Codemasters European NES Releases
Hi everyone,
I have a question regarding the European Codemasters games. The database says that they where only released in the United Kingdom. However, there are multiple reasons why this is incorrect, mostly the fact that the back of the boxes shows text in all differt European languages and that there where released in those countries. So do you think this should be changed or not and if they should count for a PAL B set just like the Gluk games? Let me know what you think.
I have a question regarding the European Codemasters games. The database says that they where only released in the United Kingdom. However, there are multiple reasons why this is incorrect, mostly the fact that the back of the boxes shows text in all differt European languages and that there where released in those countries. So do you think this should be changed or not and if they should count for a PAL B set just like the Gluk games? Let me know what you think.
Comments
but in all seriousness...... i've only ever seen the PAL B set counted as 339 games,
a little more if you include the classic series.
anything more is def. not "part of the set" IMO.
the only exception i would would make is Mah Jong, but due to rarity and price, even that one is just an extra.
Being available for sale in a specific region doesn't necessarily translate into being part of the popular sets for simplicity sake. For example, in the "72-Pin NTSC Unlicensed Set" we have the Tengen, Camerica, AVE, AGCI, and Color Dreams/Bunch/Wisdom Tree that most everyone in the hobby knows well enough, and the few oddball rarities from Active, Racermate, Pensian, and Caltron/Myriad. But because of the complexity, size, and limited nature of the library we completely exclude the Sachen library. We also ignore Crime Busters from Brazil and other Brazilian unlicensed games probably because they're also not fully mapped out.
Likewise, many PAL A collectors don't even know about Supergun 3-in-1 being released in Italy so it goes unnoticed as well.
PAL B collectors also ignore a certain Gluk game that was only recently discovered in 2017. Not one, but two retail (non-prototype) copy of Comando de Lobos surfaced on separate occasions.
That being all said, I personally consider the Microgenius variants of Color Dreams games to be PAL unlicensed releases, but I don't have a definitive answer for Codemasters being PAL-B unless they were maybe packaged with some non-English stickers. The argument that they have various languages on the back of the box is a good argument though.
As being it part of the set, my defenition always was that all games were included that were playable in the region where PAL B was a thing, so for example I collect Gluk games, because they were released in Spain, which has the PAL B NES. This may sound a little strange, but it is how I define it. Also to verify if it was released here I look into the database, but European Codemasters games are listed as UK only, even though as I mentioned the boxes have different languages and some games where even translated to match the language of other country's where they were released. So I am more so asking if it would fit in my defenition, rather than any other.
Unlicensed and NES is more of a "Choose Your Own Adventure" style of collecting when you want to go ahead and classify things. There are way too many "I don't count that" type of games in the unlicensed library.
Being available for sale in a specific region doesn't necessarily translate into being part of the popular sets for simplicity sake. For example, in the "72-Pin NTSC Unlicensed Set" we have the Tengen, Camerica, AVE, AGCI, and Color Dreams/Bunch/Wisdom Tree that most everyone in the hobby knows well enough, and the few oddball rarities from Active, Racermate, Pensian, and Caltron/Myriad. But because of the complexity, size, and limited nature of the library we completely exclude the Sachen library. We also ignore Crime Busters from Brazil and other Brazilian unlicensed games probably because they're also not fully mapped out.
Likewise, many PAL A collectors don't even know about Supergun 3-in-1 being released in Italy so it goes unnoticed as well.
PAL B collectors also ignore a certain Gluk game that was only recently discovered in 2017. Not one, but two retail (non-prototype) copy of Comando de Lobos surfaced on separate occasions.
That being all said, I personally consider the Microgenius variants of Color Dreams games to be PAL unlicensed releases, but I don't have a definitive answer for Codemasters being PAL-B unless they were maybe packaged with some non-English stickers. The argument that they have various languages on the back of the box is a good argument though.
That is a good point, and I am still trying to decide for myself if I find every game necessary to own. Color Dreams games is still hard for me to decide, I own 3 right now but other than packaging the games are 100% identical to the US versions. With Sachen, there were a few games exclusively released in Europe, but I'm still uncertain if I want them or not.
On Famicom format, in USA camerica format too, some codemasters games had multiple languages iirc, in-game.
Unlicensed and NES is more of a "Choose Your Own Adventure" style of collecting when you want to go ahead and classify things. There are way too many "I don't count that" type of games in the unlicensed library.
Being available for sale in a specific region doesn't necessarily translate into being part of the popular sets for simplicity sake. For example, in the "72-Pin NTSC Unlicensed Set" we have the Tengen, Camerica, AVE, AGCI, and Color Dreams/Bunch/Wisdom Tree that most everyone in the hobby knows well enough, and the few oddball rarities from Active, Racermate, Pensian, and Caltron/Myriad. But because of the complexity, size, and limited nature of the library we completely exclude the Sachen library. We also ignore Crime Busters from Brazil and other Brazilian unlicensed games probably because they're also not fully mapped out.
