9 Times Developers Screwed the Console Manufacturers

It has not always been all happy and go lucky days in video games. No, back in the day we had some real controversial things going on, mostly behind the scenes but quite a few made it to the fanbase (such as the Tengen situation). There are poop monsters shooting a questionable brown projectile at you to company backstabbing ahead. Strap yourself in and get ready to find out the nine times that game developers screwed over console manufacturers.

Po'ed for 3DO by Any Channel

This was one of the early success stories of the Internet because development on PO’ed was developed by a company whose staff didn’t meet till the game was shown at an Electronics Entertainment Expo. The idea behind PO’ed involves a cook who is on a badly damaged spaceship that has crash landed on an alien planet. The denizens are not friendly either.

How did Any Channel get back at the 3DO Company? They were upset over dealings with the way things were going with the console(s) so they inserted a character that is literally a walking ass. Don’t ask what it shoots at you…

Warren Robinette and Adventure for the Atari 2600

This is probably one of the most famous Easter Eggs in gaming, though not so easy to explain how to earn it. Adventure was a big title for Atari back in the day, it was also a huge risk as nothing like it had been released before, arguably since then either. There weren’t any space ships to shoot, no guns to use, no dots to eat. In effect, Adventure was about as anti-Atari gaming as you could get at the time. You were on a quest and had to avoid enemies screen after screen till you fulfilled your destiny.

How did Warren Robinette get back at Atari? When Adventure was released Atari had a policy of not sharing information on the designers, programmers, or anyone associated with the game. This was out of fear that other companies would head hunt the talent. Warren inserted his initials into the game, viewable after completing a slightly complex task in the game. This was a huge no-no for Atari programmers and it was apparently not accepted all that well with the upper staff. Not much was done about the game itself because the Easter Egg was found after so many copies shipped.

Activision becomes first 3^Rd party developer for Atari 2600, ever really

Okay, continuing the fun from #2 there we come to Activision and the Atari 2600 days. The 2600 was pretty much an open console, there was no real lockout technology used to prevent people from making their own games. A small group of Atari programmers that were not happy with not being allowed to bask in the glow of their successful games decided to break off and create Activision.

How did Activision get back at Atari? By forming an unlicensed 3^rd party game publisher for the Atari 2600, that is how. Atari fought the situation in court but it failed and Activision was allowed to continue. This only opened the floodgates for other companies such as Imagic. This also probably led to the demise of videogames in general in the crash of 1983/1984 as there was no real quality checks and balances instituted- something Nintendo fixed with their Nintendo Entertainment System.

Tengen Tests Nintendo’s Legal Prowess

Tengen used to be a licensed 3^rd party developer for the Nintendo Entertainment System and then all of a sudden they weren’t. Only three of their games are licensed by Nintendo. What started the screwjob was the overly restrictive nature of Nintendo 3^rd party publisher contracts (why? See #3 above). Basically Nintendo said play by our rules or don’t play at all, Tengen played for a bit, did some corporate shenanigans and bam, unlicensed 3^rd party developer sitting in court.

How did Tengen get back at Nintendo? Well, for one they kind of illegally obtained information on Nintendo’s lockout chip technology. Second, they went out to license Sega arcade titles like Shinobi and held up popular licenses like Pac-Man. They also released what they thought was the only legit version of Tetris for the NES, while Nintendo released their version, which was legally legit.(html comment removed: nextpage)

Camerica being a Thorn in Nintendo’s Side

Camerica, unlike Tengen, never had a license to make Nintendo Entertainment System games. They did it the old fashioned way, by short circuiting the lockout chip in the console. Camerica made their cartridges look distinctly different than official ones and they also had the rights to many Codemasters games (Dizzy for instance) and in certain parts of the world they distributed the biggest thorn in Nintendo’s side- the Game Genie.

How did Camerica get back at Nintendo? They felt that cartridge prices were too high, partly because each game was using common chips as other games. Camerica decided to release the Aladdin deck. Aladdin held the common chips and the others were sold on smaller cartridges that clipped into the Aladdin deck, supposedly saving money for the gamer. I didn’t say these were all going to successful screwjobs.

