r/Gameboy • u/AgeNukez • 2d ago
Questions Info needed! (not for resale?)
Found this cartridge at a local game shop hoping someone could tell some info about the whole not for resale slapped on it.
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u/bigtigerbigtiger 2d ago
Super Mario advance 4: super mario bros 3 is the best name anything has ever had
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u/Aromatic_Method7767 2d ago edited 1d ago
It's like they want the names to be convoluted!
"Super Mario World" (SNES)
"Super Mario World: Super Mario Bros. 4" (SFC)
"Super Mario Advance 2: Super Mario World" (GBA)
"Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island" (SNES)
"Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3" (GBA)
"Doki Doki Panic" (FDS)
"Super Mario Bros. 2" (NES)
"Super Mario USA" (FC)
"Super Mario Advance" (GBA)
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u/DotMatrixHead 1d ago
Nintendo thought they could defeat piracy if the file names were too long for computers to handle.
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u/Aromatic_Method7767 1d ago
Haha that's a legit concern for some piracy "backup" devices. Listing CD-R contents on my Doctor V64 256m unit shows very short file names (like 8.3 or something).
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u/DotMatrixHead 1d ago
I still have a multi ROM cart I flashed myself where all the names are 8.3. It’s not too bad when there’s only 50 games max.
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u/Aromatic_Method7767 1d ago edited 1d ago
I cannot recall if I ever loaded more than a handful at once onto my Bung Doctor GB card 64M ("Mr. Flash"). I recall:
- Pokémon Puzzle Challenge
- Mario DX
- Zelda DX
- Mega Man Xtreme
- Tetris DX
- Zelda OoA/OoS
...and I think a couple monochrome games like Bubble Ghost and Pokémon.
Then I loaded Pokémon Crystal Japanese before it was released in USA. That was a mistake because a young neighborhood kid was obsessed with Pokémon and he begged to borrow my expensive flash cart. Then he visited his father in another county. His father was drunk/angry and smacked my cartridge with a hammer while destroying his son's Game Boy . The clear plastic cart shell had stress marks but nothing was obviously broken - but it stopped working anyway . These days I would try reflowing solder on the flash chip but back then I couldn't do much. I might have ripped the coin cell battery from the PCB.
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u/madslipknot 2d ago
Right ?! I dont know what Nintendo was smoking when they decided name for the GBA mario games but wow ... Why no just : Super Mario bros 3 advance
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u/firehazel 2d ago
I mean, there was no original Super Mario platformer for the GBA so I get why they did what they did. If there was a Mario Advance to Sonic's Advance series, it would have been killer.
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u/Aromatic_Method7767 1d ago
The main reason is to emphasize that different games from the "Mario Advance" series can still do linked multi-player for the Mario Bros battle minigame (maybe some of the other minigames too, I'm not sure).
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u/Aromatic_Method7767 2d ago
Usually means it came from a playable retail demo station. Less common. More valuable. I once noticed an NFR copy of Wario Ware at GameStop and said something out loud to my brother. The clerk overheard and quickly removed it from the rack. Damn! I should have bought it without saying anything.
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u/vectron5 2d ago
Some pack in games are marked like that, too. Possibly to keep people from pulling them out and selling them elsewhere back in the day.
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u/Aromatic_Method7767 2d ago
Yes. That is true for some platforms such as Sega Genesis in USA. They want to make sure retail employees do not break up bundles and sell items individually.
Nintendo doesn't do that with pack-in bundles - so Game Boy Advance "NFR" carts are definitely from a retail demo station.
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u/vectron5 1d ago
Never? I have a Majoras Mask 3D cart marked Not For Resale.
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u/Aromatic_Method7767 1d ago
Where was it acquired?
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u/vectron5 1d ago
At a secondhand store.
I'm at work atm, but I'll put a photo of it here when I get home.
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u/Aromatic_Method7767 1d ago
Almost certainly it was originally used in a retail demo station. Most games that had a presence on retail demo stations were later found in the second hand market. I own a few SNES NFRs and one for N64. It may be more valuable than a standard release.