Likewise, many PAL A collectors don't even know about Supergun 3-in-1 being released in Italy so it goes unnoticed as well.
PAL B collectors also ignore a certain Gluk game that was only recently discovered in 2017. Not one, but two retail (non-prototype) copy of Comando de Lobos surfaced on separate occasions.
That being all said, I personally consider the Microgenius variants of Color Dreams games to be PAL unlicensed releases, but I don't have a definitive answer for Codemasters being PAL-B unless they were maybe packaged with some non-English stickers. The argument that they have various languages on the back of the box is a good argument though.
Also, about Comando de Lobos, I have only ever seen one, and it has no label. Is the second one like that to?
Unlicensed and NES is more of a "Choose Your Own Adventure" style of collecting when you want to go ahead and classify things. There are way too many "I don't count that" type of games in the unlicensed library.
Being available for sale in a specific region doesn't necessarily translate into being part of the popular sets for simplicity sake. For example, in the "72-Pin NTSC Unlicensed Set" we have the Tengen, Camerica, AVE, AGCI, and Color Dreams/Bunch/Wisdom Tree that most everyone in the hobby knows well enough, and the few oddball rarities from Active, Racermate, Pensian, and Caltron/Myriad. But because of the complexity, size, and limited nature of the library we completely exclude the Sachen library. We also ignore Crime Busters from Brazil and other Brazilian unlicensed games probably because they're also not fully mapped out.
Likewise, many PAL A collectors don't even know about Supergun 3-in-1 being released in Italy so it goes unnoticed as well.
PAL B collectors also ignore a certain Gluk game that was only recently discovered in 2017. Not one, but two retail (non-prototype) copy of Comando de Lobos surfaced on separate occasions.
That being all said, I personally consider the Microgenius variants of Color Dreams games to be PAL unlicensed releases, but I don't have a definitive answer for Codemasters being PAL-B unless they were maybe packaged with some non-English stickers. The argument that they have various languages on the back of the box is a good argument though.
Also, about Comando de Lobos, I have only ever seen one, and it has no label. Is the second one like that to?
You know what, I never bothered to ask the guy.
I'll get back to you on that, and if he sends pictures I'll ask for permission to post them.
Edit: Just messaged the guy and he tells me that his has no label and is in fact the same as the one that's on http://glukvideo.info/ but it has a retail box, so I'm still thinking there might be more out there. I could have sworn it was a separate copy too because I saw a picture of his box and it didn't look as damaged as the one there.
I tried to convince non-australian pal-a collectors that HES games were part of the PAL-A set because they were released in Australia (as well as italy) to raise the prices . but when discussing pal-a/pal-b releases, 99.999% of collectors from this region will be talking about licensed games
Everyone has their own style of collecting when it comes to unlicensed games, and really and truthfully HES games are in fact Australian releases, just like how Crime Busters is in fact a Brazilian release despite being NTSC. However, I think it's best to view unlicensed games as an entirely separate library instead of part of the same set.
The more I even think about the concept of a game being unlicensed, the more I realize that "unlicensed" might in fact be the wrong terminology. Instead I would propose we can call them unauthorized games. A minor difference, but a distinct one. By calling a game unauthorized instead of unlicensed it paints the entire history of unlicensed games in a much more interesting and consistent light, going as far back as the Atari 2600.
You'll find that unauthorized games start in 1980, with key developers from Atari leaving to form Activision. They even fought massive legal battles and bought full page ads painting Activision as IP thieves. They ultimately lost these legal battles but it still proves that Atari wanted nothing to do with third party developers, with the exception of Sears. It's pretty ironic and poetic that Atari themselves would go on to commit these same "sins" against Nintendo with the release of R.B.I. baseball in 1987 completely "unlicensed"
Ignoring Atari 2600 and NES/Famicom libaries, there are only about 100 or so unauthorized games combined between every other console library. Game Boy with about 3 dozen games between Wisdom Tree and Sachen, Game Boy Color with about 3 dozen games Sachen, Datel, and Gowin. Then Sega Genesis with about 2 dozen games between Accolade, Active, Ballistic, Realtec, and Wisdom Tree. Sega Dreamcast is the only strange console with less than a few from Bleem!
Basically, the concept of unauthorized or unlicensed games is very interesting and important to the history of video games. But I think it's best to maybe localize them a little more based on the fact that they're just so different in the grand scheme of things.
Edit: I also forgot that Bandai made a console add-on for the Super Famicom similar to Codemasters/Camerica's Aladdin Deck Enhancer. They called it the "Sufami Turbo" and it had a couple dozen games as well. Come to think of it, I don't know much about what unlicensed games the Famicom and Famicom Disk System or any other Japanese console has. Also, there are 3 or 4 more unlicensed SNES games, with 1 being an actual game and the other 2 or 3 being military software not meant for civilian use.