Retro Gaming Goodness - Double wide DVD boxes make perfect reproduction boxes

TheSonicRetard

My latest little project I've been undertaking is finally getting the 90+ games I have that are unboxed into reproduction boxes. I know a few years back, Slash showed off his UGC (universal game case) collection and it stuck with me. Unfortunately, UGCs have been out of production for over a year and a half now, with a new production supposedly coming "next month" every month for the past 6 months. In fact, the next batch of UGCs just got pushed back from November to December. Long story short, waiting for more UGCs at this point seems like holding your breath.

Thus, someone over at CoverProject came up with a great solution - Double-wide DVD boxes (the variety which hold 8-dvds, 27mm big to be exact) are almost the exact same size as a UGC, with the added benefit of them being black with clear (read: non frosted) plastic front to keep the label from getting smudged.

I took the plunge a few weeks ago and ordered myself 100 blank double-wide DVD cases and they arrived today. I printed myself out a Castlevania Bloodlines label on my office's Super B 13x19 printer as a quick test, and sure enough, after trimming the label down to the correct size, it fits like a dream.





This was a quick print on regular paper, I'm going to a professional print shop tonight to get 100 labels printed out on high quality glossy paper with a laser printer. When I do that, I'll throw some comparison pics up.

I figured I'd post this as general information for anyone interested in boxing up their retro collection. UGC case labels on coverproject need to be slightly resized to fit a double wide box - the measurement I'm using is 28.8 x 18.6 cm (or 3402 x 2197 px at 300 dpi). At this size, the labels are a perfect fit for the case. Note that this is actually a bit longer than a normal sheet of paper - if you get this printed at a print shop, make sure to ask them to either print on a 13x19 Super-B sheet, or a tabloid cut if they have that.

There is still the problem of carts rattling around in a DVD case, but luckily someone has come up with a solution for that. A bit of foam rubber padding cut to size and placed inside the box can hold the cart in place. I'm gonna concentrate on printing the labels for my boxes for now, but should I pad the boxes I'll throw up some tips on how to do that as well.

Madpanda

This is really interesting, will need to see if I can pick some up locally to try it out.

I have 100 ugc's with covers printed, half of them cut for nes carts, which don't fit into stock ugc's. I have another 100 on order, which as you mentioned have been delayed a few times.

The frosted covers did kind of irk me.

I print everything on matte paper, can't see the diff with glossy besides the price.

Let me know what scaling you used to fit it if its a static %. If i can somehow make this work with 8.5x14 paper I would be set as I can just print it at home.

TheSonicRetard

Madpanda wrote:

This is really interesting, will need to see if I can pick some up locally to try it out.

I have 100 ugc's with covers printed, half of them cut for nes carts, which don't fit into stock ugc's. I have another 100 on order, which as you mentioned have been delayed a few times.

The frosted covers did kind of irk me.

I print everything on matte paper, can't see the diff with glossy besides the price.

Let me know what scaling you used to fit it if its a static %. If i can somehow make this work with 8.5x14 paper I would be set as I can just print it at home.

I looked at a local fry's and microcenter when I bought these - fry's didn't have them, but microcenter had them in packs of 10 and 20 at pretty high prices. I don't remember the exact price but it worked out to something like $1.70 a box. I wound up buying them in bulk off of ebay of all places, for something like $0.95 a box. Of course, since I bought 100, that came out to a high price, but it's still cheaper than I saw in store.

I'm not using a fixed percentage, because these boxes are a tiny bit wider than UGCs, and a good half inch taller, meaning you need to stretch the image more tall than wide. A fixed percentage scale wouldn't do that; just use the dimensions I posted above and you should be good.

Any specific kind of matte paper you used? My main problem with normal paper is the quality of white - normal papers have a very cloudy looking white, while gloss paper has a white that looks like something out of professional packing material. I'm mainly looking for that good white color, but if you have a type of matte paper which achieves a higher quality white, I'm all ears.

From what I've heard, these fit everything including NES games. My real litmus test is going to be seeing if I can fit a Sega ST-V cart in it, which is sort of a cross between an SNES and NES cartridge. Obviously, like the UGCs, there will be some modding involved (creating a foam cushion for the cart, in this case, instead of breaking off plastic tabs) but that's the cost of having a nice, boxed collection. I'll let you know how it goes.

NibCrom

What do the carts look like inside of the cases?

slash000

Thanks for posting this thread, TSR. I hadn't realized that mediashelving has basically run out of cases and they are on indefinite backorder. That's a shame since they fit so many cart types so handily.

I was about to order some too. I only need a few so I might check out the DVD sets they have at microcenter. Not sure where to get foam for making a cart slot though..


