The lengths manufacturers of unlicensed cartridges would go to circumvent the CIC were pretty interesting. These carts and early Famicom adapters (which didn't

The lengths manufacturers of unlicensed cartridges would go to circumvent the CIC were pretty interesting. These carts and early Famicom adapters (which didn't have a CIC) would 'zap' the CIC to keep it resetting. Then Tengen made their own CIC knockoff for their games (they made unique plastic cases for their cartidges too)