The One Company that Stood Up to Nintendo

[@KeviRun]

I have seen a lot of people confused as to the why there's a "press here" red dot on the AVE carts, but the answer's pretty simple: it's to tell you how to get the cart in and out of the NES. When carts are inserted into the NES you would usually press down on the recessed portion of it to lock it in place or to unlock it - but that works very poorly with AVE games because the carts are thinner by design due to patent, and they will refuse to lock in place as easily as an official NES cart does. You 'press here' to fully engage the locking mechanism and to unlock it. That is why the red circle text is only seen correctly on insertion and when the cart is already depressed. Try it out for yourselves and you will see how it makes sense to have it there.

[@Larry]

Fun Fact: There is actually a 2 player mode on the Nintendo version of NES Tetris, however it's buried in the game code as it's unfinished, but you can still access it with a Game Genie!

[@VOAN]

My guess is that they purposely held that mode back for the NES version so it doesn't affect the Game Boy version. As we all know the Game Boy version of Tetris was to be bundle with every Game Boy, if the NES version had a multiplayer then people wouldn't need it for the Game Boy.

[@ladanivadriver1578]

Hello you !

[@Larry]

@@VOAN Quite possibly. Probably why they wanted to remove the Tengen version off the market all the more!

[@rustymixer2886]

Nice info, what's game genie code

[@pojr]

​@@VOANthat's a good point. Never thought of that! Would have been interesting if they implemented the 2 player functionality, especially if they implemented garbage.

[@georgef551]

That commercial with Hogan only aired once? I guess I was "Lucky" enough to have seen it.

[@mchenrynick]

13:12 How crap, $150 PLUS SHIPPING for that MaxiVision cart (in 1990 money)!!!

[@pojr]

yeah it's a lot of money, and it's hidden by the "3 easy payments" statement. $150 for 30 games doesn't sound too bad though, right?

[@chrisz5z]

​@@pojrit's bad if most of the games are bad. Action 52 was a similar deal @ $199, and all but a couple of the included games were bearable

[@VOAN]

Another company that goes against Nintendo and beat them is Galoob, the maker of the Game Genie. Nintendo sued them for trying to make an accessory that allows for game modification or unlocking features in games. Nintendo lose this one cause the product didn't violate any copyright and it doesn't modified a game in any way. The creator of the Game Genie says think of the Game Genie as a bookmark and the game as a book, if I already play through it and beat the game and later just wanted to jump back to a specific favorite part, level, or chapter of the game then I should be able to have that privilege. This is what the Game Genie allows for, nothing of copyright or modified of work had been ruin by this. If I already knew what the Jump Boot in Super Metroid does and want to get it sooner on my second play I should be able to do that.

[@pojr]

Very true. They tried to go after galoob but failed to do so.

[@wardrich]

Any idea if Codemasters were challenged? They had a pretty brazen cartridge design lol

[@BagOfMagicFood]

​@@wardrich Right, Codemasters designed the Game Genie, but they partnered with Camerica and Galoob early on.

[@wardrich]

@@BagOfMagicFood I meant more for their actual games like Firehawk and Micromachines. They had a switch on the back that would toggle between different ways to circumvetn the CIC chip

[@sillyolryan]

6:29 Am I the only one wondering where those bubbles are coming from?

[@OfDreamsIntMed]

no

[@SanithDemil]

I believe the press here sticker is just to show customers what to do with the cart inside of the toaster nes. You have to insert then press down.

[@FeralInferno]

Getting flashbacks seeing those sliver sized breaks in Pyramid! 😆

[@pojr]

Lol yeah it was a miserable experience.

[@Mr.WhatzitTooya]

That Mermaids of Atlantis game was more of a Bust-A-Move clone than a Tetris clone

[@btr3k]

However... I think the Mermaids game came out first (1991 vs 1994)? Tetris really had everyone scrambling to make their own puzzle themed games so I think this is just a case of overlap in overall presentation...

[@Mr.WhatzitTooya]

@@btr3k Nah Tetris came first in like 1988.

[@btr3k]

@@Mr.WhatzitTooya Very true, Tetris was absolutely a groundbreaking game! I was talking about Puzzle Bobble though, which came out years after the Mermaids game.

[@lilmisssandi]

in uk we had codemaster which is still around today ,which i had micro machines was like the game genie had to plug another game into it to bypass the lockout chip

[@battra92]

Inside AVE carts there were papers which said you could send your NES in for modification and get a coupon towards an AVE game.

[@pojr]

Interesting. I didn't realize that. That's a great incentive to have your NES modded, to get a coupon for a discounted game.

