Game Boy Carry All by Nexoft / Asciiware
The Nexoft Gameboy Carry All was something I was seriously wanting to add to the portable storage article I wrote a while back, but I couldn’t manage to win one off ebay until recently. Although I’ve never seen one out in the wild I wouldn’t consider these storage cases to be rare, but they seem to be fairly hard to find! Always with an OCD for storing my video games and portable systems I had to own one, and here it is.
Mine says Nexoft, but I’ve seen them by Asciiware as well. From what I’ve seen online they are the exact same thing, just different company names. I’m assuming they were produced in the same factory and the names were printed on in different locations of that factory.
This case holds a Gameboy, up to 8 games, the Gameboy link cable, a pair of small earphones and possibly spare batteries, all within this compact unit. My only real annoyance comes not from the case itself but from Gameboy game cases. If you use game cases this will only hold a maximum of 4 games, but without cases you can store up to 8. Its not the carry all’s fault, but why would you only want to carry around (or store) 4 games?
4 games without cases or 2 with, why would you need cases within a case?
A very useful feature is the way it holds the Gameboy inside with a stationary bit in one corner and a quick release tab at the top. This keeps the Gameboy nice and snug within its own side, so you don’t have to worry about loose cartridges falling out when you close the unit up, just close it with the game part down.
I’m not sure whether this is common or maybe this particular one wasn’t used very often, but it doesn’t close well at all. I really have to give it a fair bit of pressure to get it to close. Being as old as it is I’m slightly worried about the plastic being too brittle. But once it all aligns the unit is held closed with a very sturdy clip, which holds it closed tight and secure.
As I only use it for storage the Nexoft/ASCIIWare Carry All serves its purpose of storing and protecting my Gameboy and a handful of games and accessories. Its small, light and compact with a carry strap, which I’ll never use but I’ll leave on anyway. But as I stated before with the plastic being this old it seems slightly brittle, so I couldn’t use this as a travel carrying case.
Video Game Storage 4: Portable Organizers
I thought I was done with Video Game Storage Part 3, but I was wrong. Only recently did it occur to me that I completely overlooked one of my absolute favorite organizing sets: Portable! When I check a thrift store I often check the backpacks and purses or handbags, as the thrift store employees aren’t always too bright, to see if they’ve slipped in a small video game storage bag.
Even though I have no immediate use for them I still love to pick them up. I find it hard to pass up a good deal on one, even if I already have 10 of them. A while back I even did an article with some tips on how to clean them, which doesn’t always work, but usually makes them look a lot better than they did in the thrift store.
Sega Game Gear Carrying Case
This is one of my favorite carrying cases, this case holds the Sega Game Gear, rechargeable battery pack, the DC power adapter, the official screen magnifier and up to 12 games, and whatever else you can toss into the cracks. On the front and the back there are pockets to store paper work or whatever cables or doodads you want to toss in there. My main complaint with this bag is finding one with the insert still intact; I personally own 3 of these bags and only 1 had an insert that I could keep and use. You may remember that I did an article where I repurposed one of these bags to hold my Sega Saturn and its component parts. A very useful bag, just have a little imagination if the insert is trashed.
Nintendo Game Boy Shaped Carry Case
I found this sitting in a flea market for $1, and later that day two very generous guys let me take the matching Game Boy Color they had found while shopping at the outlet store. I’ve always wanted to collect the large, Game Boy shaped, hard plastic cases, but these are becoming harder and harder to find, in any condition! The layout inside this one is a removeable tray with room for some Game Boy/GBC games in two slots at the top, misc. room for batteries, cables or a few additional games in the middle and the Game Boy Color fits snuggly within a cradle above that. I wish I could find more of these, just to have them for each color Game Boy Color I own.
