Namco Pac-Man CIB

[199211]

I went to a thrift store over the weekend that sells a large collection of complete-in-box (CIB) NES games. The owner sold me a 1993 Namco-issued Pac-Man with manual CIB for $75.00, stating that the artwork on the box was a rarer variant and commanded more money. Does anybody have any additional info about this release? I know there was an earlier Pac-Man released on the NES by Tengen that is much more common, and the Namco version that I bought is rarer because it came out at the end of the NES’ lifecycle. Anyway, it’s a nice box, and I love the artwork. I might buy a few more NES games CIB in the future when my budget allows.

[Tanooki]

Yes

 

Namco had a pissy fit with Nintendo in Japan back in the mid 80s thinking they deserved special treatment when it came to contracts because of their prominence or whatever on the market with arcade and home stuff, and well the old fart Yamauchi told them to pound sand, so the CEO of Namco got salty and decided to stop/largely stop making games for Nintendo once the PCE hit the market in 1987.  For a number of years projects dried up as they went over there where Hudson/NEC were willing to kiss the ring and stroke the ego of the Namco leadership.  As such we in the states unlike Japan on FC did not get Namco releases by Namco, but we did get them, in a middle finger sort of way.  Pac-Man, Ms Pac-Man, Pacmania they all cozily got out out by TENGEN and only one of those licensed, RBI Baseball, the rest, unlicensed black carts.  Outside of that there was Mappyland and Galaga but that was I think Bandai in both casess, licensed, but Bandai.

 

That one out of the way, Pac-Man though had a more odd spread of releases, kind of like RBI Baseball,  RBI is actually the #1 baseball series in Japan on the famicom called Famista (Family Stadium) and that got a licensed, then black cart.  Pac-Man was the other having come out just early enough to get a wide regular release on a gray cart with a unique sticker, then a black cart no license release.  But in the 90s, post global SNES launch the saltiness was brushed off and Namco started doing SFC/SNES releases under license again and seeing as it was a cash cow still as with his wifey Ms PacMan, both of them got a late era, post 16 bit launch release of the game under license again (or for MsP for the first time) with yet another new sticker, manual, and box.

 

There are far fewer copies of 1993 Pac-Man and Ms Pac-Man on the market because they dropped like 18-24mo after the SNES launched in the NA market.  They both are within the last dozen or two dozen releases to the NES when they were re-packing Zelda carts in gray and re-releasing other $20 budget games with the red bar over the top along with the top loader console.

 

 

 

Be wary of boxed games, at least those in nice shape, sharks ask blood money levels of cash for them vs the actual value of the cart unfortunately so I hope you have the will to put up for box art.

[199211]

On 5/7/2024 at 7:41 AM, Tanooki said:

Yes

 

Namco had a pissy fit with Nintendo in Japan back in the mid 80s thinking they deserved special treatment when it came to contracts because of their prominence or whatever on the market with arcade and home stuff, and well the old fart Yamauchi told them to pound sand, so the CEO of Namco got salty and decided to stop/largely stop making games for Nintendo once the PCE hit the market in 1987.  For a number of years projects dried up as they went over there where Hudson/NEC were willing to kiss the ring and stroke the ego of the Namco leadership.  As such we in the states unlike Japan on FC did not get Namco releases by Namco, but we did get them, in a middle finger sort of way.  Pac-Man, Ms Pac-Man, Pacmania they all cozily got out out by TENGEN and only one of those licensed, RBI Baseball, the rest, unlicensed black carts.  Outside of that there was Mappyland and Galaga but that was I think Bandai in both casess, licensed, but Bandai.

 

That one out of the way, Pac-Man though had a more odd spread of releases, kind of like RBI Baseball,  RBI is actually the #1 baseball series in Japan on the famicom called Famista (Family Stadium) and that got a licensed, then black cart.  Pac-Man was the other having come out just early enough to get a wide regular release on a gray cart with a unique sticker, then a black cart no license release.  But in the 90s, post global SNES launch the saltiness was brushed off and Namco started doing SFC/SNES releases under license again and seeing as it was a cash cow still as with his wifey Ms PacMan, both of them got a late era, post 16 bit launch release of the game under license again (or for MsP for the first time) with yet another new sticker, manual, and box.

 

There are far fewer copies of 1993 Pac-Man and Ms Pac-Man on the market because they dropped like 18-24mo after the SNES launched in the NA market.  They both are within the last dozen or two dozen releases to the NES when they were re-packing Zelda carts in gray and re-releasing other $20 budget games with the red bar over the top along with the top loader console.

 

 

 

Be wary of boxed games, at least those in nice shape, sharks ask blood money levels of cash for them vs the actual value of the cart unfortunately so I hope you have the will to put up for box art.

I was thinking of going back and buying a CIB copy Ghosts 'N Goblins for the NES. How much should I expect to pay for that? 

[Tanooki]

@199211 Depending how nice the box is or not, and with a bit of dumb luck(patience basically) you're looking maybe at $75-150 range.  $75 isn't beat to hell but would be enough to make some shelf queen princess out about how it looks and ignore it though.  $150 is the clean clean higher end of sanity mind you too, so really if you paid $90-100 range for a good quite nice copy you shouldn't feel terrible.

 

I still have my original and manual, no box, just can't do the paper thing anymore as it's toxic costly for something that would end up sideways on a shelf.

