Originally, this post was going to contain a lot of pictures, but I suck at taking pictures. I wanted to showcase video game covers from various websites. These covers are shiny, so I wanted to use indirect light (smart). Unfortunately, the brightest lights I had (20W LED) were not bright enough, and the “white” setting had far too much blue tint. I apologize to anyone who has OCD; the images are not straight. Out of the almost 100 pictures I took, I hoping you can glean something useful from the few pictures I have included.
Two years ago, I went on a buying spree for used video games. I spent over a thousand dollars on NES, SNES, and other old video games from my childhood. I ended up returning to the used marketplace this year. If you want to see what games I bought, you check out 2022 here, and this year here. Many of the used games I bought came without cases. It makes sense for the games that came in cardboard boxes; who keeps the fragile box for decades? I bought and recreated cases; not only to protect the games, but to, also, showcase the games in their original glory. With my new knowledge, I thought I would share my experiences.
I found Custom Game Cases after my initial spree in 2022. They have an always-growing selection of cases for Nintendo and Sega games. They are a small shop, but they are dedicated to quality. Their recreation of the classic cover art is impeccable. The colors are great and the details are crisp. You can read all of the text. The art fits perfectly over the cases, and they look like the original cardboard boxes. The plastic cases feel fairly sturdy. They can survive drops, but they can feel a little bit flimsy when opening and closing the case. The cases are designed to securely hold the games. This works very well, but it can be a little tough to remove and insert the game; I worry I might break the plastic holding the game in place, but I have not yet.
Because they are a small shop, patience is required when waiting for your order. They print and insert the covers when they receive the order. Recently, they went on vacation, so they were not fulfilling orders as they came in. They did let customers know about the delay. Even when they are not on holiday, it can take one to three weeks for your order to ship. I am in the U.S., so I expect orders internationally to take longer.
They are pricey, but I think they are well worth it. They have raised their prices since 2022, but not by much. Shipping is particularly harsh; it is a good idea to buy several cases at a time instead of just one or two. They do have excellent customer services. I did not receive a case with my order one time. I contacted them, and they printed and shipped the case right away, and did not charge me additional shipping. It got here in less than a week. I highly recommend Custom Game Cases.
Original PlayStation games came in jewel cases. Maybe my brother and I were rough on them, but the cases broke easily and were terrible. We kept our games in a CD booklet, and threw away the original cases. I am a little sad, because it appears we threw out the manuals as well. We were not the only ones, because several of the used PS1 games I bought came without cases. I decided to put them in custom DVD cases, instead of recreations of the jewel cases.
I thought I found the perfect website, Custom Game Case (not to be confused with “Cases”). They offer cases for every Sony system through the PlayStation 4, and are expanding. They offer various styles of cases, including DVD cases for original PlayStation games. This looked perfect for my needs. I ordered pretty much everything I needed. I thought the prices for the cases were reasonable. On top of that, I got free shipping because I spent over $60.
They are another small shop, so I expected shipping to take awhile. Someone on Reddit mentioned it could take a month. I waited, but one day their website was down. I waited a few more days, because I was not sure how to contact them. Finally, I just replied to my order confirmation email, and, to my surprise, they responded right away. They said they’ll ship my order right away! Their website also came back up.
My order arrived a few days later. The DVD cases are good quality. They do not feel flimsy when opening and closing them. It is easy to insert and remove the game, and it holds the game securely. The cover art is atrocious. Most of the covers were stretched to fit the DVD case. The printing quality is poor. The colors are off, and the text blurry. After waiting so long, I was extremely disappointed.
While I was waiting for my PS1 cases, I bought two more PS1 games. I wouldn’t get free shipping for just two cases from Custom Game Case, so I looked elsewhere. I found sgt_mo’s on eBay selling cases with free shipping. They were a little more expensive, but it came out cheaper than Custom Game Case with shipping. I ordered my two cases, and they came a few days later; I ended up receiving these well before my Custom Game Case order.
The cases are good quality. They feel a little flimsy opening and closing, but they hold the game securely. It is easy to remove and insert the game. The cover art is outstanding. sgt_mo spent time making the original art fit without stretching the images. The print quality is great. The colors are as expected and the text is crisp. The information on the back cover (like number of players, rating, etc.) is accurate on most of the cases, but Twisted Metal 2 was missing some information. Overall, I was happy with the cases. After receiving my Custom Game Case order, I ended up rebuying most of the cases from sgt_mo. He was sold out of a couple of cases, but I messaged him. He responded, made some new ones, and they were ready for purchase within a day or two.
I was not able to find cases for all of my games for PS1. I, also, needed some cases and covers for PlayStation 2 and Xbox 360 games. For the rest, I opted to print covers. I have a lot of respect for Custom Game Cases and sgt_mo after going through this process. I got most of my covers from The Cover Project. They strive for quality, but it can be hit or miss. The lesser known games do not even have covers available. For example, I was not able to find a cover for Tetris Plus; thankfully sgt_mo had a case for it. The scans can also have defects. I was able to find find good covers for all but two games. The covers for Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance were either too dark after I printed them, or not of the North American cover. I ended up finding a pretty good cover here. It required some tweaking to get it to print correctly, but it looks nicer than The Cover Project covers. For Twisted Metal 2, I manually recreated the case for a DVD case layout. It took a few hours, but I am very happy with the outcome.
I do not have a good color printer, so I sent orders to Staples. The Cover Project has some good guides in the forums. You have to make sure the covers are 300 PPI, but that’s easy to do with Gimp. I printed off covers for the DS, 3DS, PS1, PS2, and X360. I selected 11×17, 80# Gloss Cover paper with color ink. You do not want to fit image to paper. Some covers took a few attempts, so I ended up paying dearly in shipping and printing costs. I finally got them all looking great.
I needed cases for some PlayStation 2 and Xbox 360 games. I printed the covers, but I had to order some blank cases. I ordered them from ZedLabz. I had to order them in bulk, so I got a few extra cases. The cases are great quality. The PS2 cases have a memory card slot, just like the originals. The Xbox 360 cases are green just like the originals. They ship from Europe. Shipping was a little pricey, but they came fairly quick. They are great products.
I do not know exactly how much money I have spent on cases, but it rivals how much I spent on the actual games. The extra cost was mostly from inexperience with the sellers, and the printing process. Going forward, I know who to trust (Custom Game Cases and sgt_mo), who not to trust (Custom Game Case, no “s”), and how to print covers. It, also, helps to buy several cases at once. I hope this post can help you if you want to go on a similar journey.