I have a strange Earthworm Jim cart

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ninjainspandex
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I have a strange Earthworm Jim cart

Post by ninjainspandex »

Perhaps someone can shed some light on this Earthworm Jim cart I have. I bought it years ago at a Garage sale for like $2, but today I noticed something strange about it, it seems to be in an Acclaim cart shell, but the logo is buffed off the back. But in the right light you can still faintly see the logo. I doubt it to be a bootleg because the label is very high quality and it is a cheap game to begin with. Perhaps it is a late Majesco release and they bought a ton of leftover Acclaim shells? Well that is just my theory, anyone else have a cart like this?

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Thierry Henry
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Re: I have a strange Earthworm Jim cart

Post by Thierry Henry »

How do you mean the logo is "buffed off"
There's clearly a black sticker there, no? :)
ninjainspandex wrote:I doubt it to be a bootleg because the label is very high quality and it is a cheap game to begin with.
Speaking of cheapish games with high quality looking labels,
I have a few of those myself.

At face value they sure do look "legit", but aren't.


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Ziggy
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Re: I have a strange Earthworm Jim cart

Post by Ziggy »

ninjainspandex wrote:Perhaps it is a late Majesco release and they bought a ton of leftover Acclaim shells?
No, I don't think so. I don't own a Majesco Genesis cart, but I'm pretty sure "Majesco" would be some where in the text on the front label.
ninjainspandex wrote:I doubt it to be a bootleg because the label is very high quality and it is a cheap game to begin with.
That doesn't mean that it is NOT a bootleg. But hey, even if it is a bootleg, if the game works perfectly then it doesn't matter. Anyway, why not open it up and see?
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Thierry Henry
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Re: I have a strange Earthworm Jim cart

Post by Thierry Henry »

Ziggy587 wrote:
ninjainspandex wrote:I doubt it to be a bootleg because the label is very high quality and it is a cheap game to begin with.
That doesn't mean that it is NOT a bootleg. But hey, even if it is a bootleg, if the game works perfectly then it doesn't matter. Anyway, why not open it up and see?
His cart is legit. His is from the cardboard box version of that game.
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Gunstar Green
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Re: I have a strange Earthworm Jim cart

Post by Gunstar Green »

Ziggy587 wrote:
ninjainspandex wrote:Perhaps it is a late Majesco release and they bought a ton of leftover Acclaim shells?
No, I don't think so. I don't own a Majesco Genesis cart, but I'm pretty sure "Majesco" would be some where in the text on the front label.
You'd think so, but that's not the case. Majesco's business model at the time was making cheap reprints. They used the same labels when they could get away with it, though a notable exception would be for Electronic Arts games which had larger labels that had to be redesigned.

They bought up unused shells from Sega and even third parties like Acclaim. For the Sega carts they were able to keep the logo on the back because they were under license from Sega and they put an "Assembled in Mexico" sticker over the "Assembled in U.S.A." For third party shells like this one they just covered up the whole logo.

If you squint at the sticker, you can just barely see the Acclaim logo underneath.

So yeah, it's a legitimate re-release cartridge. There's no need to open it up. It also doesn't use the usual type of screw because Majesco didn't use the standard ones.
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Ziggy
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Re: I have a strange Earthworm Jim cart

Post by Ziggy »

Ah, that's interesting. All of the SNES Majesco carts I've ever seen have "Majesco" printed in the fine text on the label. They're all easy to spot because they used piss poor labels, and they've all faded by now.

I've seen that type of security screw on non-Majesco Genesis carts before.
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Re: I have a strange Earthworm Jim cart

Post by CRTGAMER »

ninjainspandex wrote:I noticed something strange about it, it seems to be in an Acclaim cart shell, but the logo is buffed off the back. But in the right light you can still faintly see the logo. I doubt it to be a bootleg because the label is very high quality and it is a cheap game to begin with. Perhaps it is a late Majesco release and they bought a ton of leftover Acclaim shells?
Perhaps the back shell accidentally swapped from the previous owner cleaning the contacts on a stack of game carts?
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Re: I have a strange Earthworm Jim cart

Post by Gunstar Green »

CRTGAMER wrote:Perhaps the back shell accidentally swapped from the previous owner cleaning the contacts on a stack of game carts?
It's not. Majesco literally used surplus Acclaim shells and covered the logo.
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Re: I have a strange Earthworm Jim cart

Post by BananaXX »

I purchased a copy off eBay long ago that has the same sticker with the Acclaim logo 'visible' underneath and thought it was some cheap bootleg as well, glad I'm not alone in thinking so!
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