View Full Version : Those Crazy "Sachen" NES Games?
ManciGames
02-10-2005, 07:51 PM
So, I'm purusing my trusty DP guide and I noticed the old Sachen NES games. What the heck is the story behind these? Do you NES collectors consider them legitimate domestic U.S. releases?
norkusa
02-10-2005, 08:00 PM
So, I'm purusing my trusty DP guide and I noticed the old Sachen NES games. What the heck is the story behind these? Do you NES collectors consider them legitimate domestic U.S. releases?
I personally don't consider them legitimate U.S. releases, so I don't collect them. Others disagree though.
There was a HUGE thread about Sachens here not too long ago:
http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=18700&start=0
TheRedEye
02-10-2005, 08:04 PM
oh nooooo!
...I'm going to state some facts, and then I'm going to avoid any debate that might ensue. Sachen had, during the NES prime, both an American patent for making game cartridges and American copyrights for each of their titles. Their Famicom games first appeared in 1988 in Eastern countries, the American copyrighted, 72-pin, American NES-compatible games were first produced in 1992. The boxes and manuals have descriptions in (poor) English, and all of the games are entirely NTSC compatible. Many of the games that originally appeared in Chinese dialect also had their in-game dialogue translated to English, for these cartridges.
Copyright dates on these "American versions" (as their online catalog described them) ranged from 1992 to 1995, which would be during the NES' "lifetime." There are two recorded instances of finding these cartridges in second-hand shops in the United States.
There are also no recorded sales records or advertisements for Sachen games in any American market.
The near-universal consensus is that yes, theoretically, a retailer could have imported these games from Taipei, in the same fasion as the Panesian games, and sold them to American consumers. The reason for the debate is that those who do NOT consider these games "American releases" cite that we have no proof of such a thing ever actually happening. Apparently, these people believe that American-version cartridges continued being manufactured for four years with zero orders being made.
My personal stance is that they're really cool little collectibles for those who might appreciate such things, and if your own personal collection is dictated by what "experts" deem as being "American," I can't relate to you at all.
ManciGames
02-10-2005, 08:11 PM
<Snip Excellent Summary From Above]
Redeye, thanks for the concise summary. Much appreciated.
Thanks also for the link to the other thread. It's probably best to lock this one up quickly since the other one seems to cover it in all of it's messy details.
I just can't believe that all of those Mahjong games would have been huge sellers here in the U.S. :)
My personal stance is that they're really cool little collectibles for those who might appreciate such things, and if your own personal collection is dictated by what "experts" deem as being "American," I can't relate to you at all.
While I can definitely understand your point of view, I think that many collectors want to have a "complete collection". In doing so, there has to be some type of official completion requirement. I think that's the big deal with the Sachen split...
qbertandernie
02-10-2005, 08:56 PM
i personally dont count them as a requirement for a complete US set, but would cosndier pursuing them after i completed my NES collection, and would certainly buy them if i saw them for sale in a shop.
-hellvin-
02-10-2005, 09:26 PM
I was waiting for Redeye to jump in on this one, hahaha. Personally the sachen games make me kind of blah on wanting to ever finish a complete nes collection cause I don't collect loose and I don't even know what a sachen cart looks like, much less one CIB.
Player-2
02-10-2005, 09:31 PM
The ugly battle begins!! They count....I have them all...and a complete collection requires them to be there.
norkusa
02-10-2005, 10:34 PM
They count....I have them all...and a complete collection requires them to be there.
Says who?
captain nintendo
02-10-2005, 10:38 PM
The ugly battle begins!! They count....I have them all...and a complete collection requires them to be there.
I disagree with you and agree with TheRedEye and I was going to post the same thing as qbertandernie.
The ugly battle begins!! They count....I have them all...and a complete collection requires them to be there.