Some people like using matte paper as it makes the colors, both light and dark, really pop. Don't get heavyweight paper though as that can be troublesome to fold around the corners of the cases' spines.

Madpanda

I use epson presentation matte paper, the 8.5x11 stuff I use is ~50lb. Works fine for normal dvd's/ds covers etc. Depending on the source cover its really hard to see the difference. Some of the DS ones actually look better than the official retail cover.

For UGC's i use the same brand, legal size which is a bit lighter, ~30lb but it works well enough. I got some stuff from redriverpaper which was nice, but really expensive, ~$30 shipped for 50 sheets, vs ~$20 shipped for 100 sheets of the epson stuff.

I haven't found a heavier weight legal size paper that is what I consider affordable. I check every office supply store I go near.

The only issue I have had getting inserts to fit, usually was solved by getting out a ruler and cutting a tiny slice off either side. After doing ~200 of these prints I can usually get most inserts to fit first try.

I tried white color copy paper at first which some people on coverproject recommended, hammermill if i recall right. It looked like shit. I get a very similar effect when I print on the wrong side of the paper. All colors are off.

TheSonicRetard

NibCrom wrote:

What do the carts look like inside of the cases?

These are the pictures posted by the guy who got the idea to use foam padding:



A tad ugly, but that's sort of unavoidable. As for where you can get foam padding, you can try walmart's cloth department, they should have that sort of material. Failing that, you could possibly try home depot? IDK, asking around on coverproject would probably be the best source.

NibCrom

That doesn't look too bad actually. I guess it could look better if you had one larger piece and centered the game in the foam. Although that is probably more difficult and costly.

TheSonicRetard

NibCrom wrote:

That doesn't look too bad actually. I guess it could look better if you had one larger piece and centered the game in the foam. Although that is probably more difficult and costly.

It would probably look heaps better if you laid a thin layer of padding down on the bottom first to cover up the sight of the DVD holder entirely. Like I said in an earlier post, I'm concentrating on getting all this printed out first, but I plan on experimenting when I eventually lay the foam down in each box.

NibCrom

Yeah, that's a really cool project. Thanks for sharing.

TheSonicRetard

NibCrom wrote:

Yeah, that's a really cool project. Thanks for sharing.

I guess I should point out this site while I'm at it: http://www.thecoverproject.net/

it's what makes something like this even doable. A great site dedicated entirely to this single project, and their list of covers available is exhaustive, covering a huge range of systems. Even more impressive is that what you see on the main site is only the pre-approved covers. A visit to the forum yields thousands of more, some custom, some retail box adaptations. It's a great site.

SirUltimos

I've heard that HP Brochure paper is the perfect paper for printing covers and is near identical to the paper used for game/DVD covers. Might be worth looking into getting them printed on that.

slash000

Madpanda wrote:

The only issue I have had getting inserts to fit, usually was solved by getting out a ruler and cutting a tiny slice off either side. After doing ~200 of these prints I can usually get most inserts to fit first try.

I was just going to say, using "heavy" matte paper makes inserting the covers a pain, but if you're willing and skilled enough to cut a tiny slice on the edges so that they flex more easily, then it will be fine.

TheSonicRetard wrote:

NibCrom wrote:

Yeah, that's a really cool project. Thanks for sharing.

I guess I should point out this site while I'm at it: http://www.thecoverproject.net/

it's what makes something like this even doable. A great site dedicated entirely to this single project, and their list of covers available is exhaustive, covering a huge range of systems. Even more impressive is that what you see on the main site is only the pre-approved covers. A visit to the forum yields thousands of more, some custom, some retail box adaptations. It's a great site.

Such an awesome project. I'm glad it expanded into a comprehensive game collection site the way it has. Some consoles/systems I believe they have a good quality cover for every game available for the system (like GBA, which started this whole project. Last I checked they were nearing completion of the N64 library.)

TheSonicRetard

I just got 81 covers printed from a professional print shop. I used 11x17 20-wide paper to give it a more professional look. I used 11x17 paper because an 8.5x11 won't reach all the way around the case - it's just a tad short width wise.

I'm cutting them now and when I get home, I'll slip them on my cases and take a picture.

Xenogears of Bore

Surprised they actually printed them out for you with the state of Copyright Laws and all.

TheSonicRetard

Xenogears of Bore wrote:

Surprised they actually printed them out for you with the state of Copyright Laws and all.

Actually, they did ask if this was legal. And I simply said "yes." and didn't expand and they printed them no problem, haha.

TheSonicRetard

Some pics of the covers just printed. Overall, since I bought pretty much everything in bulk and used a small, personal print shop, the cost of each case was probably around $1.50 each. I bought my DVD cases off of ebay in packs of 40, for $39 per pack, and each print cost me $0.49 for a color print on an 11x17. So give or take a few cents, each box will wind up costing $1.50 each. Considering how much improved my collection will look, I'd say that is an excellent pay off.