[199211]

16 hours ago, Tanooki said:

@199211 Depending how nice the box is or not, and with a bit of dumb luck(patience basically) you're looking maybe at $75-150 range.  $75 isn't beat to hell but would be enough to make some shelf queen princess out about how it looks and ignore it though.  $150 is the clean clean higher end of sanity mind you too, so really if you paid $90-100 range for a good quite nice copy you shouldn't feel terrible.

 

I still have my original and manual, no box, just can't do the paper thing anymore as it's toxic costly for something that would end up sideways on a shelf.

It was only $50.00. The box is a bit dog-eared, but the manual and cart are in great condition. Plays well, but one hard game. 

[Tanooki]

@199211 Well...how complete is this copy?  You're already good at $50, I said what I did about the price, the $150 point would be if the CIB is also complete + Captain Commando ad poster and in stunningly like new style shape, nitpick for the flaw level of nice.

 

Game is worth like $10-15
Manual is another $10

Box add another $50

 

It's weird, but parted out it's worth less, so there's the convenience factor, but it's not largely so with patience $75+ for a complete copy is right, so you still beat the low average by 1/3.

 

It's super hard, fair, but super hard, and aside from it visually lacking due to Micronics sucking wang who Capcom shopped it out to, it plays solidly and is true to the arcade.  I speak this from memory of another era like circa 1990 when I could manhandle the arcade game and NES cart all the same.

[199211]

3 hours ago, Tanooki said:

@199211 Well...how complete is this copy?  You're already good at $50, I said what I did about the price, the $150 point would be if the CIB is also complete + Captain Commando ad poster and in stunningly like new style shape, nitpick for the flaw level of nice.

 

Game is worth like $10-15
Manual is another $10

Box add another $50

 

It's weird, but parted out it's worth less, so there's the convenience factor, but it's not largely so with patience $75+ for a complete copy is right, so you still beat the low average by 1/3.

 

It's super hard, fair, but super hard, and aside from it visually lacking due to Micronics sucking wang who Capcom shopped it out to, it plays solidly and is true to the arcade.  I speak this from memory of another era like circa 1990 when I could manhandle the arcade game and NES cart all the same.

It came in a box with a hang tag, the manual, the cartridge and a slip-cover for the cartridge. As I said, the box is a bit on the worn side, but overall it's still in relatively good shape. I played it for 2 hours yesterday morning and couldn't get past the 2nd level. I kept getting killed by birds and ogre-like creatures inside a building. 

Edited May 13 by 199211
Wanted to add more.

[Tanooki]

Ahhhhh ok I know where you're at.  For a long time I got stuck there as a kid.

I think you're jammed up in the back half of stage 2.  The bird thigns, they're more like pissy ghosts out of those windows.  You can either attempt ot outrun and only turn/fire if necessary to avoid taking it in the back, or stop n' go it and stop them as they drop, either works but be measured about it.  The other, they are ogres.  They're bastards and pretty annoying because you're semi-able to manipulate them but not reliably.  You kind of have to skate back and forward near a ladder to try and chump them into walking away, even if you have to well go beyond the ladder so they follow to drop and drop junk on you.  Once you get like 6 arthurs side or more of space, unload standing as fast as you can so they can't pull back and throw and they'll drop.  Avoid any you can, even if it's hopping a toss to hit a ladder (they can't throw up.) The worst is the back half of the house, you have a limited space with one on the 2nd floor I think, do whatever you can to get a gap and nail them hard.   If you meant the bird birds after on the platforms, just learn their spots, inch forward, and try and get them to go while you're NOT on the platforms that move and it's pretty easy.  The boss sucks though, it's TWO of those clowns you had on stage 1.  Try as long as you can keeping one on screen and not both, and try and make sure with one it doesn't come and jump behind or you're likely screwed as the other will get in from avoidance and come at you from both sides, including a charging stomp.

 

Since you don't have the poster, and with wear, $75 is still quite fair, not a huge win, but it's definitely not a loss.

[199211]

12 hours ago, Tanooki said:

Ahhhhh ok I know where you're at.  For a long time I got stuck there as a kid.

I think you're jammed up in the back half of stage 2.  The bird thigns, they're more like pissy ghosts out of those windows.  You can either attempt ot outrun and only turn/fire if necessary to avoid taking it in the back, or stop n' go it and stop them as they drop, either works but be measured about it.  The other, they are ogres.  They're bastards and pretty annoying because you're semi-able to manipulate them but not reliably.  You kind of have to skate back and forward near a ladder to try and chump them into walking away, even if you have to well go beyond the ladder so they follow to drop and drop junk on you.  Once you get like 6 arthurs side or more of space, unload standing as fast as you can so they can't pull back and throw and they'll drop.  Avoid any you can, even if it's hopping a toss to hit a ladder (they can't throw up.) The worst is the back half of the house, you have a limited space with one on the 2nd floor I think, do whatever you can to get a gap and nail them hard.   If you meant the bird birds after on the platforms, just learn their spots, inch forward, and try and get them to go while you're NOT on the platforms that move and it's pretty easy.  The boss sucks though, it's TWO of those clowns you had on stage 1.  Try as long as you can keeping one on screen and not both, and try and make sure with one it doesn't come and jump behind or you're likely screwed as the other will get in from avoidance and come at you from both sides, including a charging stomp.

 

Since you don't have the poster, and with wear, $75 is still quite fair, not a huge win, but it's definitely not a loss.

It's one of those games where you'll spend literally hours trying to get past one spot. When they made games back then, they went all out with the difficulty.