I've taken it upon myself to come up with a N64 Cart Color Variants list.  Much like the 3/5 Screw Variant list, this only includes NTSC games, as things are different in Europe/Canada.  If I'm forgetting something here or you find some rare variants just let me know and I'll update my spreadsheet. 

*Turok: Rage Wars grey variant confirmed!  2/24/12

Here's the list:

 

Title	Cart Color	Grey Version?
Aidyn Chronicles:  First Mage	Black	Yes
All-Star Baseball 2001	Red	No
Armorines:  Project S.W.A.R.M.	Black	No
Army Men:  Air Combat	Green	Yes
Army Men:  Sarge's Heroes 2	Green	Yes
Bass Masters 2000	Blue	Yes
Batman Beyond:  Return of the Joker	Black	No
BattleTanx Global Assault	Green	No
Battlezone:  Rise of the Black Dogs	Black	No
Donkey Kong 64	Yellow	No
Earthworm Jim 3D	Yellow	No
ECW: Hardcore Revolution	Black	No
Fighter Destiny 2	Black	No
Hydro Thunder	Blue	Yes
Jeremy McGrath Supercross 2000	Red	No
Madden NFL '01	Blue	No
Madden NFL '02	Black	No
NBA Jam 2000 NFL Quarterback Club '01	Red Red	No No
Nuclear Strike 64	Black	No
Pokemon Stadium 2	Gold-Silver	No
Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue	Black	No
Rally Challenge 2000	Black	No
Rayman 2	Green	No
Road Rash	Black	Yes
Rocket:  Robot On Wheels	Red	No
Rugrats in Paris: The Movie	Black	Yes
Scooby Doo!  Classic Creep Capers	Black	Yes
Spider-Man	Red	No
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six	Black	Yes
Tony Hawk Pro Skater	Blue	No
Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2	Yellow	No
Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3	Black	No
Turok 2:  Seeds of Evil	Black	Yes
Turok 3:  Shadow of Oblivion	Black	No
Turok:  Rage Wars	Black	Yes
WCW Backstage Assault	Blue	No
World Is Not Enough, The	Blue	Yes
WWF No Mercy	Black	No
WWF Wrestlemania 2000	Black	No
Zelda:  Majora's Mask	Gold Reg & Gold Holo	No
Zelda:  Ocarina of Time	Gold	Yes
Title  (Not For Resale)	Cart Color	Grey Version?
Zelda:  Majora's Mask  NFR	Gold	Yes

Grey Variants:
 

 

The grey version of Majora's Mask is an NFR cart, so I don't know if that should count. If so, then you would have to include the grey NFR version of Donkey Kong 64 also.

What defines the colors exactly?
Like, gray Zelda: OOT is the Player's Choice version.
I'm sure others are probably gray because of that.
Thus you know the gray OOT goes in the PC box.
Is there any way to tell in other situations?

Ahh, yeah I never noticed that.  I'm not counting NFR carts so, I'll switch Zelda MM to no grey.  I also forgot that THPS3 is a black cart.  I'll add that also...

I'm just going off of the color of the cart.  To be honest I'm not sure if theres a way to tell with boxed games.  As in what colors go in what box, if theres a way to tell just by looking at the box. 

We tried naming the color variants awhile ago, so start here and roll that into this thread:

http://www.nintendoage.com/forum/...

Sweet, thanks Jonebone, I'll add what they came up with. You know, I could probably add NFR in there, should be easy.

Alright, I've updated the list. I put HydroThunder and BassMasters 2000 as having a grey cart also. Anyone have these? I've never seen a grey version of these, but I was going off of the list that jonebone provided the link to.

Pokemon Stadium 2 is gold and silver.

^ But that isn't a variant...

Nah, Korn Cakes is right. I should put Pokemon Stadium 2 on the list, since it has a colored cart. It's also true though that it doesn't have a grey cart variant, so I'll make it as a "no" in that column.

