Don't want to clog up the other topic(s) I have done a quick check-through in an attempt to find patterns. It differs from Japan, but there is some logic here. In many cases, the US codes are "identical" to their EU counterparts, just with extra stuff added. For Europe, xxxx often becomes MK-xxxx-RR (MKxxxxRR) or xxxx-RR. The "RR" represents the Region Codes, in most cases it is 50. SG-1000 Japanese product code rules. No change. Master System US and EU codes are identical in most cases, mostly due to identical publishers. First Party: I believe every first party game has its own code, but they don't always print it on the spine. However, I am of the impression it was incorporated into the barcode like this. 32kB ROM (Card) - 40xx 32kB ROM (Cartridge) - 45xx 128kB ROM - 50xx Combo cartridges - 60xx 256kB ROM - 70xx 3D - 80xx 512kB ROM - 90xx 512kB ROM + backup - 95xx Germany - 410xx - overrides everything for some reason Third Party: This applies to Europe only because there weren't really any third-parties in the US (Activision has its own rules). Sega doesn't adopt the T-series stuff straight away. It sticks with MK-whatever-50. But it starts dealing with five number patterns instead of four. 256kB ROM - MK-27xxx-50 512kB ROM - MK-29xxx-50 note the "2". Vitally important point - Brazillian boxes also degrade into a similar system - "02x.xxx". I don't quite understand it though. Mega Drive new system adopted. At the beginning Sega don't bother to print codes on the spines at all, so this might be wrong. I think barcodes can offer clues. First Party: 1xxx ROM sizes may affect the second digit. I can't see a clear pattern if I'm honest. Third Party: T-xxxx - T-series code, essentially. Sometimes they drop the "T-", sometimes the "-50" for Europe. I don't know why. And this applies to everything Game Gear and Mega CD-related too Game Gear First Party: 2xxx Mega CD First Party: 4xxx 32X First Party: We jump for some reason to 84xxx Third Party: Third party codes change slightly. Just slightly. In Japan, letters are added to the end, so for 32X it becomes T-xxxxA in the US/EU it is T-xxxxB T-xxxxB-50 being the European variant Saturn First Party: 81xxx accessories at this stage are 801xx (US) and 803xx (EU) Third Party: In Japan we've moved forward to T-xxxxG in the US/EU it is T-xxxxH "what happened to the other letters" you might ask Dreamcast First Party: 5xxxx Third Party: In Japan we've moved forward to T-xxxxM so in the US it is T-xxxxN BUT in Europe, it is T-xxxxD-50 these are initial findings, there may be anomalies. Presumably there is third-party software out there that is of the pattern T-xxxxC, T-xxxxE, T-xxxxF, T-xxxxI, T-xxxxJ and T-xxxxK
I'm pretty sure the letter/number at the end identify the console and region 0 - Pico JP? 3 - Mega Drive JP 4 - Mega CD JP 6 - Mega Drive US(/EU?) 7 - Game Gear JP A - 32X JP B - 32X US(/EU?) D - Dreamcast EU G - Saturn JP H - Saturn US(/EU?) M - Dreamcast JP N - Dreamcast US unless you figured that part out already
First party games do indeed seem to have their serials in the barcode, for Megadrive and Master System games. Couldn't find a pattern for third party titles though, but it looks like that in the same position they have a numerical representation of the release #. Like: Boogerman eu: 5 026102 028105 Boogerman US: 0 40421 83018 3 So megadrive release number 2810 and 3018. This is entirely speculation because not all barcodes seem to match this rule (Electronic Arts titles seem to have the game serial number in the barcodes, instead of a release counter). But, do note that Saturn titles DO have a numerical release counter like that on the cd inner rings, and those take into account EVERY release numerically - not making any difference between region, first or third party, retail or demo, etc.. They top around ~2500 or so. So it would make sense if Megadrive titles were counted that way too. If this list exists, it probably has tons of holes due to not all games having that number present in any form (Saturn discs often not have that part in the ringcode either).
