Nice! Good to see a pic of Batman and get confirmation

Apparently there are only 8 known copies of Mah Jong for HK.

http://nintendoage.com/index.cfm?...

Awesome Comboy, your nickname is appropriate! I add it also.

Not all of Europe.

What part of Europe got Ninja Turtles with NES-U2?

Italy used "Ninja" for the first game, and Australia used "Ninja" for the second.

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
  
  
  • U2 - Ninja
    • USA
    • ITA
  • 88 - Hero
    • UKV
    • EEC
    • NOE
    • FRG
    • SCN
    • FRA
    • GPS
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game
  • 2N - Ninja
    • USA
    • AUS
  • 89 - Hero
    • UKV
    • ITA
    • FRG
    • NOE
    • SCN
    • ESP
    • FRA
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project
  • USA Exclusive
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters
  • TF - Ninja
    • USA
  • HK - Hero
    • NOE

NES-U2-ITA was not released in Italy.
Australia isn't in Europe.

I'm just going off my database and listed them all which is why AUS was thrown in.

If NES-U2-ITA wasn't released in Italy then where was it released? Honest question.


Picture from NintendoAge's database

It was released in Australia   Blame Mattel for using the -ITA code in Australia for awhile, before finally switching to -AUS. There are a lot of -ITA games that were sold in Australia, with 1 or two even being exclusive to Australia(P.O.W, comes to mind)
In Italy, Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles had the box code of NES-88-ITA(and -1, but not for obvious reasons.. PAL-A variant codes are terrible and have no clear reasoning behind them), whereas in Austalia, the box had NES-U2-ITA

Oh and the manual in both cases are NES-xx-UKV.. But the Australian one says Ninja Turtles on it, while the Italian one says Hero...

I have talked to Dain about a method of allowing these sorts of things to be indicated in the NA database, but it's extremely low priority, since not many PAL-A collectors use NA.

What do y'all PAL collectors use anyway? I would really love more information like this because I had no idea about this ITA-UK-AUS thing....

It actually threw a wrench in my research for my book just now...

There are no websites for PAL-A collectors(there's retrocollect which is a small forum for UK collectors but I don't know anything about it.)
There is also very little information on exactly how the PAL-A NES works collecting wise, publically-- most of the information that is publically is available is wrong too.

I started a wiki awhile ago what contained a bunch of information, but I've now changed it into a book that will discuss it all, with explanations and definitions, of how/why/when/what Nintendo did in PAL-A regions.. but that's years away... "The NES outside of Japan and America", it basically is.

The other problem is that there are very few "serious" collectors in the PAL-A regions.. That is, collectors that are interested in knowing the specifics, history, and 'weird' facts about the stuff they're collecting. I'd say there are only 4-5 PAL-A collectors that I would consider experts on the PAL-A NES, and all keep to themselves for the most part. The reason is that most PAL-A collectors don't really care about the history or the interesting parts of the NES.. I mean, the overwhelming majority of UK NES collectors don't know that the NES was originally distributed by Mattel the UK for ~5-6 months, and don't consider even "UK Mattel" games part of the UK set! (I go into detail my ramblings about this attitude in my book at the beginning, but I digress)

That's in contrast to the USA community, which has various well-seasoned collectors, with various books and public information about the NES.

Anyways, tl;dr: there's no public source for information on this stuff yet until my book is finished(which will probably be free, fwiw), and the majority of information you want you'll need to either pick the brains of a certain few people, or just follow it all on ebay or elsewhere and make notes of everything

That fact alone should make NA set up a PAL collecting section and open the database up to variants like Of games described.

Occasionally I stumble across PAL items that I've never seen before and can't find a single trace of on Google. Why can't NA open up a PAL room and fill that void?

In terms of database stuff, how would you suggest it be handled?
Every country had a different distributor; each country had multiple distributors at different times; some games were distributed by different distributors in the same country, at different times.
Product codes do not follow the standard system: -ITA(Box code) games were sold in Australia and Italy, while some -UKV(Box code) games were sold in Australia as well as the UK, oficially(so they weren't just imported by shops), and the only difference between the UKV and Australian one is a sticker or sometimes an insert added -- or sometimes, there is no different at all and you don't know.

Original black box games tha had "AUS/GBR/ITA" on the box had a difference in cart and manual: on the carts in Australia and the UK, they had "EAI" on the back. In  Italy, they had "ITA" on the back. The manuals sold in Italy were in Italian(with the code ITA), and the manuals in both the UK and Australia were in English(with the code GBR.) There was never a "AUS" code for black box games(expect SMB, but that was NES-SM-AUS)

Then we've got variants such as Total Recall, which depending on the time they were sold in Australia, they received an extremely small text change about the reccomended age, but with no code change on the box; the codes also conflict with the Italian version, which shared the same code NES-xx-ITA(-1). The Australian version with the reccomended age in English at the bottom left, above the seal: http://nintendoagemedia.com/eleme...
And the Italian one with it in English and Italian, above the Acclaim logo: http://oi63.tinypic.com/6hlr8h.jp...

The manual system also has no clear system of variation either as I mentioned: there exists -1s -2s, etc., but sometimes they don't have any differences at all: there's seemingly no reason for there to be a revision code on them.

Oh and did I mention the variants of when Mattel S.p.A became Mattel S.R.L(both Italian distributors depending on the time.)

Anyways, a database for these variants would likely be useless, since people mix and match things a lot, and there's no way to confirm that two items "belong" to eachother unless it's new, or somebody knows it for a fact, such as from their childhood.

I did talk to Dain previously about making "Distributor" a displayable section in the database, which would ease up the PAL-A stuff a bit(but more completely, as mentioned), but I don't think there's any concrete plans to do that yet. You'd also need to be able to set the country a game was from, since the current system doesn't work for Australian -ITA games, such as TMNT being displayed as an Italian game.

