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Does anyone know if there's any truth to the statement quoted on Wikipedia and several other sites that the SG-1000 was initially test-marketed in 1981?
I've searched for a source, but just find the same un-referenced quotes on Western sites and nothing on Japanese sites.

If it was, where was it test-marketed and with what? The first three SG games all have 1983 copyrights (unless there were earlier versions of them?).
And why would Sega sit on it for two years? - it would have been pretty special by 1981 standards.

Or does it just stem from a groundless rumour, endlessy copied by half-assed website authors? Or possibly from a mis-translation of something like "Sega started development in 1981 and released it in 1983"?

I've seen this info in a french magazine too.
BUT, the guy who wrote the article lives in tokyo, is married with a japanese woman and collects old japanese videogame related magazines, books and whatsoever (and takes all of his infos from his collection)
I'll ask him about this.

OK, is there any definitive word about this 1981 test market one way or the other? I just read the 1981 rumor for the first time recently, and now I'm wondering whether there's any truth to it. I'm aware of the "SG-2000" discussion here but it's not clear to me whether the linked message board thread answers the question definitively (and the language barrier obviously doesn't help).

I know it's more-or-less impossible to prove a negative, but surely our resident SG-1000 gurus would've encountered some documentary evidence? This is also relevant to figuring out what influence (if any) the SG-1000 and ColecoVision had on each other's development and release.

anagrama wrote

Or does it just stem from a groundless rumour, endlessy copied by half-assed website authors?

I'm thinking this is the reason. I haven't found a shred of evidence showing the SG-1000 even existed in 1981, and every place that mentions the mythical "test marketing" hasn't backed it up.

Also, in almost all the websites, it's quoted than the SG-1000 was being distributed in Spain back in 1983, but I coudn't find any evidence of this.

I had acces to some 80's inventaries of a videogame shop that was selling atari, colecovision, and others, but there was no reference to the SG-1000

This question has come up again at Digital Press. Bock, Maxim, any opinions on the alleged 1981 test market?

I don't know, I was only two years old at the time.

I asked at zonadepruebas.com, where a lot of people was in their teens at that time. No one remembered the sg–1000 in Europe at these years

Seeing as there's absolutely zero evidence for a 1981 release, I think we can assume this is just a bit of internet misinformation that's been repeatedly copied.

There's no one who can confirm the 81 release, no games with 81 copy rites, and the Colecovision (which I believe was the blueprint for the SG100/MSX standard) didn't come out untill 1982.

Internet misinformation is is common. For example, many websites list Fantasy Zone as having a release date of 1985. Fantasy Zone did not come out until 1986 (arcade), but since this 1985 date has been copied so often, Sega themselves mistakingly listed Fantasy Zone as 1985 in one of their games (Sega all stars racing).

Always check your facts, because there's a lot of typos and BS on the internet.

and as we have commented, not only the year is a contentious issue. We can assume also that the SG-1000 was not present in Europe at all. Nor in 1981 nor later.

kusfo wrote

and as we have commented, not only the year is a contentious issue. We can assume also that the SG-1000 was not present in Europe at all. Nor in 1981 nor later.

I would be a little careful on that. Assuming that it was not in Europe or released in 1981 because there is no evidence for it is the exact same fallacy as assuming that it did exist in Europe because there is nothing to prove it wrong. It's both an appeal to ignorance. To show how this fallacy fails in regards to being released in Europe: people may not remember it but there sure are a lot of box scans made for French distribution: http://www.smspower.org/Scans/ChampionTennis-SG-FR-Back

Could part of the confusion be that the SC3000 was the version Europe seems to have received? Then the argument comes down to the semantics of what people mean when they say SG1000, I guess.

The best we can do is say that it is rumored to be test marketed in 1981 and officially released in 1983.

I would say that there is no solid evidence, but the game list provides hints that it was at least designed for a test market in 1981. The very first game catalog numbers are ports of VIC Dual arcade games from 1980. The very next games are the typical mahjong sports games and jumps to arcade releases from 1983. Doing a test market/build with three games from the same platform seems pretty believable, especially since test marketing for a year or two is closer to standard practice instead of a rarity. It's fairly rare in the game industry now. But having worked in the toy market, I can say it lives by this. It also provides some explanation in the jump of ports from 1980 to 1983. Again not prove. Just small hints.

One thing I would be interested to look at is the porting credits of Borderline. SMSPower lists the Conversion credits as Masamitsu Niitani. I would like to know where that came from. The credit being listed as Masamitsu Niitani instead of Compile could be interesting due to Compile's founding in 1982. It wouldn't prove it one way or the other. But could be another hint.

