CBS Electronics cart labels wrong way round?

[high voltage]

On their carts it says the title twice, it looks like they wanted to have a spine label but changed their minds and used CBS Electronics instead.

[+DamonicFury]

I see what you mean. It certainly does appear like the label designer intended the labels to be put on the opposite way.

 

For example, if you don't have a 5200 CBS cart handy:

http://www.atariage.com/cart_page.html?SoftwareLabelID=623

[Tempest]

I noticed this years ago. I have no idea why they did this, but I was always tempted to remove the label and put it on the right way. Seems to be a conscious decision though as it was never corrected.

[+Psionic]

Just a mix-up at the factory, I would imagine. A lot of Sega labels were applied backwards or upside down as well.

 

eBay Auction -- Item Number: 140609775511

 

eBay Auction -- Item Number: 160649467940

 

With some titles (like Zaxxon for the C64, pictured above) I've never seen a cartridge that actually had the label on there the correct way. They apparently botched the whole run. I don't think it was a conscious decision...I just think these games were produced all at once and in such a small quantity overall that they never had a chance to correct the problem.

[Lendorien]

I guess some of this depends on if the labels were hand applied or machine applied.

 

I don't know how this could have been a factory mistake if it was machine applied. Labels such as these come on rolls. In this case, when the labels were made, they could have been printed backwards on the rolls. So when they were loaded onto the labeler, and given that the carts would have to be put through the machine a certain way, this is how they were applied.

 

Since this type of labels are expensive and getting them reprinted would be time consuming, it could be that it was decided to just leave it that way. Considering the fact that most other 5200 games don't have end labels, it wouldn't be that unusual for CBS games to to have them either.

 

But given that other carts for other brands have the same issue, it could be that they were hand applied in some Taiwanese factory somewhere and the employees didn't know any better.

[Tempest]

I should buy up a bunch of 5200 CBS carts, remove and reapply the labels the correct way, and then sell them on ebay as ultra rare label variations. It's brilliant I tells ya, brilliant!

 

Tempest

[+Psionic]

I don't know how this could have been a factory mistake if it was machine applied. Labels such as these come on rolls. In this case, when the labels were made, they could have been printed backwards on the rolls. So when they were loaded onto the labeler, and given that the carts would have to be put through the machine a certain way, this is how they were applied.

Some of the Sega labels were indeed applied the wrong way. But if you closely at the CBS labels you'll see that they weren't applied incorrectly, but were actually cut from the roll (or die-cut from the sheet) incorrectly. In other words, if you look at the face side of the label where it says the game's title in smaller letters at the top, that text is really supposed to be at the bottom of the previous label on the sheet. I think that's really the issue in play here.