Mysterious orange sticker on japanese Namco games

[Deuteros]

I recently bought four Namco, factory sealed, NTSC-J games on eBay. Two of them for the PS1 (Gunbullet and Gunbarl) and the other two for the PS2 (Ace Combat 4 and 5).

I've received the games and I noticed something unusual about them: they all have an orange sticker on their backs with some japanese text which I don't understand. What I do understand are the words 'NOT FOR SALE' in plain english.



The games are factory sealed, there's no question about that, so these stickers must have been applied at the factory. On the PS2 games, they seem to be on the clear plastic of the case, beneath the shrinkwrap. On the PS1 games, however, they seem to be directly on the backcover, beneath the hard plastic case.

I haven't unsealed any of the games in case I decide to return them. What I'm afraid of, and what I'd like to ask anyone who is familiar with these orange stickers, is what other differences they may have from regular retail copies. The stickers I can live with but, since these are clearly promotional copies, I'd hate to find out that they had the same text printed on the discs, a hole punched through the manuals or otherwise 'maimed'.

My name is Deuteros and I'm a collector...

Thanks in advance for any help!

[importaku]

If my memory serves me correctly it'll have the words sample stamped in tiny letters around the hole on the disk the manual should be the same as retail.

[nakamura]

Well the katakana says promotion but that is all i can read. If no one has translated it by the time the wife gets home from work ill ask her.

[Deuteros]

Wow, that was fast! That's what I love the most about this forum, it's full of helpful, knowledgeable people!

I can live with that tiny text printed on the disc, I guess. It probably isn't very noticeable. It's funny how some sellers will fail to point out certain aspects of the items they're selling... I'll take comfort in the nasty feedback comment I'll leisurely come up with for him.

@importaku

I was hoping to get your attention as, while googling for information on these orange stickers, I came upon a post you made on Digital Press where you seemed to have come across one of them on a copy of Yakiniku Bugyou.

[importaku]

If your careful you can actually peel that sticker off, my copy of yakiniku bugyou came with one on the back cover & with lots of care i managed to get it off without ruining the insert.

[kryss]

Demonstration item. NOT FOR SALE.
This demonstration item is not for sale and only for promotional use. Usage outside of this (such as loan or transfer to a third party) is strictly prohibited.

[wakka]

I'll take comfort in the nasty feedback comment I'll leisurely come up with for him.

Well that's an overreaction. It's a miniscule sticker.

[Goemon]

Well that's an overreaction. It's a miniscule sticker.

Well that depends...
If the guy is selling them as original retails, then he's lying as these are promotional discs. Depending on how much of a collector you are this may very well matter.

[Deuteros]

Well that's an overreaction. It's a miniscule sticker.

It's not the sticker and the text printed on the disc that really bothered me, though. It's the fact the seller conveniently chose to omit these were promotional copies, however minor their differences to regular retail copies are. He was also unhelpful and downright rude when I contacted him about it.

[J0e Musashi]

I had hundreds of these discs for PS1. They say "SAMPLE-LOANED" around the hole. I always thought this was a Japan-only thing, but my Korean PS2 Rogue Galaxy is one too. It only has the "SAMPLE-LOANED" on the disc mind, the insert doesn't have the orange sticker. My JPN PS3 Rise From Lair is one of these also.

Back in the day a guy who worked for Namco would sell his PS1 games to CEX, and I bought the vast majority of them. Game Focus seem to sell many of these discs nowadays too.

They are exactly the same as retail games, and the manuals do not feature any stickering. They should not be considered promo's IMO.