Nylon Game Boy Carry Bags with Plastic Insert
I find these almost everywhere I go and they come in 2 outward variations, although I can’t find the insert variation no matter how hard I try. One states that it is for the Nintendo Game Boy and uses the older logo, while the other says Game Boy Color, which makes it unmistakably for the Game Boy Color. The problem being that no matter what I can’t find one that fits the original DMG, even though I’ve seen a few (literally 2 or 3) online that prove they were manufactured. The inside of these are the exact same tray as the Game Boy shaped cases above, but these are simply black to match the padded nylon bag. The back of the bag has a zip up pocket for manuals or whatever else you want to slide in there, but the strap sewn to either side really gets on my nerves, as I don’t find it useful nor can it be removed. A couple of the ones I’ve found have chipped or cracked inserts, but they still remain sturdy, coupled with the excellently padded bag these are my favorite carry cases for the Game Boy Color.
Personally Modified Version of Above
As I mentioned in the last sentence above some of the inserts were chipped or cracked, so I took one of the worst off and modified it for my own needs. I originally attempted to make it fit a DMG Game Boy, which doesn’t fit well enough for me to feel comfortable zipping it shut. I later discovered that my Game Genie for Game Boy fits almost perfectly, or at least well enough to take up residence within. So now this case will hold my Game Boy Game Genie, the games and cables.
Padded Nylon Carry Bags
Made of the same material as the carrying cases above, these bags are padded nylon that come in a few variations as well. There is the Game Boy Color logo, old Game Boy logo and I have a yellow and purple Pikachu version, but there are many other versions as well. This time there is no hard plastic insert to dictate what goes inside, simply a pocket on the side that will allow for the DMG, Game Boy Pocket/Light or the Game Boy Color, making these bags much more versatile. There is another pocket at the top that will allow for a few game cartridges (4 in hard cases, maybe 6 loose), with another pocket on the back for manuals, cables, extra batteries, etc. I find these quite often, all but the Pokemon themed ones, and I find them very useful, although they don’t hold enough games.
Non-padded Nylon Carry Bags
These are bags that I own but I do not use, as they’re not padded. I know, I know! The Game Boy is rugged and can take a few falls, trust me I tested its tolerance many times when I was younger. The material these bags are made of is a little softer than that of the padded bags, without any padding. Maybe these are canvas (?), I’m not a fabric/material guy so I couldn’t tell you what this material is, honestly. I do know that I wanted to add them to my collection even if I don’t use them. They’re constructed the exact same as the padded nylon bags, but again these don’t have any padding in them.
Miscellaneous Nylon Carry Bags
The one on the left doesn’t really seem to offer much space for anything other than 6 or so Game Boy cartridges, but it may hold a Game Boy Color system, I haven’t checked. The one on the right does hold a Game Boy Color system and was something that I had seen online and wanted pretty badly, until I got my hands on one. The idea is to protect the GBC and allow the user to play it while it remains in the protective storage, this isn’t exactly ideal and quickly become apparent that its much easier to take the thing out of the case and just use the case for storage.
Game System Padded Carry Case
This is a generic case that is much like the nylon padded carry cases, except this one fits the original Game Boy and quite a few other accessories. While running mine through the washer the torque twisted the foam on the top, leaving it in a huge wet mass. As it dried I could somewhat get it back into place, but it will never be the exact same again. Regardless the hard plastic seems a little more brittle than the official nylon carry cases and the material and padding are substantially thinner as well. Admittedly I staged the open image below to show how things would fit in, if I weren’t using it to store my misfit Game Boy Advance accessories.
Game Boy Carry Case
I believe these to be the officially licensed versions of the above, albeit much worse. I picked up a pair of these throughout my hunting and used to store my Game Boy inside one, with a handful of batteries, games and some manuals. I started to notice that when I would pull it back out everything inside was covered in a black dust, even if the top was zipped shut. The inside liner was covered in a black fur that seemed to be coming loose and the other didn’t have the fur, so I switched everything over to that one, when I kept noticing the same problem! It didn’t take long to realize the foam from the top was pouring down onto the contents within (see last pic below). Needless to say I can’t use them, but they are Game Boy storage, so I guess I should at least give them an honorable mention.
