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

games A game is a Structure, structured type of play (activity), play usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an Educational game, educational tool. Many games are also considered to be Work (human activity), work (such as p ...

for

NES The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on 15 July 1983 as the and was later released as the redesigned NES in several test markets in the ...

and

Famicom The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on 15 July 1983 as the and was later released as the redesigned NES in several test markets in the ...

. 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 A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

copies between 1989 and 1991, which were sold in

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

and in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

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 an order by telephone call ...

. Unusual among counterfeit cartridge 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

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and

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. Many of these were credited to Mega Soft, a

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

-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 ...

in 1992, which was distributed in the

- since this cartridge 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. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

ese company, ''Asder Electronic Co., Ltd'' (), has released educational computer systems and

TV game A handheld TV game or plug and play game is an integrated home video game console and game controller, usually battery powered, which connects directly to a television. The game software is built directly into the unit, which is typically design ...

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