Genesis games with that yellow tab...

[Jasoco]

So.. what is it with those other Genesis games with the narrower/taller case and that yellow tab?

 

Always wondered that.

[JB]

Just a diffrent publisher with their own cart shells instead of using Sega's shells.

I think they were all Electronic Arts games.

[chrisbid]

yup, those have the old school EA logo on the tab

 

at first EA was unlicensed to make genesis games, so they had to use their own cases, i guess they liked them enough, so they kept the cases even after they had a license from sega.... same for accolade

[video game addict]

I don't believe EA was ever an "unlicensed" publisher on the Genesis platform. I thought it was just a case of wanting to be different.

[JerseyDevil]

That was their way of saying there is a battery inside to save games.

[video game addict]

Nope that ain't it either. The Yellow tab games were an EA thing. But not all EA games had battery backup.

[chrisbid]

Games like Zany Golf and Fatal Rewind will not work in any Genesis Unit that has the "licensed by sega" boot screen

[Tempest]

I always thought those tabs were for opening up the cart. I tried like hell to push it down and pry the cart open when I was younger.

 

Tempest

[JB]

I always thought those tabs were for opening up the cart.  I tried like hell to push it down and pry the cart open when I was younger.  

 

Tempest

Heh.

 

I remember thinking that too.

[video game addict]

Games like Zany Golf and Fatal Rewind will not work in any Genesis Unit that has the "licensed by sega" boot screen

 

 

Yes Sega made some changes to it's Genesis, which made those games incompatible. They were still licensed games thou. Check your boxes, they should still have that official Sega Seal of approval on them. This was just a nasty side effect from the change.

 

 

Kind of like the 2600 adapter on the 5200. A hardware change rendered it unusable. And there are many examples of games on different platforms over the years, that didn't run on certain systems, because of different hardware revisions, or OS's.

 

Accolade however did release unlicensed games under the Ballistic name. Similar to the Atari Tengen games on NES. Sega sued Accolade/Ballistic and won, and Accolade had to release some licensed games for them as part of the settlement. Not that they released anything good..

[Bratwurst]

EA approached Sega initially when the Genesis came out and showed how they were able to publish games on their own, without the need for Sega's approval.

 

I'm not sure if they went ahead and made games but because they 'threatened' to go on their own EA was able to secure a more lucrative licensee contract than normal and that's where the yellow tabbed cartridges come from. They didn't have to rely on Sega to make their carts for them, etc.

 

This was all pre-lockout era.

 

Accolade was sued because they actually used some of the patented code in the newer Genesis' Sega Bios to make their unlicensed games work on the lockout hardware.

[Ze_ro]

Obviously, the yellow tab doesn't actually do anything... on one of my carts, the tab is loose and can be easily removed... It's just a little clip that fits onto the side with nothing underneath it.

 

Turrican was a decent game by Accolade... always loved the Amiga version too.

 

I also have Stormlord by Razorsoft that is in a similar case, although it doesn't have the yellow tab, and it doesn't have the Accolade grooves on the sides. I don't know if Razorsoft made many of their own games though. By the time Death Duel came out, they were using Sega-sized cases.

 

--Zero