Game Boy Fanny Pack (Bum bag to our friends across the pond)
One of my very first storage solutions was the black and neon pink fanny pack my mom bought me with my original Game Boy, all those years ago. I believe I also had it up until I sold the whole lot of Game Boy stuff. Even though its fashionable side has long since been shot dead I really wish I still had my original or could find another in decent condition.
Play it Loud Packaging Case
Right up until I sold my black Play it Loud Game Boy, years ago, I remember keeping the clear plastic case that it came in right from the factory. I thought it was genius as it allowed for tons of extra batteries, plenty of cartridge and cable storage and the system was intended to fit in from the start! I wish I had kept that Game Boy, hell I even wish I could just find another one of those cases somewhere.
Video Game Storage Part 2
In part one I focused on larger plastic drawers to hold almost anything you’ll ever need, but today I’m going to focus on something geared a little more toward a single usage. That would be the copious amounts of plywood boxes with plastic pull out drawers! A lot of people love them, and when I can find them cheap enough I do too!
The first one I ever owned was found at a local Goodwill on half off day, with the name Nintendo sprawled right across the front I often wonder why it wasn’t gone before I even showed up that day. The unit is nothing more than a plywood box covered in a black plastic wood grained veneer, holding 2 plastic drawers. The top has enough room for the Zapper, 4 rectangle controllers (because they stack, unlike the dog bone) and possibly even an RF adapter/AV cables. The bottom drawer is slotted off to hold up to 28 NES games, although they don’t fit very well without a sleeve.
Although seemingly cheaply made (as you can see the corners are coming loose and the black plastic veneer between the drawers was never put on straight) the unit is holding together quite well and holds everything I ask it to, even holding my NES control deck on top. As you can see the wires tend to clutter up the top drawer, but I’ve managed to make things fit as I need them. If you look hard you can see there is another controller under the Famicom shaped turbo controller.
The next unit I happened to find for $1 at a local flea market, originally I passed this over but it sat in my mind for a whole day so I knew I had to go back and pick it up. The name on the outside was Video Matic, which made no sense to me, but when I pulled out the drawer I saw plenty of storage for CDs, which meant Playstation games would fit just as well. More recently I managed to pick up a second one identical to the first, but this one had a nice little surprise sitting on one side of the drawer, which I had never seen before.
The second one was found at another local Goodwill, sitting on a shelf next to a stack of SNES sports games, I assume which came from inside this! When I pulled out the drawer one side looked the same as my Video Matic, but the other side had an insert that held SNES and N64 games. Even if it was only one side I have plenty of Playstation games, so I would figure something out.
These units are pretty much the same as the others, plywood construction covered in a lightly textured black plastic veneer. My only issue with these are that sometimes I have trouble getting the games from the very back slots, so I’ve had to put the least desirable games in the back. A great feature for the CD storage side is that I can flip through the cases and when I remove one I know exactly where it needs to go when I’m done with it.
The next drawer I found at the outlet store, literally as I had track down the plywood box for it. This one is absolutely identical to the Video Matic units, but the front of this one says Game Stuff, which pretty much says all there needs to be said about what its for. Again this one holds a lot of Playstation cases, and if you organize it well you can even fit double case in there, but it doesn’t always close very well.
The very last one of my video game drawers is the all too famous Nintendo 64 unit, which is oddly shorter than all the others as I had just assumed they used the exact same plywood box for these as they did the Video Matic and Game Stuff. I found this one at the outlet store as well, again the drawer was ripped from the box and put in a completely different bin, for some stupid reason. Unsurprisingly the whole drawer is the exact same design as the insert I got with my second Video Matic, meaning this whole drawer is more versatile than it claims on the outside.
I learned from that small insert that not only does it fit SNES and N64 games, but it will loosely hold Genesis, Master System, Famicom and even Jaguar cartridges. They do make a Genesis and SNES drawer, neither of which I’ve managed to find but I assume the inside of them looks identical to the N64 and the Video Matic insert. My only real issue with the Nintendo 64 drawer is the N64 carts themselves, namely their lack of labels on the top, making it hard to figure out what game you’re grabbing.
