Were there ever NES controllers where the front and back halves are different colours?

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Verm1
Posts: 350
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Were there ever NES controllers where the front and back halves are different colours?

Postby Verm1 » March 5th, 2015, 1:40 pm

I'm wondering, were there ever any NES controllers where the front and back plastic halves are different colours (i.e considerably whiter plastic on the front half compared to the back half)?

I have purchased an 'official' NES controller that is such.

Verm1
Posts: 350
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Were there ever NES controllers where the front and back halves are different colours?

Postby Verm1 » March 6th, 2015, 6:22 am

I've just purchased a NES (and this additional 'official' controller), which means I'm not overly familiar with what to look for when determining whether a controller is an official one or one of the ton's and ton's of replica's out there (aside from the replica's usually lacking the Nintendo logo).

It's just all the other so called 'official' controller's I can see don't appear to have any colour difference between the top and bottom halves, but I noted that while trying to take the below photo that some of them ended up showing the top and bottom halves looking almost the same colour.

Have I been duped, so to speak?DSC023752.jpg 

SpiceWare1
Posts: 57
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Were there ever NES controllers where the front and back halves are different colours?

Postby SpiceWare1 » March 6th, 2015, 9:56 am

The plastic used can yellow over time.  Each part of the controller is probably from a different batch and/or mix of plastic, perhaps the bottom piece needs to be stronger than the top or they were just molded at different times.  Because of that, each piece can discolor at a different rate so that now they appear to be different colors even though they started out the same.

It was originally believed that the color change was permanent, but a fix has been found.  Do a search on yellowing plastic for more info. 





Rev1
Posts: 1777
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Were there ever NES controllers where the front and back halves are different colours?

Postby Rev1 » March 6th, 2015, 12:14 pm

Yeah I doubt this is a fake (I can't imagine there is a such a demand for news controllers that someone would put in the effort to make one; you can buy a used controller for like six or seven bucks). Yellowing plastic is very common in old game consoles and even carts. SNES carts do this all the time. Nice article spiceware.

Oltobaz1
Posts: 1605
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Were there ever NES controllers where the front and back halves are different colours?

Postby Oltobaz1 » March 6th, 2015, 12:23 pm

Classic case of yellowing, definitely.

Verm1
Posts: 350
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Were there ever NES controllers where the front and back halves are different colours?

Postby Verm1 » March 6th, 2015, 5:12 pm

Certainly, I am from the U.K and the availability of NES controllers may be different in the U.S. On Ebay U.K about half the NES controller auctions look like replicas (i.e they lack the Nintendo logo).

Mine does have a Nintendo logo, but I was wondering if for some reason my controller may have been halves of two different controllers stuck together, as I would have expected the controller to have yellowed largely equally all over, rather than the two halves being at notably different levels of yellowing?

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VideoGameCritic
Site Admin
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Joined: April 1st, 2015, 7:23 pm

Were there ever NES controllers where the front and back halves are different colours?

Postby VideoGameCritic » March 6th, 2015, 7:50 pm

As Spice said, it's because the different parts were manufactured separately with one having a higher tendency to yellow.  Since I own a lot of classic systems and controllers I see this all the time.  One half looks like it originally did, the other half yellow.

HardcoreSadism1
Posts: 526
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Were there ever NES controllers where the front and back halves are different colours?

Postby HardcoreSadism1 » March 6th, 2015, 10:53 pm

This Gray ABS and Gold Plastic was notorious for degrading albeit the latter having a worse outcome. At least it isn't gold pearl-swirl plastic dude haha, would have chipped like a candy bar gone nasty.

Verm1
Posts: 350
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Were there ever NES controllers where the front and back halves are different colours?

Postby Verm1 » March 7th, 2015, 5:24 am

Ok, I'm convinced that the controller is legitimate now, thanks to all the information and opinion yourselves have provided. Thanks [smile]


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