Here are some neat items that I won in an Ebay auction recently. They are collectible caps that were made and distributed via Nintendo Power’s Super Power Club. This collection even includes two official Nintendo Power Super Power Club Caps binders to hold all of the caps in. There are 6 sheets in each binder, and each sheet holds 12 caps, so the first six sheets in the following photos are from the first binder that is completely full, and the 7th sheet is actually the first sheet of the second binder, which only contains the 4 known Virtual Boy Caps.
I don’t know how many caps were ever made and distributed via The Super Power Club, so I have no idea of how complete this cap collection is, but it consists of 76 caps comprising the following video games/characters/systems:
1. Super Metroid
2. Mega Man X
3. Mario Bros.
4. Stunt Race FX
5. Killer Instinct
6. Earthbound
7. Nintendo Mascots
8. Yoshi’s Island
9. Virtual Boy
The 4 Virtual Boy caps, namely those containing images for Galactic Pinball, Mario’s Tennis, Teleroboxer, and the Virtual Boy system itself, are the only caps that are optigraphics caps, where you can see different images on each individual cap, depending on the angle at which you hold the cap in relation to your eye. There are actually 3 images that can be seen in each cap: the image for the game or system, the standard Virtual Boy logo, and then the faint background image showing a different, circular logo for the Virtual Boy. If you look closely at the attached photo of these, you can actually see all 3 images at once because of the angle at which these were positioned when I scanned them. Earlier on this thread, I posted a picture of the 4 Virtual Boy Caps that I used to own but sold in the meantime, and the image for the game or system on each cap can be seen much more clearly in that previous picture posted.
Attachments:
White-Box, Pre-Production Virtual Boy System with White-Box, Pre-Production AC Adapter Tap
A very interesting specimen, which has been added recently to the ol’ Virtual Boy collection, is a very early Virtual Boy system – so early, in fact, that it has no serial number, helping to show that it was made before the mass production run of Virtual Boy systems, each of which were given a serial number indicating how far along in the production run it was made. Now, while the exterior of this system’s head unit, eyeshade, controller, and stand look exactly the same as those made in mass production, save for the fact that the head unit has no serial number on it, there are items included with this system which further help to show just how early on it was made.
The first item to note is the pure white box, in which this system was packaged. It has already been known for quite some time that Virtual Boy systems produced very early on in the mass production run, containing serial numbers indicating that they were made within the first 1,000 or so units produced, were packaged in pure white boxes. Some of these systems were shipped to the United States and were intended to be used in stores for Interactive Display purposes only, so they were not intended to be put on store shelves and sold to customers. Such systems had writings placed on the outside of the white boxes, which read as follows:
VUE S RA
VIRTUAL BOY(TM) W/O SOFTWARE
FOR INTERACTIVE DISPLAY
MADE IN JAPAN
The white box used to contain this particular unit having no serial number does not have any writings of any kind on the outside of it. Rather, in the upper left corner of the front of the white box, it simply contains a taped on, cropped image of what would later be used in Japan for the front cover of the Virtual Boy system’s instruction manual. Inside the white box itself, there is no instruction manual for this VB unit. The fact that the Japanese seller who owned this unit before me seems to have kept all packaging originally included with the system and also kept everything in rather pristine condition, along with the other indicators showing that this system was certainly made very early on and even before mass production of Virtual Boy systems with serial numbers, is strong evidence that this system would have never had an instruction manual included with it, which may have been misplaced or lost in the meantime. The instruction manual later included with the mass produced systems may not have even been finalized at the time that this system was made and packaged.
Another interesting item included with this unit, clearly indicating its early manufacture, is a special AC Adapter Tap. Just as certain Virtual Boy systems, whose serial numbers range from about 34000 to 38000, were packaged in “mosaic” pattern boxes and had AC Adapter Taps with matching “mosaic” pattern boxes to go with them, so also does this White-Box, Pre-Production Virtual Boy system have an AC Adapter Tap with matching white box to go with it. Now, the AC Adapter Taps packaged in the “mosaic” pattern boxes – also simply referred to as “demo taps,” since they along with their systems were to be used in Japanese retail stores for demonstration purposes only and were not to be sold to customers – had instruction sheets included in their boxes, explaining how to use them. This “white-box tap” has no instruction sheet included with it, and once again, given all of the other indicators showing its early manufacture, I must conclude that it never had an instruction sheet included with it and that the instruction sheet for the taps later produced may not have even been finalized at the time that this tap was made and packaged in its white box.
Of course, since comparisons have been made in the past between the demo taps and the commercially released taps and differences have been noted, it was necessary for me to compare the white-box tap with the later-made mosaic tap, or demo tap, and see if any differences could be found. As can be seen in two of the photos attached to this post, on the inside of the white-box tap, there is no sticker containing information about the tap, whereas the mosaic-box tap does, in fact, contain an information sticker on the inside. Also, it has been noted on the “Side by Side Mosaic VS Standard Adapter Taps” forum thread on this site (see: http://www.planetvb.com/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?post_id=18007#forumpost18007) that, on the underside of the front cover of the Mosaic-Box AC Adapter Tap itself, a certain mold number should appear, such as “2” or “3.” Well, while my camera might not be good enough to show this area of the white-box tap clearly enough, after very close inspection with my naked eye, while holding it at an angle into the light, I can say with complete certainty that my White-Box, Pre-Production AC Adapter Tap has no mold number at all on the underside of the front cover of the tap itself. Incidentally, the Mosaic-Box, Demo-Only AC Adapter Tap, which appears in the attached photos to the right of the white-box tap, contains a mold number of “1,” as I could clearly see with my naked eye upon close inspection. One should also closely examine the close up shot of the two inner parts of the taps side by side to note the differences in the inner molding structures of the two taps. Moreover, it has been previously noted that on the outer sides of the mosaic taps, which slide into and connect with the Virtual Boy controllers, there are skinny rectangular openings in the spots where the standard, commercially released AC Adapter Taps have fatter, more square-shaped openings. As was to be expected with the white-box tap, which was no doubt made before the mosaic-box tap, the white-box tap also has these skinny, rectangular openings in the same places.
The Japanese seller who owned this Virtual Boy system before me said that this type of VB unit was sent to Japanese developers who were working on Virtual Boy games prior to the launch of the system in Japan. Thus, these systems would have been primarily used by the video game developers for testing purposes during the development phase of the Virtual Boy’s life. Based on my own analysis of the contents included with the whole package, I certainly have no reason to doubt the seller’s statement and conclude that the contents themselves prove the seller’s statement to be true.
