NES Custom Game Case Covers

[rockabilly1983]

Hey, guys! It's been so long since I posted a new NES cover. I am back with The Simpsons: Bart vs. The World. This is my first Simpsons video game cover. There was so much work to do. I started out by using the polygonal lasso tool to go around the curves and select all the black lines that make up the artwork. It was very tedious and it took me 10 hours. Once that was done, I applied a color overlay to the layer. That makes the whole layer one solid color. This is very good for redrawing artwork. After that, I put in the solid colors inside the lines for the artwork. Some characters and objects I traced with Vector Magic. Colorizing the vectors in Illustrator was nice and easy. Once I inserted the vectors into the cover, they looked so sharp and crisp. Gradients also had to be recreated on the front. If you look carefully, the front has some gradients for the sky, the left, the right, the bottom center, and the sun rays on the left right above the mountain with the words, "North Pole". Recreating a gradient is tricky. First, you have to use your eye dropper tool to get the color from the scan. Once you copy and paste your layer, you apply a gradient overlay and play around with the gradient sliders until you get it right. Some parts of the artwork had some drop shadows as well as inner shadows. Recreating them was challenging. The back and spine wasn't as hard to do because the background is solid white. Normally, I start with the front. After that, I work on the spine and then the back. Instead, I worked on the back first because there weren't as many characters to recreate into vectors. Retyping the text went fast and there weren't any spelling or grammar mistakes. For the whole cover, I put in over 100 layers. That's a new record for me. I can't tell you how good I felt once the cover was finished. It took me a month to do it. I put over 30 hours of work into this. That was quite an accomplishment for me. However, I'm not sure I would try doing a cover like this one again because it was so hard. Making this cover once was more than enough for me. More covers are coming soon. Happy gaming!

The Simpsons: Bart vs. The World (USA)

Shadowfox's NES Custom Game Case (Full Retail): https://app.box.com/s/bxduqpv296gpdjui7ve29e7pe1nfiq59
Shadowfox's NES Custom Game Case (TCP Retail): https://app.box.com/s/6klwow9vhin4jy1x0uo7yr7d4qvvd1gy

My Covers: https://app.box.com/s/hote51vbfehfqo0yu5j0

[marioxb]

That's pretty awesome! I just never understand why you guys need to recreate covers, rather than just clean up scans. I mean I get if the original was in bad shape or there isn't a high quality scan. For me, I don't want anything BETTER quality than the original, but that's just me.

[flamepanther]

That's pretty awesome! I just never understand why you guys need to recreate covers, rather than just clean up scans. I mean I get if the original was in bad shape or there isn't a high quality scan. For me, I don't want anything BETTER quality than the original, but that's just me.

If you're cleaning up the scan, then you're already changing the image either way. If you descreen the halftone dithering to prevent moire patterns, you're recreating the cover's source image. If you adjust the contrast or color balance from what your scanner captured, you're recreating the colors of the image. If you use "heal" or "despeckle" to fix dust, creases, and fibers, you're recreating the image. You're just relying on an automated process to do it. So it really just depends on how much work you want to put in

But if you want the printed result to be anywhere near the quality of the original, then the image you're printing from has got to be "better quality than the original". Otherwise it's the "Xerox effect". The original printing of the box introduces flaws. The scan will be less perfect than the printed box. A JPG will be less perfect than what the scanner captured. Your print will be less perfect than the JPG. If you want something approaching retail quality, then you've got to get in there and reverse some of that entropy.