Aoi

TheSonicRetard wrote:

NibCrom wrote:

Yeah, that's a really cool project. Thanks for sharing.

I guess I should point out this site while I'm at it: http://www.thecoverproject.net/

it's what makes something like this even doable. A great site dedicated entirely to this single project, and their list of covers available is exhaustive, covering a huge range of systems. Even more impressive is that what you see on the main site is only the pre-approved covers. A visit to the forum yields thousands of more, some custom, some retail box adaptations. It's a great site.

Ahh Cover Project. They've actually been bumming me out a bit lately. I've been heavily into TG-16/PC-Engine collecting for a bit now, and everything they have is dvd case sized. Since a good majority of the games I have for the system are complete in cd cases, I kinda want to be consistent with my covers. It's a royal bitch finding good replacement art for that system's games though.

slash000

Your prints look great. Be sure to post some photos of your collection once you have them all cased and covered.

TheSonicRetard

Aoi wrote:

TheSonicRetard wrote:

NibCrom wrote:

Yeah, that's a really cool project. Thanks for sharing.

I guess I should point out this site while I'm at it: http://www.thecoverproject.net/

it's what makes something like this even doable. A great site dedicated entirely to this single project, and their list of covers available is exhaustive, covering a huge range of systems. Even more impressive is that what you see on the main site is only the pre-approved covers. A visit to the forum yields thousands of more, some custom, some retail box adaptations. It's a great site.

Ahh Cover Project. They've actually been bumming me out a bit lately. I've been heavily into TG-16/PC-Engine collecting for a bit now, and everything they have is dvd case sized. Since a good majority of the games I have for the system are complete in cd cases, I kinda want to be consistent with my covers. It's a royal bitch finding good replacement art for that system's games though.

Funny you should mention this, because I'm in the same boat. I've been taking the covers from cover project and turning them into standard cd-cases. i could share what I've done with you if you're interested.

Aoi

TheSonicRetard wrote:

Aoi wrote:

TheSonicRetard wrote:

NibCrom wrote:

Yeah, that's a really cool project. Thanks for sharing.

I guess I should point out this site while I'm at it: http://www.thecoverproject.net/

it's what makes something like this even doable. A great site dedicated entirely to this single project, and their list of covers available is exhaustive, covering a huge range of systems. Even more impressive is that what you see on the main site is only the pre-approved covers. A visit to the forum yields thousands of more, some custom, some retail box adaptations. It's a great site.

Ahh Cover Project. They've actually been bumming me out a bit lately. I've been heavily into TG-16/PC-Engine collecting for a bit now, and everything they have is dvd case sized. Since a good majority of the games I have for the system are complete in cd cases, I kinda want to be consistent with my covers. It's a royal bitch finding good replacement art for that system's games though.

Funny you should mention this, because I'm in the same boat. I've been taking the covers from cover project and turning them into standard cd-cases. i could share what I've done with you if you're interested.

Quite interested actually

Actually I just took a look at some of the covers and now I'm curious. It's not going to help with the backs, but are the cover graphics sitting on the middle of the dvd label around original cd case sized?

Also, I have a pretty good scanner, if there's anything you're looking for, on the off chance I have it, I'll definitely contribute some scans.

slash000

Are you looking to print covers for regular CD jewel cases? Those are the type where you have a "back" cover that wraps around the spines on the left and right and provides back of the case artwork, and then you have another insert that slips under the inside of the front for the front cover art right?

If you want me to convert any CoverProject covers to that format, or provide scans to make into that format, I can do so.

TheSonicRetard

What I did was take a psx game as a template and then I've been building tg16 cases by hand. The spine on a dvd case is actually a bit too big. Most tg16 games had no back art, they simply have a black back cover, but I've included art from the back of the big boxes.

TheSonicRetard

Also I have about 150 pc engine/turbo duo games, so this is a long term project for me.

slash000

Hmm I see. Well if you or Aoi want me to help, I'm pretty good at these things.

I've created a template and I can tweak existing Cover Project covers into jewel case format pretty easily:

sample:

CD case front insert

Back insert

Front insert is 1425x1420 at 300 dpi
Entire back is 1762x1387 at 300 dpi (including two spines at 75x1387 at 300 dpi)




Personally I like having artwork on the spine too where possible rather than plain text.

Aoi

I rather like that too. Wow, those look really damned good.

TheSonicRetard

I'm conflicted, myself. On the one hand, that does look loads better than the official blazing lazers box. On the other hand, I've been wringing my hands trying to decide if I want to go for accuracy, or aesthetics. I've actually considered going back to the all-black back a few times because that's what the real cases had.

