Are NTSC Gamecube cases damaging?

[TreblaYevrah]

I've made this claim a few times over the years, that NTSC Gamecube disc cases actually slowly put excess stress on the plastic in the center of discs. It's part of the reason I chose to keep almost all of my discs in more gentle poly plastic mini-dvd cases a long time ago.

The first time I had this realization was many years ago when I would keep Datel's Action Replay in a NTSC case, like any other game. Those discs were cheaply made, and the case would totally crack the plastic within a few months, if that. However, it seems somewhat true of official discs as well, after years of stress.

Am I crazy, or is this a thing? The discs I've kept in the smaller cases have remained pristine for ages, but some I've kept in the official box have suffered minor wear along the inner plastic. I believe it's more prominent with single disc cases. NTSC-J Gamecube cases seem fine, and PAL cases I only own a handful of.

 

[StevO9389]

I'm not a fan of those cases. Having worked retail and rental at throughout the life of the Game Cube and witnessing the mechanical effort customers, co-workers and even the distribution centers went through to get them out of the case I find it nothing short of a miracle that any significant quantities of those games have survived the first few attempts. The safest method we could figure out was by holding the case supporting it from behind on the left and right side (not lying it on a flat surface) while pressing harder than you think is necessary directly on that damned hexagon to pop the disc out gently or use the back side of a ball point pen in the center of it. A lot of people in my area back then also had the "genius" idea of swapping the inserts and manuals over to regular DVD cases to mitigate the problem only to be rewarded with horribly scratched discs when they inevitably came loose and rattled around. I personally haven't witnessed any damage to the inner ring from them just sitting in the original cases though, . It's funny you mention that the dual disc cases are easier to remove because all of my multi disc games are quite the opposite.

 

[TreblaYevrah]

Interesting about your experience with the dual disc cases. Not sure why they have always seemed easier to me.

But yeah, I don't mean they suffer damage just from sitting in the cases. I mean more from years of removing and placing them back in, as if no matter how often you do that, it still puts strain on the disc. It's not totally destructive, but over time I feel like it's an issue for any serious collectors that frequently play their collection.

Just looking at my PAL copies of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 and Aggressive Inline, those cases are the push/release type for the disc, which I do think is superior to the NTSC solution. The disc and be taken out with no resistance whatsoever.

 

[Flash]

Dual disc NTSC cases are literal pain to use. You have to press that hexagon so hard that it leaves a mark on your finger.

 

[Leynos]

Good thing I hardly ever play my Gamecube