Pre-Internet Sachen Distribution
Several years back a lot of you may recall how the 72 pin Sachen games were categorized in the NA database as being part of the "Taiwan" region. There was tons of debate over the issue, and a lot of people laughed at me for fighting so hard for a change (Taiwan never used 72 pin carts, and even had a licensed 60 pins Famicom here). It felt like I was bashing my head against the wall, as it would be like me telling people 60 pin games were part of the USA region. To this day I have come across 60 pin Sachen carts on occassion, sometimes new, but have never found a 72 pin cart here. I am glad that after such a heated debate, the Sachen carts were changed to a "worldwide" designation.
With that said, I want to add a few other comments and points, which I hope should be taken into consideration as a whole, also for some database changes, etc.
The first thing I would like to point out is that I think at this point, a worldwide designation is generally the best fit for the games. With that said, it can be 100% confirmed that (Western) Germany and Italy both received Sachen games that were exclusive to those regions. What do I mean? For example, let's look at the following auction:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/PYRAMID-NES-SACHEN-NINTENDO-8-BIT-COMPATIBILE-PAL-/142128953696?hash=item21178bb960:g:8igAAOSwNRdX6BCN
It is an Italian version of Pyramid. IIRC, a few other Sachen carts have been confirmed with Italian versions, Little Red Hood and maybe one more. IMO, there should be Italian entries listed for these games (the ones with confirmed Italian versions), separate from the general "Worldwide" versions. One of the Game Boy multicarts has a similar situation, where the box is in German and the distributor is a West Germany distributor. Again it should have its own entry, since it is truly a German version. Likewise, the worldwide marker should somehow exclude Taiwan, Thailand, and other places that were confirmed not to have received the 72 pins version, but maybe at this point it is just like splitting hairs. It becomes a question of accuracy versus convenience, though. With the Game Boy releases, however, I think the regions are much more clearly defined.
Now getting back to our beloved 8 bit NES Sachens.
The other day I was scanning some interesting things for use in the Famicom book I am writing, and I came across this advert:
Yes, the quality is small, blurry, and poor, I know that. It becomes an issue of whether I want to share this information before I release my book, or make you guys wait for a year before it can even be discussed. So I chose the former, but due to releasing something that folks have probably never seen before, using a poor quality is the compromise I chose (don't worry, a nice version will be in the book, along with many other neat things like this).
The part in red is most interesting: Export Line, with a telephone and fax number. I guess this answers how Sachen handled their pre-internet distribution of games, worldwide. They ran advertisements in magazines, and businessmen could call the number and import them to distribute worldwide. The magazine is in Chinese, but here is the thing we need to consider: a lot of Taiwanese (probably over half at least) hold dual citizenship with another country. Unlike a lot of Americans, which have ancestory (but few actual ties) to Europe, a lot of the Chinese population in the USA actually still has ties to their home country. Just to make a point, Jeremy Lin's 100% American, but his grandparents live about 20 minutes from me, just over the bridge. But any relatives that I have, in Germany or England, are so distant by now that we aren't even aware of each other.
So I think it is safe to say that some of the ABC population had been distributing these games in the USA, and elsewhere. It helps to explain why some people (Dreamtr for one, IIRC) remember seeing Sachen Game Boy products at fleamarkets, etc.
I hope to set up an interview with the former president of Sachen to interview for my book, it is just about making time and convincing him to do it. And then I can ask more about distribution, but I think the advert above says a lot about the 72 pin games.
Enjoy everyone
With that said, I want to add a few other comments and points, which I hope should be taken into consideration as a whole, also for some database changes, etc.
The first thing I would like to point out is that I think at this point, a worldwide designation is generally the best fit for the games. With that said, it can be 100% confirmed that (Western) Germany and Italy both received Sachen games that were exclusive to those regions. What do I mean? For example, let's look at the following auction:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/PYRAMID-NES-SACHEN-NINTENDO-8-BIT-COMPATIBILE-PAL-/142128953696?hash=item21178bb960:g:8igAAOSwNRdX6BCN
It is an Italian version of Pyramid. IIRC, a few other Sachen carts have been confirmed with Italian versions, Little Red Hood and maybe one more. IMO, there should be Italian entries listed for these games (the ones with confirmed Italian versions), separate from the general "Worldwide" versions. One of the Game Boy multicarts has a similar situation, where the box is in German and the distributor is a West Germany distributor. Again it should have its own entry, since it is truly a German version. Likewise, the worldwide marker should somehow exclude Taiwan, Thailand, and other places that were confirmed not to have received the 72 pins version, but maybe at this point it is just like splitting hairs. It becomes a question of accuracy versus convenience, though. With the Game Boy releases, however, I think the regions are much more clearly defined.