[TheLastMeddler]

If there was ever covers that needed saving it would be game gear lmao they're so bad unless you order directly from customgamecases

[rockabilly1983]

Hello, everyone! Rockabilly1983 here! I have another NES cover for all of you. It's Who Framed Roger Rabbit. This cover wasn't as hard to do as the last cover. When I cropped some of the information text and uploaded it to the WhatTheFont Forums, font enthusiasts couldn't identify it. I guess it's not a real font. I found a similar font in the results list, but, I wasn't going to retype the information text with a different font. Not even a similar font. It would have been a shame to get rid of the original font. What I had to do was manually trace every letter in Photoshop, apply a color overlay to the layer, and trace it into a vector with Vector Magic. Copying and pasting every letter was very time consuming. I started by putting "A" into every word that used it, then I moved onto "B" and went from there. There was no Q, X, or Z in the information text. I wonder what those three letters would have looked like. While I was working on this cover, I thought about my favorite parts from Who Framed Roger Rabbit and cracked myself up. I first saw that movie when I was 6 back in 1989. Even though I liked it back then, it took me till my adult years to really appreciate it for what it is. That movie is timeless! I have the movie in my LaserDisc collection. It's so sad that Bob Hoskins died. He did a great job playing Eddie Valiant. He's also one of my favorite actors. I never played the NES version as a kid. I played the Atari ST version as a kid. The Atari ST version is very different from the NES version. The Atari ST version has 4 levels and you play as Roger Rabbit. Every time I play the Atari ST version, it brings back fond childhood memories. Did you know? The font used for "Can you solve the mystery?" is Balloon P Extra Bold. That font is also used on the Nickelodeon logo. I thought you guys would like to know that. See you guys next time! I'm going to end this update with one of my favorite quotes from Who Framed Roger Rabbit:

"I'm not bad. I'm just drawn that way."
                                          -Jessica Rabbit

Who Framed Roger Rabbit (USA)

Shadowfox's NES Custom Game Case (Full Retail): https://app.box.com/s/n4dr0em30uoua6rdr1z0xe8r7958ysn3
Shadowfox's NES Custom Game Case (TCP Retail): https://app.box.com/s/8cc6klp4bl0qpfl7gri9p9d73lu9t33b

My Covers: https://app.box.com/s/hote51vbfehfqo0yu5j0

[rockabilly1983]

Hi, guys! I wanted to let all of you know that I found Q and X in the instruction manual for Who Framed Roger Rabbit. I didn't think the manual had the same mystery font used on the back cover. I scanned the page with the two letters. After that, I traced them in Photoshop, applied a color overlay, and turned them into vectors with Vector Magic. I couldn't find a Z anywhere in the instruction manual. I read the whole manual twice to make sure I didn't miss any words spelled with Z. No words spelled with Z? What the heck! It's a shame. That would have allowed me to get the whole mysterious font in vector form. If you want to use those letters, they're available in my Vector Logos folder in my Box account. They are in their own separate folder too.

First off, I am a new Cover Admin. I'm very stoked and this means so much to me. I would like to give thanks to Snowcone, Arseen, segamer, sheep2001, BadChad, KaiserWAVE, tiktektak, and Bear78. Bear78 is now a Cover Admin too. We are now partners in crime. Ha ha ha! I'm trying to learn how to approve and upload covers to the main site. I'm so excited about helping the site more. Now, just what you all have been waiting for. The new cover for this update is The Black Bass. Here is something interesting for all of you. This game is known as The Black Bass II in Japan. I didn't know there was another game of The Black Bass in Japan. I don't know why we didn't get both games in the USA. They decided to release only the sequel here. Since we didn't have the first The Black Bass game, it wouldn't have made sense to call it The Black Bass II. So what did they do? They simply called it "The Black Bass". Here is something I found odd about this game. On the title screen, it says, "The Black Bass USA". Why did they add "USA" on the title screen? It blows my mind. I remember when my older brother asked my mom to rent this game for him when I was 7 back in 1990. Every time I look at the box art, it brings back fond memories of when I would see it on the shelves with all the other NES games you could rent. Enjoy my newest NES cover and I will see you guys next time!