[@Naedlus]

And here I was hoping this would be about Philips Electronics, and how the only difference between the operation of the Philips Air Mouse, and the Wiimote, was that the IR blaster had two points to track on the Wii, and the Air Mouse was wired

[@Dwedit]

Tengen Tetris was originally developed for the VS System. Since Atari Games (Tengen) held the exclusive rights to release arcade versions of Tetris, they had to be the ones who would develop the VS system version. Then afterwards, Tengen wanted to release their version of Tetris on the NES. Then the rest is history.

[@BlueMSX.]

I always wondered about AVE, I knew about crazy creatures and the maxi 15, but it's nice to get the full story. great video Pojr!

[@SN64YT]

Yeah, I haven't heard of them until this video, so it is nice to understand the full lore and backstory on this one! 😆 I am happy for you making another comment on a pojr video though! ^^

[@JaxCoolKartunes]

BlueMSX unban me from the server.

[@bes03c]

The font for "American Video Entertainment" bothers me.

[@pojr]

Not my favorite logo in general

[@kenwheeler3637]

$150 for that multicart and then they cut 50% of the games without notice. 😳 People that coughed that up must have been livid. Interesting story though. I never knew these details about this company.

[@pojr]

The maxivision cartridge is one of the biggest "what ifs" in gaming history. Had it kept the 30 games and the infomercial aired more than once, it might have had more success.

[@SRC543]

I doubt that's exactly how it went down. The orders for the Maxi 30 were never delivered, so they were likely cancelled and referred to their Maxi 15 cartridge instead. Still, it must've been a real gut bunch to know that expensive game you set aside money for didn't even exist for sale.

[@SRC543]

Considering the relatively low price modern day collector's value and the NESWorld interview saying they sold 5,000 copies to one distributor alone, they probably sold somewhere over 10,000 copies and also got some extra cash by licensing the game out to HES in Australia. Not sure if it turned a profit with all of the infomercial money, but I hope it was at least a modest success for them because it really is a pretty neat multicartridge.

[@jackofallgamesTV]

Hey Pojr. I was wondering if you'll do a video on Beeshu, the elite joystick maker of the post-crash 80s. They were "warrantee threatened" yet go 30% of the NES Fight Stick (wasn't called a Fight Stick back then) market with the Superstick which had clicky feedback and an ambidextrous layout. Unlike the Advantage, which was for lefties only and had a rocker mechanism for the joystick. Beeshu applied for an NES accessory licence. And got denied simply because (I assume either) A Nintendo wanted 100% of the joystick market, or B failed Beeshu on quality check for "allowing right handed joystick play". They took it to the FTC and had since added a Genesis and a Turbo Grafx license, so there was a licensed NES Beeshu Superstick.

[@mchenrynick]

3:37 Deathbots look like Gauntlet reimagined.

[@SN64YT]

Oh hey, pojr! After being an active viewer for about a few months after I found you out from the first Atari 50 video if I recall and gone down the rabbit hole ever since, I just wanted to say that you made a very nice and informative video, and I did really enjoyed them, just like all of the other ones that I have watched in the past every time one drops. :) Doesn't mean that I watched every single video, because I am still keeping up with watching videos and shorts just so it be all interconnected here in my personal brain and satisfaction and standards that really is just a small thing anyways, hehe! 😆 Yeah, I can outright admit that I am a fan of the pojr train content that keeps on arriving! 🚂💨 You keep at it with the content here like a champ here with being committed here, which some people take for granted for, but when taking account for the exams and work you have to do outside of KZbin, it is truly remarkable stuff here, and you are doing as much as you can for your viewers as well, despite it not being as necessary! 😄 I can feel you can get a name out there for yourself with how your going with your commitment for providing content to your standards and your supportive user base spreading the word. What I would imagine that might happen next eventually if you want to branch out with content is maybe probably to test out live streaming, as it could be very interesting with you playing retro games and chatting with active fans and getting donations, which might be a fun time possibly. If you have the time for it of course. 😉 This and probably some other things with the trend of being creative and going all out with your brand identity, can be very interesting with you taking risks, and planing out based on the risks to see what works or does not work, which can be interesting to see taking place.... 🤔 You got a lot of potential as a content creator and personality, that's what all of my points comes towards here! ^^ But that's all I have to say with my two cents writing this here! I hope I at least made you smile if you are somehow read this message from a small active fan. All that I can say lastly is this thing here. You rock, pojr! 🎸✨

[@pojr]

I really appreciate your support, people like yourself make content creation worth it!! I've been busy with school and life, but it's all worth it when I see that people enjoy my videos. I do like the idea of livestreaming someday. Might be cool to play a retro game, and interact with the fans in the process. I'm glad you're part of the community, I've seen you around in the comments and the discord.

