‘The gizmo that plugs into your NES and lets you alter the rules of Super Mario or Batman or just about every other Nintendo game. More than 330 Game Genie codes give you extra lives, more bullets, a higher jump, more strength or whatever,’ a press release claimed.
Nintendo sued distributor Galoob for violation of copyright and sought an injunction to prevent distribution and sale of the Game Genie. For more than a year the battle raged in law courts in Canada, California and New York and Codemasters’ games were caught in the legal limbo. Finally, on 2 June 1991 the CES Daily News was able to announce that: ‘Game Genie Video Game Enhancer, the industry’s most-talked-about, least-visible innovation, is making its long-awaited debut…’ Nintendo had lost and Galoob sold over 70,000 units in less than three months.
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