Different types of HuCard sleeves

[DragonmasterDan]

I've noticed a few types of HuCard sleeves in the wild. The first are the standard ones, the second have kind of a grainy texture, still made of clear plastic but a thick grainy texture. I've noticed these coming with a lot of TTI games so I have a feeling these were actually packed in with US TurboGrafx games. Has anyone else noticed different types?

[Black Tiger]

Early NEC games came with the thick smooth sleeve. Later caseless games came with the thinner textured sleeve.

[Necromancer]

The heavy textured ones definitely came from the factory that way (I got 'em new that way), and there's the third type of sleeve that came with the latter PCE games, where they had the holes punched along the side.

[DragonmasterDan]

The heavy textured ones definitely came from the factory that way (I got 'em new that way), and there's the third type of sleeve that came with the latter PCE games, where they had the holes punched along the side.

Which games came with the heavy textured ones that you recall?

Yep, I've seen the hole punched PCE sleeves as well.

[vestcoat]

Which games came with the heavy textured ones that you recall?

Turbochip sleeves switched from smooth to textured in '91.  I remember bringing Parasol Stars home from Toys R Us and being surprised by the different sleeve design.  I've opened 20+ new Turbochips and I've never seen a ©1990 game with a textured sleeve.

[Necromancer]

Which games came with the heavy textured ones that you recall?

I'd have to check, but what vestcoat says seems about right.  I definitely don't think they were limited to the caseless games anyway.

[vestcoat]

Here's the list of 1990 games with smooth sleeves + 1991 games with textured sleeves that I've opened new:

1990
Battle Royale
Bravoman
Drop Off
Legendary Axe II
TV Sports Football

1991
Andre Panza
Gunboat
Night Creatures
Parasol Stars
TV Sports Basketball
TV Sports Hockey

All of my used purchases have also fallen into these categories except for a boxless copy of Aeroblasters I bought on ebay years ago.

[Black Tiger]

For me bitd, I bought maybe 30 TurboChips new and the sleeves just happened to break down to the cased and case-less games. It definitely seemed to be an across the board switch at one point, whenever that was. I wouldn't be surprised if some games were available with either during the switch over period when they could have been trying to use up the last of the old supply.

WD games weren't sold in Canada and the one rental store that imported them had custom sleeves for their Turbo rentals.

[vestcoat]

For me bitd, I bought maybe 30 TurboChips new and the sleeves just happened to break down to the cased and case-less games.

Are any of the chips you bought new ©1991?

[Sparky]

I was going to post about this as well as i thought only the 21 games that did not have cases had only the textured sleeves.
so much for that thought... cool bit of info guys

[vestcoat]

Going a little further, there were 31 chips ©1990 and 17 ©1991.  We know that packaging changes don't always match copyright dates as there were four orange-label games released in 1990 (when colored spines started) and one 1992 Turbochip escaped with its case intact (Ballistix, which I also bought new and has a textured sleeve).  So it's not unlikely that there were a couple smooth '91 sleeves or rough '90 sleeves.  Can anyone confirm?

I'd be particularly interested in anyone who bought Champions Forever new, as we know that game had two print runs.

[Black Tiger]

For me bitd, I bought maybe 30 TurboChips new and the sleeves just happened to break down to the cased and case-less games.

Are any of the chips you bought new ©1991?

Do you have a list of the 1991 releases? I didn't see any 1991 HuCards other than Night Creatures which I bought used from a local guy, but don't remember it coming with a textured sleeve.

[vestcoat]

Do you have a list of the 1991 releases?

No official release dates, I'm going by the copyrights on the Turbochips.

U.S. Turbochips ©1991 (17)
Andre Panza*
Bonk 2
Bomberman
Champions Forever
Cadash
Davis Cup
Impossamole
Gunboat*
Night Creatures*
Raiden
Parasol Stars*
Silent Debuggers
Talespin
Turrican
TV Sports Hockey*
TV Sports Basketball*
Yo Bro

Ones marked with an *  I opened new and found a textured sleeve.

[Gogan]

I bought Soldier Blade new BITD, and it came with the textured sleeve.

[Black Tiger]

Do you have a list of the 1991 releases?

No official release dates, I'm going by the copyrights on the Turbochips.

U.S. Turbochips ©1991 (17)
Andre Panza*
Bonk 2
Bomberman
Champions Forever
Cadash
Davis Cup
Impossamole
Gunboat*
Night Creatures*
Raiden
Parasol Stars*
Silent Debuggers
Talespin
Turrican
TV Sports Hockey*
TV Sports Basketball*
Yo Bro

Ones marked with an *  I opened new and found a textured sleeve.

Lol, the only game I bought new was Bonk's Revenge and the only other game that seemed worth buying at the time, which was actually sold in Canada, was Raiden and it wasn't available in my hometown (my Shelbyville had a demo of it in a store).

Bonk's Revenge might have come with a textured sleeve. I can't remember for sure if it did, since I swapped out the textured sleeves to my favorite games and left the others in the old sleeves. That was also an unusual time for me, when my TG-16 was busted and my only Turbo playing was done on my Express. For the longest time, I'd only experienced Bonk's Revenge on the TE.

That would have been a terrible year if those were the only games that were released. But judging from the dates I saw on my HuCards, I think that the copyrights on the games are all random and only reflect when they first copyrighted them. I'm pretty sure that Final Lap Twin had a 1989 copyright and definitely wasn't available that early on.