ID CODES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In the same way that a record company will assign a catalog number to every album it releases, Nintendo assigned each game published for the NES a unique ID Code that identifies four things, detailed below. Nintendo didn't start adding the ID Code to the game labels until sometime in 1987, so some of the early releases don't have it. However all licensed games not published by Nintendo, even ones released prior to 1987, do have the code on the label. This is all part of a larger cluster of variants that are covered on the 1987 page of this site.
ID Code Part 1: The Nintendo system that the game was manufactured to be played on - 3 characters. In the case of the Nintendo Entertainment System this is always "NES".
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ID Code Part 2: The game title - 2 characters. This is a unique code (letters and/or numbers) that identifies the game, usually representing some vague abbreviation of the game's title. This same code is always found on the game's ROM chips. The more games that came out, the more random the codes became.
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ID Code Part 3: The region the game was manufactured for - 3 characters. For all games manufactured for release in the United States this code is always "USA". However NES games were sold all over the world and therefore were produced in different TV formats, and also in several languages. See below for a list of all the Nintendo region codes and what countries they represent. Some international games have two different region codes at the end of the ID Code separated by a slash.
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ID Code Part 4: Revision number - 1 character, only numbers. This one is optional and only appears on a small handful of games. It was sometimes added if there was a change to the game's label, or the game itself.
The Legend of Zelda
Gray Cartridge "Classic Series" Re-Issue
Banana Prince
Dual Region Codes
Wayne Gretzky Hockey
black Kings jersey variant
Wayne Gretzky Hockey
white Kings jersey variant
Wayne Gretzky Hockey
blank white jersey variant
Like their USA counterparts, the first Canadian versions of the 30 black box games did not have the ID Code on the front label, but they the did have the CAN region code.
Mario Bros.
Canadian Version
The single exception to the ID Code formatting system is Batman: Return of The Joker. For some unexplained reason the USA title code for this game is 3 characters, P48. This is the same game that features the lone Oval TM SOQ anomaly. It also features a unique back label (REV-A 8) and a unique PCB (NES-BTR). Apparently he is an "agent of chaos".
Batman: Return of The Joker
NES-P48-USA
ID CODE VARIANTS ----------------------------------------------------------------------
As covered on the 1987 page of this site, the presence or absence of the ID Code from the games' labels represents a significant amount of variants for certain titles. But for the rest of the games released after the 1987 changeover era there are no variants at all, other than games that got a -1 update. In fact all but four titles that were only released in 3-Screw cartridges have the ID Code on the label, and those four never did.
The four games released in 3-screw cartridges only, that do not feature the ID Code on the label are: Mickey's Safari in Letterland, Overlord, Rollerblade Racer, and Thunder & Lightning.
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Thunder & Lightning
no ID Code
REGION & COUNTRY CODES -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Below is a list of all the region codes and what regions/countries they represent. These appear as the third part of the ID Code on the game's front label, and are also usually found on the game's back label. USA games do not have a region code on the back label prior to 1992 and the REV-A 4 label with the USA/CAN code, so no region code on the back label means it's a USA cart (or a very early PAL cart). Most PAL games will have one region code as part of the game's ID Code on the front label, and a different, complimentary code on the back label.
ASD - Audio Sound Distribution. This code appears on the back labels of early NES releases from France with the FRA code on the front label. ASD later merged with Bandai, at which point this code stop being used.
ASI - Asia
AUS - Australia
CAN - Canada
DAS - Deutsch (German) and Spanish. This code only appears on the back labels of PAL-B carts and represents the languages on the label.
EAI - England / Australia (Oceania) / Italy. When this code appears on the back label of PAL-A carts the writing is shown in English and Italian.
EEC - European Economic Community
ESP - España (Spain)
FAH - France and Holland (Netherlands). This code only appears on the back labels of PAL-B carts and represents the languages on the label, French and Dutch.
FRA - France
FRG - Federal Republic of Germany
GBR - Great Britain
GPS - Universal code used in different countries, typically has English-language box with local language sticker applied and local-language manual included.
GRE - Greece (only found on manuals, not carts)
HKG - Hong Kong
HOL - Holland
ISR - Israel (only found on boxes and manuals, not carts)
ITA - Italy
KOR - Korea
NOE - Nintendo of Europe
SCN - Scandinavia (Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland)
SWE - Sweden
UKV - United Kingdom
USA - United States of America
Dropzone front label
Region Code NOE
Dropzone back label
DAS code
Faxanadu
-GPS box
from Portugal
LIST OF CODES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Below is a chart of every ID Code for every USA game released.
