As for the WIP Canadian releases, do we have serial numbers as well for the titles in that list?
Plus those serial numbers confuse me a little, did a almost if not every US game get a Canadian release? Like say AK: Miracle World, or Fantasy Zone? Seems to me that it was only later in the life that Canada started getting it 'own' releases', by the time the artwork started expanding on the covers. Aside from the pack-in Hang-On/Safari Hunt. Which I believe is the only official pack in here. Both this and Pack-In Altered Beast for the Genny are the only two games I know of by IRWIN, and are both in English/French. usually a game box/manual is either just english or many languages.
I think the pack-in Hang-On/Safari Hunt is the only SMS game with IRWIN on it but I'm not 100% sure. Most boxed systems also say IRWIN but there was a Sega Scope 3D set recently listed in Alaska that looked to be Canadian but it was mentioned that box was sold in Europe as well. I think you're right about the earlier games not having the Canadian UPC stickers and might have to do with when UPC became popular in Canada. Isn't there also quite a few Canadian games that have no UPC at all, not even on the insert?
Canadian games are a bit confusing seeing if you had all the games sold in Canada you would have a mix of Canadian, European and US barcodes.
Here's the IRWIN Wiki page.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irwin_Toy"the Atari Video Computer System was a huge hit, and Irwin was the Canadian distributor. Irwin would also acquire the rights to the Sega video game brand in Canada later on. The video game sales, and remaining products brought revenues of $100 million and huge growth for the company."
Awhile back there was a post about some SMS having that kind of yellowish checker pattern on the front area where reset and pause are. I wonder if those are Canadian/IRWIN systems?
Here's a list of some games and numbers listed at SMSPower.
Canadian UPC stickers (on EU boxes)
"User area" = game number. Not sure who the prefix is.
0 69044 02306 2 Psychic World (GG, CA)
0 69044 05084 6 World Cup Italia '90
0 69044 07025 7 Basketball Nightmare (SMS, CA)
0 69044 07026 4 Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap
0 69044 07028 8 Tennis Ace
0 69044 07029 5 Dynamite Dux
0 69044 07030 1 Dead Angle
0 69044 07032 9 Psycho Fox
0 69044 07033 2 Battle Out Run
0 69044 07035 6 Slap Shot
0 69044 07040 0 Assault City (light phaser) (SMS, EU) with UPC sticker.
0 69044 07044 8 Alex Kidd in Shinobi World
0 69044 07045 5 Gain Ground
0 69044 07049 3 Danan The Jungle Fighter
0 69044 07502 3 Golfamania
0 69044 09007 1 Golden Axe
0 69044 09680 6 California Games
0 69044 09681 3 Lord of the Sword
0 69044 09682 0 Golvellius (SMS, CA)
0 69044 09683 7 American Baseball
0 69044 09698 1 Casino Games
0 69044 27006 0 Bomber Raid
0 69044 29001 3 Galaxy Force
www.smspower.org/Development/Barcodes-UncategorisedI have two games with Canadian UPC's I believe they are California Games (shown above) and Super Monaco GP I'd have to check again to be sure those are the two I have though. I also have the IRWIN Hang-On/Safari Hunt and a strange Canadian boxed SMS that is basically in a plain white box that says SEGA on it. I'd have to dig it out to remember any other details on the box. I'll also ask my friend about his Canadian games, his Grandmother lived in Canada so he collects Canadian games when he can.
EDIT:
This is the first I have heard of a Jasrac sticker. Got any pics?
I don't have pics handy but I'm 100% sure on this. The insert always has the Jasrac logo but some have a Jasrac sticker as well. I've seen both Zillion and Zillion II many times with and without stickers.
Here's some links to Zillion with and without the sticker.
www.fortunecity.com/tattooine/constantine/286/zillion1/boxscans/index.htmlwww.sega-club.com/website/de/index.php?article_id=233