Accolade Goes Ballistic on Genesis

Accolade is connected to Activision via two of the founders who moved on to create their own company, Alan Miller and Bob Whitehead. Accolade came to consoles after over half a decade of success on computers. Looking to recreate some of their previous success, Accolade ported some of their computer titles over to the Sega Genesis. Hardball III was one of these ports. Accolade also secured certain arcade titles such as Double Dragon for release on the Genesis.

How did Accolade screw over Sega? They reverse engineered the Genesis console and released a handful of titles under their Accolade label. Sega Sued and won then Accolade got that overturned and then a settlement was reached and Accolade started the Ballistic label. Accolade is now, after a long line of purchases a part of the “new” Atari company (who has over the years, and under previous company names, acquired over a dozen other developers and publishers). You might say, Atari has gone full circle.

Electronic Arts Follows Accolades Lead

If Accolade could figure out how to reverse engineer the Sega Genesis, so could Electronic Arts. That is exactly what they did too. EA did this to secure better contract terms, not just to stiff Sega. It worked and we saw many new games released for the Genesis. The original EA Genesis games, Zany Golf, Budokan and Populous were unlicensed and therefore won’t work on certain Genesis consoles. EA supported the Genesis nearly as long as Nintendo supported the Super Nintendo (ending support in 1997).

How did EA screw over Sega? Um, have you played Sega’s sports lineup on the Genesis, Game Gear or Sega Saturn? Compare them to the EA versions and you will see, EA was wiping the floor with Sega. EA screwed over Sega by decimating their sports division (later EA would purchase the exclusive rights to the NFL and other sports blocking EVERY other publisher from even competing).

Capcom makes Sega Play the Waiting Game.

This one is kind of a combo screw job by Capcom and Nintendo. See, when Street Fighter II hit the Super Nintendo it was kind of a big deal. Sega wanted in on that action but Nintendo had gotten Capcom to sign an exclusivity contract on the original SFII game. That is fine, not too long after the original hit the arcades we saw the release of Street Fighter II: Championship Edition (and several more followed) so Sega was happy as a kid in a candy store at getting Capcom to agree to NOT sign an exclusivity contract on this one with Nintendo. All seemed great in gaming, Sega was going to get a SFII game and, of course, it would be on SNES too. Not too fast, read on to see the screw job bigger than the Montreal Screwjob that Vince pulled in the WWF (now WWE).

How did Capcom screw over Sega? Capcom was slightly behind on getting the Super Nintendo port ready in time to release alongside the Sega Genesis version. Rather than just launching them at different dates, Capcom held the Genesis version up for at least two months till the SNES version was ready- not only screwing over Sega on some lucrative summer sales but also the fans that wanted the damn game.

Kenji Eno Gives Sony the Middle Finger at Live Sony Game Show

Enemy Zero was a unique horror game that didn’t rely on jump scares and zombies like Resident Evil. No, Enemy Zero put you on a space station where an invisible force, yes INVISIBLE, is searching you out. There is a large use of sound and a severely limited supply of offensive items which raises both the challenge and the scare factor.

How did Kenji Eno, owner of Warp, screw Sony? Well, Enemy Zero was supposed to be a Sony Playstation game. Apparently sales were low for D, Warp’s previous title, were really low on the Playstation. This pissed off Kenji Eno who decides to play nice up to the reveal of Enemy Zero at a Sony game show, in front of a large audience. At the Sony themed show the Enemy Zero video was shown and at the end the PS logo morphed into a Sega Saturn one, probably inciting quite a bit of hatred at the time (Facebook and Twitter were not a thing at this point in history so we won’t know exactly what rage befell Kenji Eno).

It is not all that often that a game developer or publisher screws over a console manufacturer but when it does happen, it is usually something magical and blown completely out of proportion by lawyers. Videogames are full of drama and excited activity. Thankfully game developers, publishers and the companies that make the consoles know how to play with the big boy pants on nowadays.