So, I've been working on something in regards to the launch of the Sega Genesis back in 1989. Trying to find accurate information is very difficult. I've had to dig through old usenet posts, and look for various newspaper articles that were written at the time.


At a certain point, it seems that we started to actually get accurate release dates, and from that point forward, it seems easier to actually know the specific date a game came out. For example, take Sonic 2. Sonic 2 was of course released to great fanfare on "Sonic 2uesday". November 24th, 1992 was the specific release date for Sonic 2. It's pretty easy to get this information, because there was a specific date set aside for the release of the game. This became much more popular as the years went on, but for many games released before 1993, trying to get an accurate release date is an exercise in futility.

There is so much mis-information on the internet, that it clouds the situation even further. There is something about the internet, and the fact that there are these written words on various websites, that people for whatever reason take this information as the gospel, when much of it is grossly inaccurate, and the real unfortunate thing is that these incorrect dates get picked up by different people, and they spout off the info like it's accurate, and it just makes the problem that much worse.

I have to imagine that there has to be some video game historian out there, that is trying to research all this stuff, and trying to get accurate info. You'd think having an accurate chronological listing of USA game releases for various systems would be a high priority for some video game researcher, but I have a very difficult time finding any remotely accurate Chronological game list for systems from the early 90's or before. Once you get to the mid 90's, with the Playstation and Saturn and N64, it seems that more accurate lists are available, but before that, it's a real crapshoot.