Howdy all, this beauty just arrived in the mail.
I’ve never seen another console with this warning sticker before.

She’s got a nice low serial number, unit #1157.

Last but not least, I noticed this strange sticker residue on the back of the included Mario Tennis.

What would leave residue in this pattern? It’s not the usual rental sticker placement, I’ve seen stickers on the back of carts with the same dimensions before somewhere?…
Oh yeah, now I remember:

😀

So what do you guys think? I just assume it’s a “Property of Nintendo” unit, judging by the the combination of the unique warning sticker, crazy low serial number and *curious* shaped sticker residue on the back of the included cart.

The best part is that I scored this puppy for a meager $71 on eBay. This was the photo in the auction, and the description made no mention of the sticker nor the serial number.

I don’t think the cartridge is anything special, the “property of nintendo” stickers you show were clear plastic but the cartridge you showed clearly was a paper label.

My guess is Blockbuster demo? And the sticker would have been the barcode label? I don’t remember seeing those stickers back when Blockbuster rented them, but that was a while ago and I was 9…

What are those purple booklets?

[VirtualJockey]

mbuchman wrote:
I don’t think the cartridge is anything special, the “property of Nintendo” stickers you show were clear plastic but the cartridge you showed clearly was a paper label.

My guess is Blockbuster demo? And the sticker would have been the bar-code label? I don’t remember seeing those stickers back when Blockbuster rented them, but that was a while ago and I was 9…

What are those purple booklets?

The white paper on the center of the sticker residue looks to have been a fiber adhesion, as in a cart had a sticker pulled off and was left on another piece of paper. It’s still slightly tacky, I fear the seller tore the property of Nintendo label off before shipping to me.
Blockbuster demo consoles came WAY WAY after this serial number, it’s much more in line with standard USA demo consoles. (This serial comes in 3rd as the earliest VB console known period).
As I personally own a brand new USA Demo, I can verify that the USA Demos come with no sticker. The ONLY other person in the world with a serial number lower than me is the member Marulu, whom also coincidentally has “property of Nintendo” stickers on the back of his carts. Out of 630,000 consoles this one comes in as the 3rd.

Marulu has Console number 830, unboxed with property of Nintendo carts.
I have console number 940 brand new in white USA Demo box. No sticker on console. No games included.
This console is number 1157, sticker on it, and the cart residue in line with Marulu’s carts.

If this wasn’t the 3rd earliest console known to man that exists, I’d probably have my doubts. However, this thing sets off more alarms than one should. I have no doubts of the authenticity, and the only other person I can compare to is the one person that has the one out of the 3 earliest consoles known aside from me personally. Mawa is the only person with a serial in the original run, and it comes after these 3.
Blockbuster came in at units 3500-4000, not anything like the 1157 unit shown here.

What makes this unique is the sticker, the serial, and obviously the history of such. being one of the 4 very earliest units known to man, I don’t see why the residue factor on the cart should be snuffed out. The seller made no profit on a $71 console after all, and the serial just proved how cool this really is.

On the other question, the purple booklets are sealed Nintendo-Power 3D glasses which were only offered to subscribers of Nintendo power for 1 single issue, so this may have just been a demo console sent to Nintendo Power reviewers.

The console sticker is strange, the serial is on par with being a demo, and the included cart has demo adhesive like with the other console in the category of first 3 VB units found.

• This reply was modified 12 years, 12 months ago by VirtualJockey.
• This reply was modified 12 years, 12 months ago by VirtualJockey.
• This reply was modified 12 years, 12 months ago by VirtualJockey.
• This reply was modified 12 years, 12 months ago by VirtualJockey.

[VirtualJockey]

I’d say we should ask the pros, but I do in fact own 3/5 of the earliest VB consoles in the world (4/5 including from my proto that I inherited from KR155E). While I consider myself an authority, I was hoping other authorities would chime in on this new discovery. This is the real deal, so others that see such can hopefully add light to this new addition in VB history.

At face value, this is IN THE LEAST a USA Demo with a rad unknown sticker applied. I’d gauge it as something property of Nintendo. We also don’t even know what these USA Demo consoles were for(?), since the USA never had an official Nintendo display unit.

Design Phase was 2nd party and non-Nintendo, and real Nintendo displays were only officially released in Japan.

• This reply was modified 12 years, 12 months ago by VirtualJockey.
• This reply was modified 12 years, 12 months ago by VirtualJockey.
• This reply was modified 12 years, 12 months ago by VirtualJockey.

[VirtualJockey]

I apologize, I thought this was a cool find and I was playing coy. It is what it is, unfortunately the VB scene has died and shifted away to 3DS. I have no questions to ask, I know what I have and buy. The other good ol’ boys are KR155E, runnerpack,and mawa. They have the authority.

I still enjoy brand new VB discoveries, as anyone here should.(?)
I’m just somebody that I used to know.

• This reply was modified 12 years, 12 months ago by VirtualJockey.

Mine VB is VN10001180[7] (mawa, from Counter Display)
Thats very close to your serial and i know for sure mine come off the usa counter display beacouse i know who the owner whas in the past.
I have never had stickers on it so i dont know where they from.

