Why do some genesis games look different?

[slowslow325]

I've always wondered why certain genesis games look different. My best explanation would be they are third party. What is the real reason? Is it like the Tengen NES games or something?

[Niode]

Do you mean the ones with the yellow tabs?

Those were used on all Electronic Arts cartridges for the MD back in the day. I have no idea why that was. It's not just limited to sports titles, every single game that EA published that I own has the yellow tabs too, games like Jungle/Desert/Urban Strike have them.

It's probably just a gimmick to differentiate EA's games from other third party publishers. I suppose it makes them look unique. It's probably nothing more than that.

[dlmvii]

All the EA games were like that.
Maybe they just wanted their stuff to "stand out" more?

edit:curses, beaten again

[Mozgus]

I thought it was for the same reason that some NES carts were the wrong shape or color. Supposedly it happens when the two companies don't agree on a deal for the cartridge shells or when the games themselves just aren't licensed to be on the system. I'm sure those EA games were licensed though.

[Doctor Fugue]

When I was young and innocent, I thought that was EA's extra memory for saved games.

[Ack]

When I was young and innocent, I thought that was EA's extra memory for saved games.

You...you mean...you mean it's not?

[Chrono]

When I was young and innocent, I thought that was EA's extra memory for saved games.

Yeah thats what I thought, although Roadrash was always crap for saving and that had the yellow tag...

[Droid party]

I think it was something to do with licensing. I remember reading about sega's reaction to it was surprisingly cool. EA thought they would have to fight to have thier own style cart and sega (needing to get big studios on thier platform) just told them to go ahead.

I also remember codemasters had a really cool cart called the "J-cart" that had 2 extra controller ports built into the cart for 4 player without the need for a multi-tap. I had Pete Samprass tennis and used to love love playing doubles with 3 friends, good times.

[Chrono]

I think it was something to do with licensing. I remember reading about sega's reaction to it was surprisingly cool. EA thought they would have to fight to have thier own style cart and sega (needing to get big studios on thier platform) just told them to go ahead.

I also remember codemasters had a really cool cart called the "J-cart" that had 2 extra controller ports built into the cart for 4 player without the need for a multi-tap. I had Pete Samprass tennis and used to love love playing doubles with 3 friends, good times.

Ah, I think micromachines had a similar 2 extra controller ports in the cart too, memories!

[arion]

All games published by Accolade also had diffrent carts.