Nintendo vs Tengen

By David Law (@myretrogamehub) 

Reading Time: 11 minutes 

During my recent exploration of old NES games, I stumbled upon a company that once specialised in producing unlicensed Nintendo games in the late 1980s. This discovery piqued my curiosity, leading me to delve deeper into the subject and the intriguing story of the company known as Tengen. The Nintendo vs. Tengen court battles are a fascinating chapter in gaming history.

As I continued my research, I was overwhelmed with nostalgia. Many of these unlicensed titles were games I played and owned during childhood.

This powerful personal connection to my past was why I wrote this blog.

Nintendo Saves the Day

After the 1983 video game crash (known in Japan as the Atari Shock), there was a three-year gap with a much smaller market for home computer games in North America. Additionally, video game consoles did not significantly develop during that period. However, this gap ended when a Japanese company launched a new console. 

Nintendo is a company founded in 1889 in Japan that manufactures Hanafuda, a type of Japanese playing card. The company then got involved in the video game industry in the 1970s. They released their first gaming console in 1983 in Japan, the Family Computer, also known as the Famicom (FC).

However, it wasn't until late 1985 that Nintendo released its gaming console in America with its innovative games and marketing strategies, rebranding it as the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). This pivotal moment reignited public interest in video games after the “Atari Shock,” a testament to Nintendo's significant role in the gaming industry.

Nintendo released the “Nintendo Seal of Quality” to combat the flood of low-quality games that led to the video game crash.

Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi said, "Atari collapsed because they gave too much freedom to third-party developers, and the market was swamped with rubbish games."

Nintendo implemented strict licensing requirements to prevent publishers from making games without their approval. Once approved, publishers had to purchase the cartridges from Nintendo, which cost USD 9 - 14 each and required a minimum order of 10,000 cartridges. Companies were limited to only five game releases per year, and the game had to be exclusive to the NES for two years. This gave Nintendo a lot of market control and significantly influenced the types and number of games available to consumers.

The NES featured a component called the CIC (Checking Integrated Circuit). This small lockout chip ensured that only official NES cartridges worked on the consoles.

The CIC used a system called 10NES, which essentially locked access to the console until it detected the specific ‘key’. It was like a lock-and-key system: The console was the vault, and the cartridges served as keys, unlocking the system so the games could run.

Most publishers played by the rules, but a few decided to do the dodgy and found ways to bypass the system. They designed their cartridges to shock the lockout chip with a quick power surge, causing the NES to reboot several times before the game could play. 

Some devised a workaround that involved piggybacking on a licensed game cartridge. This emulated a genuine authentication signal by attaching a legitimate game and effectively tricking the lockout system.

For an in-depth exploration of the technical aspects of the CIC, Check out Nicole Branagan’s blog post titled 'The games Nintendo didn't want you to play: Tengen.' She thoroughly examines the chips by dissecting the cartridges and providing detailed analysis.

Tengen 

One such company, Tengen, a subsidiary of Atari Games, tried to back-engineer the 10NES program without success. This led to a legal battle with Nintendo, as Tengen was accused of copyright infringement and unfair competition. The controversy surrounding Tengen's attempt to bypass the NES security system was a significant event in the gaming industry, as it highlighted the tension between game developers and console manufacturers over control of the gaming market. In 1987, Hideyuki Nakajima, the former president of Atari Games and Namco

America, discussed their licensing agreement with Minoru Arakawa, the president of Nintendo of America.
Nakajima sought special privileges not granted to other licensees, believing that Tengen had more to offer as the sole company with access to the Atari library.

However, Arakawa insisted on providing equal terms to all licensees. Eventually, Nakajima agreed and officially signed to become a Nintendo licensee in December 1987.

Tengen released three official games under Nintendo - R.B.I Baseball, Gauntlet, and Pac-Man. These games marked a significant shift for Tengen, as they were the company's first licensed games under Nintendo. They also demonstrated Tengen's ability to produce high-quality games that met Nintendo's strict standards.

The Battle - Nintendo vs Tengen

Nakajima's intentions regarding honouring the licensing agreement remain uncertain. Still, Atari engineers had already begun trying to find ways to bypass the security devices in the NES a full year before he signed the deal.

Although many manufacturers found a way to bypass the chip by subjecting it to a voltage spike, Tengen's engineers were concerned about potential damage to NES consoles and the associated liability.
Another challenge was that Nintendo regularly updated the NES system to prevent this technique from being effective.

In 1988, the Tengen lawyers illegally obtained a reproduction of the 10NES program through the Copyright Office by signing a false affidavit stating that they needed it in a copyright infringement suit Nintendo had filed against them. The suit was entirely fictional.