The Black Bass (USA)

Shadowfox's NES Custom Game Case (Full Retail): https://app.box.com/s/dcm6kw4ukw15dynrnh47b9sixq8xmi8q
Shadowfox's NES Custom Game Case (TCP Retail): https://app.box.com/s/mczbo385yuudcj2h4zv7ktyb68dg70y1

My Covers: https://app.box.com/s/hote51vbfehfqo0yu5j0

[TheLastMeddler]

nice job however what is tcp vs full retail confused?

[Bear78]

nice job however what is tcp vs full retail confused?

Pretty much just the spine.  Some people prefer the retail look which is the original spine while others like having something on the spine to identify the platform, in this case, the "Nintendo Entertainment System" branding at the top of the spine.

[rockabilly1983]

Hey, all you gamers out there! I'm back once again with two versions of one cover. Before I begin, I would like to say thank you to TheLastMeddler. I noticed that you also have a question about the difference between Full Retail and TCP Retail. Bear78 already answered your question. However, I am going to give a more detailed explanation.

Full Retail means the cover is the original retail version. This is what the box art looked like when the game was originally released. Some hardcore collectors prefer this version.

TCP Retail is slightly different. Although the front and back look the same, the spine has the system name at the top in a white border. The spine also has the company name at the bottom in a horizontal style. This gives the cover a uniform look. It also matches the style modern video games have on their spines. Examples are: PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Wii, Xbox, and Xbox 360. Most collectors use this version.

It all comes down to personal preference. If you want your covers with the original spines, use the Full Retail version. If you want a uniform look, use the TCP Retail version. "TCP" stands for "The Cover Project".

Now, on with the show! Many people have said Blades of Steel is the best hockey game on the NES. The cover is now here in two versions. You're probably asking, "Rockabilly1983, why did you make two versions of Blades of Steel?" That's a good question and I will do my best to explain. I made two versions because I discovered by accident that the loose copy I bought of Blades of Steel for the original empty box has the oval Seal of Quality on the cartridge label. The empty box with the manual I bought at Portland Retro Gaming Expo last year has the round Nintendo Seal. Then I looked on eBay to find a boxed copy that has the oval Seal of Quality. I did some research and here's what I found out. When Nintendo first released their NES games in 1985, they used a round Nintendo Seal on their boxes. I think Nintendo replaced their round Nintendo Seal with the oval Seal of Quality starting in the 2nd half of 1988. Some of the black box games were re-released with the oval Seal of Quality. Golf, Pinball, and Excitebike are a few examples of this. Check your copy of Blades of Steel to see which version you have.

If your cartridge label has the round Nintendo Seal, you have the 1st version.

If your cartridge label has the oval Seal of Quality, you have the 2nd version.

There is also a 3rd version with a red border on the box and the cartridge label. The border has the words "Konami Classic Series" at the top. Unfortunately, that version is very rare. The Konami Classic Series version was requested by Hatereternal. I will buy that version one day and get it made. Trust me. Now I'm going to start working on another cover. I will have it up very soon. As usual, happy gaming!

Blades of Steel (USA) (Version 1)

Shadowfox's NES Custom Game Case (Full Retail): https://app.box.com/s/p4lyh37y24fyivtmure5egl810g6xaug
Shadowfox's NES Custom Game Case (TCP Retail): https://app.box.com/s/e4ingsu176rg72f3k23tqxn8v5rljpxz

Blades of Steel (USA) (Version 2)

Shadowfox's NES Custom Game Case (Full Retail): https://app.box.com/s/juvyvrsbx6l3dsrtxx4o57g6bajrxouc
Shadowfox's NES Custom Game Case (TCP Retail): https://app.box.com/s/9jm6wt0b8lfxiv9r0sd1ur7iwe0y7b4z

My Covers: https://app.box.com/s/hote51vbfehfqo0yu5j0

[rockabilly1983]

