Removing stickers from game art

[cobaltdriver]

Hi, i am new here so forgive me if I am posting this in the wrong place. I am looking for ways to remove a sticker that was placed over the original sticker art on some of my sega cartridges, many years ago, without damaging the original game label on the cartridge. I was going to try goo gone but was worried that it would cause the original sticker to come off as well. If anyone has any suggestions or things that you've tried successfully without damaging the original sticker I would be greatful.

[wartoy]

In the past i have taken the cart apart then used a heat lamp to remove the sticker a little bit at a time very carfully not to damage the lable underneath.Just be carefull not to heat it up to much then lightly remove any sticker residue with Q-tip and rubbing alcohol then polish with alittle furniture polish on a rag.

[masamune]

Don't use Goo Gone for such a delicate area.

Use a product called Un-Du.

It works wonders for projects like this. Once you apply it to the affected area, use the scraper that comes with the bottle. This should get rid of the store sticker, but keep the game label intact.

[pzeke]

I've used hot water and rubbing alcohol with nothing but exceptional results. Granted, a steady hand and oodles of patience are a heavy requirement; but nonetheless, the various cartridges I acquired that had one or two stickers look pristine now.

[vivigamer]

I use and Arts n' Craft store bottle of Sticky Stuff Remover - Used it this week as My Last of Us 2 Steelbook Edition came with a Cardboard Sleeve which they put a stupid sticker over it. It left a lot of residue after peeling off too but a dab of this stuff and it worked a treat!

[cobaltdriver]

Thanks for the options. I will have to give them a try and hopefully not ruin the original labels. I'll be really dissappointed if they get messed up because I've had them since I was a kid so their going on probably 25 years old so i really appreciate the advice.

[retromangia]

Hey Cobalt,

Coming from a perfectionist, I've learned some times its best to leave well enough alone.  As someone who's always trying to improve the condition of his games, sometimes it can backfire if your not careful.  If you've had the stickers on the label for 25 years, then why not just leave the sticker on there. It's part of it's history and charm now.

If you MUST remove the sticker from the label, I would try using a hair dryer on low heat for 20-30 seconds at a time, about 4-6 inches away.  See if you can peel a little up at a time.  If it doesn't feel like it's going to budge with ease, just leave it alone my friend.  At best you'll be left with some sticker residue on the label.  I wouldn't use any harsh chemicals on the label.

Just looking out for ya man.

[pzeke]

Yeah, if the stickers have been on the label for over 20+ years, I'd consider leaving them alone. Granted, if you're careful and patient you can remove them, but you do indeed risk having to deal with sticker residue, which itself is a hassle to deal with. Keep in mind that not all stickers are the same, so some might be easy to remove, even without having to use anything other than your fingernails, especially considering they're 25 years old.

This is what you would do..

Get some cotton swabs, hot water, and/or rubbing alcohol - you can also consider acetone, which is what I would often use, but this would be the part where having steady hands and a crapload of patience become crucial. With the swab simply tap the sticker ever so lightly, dampening it enough while avoiding going out of its borders, reapplying whichever liquid you chose after maybe a minute. Which liquid to use would be dependent on the sticker, so I would recommend trying to peel it off to see how "weak" it is. I would often use acetone on stickers that seemed would leave residue once peeled; however, there are stickers that outright are meant to stay, so cutting your losses would be the better option. Standard price tags are usually easy to deal with, but most other types will requite the extra labor.

So yeah, in short, my main advice is to try and peel those stickers off, gently of course, to determine if it's a good idea to remove them at all.

[sworddude]

Yeah, if the stickers have been on the label for over 20+ years, I'd consider leaving them alone. Granted, if you're careful and patient you can remove them, but you do indeed risk having to deal with sticker residue, which itself is a hassle to deal with. Keep in mind that not all stickers are the same, so some might be easy to remove, even without having to use anything other than your fingernails, especially considering they're 25 years old.

This is what you would do..

Get some cotton swabs, hot water, and/or rubbing alcohol - you can also consider acetone, which is what I would often use, but this would be the part where having steady hands and a crapload of patience become crucial. With the swab simply tap the sticker ever so lightly, dampening it enough while avoiding going out of its borders, reapplying whichever liquid you chose after maybe a minute. Which liquid to use would be dependent on the sticker, so I would recommend trying to peel it off to see how "weak" it is. I would often use acetone on stickers that seemed would leave residue once peeled; however, there are stickers that outright are meant to stay, so cutting your losses would be the better option. Standard price tags are usually easy to deal with, but most other types will requite the extra labor.

So yeah, in short, my main advice is to try and peel those stickers off, gently of course, to determine if it's a good idea to remove them at all.

I'm pretty sure he means actual lable damage, literally tearing the lable off leaving white while removing a sticker

sticker residue looks far better than having a sticker on the lable or box after all, it looks way better than a sticker covering the art work with some minor sticker residue. Sticker residue does not really cover the art work after all it's pretty minor in majority of situations.

tons of collectors are literally fine with some minor sticker residue on cardboard boxes for nice condition stuff, it looks pretty nice even upclose.

also removing stickers from cardboard boxes is far harder than that off cardridge lables wich are far less fragile in comparison.

if you only have sticker residue left your already at the easy part of removing it withouth damage or you can just keep it that way since it looks decent than.

I'm mainly talking about cardridge lables and cardboard boxes

Obviously for plastic cases even sticker residue is easy to remove withouth any risks at all so even if it isnt as bad as a sticker most people would still put in effort to remove sticker residue completely.