This sticker is the reason I've been searching for a french SG-1000... for the last 12 years...

Maybe I should try and find someone that worked for Yeno by this time, but 30 years later...

My friend is meeting some early Compile people tomorrow, I'll see if we can get some information.

The ROM for Borderline says "V1 COMPILE MOO/PUCK"
MOO = Niitani
PUCK = ?
Will ask.

Bock wrote

The ROM for Borderline says "V1 COMPILE MOO/PUCK"
MOO = Niitani
PUCK = ?
Will ask.

Bock, you rock!

One other question, I don't know if they would know though. But Compile had almost a second party status, so maybe they heard or experienced something. There are missing catalog numbers for SG-1000 games. Would these be cancelled games? Or did some stuff get swiped by Ni****do's third party policy. For example, 1016 is missing
http://segaretro.org/List_of_SG-1000_games

The test market and the missing catalog numbers seem to be the biggest mysteries to me for the SG-1000.

There was also a couple of missing serial numbers for the Mark 3, and a couple of unreleased games found for it.

Author	Message
anagrama Joined: 11 Dec 2004 Posts: 354 Location: Newcastle, UK	SG-1000 1981 test market? Posted: Wed Feb 21, 2007 9:34 pm
	Does anyone know if there's any truth to the statement quoted on Wikipedia and several other sites that the SG-1000 was initially test-marketed in 1981? I've searched for a source, but just find the same un-referenced quotes on Western sites and nothing on Japanese sites. If it was, where was it test-marketed and with what? The first three SG games all have 1983 copyrights (unless there were earlier versions of them?). And why would Sega sit on it for two years? - it would have been pretty special by 1981 standards. Or does it just stem from a groundless rumour, endlessy copied by half-assed website authors? Or possibly from a mis-translation of something like "Sega started development in 1981 and released it in 1983"?

Kenneth Joined: 20 Dec 2004 Posts: 739 Location: Lyon, France	Posted: Wed Feb 21, 2007 9:54 pm
	I've seen this info in a french magazine too. BUT, the guy who wrote the article lives in tokyo, is married with a japanese woman and collects old japanese videogame related magazines, books and whatsoever (and takes all of his infos from his collection) I'll ask him about this.

goldenband Joined: 24 May 2010 Posts: 127 Location: New York	Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2012 7:16 am
	OK, is there any definitive word about this 1981 test market one way or the other? I just read the 1981 rumor for the first time recently, and now I'm wondering whether there's any truth to it. I'm aware of the "SG-2000" discussion here but it's not clear to me whether the linked message board thread answers the question definitively (and the language barrier obviously doesn't help). I know it's more-or-less impossible to prove a negative, but surely our resident SG-1000 gurus would've encountered some documentary evidence? This is also relevant to figuring out what influence (if any) the SG-1000 and ColecoVision had on each other's development and release.

ApolloBoy Joined: 30 Jan 2007 Posts: 313 Location: San Jose, CA	Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2012 8:37 pm
	anagrama wrote Or does it just stem from a groundless rumour, endlessy copied by half-assed website authors? I'm thinking this is the reason. I haven't found a shred of evidence showing the SG-1000 even existed in 1981, and every place that mentions the mythical "test marketing" hasn't backed it up.

kusfo Joined: 29 Mar 2012 Posts: 882 Location: Spain	About SG-1000 in Spain Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2012 10:28 am
kusfo Joined: 29 Mar 2012 Posts: 882 Location: Spain	Also, in almost all the websites, it's quoted than the SG-1000 was being distributed in Spain back in 1983, but I coudn't find any evidence of this. I had acces to some 80's inventaries of a videogame shop that was selling atari, colecovision, and others, but there was no reference to the SG-1000

goldenband Joined: 24 May 2010 Posts: 127 Location: New York	Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2013 2:45 pm
	This question has come up again at Digital Press. Bock, Maxim, any opinions on the alleged 1981 test market?