Hey, guys! How are you doing? Here's another cover for everyone! It's an arcade classic called Elevator Action. This game is so much fun! My brother used to play this game in the arcades when I was a kid. I remember renting this game a few times from Albertson's back in the day. I'm still not able to approve and upload covers to the main site. I hope one of the site administrators will get the Admin section fixed soon. Redrawing the artwork on the front took some time. Once it was finished, I couldn't help but look at it and think, "Man, that looks so sharp!" You know what I found odd about this cover? The back has two screenshots from the arcade version. I wonder why Nintendo did that. It blows my mind. Recreating the background gradient was tricky. I had to play around with the sliders in the gradient overlay control panel. I also had to experiment with different shades of red, orange, yellow, and green until I found the right ones. Using the original box as a reference, I got the colors and the color blends very close. Head on down to get the cover. Be sure to check back often too. I will have another new cover for you then. Happy gaming!

Elevator Action (USA)

Shadowfox's NES Custom Game Case (Full Retail): https://app.box.com/s/k96ay37bmzi1mesb9c859h21owe6zzmr
Shadowfox's NES Custom Game Case (TCP Retail): https://app.box.com/s/20mqzcl82av5mu8q88w368qwrhhtme7u

My Covers: https://app.box.com/s/hote51vbfehfqo0yu5j0

[rockabilly1983]

Hey, guys! I'm back once again with three more NES covers for your collections. I have two versions of Pinball and R.C. Pro-Am. Remember in my post where I told you about the two different USA covers for Blades of Steel I made? Well, there were some black box games I mentioned there.

"When Nintendo first released their NES games in 1985, they used a round Nintendo Seal on their boxes. I think Nintendo replaced their round Nintendo Seal with the oval Seal of Quality starting in the 2nd half of 1988. Some of the black box games were re-released with the oval Seal of Quality. Golf, Pinball, and Excitebike are a few examples of this."

I realized later on that it wasn't 1988. I did some research and found that Nintendo started putting the oval Seal of Quality on the boxes in 1989. Anyway, I made my third black box cover called Pinball in two versions. The Cover Project really needed a better, higher quality cover for this game. Be sure to check your cartridge label to see which version you have. If your cartridge label has the round Nintendo Seal, you have the 1st version. If your cartridge label has the oval Seal of Quality, you have the 2nd version. I'm going on vacation to Italy again with my mom. Our trip starts on Thursday, October 3, 2019. I will be gone for three weeks. I am so excited and I can't wait to see my family. With my birthday being on the 11th of October, it will be my first time celebrating my birthday outside the U.S. I'm also going to London for the first time for a couple days. I'm looking forward to checking out the Cereal Killer Cafe, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, and many more famous places. There is even a classic arcade in London called The Four Quarters. The arcade machines they have run on U.S. quarters. I think that's really cool. I will be back in time for Halloween. Halloween is my most favorite holiday. Hope everyone has a fun and safe Halloween! I won't have any new covers until November 2019. See you guys again when I return from vacation!

Pinball (USA) (Version 1)

Shadowfox's NES Custom Game Case (Full Retail): https://app.box.com/s/v37zqsu4s525mzefzpm8ps87fcmdzbs0
Shadowfox's NES Custom Game Case (TCP Retail): https://app.box.com/s/idzz7l0mwasn3cca9uer8zio0grddlrd

Pinball (USA) (Version 2)

Shadowfox's NES Custom Game Case (Full Retail): https://app.box.com/s/tm4y6fjchbhdu3yfc7bxe5akx7rqzpfg
Shadowfox's NES Custom Game Case (TCP Retail): https://app.box.com/s/ed8mb4m63ni3qu4ogrkhuqfg5hgh4xwg

R.C. Pro-Am (USA)

Shadowfox's NES Custom Game Case (Full Retail): https://app.box.com/s/yozpfw2gb71v1jnmmmhzg0cnqjso65q7
Shadowfox's NES Custom Game Case (TCP Retail): https://app.box.com/s/msy7dpusp4heqlujfxs2q3ghn7j8bbcb

My Covers: https://app.box.com/s/hote51vbfehfqo0yu5j0

[shenske]

....
There is also a 3rd version with a red border on the box and the cartridge label. The border has the words "Konami Classic Series" at the top. Unfortunately, that version is very rare. The Konami Classic Series version was requested by Hatereternal. I will buy that version one day and get it made. Trust me.
....

