Industry Video games Founder David J. Harding | Fate Defunct Founded 1988 | |
 | ||
Products Game Genie,
Aladdin Deck Enhancer Video games Big Nose the Caveman, The Ultimate Stuntman, Aladdin Deck Enhancer, Big Nose Freaks Out, Linus Spacehead's Cosmic C | ||
Camerica was a Canadian video game company founded in 1988. It is most notable for releasing various unlicensed video games and accessories for the Nintendo Entertainment System, such as the Game Genie.
History
The company was owned and operated by David J. Harding, and was originally formed in 1988 as a wholesale association with giftware such as Waterford Crystal and Blue Mountain Pottery.
Later, the company entered the video game market, featuring Nintendo World Championship winner Thor Aackerlund as spokesperson. The company created a number of early peripherals for the Nintendo Entertainment System, including the Aladdin Deck Enhancer expansion peripheral and Supersonic: the Joystick, a wireless controller. Camerica held the rights to publish most NES game titles from Codemasters, including those for the Deck Enhancer.
Nintendo sued Camerica and their USA distributor, Galoob, many times. Camerica and Galoob prevailed every time. There were lawsuits in California, New York and Canada. In one case, Nintendo was ordered to pay Galoob US$15,000,000 in damages.
Since Camerica still lacked Nintendo's license to produce NES games, they had to create their own cartridges that would bypass Nintendo's lock-out chip. Like the circuit used in Color Dreams cartridges, Camerica's workaround generates glitch pulses that freeze the lock-out chip. The cartridges they made are shaped and colored slightly differently from Nintendo's official cartridges, though they still fit in the NES. All Camerica cartridges were originally produced gold colored, and later silver. They feature a switch for use with European NES consoles.
Camerica released the Codemasters-designed Game Genie in Canada and the UK.