Post everytime you get ANYTHING retro. We want to know (^v^)

[Kaladron]

maybe they kept the odd cart shape after they became licensees because they are distinctive

Good point. I hadn't considered that.

[MattyD]

But surely it was part of the license agreements that you had to use standard carts and/or carts manufactured by the platform holder?

I would also point out that just because they *say* they're licensed doesn't mean they really were

[noobish hat]

well yeah, back in the day it was. but by the time sega had become a viable competitor, nintendo had to lax up the rules, for the sake of keeping their third party licensees and also because of numerous lawsuits. i'm not sure about sega's licensing policies, but think of the EA carts with the yellow tab in the corner; they were definitely licensed, so i guess it was cool for them to do that.

[chaoticjelly]

I'd imagine it was cheaper for them to instruct a company in their own country (e.g. Codies - UK) or a nearby country (Acclaim - Mexico?) to manufacture cartridges than send off to Japan for them..

[MattyD]

The thought did cross my mind that perhaps the bigger carts let them use cheaper but larger components or some such, especially since they were in money troubles at the time. Or as you say they could have been manufactured cheaply somewhere in a factory that wasn't dedicated to making them.

[chaoticjelly]

Well I know codies cartridges for SMS at least contain an unofficial mapper chip - hence reduced manufacturing costs, along with the cartridge PCB and shell likely being assembled in the UK at least..

I remember reading something about the NES where the motivation for companies releasing unlicensed games was that Nintendo charged per lockout chip in each cartridge, something like ?5-?7 a time, per cartridge ?

[MattyD]

Yep, that's why Codies brought out some of their games on Game Genie-like devices that needed another cart plugged into them to work. Micro Machines on the NES is one I know of for a fact. The idea was the Game Genie-like cart had only the game ROM and none of the stuff you'd find in every cart, such as the 10NES lockout chip, bank switchers etc, which saved manufacturing costs and also cut Nintendo out of the loop.

[Tirian]

Here's a nice little curio that arrived today

[dvdmike]

awesome love any bats related stuff

[chaoticjelly]

Yep, that's why Codies brought out some of their games on Game Genie-like devices that needed another cart plugged into them to work. Micro Machines on the NES is one I know of for a fact. The idea was the Game Genie-like cart had only the game ROM and none of the stuff you'd find in every cart, such as the 10NES lockout chip, bank switchers etc, which saved manufacturing costs and also cut Nintendo out of the loop.

Yeah, there's an American thing I have as well, the "Aladdin Game Deck Enhancer" which does a similar thing, and also improves the graphics of the games that you use with it..

[Mayhem]

I was holding back until everything arrived (the seller forgot to include some stuff in his first package), so here's what I've been spending my cash on recently...

[NeoStuey]

@Mayhem.

Wow!

Pricey?

[Mayhem]

It's a full set of 39 Japanese titles, the ones that were also released in the UK (though I already had one of them). Plus most of the special sets, the wireless link, the Tigers special edition console and three demo carts. Total was about 600 GBP including shipping.

I only really need the NGPC to Dreamcast linker now and the Ogre Battle boxset.

[NeoStuey]

Good luck with getting the two missing items, it really is a great haul.

[Yakumo]

This month I've been buying loads of rare-ish Saturn titles.



Yakumo