Electronic Arts made their own rules. The story goes that they reverse-engineered the Mega Drive and were ready to go without Sega's permission, but they struck a deal to keep things pleasant. Chances are they were manufacturing cartridges and boxes completely separate from Sega (though started to conform again by the 32X/Saturn) I'm under the impression that back in the day, publishers really did publish games, I.e. they had developers write games, then take the code to one of their privately owned factories and started manufacturing cartridges and boxes for distribution. So I would imagine that for third parties, the barcodes have a format specific to the factory that manufactured the box/game. These days there are proper security checks and the like, so you are pretty much forced to go through Microsoft or Sony or whatever, and they can dictate how the packaging should be designed. So the barcode trick probably only works with Sega-published games. That being said, I think it's only Sega-published games we lack product codes for (and unlicensed stuff... and EA).
Brazilian releases follow this format: Barcode = xxxyyyyzzwkkd xxx - country - (789) - Brazil [This is a standard of barcodes] yyyy - Manufacturer - (1196) - Tec Toy [This is a standard of barcodes] zz - console/hardware w - series/random number/??? kk - ?? t - Verifier digit [This is a standard of barcodes] From the numbers above they create the model nº ("serial code") by taking the last 5 numbers and replacing the last digit with 0 or 6 (all cartridges are 0 and most cds are 6) Model Nº = zz.wkkm zz - console/hardware = w - series/random number/??? = !!See explanation below!! kk - ?? = serial m - media = 0 or 6 = "0" means its a cartridge and 6 means its a CD but there are a few CDs with a "0" instead of a "6". The "zz" digit = This is the console/hardware. 01, 07 = Game Gear; 02, 03 = Master System; 04, 05 = Mega Drive; 06 = Sega CD; 15 = Mega 32X; 19 = Saturn, Dreamcast; The "w" digit = In the first releases I noticed this number matches the letter that appears in most of the boxes then at a certain point I couldn't understand it anymore. 1-A 2-B 3-C 4-D 5-E 6-F 7-G --------------- Sample ------------ Mega 32X Games Code (Text): Blackthorne 152130 7891196152139 Cosmic Carnage 151020 7891196151026 DOOM 152010 7891196152016 Golf Magazine Apresenta: 36 Great Holes Estrelando Fred Couples 152100 7891196152108 Knuckles' Chaotix 152090 7891196152092 Kolibri 152150 7891196152153 Metal Head 152060 7891196152061 Mortal Kombat II 153010 7891196153013 Motocross Championship 151010 7891196151019 Star Trek Starfleet Academy: Starship Bridge Simulator 152140 7891196152146 Star Wars Arcade 152080 7891196152085 Tempo 152070 7891196152078 Virtua Fighter 153020 7891196153020 Virtua Racing Deluxe 152020 7891196152023 Fahrenheit 32x ?????? ???????????? Surgical Strike 32x 157036 7891196157035 DREAMCAST (P.S¹) Code (Text): Airforce Delta 197136 7891196197130 Blue Stinger 197116 7891196197116 Crazy Taxi 197286 7891196197284 Daytona USA ??????? ??????? Dead or Alive 2 197126 7891196197123 Flag to Flag Cart 197106 7891196197109 House of the Dead 2, The 197066 7891196197062 Hydro Thunder 197176 7891196197178 Jet Grind Radio ??????? ??????? King of Fighters, The - Dream Match 99 ??????? 7891196197154 Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 197256 7891196197253 Monaco Grand Prix 197046 7891196197048 Mortal Kombat Gold 197186 7891196197185 NBA 2K 197206 7891196197208 Phantasy Star Online 197306 7891196197307 Quake III Arena 197296 7891196197291 Rayman 2 197076 7891196197079 Ready 2 Rumble Boxing 197196 7891196197192 Resident Evil Code: Veronica 197036 7891196197031 Sega Rally 2 - Sega Rally Championship 197056 7891196197055 Shenmue ??????? ??????? Sonic Adventure 197086 7891196197086 Sonic Adventure 2 197316 7891196197314 Speed Devils ??????? ??????? Tomb Raider The Last Revelation 197216 7891196197215 Toy Story 2- Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue 197246 7891196197246 Unreal Tournament 197336 7891196197338 Vigilante 8 2nd Offense 197266 7891196197260 Virtua Striker 2 197276 7891196197277 Wacky Races 197346 7891196197345 P.S¹ = If you order the Dreamcast releases by model nº you can see the "kk" digits is a sequential number going from 03 to 34 with four games missing barcodes and another four possible games released. As far as I know this list is complete but with only 30 releases this mean that or Tec Toy skipped four numbers in the sequence or there are unknown releases out there,. My theory is that internally they might have counted the Generator disc, Web Browser and Sonic Adventure 2 (Demo) as part of the sequence of the sequence and the lost game might be Crazy Taxi 2, it was announced but in all these years I have yet to see it.
