About This File
It's a bit confusing the way they did things for this system. Many games are distributed by 'Turbo Technologies, Inc.' But the label on the front of the box will be for the developer. So who then, is the publisher?
I typically favor the publisher when making these databases, for one reason, and one reason only - I get irritated when the name of the manufacturer in the description above the game name is different than the name on the box. That's it! That's the only reason I do this. People remember the name on the box. That is the company people will almost always associate a game with.
But in this particular instance, I went with the label on the box *regardless* of whether or not they were the publisher. The publisher would be NEC in almost all cases, and to put 'NEC' in every field is useless information.
Things get confusing here also, because sometimes the developer will have no mention on the box, but maybe in small print on the back of the manual or on the CD.
I solved this little dilemma for myself simply by naming the manufacturer after whatever entity took credit on the box.
If Hudson Soft or Icom Simulations, Inc. put their label on the cover, then it is a Hudson Soft or Icom Simulations, Inc. game. If that label isn't there, an in it's place there is simply 'NEC,' then it is an NEC game.
In one instance, the name on the box was 'FTL,' but when you load the game, the name is JVC (known as Victor Musical Industries). So in this situation, I put FTL/Victor Musical Industries, Inc.
Maybe that's the way it should be anyways - just put the developer/publisher. But things get confusing and messy fast.
HyperSpin 2.0 database development seems to be addressing that issue - with a dedicated field for publisher, developer, and distributor.
But for now, I'm happy with what I've done here. It certainly beats reading 'Turbo Technologies, Inc.' - a useless entity as far as I'm concerned - for half the database.
You can find the development thread here:
What's New in Version 1.1.0
Released
1.1
I completely overhauled the manufacturer data a 2nd time - this time the field represents developer *and* publisher. I did this to match the quality of the PC Engine CD database that I already did.
Format is Developer/Publisher, or Developer 1/Developer 2/Publisher, and in some cases, just the publisher, if the developer and the publisher were one and the same. This is the same format as the PC Engine CD database I did.
The manufacturer data here is now impeccably accurate. I won't claim perfection because I'm only human but it's good stuff. As always, if you find errors, please bring them to my attention.
And, as a bonus, I'm now offering full genres, just like I did with the PC Engine CD database. 
Ideally, all databases would be done this way - but it is no easy task. To do it right, you'd need to look at every title screen, every box front, every box back, every manual back, and every CD - for every single game. Sometimes a company will only take credit in one of those many places. It's quite annoying actually. So, if that is not an ideal option, the name on the box should still be the standard. In this situation there were only 46 games in the database. I wanted to give the community something great - and in my opinion, it is.
There's still room for improvement - the naming scheme for the actual games could be more pedantic. For example - why did someone take it upon themselves to name 'Monster Lair' 'Wonder Boy III - Monster Lair'? The game is called 'Monster Lair' on this platform. It''s not even cute to me that someone decided to include that extra information. The name should be the name on the packaging in all cases. That's what the manufacturer meant for the game to be known as - there's no room to be taking liberties when it comes to accurate database work.
Also, I just realized as I went through the list a final time, that I could have replaced hyphens in the description with colons for a cleaner look.
But since I have no choice but to be skeptical of the naming conventions used, if I were to go to that extra effort, it would also mean scouring the database for correct names and I just don't feel up to doing that.
Enjoy the improved database.