With all the drawers I have I can chose from a lot of video games just by simply pulling out a drawer, which slide in and out without issue, no binding or creaking noises which I would have expected from plastic on wood. As you can see they’re versatile and there are many different kinds to choose from, some are hidden under cryptic names. But overall they do their job of keeping the video games organized and ready to be played when I want to play them.
In part 3 I will be discussing some less than elegant ways to store your video games, I’m sure many of you will be familiar with a few of these methods. Sometimes when you can’t find the right tools for the job, you make due with what is around, and video game organization is no exception! I will also be giving a tip that I found a while ago that may help you come up with some of your own video game storage methods.
Video Game Storage Part 1
Any video gaming enthusiast will know that once you start a collection you need somewhere to put it, and you better have somewhere that will expand with your collection. This is part 1 of my personal storage solutions where I will be discussing the pros and cons of those infamous plastic drawer sets that everyone was so crazy about a few years back, but now put them in their flea market booths for ungodly prices. I will be showing off both of my current storage drawers and how I store the contents inside, so lets get started!
The best part about these plastic storage units is the fact they can be expanded to your desires, as long as you can find a decent deal on another unit that fits. My smallest set is a mixture of blue and grey Iris TG-47 units; at only 31 inches tall it still holds quite a bit of stuff. The tallest has no brand markings at all, stands 64 inches tall and seems to be a very common set as I’ve found additional drawers and sections at the outlet store quite frequent.
When I first picked up the Iris TG-47 I did some research and found that it was made specifically for video game storage! The top is a flip lid with plenty of room to store a variety of different video game consoles, but since it only holds one I decided my Atari Jaguar needed it more than my other consoles. Below that is an open front sliding drawer that I use for boxed games, and finishing out the bottom are 3 drawers filled with miscellaneous boxed Genesis games, empty Genesis boxes and anything else that needed a home.
The second set was a flea market find, it was missing quite a few drawers and the top kept coming off, but it was marked so cheap that I decided to take a chance on it. The two top drawers are only 3″ deep and are used to store video game manuals or smaller handheld games, while the bottom drawers are 7″ deep and hold a whole slew of video game related items. I’ve filled this one with anything from PS games, to my plug n play collection, video game related toys and even two drawers dedicated to my Famiclone consoles.
The tallest unit is quite strong and rugged, but as you can see the Iris TG-47 has one section that was cracked when I picked it up from the outlet store. I would say the plastic used in the Iris has become more brittle over time, but this could be due to previous owner abuse. I enjoy the TG-47 a lot and decided to (poorly) glue the section back just to have it, as I rarely see sections for these come through.
If you happen to find a good deal on any plastic storage drawers I would say give it a try, but then again I have a slight OCD for organization! Make sure the unit you buy will be one that you can find more of, if you ever wanted to add additional sections, as well as making sure none of the drawers or supporting structure is damaged. Most importantly make sure the drawers are going to hold what you want to store, I used CD cases to measure the drawers to make sure they would hold what I wanted before I bought them.
Next time I will be taking a look at the officially licensed drawers that I showed in a Sam’s Scores a while back. Since then I’ve bought more so I’ll be sharing my thoughts on them as well as showing one set you may not have known would even be related, but it is!
Sam’s Scores VII
Today’s Sam’s Scores will be 4 old scores and a bonus at the end, enjoy!
4) – Sega Saturn controller
Although I don’t even own a Sega Saturn (yet), when I found a controller for the system I wanted it! It looked to be in good shape, all the buttons have a nice stiff response, so I assume everything works. Surely not something you see everyday at a thrift store, at least not for me.
3) – Quickshot NES Joystick
This may look like a repeat of a previous score, but there is a difference. This one is actually a Quickshot brand joystick and the other was Radio Shack’s Archer brand. They are nearly identical in every aspect, except for the brand markings. I will be going into a little bit more detail with the pair in a later article. But for now, lets show off that price!
2) – Quickshot Maverick 3
The Quickshot Maverick 3 was obviously modeled after the NES Advantage, which I happen to love. Naturally when I saw this I had to weigh the price vs unknown functionality in my head, but what I bought with it (see below) really helped push my choice over the edge. Luckily, everything works well with the exception of a weak turbo on/off switch.
