NES Replay Sidebar: What's the Deal With the Copyright Dates?

If you've been paying attention to this series, you've probably noticed something weird: The copyright date on the title screens don't always match up with the actual release date.

For instance, Baseball was released in 1985, but the title screen places the copyright date as 1983. Abadox was released in 1990, but the title screen places the copyright date as 1989. What gives?

Most of these games were released in Japan first. The copyright date usually will correspond to the date that the game received its original Japanese release, and not necessarily when the game was released for Western audiences. So, in the case of Baseball, it was released in 1983 for the Famicom, then released for the NES in 1985, hence the 1983 copyright date. Ditto with Abadox.

Hopefully that clears up some confusion. I know it was bugging the heck out of me.