Not really relevant, but here’s a few more Blockbuster Rental cases (notice that the N64 one uses what appears to be the same sticker dimensions as the VB case):
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I’ve been under the strong influence that these were rental cases. Be it VB, Sega Saturn, Atari Jaguar, etc. All usually have the exact same case, with different padding to accommodate each console. Much like the later blockbuster run with the VB Sticker, the Atari Jaguar also had a run with the Jaguar logo embossed in the plastic.
You may ask why I called the blockbuster a later run? It’s because the case loses all the fine mold details shown in the travel master branded case.
Southern-case also used to only deal with “specialized” retail locations as per their own admission. I’m not calling your friend a liar, just wanted to bring to light that most travel master cases (Non-VB) have been reported as purchased from small rental stores. Had I ever spotted one of these hard cases for sale in 1995 for the VB at any Toys R Us location, I would have bought it since the VB was in dire need of a hard case. Once again, I have no reason to call your friend a liar, but if his memory is solid this case was only in a small consumer test market.
A fun fact about the TravelMaster/Blockbuster hardcase:
“Southern designs their cases to withstand temperatures “down to 40 degrees below zero.” They come with a lifetime warranty against “cracking, peeling, and breaking.”
The Sega Saturn case had the same generic lid that the VB does.
Anyway, check out this cool lid for the Jaguar TravelMaster Case (wish the VB got the same custom molded logo treatment):
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Flashboy and 3DO are both rad. Only played a Vectrex once back in the day.
Maybe you’d be interested in one of the Sharp Titler famicom / “home-video subtitling” consoles that has S-Video output for the games. I owned one once and the picture quality was so good that I refuse to ever play NES again until I get another one.
Also, I’m a big fan of the goofy 2600 clones. Some of them have pretty cool designs.
If you’re into the obscure, The black & white Gamate handheld console is pretty neat too.
If you’re just looking for your initial 3 mentioned items, if you can get a loose flashboy on the cheap I have an extra box I could toss your way. 
Benjamin Stevens wrote:
Well, I can honestly say that I know someone else who owns the Travel Master case. He’s actually been one of my closest friends for over 17 years. He got a Virtual Boy, carrying case, and several games way back when they were still in stores but on clearance and ready to leave stores forever. He tried to get me interested in the Virtual Boy back then, but I was still in high school with not much funds, so I ignored the Virtual Boy and continued to do so for many years until just this past one. It wasn’t until this past year, after I became interested in the Virtual Boy, that I then asked him what all he had in Virtual Boy regard. He then went to his closet and pulled out none other than the Travel Master case with his Virtual Boy and several games. I told him how rare of an item it is, and he thought it was pretty neat that he had a rare item all these years, but he has no desire to sell it. He also doesn’t have much desire in the Virtual Boy at all. I can’t get him to play it, but I’ve been thinking about ordering another FlashBoy and giving it to him as a gift. Then perhaps we can do some “bargaining,” since he wants me to play so many computer games that I could care less about and I want him to play Virtual Boy games which he could care less about. This way, if I give him a FlashBoy and all released ROMs, I can say, “I’ll play this computer game with you sometime if you can give me evidence that you’ve played this Virtual Boy game,” etc. I hope my plan works.
Holy moly. For starters, I’ve had “those” VB friends. I think no matter how much incentive we may offer, they will never catch the “VB Bug”. With the community at heart, it would be amazing if you can jog his memory as of where he got the case itself. KR155E and I have discussed this topic in deep detail, and yet have no deep knowledge in the Southern Case Co both marketing and production of the specific VB stuff. As buyers, we generally can’t act too eager and ask detailed questions since we don’t want to tee off that it is a special item and ruin the sale.
The Virtual Boy case is a poor mold remake of the TravelMaster, but official. You can find Sega Saturn and Atari Jaguar TravelMaster cases, but the upper foam is different from both them and the Blockbuster VB cases. Luckily no fakes have surfaced, and you can’t simply swap VB foam in a travelmaster case without these differences being apparent to those that care. As a matter of fact, travel master bottom foam even squishes the VB visor on the right side and is not identical to Blockbuster foam in dimensions. There are lots of small differences, mainly the travel master having a nicer looking case shell and the blockbuster having superior VB foam dimensions.
I’m currently cleaning up the original art at pixel level for the creases and cracks. In general I think the final label shouldn’t have details squished, cropped-down or blurred. If I worked at Nintendo in 95 I would keep the image intact in the upper right hand corner with the black VB stripe down the left and the title bar at the bottom. Maybe even use the same VUE code but replace GP (Galactic Pinball) with SP (Space Pinball). I take it a label size is 1x wide x 4/5 high? The image alone with title bar would not be suitable in original form to retain original aspect but would work beautifully with the launch JPN style. Since US art is some way over-customized logo crap, JP style is the only way to go if you want it to match other carts (and we have so little to work with in terms of art to begin with that US style would be a nightmare).
I’m taking it that the weird green border and basic font used for the words “space pinball” was not intentional for the game and was just for a title card at a show. With the art we have, I think that weird shape at the upper left is the bottom portion of a stylized “S” that would have read space pinball had the art not been cropped from the only art we have on hand. (KR155E must have had the same thought since he excluded the green border for the art image on this site)
Scored a second TravelMaster, obviously more than $150 of course but worth it. 
I’m pretty happy, as far as I know these are the only 2 cases with a concrete owner now that we know of. Anybody that knows me also knows that you have to live, sleep, eat, & cry VB before something shows up that I haven’t also seen within the past few hours on the net. I’m just saying if a 3rd ever does decide to show up, expect the news to be my posting a new acquisition. ;).
Benjamin Stevens wrote:
MineStorm wrote:
If TheForce81 is OK with me doing it, I’m willing to make it into a cart.Same deal as Bound High – 3 donors.
I can’t find a nice picture of the Space Pinball prototype cover art on this site or anywhere else online. Perhaps Virtual Jockey or someone else who has a nice picture of the cover art could put a high quality scan of it on this thread, for anyone to use who will be getting a reproduction cart from Richard.
This is the only original art that I know of. From my personal collection, and bought it from somebody that bought it from KR155E (or somebody that bought it from somebody that bought it from KR155E! ). It’s quite tattered and was a poor printing quality to begin with, but a simple & quick photoshop job to remove the wrinkles/creases and a slight rotation correction should make it look decent when shrunk down to VB Sticker size. The art in it’s original form is 4.8″ high X 4.5″ wide.
Here’s a 600dpi scan (20.08mb):
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=3F9REK6G
Very cool, DL’ed the new upload a few seconds ago! Gonna whip out a VB and play some Pinball tonight, Space style! 
These things are tough to value due to location and shipping costs.
At Face value I’d say $850 for a clean 100% functional mint unit with a local buyer. I’ve seen them go for as low as $300-$400 if not 100% functional.
For the Seller, it’s ideal to have a perfect unit and a local buyer. If you’re a seller and have no local buyers, expect around $399-$500 since the buyer will have to pay a few hundred in freight/shipping fees.
Rare VB stuff is in high demand, but big VB collectors are far and few between so shipping costs are relevant to those that may want to buy it.
The above unit is rusty and has a nasty visor. Don’t sell yourself short, but also don’t expect the world for it.
If you were local I may consider the $350-450 area for it MAX since the condition is less than ideal. The light is busted, and you say it is glitchy sometimes (Which happens to be a VB unit in dire need of repairs). Cool unit, but don’t financially expect the world for the sale of a project piece.
If you can dump it for less than $400 as-is, you’ll make a VB collector happy and get rid of a headache taking up space at the same time.