Nintendo being the first and (probably yet) the last who licensed a bootleg game

[johannesmutlu]

Normally it is not allowed to make a bootleg game from someones else properties,BUT. due the high demand of donkeykong and the fact that nintendo couldn’t keep up with the high demand of it,they allowed falcon to make and distribute their bootleg version of donkeykong called crazy kong to be released in europe,HOWEVER after nintendo found out that those crazy kong cabinets also appeared in the us by small companiea such as gasstations,restaurants,cavatarias etc,,, nintendo soon sewed falcon to not met their licensing agreement with nintendo to only release (a limited amount !!??) of crazy kong cabinets in europe,but off course falcon simply couldn’t avoid that some of those european costumers would buy in alot of amount of crazy kong cabinets and sneakingly distribute them trough subsideries in the us,unless falcon would,ve strictly ask their costumers at what they would do with those crazy kong cabinets in case they would,ve be so afraid for getting trouble with nintendo,but off course in general you wouldn’t think about and don’t care about that because all you want to see is money,

but after nintendo sewed falcon for not metting their license agreement with nintendo ,falcon just couldn’t prove that some of their european costumers would sneakingly without their control to release crazy kong in the us and japan,and so the judge decided in favor of nintendo to commit falcon to pay all the loses nintendo made and not allowing anymore to releasevcrazy kong at all,

BUT once donkeykong jr came around,falcon tout that it was a good idea to came up with their bootleg version of donkeykong jr being called crazy kong junior,they tout they could get away with it,but what were they wrong as nintendo used a criminal case against them and letting the director of falcon getting arrested,it’s a set story but it happened,

BUT it was atleast the first and last time that nintendo licensed a bootleg game just to keep up with the demand for it,and they probably will never ever do it again unless i will be wrong,

also so far i know sega,atari and sony never did this,did they???

[johannesmutlu]

4 hours ago, johannesmutlu said:

Normally it is not allowed to make a bootleg game from someones else properties,BUT. due the high demand of donkeykong and the fact that nintendo couldn’t keep up with the high demand of it,they allowed falcon to make and distribute their bootleg version of donkeykong called crazy kong to be released in europe,HOWEVER after nintendo found out that those crazy kong cabinets also appeared in the us by small companiea such as gasstations,restaurants,cavatarias etc,,, nintendo soon sewed falcon to not met their licensing agreement with nintendo to only release (a limited amount !!??) of crazy kong cabinets in europe,but off course falcon simply couldn’t avoid that some of those european costumers would buy in alot of amount of crazy kong cabinets and sneakingly distribute them trough subsideries in the us,unless falcon would,ve strictly ask their costumers at what they would do with those crazy kong cabinets in case they would,ve be so afraid for getting trouble with nintendo,but off course in general you wouldn’t think about and don’t care about that because all you want to see is money,

but after nintendo sewed falcon for not metting their license agreement with nintendo ,falcon just couldn’t prove that some of their european costumers would sneakingly without their control to release crazy kong in the us and japan,and so the judge decided in favor of nintendo to commit falcon to pay all the loses nintendo made and not allowing anymore to releasevcrazy kong at all,

BUT once donkeykong jr came around,falcon tout that it was a good idea to came up with their bootleg version of donkeykong jr being called crazy kong junior,they tout they could get away with it,but what were they wrong as nintendo used a criminal case against them and letting the director of falcon getting arrested,it’s a set story but it happened,

BUT it was atleast the first and last time that nintendo licensed a bootleg game just to keep up with the demand for it,and they probably will never ever do it again unless i will be wrong,

also so far i know sega,atari and sony never did this,did they???

