Games in the Box

[shawndude82]

How hard is it to find a game in it's original box?  Every time I see a picture of someone's collection, I never see the games in the box, just the cartridge.  I think I would rather have the full deal.  Box art is pretty.

[snyderec3]

I'm primarily a SNES collector, and I find its not difficult to locate complete in box games, but it does drive the price up a fair bit.

[NickAwesome]

All depends on the system. I just did the math and about 90% of my collection has the original box or case.  For some systems I only collect CIB and some I am willing to forgo the box at least temporarily because otherwise I might never get it. 

Personally box art is one of the primary reasons I collect, just looks awesome.  Right now I've really been into 3DO, I love the enormous boxes and crazy art. 

[oldgamerz]

It's somewhat possible to get the original boxes and manuals if you're going to pay a bunch more for money them usually online only. through eBay or something.


Not a lot of collectors have the original  boxes because, most boxes get thrown out especially the N64 boxes. It cost more to buy the original retro game cartridges with the box it came in, I have a two. One cost me $50 or $60 USD, and another cost me only $8 USD complete in box but with no manual on both purchases.

They do have repro boxes in which you can buy them separately and add them to your collection.

[sworddude]

for every cib copy you could say that there are 10 to 20 carts  so a 1 - 10 or 20 ratio

not to mention that of those cib copies you could at least throw 50% away since the condtion is pretty meh.

if the game is common cib copies arent to hard to find since even with these horrible ratio's there is quantity but with less common stuff you might have zero cib copies on the market as a result that only show up sometimes let alone  nice example.

[hoshichiri]

Depends on the console & the box itself... if the box was designed as an easy-access holder to be used during the game's life, they aren't hard to find. If it was mostly a conveyance for sale, not so much.

For the most part, cartridge boxes are hard to come by, since they weren't very necessary & took up a lot of space. Intellivision used a gatefold style box for most of their releases, so those are pretty common. Genesis/Master system boxes too, since they mostly took the form of plastic keepcases. Although oddly, Master system manuals are rare. Not sure what's up with that. Pre-DS & PSP portable boxes are the hardest to get, given how much easier it is to just take a few carts places instead of a bunch of boxes.

CD boxes are much easier to get, since all of them double as protection for the discs. Obviously some disc-only games are out there after people moved their collections into CD wallets to save space, but it's not nearly as common as with carts.

You can get boxes for everything, but it's usually extremely expensive. For example: Legend of Zelda on NES, as a cart, goes for 20 bucks or less. The cheapest boxed copy on Ebay right now is $50. It is not at all uncommon for empty boxes to be worth more than the actual game, becuase they're so much harder to come by. While box art is pretty, most people don't display it- it just goes into a shelf with the spine sticking out. That's a pretty big investment of money and space for something you won't really look at- so, most collectors don't bother.

[sworddude]

Depends on the console & the box itself... if the box was designed as an easy-access holder to be used during the game's life, they aren't hard to find. If it was mostly a conveyance for sale, not so much.

For the most part, cartridge boxes are hard to come by, since they weren't very necessary & took up a lot of space.

genesis boxes are just as big as nes or snes yet most still have them. I'd rather say that cardboard boxes are just a dumb idea to store your carts all the time it breaks down easily than something durable like hard plastic cases wich are used till this very day. cardboard boxes where meant to be thrown away not used like a dust cover like sega clamshells. cardboard boxes will break down in the hands of kids and even adults using it carefully while sega clamm shells will remain usable. dvd cases etc. could you imagine cardboard dvd boxes that would have been hell.

Also if where going by your method switch and ds and 3ds cases should be useless thrown out since a cardridge in those cases has a way smaller ratio than say snes n64 and especially nes with them boxes. I'd say modern day consoles have a way worse space ratio for them boxes. switch and ds being them biggest offenders.

nes snes and n64 have a 40 to 60% ratio as far as box cardridge ratio goes while switch is like literally a couple of % ratio. the boxes for switch should be way smaller same goes for ds and 3ds. or like neo geo aes literally 80% ratio in that case.

[bikingjahuty]

When systems like the NES or N64 were new, most people didn't care about the box and usually tossed it like they would a box for an action figure or other toy. Very, very few people were thinking about collectability back then and were more focused on playing a hot, new game. Because of this finding CIB games has become pretty hard for most retro, cartridge-based games. In fact, in the case of a lot of retro games the box and/or manual are worth more than the actual game itself given how much more rare they are.


When games transitioned to CDs this problem definitely improved as CDs are pretty fragile and easily damaged, so the case was often seen as a necessity to keep the game in good, working condition.

[sworddude]

i will say though that in them later collecting years

There are people who only collect the box (or manual in the case of especially disc based games) because it adds value not because it looks good. if boxes barely would add any value those people would not bother with cib.

back in earlier days the people who kept or collected it wanted to legitamitly have it because it looks nice. you barely had anyone who did it for value back than.