Actually, and I know this sounds crazy, but I found out I can fit a full CD case inside of one of those double-wide DVD boxes, and I've considered accurately recreating the CD case (i.e. black back) AND recreating the cardboard big box TG-16 games used to come in via the double-wide DVD case. It seems like such a waste, but it's about as close as you can get to real TG-16 packaging without resorting to printing on cardboard and stickers.

slash000

TheSonicRetard wrote:

I'm conflicted, myself. On the one hand, that does look loads better than the official blazing lazers box. On the other hand, I've been wringing my hands trying to decide if I want to go for accuracy, or aesthetics. I've actually considered going back to the all-black back a few times because that's what the real cases had.

Actually, and I know this sounds crazy, but I found out I can fit a full CD case inside of one of those double-wide DVD boxes, and I've considered accurately recreating the CD case (i.e. black back) AND recreating the cardboard big box TG-16 games used to come in via the double-wide DVD case. It seems like such a waste, but it's about as close as you can get to real TG-16 packaging without resorting to printing on cardboard and stickers.

I actually don't think that sounds crazy at all. There's definitely something to be said about having the original look of the cases.

TheSonicRetard

I boxed up about 100 today, and it looks so much better. I'm gonna wait a while before boxing up the next big batch, but in the mean time, some pictures:


Since UGCs are impossible to find lately, I bought myself double-wide DVD cases, which are just about the same size (and in black). This is all my boxes before boxing them up.


A shelf full of a games. I didn't take into consideration how boxing my games would make my collection expand, so these shelves are completely filled up to the brim - two rows of games on each shelf, with a big box of games in my closet as well. I need to buy another shelf to make it look nice.


shot of the games


more games


What the boxes themselves look like

Bluefist

Very nice.

TeeMan

Exceptional work, looks great!

TheSonicRetard

Just a heads up, for the first time in almost 2 years, UGCs are back in stock at Mediashelving. I just ordered 500, because you never know if there will be another batch.

slash000

Wha? Holy crap I gotta order these before they sell out again. Thanks for the heads-up TSR.

Aoi

TheSonicRetard wrote:

Just a heads up, for the first time in almost 2 years, UGCs are back in stock at Mediashelving. I just ordered 500, because you never know if there will be another batch.

How secure can you get NES carts in those things anyway? It's always been kind of a bummer to me that the universal cases don't fit the game type I have the most of :P

slash000

Hah. Lovely.

So I order a box of these UGCs. They don't provide a tracking number or anything.. oh well.

Turns out that Fedex says it was delivered -- but I never received them.


So now, having paid Mediashelving for the cases a month ago, I have to sit and wait for Fedex to figure out what happened... and now Mediashelving is out of stock again!


Looks like I'm not going to get the cases I ordered, and I'll probably have to wait until March before I get another order sent!





Mediashelving's advice via email? "Have you tried looking into gamer communities. There's this one called the Cover Project. They might have some spare cases.."

I have never heard of such a place, this magical Cover Project! .. I was only the person who found mediashelving and developed the case cover specs so that The Cover Project could use the UGCs in the first place....

Argle bargle ughggg

Madpanda

I've moved all my stuff to the double wide dvd cases after the last UGC shortage. They look much better and you only need to do some slight scaling to get ugc covers to fit.


edit:
If you still need ugcs slash I have about 100 i've been trying to sell. Half of them are modded, and not very cleanly, for nes carts. Haven't had any luck selling them on nintendo age even in smaller lots. Just figured I would throw it out there. They will probably be sitting in my closet for a while until I break down and start selling them in small lots, which will be a pain to ship.

slash000

Good news - the woman who lives a block away came by this morning, of all times, to give me a big ass box that she said was sent to her at the wrong address. It was my order of universal cases!

Not sure why she waited 2 or 3 weeks to do something about a box that was misdelivered to her house, maybe Fedex talked to her I dunno, but I FINALLY have these things.


Thanks Madpanda for the offer though, I was this close to taking you up on it as I was losing hope that I'd get the carton that I ordered.



Anyway, onto custom covers!

NibCrom

I really like the way those SNES cases came out. They almost look like the original boxes.

BonzaiBill

Thank you so much for this post!

I have been pulling my hair out for a while now trying to get a hold of some universal game cases, considering the postage to Australia is either impossible or $150 for 24 cases. This is such a brilliant idea and is going to save me a fortune.

Thanks!

PennywiseFan81

This is a great idea but I could really use a tip, does it matter if the cases are 5, 6 or 8 count DVD cases??

Also is there any modifying to the cases themselves??

And if anybody could suggest the best place to get the right case, I would be very appreciative, the cheapest is best, also I wouldn't mind having the clips to hold the manuals, if possible...thanks!!!