How Did Atari Get The Rights For Donkey Kong & DK Jr?

[nosweargamer]

Does anyone know how Atari got the rights to make home system cartridges for DK & DK Jr in the late 80's?

Since, the 2600 version re-releases seemed to be Coleco's games (complete with the Coleco name on screen) in Atari red label cartridges, I figured they purchased them from Coleco for the remainder of their contract, but I have seen conflicting reports.

 

Does anyone know how the got them, how long they were good for?

 

Also, did they somehow try to copy the NES game codes or did they simply build the games from scratch perhaps using the layout of the NES versions as a guide?

 

Thanks for any knowledge you have, and bonus points are giving if anyone knows the details of the Mario Bros. contracts too, such as how long the licenses were good for.

[Trebor]

...Also, did they somehow try to copy the NES game codes or did they simply build the games from scratch perhaps using the layout of the NES versions as a guide?...

The latter:

 

"It looks like Atari could have copied the graphics and screen layout. They look very similar. I've looked at a disassembly of the NES version and it is completely different from Atari's in how it was coded. I'm not just talking about the graphics/sound routines that would obviously be different. The whole game engine is organized differently."

 

Source: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/204250-donkey-kong-xm-pre-order-and-demo/page-11?do=findComment&comment=2648999

 

nternational [T]echnology [D]evelopment [C]orporation is the developer of Nintendo games on the 7800.

 

Located in Santa Clara, CA in the mid-late 1980's, founded and headed by Roderick Macleod. Considering how much(less) resources were being spent on the 7800, ITDC had a subsidiary called Shanghai Software Consortium (SSC), which utilized low-cost Chinese programmers; therefore, it's possible the ports were handled (cheaply) in China. Enter the horrendous handling of TIA sound among other things.

[nosweargamer]

Thanks Trebor! Good info!

 

Anyone have a clue on how Atari got the contract rights or details about them?

I find it fascinating that DK, DK Jr and Mario all appeared on the 7800 while the NES was going strong.

I'm guessing that contracts Atari got predated the NES by a couple years.

[Trebor]

I'm guessing that contracts Atari got predated the NES by a couple years.

Atari had the license contract rights to the disk/computer ports of Nintendo owned titles.

 

Coleco had the license contract rights to the cart/console ports of Nintendo owned titles.

 

Coleco showcasing a port of Donkey Kong on the ADAM computer was one of the factors in the stalled (and ultimately fell through) relationship of Atari distributing (a redesigned) Famicom.

 

Nonetheless, the Coleco contract was long passed its effective date by the time the 7800 was around, and of course Coleco was well out of the video game business.

 

Additionally, the original copyright holder of an Arcade game was not bound by the restrictions Nintendo placed on companies for making a competitive version after creating an NES port.

The original copyright holder was able to license out rights of an Arcade game to multiple platforms. We see Ikari Warriors, Commando, Kung-Fu Master, Rampage, Xenophobe, on the 7800, in part, for that reason.

There was a long legal dispute regarding the rights of Donkey Kong between the (co-)developer Ikegami Tsushinki and Shigeru Miyamoto/Nintendo that also involved Donkey Kong Jr. as well. It may have played a part too, as it did not pan out until ~1990.

Still, it would be great to have something definitive - not conjecture or speculation - on the exact specifics concerning the 7800 ports. There is a pretty decent thread on the subject here about a dozen years ago. Some misinformation/false conclusions, some opinions, and some facts, but nothing concrete on the exact licensing specifics of the Nintendo titles to the 7800 platform. For the most part though, it's still a good read.

[Andromeda Stardust]

The 7800 was slated to release in 1984. Atari probably secured the contract prior to the NES release when Nintendo did not yet have access to the home console market in the US, despite the fact those games came out later. Essentially, the games got "grandfathered" onto Atari consoles.

Edited October 4, 2015 by stardust4ever

[Lynxpro]

The 7800 was slated to release in 1984. Atari probably secured the contract prior to the NES release when Nintendo did not yet have access to the home console market in the US, despite the fact those games came out later. Essentially, the games got "grandfathered" onto Atari consoles.

 

That and the 2600 rights were probably renewed and transferred from Coleco over to Atari Corp which led to Atari Corp re-releasing them.

 

That's an assumption. It's a 99.9% probability Marty has all of the details.