American Video Entertainment

American Video Entertainment
Logo.
Origin	USA
Years	1990-92
Consoles	NES
First game	???
Last game	MaxiVision 15
Sounds used	AVE sound engine
Engines used	Various
Aliases	AVE American Game Cartridges Inc. AGCI AGC
Published games by	AGCI C&E Inc. EPYX Michael Crick Odyssey Software Bitmasters Idea-Tek Sachen SEI
Related companies	HES

American Video Entertainment, also known as American Game Cartridges, was a software development company that published unlicensed NES software.

History

AVE was a subsidiary of Macronix, an American chip manufacturer who offered to do an NES ROM chip for Nintendo but got turned down. Macronix decided to start offering their ROM chips and a system called NINA (NintendoCompatible) which they patented.

In 1990, AVE was formed by Phil Mikkelson, Fred Hoot, and Richard Frick with a goal to deliver cheaper Nintendo games to consumers while still keeping a high game standard. The company had good relations with Toys R Us and initially did well in game sales.

When Nintendo changed the NES' hardware to lock out unlicensed games, AVE offered a hotline and directions to mod the console to play unlicensed games. AVE, quickly going bankrupt, filed suit on January 7 (or 11), 1991 for $105,000,000 against Nintendo of America and Nintendo of Japan in the US District Court in San Francisco for having an illegal monopoly and changing their machines so unlicensed cartridges wouldn't work. The case was settled under a secrecy order and, when AVE's products reached Europe, there was very low advertisement and most of the games didn't work on the European NES.

Published Games

Name	Console	Released	Description	Cartridge No.
Backgammon (Unreleased)	NES/Famicom(?)		Development by Odyssey Software.
Big Mouth Bass (Unreleased)	NES/Famicom(?)
Blackjack	NES	1992	Development by Odyssey Software.
Cue Stick (Unreleased)	NES
Deathbots	NES	1991	Development by Odyssey Software.
Double Strike: Aerial Attack	NES	1990	Published by Sachen as Twin Eagle.	TC-006
Dudes with Attitude	NES	1990
F-15 City War	NES NES PAL	1990	Development by Idea-Tek, published by HES in Australia.
Impossible Mission II	NES NES PAL	1990	Originally published by SEI, development by Novotrade. In Australia published by HES.
Krazy Kreatures	NES	1990	Development by Bitmasters.
MaxiVision 15	NES NES PAL	1992	Published by HES in Australia.
Mermaids of Atlantis	NES	1991	English localization of the Taiwan-released Famicom game Magic Bubble, which is an enhanced version of the unlicensed adult Famicom game Soap Panic released by Hacker International in Japan.
Poker (Unreleased)	NES
Puzzle	NES	1991	Published for Famicom by Idea-Tek.
Pyramid	NES	1992	Game of Sachen (NES - FC)	SA-009
Rad Racket: Deluxe Tennis II	NES	1991	Development by Idea-Tek.
Solitaire	NES	1992	Development by Odyssey Software.
Tiles of Fate	NES	1990	Game originally published by Idea-Tek as Zhan Guo Si Chuan Sheng (FC).	ET.05
Trolls on Treasure Island	NES	1992	Sequel to Dudes with Attitude.
Ultimate League Soccer	NES NES PAL	1991	Development by C&E Inc. In Italy published for Trafalgar House, in Australia by Magexa.
Venice Beach Volleyball	NES	1991	Development by Idea-Tek.
Wally Bear and the NO! Gang	NES	1992	Development by American Game Cartridges.
Death Race	NES	1990	Development by American Game Cartridges.
Chiller	NES	1990	Development by American Game Cartridges.
Shockwave	NES	1990	Development by American Game Cartridges.

Gallery

AVE Advertising.

References

• http://www.neswarpzone.com/ave.html
• NES World Article 1 2