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 has become the main reference by which both gamers and collectors adhere to when buying, selling, and trading NES cartridges. Granted, the list is a very good reference and it does provide an accurate and complete listing of NES cartridges. However, it lacks some very basic things and it contains several errors. I have chosen to write this report both for myself as well as for the benefit of the rest 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, I have personally disqualified 13 of them. The place where I set the bar 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 so many debatable details among those 13 controversial entries.

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 game listed incorrectly!
05 Pyramids of Ra - PROTO - Protos ENHANCE game collections, they do not COMPLETE them!
06 Scarabeus - PROTO - (Dozens of other unreleased NES protos do not count either)
07-12 ___(the six Aladdin mini carts - re-releases, that may only be counted once!)___

13 Aladdin Deck Enhancer with the unique Dizzy cartridge counts as ONE entry on the list)

OMISSIONS
01 Racermate II Bicycle Training Cartridge - (a unique game not on the list)

REPACKAGED GAMES
01 Myriad 6 in 1 - (game program is identical to Caltron) relabeled unsold inventory

LABEL VARIATIONS and/or ALTERED GAME PROGRAMS
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 Pac-Man - (Label & Title Screen Variation) - NAMCO's version)
05 Indiana Jones - (Label & Title Screen Variation) - by TENGEN & by MINDSCAPE)
06 Impossible Mission 2 - (released by AVE & SEI)
07 Ms. Pac-Man - completely re-programmed version by NAMCO
08 Tetris - completely re-programmed version by NINTENDO
___(SLIGHTLY or SEVERELY altered game codes qualify as separate entries)___

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

MY PERSONAL STATISTICS
My Number of Licensed NES Game Cartridges is 677 of 677
My Number of UN-Licensed NES Game Cartridges is 86 of 90
My TOTAL Number of NES Game Cartridges is 763 of 767