Sharedata Chiller NES Advertisement

[the_wizard_666 | 1,325]

37 minutes ago, Dr. Morbis said:

Yeah, it looks like anyone who ordered from the OP's posted print ad (or any other Sharedata ad) would have received the released AGCI Chiller in the mail, since it turns out that they were essentially the same company.  I know this is much to the chagrin of @fcgamer et al who "want to believe" but hey, it's fun to dream....

Thanks for posting that info and I look forward to seeing whatever else you've got

That assumes they had production-ready carts available from the get-go, which is highly unlikely.  More likely is that the ad ran for a few months and sold a handful of copies, then AGCI came along and did an actual retail launch.

Also, nobody's stated what magazine the ad was found in.  That would make a HUGE difference in terms of sales.  A magazine like GamePro or EGM would've made for more sales than we see...odds are that this ad was in an issue of Road & Track or Fangoria or something.  Based on the article @ThePhleo posted, it may have been a comic, although the condition of the page in the image would suggest otherwise...it's just far too nice to be printed on newsprint.

Sadly, this will always have the ghost of Etler's list behind it...because it wasn't part of that list, nobody's gonna accept that it could've been a retail release, despite games like Cheetahmen II being on there and never actually being released to the masses. 

[Dr. Morbis | 2,091]

56 minutes ago, the_wizard_666 said:

Sadly, this will always have the ghost of Etler's list behind it...because it wasn't part of that list, nobody's gonna accept that it could've been a retail release, despite games like Cheetahmen II being on there and never actually being released to the masses. 

Sorry dude, but you don't make release lists based on "could've" scenarios; it's called reasonable doubt.

If I had to guess, the best case / most realistic scenario for how these Shardata carts could be considered actually "released" is if they were thrown into AGCI boxes that had AGCI manuals, at which point they'd be an AGCI cart variant to hunt down.  Think about it from a business standpoint: you've already made however many of those cartridges, you may as well make some money off them rather than writing them off or giving them away to your employee's kids (which is also just as likely, however).  Sadly though, the only way to ever prove this would be to open a sealed AGCI Chiller and find a Sharedata cart inside...

[nesmaster14 | 436]

The AGCI box/manual is an interesting thought, but the ad makes no reference to AGCI at this point.  You'd think in the fine print they'd write "designed and manufactured by AGCI" instead of Sharedata, if that were the case. It clearly says "designed and manufactured by Sharedata, Inc". This also implies they had inventory ready. I would imagine AGCI was established when they got enough orders to make their own tooling (not licensed from Color Dreams).  We know AGCI was created later as a subsidiary of Sharedata.  

Also, the known Chiller Sharedata cartridges read "designed and manufactured by Sharedata" in the fine print on the cart label, just like this ad. I have an AGCI Chiller ad and it has no mention of Sharedata.  Also their phone number on the ad was different.   This Sharedata ad also reads "$19.95 for Chiller only" -- to me this confirms/implies they're using leftover Color Dreams shells, and their next releases (Death Race, particularly) they're looking to new manufacturing, thus not guaranteeing it'll cost the same.

The AGCI released Chiller reads "designed and manufactured by AGCI" on the cart label.  They also upped their price when they released via AGCI, $29.95 (probably to offset the costs of AGCI's new cartridge design). To me, I see this as a first release Chiller, not an AGCI variant.  It's cool to still see interest in this chilling odd release and hear discussion!   Cheers! 

 

 

Edited October 24, 2021 by nesmaster14

[Code Monkey | 2,011]

I didn't know you guys were so interested in this advertisement, I've had a copy of it for years. I have a whole folder of NES advertisements.

[Code Monkey | 2,011]

Did someone mention Action 52?

