Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Masters of the Universal Game Cases

Remember in my last post when I mentioned how cool the custom artwork on the universal game case looked when I received my Bonk's Adventure cart in the mail?  Sure you do...you think about it every night as you go to sleep...tossing...turning...

Well anyway, I took the bait and bought a case of cases (as well as a couple of new printer ink cartridges) and got to work making some of my own.  When I say a case of cases, I mean that literally.  They only come in boxes of 100 - so I've got quite a few sitting in my living room at the moment.  Interestingly enough, they are called 'universal' in that they hold all kinds of discs and cartridges, EXCEPT for original NES.  I had to take a box cutter and pair of pliers to each one in order to knock out the little tabs standing in my way...


As for the artwork...there is a GREAT website that offers up customized lables for almost every system:   www.thecoverproject.net - I recommend scanning through their forums to see pictures of some great customized case collections.

The cases look really great all put next to one another.  I'm a sucker for the sleek, uniform look of all the cases.  NES boxes are all over the map in their design and color and quite frankly, they look a mess on the shelf.  Not to mention that many boxes didn't survive the more than 2 decades since they were printed, having since long disintegrated in landfills across America.  Boxed game collectors are having to bend over and open up their wallets to finish off their sets.  This is a nice looking, cheap alternative.

So this is what I've got so far.  I'll add some more eventually - these labels will kill an ink cartridge really fast, especially on my crummy printer, so I'm being selective in what I make a label for.  Right now I've got some of my more valuable games and some of my favorites, as well as a really awesome custom MegaMan set.



9 comments:

  1. I absolutely LOVE the way those universal game case labels look. Personally though, I just love the originality of the NES boxes. The authenticity.

    Still, those Mega Man ones look pretty.

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  2. The MegaMan custom art is partially what made me want to get some of these cases. They're rad.

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  3. Could you post the printing instructions for the inserts please. I plan on doing this as well.

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  4. Here's a link to their forum. I used legal sized printer paper for the NES cases - regular letter sized won't print big enough.

    http://www.thecoverproject.net/forums/index.php?PHPSESSID=29f11e06e3b28ccc29aa7d1856e1a65e&board=11.0

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  5. thanks for the help btw where did you get your copy of bubble bobble 2? if you dont mind me asking

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  6. No prob! How did your cases/covers turn out?

    I got BB2 off eBay about a year and a half ago - a really nice copy for less than $100, so I felt good about it.

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  7. Wow thats a steal I havent seen it go for less than 160$

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  8. do u make your own covers for nes games not on the cover project website?

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  9. Because I do and I was wondering if you had made any that might be better or save me some time? Also if you have any cool alternate covers?

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