NTDEC (whose full name is Nintendo Electronic Co. ()), was a Taiwanese manufacturer of cartridges, accessories and original

games A game is a structured form of play, usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or games) or art (such ...

for

NES The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in American ...

and

Famicom The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in American ...

. For both they also manufactured converters to play Famicom titles 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. NTDEC gained notoriety in the early 1990s for their large-scale piracy of Nintendo Entertainment System games along with their unauthorized use of the Nintendo trademark. This led to the arrest of a few of their employees and the discontinuation of the NTDEC line.

History

Copyright infringement

NTDEC produced a large number of unlicensed

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

copies between 1989 and 1991, which were sold in

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

and in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

via

mail order Mail order is the buying of goods or services by mail delivery. The buyer places an order for the desired products with the merchant through some remote methods such as: * Sending an order form in the mail * Placing a telephone call * Placing a ...

. Unusual among counterfeit

cartridge Cartridge may refer to: Objects * Cartridge (firearms), a type of modern ammunition * ROM cartridge, a removable component in an electronic device * Cartridge (respirator), a type of filter used in respirators Other uses * Cartridge (surname) Ca ...

manufacturers, they're often identifiable through the company logo on it and the in-game copyright notice modified to read "NTDEC", as well as the rear label featuring a green stripe.

''Nintendo of America, Inc. v. NTDEC''

Two NTDEC employees were arrested in 1991 for the company's activities distributing cartridges in the US, and legal action was brought against the company by Nintendo shortly after for copyright infringement, as well as its use of the "Nintendo" trademark in its company name.Nintendo of America Inc v. NTDEC
/ref> Nintendo's legal action of 1991 concluded in 1993 with Nintendo being awarded $24,059,062 plus attorneys fees of $108,829.00 and costs of $709.80, and a worldwide permanent injunction preventing NTDEC from infringing Nintendo's intellectual property rights. At this point the company ceased operations under the NTDEC name.

Original games

Between 1991 and 1993, NTDEC developed and published a number of original

, some of which were distributed in parts of

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. Many of these were credited to Mega Soft, a

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

-based company which was listed in ''Nintendo of America, Inc. v. NTDEC'' as their North American distribution arm. Six games previously released by them in 1991 were compiled on the '' Caltron 6 in 1''

multicart In video game parlance, a multicart is a cartridge that contains more than one game. Typically, the separate games are available individually for purchase (such as ''Sega Smash Pack'') or were previously available individually (such as '' Final F ...

in 1992, which was distributed in the

- since this

contains only NTDEC/Mega Soft games and carries the same CN-xx ID as the previous original NTDEC games; Caltron (or Caltron Ind. Inc.) is believed to be the same company as NTDEC.

List of titles as NTDEC

List of titles as Mega Soft

List of titles as Caltron

Unreleased titles

* ''Dragon Palace Adventure'' * ''The Pearl Turn'' * ''Caltron 9 in 1''

Asder

Following the legal action of 1993, the company appears to have ceased operations under the NTDEC name. Another

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

ese company, ''Asder Electronic Co., Ltd'' (), has released educational computer systems and TV game joypads containing Mega Soft games, and several original

games continuing NTDEC's CN-xx numbering. However, it's unknown whether this company is NTDEC with a new name, or a separate company that obtained the rights to past titles from them.

List of games

Note: The title ''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'').

References

External links

Asder

{{Nintendo Electronics companies of Taiwan Video game development companies Video game publishers Defunct video game companies of Taiwan Copyright infringement of software Video game law Video game controversies