Nintendo NES games from US brands and US-based sellers

What to look for in a good nintendo NES game

• Label printing. Original labels have sharp, saturated text with a slight gloss, while reproduction labels often look flat, blurry, or slightly off in color from scanning and reprinting.
• Screws and shell. Factory carts use small security screws with an odd notch pattern, so a shell held together with regular Phillips screws has been opened and possibly gutted or swapped.
• Pin and connector wear. Check listing photos for corrosion or scrape marks on the gold pins, since heavy cleaning or corrosion is a sign of a cart that spent years in a damp basement or an arcade cabinet.
• Save battery status. For games that save progress, a dead internal battery means the cart plays but forgets everything on power off, which is why working, tested copies sit at the higher end of that $19 to $286 range instead of the bottom.