Hey guys, I recently got a Ultimate MK3 cart for free in a transaction because it had a damaged label. It actually barely had a label at all. So, I went here:
Downloaded a new label and printed a new one. The way I fixed it was opened it in Photoshop, ensured it was the proper dimensions, printed it, then used my wife's scrapbooking tools cut the label out and glue it to the cart. Once it was on the cart I used a piece of packaging tape to "laminate" it. I just laid the piece of tape on it then used an exacto knife to cut off the excess.
It's not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but it looks 100% better than before.
BTW, this is a cool page to visit for alternative labels if you have another cart with a damaged label or if you want to do custom carts. I saw a thread on Nintendo Age where the user took crappy carts like Madden and painted the cart black, slapped a custom Contra III label on it and put the CIII board in it. It was pretty sweet looking.
You know what's funny? Out of the 100+ SNES carts I own, UMK3 is one of just two that I needed a replacement label for.
Looks pretty good!
I'll just add some tips for any one interested in doing this:
Removing factory labels is a bitch. Carts that were made outside of Japan (like MIM SNES carts) seem to have labels that are a little easier to remove tho. I like to use a box cutter blade to remove the top clear portion of the label, then saturate what's left over with Goo Gone. Let it soak for a minute, then use the box cutter blade to remove the rest of the label. It usually comes off easily this way, but then you have to wash it pretty well to get the Goo Gone off (dish soap works well).
Replacement labels are getting easier to find these days, such as the link posted above, but if you ever can't find a label you need, making one yourself isn't too hard. You can always just get any label and use it as a template. Then go to The Cover Project for the box art, or where ever else you can find it. Then it's just a cut-and-paste job in Photoshop.
The "tape trick" is a pretty standard method for replacement labels. I would recommend getting some Avery adhesive labels, such as name badges (whatever has dimensions that'll work), that way it has an adhesive back and you don't have to worry about gluing it on. I have also used adhesive backed glossy photo paper and no tape, which has its pros and its cons. Using Avery labels plus clear packing tape is probably the best route.
For any one that's interested, I was actually planning on making a guide about this sort of thing. It was gonna include a little more though. It's gonna be a general how to get your beat up carts looking nice again guide. o.pwuaioc was nice enough to donate two beat up N64 carts. They have damaged labels, "property of" stickers, magic marker, one of them has a cracked shell, and one actually has "property of Hollywood Video" melted into the plastic. This is a guide I really wanna make, but I just checked my messages with o.pwuaioc and he sent me those carts back in June, and I still haven't gotten around to it! One day...
I think that would be a great guide. I follow a user on YouTube named NESComplex that did a really good video on how to remove all kinds of funk that can be found on both the cart and the board itself.
Frag Mortuus wrote:I think that would be a great guide. I follow a user on YouTube named NESComplex that did a really good video on how to remove all kinds of funk that can be found on both the cart and the board itself.
Here is the video:
Pretty good video, but I wouldn't use WD 40 on the contacts without completely cleaning after. Just wiping it with a cotton swab after will leave a thin film on there. Contact cleaner get the crap off and not leave anything behind, especially in conjunction with the plastic eraser..
