THE OFFICIAL STATISTICAL ANALYSIS AND CORRECTION COMPILATION ADDENDUM TO THE ORIGINAL 1997 NINTENDO NES MIKE ETLER LIST
REVISION 1.6 (work still in progress) Last Updated February 25, 2007
INTRODUCTION
The 1997 Mike Etler NES game list became the main reference by which both gamers
and collectors adhered to when buying, selling, and trading NES game cartridges.
Granted, the list is a very good compilation as it does contain an almost complete
listing of all the NES cartridges. However, the list has 14 errors which comprises
13 false positives and 1 omission. And so I wrote up this correction both for myself
as well as for the benefit of the NES community.
EXPLANATION
The Mike Etler NES list contains a total of 779 entries. HOWEVER, this is the first
problem as the total number of North American NTSC NES game cartridges is not 779.
Worse then that is the fact that some of those entries are not even NES games anyhow.
Of the 779 entries, 13 of them are disqualified. While this would bring the total to
766, the list is also missing 1 unlicensed entry which then raises it back to 767.
The place where we draw the line for what IS and what is NOT a qualifying entry is
of course SUBJECTIVE. For the record, objectivity is rather difficult to achieve as
there are some debatable details among those 13 controversial entries.
OBVIOUS AND OBJECTIVE DISQUALIFIED ENTRIES
01 Arkanoid Controller - this is a controller, not a game cartridge.
02 Galoob Game Genie - this is a system accessory, not a game cartridge.
03 Game Action Replay - this is a system accessory, not a game cartridge.
04 Asterix the Gaul - this is a PAL ONLY region game listed incorrectly!
05 Pyramids of Ra - this is an unreleased prototype game.
06 Scarabeus - this is an unreleased prototype game.
07-12 (the six Aladdin mini carts) - repackaged re-releases of stand alone games.
___(ONLY the Aladdin Deck Enhancer unit itself with AND ONLY WITH the unique Dizzy cartridge inserted counts as ONE entry on the list).
13 Myriad 6 in 1 - (game program is identical to Caltron) relabeled unsold inventory
OMISSIONS
01 Racermate II Bicycle Training Cartridge - (a unique game title not on the list)
COMPLETE COLLECTION STATISTICS
Maximum Number of Licensed NES Game Cartridges is 677
Maximum Number of UN-Licensed NES Game Cartridges is 90
GRAND TOTAL OF ALL USA NES CARTRIDGES IS 767
DISCLAIMERS / EXPLANATIONS
ALTERNATE GAME PROGRAMS
01 Ms. Pac-Man - completely re-programmed version by NAMCO
02 Tetris - completely re-programmed version by NINTENDO
REPACKAGED GAMES/ RE-RELEASED GAMES / LABEL VARIATIONS
01 Gauntlet - (Label & Title Screen Variation) - Licensed & Unlicensed by Nintendo
02 RBI Baseball - (Label & Title Screen Variation) - Licensed & Unlicensed by Nintendo
03 Pac-Man - (Label & Title Screen Variation) - Licensed & Unlicensed by Nintendo
04 Indiana Jones - (Label & Title Screen Variation) - by TENGEN & by MINDSCAPE)
___(these 4 games count ONCE for licenesed and ONCE for unlicensed)___
SUBJECTIVE AND CONTROVERSIAL GAMES
01 Pac-Man - (Namco's LICENSED release) - Label & Title Screen Variation. Should not count but for some reason the community does.
02 Impossible Mission 2 - (released by AVE & twice by SEI) - all 3 unlicensed. Should only count once, but counted twice.