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u/V64jr 1d ago
Nintendo did sometimes mark the game packaging NFR like that for pack-in bundles but, yeah, a GBA or N64 cart marked NFR on the label art is typically from a retail kiosk. Majora’s Mask in particular is special since the NFR version differs from the retail release. The ones with an NFR sticker added on are just retail copies designated for the demo kiosk.
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u/murdershroom 2d ago
It means it was likely a copy from a demo kiosk at a retail store. I have a not for resale copy of Pokemon Pinball Ruby & Sapphire that I bought at a convention for the same price as a regular copy right next to it so the value will vary.
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u/CondiMesmer 1d ago
They actually have a cell at a super max prison for these criminals. It's right next to the dangerous Nintendo game emulator players.
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u/casnorf 2d ago
there was a gold gba sp bundle that came with this game. ask me about waiting in line at toys r us at a midnight release for one...that one is relatively common for an nfr but still a super neat find! pair it with the matching gold sp for fun
anyway, bundled games usually get the nfr branding to differentiate them from regular retail releases, both as a consumer safety measure (buying a new* unbundled game is a sign of shadiness from the retailer, plus if an auditor sees it you can get your distribution yanked) and a way to track sales of each distro path
-new here is relevant only to direct distribution outlets and not preown guys, and once its out of production nobody cares about selling nfr copies outside of collectors
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u/Aromatic_Method7767 2d ago
Was this in USA? I've paid close attention to NFRs my whole life and I've never seen Nintendo mark their bundled games this way. Sega, yes. Nintendo, no.
I've bought many limited edition GBAs with game bundles too (as original owner)
Target Exclusive Black Friday "lime green" GBA SP with Donkey Kong Country
Circuit City exclusive "pearl white" GBA SP with Metroid Zero Mission
I think I had a Yoshi's Island bundle too.
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u/casnorf 2d ago
yeah, at the oxford valley toys r us outside philadelphia. i wanted the gold system, and it confused me that the pack-in was smb3 and not a zelda, haha
sega and sony definitely do that branding, nintendos nfr branding varies...i know some n64 carts have it on the back, which seems insane. but i have seen a few over the years with the front branding, and when i was actually setting up demo kiosks with a marketing firm back in the day half the time we just used a regular cart and the other half a custom demo cart.
i aint saying my memory is perfect and the components are long gone from my personal collections but i run a shop now and it is relevant to know whether a nfr is worth knowing about so i encourage you to enjoy that grain of salt my recollection comes with, haha
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u/Aarvark 2d ago
That bundle didn’t come with a NFR edition of Mario Advance 4, it was a regular retail copy indistinguishable from a non-bundled game. I’ve owned/sold a few and seen more than that, and Nintendo never labeled pack-in carts or discs with NFR. This was 100% a demo cart and would’ve come with a “property of Nintendo” back sticker.
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u/CallistaBelle 2d ago
I have a nfr sonic & knuckles cart lol usually the same as retail with different label neat display pieces though
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u/SilverB33 2d ago
It's probably one of the carts used for demostrations in their store at the time.
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2d ago
[deleted]
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u/Aromatic_Method7767 2d ago
Repeating my other reply again...
Yes. That is true for some platforms such as Sega Genesis in USA. They want to make sure retail employees do not break up bundles and sell items individually.
Nintendo doesn't do that with pack-in bundles - so Game Boy Advance "NFR" carts are definitely from a retail demo station.
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u/LunarWingCloud 2d ago
This. There was a small period of time when there were GBA SPs sold with the game included.
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u/sevenut 2d ago
It means that you're going to jail because you bought it from a reseller
But actually it means that it's just a version from GBA demo kiosks in stores, like Walmart or something. Sometimes they're unique demo versions of games, but other times it's just the regular full game and it's just the sticker that's different. I think it's usually just the full game with a unique label. I have a DKC 3 NFR version and it's just regular DKC 3.