Have seen to many people who dont care about a box or manual but want it only because it's worth more with it.

or like people who where at first pleased that they found the carts from back than and didnt care about the boxes anyway. and yet when they find out that boxes are worth a ton suddenly care why they didnt keep it and need a box and manual to complete it. or collectors who where cart only for years and suddenly converted because it's worth more and find cart only worthless nowadays? Would they care if the boxes only added a couple $ of value you gotto wonder.


boxes have value because some people find it to look good. but in later years also people who are interested in it only because it adds value not because of the looks.

Not to sure how i feel about that personally kinda wonder how many people would care about cib if it would only ad little value to the item as far as manuals and boxes go. cib also has an effect on disc based games manuals in particular for that era.

and let's not get me started with sealed game collecting.

[ferraroso]

1) What console are you talking about? In my case, I have almost all of my games complete with manual and in their respective original box. Well, except for Super Famicom and Nintendo 64, but the ones to blame are the people who owned Nintendo games in the 90's, not me...

2) I can bet you that every collector on this website would love to have their games complete in boxes. It's not like we don't appreciate them, it's just that the previous owner (or, in some cases, the child version of ourselves or our parents back then) didn't care about keeping them as much as we all here do now...

[marvelvscapcom2]

How hard is it to find a game in it's original box?  Every time I see a picture of someone's collection, I never see the games in the box, just the cartridge.  I think I would rather have the full deal.  Box art is pretty.

Welcome to the forums!  You will meet many amazing people here.  It's one of the only true gaming sanctuaries remaining online. 



As for your question.   Seldom.   I'd say at least half of all boxes have been trashes years ago.   And about 25-40 percent are in collector hands.  depending on the game.   So really you either have to pay out the wahzoo.  Or just go cartridge. 


For example,  a game like earth bound for just the cart is maybe 300.   With the box,  someone will have no problem getting thousands.  It's just that much of a leap.   


Boxes are also extremely delicate,  so finding ones that aren't squashed, missing books,  water damaged or torn gets even harder.   Especially with consoles that are older.

[hoshichiri]

Also if where going by your method switch and ds and 3ds cases should be useless thrown out since a cardridge in those cases has a way smaller ratio than say snes n64 and especially nes with them boxes.

Ummm…

Depends on the console & the box itself... if the box was designed as an easy-access holder to be used during the game's life, they aren't hard to find.

Like the Genesis, DS & 3DS are plastic clamshell cases. Protective, easy to open & re-close at a moment's notice- of course people kept them. If they came in cardboard boxes that involved pulling out a paper tray to get to your game, and you had to risk tearing/crushing the box every time you handled it, they'dve gotten tossed like their Game Boy counterparts.

[shawndude82]

Welcome to the forums!  You will meet many amazing people here.  It's one of the only true gaming sanctuaries remaining online. 

As for your question.   Seldom.   I'd say at least half of all boxes have been trashes years ago.   And about 25-40 percent are in collector hands.  depending on the game.   So really you either have to pay out the wahzoo.  Or just go cartridge. 

For example,  a game like earth bound for just the cart is maybe 300.   With the box,  someone will have no problem getting thousands.  It's just that much of a leap.   

Boxes are also extremely delicate,  so finding ones that aren't squashed, missing books,  water damaged or torn gets even harder.   Especially with consoles that are older.

Thanks for the welcome!  It's been a long journey getting here.  I'm happy to have found you guys!

Earthbound is one of the games I had BF (Before Freedom) and I had to sell it, box included (though I kept the strategy guide).  So I'd love to be able to find it again, as well as all the other games I couldn't keep.  So buying them cib is probably more personal for me than to than to other collectors.  It makes sense that they'd be harder to find because, like you guys said, many of them were bent, broken, and destroyed upon first purchase.  I have my mom to thank for keeping mine mostly intact.  She reminded me to clean everything up when I was done with it, always put my games and VHS's back in their boxes, don't be messy.  So I was a neat kid

I mostly want NES, SNES, and Genesis games, but I'm interested in the anything really.  Especially some JP games that never made it to shore. Example, I've wanted Wonder Project J since I saw a preview of it in Nintendo Power (which I'm also trying to find all the back issues of.)  And the Cho Aniki series is on my list too just for how bizarre it looks. 
The Zelda games for the CD-i are a must.  I heard so many horrible things about them I can't resist!

Rarer games are appealing, as I'm sure you all know.  I have saved searches on e-bay should they ever pop up.
Like I said in my intro, the Nintendo 1990 World Championship gold cart is going to be mine.  It's not even a question, I will get my hands on it.

I'm new to collecting so bear with me.  I'll probably be asking a lot of stupid questions.  Should be fun

[wartoy]

Some of my collection has original boxes and cases. Older stuff like nes,snes,game boy and a few others I'll buy without boxes but I prefer cib if possible.

[Warmsignal]

It's hard as balls. Nobody kept that candy wrapper-esque stuff. I'm sure some of them literally went into household furnaces along with last month's Xmas tree. It was kids toys, it meant nothing back then.

But yeah, for me it pretty much has to be complete if it didn't come in a cardboard box. No way I'm paying 4x as much for some cardboard packaging, when I've actually perfected the technique of recreating them myself with photoshop, a printer, and a sliver of cardboard material.