Author Topic: A legal Coleco conspiracy  (Read 614 times)

forgotusername

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A legal Coleco conspiracy
« on: December 07, 2022, 02:12:27 AM »
I was attempting to edit the AtGames page on the BootlegGames Wiki, as I noticed the list of "pirated games" was a bit lacking. I recalled hearing that two old Sega games, Zaxxon and Space Fury, appeared on some AtGames consoles seemingly without license. Some consoles even have a bizarre "sequel" to the latter called Ms. Space Fury, which really just defies all explanation...

In researching, however, I came across something strange. In the game lists, both Zaxxon and Space Fury are apparently the ColecoVision versions; and are licensed solely through "Coleco", not Sega. I suppose it could make sense for - through some weird 80s contract - Coleco to own the rights solely for the ColecoVision ports. However, it goes much, much deeper...

As it turns out, there are lots of games "licensed" in this way. So much, in fact, that I can only count eight games licensed through Coleco that would logically be owned by them; the other thirty-seven would not be. Notable titles among this catalog include Konami's Antarctic Adventure, Taito's Jungle Hunt, Universal's Space Panic, Exidy's Pepper II, and dozens of others. Furthermore, a majority of these games have seemingly-fradulent trademark registries; either registered by Coleco directly, or a number of weird other companies that seem to connect back to Coleco. This has evidently been going on for about a decade; and with all this in mind, I'm shocked that I've never seen anyone bat an eye to it.

Does anyone know what the deal is here? I'm really lost as to what's truly going on...