What were the launch titles for the US Genesis?
Printable View
What were the launch titles for the US Genesis?
You should do a search, there was a thread..
Indeed, and some heated debate over what consititutes a launch title.
I would imagine it's a game that was released coinciding with a console's inception.
That's what I'd think it is...what kind of argument is that?
It was argued whether the Japanese titles release with the console were "launch titles" and others arguing that games around with the US Genesis release were "launch titles". Basically, it was the omission of the country.
Oh.
Well, I'd say "launch title" constitutes whatever came out on day one in its respective country. I don't think any typical person in America cares about games that came out months previous in Japan.
This be the thread in which Genesis launch titles were discussed.......it was a good one:
http://www.sega-16.com/forum/showthr...t=launch+games
Joe really kicked ass in this discussion, pwning noobs like me left and right. When the dust settled, these were decided upon as the launch titles and the titles released on the heels of the August 1989 launch:
August '89:
Altered Beast
Space Harrier II
Super Thunder Blade
Thunder Force 2
World Championship Soccer
Tommy Lasorda Baseball
Last Battle
3 weeks or so after launch (early September '89):
Ghouls 'N Ghosts
Late September-Early October '89?:
Revenge of Shinobi
Super Hang-On
Read through the article for some more stuff, trivia and whatnot.
So, the way I understand it, there was 7 games launched with the Genesis. The 8th game to arrive was Ghouls 'N Ghosts.
Now, if Ghouls 'N Ghosts arrived about 3 weeks later, and if the Genesis was launched nationwide around September 15th, then was Ghouls an early October game ? I'm guessing Revenge of Shinobi was probably mid to late October and Super Hang-On was in mid to late October as well. I'm talking about nationally, not in the test markets of LA and NY.
Man... There has to be a way to figure out more accurate information about this launch. I'm very curious as to know which games came out in which specific order. I've done tons of google searches, but all the lists that I've seen, contradict the other lists. It's weird how so many people think Arnold Palmer and Alex Kidd were out at launch. Other people swear that Golden Axe was a launch game. I think I have some magazines from that time era, I'll try to look at them to get clues...
Anthony. I believe the above list is correct. I got all those games at launch and picked up Ghouls shortly thereafter along with revenge of Shinobi. I'd call Ghouls a launch game as it was reviewed by most magazines as part of the launch lineup.
Oh and I don't know about sept 15 th. I distinctly remember getting my Genesis in August.
Well, supposedly the "official" release date is August 14th, but I believe that was in New York and L.A. as "test" markets for the product. It supposedly arrived nationwide about a month later.
By any chance Anthony1, did you come over from that thread on DP discussing this same topic? ;)
(Sad fact: I've lurked at the DP forums for MANY years now, but have yet to create an account there. I'm talkin' back when they had that funky Flash intro.)
Oh, and holy old thread, Batman!
Outside of anecdotes from those old enough to have remembered the Genesis' launch, its difficult trying to find out what order the console's first-gen games came out in. Most, if not all of them have their exact Japanese release dates (which Sega of Japan kept track of), and since early Genny games were region-free, it can be assumed that the U.S release dates were near simultaneous.
Your thinking of the NES. The genesis had a nationwide rollout. I got mine at toys r us 3 days after it came out in August. I'm sure there were small areas of the country where it might not have made it right away. There was no need for test markets by the time of the Genesis as Sega of America already had a large distribution network with its SMS products and video games were very popular again at the time.
This...
... & this:Quote:
Originally Posted by chessage
Quote:
Originally Posted by chessage
Cool.. Those trademark records are pretty good. That's the most compelling evidence I've seen so far in trying to accurately determine the chronological order of the games. When did usenet posts first start up? I remember there was a classic debate on when the Super Nintendo was first released in the USA, and usenet posts from the time was the best evidence. Of course, SNES came out in August of 1991. I doubt usenet was up and running two years earlier...
There's a usenet post from late August 1989 that I pulled up for a thread years ago, in which some guy reviewed the Genesis and its launch lineup. He particularly gushed over "Thunder Force II".