But beacouse the serial from you is so close to mine i think that this VB from you also is from a usa display

VirtualJockey wrote:
I apologize, I thought this was a cool find and I was playing coy. It is what it is, unfortunately the VB scene has died and shifted away to 3DS. I have no questions to ask, I know what I have and buy. The other good ol’ boys are KR155E, runnerpack,and mawa. They have the authority.

I still enjoy brand new VB discoveries, as anyone here should.(?)
I’m just somebody that I used to know.

It’s a cool find. I think the VB scene hasn’t quite died, but it’s quieter than it used to be. I still have my VB collection, along with the Blox cart, the two Bound High carts, etc., but it’s in a cupboard and I use my 3DS to play in 3D, because it’s much easier to grab & play than having to assemble the VB (and I think the red/black contrast gives better 3D effect than the 3DS multi-colour screen, but as I said, playing 3DS is easier than VB).

Don’t suffer about it. I still love my VB collection and I’m sure many people here do too even though they don’t say much lately, but times change and so do priorities. Also, economy is quite bad and many people are selling their VB collections (and many other collections) to other private collectors to get extra money to make a living and cover all the debts which they have. That might also be a reason for the silence of the VB scene. Anyway, enjoy what there is, which is quite nice 😉

Well, I also thought this is a cool find! I enjoyed reading about this unit!

By the way VirtualJockey, I don’t even own a 3DS! …yet 😉

been wondering when we would hesr about your score, and good tale it is too, for me the coolest bit is finding such a low number on it, total bargain.

VirtualJockey wrote:
I apologize, I thought this was a cool find and I was playing coy. It is what it is, unfortunately the VB scene has died and shifted away to 3DS. I have no questions to ask, I know what I have and buy. The other good ol’ boys are KR155E, runnerpack,and mawa. They have the authority.

I still enjoy brand new VB discoveries, as anyone here should.(?)
I’m just somebody that I used to know.

Thats a really cool find, and I’m happy for you. The VB scene isn’t dead. People are still getting onto the site, and expressing interest in the console. It just doesn’t seem like theres as many as there used to be though.

This “good ol’ boy” has a few theories: 😉

1. It doesn’t mention the VB or anything VB specific (like adjusting the focus/IPD) directly, so it may just be a generic “video games can kill joo!!!!111one” thing put on there by a paranoid store owner in some extremely litigious locale (*cough*California*cough* ;-)).

2. It might be that those stickers were included with every demo VB, but most store owners/employees were too lazy to put them on. Has anyone ever found a complete, unopened demo unit including all the ephemera that came with one?

3. It could be some wiseguy just sticking random stickers on VBs to make them more attractive to collectors. I obviously hope it’s not that, but I had to mention it…

(BTW, DogP is far more knowledgeable than I concerning things “VB”).

[VirtualJockey]

RunnerPack wrote:
This “good ol’ boy” has a few theories: 😉

1. It doesn’t mention the VB or anything VB specific (like adjusting the focus/IPD) directly, so it may just be a generic “video games can kill joo!!!!111one” thing put on there by a paranoid store owner in some extremely litigious locale (*cough*California*cough* ;-)).

2. It might be that those stickers were included with every demo VB, but most store owners/employees were too lazy to put them on. Has anyone ever found a complete, unopened demo unit including all the ephemera that came with one?

3. It could be some wiseguy just sticking random stickers on VBs to make them more attractive to collectors. I obviously hope it’s not that, but I had to mention it…

(BTW, DogP is far more knowledgeable than I concerning things “VB”).

Howdy RPack, I have some very surprising new info TBA soon…

• This reply was modified 12 years, 11 months ago by VirtualJockey.
• This reply was modified 12 years, 11 months ago by VirtualJockey.

I definitely have to conclude that the sticker is an official sticker from Nintendo of Japan translated into English, which was intended to be put on all of the earliest Virtual Boys but was later retracted by the responsible persons for the North American release of the Virtual Boy, for the obvious reason that such explanations in such an easily visible place scare people from using the system and, thus, would hurt future sales. The reason why I have to conclude this is because the warning contains very similar information to that which is found on all the boxes of the “Japan Only” Virtual Boy games that I have been translating into English. Such information which appears on all of these boxes does not appear on the English boxes, and the boxes are the first things that people see when deciding to buy a product, and thus, certain information contained on them could scare consumers from buying the games in the first place. While similar explanations appear in the Precautions Booklets that are inside the boxes, a lot of people never read such booklets, so that is the better place to put such information when looking at it from a sales standpoint and while still trying to protect yourself from possible legal action against you. Thus, the evidence seems to indicate that the responsible persons of the Virtual Boy in Japan were willing to include such information in a place where all possible consumers could easily see it, but the responsible persons for the North American release didn’t seem to want to include such information in such an easily visible place.

Thus, I would say that the sticker is an English translation of a Japanese sticker that was intended to be put on all Virtual Boys, but at some point early on in the production process, someone thought that putting such a sticker in such an easily visible location would hurt sales (even more) and, thus, they decided to stop placing it on the later copies of the system that were made.

That’s my 2 cents on the matter.

Well, long story short, the same seller had multiple property of Nintendo carts on ebay, but somebody snaked him and convinced him to sell outside of ebay. Total loss for him, I was bidding very high amounts.
In the end, This IS a property of Nintendo console. Not sure what it was used for, but I am really bummed I’m unable to bid on the carts that go with it.