Amazing coincidences led to amazing results. THANK YOU!

[JETX2]

Less than 100 of my 550+ NES titles are boxed. When someone publicly gave me 10 NES boxes on NintendoAge well over a year ago I didn't want to keep them all to myself so I gave some away to others who wanted them. I regretted giving away my only Metal Gear box, but I scanned it first just in case I could ever make a replacement. I do not know how to use Photoshop or GIMP so I never did anything with it.

A year ago I found an extremely high-end printer at a local thrift store for $10 USD. It was an Epson Stylus Pro 3880 but the ink switch valve was broken. Luckily, the printhead was in great shape and the included ink alone was worth far more than I paid (zero risk). I had to spend about $250 to get it working and it's going to cost me a fortune in ink but it was still an incredible deal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lInPCHhxSVY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97XomNjdLHA

I've slowly been buying all the stuff I need for refilling, like syringes, a gram scale, a chip resetter, a second set of cartridges, etc. I am still very low on certain ink colors but the last piece of the puzzle fell in my lap yesterday: 140 sheets of TDK TP-1319XG "Reference Grade" Super A3+ 13"x19" glossy photo paper for $3.33 a pack (20 sheets; $0.17 each). YES!


Full resolution:
https://i.imgur.com/wKe48Nc.jpg

Sure enough, it was another local thrift store find. What a great deal! I had been waiting for something like this. I literally rushed home and printed up these:

Full resolution:
https://i.imgur.com/FjHzlyq.jpg

I don't regret giving away my original Metal Gear box at all anymore because these look amazing! The 305 g/m² 11.8 mil paper is almost the perfect thickness for replacement boxes. The right side of Adventures of Dino Riki is upside-down but this is beyond what I ever imagined I could do at home. It completely outclasses my Timewalk Games copy of Mr. Gimmick and I would even say that the Metal Gear box looks better than my original ever did. THANK YOU for making these available!

I don't think I can print any more until I get some refill ink but these have already been integrated into the shelf...

Full resolution:
https://i.imgur.com/gX7Xq60.jpg

Unfortunately, there aren't very many North American boxes available on this site that I don't already have, and only 6 of them looked good enough to print. If I knew how to use Photoshop or GIMP I would be working on Final Fantasy and others next. It's taken me almost 2 days to carefully cut those four boxes but when I finish Xenophobe and Back to the Future I will be caught up.

I didn't print Xenophobe yet because I hope to figure out how to get my Cricut Expression cutting machine and Sure Cuts A Lot 2 to do the hard part and it may involve tweaking the print in various ways. The Expression is old, no longer supported, the software doesn't even work, and it was never intended for "print then cut" but, then again, the newer machines don't support that feature for anything anywhere near this size anyway. You can trick both of them into cutting large prints but it thinks it's just cutting a blank canvas. Either way, this means I'll have no registration marks for automatic alignment and no color bleed to hide the imperfect alignment (something you normally want even with auto-align). I'm struggling to learn enough about GIMP because I hope to simulate the color bleed. If I can do that I will make a couple files that can be easily printed and then cut by the old and new machines. Heck, Cricut Explore Air can even score the folds for us and spit out a box that's almost completely done. Wish me luck!

If that works out I also hope to make repair pieces for some of my other boxes. For example, my copy of Metroid has the original box but it is missing the top flap. Two of my other game boxes, Mario is Missing and Lethal Weapon, were cut up by rental stores and are missing the top, bottom, and right side. Making pieces to repair these original boxes should be comparatively easy.


Full resolution:
https://i.imgur.com/r0hvHle.jpg

Image gallery link:
https://imgur.com/a/yb8ruHq

[Martwansito]

Hey, they look very good!
I'm really proud to see that Metal Gear box being used, it took me a while to restore it.
If you have time and passion, it isn't hard to master photoshop, you just need patience, so go for it!
The Final Fantasy one is kinda easy, would be a good first restoration attempt
I'm working in another restoration right now, but I can go for it when I have more time!

[JETX2]

Hey, they look very good!
I'm really proud to see that Metal Gear box being used, it took me a while to restore it.
If you have time and passion, it isn't hard to master photoshop, you just need patience, so go for it!
The Final Fantasy one is kinda easy, would be a good first restoration attempt
I'm working in another restoration right now, but I can go for it when I have more time!

So, you are the guy responsible for that awesome restoration. Thank you!

I actually printed the Final Fantasy the way it was and tried using a Sharpie marker to mask the blemishes but it doesn't look very good. I tried my hand at restoring it and got something that looked really good until I compared it to the original and saw that my edits had done something to the weapons on the front which I couldn't undo. It actually looked kind of cool though.

https://i.imgur.com/XMLwnb4.jpg

I did several more:

https://i.imgur.com/dwWjgAR.jpg

I tried printing replacement flaps for my original Metroid box but my GIMP-fu is weak.

https://i.imgur.com/Qki4pqC.jpg

The Metroid logo is too orange, it's off-center, and the gray does not match the original's more metallic gray. Epson does sell metallic photo paper which might be a better match but I have no idea how to use it or print to it properly. Still, what I've got is better than nothing.

Earthbound was a fun one. It turned out GREAT with the only issue being a stretched/distorted Seal of Quality on the top. No big deal. I actually have multiple original Earthbound "For Display Only" boxes that are genuine from Nintendo but I thought I'd make up a larger box to put on the shelf with Mario Paint.

[y(oYo)]

Great work !

You know, with a little experience, you could cut your boxes with only a cutter and small scissors.
It takes more time to make a box, but the result is good enough

[JETX2]

Great work !

You know, with a little experience, you could cut your boxes with only a cutter and small scissors.
It takes more time to make a box, but the result is good enough

Thank you. I found it particularly difficult to cut the notches in the Earthbound box for your thumb to remove the flap. This is because there is no way to get scissors into the space (it is entirely surrounded by printed area). The main reason I want to get it working with my cutting machines is to make it easier for other people. Cutting machines like Silhouette Cameo and Cricut Explore Air are available in craft stores everywhere in North America. I hope it could eventually be as easy as taking it straight from your printer to your preferred cutting machine where it will cut and score the box.

Thank you!

[y(oYo)]

I remember looking at these devices many years ago.
One thing that repulsed me is that it couldn't cut very deep in a thick paper.
So you'd have to cut many times in order to be able to tear the box off the paper.
But I only read it, never tried nor heard someone experience.
So maybe you could give us some feedback on this when you'll get your cutting machine ?