NTDEC
manufacturer of games and accessories
NTDEC, whose full name is Nintendo Electronic Co. (Chinese: 任天堂電子有限公司; pinyin: rèn tiān táng diàn zǐ yǒu xiàn gōng sī), was a Taiwanese manufacturer of cartridges, accessories and original games for NES and Famicom. For both they also manufactured converters to play Famicom titles on the NES. The company was founded in 1983 (according to the Asder official website), but in the 80's its activities were and are still today unknown.
NTDEC gained notoriety in the early 1990s for their large-scale piracy of Nintendo Entertainment System games along with their unauthorized use of the Nintendo trademark. This led to the arrest of a few of their employees and the discontinuation of the NTDEC line.
History
Copyright infringement
NTDEC produced a large number of unlicensed video game copies between 1989 and 1991, which were sold in Asia and in the United States via mail order. Unusual among counterfeit cartridge manufacturers, they're often identifiable through the company logo on it and the in-game copyright notice modified to read "NTDEC", as well as the rear label featuring a green "QUALITY GUARANTY" [sic] stripe.
Nintendo of America, Inc. v. NTDEC
Two NTDEC employees were arrested in 1991 for the company's activities distributing cartridges in the US, and legal action was brought against the company by Nintendo shortly after for copyright infringement, as well as its use of the "Nintendo" trademark in its company name.
“NTDEC” enters the record as manufacturer of games and accessories. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what NTDEC, manufacturer and games can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“NTDEC” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, NTDEC, manufacturer and games provides the most credible route into that argument.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 31, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6955451. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1983, 1989 and 1991.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “NTDEC”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow NTDEC primary sources, NTDEC archive and NTDEC research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “NTDEC”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “NTDEC” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.