Review: Video Game Dust Sleeves

Now, it’s been a long time since we’ve discussed anything regarding the protection of your cartridges. We’ve discussed cart protectors that cover your entire cart. These would be useful if you had a game that needed protecting that you might want to play once every 5 years. But what if you want to have your game covered up and also have the ability to easily slide it out at a moment’s notice? Enter, Video Game Dust Sleeves.

Pros:

• Material: To start with, the creator of these sleeves wanted you all to know. “I do all sleeves at cost of material. I don’t make money on them. I make them per order. Customs are always welcome.” Well, that could sound like a trap if the materials were super expensive and over the top. But I’m here to report that what he uses is anything but extremely expensive. Does it still cost money, yes, as the quote said. But the material is some strong stuff that you could source locally without paying a cost to import it from an Asia country. This keeps his personal cost very low and he can then turn that around and pass the savings onto you.
• Print: The print quality here is superb. Not a smudge, tear, misprint anywhere either. There isn’t much to touch on for this point. I just wanted to really bring up how much clarity in custom made products matters. He definitely hit the nail on the head. He could’ve cheaped out and got a printer that does subpar quality just to make a quick buck. Instead, he clearly realized that the only way to make his business grow is to do the best job out of the gate.
• Color: The choices of color and/or including logos for the different consoles matching the sleeves was ingenious. You’ll notice on the Atari Jaguar sleeve that it is all black. I had asked him to do black sleeves and initially, he told me that it might be hard and he seemed skittish. But he really came through. He didn’t tell me that he was going to ultimately going to do it. It was a surprise to find that the red and black scheme of the Jaguar was present on the video game sleeve. Pour over the images I’ve taken below so you can see the image clarity and the colors. They really look so nice.
• Build: The build quality is truly great. I had mentioned before the cost of the material. I didn’t really mention what the material was. When I was asking him about it, he mentioned to me that it isn’t plastic, like most would think. Instead, he wasn’t shy to say that he uses a high quality, dense photo paper. It’s truly a genius idea and it finds a new use for the paper. I’m not certain what he uses to bind the edges of the sleeve though. Whatever it is is obviously a high-quality glue of some kind. I didn’t tug too hard, but I did test it by applying pressure from the inside of the sleeve outward. I didn’t notice much give at all. Furthermore, the sleeves that fit accurately, are ever so slightly larger than the cart itself. Making it not only easy for the game to slide in and out. It also makes the life of the sleeve longer as there isn’t prolonged stress on the corner.
• On the Shelf: This is a game protector that not only is functional, feels great, and has fantastic printing, it also looks great on a shelf. I know that some of you care what your games look like and how they’re presented. These add to the aesthetic and only make your shelves look better. To me, it sort of breaks up the bland coloring of just a slew of grey carts. The same can be said of Atari and Sega’s black carts. From the side, they look so bland. And since storing them with their sides facing you makes the most sense (on most shelves), these can instead work magic. You could request differently colored sleeves if you’d like, then that would add more variety to your shelves.
• Variety: Speaking of variety, these sleeves come in a vast variety of different cart styles. I tried to put him to the true test by only requesting more obscure sleeves. This was no problem. He didn’t even flinch. So now, I’m a proud owner of sleeves for Jaguar, Atari 5200, Virtual Boy, Genesis, and N64 carts. I know he does all of the other basics too. Even if he doesn’t have a template for it, it’s easy enough to google one or to measure an existing cart and make one. If you’re looking at the pictures and notice the Virtual Boy game looks a little big, that one is my own fault. He told me that the Virtual Boy cart would need a cart case on it. I didn’t have one, so it may appear too big for the game. However, it still protects the contacts at the bottom  and the sticker on the front, which is all that I care about.

Cons:

• Jaguar: This one was weird. First of all, I had to turn it sideways to get it to fit. This would’ve been fine had it entirely covered the contacts of the cart. The whole purpose of these would be to protect the contacts. So the only way it fit was on its side, ever so slightly exposing the contacts. The way to remedy this is to obviously make it a half-inch taller. Secondly, forcing the cart in sideways makes the curved cart not fit very well. It sort of stretched the sleeve and made it slightly open on the edge. To reiterate, if the cart is supposed to be inserted sideways, the sleeve needs to be half an inch bigger both directions. If its intent is to be slid in vertically with the contacts down, then the sleeve needs to be almost an entire inch wider.

Overall Thoughts:

The man is good at what he does. I’m not certain as to what happened with the Jaguar sleeves. I do understand that the Jaguar has a curved body, so this needed to be taken into consideration. Does it still work on the Jaguar games? Yes, naturally it does, the sleeve just looks as if it’s about to split. But other than that the sleeves he sent over are great to look at. You can tell that they’ll help protect your cartridges for years to come. And best of all, the price is right for the fact that you can have them customized! All that you have to do is talk to him on social media and he’ll take your request. Also if anyone wants to check out his podcast… it’s here.