By the way,to futher compound to this sad story, a whopping 100.000 crazy komg cabinets were impounded by the state in the us alone to avoid any more futher manufactoring,distribution,selling or use of it by operators whose possessing those cabinets,yes that’s right nintendo were seeking down manufactors,distributors or even operators whose possessing and operating those crazy kong cabinets in the us,now i don’t know how many crazy kong cabinets were sold BUT if we count those 100.000 conviscated crazy kong cabinets along with those ones sold in europe & japan it might be over 150.000 altogether or more i guess???

for what i,ve readed is that 160.000 donkeykong cabinets were sold and since crazy kong was a licensed bootlegged version of it,it’s fair to count those ones altogether as well,thus assuming that altogether over 310.000 or more (including donkeykong & crazy kong cabinets) were sold (eventrough in the contract it was stated that only a limited amount were allowed to be produced and sold in europe and nowhere else) but still,,,,

eventrough many sites do claim that palcon was only allowed to distribute their bootleg game in japan,but i personally consider that a bullclaim since nintendo was already making & destributing their game in japan,so why would they ever have a bootlegged version alongside it to potentially form a treat against them?

that’s why i believe that crazy kong was only allowed to be destributed in europe and nowhere else because nintendo simply just couldn’t met the demand outside the us & japan🤣

[johannesmutlu]

Well it turns out atari did a similar thing,they agreed a licensing deal with coca cola to allow a bootleg version of space invaders called pepsi invaders (eventrough atari hired christoper omarzu to create that bootleg game)  to be released in limited quantities as an advert game to promote coca cola drink,BUT. I consider this as a way of unfair competition by attacking some else’s brand name,i don’t understand why this was allowed back then,am mean just imagine if trump did make an  advertgame of sonic the hedge hog with permission from sega or supermariobos with permission from nintendo  in wich trump became the main character but hillary clinton the end boss and killing hillary clinton fans along the way,than this could,ve encourage violance between trump & clinton fans,is that something you would allow as a us goverment?? I don’t think so and it shouldn’t,but oh well if nobody cares,i shouldn’t care either since am living far far away from the us so hahaha ,but about that pepsi invader game,am amezed that it’s cartride doesn’t have a label just to be cheap ass,

i don’t see any value in this,unless you are a huge atari & coca cola and also sneaky a pepsi fan,but that’s it.

[Wayler]

To get some sense, I read the Wikipedia article on Crazy Kong:

 

"Although commonly believed to be a bootleg version, it was officially licensed for operation only in Japan when Nintendo couldn't keep up with domestic demand (even though Donkey Kong was still released there),^[1] and is based on different hardware. It retains all the gameplay elements of Donkey Kong, but its graphics were redrawn and re-colorized. Falcon breached their contract by exporting the cabinets overseas, leading Nintendo to revoke the license in January 1982."

 

You might want to inform Wikipedia that their information on this matter is incorrect and too coherent. 

 

Also, sewing someone as a punishment for a breach of licensing contract sounds brutal. I know Nintendo takes harsh measures in defending their intellectual property but I didn't know them to result in medieval torture tactics. @Cebus Capucinis, as the resident expert on corporate law, is this a common occurence in the business world? 

[Cebus Capucinis]

All the time. People are constantly being sewn. It's a huge part of buttoning up deals and sealing the terms.

[Flojomojo]

Ms. Pac-Man seems like another example of companies working together for a common advantage 

[roots.genoa]

Wow, this gives "I'm gonna sew your ass" a totally new meaning! 🤯

[Wayler]

2 hours ago, roots.genoa said:

Wow, this gives "I'm gonna sew your ass" a totally new meaning! 🤯

Well actually, this has been discussed and documented before:

[Cebus Capucinis]

3 hours ago, Wayler said:

Well actually, this has been discussed and documented before:

100% MEDICALLY ACCURATE 

[johannesmutlu]

On 6/10/2023 at 4:15 PM, Flojomojo said:

Ms. Pac-Man seems like another example of companies working together for a common advantage 

Yeah true that and not only that but this reminds me of the story such as this,,

Otto was developed as an enhancement kit for Pac-man cabinets by General Computer Corporation (GCC). GCC also created an upgrade kit for Missile Command titled Super Missile Command, for which they were sued by Atari, but the suit was dropped and the two companies entered into a business arrangement. GCC went on to develop the arcade games Fight and Quantum for Atari, as well as games for the Atari 2600, 5200 and other game consoles.

 

[johannesmutlu]

1 hour ago, johannesmutlu said:

Yeah true that and not only that but this reminds me of the story such as this,,

Otto was developed as an enhancement kit for Pac-man cabinets by General Computer Corporation (GCC). GCC also created an upgrade kit for Missile Command titled Super Missile Command, for which they were sued by Atari, but the suit was dropped and the two companies entered into a business arrangement. GCC went on to develop the arcade games Fight and Quantum for Atari, as well as games for the Atari 2600, 5200 and other game consoles.

