Two Super Mario Bros. ?

My friend today noticed a slight difference between his two Super Mario Bros. / Duck Hunt carts. And naturally, we had no idea why there are two different ones.

So, why did nintendo have two different labels? Why not just use one label? Two cartridge manufactoring runs?

Are there any other games out there with label variants?

Which came first, the cart with the nintendo logo in the middle or the one without?

The second one doesn't have the seal of quality on it... it's no pirate cart, right?

DUDE THAT'S WEIRD!!!! I must have been thinking just like you and I JUST got that version of that game yesterday. In fact I used to have the other un-nintendo version and I thought it was quite odd. What also is weird is all the sudden I'm starting to like SMB again which I didn't used to. I got my Zapper with it. It only came to $2.25. SMB only costs $0.25 at Game Crazy which I just found out is a GREAT game store.

Nope, not a pirate.

I'll have to check out this "Game Crazy" you speak of

Edit: There's one near me... but I just spend way too much money on games at a flea market yesterday

Yeah it's connected to Hollywood Video.

Either this is edited or this is the WORST patch job I've seen. Underneath of the words "Super Mario Bros." on the second pic... the color is blatantly abnormal...

So no one seems to have another cart that likes the second one? (the one with out the seal of quality?)

(It's not photomanipped or anything)

Roth : You're right the color is abnormal under "Super Mario Bros." but if I look on the cartridge very closely, its like that all the way around the Super Mario Bros. picture, kind of like a border. It's a very dark bluish green. The color difference was printed on the label like that, and is very straight and professional, but very subtle.

I've seen both of those label revisions in the past, in fact, I think I own those two and another one. as far as I know they're all legal and fine, and the value/rarity doesn't differ from one to the next.

EDIT: I checked, I only have the two revisions shown, but I do have the second one.

EDIT 2: this is post #1337 for me! cool people will understand

All cool people, please tell me, what 1337 means...
I'm not cool enough to know. (leet? ... )

It's his 1337th post

Yes, I read that...

yes, it was leet.

and a joke

It seems I'm cool enough.

As others have already stated, they are both legal copies without any significant difference in rarity. As for other label variations...there are MANY out there. The first thing one should look for is a "-1" or "-2" after the product # "NES-**-USA" on a cartridge/manual/box. There are also quite a few variations without the "-1" etc, but these are mostly just variations in Nintendo's seal of approval (and no, not due to different regions...Nintendo changed its seal of quality apparently somewhere in the late 1980's, so games released before and after this change have such variations).

Since we are talking about SMB carts...here are some variations that come to mind:

US:

Super Mario Bros. 3 (initial release with "Bros." on the right side, "-1" release with "Bros." on the left side)

Super Mario Bros. (not the combo cartridge...I think there are multiple versions of this just as with all the other black box cartridges...some without product id, some without the "made in Japan" line, etc...I haven't verified this with SMB carts, but I'm sure they are out there)

Europe:

Super Mario Bros. (one version that looks like the US version of SMB, and one version that looks like the other black box cartridges in Europe..more horizontal instead of diagonal, and it has "European Version" written on it, with different label art if I remember correctly).

Mario Brothers (one version that looks similar to the US version, one version that has a total label make-over - much more colorful etc just like the newer NES Games...so I assume that this version was released somewhere in the 1990's, but not sure. The latter version definitely seems to be a lot more rare around here).

Also, Canadian NTSC black box games have a CAN written on the front as well as a bilingual label on the back.

-Speedy

Well here in Norway we got a totally different label! The picture on the cart is not taken directly from a game, like the american cart. It's kinda hard to explain, but we use a real picture on the cartridge, like cartoon characters, instead of the computer generated picture, if you know what I mean

Here a pic (from the Spanish version) for better illustration:

I knew the cartoonist art versions, but never saw the cartoonist Super Mario Bros./Duckhunt cart before (I saw them both separate, but not the 2-in-1). In the Benelux and France we got the 8-bit pixelated labels.

Why did Nintendo release the pixelly cartridge labels in the U.S. and a few other places?

Seriously, who wouldn't prefer bright, colorful, good looking labels over super enlarged sprites?

I think in Germany we also have the pixel version, I don't know for sure, though. I don't have it myself.
The ones I see at eBay sometimes all have the pixel artworks.

All Duckhunt fans look here:

That's what I'm talking about! We have the exact same label, here in Norway, cool!

Woah! NES-RULE! Where have you been?

I like the Spanish art. Its nice.

It's probably through a multiple selling of games. I beleive the first one came first, aftermass producing it, they may have changed the label to give it a diffrent look or so. I ampretty sure stuff like this had been done before with other games too.

I don't really see it that big a deal.

Why did Nintendo release the pixelly cartridge labels in the U.S. and a few other places?

Seriously, who wouldn't prefer bright, colorful, good looking labels over super enlarged sprites?
I wouldn't.
At the time, the pixel graphics on the NES was far superior than the ones on any other consoles at the time. It was good advertisement for the games visuals.

Seeing those pixels now just adds to the nostalgia.

I think in Germany we also have the pixel version, I don't know for sure, though. I don't have it myself.
The ones I see at eBay sometimes all have the pixel artworks.

All Duckhunt fans look here:

Germany is a strange case. It seems sometimes you got pixelated art there, and other times the drawn art, or even both.

But isn't that the same case in the Netherlands?
Don't Germany and Holland have the same versions?

Wow america dumbs everything down. I would have loved the art cover to come here.

Im not sure but one is prob. for the SMB/DH that came with the NES system and the other is for the shelf, you know what I mean? yeah.