Ghosts n Goblins w/ Rare Mega Man Sticker
Recently, I bought this very late print copy of Ghosts ‘n Goblins. Some thoughts and questions:
It stuck out to me for a number of reasons, first, the mismatched Seals of Quality. I have noticed some post-‘89 reprinted black box games with mismatches seals (namely, some games like Mario Bros., Popeye, Wild Gunman, etc. with Rev-A Circle seal boxes and Oval seal cartridges), but had yet to see any third party releases to have the bizarre mismatches seals. I don’t believe these were two separate game/box incorrectly paired, since while one can easily find oval seal GnG cartridges, I have not seen any photos of an oval seal GnG box. Logic therefore indicates that this seal mismatching did happen with this title.
The other, much more surprising thing about this copy was its inclusion of the rare 2”x3” Mega Man Sticker and other promotional flyers/inserts. While the 2”x3” Mega Man Sticker is advertised as being included with some games (such as Little Nemo, Street Fighter 2010), it is also widely held that the sticker was included with other Capcom games printed in the 89-92 timeframe which did not explicitly advertise the sticker on the front of the box. It also seems to be widely accepted that Mega Man 2 always (or almost always) came packaged with one of these rare stickers, and that other games of the era either did or did not seemingly at random. I was shocked to find the Mega Man sticker with this post-‘89 copy of GnG, since never before have I seen any evidence to suggest that the Mega Man sticker was included with any other reprints of Capcom games featuring the early-style “laser grid” box art. Notably, I have never seen any evidence suggesting that reprints of Mega Man (1) (of which it is worth noting that oval seal boxes are commonly found) ever contained the rare Mega Man sticker. Any information that more seasoned experts possess regarding this matter would be greatly appreciated!
The other inserts lend credibility to the fact that this is a truly complete copy of an 89-92 timeframe Capcom game. More specifically, the registration card and $10 rebate offer are appropriate for a Capcom game of this later timeframe, despite rarely being found packaged with copies of GnG. Then again, it is clear that this is a very late reprint of a successful 1986 title. I am therefore nearly convinced that this is a truly complete copy, from which no inserts have been taken and no inserts have been added. Then again, anything is possible. If it is a stitched together copy from some later collector who had a spare MM sticker, Reg Card, and $10 offer, then why would they match it with a game like GnG over Mega Man 2, which is known to have included all three?
I’m very pleased to have this game in my collection, and I would be very interested to hear any thoughts or further commentary on this somewhat bizarre and intriguing example of a favorite game! I’m happy to provide more photos if necessary.