activision blue labels&the boxes SOMETIMES found in

[CincYnoTi]

the activision re-releases of several titles came in plain blue labels with white text:

 

http://www.atariage.com/label_page.html?LabelID=8

 

in general, they also came with black and white instructions instead of color. most also came in a box style that was different from their original color label, color docs counterparts. some of these boxes had a darker color (chopper command, grand prix, ice hockey), some had a lighter color (boxing and freeway), and some were EXACTLY the same (robot tank and space shuttle). i believe this was around 1985, since that is the date on the warranty cards that come in many of these boxes. it would be great if one could say that a blue label cart ALWAYS came inside a shrinkwrapped, later style box. unfortunately, these same boxes also were shipped with the original style picture labels. i opened four shrinkwrapped ice hockey boxes before i found one with a blue text label inside. and these four boxes were exactly the same, easy to distinguish, darker style box. i'm guessing it was a transition period for activision trying to cut costs. so they shipped all remaining color labels in these boxes and printed cheaper blue text labels for the remaining inventory.

 

it took a lot of searching and several disappointments to find boxed versions of all the blue label titles. trust me, if you have one of these shrinkwrapped and think there is a blue label inside, you only have about a 50-50 chance of that being true. a while back, i had six shrinkwrapped activision boxes which were this blue label style which i was going to list on ebay. because of the uncertainty, i did not want to list these as "shrinkwrapped boxes that contain blue labels"…and end up with an irritated buyer that was disappointed when they opened one. i know how disappointed i was opening these from ebay purchases, even without being advertised as a blue label...i was hoping i would find a blue label inside, since i could identify these boxes from the ebay photos. anyway, eventually, i opened all six of these and only found four blue labels. so maybe i sacrificed a few dollars by opening the shrink, but i probably saved myself two negatives from false advertising.

 

so if you run across an auction claiming that there is definitely a blue text label inside a shrinkwrapped, never opened, activision box, you now know that is incorrect. the best that can be said is that it is the box style which had either a picture label or blue label packed inside. roll the dice and take your chances. at least you have a better chance of finding a blue label in these later style boxes than you will in one of the older style boxes with original colors.

[SS]

[hhwolfman]

 

LMFAO

[CincYnoTi]

some people would like to see pics. here you can see boxing and freeway were later released in lighter pink boxes. ice hockey came in a darker box. skiing is close enough that you can't tell the difference here. both ice hockey and skiing picture labels came in the same boxes as did the blue label version.

[CincYnoTi]

another pic of the various versions of activision style boxes for the first twelve releases.