Here you go, you are welcome to edit and change whatever you would like to your heart's content 

https://app.box.com/s/6cev55t19oo95egab92qiny4z4m0jlbg

[rockabilly1983]

....
There is also a 3rd version with a red border on the box and the cartridge label. The border has the words "Konami Classic Series" at the top. Unfortunately, that version is very rare. The Konami Classic Series version was requested by Hatereternal. I will buy that version one day and get it made. Trust me.
....

Here you go, you are welcome to edit and change whatever you would like to your heart's content 

https://app.box.com/s/6cev55t19oo95egab92qiny4z4m0jlbg

Thank you, shenske! I appreciate that.

[rockabilly1983]

Hello, everyone! I missed all of you. For the past three weeks, I would get an error message using this site. It was very frustrating and I had to wait a long time before I could go anywhere else. I'm so happy Snowcone applied a patch so the site is working good again. I had a great time in Italy. Celebrating my birthday outside the U.S. for the first time was so exciting. We celebrated it at a nice restaurant called Ristorante Lorietta. It's a beautiful restaurant up in the mountains near Castelnuovo di Garfagnana. I also had a great time checking out London for the first time. I didn't expect to see so many people always walking around on Brick Lane. That street has restaurants and grocery stores everywhere. I was blown away. I didn't have much time to explore Buckingham Palace because I had to hurry back to the airport to catch my flight back to Pisa. I will make a reservation to see inside the castle in the future. Anyway, when it was time for me and Mom to go home, my aunt and her husband cried. They always do that when we leave. I hate leaving my family. I'm glad to be back with lots of new NES covers.

I have 8 Black Box covers. Many people have been wanting better, higher quality covers for the early NES games. Before you start collecting the later games, why not start collecting the early games that started it all? These were a little challenging to do. On some of the covers, they had "gameplay" spelled as two words. That has to be spelled as one word. The stars are not in the same location on the black box games. I had to copy and paste my master stars template into the background and copy and paste some that weren't there. Once that was done, it looked like a brand new cover. Redrawing the pixels on these were tricky. I had to do lots of measuring with the marquee tool to make sure they are equal or close to it. I'm very thankful this site is still running good even after Snowcone applied the patch. I would hate it if this site disappeared. Today is Thanksgiving. Gather around with your family and friends and enjoy some turkey, cranberry sauce, green beans, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie. After you're done eating, be sure to play some video games. Happy Thanksgiving!

Super Mario Bros. (USA) (Version 1)

Shadowfox's NES Custom Game Case (Full Retail): https://app.box.com/s/4p0t09mtbwo0qorz837ojgbq4x8pjwys
Shadowfox's NES Custom Game Case (TCP Retail): https://app.box.com/s/7yw0ikgucd0hfm2jt4cf8opplic8fugz

Super Mario Bros. (USA) (Version 2)

Shadowfox's NES Custom Game Case (Full Retail): https://app.box.com/s/c46vo6sjh9p5sl697higzvodbnzqedg3
Shadowfox's NES Custom Game Case (TCP Retail): https://app.box.com/s/5y06z6cyj1t3fqzjs75h5qfac4537hsi

Duck Hunt (USA)

Shadowfox's NES Custom Game Case (Full Retail): https://app.box.com/s/rikauhrm11u1hmsq0b5tado9fab3rkgl
Shadowfox's NES Custom Game Case (TCP Retail): https://app.box.com/s/vrdu2g9o3e2crisxauvj3jzqtbpeti9g

Hogan's Alley (USA) (Version 1)

Shadowfox's NES Custom Game Case (Full Retail): https://app.box.com/s/7lwh617fh351twfwsx8do8kzrz54twb9
Shadowfox's NES Custom Game Case (TCP Retail): https://app.box.com/s/g4sewkfpxhw8zte4aiioem5e4yw14zbg

