I collect original myself but games costing so much I'm thinking now just trying for Neo Geo CD and MVS.I don't mind repro labels but would like them to look nice and detailed as the original.
The Jamma Nation labels are good for that purpose, James did a nice job of recreating the fonts of the originals. I used Cricut vinyl for my Ironclad and it turned out pretty nice. I have some sticky gloss sheets I’m going to try for some PGM IGS carts.
I don’t mind repro labels myself but do prefer original ones though. But most importantly the games I look for are must be authentic SNK chip board. Great video content thanks for the channel SS
you probably dont care but does anyone know of a trick to log back into an Instagram account..? I stupidly lost the login password. I would appreciate any help you can offer me!
I can spot any repro label a mile away, been in the neo scene too long. Personally I really don't care as long as the PCB's are genuine. IT'S THE INSIDE THAT COUNTS, like you said. Good vid, Joe!
Hah, I don’t doubt you are! I’m pretty good if its in front of me or there are even halfway decent pics. I always love the perfectly colored and non-cracked labels on something expensive, where you know someone just erased the NGH number off of one of James’s labels.
Nightmare in the dark, I was wondering about the rarity of that holo. I picked up the normal label one and it was a pretty penny so I am not too interested in paying more. I was wondering if Nightmare had both versions and which was more rare? Sorry to use you as a source of knowledge but man...Dont be so knowledgable then!!!
Oh boy, I’m not really sure which is more rare as I don’t have a great source for run numbers. I believe the white/grey carts usually have the holo label and were used as rental carts. I’m guessing your standard label is on a black cartridge?
I have a Metal Slug X with holographic lable which seems authentic, but the lable has beenn damage on both places where the serial number usually would show. I have also seen lables where the serial code is taped over with stickers. Any idea why people would hide these codes on otherwise authentic looking carts?
Back in the day SNK had a no resale policy. Vendors would remove/cut the serials to avoid being tracked and having any type of recourse imposed upon them by SNK.
I love watching the vids man, just wish i could score a cabinet in my area of Indiana so i can start the hobby as well, i grew up loving the Neo in the arcades.
Cabs in general have become ridiculously competitive to grab. In the northeast lately, you basically have an hour or two to decide if you want it and then you’d better hope the seller will hold it until you get there. It’s pretty cutthroat. Have you considered grabbing a consolized MVS? You could still collect and play the carts until you landed a cab. That’s what I did.
Excellent choice for a video Scarlet. You don't see uploads regarding them on RU-vid regarding these type of topics, but I'm glad that you shared this and will be keeping this video for reference as the years to come bro. 86) I posted this up on the Neo-Geo thread on Atariage.com for you. It's on post #17,747 for you to view. Thank you as always Scarlet. You certainly know how to outdo yourself. 8^) Anthony..
Good knowledge! As I’m still on the AES side, when I add a cart I “CAREFULLY “ pop the shell open to clean and verify the boards. As old as they are you sometimes come across gross things in them. Hair of any type....eww :P
Oh man, I know exactly what you mean. The grime factor on some of these carts is horrendous. Sometimes just cleaning the pins it’s crazy how black your qtips and wipes can be.
I got lucky with a game I got. Spent a lot on it and had no idea how easy it was to get a bootleg cart. The game had a non-factory label on it and my heart basically dropped when I realized that but I checked that site and turns out the PCBs were completely genuine, so I took off the custom label and use shipping label sticker paper and printed off a scan of a genuine one. I don't plan to sell it so it's not a big deal, more of an aesthetic thing. Maybe the original label was damaged enough to where the seller decided to replace that to make it look cleaner, but I suggest sellers not doing that because it easily scares off collectors lol Trust me, if we see a label that's completely yellowed out, torn, etc, we'll get it if it's factory.
A lot of times people will take the Japanese label off and simply replace it with an English label. Other times, if it’s badly damaged they’ll just replace it as well. Either way, I’d agree the boards inside are the most important. Personally though, I just won’t pay a premium for something with a banged up or replacement label.
You're welcome Scarlet. Always a pleasure. Also I posting on your Twitter account regarding this and I direct message you on something cool for you to see bro. 8^) Anthony
Good video. I have actually been slowly selling off my MVS carts. On the sale post details I had to list that some carts have printed labels, because I have a few that def do have some. And I tried to take pretty clear pics of the cart labels to help people view them better. A bit thing you need to look out for on later carts labels is lack of serial number. If it isn't there, the label is probably a printed one, as opposed to an SNK manufactured label. Issue with facebook is it likes to take nice high res 2048x1536 pics and automatically resize them to 720x540 on your sale post. My guess is they do that for mobile viewing, but its annoying either way and can make it harder on the buyers.
Regarding Facebook, I’ve noticed that as well. Definitely frustrating for both buyers and sellers at times. Kudos for calling out the labels though. Like you mentioned, I’ve seen people shop out the NGH number from those repro labels that JNX hosts, but they then are still missing the serial. The less informed are sometimes convinced the label is then authentic.
I know this is a late comment, but original label Bang Bead carts have the speckled holo pattern instead of the double helix. As far as I’m aware, Bang Bead and Nightmare in the Dark are the only two titles to have this alternate holo pattern. I recently got in Bang Bead and noticed, so I thought it would be an interesting bit of info.