Or ofcourse cardridges as in not on the lable since again, hard plastic on caridges is durable very durable.



@retrogame mania

Depends

Really old stickers sometimes just fall off easily because all the glue has dried up

A very welcome suprise when that happens

[cobaltdriver]

Hey Cobalt,

Coming from a perfectionist, I've learned some times its best to leave well enough alone.  As someone who's always trying to improve the condition of his games, sometimes it can backfire if your not careful.  If you've had the stickers on the label for 25 years, then why not just leave the sticker on there. It's part of it's history and charm now.

If you MUST remove the sticker from the label, I would try using a hair dryer on low heat for 20-30 seconds at a time, about 4-6 inches away.  See if you can peel a little up at a time.  If it doesn't feel like it's going to budge with ease, just leave it alone my friend.  At best you'll be left with some sticker residue on the label.  I wouldn't use any harsh chemicals on the label.

Just looking out for ya man.

No, i appreciate th advice and ive been kind of contemplating doing just that. I figured I could try some of the un-du stuff that masamune suggested on a game that I could easily replace and that doesnt have as much sentimental value to it for me and if it goes well then I can use it on the other ones but if it doesnt I may just leave things alone. The good thing is I dont really have any games that are crazy vaaluable beyond the sentimentality but obviously id like to preserve them as much as possible. I do agree with sworddude though that as far as the asthetic of the cartridge it does look better without the stickers on it especially when they have my name written on them which I think kind of takes away from them artwork. This a learning experience for me since I am just starting to collect but i am glad I am learning about it early on so i know what to do in the future.

[ferraroso]

I'm not sure if my point of view will be of any help to you, but particularly I like to leave stickers as they are.

I share the same opinion as the Imortal John Hancock (https://www.youtube.com/user/swlovinist) as I believe stickers, even though they must seem ugly sometimes, are part of the history of that specific game. They tells us a lot about where that game came from, where it has been and how the shops and persons who have own them dealt with it.

Well, in the worst case, if you still want to remove the sticker, but are unable to do so, you can at least use my opinion as an excuse to leave it there... haha

[pzeke]

I'm pretty sure he means actual lable damage, literally tearing the lable off leaving white while removing a sticker

 [...]

Really? I never caught on to that. Maybe I should've emphasized the need for being extra careful...

Sarcasm aside, believe it or not, there are stickers that do leave a mess when you peel them off, so the residue they leave behind can in fact be nightmarish to deal with. Trying to peel off a sticker with as much care as possible is the best way to determine whether you should proceed or not. And like you said, sure, there are stickers that loose their grip after so long, but unfortunately there are others that just don’t behave that way. EB Games used to plaster PS2 cases with a yellow sticker advertising trade-ins and they were a pain to properly remove. None of the glue-removing chemicals would do the trick until I started using acetone, which still required a bit of elbow grease. In all honesty, though, who in their right mind removes a sticker and doesn't bother to clean whatever residue it leaves behind? The way you maintain your collection says a lot about you as a collector. Then again, I've seen a bunch of videos on YouTube where people show off their collection and their shelves are dusty as fuck, so I guess the bar is set low given how many people worship these type of YouTubers.

I'm not sure if my point of view will be of any help to you, but particularly I like to leave stickers as they are.

I share the same opinion as the Imortal John Hancock (https://www.youtube.com/user/swlovinist) as I believe stickers, even though they must seem ugly sometimes, are part of the history of that specific game. They tells us a lot about where that game came from, where it has been and how the shops and persons who have own them dealt with it.

LMAO. What a cop out.

[sworddude]

I'm pretty sure he means actual lable damage, literally tearing the lable off leaving white while removing a sticker

 [...]

None of the glue-removing chemicals would do the trick until I started using acetone, which still required a bit of elbow grease. In all honesty, though, who in their right mind removes a sticker and doesn't bother to clean whatever residue it leaves behind? The way you maintain your collection says a lot about you as a collector.

sticker residue on cardboard boxes or cardridge labels first of all don't look to bad, 2nd of all you could still easily ruin the box if you try to remove that perfectly with certain chemicals, but that's just my opinion.

With plastic boxes like ps2 genesis or them plastic carts, sure you'd remove it every time than no risk there easily done. and considering it takes some effort even in those cases, with lables and especially cardboard boxes you cant use the same power and have to do it carefully. chemicals could easily ruin the color of the box.

sticker residue keeps it authentic aswell, or if the sticker looks nice with the name of the game in a less obvious spot it I usually let it be since it looks nice than.

Still I hardly believe your using hot water to remove sticker residue from cardboard boxes.

[byron]

hair dryer on low heat for 20-30 seconds at a time, about 4-6 inches away.  See if you can peel a little up at a time.

This is the best advice so far.

Caution has already been advised about acetone, but I would like to add a further warning: acetone in high concentrations, such as in nail polish remover, will melt plastic. I am not exaggerating. Some of my Nintendo carts have smooth spots where acetone ate the texture away. Don't be like me.

[sworddude]

hair dryer on low heat for 20-30 seconds at a time, about 4-6 inches away.  See if you can peel a little up at a time.

This is the best advice so far.

Caution has already been advised about acetone, but I would like to add a further warning: acetone in high concentrations, such as in nail polish remover, will melt plastic. I am not exaggerating. Some of my Nintendo carts have smooth spots where acetone ate the texture away. Don't be like me.

pretty solid method indeed, might not work on some stickers though especially security ones

Still hair dryer does not remove sticker residue you might need to use lamp oil for that if your willing to risk it at that point, not worth it in most cases if where talking cardboard boxes.