Hated TG-16 then, love it now.

[DragonmasterDan]

If I remember correctly a publisher could only release 5 games a year for the NES and had to wait 2 years before it could be published on other systems, if any of these rules were broken Nintendo would short the boards for the games(seeing as Nintendo were the only ones to make the boards that could get past the security) during holiday seasons so that Publisher would make less money.

I don't really know, but I expect that this hurt smaller outfits more than the bigger names.  I know Konami skirted the 5 titles rule with partly or wholly-owned subsidiaries (like Ultra), and I seem to recall hearing that some western publishers did the same thing (Activision? not sure).  I hadn't heard about the 2 year rule before, though: beyond simply anti-competitive that almost seems mean-spirited.

Acclaim bought out LJN, and also had a few other sub-labels. So they got around it as well. Also, Nintendo's rule was that you couldn't publish a game for the NES and then another system for most third parties, a few that got in early like Activision weren't subject to the same restrictions.  A lot of games on say Master system that were on NES as well were developed and published by Sega.

[thrush]

Acclaim bought out LJN, and also had a few other sub-labels. So they got around it as well. Also, Nintendo's rule was that you couldn't publish a game for the NES and then another system for most third parties, a few that got in early like Activision weren't subject to the same restrictions.  A lot of games on say Master system that were on NES as well were developed and published by Sega.

Interesting.  I wonder, were these rules well known among players/press at the time or was the industry still young enough that people didn't pay attention to the business details?  (I was young enough to not pay attention, anyway!   ^_-)

[sheath]

EGM's Steve Harris mentions it in early 1990, so yeah, the info was out there but it wasn't really talked about.  After the SNES got beat by the Genesis in 1991 Nintendo made a big deal about increasing the number of allowed games per year for third parties.

[DragonmasterDan]

Interesting.  I wonder, were these rules well known among players/press at the time or was the industry still young enough that people didn't pay attention to the business details?  (I was young enough to not pay attention, anyway!   ^_-)

Some of the industry trade publications (which in the late 80s really just consisted of EGM and little else) did report on things like that sparsely. Tengen made a lot of noise at the time where, rather than abide by Nintendo's licensing restrictions they started publishing unlicensed games (after having published three licensed titles), Color Dreams was next (they were a licensed Nintendo publisher, but decided to follow Tengens lead and make unlicensed carts, rather than deal with Nintendo's high minimum order requirements, slow turnaround time, content restrictions and other regulations by the late 1980s), then other publishers started to pop up publishing unlicensed carts rather than deal with Nintendo's rules.

A few of the early publishers, Tecmo, SNK, Activision, Bandai had different licensing deals with Nintendo that allowed them to do things like manufacture cartridge components themselves (Nintendo produced almost all third party cartridges themselves and took a healthy chunk of profit in doing so and by 1989 had very high minimum order requirements) among other things. This also led to a lot of NES games using different mappers than their famicom counterparts, one exception was Koei who produced their own custom mappers for some US NES carts. Other situations like Castlevania III led to substitute mappers produced by Nintendo being used, and as a result inferior ports of games from the Famicom originals.

Anyway, I've gone off on a long tangent. But yeah, Nintendo had a lot of third party restrictions in the NES heyday.

[thrush]

Anyway, I've gone off on a long tangent. But yeah, Nintendo had a lot of third party restrictions in the NES heyday.

Tangent was much appreciated by me, anyway -- very informative!  Thanks!

[ceti alpha]

I love hearing stories about peoples' favourite consoles from bitd. It really was the best era in gaming, hands down.

I have to agree.  Nowadays the press makes such a big deal about iOS and Andoid games, for example, but it is really hard for me to imagine there being a dedicated community of people who love those titles two decades from now....

That is so true. I have some games on my Android phone, but will there be a retro iOS/Android gaming community? It's possible, but I don't think so - at least not in the same degree as other, more traditional, platforms. There are some nice little games on Android and iOS, but the touchscreen just isn't very good for more traditional platformers or shooties. In fact, it outright sucks. The only phone, so far, that I could see people wanting to pick up 10 or 20 years from now is the Sony Xperia Play Android. It's basically a PSP with Android on it.

[TurboExpressFan]

Interesting.  I wonder, were these rules well known among players/press at the time or was the industry still young enough that people didn't pay attention to the business details?  (I was young enough to not pay attention, anyway!   ^_-)

Some of the industry trade publications (which in the late 80s really just consisted of EGM and little else) did report on things like that sparsely. Tengen made a lot of noise at the time where, rather than abide by Nintendo's licensing restrictions they started publishing unlicensed games (after having published three licensed titles), Color Dreams was next (they were a licensed Nintendo publisher, but decided to follow Tengens lead and make unlicensed carts, rather than deal with Nintendo's high minimum order requirements, slow turnaround time, content restrictions and other regulations by the late 1980s), then other publishers started to pop up publishing unlicensed carts rather than deal with Nintendo's rules.