[@SRC543]

Regarding Sachen's Q-Boy (1994 (!)) and Hell Fighter (1991), I don't think the timeline ever really allowed for these games to come to the US. If you look at a chronological listing of their TC-0xx and SA-0xx, almost every reasonably marketable game that was developed by 1990 made it to the US via AVE or Color Dreams/Bunch Games. Jovial Race and perhaps The Penguin and Seal/Artic Adventure were the only decent titles that didn't make the cut. (Hilariously, Little Red Hood was passed for quality concerns by AVE and still got a HES release.) I imagine these early Sachen titles were pretty hot commodities for these budget publishers in the US considering how many made the jump to the US market. Galactic Crusader was no Gradius but damn if it didn't feel like a masterpiece compared to most of Color Dreams' self published games.

[@pojr]

true. i'll admit, i didn't look into the release dates of those games when i talked about them. 1994 especially would have been too late.

[@TheShospitali]

Nintendo didn't want what happened to Atari to happen to them. They wanted quality control. Atari allowed anyone to make & produce games for their systems. Thats when a bunch of bad games was made. It Contributed to the video game crash of 1983.

[@pojr]

100% true. that was nintendo's reason for having a lockout chip and licensees in the first place. with that said, some of their terms were overly strict, like only allowing 5 games a year and having to sign an exclusivity clause.

[@OnafetsEnovap]

@@pojr Another reason why home computers tended to fare somewhat better - in Europe, at least. The games were cheaper and the machines themselves (C64, ZX Spectrum, etc.) were more flexible and versatile, they could be used for more than just gaming devices (not to mention the games were also easy to copy on blank tapes or disks).

[@coryengel]

“Clone” means a direct copy, with only rebranding, renaming, or slight graphical changes to an original. Making a new game in the same genre as or inspired by another game is not enough to slap the clone label on it. If the games you accused of being “Tetris clones” are in fact “clones,” then so is Ms. Pac-Man and Dr. Mario.

[@Mikael404]

That's incorrect here read this. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_clone

[@David_Ladd]

Thank you for making your videos @pojr So much information and interestingly put. :D

[@SN64YT]

As a person who also watched this video after the Christmas season, I can confirm that this was also a interesting and informative video! I rarely have feel like commenting on a pojr video before, so this is my first time actually making this comment. I actually do want to make this comment because I feel like I really have it in me to do so, compared to the other times where I did not have much feelings to do so! :)

[@pojr]

Really appreciate it!

[@SenecaRaccoon]

I remember seeing those games on the shelves and just hard passing, because of how bad the box art was!

[@pojr]

Yeah a lot of the artwork looks pretty bad lol. I also feel that way about some color dreams games.

[@OnafetsEnovap]

@@pojr Nintendo's strict, almost tyrannical, policies is what kept me from liking the NES as a platform (and, to a lesser extent, the SNES) for a long time.

[@ViewpointProd]

I noticed you said, not sure why, when talking about the button, I believe that it’s a measure for possibly parents buying the games for their children, and maybe not being familiar with how to insert NES cartridges, It doesn’t make sense, when, in the context of the Toploader, but with the original, considering you were required to push down, that’s why it’s that

[@fatihozis]

You know what is interesthing ? At the time Nintendo dont sell any licensed famicom in Turkey but this company sell f15 not a famiclone cartride and they make Turkish label for the cartridges. Ps: i have one of these allready 😄

[@luisreyes1963]

Every game cranked out by American Video Entertainment was a flaming fudgebag. No wonder most of the top-drawer games remained in Japan. ☹️

[@MCastleberry1980]

While their practices bit them in the ass with the n64, I get why Nintendo were so strict in the U.S. market. The Famicom market between '83-'85 had gotten flooded with trash, and they were fully aware that video games were almost a dirty word in the states after a bunch of junk games crashed the u.s. market for a couple of years. Not that there weren't crappy NES games, but at least they had LJN on a leash lol

[@pojr]

Never thought about it that way, but you make a great point. Might be why the NES generally had a higher quality of games.

[@ExtremeWreck]

Technically they put LJN on a leash, but Acclaim & Ocean Software still existed.

[@SRC543]

That's the more charitable way to look at it. Knowing what we know now about Nintendo, I think it's always been more about the control (of branding and profits) than the quality. That being said they did try to stop Action 52 so they get credit for that.

