10 Crazy Unlicensed Video Games You’ve Never Heard Of

2. Aladdin Deck Enhancer (Nintendo Entertainment System)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyRcftI-Cwk Not a game per se, it was a cartridge designed to enable a golden age of unlicensed NES titles. Developed by Codemasters and released by Camerica, it contained a bunch of vital parts for NES games (anti-lockout chip circuitry, graphics and memory chips, and so one). This would enable less rich companies to make smaller, cheaper cartridges, helping offset the balance of power between them and the big name companies like Konami and Capcom. In practice, it came out in 1992, which was way too late. The NES was pretty much done in 1993. The games were all re-releases of Codemasters titles that had come out as regular NES cartridges and it was hard to find in stores, with most units in the wild having been ordered from the Home Shopping Network in the U.S. They made some awesome games and were easily the best publisher who was never licensed by Nintendo (remember, Tengen was initially licensed), but time was working against them and the project fizzled.