I thought that maybe the UPC codes on the early genesis titles would be a clue to the chronological order, but it seems to be a dead end.
Here is a list of Genesis games that all start with these seven numbers in their UPC number: 0100860 After that, there is another five numbers. I thought that the order of these numbers might be a clue to the order in which they were released, but based on the results, doesn't seem to be the case:
Thunder Force 2-----------------------------------10008------[LAUNCH]
Last Battle------------------------------------------10015------[LAUNCH]
Ghouls n' Ghosts-----------------------------------10022
Zoom!-----------------------------------------------10046
Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle----------------10053
Rambo III-------------------------------------------10060
Ghostbusters---------------------------------------10077
Forgotten Worlds----------------------------------10084
Mystic Defender------------------------------------10114
Truxton---------------------------------------------10121
Michael Jackson Moonwalker---------------------10138
Altered Beast---------------------------------------11005------[LAUNCH]
Super Thunder Blade------------------------------11012------[LAUNCH]
Space Harrier II------------------------------------11029------[LAUNCH]
Super Hang-On-------------------------------------11036
After Burner II--------------------------------------11043
The Revenge of Shinobi----------------------------11050
Golden Axe------------------------------------------11227
Super Monacco GP---------------------------------11302
Tommy Lasorda Baseball--------------------------12002-------[LAUNCH]
Pat Riley Basketball---------------------------------12019
World Championship Soccer-----------------------12026--------[LAUNCH]
Arnold Palmer's Tournament Golf-----------------12033
Buster Douglas Boxing------------------------------12040
Phantasy Star II-------------------------------------13016
Herzog Zwei-----------------------------------------14006
Air Diver and Super Hydlide are two more games that I checked, and they start with a new series of numbers. They start with 716065 and then end with another 6 numbers.
Air Diver--------------------------247389
Super Hydlide---------------------726662
Does anybody have any suggestions for any other games that would have been released around the time of the ones above ? We might be able to determine that the games that "don't" start with 0100860 are from a "second wave" of Genesis releases.
------------------------------------------
Update: Just discovered something about Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Caslte. This game DEFINITELY wasn't available in 1989. From the March 1990 issue of GamePro magazine (page 74) :
The long awaited , Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle, featuring Sega's famous hero, bops and bounces his way through a secret forest, down palm tree lined streets, and into an enchanted castle. This should be released by Summer !
Considering the March GamePro issue was likely on store shevles in mid February, I think it's safe to say there is no way this game could have been available in 1989. I know the lead time on magazines is almost two months, but if they are saying that it's supposed to be coming out in Summer, I would guess that this game didn't see he light of day till at least late January. This information was in the back of the magazine in their "pronews report".
Your best bet is video game magazines. Not a lot of good scan sources but retro game mags is a good site but they don't have every issue. EGM is pretty accurate for Genesis games at least as far as month goes. Your neve gonna find by exact date. So I decided to look around the net and posts are so varied on this I can see the confusion. The launch was documented toughly in video game magazines at the time. I lived in Northern California and had my money ready to buy it in mid August and did in fact buy my Genesis in August at Toys are Us. I have never heard of a test market for launch as some sites are saying. I'm pretty sure that at least wherever there was a Toys R us you could get a Genesis in August. I really think people are confusing the Nintendo launch strategy here. And the previous list list is pretty accurate. The only game I can't personally confirm is the soccer game. I got tommy lasorda baseball, thunder force 2, and space harrier 2 at launch weekend in August. I remember having to wait a few weeks for Ghouls and Ghosts but I would. Ore or less consider it a launch title even though it wasn't available day one. I remember calling toys R us to get their release date for it. I got it around the time school started which for me was labor day or the last week of August. Forgotten worlds and Herzog Zwei were fall releases as I got both of those before Christmas. Phantasy Star 2 was around Feb.