I believe WWF No Mercy only has a Black Cart as well...

I believe to and boosted52405 I am after you cause you stole my picture..........

Ahh, good eyes on that.  Added to the list. 

Just want to say thanks for making this thread, I was looking for a list just like this yesterday, perfect timing.

Actually found it on google...one of the first pictures that came up for "cool Nintendo picture" or something like that.  I've been thinking of making my own anyways so it may change soon...

Title (Not For Resale) Cart Color Grey Version?
Donkey Kong 64 NFR Yellow Yes

Ehh DK64 yellow NFR? It's just a retail cart with a white sticker on the back, I wouldn't call than an "original" NFR :-/

^^^ Hmm... so is there a Yellow DK64 that says "Not For Resale" on the front label? Does that exist?

ECW Hardcore Revolution is a black cart. I wasn't able to find a gray one on eBay but if anyone has one they can chime in (I'm leaning towards no gray on that one).

Also, I noticed you put "Gold & Holographic" as the color for Majora's Mask. Is there any way to include the non-holo version or does that not fit into this list?

Thanks Krunch. I've added ECW and changed up Zelda a bit. Also NESWorld as a side note, I love your site. I've been going nesworld forever, years and years, long before I even started collecting games. You should take a look at this item of mine, if you care. I've never seen it on mentioned on nesworld: http://www.nintendoage.com/forum/...

Would it be possible to somehow highlight the games that have color variants in the titles column? That way it's easier to tell at a glance which titles constitute a color variant set. Thanks for making this list Aaron.

Also, Berserker: I have three World is Not Enough box/manual sets that I just checked to answer your question. One of the box/book sets came with a gray cart in an eBay lot, but I can't be certain if it's the original cart. Anyway, both cart variants have the code NUS-N07E-USA, and so do all the boxes and manuals I have. I also found no discernible difference in the box art.

Now for a minute let's assume I'm right about the codes being the same for each variant. You would think that the gray variants were released at a separate time from the coloreds, but if there were two separate releases there would likely be a code change (like with Pokemon Snap, for example...I have found two different code sets, box/book inclusive and non-PC). It seems like most of these variants are not first-party releases, though, so maybe they couldn't afford to change all the boxes? At any rate what this means is that a person buying one of these games back in the day had no way to tell if they were going to get a colored cart or a gray cart. I think I would be a little pissed off if I was 9 and I wanted a green Army Men cart but got a gray one instead. Interesting...can anyone prove me wrong?

Yeah, I'm not really sure what the thinking was when the colors were selected, but this is my theory. The game company had the option of picking blue, yellow, green, black or standard grey cart. I wouldn't be surprised if colored carts cost a tiny bit more to produce. So anyways, if a company picked a color then all the first few runs of the game would be produced in that color. Then later on if that company did another run it may have just chosen the standard cart. I wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't grey carts (even if just a handful) for most of all these colored carts. As in, maybe a factory was out of a certain color and produced a few boxes of just standard grey carts for any certain colored game. This can be seen when a random odd ball 5-screw NES cart pops up, like Skate or Die, Super C, ect. That's just my theory though.

They would definitely cost more to produce, which is fine by me because otherwise nearly every game would be colored and that would be overkill. Anyway I agree with you, I bet some companies would want to switch to gray for the second release - the games would sell for less by that point, being
a year or two old and second-tier titles from smaller companies anyway. Notice that the colored first-party titles don't have a gray variant, even though the production run would have been longer; Nintendo didn't have to cheap out like everyone else (Zelda: OoT is the exception but that was a limited edition release so I don't think it counts).

The "color-option" hypothesis also explains why the labels are exactly the same, without a code switch - they would have had copies of the labels to print on the new gray carts. It was all just cost-cutting, but now it's collectible!

Yeah, and of course Nintendo was the only one who had the option for gold carts. Both Zelda's and Pokemon Stadium's 2 half gold cart.

I was thinking Perfect Dark came in black... Guess I'm wrong