Hogan's Alley (USA) (Version 2)

Shadowfox's NES Custom Game Case (Full Retail): https://app.box.com/s/1zbk8qr3jzmx5wajckd4ghe0cm7ugs9n
Shadowfox's NES Custom Game Case (TCP Retail): https://app.box.com/s/ele37a3ro60opmrzv52tg0rce5vpmc16

Golf (USA) (Version 2)

Shadowfox's NES Custom Game Case (Full Retail): https://app.box.com/s/883tptm45ze1um1k1fredc0dp6hijdx7
Shadowfox's NES Custom Game Case (TCP Retail): https://app.box.com/s/pu2do4hfoata7vgotqamizrxzngflo5w

Baseball (USA)

Shadowfox's NES Custom Game Case (Full Retail): https://app.box.com/s/b5rhpyznmmluzau5j5fmt7zpgafvsg3g
Shadowfox's NES Custom Game Case (TCP Retail): https://app.box.com/s/clprrahp6zse47yt224dbabqewdyr8cj

Tennis (USA)

Shadowfox's NES Custom Game Case (Full Retail): https://app.box.com/s/acpk8o3v37yx5rruhnbkz3c2g39q4d1a
Shadowfox's NES Custom Game Case (TCP Retail): https://app.box.com/s/hcjftpw9q187cofpltxuk4axxmvjao2v

My Covers: https://app.box.com/s/hote51vbfehfqo0yu5j0

[rockabilly1983]

Merry Christmas, everyone! I'm back with a few more Black Box covers and a 2nd version of R.C. Pro-Am. Yes, I found out by accident that Nintendo re-released R.C. Pro-Am with the oval Seal of Quality. How many more covers are out there like that? I will never know. Ha ha ha! Volleyball was probably the most challenging Black Box cover I worked on. It has a big amount of pixels on the front. Did you know? Volleyball was the last Black Box game released in 1987. After that, the games Nintendo released came in silver boxes. It makes me wonder why Nintendo went from black boxes with stars to silver boxes with no stars. I can't help but be fascinated, though. I'm looking forward to Christmas. I wonder what I'm going to get this year? I will just have to wait and see. The best things in life are worth waiting for. I'm sure many of you have been wondering when I will make Game Boy covers again. I'm planning on making more soon. It has been 7 months since I made a Game Boy cover. Before I let you go, I would like to wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! See all of you in 2020!

Volleyball (USA)

Shadowfox's NES Custom Game Case (Full Retail): https://app.box.com/s/on4qb80axfbcc043v93pa93wfcgbcit2
Shadowfox's NES Custom Game Case (TCP Retail): https://app.box.com/s/pj1xj7wuvtmd5a2840ykte6jp0j8bml0

Ice Climber (USA)

Shadowfox's NES Custom Game Case (Full Retail): https://app.box.com/s/s5t5xgxdgxd6vllgn3qnsjn7sauhbxsb
Shadowfox's NES Custom Game Case (TCP Retail): https://app.box.com/s/qrw8qvfqwojp2sm71g4lqkbo6pfd5l6d

Mario Bros. (USA)

Shadowfox's NES Custom Game Case (Full Retail): https://app.box.com/s/itwwsx3gq1wlq0ho617jpdihpm2jexl9
Shadowfox's NES Custom Game Case (TCP Retail): https://app.box.com/s/6zwwu7spmjpgaofpf8pbn7pg0xgym0ae

R.C. Pro-Am (USA) (Version 2)

Shadowfox's NES Custom Game Case (Full Retail): https://app.box.com/s/bluv0z2dtsmkakftk6dzrq929rbqalmd
Shadowfox's NES Custom Game Case (TCP Retail): https://app.box.com/s/bu5aa5r7txrn5dmlps7a9b1ay0afo3u5

My Covers: https://app.box.com/s/hote51vbfehfqo0yu5j0