I don't consider unlicensed carts as NES games. What do you think?

[Nintegageo 237]

I know this is a divisive thing, so I would actually enjoy reading people's POVs (with no actual arguing).

My opinion is this - I do not consider them Nintendo games because they weren't licensed to be played on the console; thus, they are not actual NES games but rather games that you can play on the NES.

[DorkOverlord 268]

I think anything you can play on the NES counts, whether its official, unlicensed or homebrew. I look to the Atari 2600 for my answer, since it had more unofficial games than first party titles. I'd still consider them all Atari 2600 games. However, I do think it's important from a historical perspective to make distinctions between official, unlicensed, and homebrew. Of course, from this point of view, it makes complete set collecting nearly impossible. 

[Tulpa 1,601]

This really all comes down to what you're defining as a set or your collecting goals. There's been a lot of heated arguments over what is the "full set," but in reality, no one can ever truly collect a full set; someone can make a one-off game and keep it for themselves to fork any plans for a true full set.

So we all use a limited definition of full, i.e., what is licensed, what was in North America, what was sold back in the day during the NES sales lifetime, etc. It's all to quantify what is largely unquantifiable, or to set a collecting end goal to work towards, rather than collecting without an end game.

To me, though, NES game = licensed game is merely a semantic argument. And not one universally accepted.

[Richardhead 1,719]

I think if it plays on an NES, it’s a Nintendo game. Is it part of the “set”? Nope. 

[DoctorEncore 2,239]

It's just semantics, so I don't really care what people call them. I'd probably call them Nintendo games because it gets the point across the quickest about what they do.

[Mr. CIB 239]

Are they Nintendo games? It depends on if you view that Nintendo had to license the games to be consider a game. My thought is they play on a Nintendo system so it’s a Nintendo game. Now do I consider them apart of a complete collection, no. I’ve always battled with unlicensed games getting about halfway thru collecting them before I stopped. There is truly no end to them although there is a list of the generally accepted list for the unlicensed set. 

[GPX 541]

The topic question is actually two (ambiguous) questions merged into one:

1. Do you consider unlicensed NES “Nintendo games”? 

- yes, because they play on Nintendo NES

- no, because they weren’t approved by Nintendo. 

(Both answers are correct)

2. Do you consider unlicensed NES games to be part of the Nintendo games set to collect for?

-  no, they weren’t official releases by Nintendo

- yes, they’re part of the “games set” on Nintendo

(Both answers are correct)

[MrWunderful 1,243]

If it can be played on NES= NES game

[austin532 383]

Every hack, homebrew, and repro NES game being released today is unlicensed IMO since they weren't approved by Nintendo.

[chromableedstudios 22]

4 hours ago, Nintegageo said:

not actual NES games

The word 'actual' seems to imply you either think they are imaginary or less than?

Personally I look at a game like Battle Kid, and think, that game is probably better than a third of the licenced set. Seems pretty actual to me.

[phart010 502]

I think the issue that people have with unlicensed games is that they are generally not as good as licensed games.

When people do start making much better unlicensed games then I bet you guys who don’t consider them NES Games will modify your opinion. BTW, I think shovel knight is due to come out on NES at some point

[Nintegageo 237]

1 hour ago, chromableedstudios said:

The word 'actual' seems to imply you either think they are imaginary or less than?

Personally I look at a game like Battle Kid, and think, that game is probably better than a third of the licenced set. Seems pretty actual to me.

Opinion-wise, I am totally with DoctorEncore. I just believe that in order to have an opinion, you should be knowledgeable re: both arguments.
I used the term actual to separate the two. The Nintendo Seal didn't mean a game was good, rather that it had been tested to be decently programmed. Nintendo certainly had its crap share on the console.

[Tulpa 1,601]

1 minute ago, Nintegageo said:

The Nintendo Seal didn't mean a game was good, rather that it had been tested to be decently programmed.

X-Men by LJN begs to differ.

[Link 819]

I’m not going to say “not a Nintendo game but a game that can be played on a Nintendo.” That’s very unclear to anyone who would need an explanation.

Mmmaybe I would refer to “Nintendo games” vs “Tengen games” or “Color Dreams games”. But then I think you have to distinguish “Nintendo games” collectively from “Nintendo games published by Nintendo” and those from “Capcom games”. To say nothing of black Tengen games and gray Tengen Nintendo games... no, I think this is silly. They can all be “Nintendo games” together. 

[CasualCart 2,724]

If someone saw an unlicensed game on my shelf with my NES collection and asked me what it was, I would say it's a Nintendo game and specify that it is unlicensed. 

-CasualCart

[peg 151]

 I guess I was just playing make believe back in 1990 with my copy of RBI Baseball.   What a fucking ridiculous idea. 

[Estil 571]

Tengen carts should be an exception.

[Nintegageo 237]

8 minutes ago, peg said:

 I guess I was just playing make believe back in 1990 with my copy of RBI Baseball.   What a fucking ridiculous idea. 

Is it though? I'm not denying RBI baseball was a game played on the NES, but no I personally do not consider it a Nintendo game. Just because you know how to play every Blink-182 song and say you're a member, doesn't mean you are. They have to sign you in as a band member.

[Link 819]

8 minutes ago, Nintegageo said:

Is it though? I'm not denying RBI baseball was a game played on the NES, but no I personally do not consider it a Nintendo game. 

8 minutes ago, Nintegageo said:

Just because you know how to play every Blink-182 song and say you're a member, doesn't mean you are. They have to sign you in as a band member.

 

 

Edited January 6, 2020 by Link

[Tulpa 1,601]

27 minutes ago, Estil said:

Tengen carts should be an exception.

And Camerica! And one or two AVE, and...

 

 

Dammit, just count them all!

[Estil 571]

No no no no, Tengen was really Atari and they mostly did a good job on their games.  I would think you would know better than to use the slippery slope fallacy.

[Tulpa 1,601]

28 minutes ago, Nintegageo said:

Is it though? I'm not denying RBI baseball was a game played on the NES, but no I personally do not consider it a Nintendo game. Just because you know how to play every Blink-182 song and say you're a member, doesn't mean you are. They have to sign you in as a band member.

No one's really collecting Blink-182 band members, though.

 

 

(If anyone has an extra Travis, PM me. Paying top dollar!)

[Tulpa 1,601]

Just now, Estil said:

No no no no, Tengen was really Atari and they mostly did a good job on their games.  I would think you would know better than to use the slippery slope fallacy.

Tengen had some awful games, though. Afterburner sucks, Fantasy Zone sucks, Shinobi was better on the SMS, Road Runner sucks. Tengen wasn't infallible.

Toobin's okay, though.

Camerica had some good games. Mig-29, Ultimate Stuntman, Micro Machines, Quattro Arcade and Adventure. AVE had Krazy Kreatures and Dudes with Attitude, and a few others.

If Tengen gets a pass, there are other good unlicensed games.

[Richardhead 1,719]

1 hour ago, CasualCart said:

If someone saw an unlicensed game on my shelf with my NES collection and asked me what it was, I would say it's a Nintendo game and specify that it is unlicensed. 

-CasualCart

I don’t have very many friends that would know or even care about that. That’s why I hang out here

[Nintegageo 237]

32 minutes ago, Link said:

(pictures)

you know what we meant :'(