r/neogeo • u/roel27 • 1d ago

Discussion Was this a common thing in Japan to use these serial stickers?

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22 Upvotes

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6

u/MonkeyJuggleDX1980 1d ago

Yes. I have a couple of games with them.

2

u/neoashxi 1d ago

This type of sticker is only found on Japanese market cartridges. This one for example is in a SNKG shell which means "rental".

所有SNK means "Property of SNK". All games, bearing this label, SNKG or not, were either rented out by SNK to operators, or operated by SNK in their own game centers.

Games purchased by operators don't have this label. This is why nearly all copies of some bigger hit titles always have this label, because SNK didn't sell them at first to increase profits.

1

u/bawlsacz 1d ago

Bet you can buy similar stickers and stick them yourself.

1

u/TooManyBulborbs 1d ago

They nearly always had those serial stickers

1

u/NineteenNinetyEx 1d ago

For early games, yes.

1

u/AKAperly 1d ago

Yeah early games only.

1

u/neoashxi 1d ago

You may be thinking of the US market SNK serial stickers. They were biggers and the serial number was printed in dot-matrix. They were indeed used only until 1992-1993.

These stickers here are "Property of SNK" stickers, are JP-market exclusive and were in use from the early life of the system up until 2001. The last game to have them should be Metal Slug 3 or something in this area. Most likely the last game made by the "old SNK" before bankruptcy.

2

u/AKAperly 1d ago

Ah yeah you are right, and I only collect US kits now... I saw the English label and miss identified.

1

u/RedGeist_ 1d ago

Certain regions required them for arcade laws.

I think it was Saudi Arabia that had laws against them. So you can find some carts with the serial number cut out.

1

u/Neo-Alec AES 9h ago

Yes it was.