 

While Both atari,namco and nintendo did eventually accepted a deal GCC. Or falcon to meet demand or to come with improved versions of their games  such as crazykong,crazy otto and super missile attack but then they both decided to brake the contract after contract infrightments from those companies because 1 or they were keep continuing coming up with new clones of their games or 2 they distributed those clone games in other states without their permission and so here we are🤣

Edited June 17 by johannesmutlu

[johannesmutlu]

On 6/10/2023 at 9:28 AM, johannesmutlu said:

Well it turns out atari did a similar thing,they agreed a licensing deal with coca cola to allow a bootleg version of space invaders called pepsi invaders (eventrough atari hired christoper omarzu to create that bootleg game)  to be released in limited quantities as an advert game to promote coca cola drink,BUT. I consider this as a way of unfair competition by attacking some else’s brand name,i don’t understand why this was allowed back then,am mean just imagine if trump did make an  advertgame of sonic the hedge hog with permission from sega or supermariobos with permission from nintendo  in wich trump became the main character but hillary clinton the end boss and killing hillary clinton fans along the way,than this could,ve encourage violance between trump & clinton fans,is that something you would allow as a us goverment?? I don’t think so and it shouldn’t,but oh well if nobody cares,i shouldn’t care either since am living far far away from the us so hahaha ,but about that pepsi invader game,am amezed that it’s cartride doesn’t have a label just to be cheap ass,

i don’t see any value in this,unless you are a huge atari & coca cola and also sneaky a pepsi fan,but that’s it.

BTW while am talking about those official moddified games by those game companies because of license deals with companies wich has nothing to do with video games,but still resulted in those games to be modded and turned into advert games and so aside from the official modded game space invaders turned into pepsi invaders by atari,nintendo turned their supermariobros game into all night nippon supermariobros game for a japanese radio company for the famicom disksystem😁

[slab0meat]

Late her and off-topic, but does any of this tie into the game (I remember seeing maybe ONE?)  Kongorilla?  or Congorilla?

 

I barely remember it but was the DK style, and I think you could walk through the gorilla, not die from touching it.

 

[Zonie]

I remember Krazy Kong. We called it Retardo Kong due to the odd sound effects.

[82-T/A]

On 6/10/2023 at 3:28 AM, johannesmutlu said:

Well it turns out atari did a similar thing,they agreed a licensing deal with coca cola to allow a bootleg version of space invaders called pepsi invaders (eventrough atari hired christoper omarzu to create that bootleg game)  to be released in limited quantities as an advert game to promote coca cola drink,BUT. I consider this as a way of unfair competition by attacking some else’s brand name,i don’t understand why this was allowed back then,am mean just imagine if trump did make an  advertgame of sonic the hedge hog with permission from sega or supermariobos with permission from nintendo  in wich trump became the main character but hillary clinton the end boss and killing hillary clinton fans along the way,than this could,ve encourage violance between trump & clinton fans,is that something you would allow as a us goverment?? I don’t think so and it shouldn’t,but oh well if nobody cares,i shouldn’t care either since am living far far away from the us so hahaha ,but about that pepsi invader game,am amezed that it’s cartride doesn’t have a label just to be cheap ass,

i don’t see any value in this,unless you are a huge atari & coca cola and also sneaky a pepsi fan,but that’s it.

 

 

Hahah... you'd think they'd call it "CocaCola Defenders" but I understand they wanted to keep the name as close to space invaders as possible. That's pretty funny!

 

Half my family is from the Netherlands, and I used to spend my summers there when I was a kid. I remember my family there had an Atari 7800, but it had different controllers. Totally different from mine... I thought it was really cool. If I'm not mistaken, I spent like almost all my time playing a game which I think was Pengo.

[Wayler]

On 7/13/2023 at 3:52 PM, 82-T/A said:

Half my family is from the Netherlands, and I used to spend my summers there when I was a kid.

Why bring up the Netherlands all of a sudden? Has it something to do with Crazy Kong? 

