Accolade was an American computer game developer and publisher. Initially concentrating on home computer platforms, they began publishing games for home consoles in the early 1990s.
Just like Nintendo, Sega demanded royalties and exclusivity agreements from their third-party developers. Unwilling to accept such demands, Accolade reverse-engineered other Sega Genesis games to learn about its hardware and security lockout mechanisms, releasing several games as an unlicensed publisher. For the same reason, Accolade's later Genesis games included copies of Sega's Trademark Security System (TMSS) code to run on later revisions of the Genesis console that required the TMSS code to be present.
These activities prompted Sega of America in 1991 to initiate a lawsuit against Accolade (Sega vs. Accolade), claiming trademark and copyright infringement as well as unfair competition. Accolade countersued, claiming unfair competition for falsely labeling licensed games from third-party publishers as originating from Sega. After an initial verdict in Sega's favor and an appeal by Accolade, the two parties settled in 1993, with Accolade becoming a licensed publisher on the Sega Genesis.
Many of Accolade's earlier Genesis titles run only on the Sega Genesis Model 1 for lacking the TMSS code.
Unlicensed Sega Genesis Games[]
Year
Title
1990
Ishido: The Way of Stones
1991
HardBall!
Mike Ditka Power Football
Onslaught
Star Control
Turrican
1992
The Duel: Test Drive II
Universal Soldier
Winter Challenge
1993
Al Michaels Announces HardBall III*
Double Dragon
Jack Nicklaus' Power Challenge Golf*
Summer Challenge*
Super Off Road
WarpSpeed
* - Was unlicensed in early copies, but later copies are licensed.
From Bubsy (1993) onwards, Accolade became an official Sega licensee, as a settlement of the lawsuit. Two games originally released as unlicensed, Al Michaels Announces HardBall III and Jack Nicklaus' Power Challenge Golf, were also re-released as Sega-licensed titles.