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 14728 Location: London	Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2013 6:28 pm
	I don't know, I was only two years old at the time.

kusfo Joined: 29 Mar 2012 Posts: 882 Location: Spain	Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2013 6:35 pm
kusfo Joined: 29 Mar 2012 Posts: 882 Location: Spain	I asked at zonadepruebas.com, where a lot of people was in their teens at that time. No one remembered the sg–1000 in Europe at these years

Raccoon Lad Joined: 16 Dec 2004 Posts: 495 Location: El Cerrito, CA	Posted: Sat Sep 28, 2013 4:56 pm
	Seeing as there's absolutely zero evidence for a 1981 release, I think we can assume this is just a bit of internet misinformation that's been repeatedly copied. There's no one who can confirm the 81 release, no games with 81 copy rites, and the Colecovision (which I believe was the blueprint for the SG100/MSX standard) didn't come out untill 1982. Internet misinformation is is common. For example, many websites list Fantasy Zone as having a release date of 1985. Fantasy Zone did not come out until 1986 (arcade), but since this 1985 date has been copied so often, Sega themselves mistakingly listed Fantasy Zone as 1985 in one of their games (Sega all stars racing). Always check your facts, because there's a lot of typos and BS on the internet.

kusfo Joined: 29 Mar 2012 Posts: 882 Location: Spain	Posted: Sat Sep 28, 2013 5:04 pm
kusfo Joined: 29 Mar 2012 Posts: 882 Location: Spain	and as we have commented, not only the year is a contentious issue. We can assume also that the SG-1000 was not present in Europe at all. Nor in 1981 nor later.

sin2beta Joined: 16 Dec 2012 Posts: 13 Location: Dallas, Texas, USA	Posted: Sun Sep 29, 2013 1:02 am
	kusfo wrote and as we have commented, not only the year is a contentious issue. We can assume also that the SG-1000 was not present in Europe at all. Nor in 1981 nor later. I would be a little careful on that. Assuming that it was not in Europe or released in 1981 because there is no evidence for it is the exact same fallacy as assuming that it did exist in Europe because there is nothing to prove it wrong. It's both an appeal to ignorance. To show how this fallacy fails in regards to being released in Europe: people may not remember it but there sure are a lot of box scans made for French distribution: http://www.smspower.org/Scans/ChampionTennis-SG-FR-Back Could part of the confusion be that the SC3000 was the version Europe seems to have received? Then the argument comes down to the semantics of what people mean when they say SG1000, I guess. The best we can do is say that it is rumored to be test marketed in 1981 and officially released in 1983. I would say that there is no solid evidence, but the game list provides hints that it was at least designed for a test market in 1981. The very first game catalog numbers are ports of VIC Dual arcade games from 1980. The very next games are the typical mahjong sports games and jumps to arcade releases from 1983. Doing a test market/build with three games from the same platform seems pretty believable, especially since test marketing for a year or two is closer to standard practice instead of a rarity. It's fairly rare in the game industry now. But having worked in the toy market, I can say it lives by this. It also provides some explanation in the jump of ports from 1980 to 1983. Again not prove. Just small hints. One thing I would be interested to look at is the porting credits of Borderline. SMSPower lists the Conversion credits as Masamitsu Niitani. I would like to know where that came from. The credit being listed as Masamitsu Niitani instead of Compile could be interesting due to Compile's founding in 1982. It wouldn't prove it one way or the other. But could be another hint.

Kenneth Joined: 20 Dec 2004 Posts: 739 Location: Lyon, France	Posted: Sun Sep 29, 2013 4:14 pm
	This sticker is the reason I've been searching for a french SG-1000... for the last 12 years... Maybe I should try and find someone that worked for Yeno by this time, but 30 years later...

Bock Site Admin Joined: 08 Jul 2001 Posts: 8648 Location: Paris, France	Posted: Wed Oct 02, 2013 10:38 am
	My friend is meeting some early Compile people tomorrow, I'll see if we can get some information.

Bock Site Admin Joined: 08 Jul 2001 Posts: 8648 Location: Paris, France	Posted: Wed Oct 02, 2013 10:54 am
	The ROM for Borderline says "V1 COMPILE MOO/PUCK" MOO = Niitani PUCK = ? Will ask.

sin2beta Joined: 16 Dec 2012 Posts: 13 Location: Dallas, Texas, USA	Posted: Thu Oct 03, 2013 4:37 am
	Bock wrote The ROM for Borderline says "V1 COMPILE MOO/PUCK" MOO = Niitani PUCK = ? Will ask. Bock, you rock! One other question, I don't know if they would know though. But Compile had almost a second party status, so maybe they heard or experienced something. There are missing catalog numbers for SG-1000 games. Would these be cancelled games? Or did some stuff get swiped by Ni****do's third party policy. For example, 1016 is missing http://segaretro.org/List_of_SG-1000_games The test market and the missing catalog numbers seem to be the biggest mysteries to me for the SG-1000.

Kenneth Joined: 20 Dec 2004 Posts: 739 Location: Lyon, France	Posted: Thu Oct 03, 2013 7:37 am
	There was also a couple of missing serial numbers for the Mark 3, and a couple of unreleased games found for it.

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