[Hollywoodcaddy | 72]

I WILL find that other stuff I read...I was 15 pages deep into searching for things when I found it and it wasn't in a place collectors would normally search but I'll find it haha....and does anyone have any pictures of the newly found Caltron variant...it would be #1300 on my list if I can confirm it

[Foochie776 | 1,059]

16 minutes ago, Hollywoodcaddy said:

I WILL find that other stuff I read...I was 15 pages deep into searching for things when I found it and it wasn't in a place collectors would normally search but I'll find it haha....and does anyone have any pictures of the newly found Caltron variant...it would be #1300 on my list if I can confirm it

I think they’re referencing the one @Speedy_NESfound? Though I could be wrong 

[a3quit4s | 4,117]

Sigh….I had so much money before I found this site lol

[Hollywoodcaddy | 72]

21 minutes ago, Foochie776 said:

I think they’re referencing the one @Speedy_NESfound? Though I could be wrong 

Ok...I see it now...that's mostly about the box I take it...please don't quote me but I believe that box was released in Europe....not necessarily a PAL version...I don't believe there are any actual PAL versions of Caltron, I could be wrong...anyways I always assumed that since none of the Caltrons were considered NTSC or PAL...that where they were released is where what collectors used to determine whether they were considered a "North American/South American/European/Japanese" release...that's why we've always considered there to be a couple "American versions" ...but if the way we are looking at these have changed by all means please let me know haha....because there are like 6 or so versions of this game haha...

Edited October 24, 2021 by Hollywoodcaddy

[Tulpa | 3,526]

1 hour ago, Code Monkey said:

I didn't know you guys were so interested in this advertisement, I've had a copy of it for years. I have a whole folder of NES advertisements.

 

What else are you holding out on us? You got a copy of Hellraiser or a copy of Bio Force Ape where he teams up with Mario to fight Ganon?

[fcgamer | 4,738]

6 hours ago, Dr. Morbis said:

Yeah, it looks like anyone who ordered from the OP's posted print ad (or any other Sharedata ad) would have received the released AGCI Chiller in the mail, since it turns out that they were essentially the same company.  I know this is much to the chagrin of @fcgamer et al who "want to believe" but hey, it's fun to dream....

Thanks for posting that info and I look forward to seeing whatever else you've got

You do realise that article has numerous mistakes though, in addition to it relying on a guy's memory about something that occurred 20+ years ago (at the time the guy wrote it)...

Sorry bud, those claims need to be taken with a huge lump of salt. 

Similarly, you have absolutely no evidence backing up your claim that people who ordered the game from that advert likely received the AGCI version of the game. No evidence at all to support your claims. 

While AGCI and Sharedata were related companies, to say that they're the same company is false, at least from a business sense. For business purposes alone, it's highly unlikely they just did the swap and sent out the AGCI version.

Get back to me when you find something substantial to support your above claims, otherwise the advert and carts speak volumes that the game was both released, and how it was released.

[Dr. Morbis | 2,091]

16 minutes ago, fcgamer said:

You do realise that article has numerous mistakes though, in addition to it relying on a guy's memory about something that occurred 20+ years ago (at the time the guy wrote it)...

Sorry bud, those claims need to be taken with a huge lump of salt. 

Similarly, you have absolutely no evidence backing up your claim that people who ordered the game from that advert likely received the AGCI version of the game. No evidence at all to support your claims. 

While AGCI and Sharedata were related companies, to say that they're the same company is false, at least from a business sense. For business purposes alone, it's highly unlikely they just did the swap and sent out the AGCI version.

Get back to me when you find something substantial to support your above claims, otherwise the advert and carts speak volumes that the game was both released, and how it was released.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHaaaaaa... pot, meet kettle!  My last post was merely SPECULATION about the only realistic way I could see for those Sharedata carts being official releases, which is exactly equivilent to what all of the other posts in this thread, especially including yours, are doing.  Nobody has any substantiated facts at all, or else we wouldn't even be having this discussion!  And that, my friend, is entirely my point!

[nesmaster14 | 436]

Who else thinks the Francis Mao promo Chiller art is pretty rad?  I think I prefer it to the cartridge art, it has that grassroots horror comic/fanzine vibe.

   Also, @the_wizard_666 good catch on the the artist! He was an artist for GamePro. I actually just found the magazine the ad came from, dun-dun... March 1990 issue of GamePro!  That kinda makes the story even stranger Hahah...

 

Edited October 25, 2021 by nesmaster14

[fcgamer | 4,738]

25 minutes ago, Dr. Morbis said:

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHaaaaaa... pot, meet kettle!  My last post was merely SPECULATION about the only realistic way I could see for those Sharedata carts being official releases, which is exactly equivilent to what all of the other posts in this thread, especially including yours, are doing.  Nobody has any substantiated facts at all, or else we wouldn't even be having this discussion!  And that, my friend, is entirely my point!

