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Creator: Acclaim
Acclaim Entertainment was a U.S.-based video game publisher that released games over multiple gaming consoles and handhelds in the late 1980s, 1990s and the early part of the 21st century. A great deal of its output was either licensed games or ports of many of Midway's arcade games (including the Mortal Kombat and NBA Jam series).

The name "Acclaim" is dubious among gamers, due in part to the perception of the quality of its licensed output (which, in contrast to its arcade ports, generally ranges from mediocre to poor), most of which it published under its LJN Toys, Ltd. label (in the same way Konami did with "Ultra Games," due to Nintendo's strict licensing policies during the NES era). It should be noted that Acclaim/LJN developed very few of its games. Most of the games they published were actually commissioned to external developers such as Rare, Beam Software, Pack-in Studios, and even Atlus (yes, the same people that did Megami Tensei, also developed the The Karate Kid game). Even then, Acclaim still bears some responsibility just for the sole fact that they published their bad games.

The company made several questionable marketing decisions during its waning years (such as being willing to foot the bill for a funeral as long as advertising is on the headstone and the infamous decision to include nudity in what became BMX XXX; this, coupled with continuing to use his name even after he asked not to be associated with the game, angered Dave Mirra enough that he sued Acclaim for damages). The company eventually filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in September 2004, effectively shutting it down for good. Ironically, when Acclaim went under it had finished making an exceptionally good licensed game based on The Red Star, which was eventually picked up for publication by XS Gamesnote  and released in 2007.

In 2006, another company acquired Acclaim's name and logo and called itself "Acclaim Games," acting as a publisher of MMORPGs such as BOTS, 9Dragons and The Chronicles of Spellborn. The new company operated for four years before ceasing operations a second time on August 26, 2010.

Games published/developed by Acclaim in its first incarnation:

Access GamesVideo Game CompaniesAccolade

alternative title(s): Acclaim Entertainment; Acclaim
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