> Sega Japan were famously strict about the titles they'd allow to be licensed on the Mega Drive. It was Sega America who allowed any old release to be licensed

> Sega Japan were famously strict about the titles they'd allow to be licensed on the Mega Drive. It was Sega America who allowed any old release to be licensed. I didn't know that about Sega in Japan; usually when I think of strict licensing I think of Nintendo of America, the 10NES chip and Atari v. Nintendo [0]. > When Mario Bros was a hit everyone seemed to jump on the bandwagon to make a Mario clone. You're on the money here. I'd argue this pattern repeats through a number of industries; some clear examples in automotive are the 'Pony car', Minivans, and the Grill style of the Aston Martin DB9 (okay, last one's a stretch). [0] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_Games_Corp._v._Nintendo_of_America_Inc https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_Games_Corp._v._Nintendo_....