GUIDE: Identifying Accolade/Ballistic And Majesco Reprints

[chessage]

Since this subject isn't covered very well, I thought I'd make a decent guide on identifying the different types of Genesis reprint cartridges. As far as I have seen, there's only two companies that produced reprints for Sega as well as third-party companies: Accolade/Ballistic and Majesco.

How do you tell which type of reprint is yours? Just examine the following elements:

The Box:
[Majesco]


If you flip over the paperboard box and examine the fine print at the bottom, you should find Majesco's address as well as "Assembled in Mexico" written somewhere nearby.

[Accolade/Ballistic]


Accolade/Ballistic reprints will usually come in the standard plastic clamshell box with a sticker on the back that reads "Published by Ballistic" and a mentioning of "Assembled in Mexico" somewhere near the fine print. Some games may also include a then up to date ratings marker from the ESRB that wasn't there on the game's original printing.

The Cartridge:
[Majesco]


On the back of a Majesco game cartridge, you will find a large black sticker that thoroughly covers an Acclaim Entertainment logo. This sticker will be larger and darker than those used by Accolade/Ballistic.

[Accolade/Ballistic]


As mentioned above, Accolade/Ballistic used smaller stickers to mask the Acclaim Entertainment logo on the back of each cart. Even when placed crookedly, the stickers still stay within the bounds of the logo outline. It also appears that some cartridge molds were doctored to print the Sega logo instead and it probably saved some money on stickers in the process!

The ROM Chip:
[Majesco]-[Accolade/Ballistic]


All reprint carts use security Torx screws, so opening them shouldn't be difficult since most hardware stores sell the appropriate bit. Once you open the game cartridge, you will not only know the manufacturer, but the manufacturing date as well. Most ROM chips will come with a four digit date code: the last two digits of the year, followed by the week of production. Looking at the ROM chips above, Majesco's "J9810" means the PCB was manufactured on the tenth week of 1998, while Accolade's "9633" means the PCB was manufactured on the thirty third week of 1996.

If you examine the game's PCB and notice that the connector is missing pins, it is because the pins that originally occupied the space served no purpose to begin with and were simply removed as a cost saving measure. Function and gameplay will be no different between a reprint and an original cartridge of the same game.

The Owner's Manual:

When examining a Majesco manual, you should notice two things:

1.) It's entirely printed in black & white.
2.) On the warranty page, Majesco will be mentioned instead of the game's original publisher.

Accolade/Ballistic reprint manuals will be slightly different:

1.) It will be either entirely black & white or black & white pages with a cover printed in color.
2.) On the warranty page, the game's original publisher will be mentioned with no reference to Accolade/Ballistic.

--

Thank you for taking the time to read my handy guide. If you have any corrections, compliments, complaints, or general comments, just fire away!

[streetsofrage]

i think i may have Majesco reprints in my collection

[Genesis32XCD]

I have a Championship Pro-Am cart that is a Midway re-release.

Attachment 1055
The label has the red stripe, ESRB rating, Tradewest info replaced by Midway logo/info, and missing pins.

Attachment 1056
It has a large sticker covering the back logo and torx screws.

The manual for the Midway version is in black/white.

[Aarzak]

I have a Championship Pro-Am cart that is a Midway re-release.

Attachment 1055
The label has the red stripe, ESRB rating, Tradewest info replaced by Midway logo/info, and missing pins.

Attachment 1056
It has a large sticker covering the back logo and torx screws.

The manual for the Midway version is in black/white.

Woah, I've never seen such a re-print! An official, non-Majesco re-print, late in the Genesis' life? Midway never released Genesis games with their post-1997 logo. Hell, all of their last releases on the Genesis were published through their subsidiary, Williams. You've sure got an oddity in your hands.

[streetsofrage]

i have a copy of streets of rage 3 and it has a black and white manual , is it also a Majesco reprint ?

[Aarzak]

I doubt that SoR3 received more than one print run. It explains why its amongst the most expensive Genesis games to collect. By 1994, Genesis manuals had shifted to all-black & white.

[chessage]

Woah, I've never seen such a re-print! An official, non-Majesco re-print, late in the Genesis' life? Midway never released Genesis games with their post-1997 logo. Hell, all of their last releases on the Genesis were published through their subsidiary, Williams. You've sure got an oddity in your hands.

Actually, both Williams and Midway were Subsidiaries of WMS Industries. WMS bought out Tradewest and eventually handed down the assets to Midway:

Tradewest was acquired by WMS Industries (the owners of the Williams and Midway brands) in 1994, and renamed Williams Entertainment, Inc., thus signaling the end of Tradewest as a company. Williams Entertainment became WMS's official division and entrance to the video game console market. In 1996, WMS was losing interest in video games and, as such, Williams Entertainment was transferred to Midway who renamed the division Midway Home Entertainment, Inc.. Like it was the case with WMS, the division served as Midway's foothold to the home console market, who could now develop and publish video games in-house without having to rely on other publishers.

That's why Midway issued a reprint of Championship Pro-Am, to make a quick buck off of their newly aquired Tradewest assets.

[CRV]

All this time I thought Ballistic re-releases WERE Majesco re-releases (For some reason, I thought maybe Majesco bought Accolade's Ballistic label.).

[old man]

Both my six pack (no not my abs silly) and sonic 3 are Majesco re-releases. They have made in mexico and Majesco's address on the lower back. It makes sense, since I bought them both the same time I bought a genesis 3 which was also made by majesco.

[tz101]

I have some carts that came without the clamshell, but have a black sticker covering the Acclaim sticker. I inadvertently ruined these with alcohol and a cotton swab while cleaning the cart casing. The funny thing is that the Acclaim logo comes through pretty nicely when the black ink is removed from the sticker, so those must have been some thinly done decals to begin with.