[@MCastleberry1980]

@SRC543 oh it was definitely a control thing, but they were trying to make money in a market that cratered and made moves to not repeat the conditions that killed Atari.

[@The_Sofa_King]

Amazing video man! I didn’t know this before and I am glad you are showing off Nintendo history. Please keep making more Nintendo videos! Thanks!

[@pojr]

Thank you so much! I definitely plan on making more videos related to the NES and Nintendo.

[@SumeaBizarro]

A lot of people use word mahjong in west wrong, but I do not blame them given all the computer games that perpetuate this. But mahjong is actually (Strictly) 4 player game that some people might have played in form of "Shanghai" with two playing card decks needed. What a lot of people call mahjong is more akin to Solitaire with mahjong pieces that I am sure is an actual thing someone who owned mahjong tiles would have played by themselves to pass the time. Confusingly enough, I think another more differeniating name for the form of non-mahjong is called "Shanghai" back in early 90's and before it, which is a hoot and singular holler for sure given the playing card adaption of (actual) mahjong is also called Shanghai. Still, Mahjong is the game they play in anime/manga series Akagi for pints of blood and other such high stakes as Mahjong also has ties to being used as a gambling game, but the other type way more people know I think should be called either Shanghai or Shanghai Mahjong, or Solitaire Mahjong. It is just as someone who has played both types, and way more of the non-solitaire variant that people say "just mahjong" and I do not see actual mahjong on the screen. And (actual) mahjong games were a big deal in Japan back in 80's and 90's where a whole multi button panel was a pseudo standard for arcade mahjong games.

[@jimmyclaw9974]

Love the Mission Cobra shoutout. One for the real POJR OGs.

[@thedallastexan]

Thanks, @pojr! Informative and entertaining.

[@pojr]

Thank you so much!

[@stevemelo]

@Pojr How did they get around the lock out chip? I wish you would have included that information in the video

[@superbros64deluxe]

8:34 "Nintendo would never allow a game about drugs on thier platform" Narc for the NES would like to say hi lol

[@OnafetsEnovap]

Nice mic, P. :) What is it?

[@reburgcam]

"Press here" think about how you eject the cartridge. You press down then it pops up.

[@nick-vc5hn]

good video

[@pojr]

thank you!

[@RainePhoenix]

Krazy Kreatures is so fun! My brother and I used to love playing the game co-op. I don't know why more puzzle games don't allow you to do that.

[@btr3k]

8:29 sorry for the "ackshually" here, but Narc did come out for the NES. How did Acclaim get Nintendo to "bend" their policies for that one, who can know... oh wait, I've got it! - $$$ (To be clear, I love Narc... never really played the NES version though, so I don't know how much it's toned down)

[@ShanetheFreestyler]

Ah! Krazy Kreatures! That was a game I used to play for hours! Still waiting for the Krazy Kreatures II they promised at the end of the game.

[@retropalooza]

Stop the jump cuts it's annoying, the smile was ok though....mxic went to mve(AVE)because the CEO was mad at yamauchi for signing with Yokois grandfather who was ceo at st. Giga which birthed the satellaview because he didn't Believe in Yokois gameboyand mermaids turned bubble bath babes....turn into a religion company and sell games

[@TiBiAstro]

are you related to spawnwave? you look similar in a way I can't put my finger on.

[@nexhep]

God bless unlicensed games. They better enabled so many "broker" peeps to get into gaming back then, what with how expensive genuine Nintendo games were new.

[@SRC543]

I wish this was an aspect that people would consider more when critiquing these types of games. Aside from a few diamonds in the rough, the games by AVE and Color Dreams weren't "good" but they catered to a forgotten demographic.

[@Riz2336]

Hulk hogan dude haha

[@VOAN]

I miss Hulk Hogan man, he should return to pro wrestling and help train the younger guys at AEW.

[@chaphidoesstuff]

Woah

[@JosiahGould]

That button on the cartridge? It sends a voltage pulse to the CIC chip to disable/bypass the authentication circuit. Zap!

[@Volcell-85]

Answer to my comments pojr!

[@joeyfarris2543]

Nintendo for the win!!!!!!!! In the end Nintendo was victorious even if people didn't want them to win

[@VOAN]

The history of Nintendo's favorite two letter word are still heard to this very day. Recently they used it was when Valve came to ask them about Dolphin coming to Steam and Nintendo says no.

[@rockerteen8300]

GD your smile is so fake and creepy.

[@ThriftLife]

first

[@gaeshows1938]

First