That’s really interesting thanks for sharing! I’ve never held a Bang Bead with original label, so that is definitely something I didn’t know. I may try and find one at some point for my collection, but until then I’m stuck with the rebadged version. Thanks again for commenting with that info!
I doubt they ever considered people would be looking at them. They’re very industrial, but I’ve come to appreciate the subtleties. The PGM on the other hand has decent colorful labels.
Great video. I’m constantly on mvs scans it’s an awesome resource. I try to keep my collection with all original labels regardless of how beat up they are. However there are some prominent, highly regarded Neo Geo sellers out there that seem to immediately slap a new custom game label and gold insertion label on a cart and then try to jack the price up by making the cart look “newer”. I was never quite sure how they got away with that. Obviously they have the opinion like you said that it’s what’s inside that counts.
I hear you. There are carts I still need that I refuse to buy because of that. Original label or bust for me. I’m too deep into this now to change my ways, I’ll wait it out as long as it takes.
I stop caring about the labels awhile ago.. most of the carts and labels look like they got kicked around in a baseball field anyways. It gives them character.
I actually like finding additional stickers from an arcade or distributor on the shells, like you mentioned, it gives them character. I don’t mind some dings and scratches honestly, in a lot of cases you have to settle for that if you can find what you’re looking for and you want a decent price. I have a harder time justifying that if the seller hasn’t adjusted the price accordingly though.
i dont mind repro or conversion carts but they must be substantially cheaper and a ridiculous title like mark of the wolves or matrimelee or pochi/nyaa (something that is normally comically expensive)
My metal slug 2 cartridge does not have that kind of a holographic lable, its just a standard lable, checked the game inside and it is leggit, should i be worried about the lable ?
I wouldn’t sweat it if the boards are good and the label looks and feels normal otherwise. There are some games where they switch to holo labels and then back to paper, then holo again.
@@ScarletSprites Turns out you can barely see the holo effect on the label, but barely, i got worried and checked it again and sure enough there was the holo label, but barely visible, thnx for the info !
I bought my first MVS games and hopefully they'll be original. Thank you so much for your video, it's really helpful. Now all I need is to actually buy a mvs, every time I do some googling I find some new info, like memory card support or soldered/socketed bios, it's a lot stuff to absorb.
Congrats on your first MVS games! Which did you pickup? It’s unfortunate that JNX has stopped producing consolized MVS units, he really is pretty great at those. There are still a few options out there though. The latest that is the unit by Beharbros which seems to be getting favorable reviews from people who have received their units. Then there is of course ArcadeWorks’s Omega MVS which I had mixed experiences with. You can also take a gamble on the AliExpress units as well, some people seem to have had good luck with those.
@@ScarletSprites I got king of fighters 96 and double dragon! It was super cheap so at least I won't feel bad if they turn out to be reproductions. I didn't know about beharbros or arcadework's solutions, I'm gonna check it out. Once again, thanks for the help!
How do you feel about reproductions carts? Do you despise them regardless or do you not care as long as they aren't trying to be passed as the orginal copy? Also the only reason I would be more interested in collecting for AES then MVS is because I like the artwork on those labels and I know, MVS carts were in the cabinet and were never meant to be seen outside the vendor. Too bad AES collecting is so expensive.
That’s such a tough one, my opinion swings depending on the circumstance I suppose. I do think they have less of a place nowadays though given that the NeoSD and Darksoft multicarts are available. But then hell, you could argue the same about my collection. I made myself an Ironclad cart a while back, and I think it’s cool that games that never came out on MVS can be made. There’s of course though, the destruction of an original cart then, so, yeah it’s a tough topic. I’d have loved to have collected for AES but I knew early on I’d never be able to afford it. I love the artwork and labels as well. There is a rugged charm to MVS with the various shell colors, label fonts, holographic labels, and then the arcade flyers, mini marquees, and dip setting sheets though too.
That’s a really cool concept that I’m all for. I’ve been following a thread on arcade-projects where someone has made PGM boards for creating conversions. That’s probably the best of both worlds really, as it saves carts from being sacrificed for conversions.
@@ScarletSprites: I've noticed that on ETSY, that many people who sell reproduction carts are using more and more 3D printed shells. I guess there isn't a limitless supply of sports cart to cannibalize from.
My real bout is hilariously bad inkjet repro but.....its original boards and came w a shockbox so im ok with it but ya i wouldnt have paid top dollar,cool topic,very informative
There seems to be a lot of fighters, particularly the KOF games, that have been relabeled. In the case of the latter too, oh man, all those boot versions.
I've stopped buying any games that are not shown working or genuine. i've only had one, kof98 that didnt work. i think there's a problematic chip in that one. But i dont mind wear n tear. Though i expect to pay a bit less if the label is poor. mvsscans is more useful for pcb identification.
I would agree that anything over $100 (which is most games these days) I need to see board pics. There are a lot of lazy sellers on eBay who won’t do that. If buying peer to peer from groups/forums, I’ve found that most fellow fans are pretty nice about providing pics.
Good video for that topic! There are of course more miracles to solve - one is the serial number: most of the US have them, the japanese not but sometimes it is not that easy. For example Sengoku 3 (US) - mine has no number but some does (with a letter followed by a number). I remember a discussion in the neogeo.com forum...
Good info! You’re right, I can’t recall seeing serials on Japanese titles. The serial number and no serial number labels isn’t something I was aware of, that’s very interesting. Thanks for sharing!