Once Atari obtained the 10NES code, it developed the Rabbit program to bypass the NES security. This program was designed to generate the exact signals of the 10NES, giving Atari access to produce games to run on the NES without Nintendo's strict license conditions.

The Tengen cartridge design was distinctive and notable for its black colour and unique shape. Unlike the standard grey cartridges produced by Nintendo, Tengen cartridges had a sleek black appearance reminiscent of the Atari design, setting them apart visually and making them easily recognisable among NES game collections.

In December 1988, Tengen announced it would release its game to the market.
When the games were released, Nintendo immediately sued Tengen for copyright and patent infringement. This began a series of lawsuits between the two companies, which lasted until 1994. Consequently, Tengen was banned from releasing self-manufactured NES games from March 1991 onward.

As much as I would love to play more games, I've only had the opportunity to play five Tengen unlicensed games over the past two weeks due to my busy schedule with family and work.

Let's take a look at them.

Tengen Tetris (1989)

Atari initially released the game in Arcades in 1988. A year later, Atari released an unofficial port of the game under its label for the NES. Thus, the infamous war between Nintendo and Atari began in court battles over who owned the game's license for the home console version.

I'll not go into too much detail about the gameplay. It's Tetris — everybody knows Tetris. It's a puzzle game in which you stack blocks as they drop from the top and arrange them to form and eliminate horizontal lines from the playing field. 

Both games play almost identically, except that the Tengen version has a 2-player mode where players play against each other and a co-op mode where you play with the second player to eliminate lines.
For some odd reason, the Nintendo version does not offer a two-player mode, which is disappointing. However, even the Gameboy version has a two-player mode utilising the Game Link Cable.

I had the Tengen version as a kid and vividly remember playing two-player games with my sister and friends. What stands out most is the catchy music from the Tengen version, which always brings back those good old memories.
Much like the Tengen version, the Gameboy version brings back the most nostalgia for me, as I spent countless hours playing it during my childhood.

The Tengen Tetris has been considered the better version of the two NES games.
Nintendo won the rights to the console version, and legend has it that Atari only sold 50000 cartridges and destroyed 300000 copies of the game.

After Burner (1989)

Despite Nintendo's and Sega's ongoing rivalry during the 8-bit generation, especially at the start of the 16-bit era, it may surprise you that Tengen ported many Sega arcade games to the NES.

One such example is After Burner, a respectable adaptation of the popular combat flight simulator that was a staple in arcades during the late 1980s. At the time, the game was riding the 1986 Hollywood-released film Top Gun bandwagon.

In After Burner, you control an F-14 Tom Cat fighter jet launched from the Tengen Enterprise (originally the Sega Enterprise or Sun Enterprise in After Burner 2). Your mission is to navigate through 22 challenging enemy waves, using your Vulcan cannon and guided missiles to eliminate them while skillfully banking to evade their projectiles. 

I only played the Sega version of this game, but I didn't realise there was an NES version until recently. So, I decided to give it a go, and while I can't say it's a bad game, I have to admit that the gameplay tends to get repetitive. Each level feels strikingly similar, with just different colours and backgrounds to differentiate them, and there are no boss fights.

However, it stays true to its arcade shooter origins. It is a fun game where you fly around (or in a straight line in this game) and shoot down as many enemies as you can. It's one of those pick-me-up and play-in short-burst types of game. 

Rolling Thunder (1989)

Namco created this arcade Game in 1986, and Tengen ported it to the NES in 1989. This run-and-gun platformer features Albatross, an international agent for the secret police organisation Rolling Thunder. The game follows Albatross' mission to rescue a missing female agent named Leila Blitz, who is kidnapped by an alien terrorist.

The game features ten levels but lacks a save option. However, it incorporates a password system that provides passwords for every two stages. So, if you die in stage 4, you can restart from the beginning of stage 3. I found the game quite addictive as I was playing it. 

The animation is perfect for its time, with large sprites of the characters and enemies. The death sequence is relatively smooth, with extra frame rates added to polish the movement. It’s pretty impressive for its time, and the graphics are as retro as it gets.

The gameplay demands rapid reflexes and precise timing, especially with fixed-length jumps. Careful judgment is required to avoid overshooting platforms and plummeting to a digital demise. Also, you can’t shoot while you jump, which is annoying.

Another critical feature is entering and hiding behind doors to evade enemies. Some doors also provide ammunition refills or access to machine guns.

Overall, Rolling Thunder is a pretty decent game. It’s fun and addictive and one of Tengen’s best. I highly recommend it.

The original arcade version of Rolling Thunder can be found on the Nintendo Switch's Namco Museum. If you like this game, you can play Rolling Thunder 2 (1991) and Rolling Thunder 3 (1993) on the Sega Genesis. They’re very similar gameplay-wise.