1) – Sega Genesis 3
The Sega Genesis 3 was the smallest and last Genesis ever produced, and from what I understand it wasn’t even made by Sega! Sega gave Majesco the rights to make this little system and slap their name on it. The Genesis 3 has the bare essentials to play Genesis games, and I do mean bare! This system isn’t compatible with all Genesis games, nor any Sega CD or 32x attachments. Since I don’t own any of those attachments, the system works perfectly fine for me.
Sam’s Storage!
When your video game collection starts to grow, you need somewhere to store it all. I had been using cardboard boxes, but lately those have been spilling out onto anywhere my video games will go. While I was on the hunt for video games I came across 2 very useful ALS (a company well known for making storage drawers and carrying cases for the video game industry) storage systems.
The first of which is a Nintendo unit with 2 draws that holds the Zapper and 2 controllers at the top, while holding up to 28 NES games at the bottom. It will only hold loose cartridges in sleeves easily, but it may hold fewer boxed games, just not very well. The top has a special place for the cables for the controllers and zapper, but if you wrap them tightly enough, they will fit under the controller, giving you more room for other cables.
The second unit is based off their Sony Playstation drawer, only this one just says Video Matic on the front. It is a single drawer unit, meant to hold CD cases but I find that it holds a lot of other games just as well. There was a little organizer inside, but after a while it got in the way of other games so I took it out.
The outer box of these units is made of particleboard and a black vinyl is glued on top, while the drawers are made of pretty solid plastic. These units stack really well, saving me room, and have really been helpful in keeping my collection under control. I found the Nintendo one on a half price day at Goodwill. The Video Matic came from a flea market where I initially passed it up, until I did more research on what it was used for, but went back the next day to pick it up.
Video Matic: $1
NES sized Gameboy game cases?
In the years prior to my hardcore vintage collecting addiction, I paid most of my attention to my Xbox. Within the last year and a half I’ve bought quite a few games for the NES, and when the games started to pile up I went searching for cases to put them in. All my NES games prior to this were in their own cases, whether it be a clear case with a big red Nintendo logo or a yellow, pink, purple or blue case that said Gameboy on it.
Wait, did I just say NES games in a Gameboy case? Yes, yes I did! Somewhere among my childhood I had acquired four Gameboy cases that were the same size as the NES (clam shell) cases.
Size comparison
I forget exactly where I got them and with all the local NES games that were floating around back then I could have gotten them from anywhere, but the fact is that I still have them. It came to me one night that I had a collection of game manuals stashed away inside one of them, so I started ripping through boxes to find out where they were. After I found them a whole new level of amazement dawned on me, which for some reason never dawned on me before, that I had never seen these things before and haven’t seen any since.
What I find remarkable is that these things are the exact same size and color as their NES counterparts, but emblazoned on the front is a black Gameboy logo, instead of Nintendo. Inside the case were 4 tiny corners, clearly cut out to fit a Gameboy game cartridge. I’m going to make a bold assumption that these were produced to accommodate the Gameboy players who wanted to keep the manuals with their games, as the manuals fit better in these cases than they would the smaller ones, obviously!
Sadly NES games wouldn’t fit inside these cases without a little modification, which I eventually did. Looking back I wish I hadn’t, but I needed more NES cases because I had plenty of the tiny Gameboy clam shells. You can still see the remnants of the corners that held the Gameboy game, but NES games and their manuals fit perfectly, although they do slide around a bit (sans the protection the Nintendo version afforded).
Remnants of the four corners that held the Gameboy games.
I can’t find information on these cases anywhere, so I have no clue how many were made and how many different colors were available. To my knowledge there may only be 4 different colors because I have been fooled by VHS cases that are the exact same colors as these, while gaming hunting, but I’ve never seen anymore for the Gameboy. I would love to own a full set of these (unmodified!), although I probably won’t use them for Gameboy games, I just want to own them because I find them fascinating.
