Origins of the torn label Gray NWC cart
Hi Folks,
Many have wondered about the origins of the torn-labeled NWC cart with "Mario" written across the front. I even made a thread about it here where NAers can try their luck at spying the missing serial number:
Well, I tracked down the current owner, a Thomas Ertresvaag, or rather, Ertresvåg, as he is from Norway. He purchased it for about $400 in an auction posted on Usenet back between 1997 and 1999, but probably closer to 1999. Unfortunately, he doesn't remember the seller, and has exhausted his efforts at finding old emails from him. He even went as far as to dig up an ancient PC he had in his basement to see if the old emails were on it. Alas, they were not.
Google has an archive of, supposedly, the entirety of the Usenet postings, or at least all but some of the earliest postings. It is estimated by some that 95% of the postings were likely recovered and are searchable. Basically, Google bought deja.com, and the Usenet postings are now groups.google.com. You can freely search the entire archive of more than 700 million Usenet posts. However, after searching hard for the auction or posts referencing it, I can find no trace of it. Sure, I found old posts from Thomas himself, but no sign of the auction.
I've noticed Google's search feature leaves much to be desired. Sometimes I'll search my results by date, and hundreds of posts disappear from my seconds previous "sorted by relevance" search. Other times, I'll get different amounts of results for the same search! So, I think I'm just missing something. Part of the problem was that I *think* Thomas used different accounts, and sometimes he went by Terje Ertresvåg, if I'm not mistaken.
So, I'm at the end of my rope. I found plenty of other NWC-related posts, but not what I'm looking for. I also know zilch about how to use usenet groups and such other than what Google shows me. I also think there might be better search engines than Google's own, but like I said, I'm not sure I have a clue.
Of course, I must turn to NA, since few else would be nearly as dedicated in such a search, and I hope some of you can help. I'd really like to know where this cart came from. Perhaps it was one of the winners, or maybe a staff member. Maybe it was simply found in a thrift shop and leads to another dead end (but at least we would have a general last location where it was found if that were the case, which may lead to the nearest NWC finalist). Who knows!?
Anyway, I hope some of you folks might be able to search and have better luck than I. I sure hope so!
-Rob
Comments
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.games.video.classic/browse_thread/thread/de21acf4fa40a0ae/4dab78e38baba611?q=1990+nintendo+world+championships#4dab78e38baba611
EDIT:
Also, see this:
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.games.video.arcade/browse_thread/thread/ce58e350f2a369d2/de9fda3505612368#de9fda3505612368
Scott Nowack must be it!
I think the best we could hope for history wise at this point is to get an archival place of somekind to take mega-high res scans or maybe look at it under a microscope or something and see if the number can at least be determined.
You gotta remember though in most cases these carts were given to children. Children who in most cases probably stopped caring about NES over the years, and didn't necessarily value this game anymore than say something you won at Chuck E Cheese, because it isn't a trophy or something, it's just an NES cart with three common games on it. That you can't even play though, so I really doubt for many of the NWCs that turn up will ever have conclusive ownership history.
I really doubt for many of the NWCs that turn up will ever have conclusive ownership history.
There's only one sure way to track each distinctive cart, and that's the number. That's why Rob's trying so hard to find the number, because one way or another, it'll lead back to the original owner.
Now, I'd say we got this mystery out of the way with scary ice's post, however, besides asking Scott himself, there's nothing else that can be done except decoding the number.
You gotta remember though in most cases these carts were given to children. Children who in most cases probably stopped caring about NES over the years, and didn't necessarily value this game anymore than say something you won at Chuck E Cheese, because it isn't a trophy or something, it's just an NES cart with three common games on it. That you can't even play though, so I really doubt for many of the NWCs that turn up will ever have conclusive ownership history.
Unless you were an early winner, you put hundreds of hours (myself thousands) in to winning one of the regionals. And for probably all of us, it was the most exciting thing that had ever happened (some of us to this date). The game was everything to us.... begging our parents to buy 1 more ticket to practice....
If you would have been there when they announced that we would be receiving a NWC in Universal Studios (I wish it was on video), the sound of the roar was deafening. People hugging, triumphant fists of children shaking in the air like they had won it all themselves, parents overjoyed that "the game" that had been their kids entire year was coming home. I will never forget that moment.
The NWC was a trophy. To everyone that didn't get an actual Mario, that was what we could show people when it was over.
I guess it's true some kids trashed theirs or gave them away after a while, but it was a big freaking deal to all of us back then. At least much more than a Chuck E Cheese toy.
I just have to imagine though, (and the numbers could be wrong) but of 90 of these carts there were probably some kids that just happened to be good enough at those 3 games that they made it far enough to get the cart and it maybe didn't mean that much to them after the fact, since they already owned the real carts of the 3 games. Or there's always the horror story of someone valuing it quite highly and their evil parents yard sale/donating it in their absence at college or something.
I just figure that if the people that won them originally valued them as highly as they should have, more people would likely come out claiming ownership to one nowadays, even if they didn't have the intent to sell.
Hey Rubber Duck. With the damage of the label would it even be possible to recover the original number by a lab? I know you tried hi res scans/photoshop but even if you spent the $$$ to get a lab it may come out inconclusive yeah? Would higher res scans help?
Yeah, there's a very good chance they would be able to find out what it was. If not, the lab fees would still be due. They would take pics of it in different wavelengths of UV and infrared light and then use photoshop from there. That's not to say it is impossible still with the visible light pics, but the other wavelengths would make it incredibly easier.
Now, the best-case scenario is if Scott could somehow dig up who he got it from. If not, I'd say it's a worthy cause.But then again, these labs have their secrets, so I'd do more investigating before shelling out the cash.
EDIT: Like I was saying, this could very well help. My guess is that since the ink could be decoded by extensive photoshopping, it shouldn't take that much of a complex black light to find out. Then again, I'm just an amateur.
Also if we got more than 1 bad label cart to send into the lab at the same time it should save some money.
Anyways, this is another one that rbudrick brought to my attention.
http://nes.wikia.com/wiki/File:NWC90_Unknown2.JPG
There's too much damage to determine the number by any means, however, the person who sold it actually knew some of its history, and it was known that it belonged to Steve Factor. At this point, the only thing that can be done is to talk to Steve himself.
-Rob