Who are these companies really?

[Joe Redifer]

Back in the day, Nintendo hated 3rd parties making games for other consoles so many well known publishers changed their names to release their games on the Genesis... or at least I cannot possibly think of any other reason why they would change their names. But who where they really? Here is the list I came up with:

Flying Edge = Acclaim

Sages Creation = Atlus (????)

Seismic = Asmik

Renovation = Telenet (not a Nintendo 3rd party but still fits the thread).

TechnoSoft = Tecno Soft

Where there any more?

[David J.]

I always thought Sages Creation was a company who localized Japanese games, like of like Renovation who brought over a few Sega games from Japan over here.

For fun: take any region Gain Ground, or Arrow Flash cart and if you have a country switch, set it to US and guess who's name appears on the title screen. Why Sega needed some other company to bring these titles over is beyond me.

[108 Stars]

Namcot = Namco
Ultra Games = Konami

[j_factor]

I think Ultra Games was strictly on NES, to get around Nintendo's rule that one company can only release so many games a year. I'm not sure what Namcot was all about, but they used their real name on Rolling Thunder 2 and other games.

Reverse example: Camerica = Codemasters (Codemasters is their real name, they changed it for Nintendo)

How come all these companies had to go through weird means to circumvent Nintendo's iron fist, but Activision had no trouble freely supporting Master System?

[David J.]

I think the TMNT game on the PC was released by Ultra Games. I thought Activision didn't support the NES until later?

I posted some where that ACME interactive is just Cinemaware... gotta do more research on that.

http://www.sega-16.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1143

[ThunderForce]

Seismic = Asmik


Yeah right show me proof.

[redrum666]

Arena = Acclaim
LJN = Acclaim
Tengen = Atari

[redrum666]

How come all these companies had to go through weird means to circumvent Nintendo's iron fist, but Activision had no trouble freely supporting Master System?

nintendo rule was if you had made games for there system 1st you can only make games for nintendo what Activision did was released games 1st on Atari systems then on to sega master system then on nintendo they got past it like that same thing goes for EA

[redrum666]

Ultra Games = Konami

in the UK Ultra Games was called PALCOM :D

[Melf]

nintendo rule was if you had made games for there system 1st you can only make games for nintendo what Activision did was released games 1st on Atari systems then on to sega master system then on nintendo they got past it like that same thing goes for EA
Actually, Nintendo's licensing agreement initially only allowed 3 games released on the NES per year by each licensee, as well as total exclusivity. When Tengen (Atari Games, owned by Namco's Masaya Nakamura) sued it for monopolistic practices, Nintendo slackened the leash a bit. The biggest companies could release 3 more games under "subsidaries" like Ultra for Konami and LJN for Acclaim, as well as publish for other consoles. They could also manufacture their own cartridges (while still paying a fee to Nintendo to make them NES compatible).

[redrum666]

Actually, Nintendo's licensing agreement initially only allowed 3 games released on the NES per year by each licensee, as well as total exclusivity. When Tengen (Atari Games, owned by Namco's Masaya Nakamura) sued it for monopolistic practices, Nintendo slackened the leash a bit. The biggest companies could release 3 more games under "subsidaries" like Ultra for Acclaim and LJN for Acclaim, as well as publish for other consoles. They could also manufacture their own cartridges (while still paying a fee to Nintendo to make them NES compatible).

you mean Utra for Konami

Konami owned Ultra

[Melf]

D'oh! Stupid typo. :(

[redrum666]

Actually, Nintendo's licensing agreement initially only allowed 3 games released on the NES per year by each licensee, as well as total exclusivity. When Tengen (Atari Games, owned by Namco's Masaya Nakamura) sued it for monopolistic practices, Nintendo slackened the leash a bit. The biggest companies could release 3 more games under "subsidaries" like Ultra for Acclaim and LJN for Acclaim, as well as publish for other consoles. They could also manufacture their own cartridges (while still paying a fee to Nintendo to make them NES compatible).


allso what does that have to do with Activision releaseing games for sega master system :confused:

[j_factor]

Tengen = Atari

That wasn't anything to do with Nintendo or Sega, that was because the use of Atari in home games was owned by the other Atari. Tengen was the home branch of Atari Games, the arcade game company. Since 1984 that had been a separate company from Atari Corp., the company behind the consoles and computers. Atari Games didn't have the legal right to say "Atari" on any console or computer game release, so they created the Tengen label.

[Melf]

allso what does that have to do with Activision releaseing games for sega master system :confused:
I wasn't addressing that particular point at all. ;)

But, since you asked, I'll throw in my two cents. From everything I've seen, I'd suspect that Activision appeared on the Master System because it only distributed those games and didn't internally develop or port them. Rampage was licensed to Bally, and Cyborg Hunter and Bomber Raid were Sega titles.

[redrum666]

I wasn't addressing that particular point at all. ;).

but i kind was with my post ;)

what i was geting at with my post was nintendo had this thing if you released a game on there system 1st you could not port it to another system like what Activision did with ghostbusters it came out 1st on Atari 2600 then on sega master system the on nintendo that how Activision got around nintendo rule

[redrum666]

allso a lot of companies didnt think they would make any money if they released there games on other sytems like sega master system or any Atari system so they didnt even bother release there games 1st on sega master system or any Atari system

[Joe Redifer]

Seismic = AsmikYeah right show me proof.
I'd like to, but my guess is basically because their first release was Air Diver, by Asmik (and the two company names sound similar so logic dictates Seismic MUST be Asmik :) ). That's what this thread is about, mainly... to figure out who is actually what company. If it is wrong please let me know!