Official Nintendo Seal

The Official Nintendo Seal, known in PAL regions as the Original Nintendo Seal of Quality and formerly known in NTSC regions as the Official Nintendo Seal of Quality, is a seal on the back of every current official Nintendo merchandise of any kind. After the, customers were wary of buying video games since most recent games were of poor quality. To counter this, Nintendo placed the Nintendo Seal of Quality on all of its merchandise. The term "Seal of Quality" was somewhat misleading, in that it determined the quality of the hardware rather than the software; its presence indicated that a game would run as intended on the Nintendo system it was designed for without bricking the latter. The seal was also used to distinguish legitimate commercial games from pirated knockoffs. In late 2003, Nintendo of America abandoned the "of Quality" part of the seal's label, as by then consumers had come to understand that the presence of the seal did not indicate how good or bad an approved game was.

The original variant is used for games and various game-related hardware, such as alternate controllers. The "Licensed Product" seal is used for all other licensed products, including apparel, home entertainment releases, third-party guides, and even SD cards.

References in Mario games

 * Cranky Kong often acts as a guide in game manuals of the Donkey Kong franchise, complaining about the lack of quality in the games and stating they are not worthy of the Official Nintendo Seal of Quality.