Ok I did some more digging, two video game history books give credence to the phased launch. I can only assume that by Los Angeles test market they meant California. I lived in the San Francisco Bay Area. Sega of America was headquartered in San Francisco so it's possible the Bay Rea was included in that August 19th launch as well. I can absolutely guarantee though I bought it in August over the summer before Sept. as me and my friends spent the rest of the summer playing Altered Beast and Tommy Lasorda before school started Aug 28 th. In any case here is the launch games listed for the Ultimate history of Videogames by Stephen L. Kent published in 2001. "The console was listed at $189 and came with a single controller and the game Altered Beast. There were 5 additional games available at launch: Thunder Force (2), Tommy Lasorda Baseball, Super Thinder Blade, Space Harrier 2, Last Battle. A second wave of games arrived One month later.". That kind of jives with my memory of World Championship Soccer not being a launch title. Great book if you can still buy it.Also good reading is Pheonix: the rise and fall of Videogames.
I've been seeing more and more stuff that leads me to believe that World Championship Soccer was NOT a "day 1" launch title, but instead arrived maybe two weeks later.
These 6 games:
Altered Beast
Space Harrier II
Super Thunder Blade
Last Battle
Tommy Lasorda Baseball
Thunder Force II
seem to be universally agreed upon as being there day 1. So I think we can at least come to a conclusion that those 6 games were available at that time. World Championship Soccer was probably the next game that arrived, and Ghouls and Ghosts probably followed shortly behind that. I did read somewhere that Arnold Palmer Tournament Golf arrived a couple of weeks after launch along with Soccer. The thing is, most people don't seem to remember Arnold Palmer being that early of a release..
Found it strange that Alex Kidd wasn't a launch title. It had already been out in Japan since early 1989 ("Last Battle" and "Thunder Force II" in comparison, came out about a month shy before the U.S launch), and what little recognition the franchise had here through the SMS games could've helped out the Genesis....maybe. But Sega was big on "Altered Beast" instead....a wise decision.
If you don't mind me asking Anthony1, why so fixated on the exact order of launch titles? I doubt circa-1989 Sega of America was even that calculated, they probably were shipping games as soon as they came in from SoJ (which handled all of the localization, manufacturing and packaging). Besides, "World Championship Soccer" ("GOOAAAAAAAR!") and Arnold Palmer Golf were hardly notable launch titles IMO. :D
Here are some scans of an article I saved from back in the day from USA Today (dated August 24, 1989) on the Genesis launch lineup. No mention of World Championship Soccer, which backs up my memory of the launch. (it was definitely a 1989 title, but I'm thinking more November/Decemberish. I also recall it being initially priced at $39.99, at least $10 below any other games out there at the time) Enjoy, and let's see if we can hunt down these now thirtysomething kids!
Attachment 5593Attachment 5594
Quote:
Originally Posted by DaddyMulk
--- (( Links are Bad ))---
I think Alex Kidd was a launch title in Japan, or close to it (don't remember) however that were some changes in the janken matches so that may be why it wasn't a launch title but came a bit later (weeks or months).Quote:
Originally Posted by Aarzak
Hmm, I can see them on my end. They're just files I uploaded directly. A little help, moderator?Quote:
Originally Posted by Tasuke
Try using a photo site like "Photobucket." That's what works for me.:)Quote:
Originally Posted by DaddyMulk
Fair enough, though they should really disable the image feature on posts if it doesn't work....Quote:
Originally Posted by eddiespruce
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1.../USAToday2.jpg
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1.../USAToday3.jpg
Thanks for reminding me about the DC area in those scans... I know that video gaming was huge in Northern VA back in the day, eStarland used to be in Fairfax City... glad they reffered to it as Fairfax City (not county)
OK, ok I'll stop. I miss it sometimes but overall. But yeah super thunderblade was the shit back in the day.
Fixed.Quote:
Originally Posted by David J.
The kids know what's up with Thunder Force II!
