I believe that there are two schools of thought regarding the "alphabetical" nature of listing the NES library.
The first school would do something like this:
Danny Sullivan's Indy Heat
This would fall under the "D" section.
The second school would do something like this:
Indy Heat, Danny Sullivan's
This would fall under the "I" section.
Personally, I'm of the second school. The game is "Indy Heat", and the name "Danny Sullivan('s)" is the celebrity endorsement used to market it.
Most of the racing games do this.
What I wanted to know is why this doesn't seem to be consistent in the database, or what constitutes the time when listing style A is used versus listing style B.
For example:
Al Unser Jr. Turbo Racing is listed as is, under "A".
John Elway's Quarterback is listed as is, under "J".
Disney Adventures in Magic Kingdom is listed as Adventures in Magic Kingdom, Disney under "A".
George Foreman's KO Boxing is listed as KO Boxing, George Foreman's under "K".
So, I'm curious as to when the title is recognized as the game and not by the celebrity endorsement.
Is it when an apostrophe is used? Or is there some other criteria?
Regardless, I think that it should be consistent.
Lastly, I specifically mention the Disney Adventures in Magic Kingdom because it should read that way. It's like "Midget Adventures in Magic Kingdom". The "Disney" in this case, isn't used for proprietary reasons like "Disney's DuckTales", in which case I would list it as "DuckTales, Disney's". It's implying that the adventures are disney related.
And yes, I know this is completely retentive. But I'm just that way...
True, true...
The way I list it is:
Disney Adventures in the Magic Kingdom (just like it says on the box).
Adventures of Gilligan's Island, The (for that suckfest...)
There are a couple of fun ones though...
Gold Medal Challenge '92, Capcom's (for example) - it's always a guessing game whether people list it with the Capcom in the title or not.
My favorite though, is:
Legend of the Ghost Lion
Both the box and the cart say, "Ghost Lion". The title screen says, "Legend of the Ghost Lion".
It's not like they're close, so which is it? (By the way, one of the worst cover art themes in gaming history, in my opinion.)
If you want to be correct, then it should be listed as, "Legend of the Ghost Lion", since that's the actual name of the game.
If you ever want anyone to find it in a list, then you have to put it down as, "Ghost Lion", like it obviously says on the box.
Talk about what were they thinking...there's nothing redeming about that game in any way. LOL
If you want to be correct, then it should be listed as, "Legend of the Ghost Lion", since that's the actual name of the game.
My conclusion on the best way to handle this is similar to what you've said.
For instances where a programmer, author, licensor or company is involved, I'll list like this:
Battletank (Garry Kitchen's)
Boy and His Blob, A: Trouble on Blobolonia (David Crane's)
Dragon's Lair (Sullivan Bluth Presents)
DuckTales (Disney's)
Gold Medal Challenge '92 (Capcom's)
For Instances where a celebrity, actor or athlete endorses the product, they'll maintain the "top billing", as the game is usually known by the endorsee:
Bill Elliot's NASCAR Challenge
Danny Sullivan's Indy Heat
Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!
While I agree that the search function makes things easier, I wouldn't go as far as to say that it makes the topic irrelevant.
The database should still be consistent; it looks better.
Just my opinion.