Now You’re Playing With Paper!

February 28, 2013 7:22 AM

"These two Nintendo store binders provide an interesting look into the retail side of the gaming industry."

Also there's a sandwich.

posted by griphus (18 comments total)

I think you've stumbled onto a way to solve the world's hunger crisis because apparently half of all returned merchandise turns into food.

Good thing sardine jello is my favorite!
posted by phunniemee at 7:33 AM on February 28, 2013

Advisories/Warnings/Disclaimers highlights some ingenuous return fraud examples, like trading in a Game Boy Advance box with a sardine can inside or a chiseled brick in the shape of a Rumble Pak. (“Armed with the knowledge contained within these pages, slash returns losses and be the hero of your store.”)

It's dangerous to retail Nintendo products alone! Take this.
posted by obscure simpsons reference at 8:02 AM on February 28, 2013 [9 favorites]

  FRAUD
¯\(°_o)/¯

This thing is a gold mine, griphus.
posted by boo_radley at 8:23 AM on February 28, 2013 [2 favorites]

Cool stuff. There's also this training video out there, which has some great moments.
posted by Otis at 8:30 AM on February 28, 2013

From this image in the second link:

Expected internet linkup capabilities open up a whole new gaming world! Current plans are to allow Advance gamers to link over the Internet to play games, transfer information and even see one another using an accessory video camera. In addition, plans are for both the GAMECUBE and Game Boy Advance to have the ability to connect to the Internet or each other to exchange data, post scores, download characters, and for head-to-head play using only one cartridge.

It's sad to be reminded that Nintendo fell behind in online integration so early. I guess they just expected third-party developers to take the lead on this?
posted by whitecedar at 8:32 AM on February 28, 2013 [2 favorites]

I love corporate ephemera like this.
posted by Room 641-A at 8:33 AM on February 28, 2013

whitecedar: "From this image in the second link:"

I just threw out a bunch of gameboy-to-gamecube connector cables. I think we only played 4 swords (awesome) and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles (disappointing). And that was when I could find friends who had SPs and brought them over. I paid $80 for those damn cables.
posted by boo_radley at 8:37 AM on February 28, 2013

Oh, that second link is a Microsoft Word WordArt fanboy's dream! I really expected one of those pages to be a sign reminding the store that the fridge would be cleaned out on Friday, so everyone needs to label their old food.
posted by hanov3r at 8:40 AM on February 28, 2013 [3 favorites]

It's interesting how many of these talking points seeped into my mind and stuck there. I distinctly remember being told that playing Super Nintendo was just like controlling a movie. I remember thinking that if that was true, there'd be no need to ever invent a new videogame system.
posted by roll truck roll at 8:44 AM on February 28, 2013

What I'd really like to see are the documents Nintendo's game councilors referred to to help callers through the painful NES games they were inflicting on themselves back then. I've never seen any copies of those books on the internet.
posted by JHarris at 10:26 AM on February 28, 2013 [3 favorites]

This may be what you're looking for, JHarris.
posted by Nedroid at 1:43 PM on February 28, 2013 [7 favorites]

What I'd really like to see are the documents Nintendo's game councilors referred to to help callers through the painful NES games they were inflicting on themselves back then. I've never seen any copies of those books on the internet.

Sega would send you photocopies of the maps and hint sheets they'd use to advise you over the phone, if you asked.

I liked the Sega counselors. They always seemed a little more willing to go off-script than the ones at Nintendo.
posted by prize bull octorok at 3:27 PM on February 28, 2013 [1 favorite]

boo_radley: You go out and get those cables right now because Pac Man Vs is probably the best game ever made.
posted by 23 at 5:21 PM on February 28, 2013 [1 favorite]

For years, I've been debating buying a GBA and a cable, so I could use them with Animal Crossing and Pac Man Vs.

It's interesting to me that Nintendo keeps doubling down on multi-screen play. After no third-party developers to speak of did anything with GBA-GameCube connectivity or Wii-DS connectivity, now they're forcing multi-screen on the world with the Wii U.
posted by roll truck roll at 5:33 PM on February 28, 2013

To be fair, I've never played any game that needed a second screen except Pac Man Vs (never played Four Swords, so no opinion). However, that game shows how artificial information scarcity is extremely powerful. The technique is still fun with things like Shotguns in the Dark or even a standard strategy game, but the immediacy and straightforwardness of even a very basic application is extremely compelling.
posted by 23 at 5:49 PM on February 28, 2013

This may be what you're looking for, JHarris.

HOW CAN YOU KNOW OF THIS AND NOT FPP IT?!?!
posted by JHarris at 9:55 PM on February 28, 2013

Microsoft Word WordArt fanboy's dream!

This has been bothering me since yesterday, so I have to ask "Microsoft Word WordArt fanboy" isn't an actual class of persons is it? I don't think of myself as a design snob, but I still find this hard to believe.

(And I'm the type of person who has viewed every image here and every image in the Nintendo's game councilor binders and every image in the Chicago Auto Show link, so I'm usually ready to believe there's an person for every obsession.)
posted by MCMikeNamara at 7:36 AM on March 1, 2013

I'm pretty sure there have to be a few WordArt fanboys around; that is the only thing that can account for its prevalence in homemade signs.

And, of course, if there are WordArt fanboys, Rule 34 tells us there is WordArt porn. So, there you go.
posted by hanov3r at 9:25 AM on March 1, 2013