Now getting back to our beloved 8 bit NES Sachens.
The other day I was scanning some interesting things for use in the Famicom book I am writing, and I came across this advert:
Yes, the quality is small, blurry, and poor, I know that. It becomes an issue of whether I want to share this information before I release my book, or make you guys wait for a year before it can even be discussed. So I chose the former, but due to releasing something that folks have probably never seen before, using a poor quality is the compromise I chose (don't worry, a nice version will be in the book, along with many other neat things like this).
The part in red is most interesting: Export Line, with a telephone and fax number. I guess this answers how Sachen handled their pre-internet distribution of games, worldwide. They ran advertisements in magazines, and businessmen could call the number and import them to distribute worldwide. The magazine is in Chinese, but here is the thing we need to consider: a lot of Taiwanese (probably over half at least) hold dual citizenship with another country. Unlike a lot of Americans, which have ancestory (but few actual ties) to Europe, a lot of the Chinese population in the USA actually still has ties to their home country. Just to make a point, Jeremy Lin's 100% American, but his grandparents live about 20 minutes from me, just over the bridge. But any relatives that I have, in Germany or England, are so distant by now that we aren't even aware of each other.
So I think it is safe to say that some of the ABC population had been distributing these games in the USA, and elsewhere. It helps to explain why some people (Dreamtr for one, IIRC) remember seeing Sachen Game Boy products at fleamarkets, etc.
I hope to set up an interview with the former president of Sachen to interview for my book, it is just about making time and convincing him to do it. And then I can ask more about distribution, but I think the advert above says a lot about the 72 pin games.
Enjoy everyone
Comments
I can swear up and down that I used to see CIB SACHEN games for game boy and nes for sale in NYC on canal street. But unless I had a photo its useless.
I don't look at the NES library as just 677 + 91 anymore either. I look at it as all 72 pin games available in some manner to the general public. I draw lines in the sand with categories like licenses, unlicensed, competition, etc. And call them subsets.
SACHEN deserves special consideration. They are by far the biggest developer of Unlicensed games, and I think only Nintendo themselves have published more games period. That's including proxy companies like acclaim/ljn, and konami/ultra.
And as an example, Middle School English if ever available on canal street in NYC has a sizeable market thanks to Chinatown. That being said I don't consider it part of the US sub-subset. I like the worldwide designation myself.
I agree that it there's Italian and German specific packaging then they should be part of those countries unlicensed set, much like how France has a 6 in 1, and War in the Gulf.
I feel like the HES releases are far more well known than their Sachen counterparts.
Basically they have zero exclusive titles if you count sachen as part.of the set. Otherwise they have....
Penguin and Seal
Duck Maze
Jackpot
Little Red Hood
Othello
Pipemania
And "Math Quiz" in the mindblower 4in1 cart
Twin Eagle and Sidewinder are available in the US as Double Strike and Mission Cobra.
Edit: Whoops, made a mistake. Duck Maze, Jackpot, and Othello are bitcorp. So they have 3 exclusives even if you count Sachen
Its this a games/electronics magazine, or something completely different? Anyone still at that phone number?
It's a game magazine, just like a Nintendo Power or a Game Pro. No, no one at the phone number anymore.
I don't think there's any doubt that there was a system in place for a U.S. distributor to import Sachen games for the U.S. market, they even exhibited at CES and handed out flyers to U.S. buyers (you can find them all at the Brian Sutton library). I think the question at this point is more a matter of volume: at what point do they "count"? Is it literally one copy sold? 10? 100? What about 0? If the games technically existed for the U.S. market and literally no one bought them, do they count? (and if not, why does Cheetahmen 2 count, given it's the exact same situation)?
Because when Etler made his list, he included it to sell out the copies he had. *shrug* Basically, the information provided later points to it being a grey area at best, and at worst an unreleased game that was manufactured and never distributed. But then, due to the fact that pretty much every list ever made after Etler's was based on that original list, it's pretty much been grandfathered in. I'm sure if Mike had an inventory of Sachen games in his store when he made his list, they'd be listed there too.
As for the topic, I don't really have much to add, but I do want to see this book when you're finished Dave. Where do I sign up for a copy?