Nintendo Seal of Quality
Nintendo had witnessed the events of the flooded game market that led to the 1983 video game crash, and with the Famicom, Nintendo had taken business steps, such as controlling the cartridge production process, to prevent a similar flood of video game clones.
In this process, Nintendo came up with a light in the dark way for conumers to know which games were of good quality by applying the Gold Sunburst "Nintendo Seal of Quality"
The Seal of Quality is displayed on any game, system, or accessory licensed for use on one of its video game consoles, denoting the game has been properly approved and guarenteed in quality by Nintendo.
Even 30+ years later, game designer Sid Meier (known for the historicly based "Civilization" strategy games) cited the Seal of Quality as one of the three most important innovations in video game history, as it helped set a standard for game quality that protected consumers from shovelware.
Consumer Confidence Increases
Due to these industry standards set and enforced by Nintendo, consumers could now go out to the store and be confident that the games they were buying would be playable, and enjoyable.
Other gaming companies followed suit, with SEGA releasing a similar standard and icon called the "SEGA Genesis Seal of Quality".
Click here to read my unsolisicited opinion about how this relates to the current game market.
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