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaait a minute. Is there a list of Tec Toy Dreamcast product codes somewhere I never knew about? Also, I've been really baffled by the lettering on Mega Drive covers, especially those with no product number (early releases)--what exactly do those signify?
I maintain lists for all SEGA games and hardware released by Tec Toy. The lettering was used to dictate the price range of the game in the stores, e.g: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- LOJA GAME SCORE - Agosto de 1993 (Game Score Store - August, 1993) Prices in Cr$ (Cruzeiro Real <- not used anymore, replaced by Real in 1994) Cartuchos Master System (Master System cartridges) Carts 256K = 1.371,000 Carts 1 MEGA Série B = 1.911,000 Carts 2 MEGA Série A = 2.269,000 Série B = 2.423,000 Série C = 2.742,000 Série D = 2.949,000 Carts 4 MEGA = 3.240,000 Carts 4 MEGA ESPECIAL = 4.064,000 Cartuchos Mega Drive (Mega Drive cartridges) Série A = 2.485,000 Série B = 3.280,000 Série C = 3.536,000 Série D = 4.397,000 Série E = 4.779,000 Série F = 5.832,000 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Do you have actual hardware too? I want to take some looks inside the various Saturn models they released.
Oh, that makes sense—I assume all the crazy hyperinflation around that time would have made just issuing a range make more sense. That does sort of throw a kink in our plans of listing MSRP/RRP of games, though.
I was organizing my bookmarks and found an interesting parallel to the letters in the japanese Master System releases, it seems SEGA of Japan used stars in the back of the box as a pricing code just like Tec Toy used the letters here. Seeing as how Tec Toy had a close relationship with Sega of Japan it wouldn't surprise me if the star were the source of inspiration. Source: http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?126069-So-what-s-the-deal-with-these-stars-on-the-back-of-Mark-III-game-boxes
That star system would have completely passed me by had you not pointed that out On another side note, this book keeps popping up a lot in my travels Collectively they cover pretty much everything Sega-related which is Japanese (up until 2002). I was under the impression the consumer one was effectively Sega of Japan's site in book form, but I'm starting to think it might have a great deal more use. The arcade history book has tons of use because it specifies exact release dates of arcade games and the like, which I'm pretty sure Sega of Japan's site has never done. The occasional page scan exists, just a shame that both are in Japanese.
http://www.jap-sai.com/Games/Sega/Sega.htm they're still being resold and I really should get copies too =P
After a through analysys of my lists, I can say for sure the first 3 number of the Model Nº represents the letters and size of the game. Ps. This is 100% accurate in the Master System games. Ps².With Mega Drive games only the letters match and the size of the rom match in most but not all cases. Master System 021. = - (256K) 023. = B (1 MEGA) 024. = A (2 MEGA) 025. = B (2 MEGA) 026. = C (2 MEGA) 027. = D (2 MEGA) 028. = - (4 MEGA) 030. = - (8 MEGA) Mega Drive 041. = A 042. = B 043. = C 044. = D 045. = E 046. = F 047. = G 048. = D 049. = H 050. = I 051. = F 052. = G; J 053. = B