I have a bizarre facsination with going back and playing the launch games for various systems. I prefer to try to play the games chronologically. For example, I'm going to start with the 6 games that arrived on launch day. The ones confirmed by that USA Today article and other sources. I'll play the hell out of Altered Beast, Tommy Lasorda, Thunder Force II, Space Harrier II, Last Battle and Super Thunderblade. I know most of those games are pretty lame to play nowadays, but I'm going to force myself to spend some quality time with each of those games, just to try to get that mid-August 1989 flavor. Then I will probably move on to World Championship Soccer and Ghouls 'n Ghosts.Quote:
Originally Posted by Aarzak
Ideally, there would be a month by month breakdown of the Genesis games as they released, so that I could just go by that. Unfortunately, there is so much incorrect information that is floating around out there, that it really muddy's up the water. I know it might seem a bit anal-rententive to actually want to play the games in order of availability, but I'm just a weirdo like that. I want to try to put myself back into the shoes of some kid in August/September of 1989, that somehow had access to all 6 launch games. Play the heck out of em, and get a feel for the launch. Then continue with games that most likley arrived in September and October. Then play the games that arrived in November and December. The good news, is that while the exact order of USA releases in 1989 remains in doubt, at least we have a pretty good idea of the 20 or so games that did come in 1989, and I'll start off just playing those games. Then, I'll move on to the early 1990 games.
you know I was kidding, no need to fix it lol
That's a great project, Anthony1! I've actually taken an interest in beating the launch titles on different systems -- it's not a super-systematic project, but so far I've gotten part of the Game Boy, Genesis, and SNES launch line-ups under my belt. Having beaten two of the Genesis launch titles on their hardest settings (Altered Beast and Thunder Force II), I'd like to make a point of beating the others as well.
And hey, I think some of those games hold up fairly well, there's no need to apologize for them. For all its flaws and humorous qualities, Altered Beast gets pretty fun once you've memorized all the stage layouts; it actually improves with practice, rather than becoming less interesting (as many games do). I've got no problem with Space Harrier II, which BTW plays quite well on a Nomad (not that you'll use one for "1989"). And Thunder Force II's main issue isn't really that it's dated -- in some ways it's slicker/more polished than a lot of 1990/1991 titles -- but just that the design falls short in a few places.
The release thing is tricky. I've had to argue some of these arguments in regards to a chronogaming RPG site. Moby games is not a good reference for release dates. I've had to go prove to someone that Miracle Warriors was the first Console RPG released in the US. I've also had to prove believe it or not that Y's came out first on the SMS before the Turbo CD. The one that I haven't been able to prove was that Super Hylide came out before Phantasy Star 2. (both feb to march 1990 time frame.). I would go with EGM reviews from the day to get a good idea or Video Games and Cmputer Entertainment. Both were covering the new systems extensively at the time. Also as far as The Genesis there is a good YouTube series Generation 16 done by games journalist Greg Sewart. But he's playing the games in chronological order but by worldwide release date which means that it's predominantly by Japanese release date unless the game came out in the US first. Other pre holiday releases I remember before Christmas were Herzog Zwei and forgotten Worlds.im not sure if Golden Axe made it out for the holidays or it was released after. Pretty sure Mystic Defender was pre holidays as well. If only someone had thought to save Toys R Us invoice dates for putting new releases on sale it would be a definitive source. I know the mom and pop store in my mall had a release binder showing the release dates for all new and upcoming games you could browse through that showed the exact date it came out. Would be kind of a Holy Grail to find some of that information today and get a definitive list.
According to the USPTO archives, Phantasy Star II was a February, 1990 release.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sean697
My copy of Forgotten Worlds was manufactured in October of 1989.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sean697
The USPTO archives list Golden Axe as a January, 1990 release.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sean697
To be more precise: September, 1989.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sean697
The UPC identifies other things such as the publisher, game genre, media type, etc. If you're looking for a true way to identify chronological order, then you'll need to know the games' MPR number.Quote:
Originally Posted by Anthony1
Yes, the USPTO archives agree: January of 1990.Quote:
Originally Posted by Anthony1
That's some good work there chessage. That all jives pretty good with my memory of getting those games.
chessage, could you check the first use dates on World Championship Soccer and Arnlold Palmer ?
I just checked both of those games on the same site (you have to back out a couple of pages to find the basics word search function.). Both games list first commercial use as sep. 1st 1989. So they are Sept games.