No, the difference is we're looking at the evidence - special designed retail labels, the advert, etc. On the other hand, you're just throwing a bunch of guesses out there, with not a shred of evidence to support any of it.

It's the Sachen situation all over.

Furthermore, for accounting purposes, I don't think Sharedata could have just borrowed a few AGCI versions and sent them out, as you had suggested earlier.

[the_wizard_666 | 1,325]

23 minutes ago, nesmaster14 said:

Who else thinks the Francis Mao promo Chiller art is pretty rad?  I think I prefer it to the cartridge art, it has that grassroots horror comic/fanzine vibe.

   Also, @the_wizard_666 good catch on the the artist! He was an artist for GamePro. I actually just found the magazine the ad came from, dun-dun... March 1990 issue of GamePro!  That kinda makes the story even stranger Hahah...

 

What was on the cover of that issue?  I might actually have a copy and never paid attention to it...also, with it being early in the year (the March issue would've been on shelves in early February), it adds up with a late 1990 AGCI release...haven't seen anything about an actual street date for either version however...

I'm actually curious if there's any clues in the ROM data itself.  Anyone know if there's a Sharedata ROM out there somewhere to compare?

[Tulpa | 3,526]

2 minutes ago, the_wizard_666 said:

What was on the cover of that issue? 

I think this, wasn't it?

[Gloves | 11,810]

2 hours ago, a3quit4s said:

Sigh….I had so much money before I found this site lol

Same.

[OptOut | 8,890]

26 minutes ago, Gloves said:

Same.

What, my 5 bucks a month aint good enough for ya?! 

[Gloves | 11,810]

Just now, OptOut said:

What, my 5 bucks a month aint good enough for ya?! 

It goes directly to my newfound drug addiction, which only popped up AFTER this place went live!

[OptOut | 8,890]

1 minute ago, Gloves said:

It goes directly to my newfound drug addiction, which only popped up AFTER this place went live!

@Gloves rn:

[Dr. Morbis | 2,091]

1 hour ago, fcgamer said:

No, the difference is we're looking at the evidence - special designed retail labels, the advert, etc. On the other hand, you're just throwing a bunch of guesses out there, with not a shred of evidence to support any of it.

No, the difference is that you're jumping to conclusions based on what has been put forth.  Now that we know the ad ran in Gamepro, it's pretty much a slam dunk that the Sharedata version was unreleased.  Or do you believe that 100% of Gamepro's readers (minus 4 proud little boys) had no interest at all in buying the game after seeing that bad-ass art???

I'll boil it down for you: show me ONE SINGLE COPY of a Sharedata Chiller box and manual or shut the fuck up and admit that you're wrong!!!

[fcgamer | 4,738]

1 hour ago, Dr. Morbis said:

No, the difference is that you're jumping to conclusions based on what has been put forth.  Now that we know the ad ran in Gamepro, it's pretty much a slam dunk that the Sharedata version was unreleased.  Or do you believe that 100% of Gamepro's readers (minus 4 proud little boys) had no interest at all in buying the game after seeing that bad-ass art???

I'll boil it down for you: show me ONE SINGLE COPY of a Sharedata Chiller box and manual or shut the fuck up and admit that you're wrong!!!

Whether there's a box / manual or not is irrelevant, being a budget game it's entirety plausible those were never made.

[Code Monkey | 2,011]

I doubt there are boxes, many of these smaller companies with mail order advertisements usually just shipped the cartridge in a box. Like this one that only has 2 known cartridges in existence and no known box / manual.

 

[the_wizard_666 | 1,325]

@Code Monkey One just needs to look at the mail-order PC game market for evidence that games were often published without any sort of box or manual, just a disc or cassette tape in a baggie.  Why would carts be any different?  ESPECIALLY when the game is being sold at budget pricing.

[Dr. Morbis | 2,091]

Comparing Atari guy-in-his-basement releasing games or dudes releasing pc homebrew games in paper bags in the early 80's to a potential NES release by an actual bonified company is apples to unicorns... Come on guys, are you just fuckin' with me at this point?!?!.....

 

FOR REAL!!!!!!!!