A few of the early publishers, Tecmo, SNK, Activision, Bandai had different licensing deals with Nintendo that allowed them to do things like manufacture cartridge components themselves (Nintendo produced almost all third party cartridges themselves and took a healthy chunk of profit in doing so and by 1989 had very high minimum order requirements) among other things. This also led to a lot of NES games using different mappers than their famicom counterparts, one exception was Koei who produced their own custom mappers for some US NES carts. Other situations like Castlevania III led to substitute mappers produced by Nintendo being used, and as a result inferior ports of games from the Famicom originals.

Anyway, I've gone off on a long tangent. But yeah, Nintendo had a lot of third party restrictions in the NES heyday.

Yet that is one things most people and Nintendo do not discuss very often, it seems that Nintendo do not want to many people to realize they were a monopoly and broke the law to get were they are today, at least in the begging.

[thrush]

There are some nice little games on Android and iOS, but the touchscreen just isn't very good for more traditional platformers or shooties. In fact, it outright sucks. The only phone, so far, that I could see people wanting to pick up 10 or 20 years from now is the Sony Xperia Play Android. It's basically a PSP with Android on it.

Totally.  I don't mean to say that all mobile or touch games are bad, and I think the touch interface will come into its own once developers have experimented with it more, but in general I don't think these game are aiming as high as the older games did.  I think that the best games on any of the traditional platforms far outshine the best games on most newer platforms.  I just can't see people getting all nostalgic about Angry Birds or Civilization Revolutions Lite or something.  ^_-

[ccovell]

Yet that is one things most people and Nintendo do not discuss very often, it seems that Nintendo do not want to many people to realize they were a monopoly and broke the law to get were they are today, at least in the begging.

Of course Nintendo doesn't raise the topic, but back in the day, all the major magazines (EGM, Gamepro (to an extent) and VG&CE) raised a big stink about Nintendo's litigiousness and pressuring of game shops not to sell Tengen, Atari, and unlicensed games, etc.  It wasn't brushed under the carpet.

[Arkhan]

Nintendo strong armed places into only carrying their shit.  Thats why everyone goes LOLOMGNINTEDONEONDOO I LOVED IT .  WHTAS A TURBOGRAPHIX?

[TheOldMan]

I just can't see people getting all nostalgic about Angry Birds or Civilization Revolutions Lite or something.

I can't see those games being available to play in five years, much less 20+...

[roflmao]

That brings up an interesting point.  A lot of media (games/music/video) are download only (Steam/iTunes Store/Netflix).  20 years from now that stuff just won't be available.  I love the convenience of Steam, but if there's a PC game I pick up from them that I'll want to play for nostalgic reasons, I'll hunt down a physical copy.  Same with music - I still buy CDs as often as possible.  And I burn stuff I purchase as an Amazon download to CD just so I can have a physical copy. 

I think todays kids are going to really miss not having a physical copy of the things they are enjoying right now when they hit 25 or 30 (or older) and want to reminisce their childhood.  It'll all be gone.

[ceti alpha]

That brings up an interesting point.  A lot of media (games/music/video) are download only (Steam/iTunes Store/Netflix).  20 years from now that stuff just won't be available.  I love the convenience of Steam, but if there's a PC game I pick up from them that I'll want to play for nostalgic reasons, I'll hunt down a physical copy.  Same with music - I still buy CDs as often as possible.  And I burn stuff I purchase as an Amazon download to CD just so I can have a physical copy. 

I think todays kids are going to really miss not having a physical copy of the things they are enjoying right now when they hit 25 or 30 (or older) and want to reminisce their childhood.  It'll all be gone.

Yup. I love "the cloud" and the other conveniences of modern data storage they offer, but you're absolutely right, what happens down the road when you want access to all the stuff you downloaded years in the past?

[Tortured Skull]

My experience with this console is kinda similar to the topic creator's. To be honest though, I never had played a Turbo game back when it was new but I have heard stories from people over the years saying how it was a terrible system, no good games besides Splatterhouse, and all that yada-yada-yada. So one day about 6 years ago or somewhat, I went into a retro game store near me and noticed an odd looking black brick game console with a card hanging out of it. I asked the clerk what it was and he told he it was a Turbo Grafx. The guy showed me Blazing Lazers on it and I was like wow thats a fun space shooter so I immediately bought the console and the game for about $50 and the rest was history. I became a Turbo fan overnight. Great topic

[ceti alpha]

My experience with this console is kinda similar to the topic creator's. To be honest though, I never had played a Turbo game back when it was new but I have heard stories from people over the years saying how it was a terrible system, no good games besides Splatterhouse, and all that yada-yada-yada. So one day about 6 years ago or somewhat, I went into a retro game store near me and noticed an odd looking black brick game console with a card hanging out of it. I asked the clerk what it was and he told he it was a Turbo Grafx. The guy showed me Blazing Lazers on it and I was like wow thats a fun space shooter so I immediately bought the console and the game for about $50 and the rest was history. I became a Turbo fan overnight. Great topic

The TG just didn't have the "cool/hip" cache that the Genesis had. This was in large part because it didn't have a lot of official sports titles or "hip" marketing - aside from that Splatterhouse commercial.