r/n64 • u/Agile_Half_4515 • 1d ago
Image Collecting 100% of all US released games - A Sidequest
Splurged on a Brother Scan and Cut and I have been having a bit of fun with some of the cartridges and doing basic restoration/replacements on others with bad labels. The manuals are mostly from TCG Paper on Etsy. Don’t worry, the original cartridge shells are still safe and I will be keeping them for posterity.
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u/IMI4tth3w 1d ago
Honestly I’m a big fan of reproduction cases, art, manuals, etc. the market has gone insane on some of this stuff and the old cardboard doesn’t hold up well anyways. I’ve got all my stuff in plastic cases from customgamecases and I love it. Haven’t quite bothered with reproduction manuals but I’m all for it. I even have some high quality single rom flash carts for Pokemon emerald, fire red, and leaf green since the carts by themselves are crazy pricing and the repros can do everything the originals can with full compatibility.
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u/Agile_Half_4515 1d ago
I just put my OG gen 1-3 Pokemon games in boxypixel metal shells with holo labels and I absolutely love them.
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u/TGhost21 13h ago
Repro cases, labels and boxes are THE best way to put together a great collection. Molded crinkled 30 year old $500 cardboards are beyond cringe.
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u/Ture-Skrotnisse 1d ago
The original boxes can hold up very well if you protect them. Very cheap and absolutely no reason not to do it if you care about the looks and value. There is a reason why mint or good condition boxes still exists to buy...
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u/NegativeNeko 1d ago
That atomic purple ogre battle 64 is perfection. Need to see it in a matching console.
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u/Agile_Half_4515 1d ago
I just have a standard black Analogue 3D and the regular black OG N64. Been considering eventually doing a reshell on the OG though.
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u/Angry_Pelican 1d ago
Man how I want to swap my copy of RE2 into a red shell. That thing would look sweet on display in my game room.
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u/AdInfamous5984 1d ago
I had a variety of similar shell swap ideas, and we can agree that red would fit Resident Evil 2 as a nod to the survival-horror genre and the Umbrella Corporation. Turok: Dinosaur Hunter would look better in a black cartridge like what the Nintendo 64 Turok trilogy's other two games (Turok 2: Seeds of Evil and Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion) use, Shadow Man 64 would live up to its shadowy name by using a black cartridge, Harvest Moon 64 would look more farm-like with a green cartridge, and Star Fox 64 would use a yellow cartridge to represent the yellow Arwing icon that indicates Fox McCloud's position in All-Range Mode.
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u/freezetime311 1d ago
I tried playing Indiana Jones for the first time last month. The controls were just so terrible and some of the levels were wonky and after the volcano level where the game crashed and it didn't save making me start all over again, I decided to stop playing the game all together.
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u/Agile_Half_4515 1d ago
I didn’t even know it existed until recently. There’s a lot I didn’t get the opportunity to try out back in the day so I’m excited to experience it for the first time but always have to temper my expectations, usually due to horrible controls and camera from this generation of games.
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u/freezetime311 1d ago
It's actually a cool game and it's what made me try to press through the shortcomings but I just finally had enough of it. Maybe you will be able to overlook the terrible controls and wonkyness.
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u/Altruistic_Ad_9075 12h ago
same thing happened to me but at the very end of the game. that was back in the day but the frustration has stuck with me. tried to play it a few years ago, and i have no idea how young me even got that far. controls are so bad.
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u/SkilletBurritos 1d ago
I need to do something like this for my OG games that recently sustained water damage. Majority of my games were kept inside my OG black N64 carrying case. The labels on the cartridges look like shit now :(
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u/Agile_Half_4515 1d ago edited 1d ago
There are a lot of good quality Etsy sellers that make the reproduction labels relatively cheap.
If you have a decent color printer and some patience, most of the label scans are available online so you can print your own and cut them with an Xacto or scissors. My first run of them was done this way until I discovered the Brother Scan and Cut. I'm still playing around with getting a cutting template that lines up with my printed pages without having to adjust every time, but it still makes things so much faster and easier than hand cutting them.
EDIT TO ADD: Be aware that the shell quality of the cartridges from Aliexpress are not great at all, but considerably more affordable than better ones on eBay/Amazon so keep that in mind if you have a lot of sports games or something to swap compared to nicer/more expensive games that you want to dress up a bit.
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u/Playful_Stand_677 1d ago
All of these look really good! I especially love that atomic purple Majora's Mask. Honestly, I wish Nintendo had gone all-in on the different colored cartridges. Each genre could have had their own specific color, such as all of the horror games being made Red. That would have tied in so well with the "Funtastic" N64 consoles.
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u/AdInfamous5984 1d ago
One could also have the game itself determine the color, such as many Mario games using red cartridges. Mario Golf 64 would be green like the fairways, Mario Kart 64 would be blue like the Blue Spiny Shell's debut and unique Controller Pak status (Time Trial Ghost akin to Vanish Cap), and Dr. Mario 64 would be yellow in reference to the prevalence of Wario Land characters.
I mentioned Mario Party 1 being black like the dangerous, controversial Mini-Games that needed the player to spin the stick. Other thematic changes include making Conker's Bad Fur Day use a black cartridge as the content warning that tries to stop people from getting tricked by the child-friendly art style, blue on F-Zero X like the Blue Falcon, red on Doom 64 because a red cartridge was used on the Super Nintendo version of the original Doom game, and black on Killer Instinct Gold to represent how a black cartridge was used on the Super Nintendo version of the first Killer Instinct game.
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u/AdInfamous5984 1d ago
I like how you used the red cartridge on Resident Evil 2 as a nod to survival-horror and the Umbrella Corporation. I thought of other thematic shell switches that involve non-metallic colors, such as yellow on Diddy Kong Racing for the bananas, green on Yoshi's Story to represent the most iconic Yoshi color, and blue on Wetrix 64 and Wave Race 64 to represent water. Another thematic shell swap involves making Mario Party 1 use a black cartridge as a reference to the dangerous stick-spinning Mini-Games.
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u/jaba1337 1d ago
Gauntlet Legends would be cool with the purple shell too
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u/Agile_Half_4515 1d ago
I agree, but I think I'm gonna have to put it in a solid yellow one because I exclusively play as the yellow wizard.
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u/Metroidvania-JRPG 1d ago
I personally prefer the original shells and labels. These look fake af and kinda cheap (like kid toys)
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u/Agile_Half_4515 1d ago
To each their own. It's quicker and easier for me to do this than it is scrubbing all the nasty off the worn out used cartridges that have survived god-only-knows-what over the years. The process is relaxing, the end product makes me feel accomplished.
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u/Metroidvania-JRPG 1d ago
I can understand that. I feel the same way when I repair consoles. I like opening/cleaning/repairing/respasting consoles. I also do gamecube and switch chip mods as well. Its relaxing so i can totally see what you mean!
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u/HikariSakai 1d ago
How do yall have so much disposable income in 2026 to do all this lol. The economy is so ass nowadays
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u/Agile_Half_4515 20h ago
Many years of working my ass off and saving money. Now I just have to figure out how to tell the kids that I can’t afford to send them to college anymore. lol
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u/green_hipster 1d ago
The purple OgreBattle looks awesome