If you find obscure PAL stuff, I'd reccomend posting here in the Collector's Corner, since people such as myself and certain other people knowledgable about PAL regions do check it out from time to time. I think a PAL section would be very very dead if it was made  

I would say: Organize the database by the release codes, with a note or "*" denotation that tells the viewer that this particular release wasn't acutally released in its coded region. (Code gets priority over distributor)

The database can also have multiple entries for the same item. Your Total Recall example would be able to be listed twice, with appropriate pictures. The problem being, is when you look at total games released, variants get included. That needs to be fixed.

Can you give an example of a -1 -2 manual where there is no difference? I'd be excited to see that. Perhaps they were following a change in the box?

A database wouldn't be useless just because we can't confirm what came with what. It would be wonderful to see what was out there. The what came with what can be proved (or not) later. But it should all be cataloged or it will all be lost.

I don't think a PAL section would be dead for very long. The PAL Facebook groups have thousands of members and are quite active. NA has several hundred (mostly lurking) collectors from PAL regions. There are lots of PAL nuts out there. They just need a home.  
 

Thanks for the awesome contributions Comboy.

Do you happen to have a complete (or what you think is complete) set of NES Comboy games? If so, do you have a pic of them together? That would be neat to see.

If distributor was added, it would clear up /most/ confusion. However, distributor would have to be clear: Mattel UK is not the same as Mattel Australia, which is not the same as Mattel S.R.L. which is not (well, it kind of is) the same as Mattel S.p.A

I can't think of a manual where there is no difference off the top of my head(nor can I think of 2 manuals where there are differences, FWIW), but it's in a lot of UK games. They mostly follow distribution changes, it seems, but not always.. Actually I can think of one example if I'm remembering correctly, but I don't have pictures. SOME(see what I mean about there being no system?) SMB 3s released in the UK in the SMB 3 NES pack had a -4 manual. Some had -3. They both have the same contents; the boxes also had a difference in region code I believe.
The reason for this was most likely Bandai(or was it 'Nintendo UK' at this time?) just had old stock of SMB3 they wanted to get rid of, but later had more orders for the SMB 3 packs so got more made, and bumped up the variant code.

When I said PAL section, I was thinking NES only; maybe it would be more active for other systems, but I doubt it.

Hey "of games" thanks for the street knowledge.  Question for you then on two of my PAL A copies of Turtles II.
On the left in the pics is NES-89-ITA-1 Box, ITA-1 Book, but cart is ITA-2?  Is there non -1 or a cart that is non -2 that I still need?

On the right is NES-89-UKV-1 matching box, book, cart.  Same question is there a non -1 of all parts I still need?
Thank you for the insight.

There is an ITA cart, you have an ITA-2 cart. There HAS to be a -1 cart, right? Is there any other example out there of a cart skipping a number for no valid reason? 
 

The Italian one you have is the correct set. I have an opened BNIB one with the same codes to match.
There exists also a Mattel S.R.L(Italy) one too: http://www.ebay.it/itm/Turtles-II... which has the plain NES-89-ITA manual but I can't remember the cart code, nor can I see it in that pic. I sold mine a long time ago too, so I can't check. If you want, I can ask someone to check theirs?

EDIT: The cart is NES-89-ITA-1 for the Mattel version.

As for the UK one, I'm not 100% sure. However, a quick guess based on knowledge about the time it was released, etc., indicates that it should be NES-89-UKV-1 for the box, manual, and cart. In this case, the "-1" likely indicates the change from "Ninja" to "Turtle", despite it never "originally" being Ninja in the UK. This holds true for the first TMNT game too, but only for the box(the manual and cart had no revision code for the UK, however there are 2 different "real" UK UKV manuals, one Australian ninja manual that is also -UKV, and then add into the mix "Real" Italian manual, which afaik is the exact same as one of the "real" UKV manuals -- they are all in both English and Italian text in the manuals, too, including the Australian ninja version. )

TMNT is probably the most interesting game in terms of codes, and all of this stuff, in the PAL-A collection, since they didn't just rename the box, but changed the actual game/gameplay too, between Australia and Italy/the UK. It has many weird characteristics like the language in the manual too..

I doubt there's a NES-89-ITA cart.

GiG: Box: NES-89-ITA-2, Manual: NES-89-ITA-1, Cart: NES-89-ITA-2
Mattel S.R.L: Box: NES-89-ITA-1, Manual: ITA, Cart: NES-89-ITA-1

They changed the gameplay? How is it different?
 

I don't remember specifically, but I think they just removed some graphics or something. That's why the game has a different code to Australia(U2 vs. 88) -- Same for TMNT/TMHT 2 - 89 vs. 2N.
Other games that just had their boxes censored(Shadow Warriors: Ninja Gaiden has 2 boxes: one with Ninja Gaiden on the box, one without. Both sold in Europe. And strangely enough, both sold in Australia too..), but didn't have a code change. They did get a variant code change, though.

Unfortunately no.  I have maybe 15 total and maybe 5 boxes as they have not been my primary focus.

If we're already at 46 official titles for the Hyundai NES library then it's a full 1/3 larger than the Super Comboy library.  Many of these I've not only never seen in person, but I've also only ever seen a single picture of online.  And this is with having access to Korean content with a national ID number and being able to interact in Korean to a functional degree.  This stuff is just ridiculously rare, even in Korea.

And there might even be more...I just can't know until I stumble upon a picture.
 

Hey Comboy, I used to have your imgur account bookmarked to look at all your albums, but they're all gone. Did you private them, or did you remove them?