Shinobi (1989)

This is another case where Tengen adapted Sega's arcade hits for NES gamers. It is always bizarre to see a Sega game on an NES, especially considering that 1989 marked the release year of the Sega Genesis. This was when Nintendo was suing Tengen over their version of the NES Tetris game.

Shinobi is another side-scrolling hack-and-slash video game produced by Sega for the arcades in 1987. It was a whopping success in Japan, topping the monthly table arcade charts at the end of the year and becoming a blockbuster arcade hit in America a year later.

So naturally, Sega ported the game to its home console, the Sega Master System, and every console available to men at that time all got some Shinobi, including the NES. 

In the NES Shinobi, players assume the role of the 'Master Ninja' (known as Joe Musashi in other versions). The mission is to combat the Ring of Five organisation and save the abducted children of the world’s leaders. Players will encounter these tied-up children throughout the stages, who are not particularly well-hidden by the thugs. It's up to you to collect them and foil the villains' feeble attempts at concealment. 

While the NES adaptation is based on the Sega Master System edition, it is not identical. The grenades and close-range weapons, such as swords, chains, and nunchaku, from the Master System version, have been removed, leaving the player with only shuriken, feet, and fists for combat. 

You start with only three lives for the entire game and no continues, but you are granted an extra life for every 100000 points acquired. You could also use the save-state feature on most modern consoles. 

Boss battles in the game can be pretty demanding for players, as they necessitate precise pixel-perfect hits on the bosses, often aiming right at their face, which is just a tiny 2-pixel target. Additionally, it's worth noting that once you jump, there is no mid-air movement, so it's crucial to plan and execute your jumps with intention carefully.

The graphics are nowhere near those of the original arcade version of the game. If you want to play an 8-bit Shinobi, go for the Sega Master System version. I would not recommend this game to anyone. 

Joe Musashi is a playable character in Sega's Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed racing game. He races in a quad bike and throws fireballs at opponents.

Alien Syndrome (1988)

Another Sega arcade game released in 1988, "Alien Syndrome," is inspired by the Alien film series. This top-down shooter adventure is set in 2089, and you take on the role of one of two soldiers, Ricky or Mary. Tengen developed and ported it to the NES a year after its arcade release.

Infinitely re-spawning aliens have invaded a total of six spaceships. Each ship has initiated a self-destruct sequence. However, there are twelve human hostages still on board each vessel. Your mission is to locate and save them all. Once they are safe, make your way to the exit. At this point, you must confront one of the game's gruesome boss aliens. After defeating the boss, quickly escape the ship before it explodes behind you.

While the levels may not seem extensive compared to today’s standards, this is a 35-year-old game. Navigating the ship can be challenging, as can remembering where you’ve explored. Fortunately, each stage includes several map stations. These stations helpfully indicate the positions where hostages are eagerly waving for help, oddly overlooked by aliens who just breeze right past them. This odd behaviour leads one to wonder if these hostages might be the ghosts of passengers who didn't survive. And your character is either hallucinating or has just gone mad. 

After blowing up all six ships, you reach the final boss, King Core. Destroy that, and you’ve clocked the game!
You start with four lives, with the chance to earn an extra life for every 100,000 points scored. There are no continues, and if you die, it’s all over again from the beginning. However, this is no longer an issue with modern emulators' save-state features. Also, there are timers in each level to add tension to the gameplay.

A sequel to Alien Syndrome was released on the Wii and the PSP in 2007.

List of Tengen's unlicensed NES games. 

1. Tetris: The Soviet Mind Game (released in May 1989) 
2. Super Sprint (released July in 1989, licensed version released in Japan by Altron)
3. Road Runner (released October in 1989)
4. Rolling Thunder (released October in 1989, released as a licensed game by Namco in Japan)
5. Vindicators (released November in 1989)
6. After Burner (released December in 1989, not related to the version released by Sunsoft in Japan)
7. Alien Syndrome (released December in 1989, released as a licensed game by Sunsoft in Japan)
8. Shinobi (released December in 1989)
9. Toobin' (released December in 1989)
10. Fantasy Zone (released in 1989, not related to the version released by Sunsoft in Japan)
11. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (released in 1989, Mindscape published a licensed version)
12. Klax (released in 1990, also released as a licensed game by Hudson Soft in Japan)
13. Ms. Pac-Man (an original port released in 1990, unrelated to Namco's port)
14. Pac-Mania (developed by Westwood Associates released in 1990)
15. R.B.I. Baseball 2 (released in 1990)
16. Skull & Crossbones (released in 1990)
17. R.B.I. Baseball 3 (released in 1991)

Stay Retro!

David - My Retro Game Hub

Read about the The Birth of Video Game.

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