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Ehm.. in the late '80s, a weird thing happened here in Europe, and In the US too, perhaps all over the world. Some companies were rereleasing games and packed them with the same ugly simple layed-out white labels with a black text, on a simple ugly black cart, some bearing the AcTiVision logo on the back. These companies were:

In 1988, a company called "Palan Electronics" from the UK bought all the old Imagic and AcTiVision games for rerelease. It is AcTiVision probably who started the whole cheap white label (and blue) black cart thang. AcTiVision (US) acquired Imagic's titles right after the crash ('84), which explains why Imagic is in the same label deal (also see the "Blue Label" -story below).
Salu, sometimes naming themselves "imagineering Ltd." on some labels, was the reseller and distributer of all the old AcTiVision stock for the UK (and the rest of Europe). They just slapped these white labels on any cart they could find I guess.
HES (Home Entertainment Suppliers) from Australia (!), who rereleased a lot of games from most big companies in special multi-carts, also was in on the White/Blue Label deal and had close relations with Salu..
It also seems to be that Absolute Entertainment is no other than AcTiVision. Absolute was founded by ex-AcTiVisionist Gary Kitchen. Does this explain why their Title Match Pro Wrestling has the afore mentioned White Label ? EPYX (who bought out Starpath) is now owned by a christian multimedia company called "Bridgestone"..
Understand why I call all this a conspiracy ? Read on !

The labels have a white background, and black text. Mostly, a roman font is used, but salu can uses Helvetica as well. Along all th nesacerry text runs a double black border. As for the boxes, the Activision ones look good if not the same as all the others, the Imagic boxes look terrible. Riddle of the Sphinx has a terrible dull fake gold color and there is a big PAL sticker on it. Salu's version of H.E.R.O.  has a 1991 white label, but comes in a 1984 AcTiVision box.. Acid Drop's box (Salu) is one of my favorites. It scares the hell right out of you..

So which games have White Labels ? All the Salu and Absolute carts, that's for sure.Then there's AcTiVision and I know of a White-Labeled Flash Gordon. More about this one later I hope. Space Shuttle  from AcTiVision is the only White-Labeled NTSC cartridge that turns up in the States from time to time.

Another interesting fact here is that in the States several "Blue-Labeled" AcTiVision games exist. They look a lot like the White-Labeled carts: white text (Roman-type font, like Times) on a dark blue background. A double-lined white border runs around the text.
Games I know of are Boxing, Chopper Command, Enduro, Freeway, Ghostbusters, Ice Hockey, Kaboom!, Keystone Kapers, Megamania, Pitfall!, River Raid, Robot Tank, and Space Shuttle.
Known Imagic carts are Atlantis, Demon Attack and Moonsweeper.
Since AcTiVision bought out Imagic in '84, they even brought out Imagic titles under their own banner. These have blue labels as well. They are: Atlantis, Demon Attack and Moonsweeper. The only White-Labeled Game I have heard that appeared in the U.S. is Space Shuttle   from AcTiVision.

I should not forget to mention the BLACK-Labeled AcTiVision Cartridges. In the States these come from the late '80s too and were distributed by MEDIAGENIC© who probably slapped the black labels (with white logos and letters) on the carts. The design is different from the White and Blue-Labeled games. Known games are Double Dragon, Rampage   and River Raid II. Then there is the Black-Labeled Frostbite, Fighter Pilot  (Tomcat F-14), River Raid II and Skiing  with a lay-out like regular Blue or White Labels, AND a big barcode. These do not have "Mediagenic" on their label and are in PAL-format.


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