[82-T/A]

8 minutes ago, Wayler said:

Why bring up the Netherlands all of a sudden? Has it something to do with Crazy Kong? 

 

I was responding to @johannesmutlu, whom is from the Netherlands...

 

 

That's just kind of what people do you know... haha... find a familiarity, talk about it, and that's how you build rapport.

 

I suppose I could have said, "Hey, I noticed you are from the Netherlands... did you know that..."

 

...but I have a short attention span and figured if he was still responding, he'd pick up on it and roll with it.

 

 

EDIT: Like how I might say, hey... I see you are from Finland... my favorite all-time Formula-1 driver is Kimi Raikonnen. I love how arrogant Lewis Hamilton was until his tire flew off around that turn, allowing Kimi to take the world championship despite Hamilton's more superior car at the time. And then I would go on to say, hey @johannesmutlu... how about Max Verstappen?

 

Edited July 15 by 82-T/A

[Wayler]

Ah yes gotcha. He's from Netherland though, the realm of the dying periods. But don't worry, we all make mistakes. It's easy to mix these two. 

[SwanSong]

On 6/10/2023 at 2:28 AM, johannesmutlu said:

Well it turns out atari did a similar thing,they agreed a licensing deal with coca cola to allow a bootleg version of space invaders called pepsi invaders (eventrough atari hired christoper omarzu to create that bootleg game)  to be released in limited quantities as an advert game to promote coca cola drink,BUT. I consider this as a way of unfair competition by attacking some else’s brand name,i don’t understand why this was allowed back then,am mean just imagine if trump did make an  advertgame of sonic the hedge hog with permission from sega or supermariobos with permission from nintendo  in wich trump became the main character but hillary clinton the end boss and killing hillary clinton fans along the way,than this could,ve encourage violance between trump & clinton fans,is that something you would allow as a us goverment?? I don’t think so and it shouldn’t,but oh well if nobody cares,i shouldn’t care either since am living far far away from the us so hahaha ,but about that pepsi invader game,am amezed that it’s cartride doesn’t have a label just to be cheap ass,

i don’t see any value in this,unless you are a huge atari & coca cola and also sneaky a pepsi fan,but that’s it.

Pepsi is the only time I have a regular sugar soda, I would enjoy to play this for the novelty but having the competition named in title seems like bad marketing.

[masschamber]

Dendy was kind of official /sanctioned (basically nintendo okd the sales of dendy as part of the distribution agreement with dendy manufacturer ) so nintendo actually did  it twice

[CatPix]

Did Nintendo did that? I do know Steepler did an agreement with Sega tho. And I think with Bobmark in Poland who sold a Megadrive clone.

I don't think Nintendo ever sanctionned the sales of the Dendy, but more tried to replace the Dendy with official NES/SNES products. But this is always a bit muddy, and sources are scarce (and all in Russian obvs).

Also for the topic, Valve has the habit of turning game modes into games. It's not "bootleg to official" since I don't remember the mods being sold, but it is "unofficial to official".

It's also very common for indie games to integrate mods (and even hire the modders!) in their games.

Project Zomboid and Workers & Ressources :Soviet Republic did it :

https://www.sovietrepublic.net/post/report-for-the-community-82

"Next up, we’ve handpicked some impressive mods to include in the basic game. A special thanks to dlseis, the brilliant creator of these new western cars, which you'll soon find in your game environments."

 

https://projectzomboid.com/blog/news/2023/05/the-skillful-huntzman/

"The Indie Stone would like to extend an excited hello to two new fine folks this week – Egor who will be joining the MP team as they move ahead with their upgrades, and community fan favourite DaddyDirkieDirk.

Dirk has joined our art team to pump out ever more delectable tiles to give our map more life, and its deepest parts some more intriguing objects to perceive in the darkness – and if you are interested in his fantastic work as a modder then we ran a Mod Spotlight on him only last week."

 

OFC those are recent examples, but saying that unofficial stuff becoming legit was only done by Nintendo is maaaybe just a bit short of the thruth, and may not even be that uncommon.

Copyright laws and their application, especially in the 70's and 80's for video games were a bit muddy, and things happened that may today seen as bootleg, that were back then falling in the cracks of the law, that companies regulated later to avoid issues.

Edited September 15 by CatPix