Former type Private Fate Nintendo's lawsuit Headquarters Taipei Ceased operations 1993 | Industry Video games Defunct 1993 Founded 1983 Video game Caltron 6 in 1 | |
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Nintendo Electronic Co. (Chinese: 任天堂電子有限公司) or NTDEC was a Taiwanese manufacturer of video game cartridges, accessories and original games for the NES and Famicom. They also manufactured Famicom to NES converters to play Famicom games on the NES. The company was founded in 1983 (according to the Asder official website), but in the 80's its activities were and are still today unknown.
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Ntdec 5 in 1 cartridge my only nes game ever
Copyright infringement
NTDEC produced a large number of unlicensed copies of games between 1989 and 1991, which were sold in Asia and in the USA via mail order. Unusual among counterfeit cartridge manufacturers, NTDEC cartridges are often identifiable by the company logo on the cartridge and the in-game copyright noticed modified to read "NTDEC", as well as the rear label featuring a green "QUALITY GUARANTY" (sic) stripe. Legal action was brought against the company by Nintendo in 1993 for its activities in the US, as well as its use of the "Nintendo" trademark in its company name.
Original games
Between 1991 and 1993, NTDEC published a number of original games in Asia, some of which were distributed in parts of South America and Europe. Many of these games are credited to Mega Soft, a California-based company which was listed in Nintendo of America, Inc. v. NTDEC as NTDEC's North American distribution arm. Six games previously released by NTDEC/Mega Soft in 1991 were compiled on the Caltron 6 in 1 cartridge in 1992, which was distributed in the US - since this cartridge contains only NTDEC/Mega Soft games and carries the same CN-xx ID as the previous original NTDEC games, Caltron is believed to be the same company as NTDEC.
Unreleased games
Asder
Following the legal action of 1993, the company appears to have ceased operations under the NTDEC name. Another Taiwanese company, Asder Electronic Co., Ltd (Chinese: 亞斯德科技有限公司), has released educational computer systems and TV game joypads containing Mega Soft games, and several original Famicom titles continuing NTDEC's CN-xx numbering. However, it is unknown whether this company is in fact NTDEC under a new name, or a separate company that obtained the rights to NTDEC's past titles.
List of games
Note: The Hacker game Master Shooter, included only in Asder 20-in-1, is the hack of the game of the same name (listed in the same compilation as Shooter: Part1).