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...

this is how i organize my games as well.

We've used the first school, though I didn't realize George Foreman's was wrong (scribbles note to self). We've actually gone back and forth on this a few times in the last year or so, and it's simply that some like it one way and others like it the other way. I simply had to "pick one" when making the database, so in a nutshell, that's why it's that way. The reason the Disney's games use the second school is because they're a licensor. I feel that it's similar to saying, "Konami's Rush n' Attack" (bad example, I know). As for why it's not part of Magic Kingdom, it was more for consistency on the route I chose.

Now the exception to this not-so-finite rule is when we're dealing with games like Caltron and Myriad 6-in-1, where a distinction has to be made in the title to differentiate the two.

There's also "Adventures Of..." like most people don't know Gilligan's Island is a "Adventures of" title and would look for it in a list under "G" and file it there as well. Lolo is a bit more obvious, most people know it's "Adventures of," but I personally put them in the "L"'s because of the top label (all three just say Lolo #) and the character is the subject, not the adventure so much.

Also, "The" is moved to the end invariably.

So...

Then you have a dilemma, is the title now "Magic Kingom, The, Adventures in, Disney's"

WHAT WERE THEY THINKING lol

Okay, then here's what I've seen so far in the database that varies from the first school (keep in mind, I've only gone through "J"):

Battle Tank, Garry Kitchen's
Dracula, Bram Stoker's
Fast Break, Magic Johnson's
Fighting Golf, Lee Trevino's
Indy Heat, Danny Sullivan's

(and of course, the aforementioned George Foreman's KO Boxing.)

To this point, I actually thought you were doing it "second school", because through "J" there was only a couple that were done in the "first school."

It doesn't really matter which way (I'm still going to have my lists in the second school, because it makes more sense to me), but I was just curious about the consistency.

Thanks,
Steve

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

Sounds like you're understanding the frustrations I faced when building the database... sometimes you just have to go with it and fix/change it later.

I agree with you on most of this stuff (and I list my games personally the way you do) but I disagree on this one.  "Legend of the Ghost Lion" is not the name of this game for the US release, "Ghost Lion" is.  It doesn't matter what the title screen says; naming convention goes by packaging.  Think about other examples in the library where the title screen differs significantly from the packaging: in addition to renaming the aforementioned Ghost Lion, we would also have to rename Mickey Mousecapade to "Mickey Mouse," Gyromite to "Robot Gyro," Stack Up to "Robot Block," etc, etc.  In fact, I'm not even sure if there's a game out there with a substantially different title screen name that is routinely listed with that title in game lists.

Anyway, those are my thoughts on that

Yeah, it's a pisser in general.

I do go with the box as the guide, so I have it listed under "Ghost Lion", myself.

I was just playing off of Dangevin's post. He's right - some of these are ridiculous.

I struggled with this when I made the game list as well...there really is no right or wrong answer and you just kinda have to pick and choose a bit on some of the games. Searches will pick up keywords though so it is all good
~~NGD

Jason, as I remember I think it was you that suggested when it's a celebrity-focused games, the title deserves to have the celebrity take "top billing" as in "John Elway's Quarterback." Nobody's going to go searching for "Quarterback" logically. Maybe it was Wiz. Anyways back when I was doing the wiki elsewhere this was discussed.

The logic goes, when it's a programmer or other non-celebrity name, it takes back seat to the more prevalent subject. As in, "Battletank, Garry Kitchen's," and "Dracula, Bram Stoker's." The subject of those games is definitely the tank and the sucker.

Since we have a nice little search function though, this is all largely irrelevant

I remember debating it over at NESforums trying to decide what to do so that does sound familiar. Like you say though, with a search tool the point becomes moot anyways.
~~NGD

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.

I agree. I like the way you are thinking on these. I alphabetize mine similarly on the shelf so I can find what im looking for. Some games are a gray area for me though, like IronSword... I keep that between Wizards and Warriors 1 and 3. But Super Contra is in the S's not the C's. Games like Firehouse Rescue, I Can Remember, Perfect Fit all are filed under Fisher Price. I guess everyone has their own system.

Hm, is there any reason you couldn't do both? Like have two links to the StarTropics II page (one being StarTropics II and the other being Zoda's Revenge)?