They do not count! Time and time again, people have emailed me (from Europe) telling me that these darn carts were released in parts of Europe. For those that say "Well Europe uses PAL, you dip shit..." There are plenty of NTSC games released in Russia, for instance. So there, they are NOT part of the US releases. And what about the game that was never released, until NES God and TheRedEye talked Sachen into finishing it, and making a (very) small limited run? That certainly was not a normal American release, hell it came out years after the NES was dead!
NESaholic
02-11-2005, 08:52 AM
As long as there is no converter needed i count them,pal,ntsc,japanese.
Cmosfm
02-11-2005, 01:08 PM
The ugly battle begins!! They count....I have them all...and a complete collection requires them to be there.
I disagree with you and agree with TheRedEye and I was going to post the same thing as qbertandernie.
Exact same thing here.
I don't consider them at all, just like I don't consider having to have the NWC cart to have a complete collection.
qbertandernie
02-11-2005, 01:33 PM
never seen a complete sachen game?
thats why i lift photos from ebay! LOL
http://photobucket.com/albums/v509/qbertandernie/?action=view¤t=allsachen.jpg
TheRedEye
02-11-2005, 01:52 PM
never seen a complete sachen game?
thats why i lift photos from ebay! LOL
http://photobucket.com/albums/v509/qbertandernie/?action=view¤t=allsachen.jpg
Ha, I took that. I have the full res version somewhere.
jajaja
02-11-2005, 02:44 PM
Haha shit.. nice pic! :)
I have a few Sachen games myself, around 10+
The games usualy sux ass, but I ended up playing a "porno" casino game for about 30 min. or so hehe, just to see what the "porno" was all about.
On back of the complete sachen games i've got it says: "MAED IN TAIWAN", bad english hehe. Is it like this on all boxes? If so, strange that they didnt notice this.
imanerd0011
02-11-2005, 03:27 PM
NOOOOO!!! , not this again! There really are two different view points on Sachen games. Most people don't consider them a part of the U.S. collection, but some very serious collectors do, so it's really a matter of opinion.
There are many ways to consider what should really be in the U.S. set. I personally am trying to get all Licensed games that were released for the NES, and I am also trying to get all of the Unlicensed games as well. When I am done doing this I will then go buy all of the Sachen games, just so I can say I have a COMPLETE NES collection, and no one will be able to tell me that I don't.
TheRedEye
02-11-2005, 03:27 PM
Haha shit.. nice pic! :)
I have a few Sachen games myself, around 10+
The games usualy sux ass, but I ended up playing a "porno" casino game for about 30 min. or so hehe, just to see what the "porno" was all about.
On back of the complete sachen games i've got it says: "MAED IN TAIWAN", bad english hehe. Is it like this on all boxes? If so, strange that they didnt notice this.
The coolest part about Sachen was that all of the exact same bad typos and entrish were a part of every email you got back from the company's president.
And yeah, that pic is EVERYTHING, minus Huge Insect.
jajaja
02-11-2005, 04:23 PM
Do you still own all these Sachen games?
Its one hell of a collection, and I would guess that very few have all Sachen games, especaly complete with box and "manual" (know that manual wasnt included, only some paper with text)
I didnt know that there where so many games btw.
rbudrick
02-11-2005, 04:28 PM
Says who?
Well, says Player-2!
I thought everyone knew!
One fish, two fish
Red Fish Blue!
;)
I'll collect them eventually, but I don't consider them foreign OR American released games. They are the SACHEN collection, from the country of Sachen, and that's how all collectors should consider them....completely seperated from the norm.
-Rob
jajaja
02-11-2005, 04:34 PM
I'll collect them eventually, but I don't consider them foreign OR American released games. They are the SACHEN collection, from the country of Sachen, and that's how all collectors should consider them....completely seperated from the norm.
-Rob
I agree. Sachen games are a category of its own :)
portnoyd
02-11-2005, 05:05 PM
The ugly battle begins!! They count....I have them all...and a complete collection requires them to be there.
So do I, and I don't think they should count.
