Thursday, July 1, 2010

Not Mario...

Bootleg Donkey Kong stickers
...But an incredible simulation.

I have owned these bootleg DONKEY KONG stickers since the early 1980s. Yes, they are still sealed in the plastic. This was less about maintaining any sort of perceived collectibility and more about maintaining them. I somehow knew opening them would mean losing them. As it stands, they are still in reasonably good shape.

For an unauthorized product, they really aren't bad. The art is somewhat off-model, but certainly more than just competent - I'd call it "pleasantly cartoony". Were it not for the lack of logo and copyright information, I might be tempted to call them legit. But there is no date, no "Nintendo" anywhere to be seen, no "Donkey Kong" logo at all. Just a generic header card with "MADE IN TAIWAN" imprinted on the back. So yeah, bootleg.

One thing that this scan (even if you click over for full-size) does not do justice to is the garish colors of these stickers. The orange on Donkey Kong is about 4 shades louder than you're seeing. The flesh tones are actually pink. Honestly, the scan makes these stickers look even better than they do in real life!

2 comments:

  1. These are really something. I kept a lot from my childhood too. You don't see things like this, bootleg stickers, like you used too.
    I went and checked around e-bay and found these:

    http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-80s-Very-Rare-Puffy-Donkey-Kong-Stickers-/220922116209?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item336ffbf871

    I wonder if they are from the same place?

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  2. Hi! You know what, looking at that auction, I bet they are. The art looks very similar, and that photo shows the pink skin tones and orange Donkey Kong body that my old scanner subdued on my stickers. Great find!

    I kind of wish I had gotten a bootleg fireball sticker. That would have been FAN-tastic.

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