safe to say that licensed games are the standard grey carts and unlicensed are not the standard grey carts?
3. I was thinking more of cartridge color variation such as licensed Pac-man, unlicensed Pac-man, the 2 Indiana jones games, the few Wisdom Tree color variations.

So what is the 1 game that you are unsure that is licensed or not? :P

They were not part of the original release but, yes, technically you can say that about any system.

no, don't forget about games like the legend of zelda titles that had gold and gray versions, both licensed.

True, I guess the best wording would be licensed games looked like the typical cart, grey or otherwise!

oh, ya if we're talking about shape then that could be true...i don't know enough about the NES library to say though :) i just knew there was more than only grey coloured licensed titles.

Offhand, I think the two gold carts are the only color variants for licensed games.

What about those awful video store stickers?  Any advice on removing and cleaning them up?

Have you tried a hair dryer?

What two games had gold carts?  I can only think of Zelda 1.

I'll have to try that.

Zelda 2 also was released in gold and gray cart variations (gray being the latter classic series release)

That's what I thought but I wasn't sure.  I don't recall that one as well as the first one.

I could care less about screw variations.  I'm wondering about Cartridge color differences and the few games where there were two different publishers.

Things like Impossible Mission II AVE and SEI versions, or Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom Mindscape and Tengen versions count.  They are identical games, true, but being different publishers makes them a new listing.  You can't say "I'm getting all the Tengen releases" and then say you don't count Indy because you have the Mindscape version.  That said, things like The Untouchables, Metroid, both Zeldas, Gun.Smoke, etc, would be considered a major variant.  Those would not count as unique releases, and are never really "required" for a "complete" set, however many collectors see them as interesting enough to pursue them.  The next step down would be things like Black vs Blue color dreams, 3- or 5-screw licensed, square vs cut corner AVE, or revision variants of Wisdom Tree games and Action 52.  Again, they wouldn't be required, but they're interesting enough that some people want to get them all anyway.  Finally, you get the "Extreme Anal Collector" variants, which include things like revision variants, -1 variants, etc.  What one includes or excludes would be up to the individual collector, save for the publisher variations (unless you're excluding the entire publisher, although I can't understand why someone would do such a thing).

What's the story with the Untouchables and Gun.Smoke?  I didn't know those 2 had variants.  What the reason behind the different color carts for the Wisdom Tree games?

For Untouchables, I did some research and added some Trivia for the variation:

Original Release: Film Adaptation
Second Release: TV Adaptation


Gun.Smoke had a reprinted package/label. Not sure why.

Wisdom Tree/Color Dreams were just different printings with what they had available. I don't believe that the shells were mixed for any purpose other than being what they had available from other printings to reduce cost.

Shit, Impossible Mission II has 2 releases?  Blast the NES with their duplicate titles with different publishers!  Anyone know if there are any game play differences?

Nevermind... It's posted above.  I'm a dope.  Time for bed.

@Shadow Kisuragi: I've heard others mention that the label for Gun.Smoke was changed due to the bar in the background. I haven't been able to confirm this.