TheRedEye
02-11-2005, 05:52 PM
Do you still own all these Sachen games?
Its one hell of a collection, and I would guess that very few have all Sachen games, especaly complete with box and "manual" (know that manual wasnt included, only some paper with text)
I didnt know that there where so many games btw.
I think I still have them all, yes. At last count I was missing a couple, but I found another box full of them, so I still probably have a full set.
JJNova
02-11-2005, 06:09 PM
I count everything, henceforth making a "complete" collection extremely difficult. If I didn't, I would feel that having an NES collection of 54 games would count as complete, since the other 724 games are just rip offs of the original 54. :P
qbertandernie
02-11-2005, 06:10 PM
redeye: i took that photo off of an auction that was for sale...if you took it how do you still have the games?
TheRedEye
02-11-2005, 06:21 PM
redeye: i took that photo off of an auction that was for sale...if you took it how do you still have the games?
It was my auction. I've sold about four sets just like it.
qbertandernie
02-11-2005, 06:36 PM
any others left? :D
jajaja
02-11-2005, 06:41 PM
redeye: i took that photo off of an auction that was for sale...if you took it how do you still have the games?
It was my auction. I've sold about four sets just like it.
How much did it go for? And yes, any left? :)
aaron7
02-12-2005, 11:32 AM
As long as there is no converter needed i count them,pal,ntsc,japanese.
ditto.
qbertandernie
02-12-2005, 03:12 PM
if you count all NTSC games sold in the U.S., that includes pirates! so all of the supervision games...multis...etc.. if its NTSC it counts!
good luck with those. to start the list of ridiculously obscure games needed to complete your U.S. released NTSC collections....
http://photobucket.com/albums/v509/qbertandernie/multis/?action=view¤t=700in1front.jpg
http://photobucket.com/albums/v509/qbertandernie/multis/?action=view¤t=650front.jpg
http://photobucket.com/albums/v509/qbertandernie/multis/?action=view¤t=82in1front.jpg
these were purchased at a fire sale at a store called Service Merchandise in Toledo, Ohio. guess they count.
-hellvin-
02-12-2005, 05:37 PM
Thanks for the pictures qbert. Now I surely know I've never seen one complete ;D.
Player-2
02-12-2005, 09:24 PM
if you count all NTSC games sold in the U.S., that includes pirates! so all of the supervision games...multis...etc.. if its NTSC it counts!
good luck with those. to start the list of ridiculously obscure games needed to complete your U.S. released NTSC collections....
http://photobucket.com/albums/v509/qbertandernie/multis/?action=view¤t=700in1front.jpg
http://photobucket.com/albums/v509/qbertandernie/multis/?action=view¤t=650front.jpg
http://photobucket.com/albums/v509/qbertandernie/multis/?action=view¤t=82in1front.jpg
these were purchased at a fire sale at a store called Service Merchandise in Toledo, Ohio. guess they count.
OOOOOOOCCCHHH!!!!!! My bubble has officially been popped!!
SoulBlazer
02-12-2005, 09:31 PM
A Service Merchandise had those?
Good God, I remember those....that's just crazy. :eek 2:
Dr. Morbis
02-12-2005, 11:16 PM
if you count all NTSC games sold in the U.S., that includes pirates!
Some Sachen games did pirate intellecutal property/ideas that would have got them quickly sued if they had attempted to release their games in retail outlets in the US.
The Sachens are akin to the Zeller releases for the 2600: not only are Zeller's releases compatible with the 2600, they were specifically made for it. But they were not released in the US (Zellers is a Canadian department store). As such, they "don't count" as official US releases. It's the same thing with Sachen's games: not only are they compatible with NTSC NES's, but they were specifically made for them. However, that doesn't make them US releases.
My only beef with the Sachens (other than the fact that a complete set would be virtually impossible to compile now that the company has seeminly disappeared) is that the question that NES collectors with complete US sets will be continually asked is "but do you have all the Sachens?" :roll: