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LJN Toys Ltd. was an American toy company and video game publisher. It produced toy lines and video games based on movies, television shows, and celebrities. It was headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, and later in Lyndhurst, New Jersey.
History[]
LJN was founded in 1970 by Jack Friedman, the companies name came from the initials of Lewis J. Norman, the reverse of Norman J. Lewis, whose toy company Friedman had been employed by as a sales representative in the 1960s.
In 1985, MCA, which had been actively acquiring companies in the mid-1980s, acquired LJN for $66-67 million in an effort to retain more profits from the merchandising of its film properties. LJN began publishing video games for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1986. Although this was LJN's first foray into the video game business, it was not for MCA who had previously started MCA Video Games, as a joint venture with Atari, to create coin-operated and home games and computer software based on various MCA properties. In 1989, MCA decided to sell LJN after years of losses since 1987. MCA finally agreed to sell LJN to Acclaim in March 1990 for cash and Acclaim common stock.
During the time the company was owned by Acclaim, LJN mostly retained the same movie/cartoon direction for their video games it pursued under MCA. Acclaim rid LJN of its toy division and re-branded it exclusively as a video game developer. During the 8-bit gaming era, Nintendo, as a form of quality control, regulated the number of titles to appear on its console, the Nintendo Entertainment System. As a result, companies like Acclaim used divisions such as LJN to produce more games than Nintendo would have allowed. Konami also utilized such tactics with their division Ultra. Unlike Ultra which was a brand name of Konami, LJN was still a legal company operating independently from Acclaim. Even after Nintendo dropped its rule in the early 1990s, LJN still went on to publish several titles for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.
All of LJN's video games were developed by external developers, although many of their video games did not disclose the developer.
Criticism[]
LJN has become synonymous with badly-made games, despite never developing the games themselves. Almost every game associated with LJN has been viewed as awful. Many episodes of internet reviewer The Angry Video Game Nerd have been based around LJN games.
Games released by LJN[]
Nintendo Entertainment System[]
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Alien³ March 1993 |
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Back to the Future September 1989 |
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Back to the Future II & III September 1990 |
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Beetlejuice May 1991 |
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Bill & Ted's Excellent Video Game Adventure August 1991 |
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Friday the 13th February 1989 |
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Gotcha! The Sport! November 1987 |
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The Incredible Crash Dummies August 1994 |
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Jaws November 1987 |
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The Karate Kid November 1987 |
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Major League Baseball April 1988 |
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NFL Football September 1989 |
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A Nightmare on Elm Street October 1990 |
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Pictionary July 1990 |
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The Punisher November 1990 |
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Roger Clemens' MVP Baseball October 1991 |
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Spider-Man: Return of the Sinister Six October 1992 |
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Town & Country Surf Designs: Wood & Water Rage February 1988 |
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Town & Country II: Thrilla's Surfari March 1992 |
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Terminator 2: Judgment Day February 1992 |
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The Uncanny X-Men December 1989 |
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Who Framed Roger Rabbit? September 1989 |
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Wolverine October 1991 |
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WWF King of the Ring November 1993 |
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WWF WrestleMania Challenge November 1990 |
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WWF WrestleMania: Steel Cage Challenge September 1992 |
Super Nintendo Entertainment System[]
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Alien³ May 1993 |
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Family Dog June 1993 |
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The Incredible Crash Dummies October 1993 |
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NBA All-Star Challenge December 1992 |
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NFL Quarterback Club December 1994 |
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Roger Clemens' MVP Baseball September 1992 |
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Spider-Man February 1995 |
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Spider-Man & Venom: Maximum Carnage September 1994 |
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Spider-Man and the X-Men in Arcade's Revenge November 1992 |
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Terminator 2: Judgment Day November 1993 |
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True Lies February 1995 |
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Wolverine: Adamantium Rage November 1994 |
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WWF Raw November 1994 |
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WWF Royal Rumble June 1993 |
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WWF Super WrestleMania March 1992 |
Game Boy[]
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Alien³ January 1993 |
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The Amazing Spider-Man July 1990 |
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The Amazing Spider-Man 2 August 1992 |
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Beetlejuice January 1992 |
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Bill & Ted's Excellent Game Boy Adventure August 1991 |
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The Incredible Crash Dummies November 1992 |
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NBA All-Star Challenge February 1991 |
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NFL Quarterback Club November 1993 |
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NFL Quarterback Club II March 1995 |
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Roger Clemens' MVP Baseball September 1992 |
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Spider-Man and the X-Men in Arcade's Revenge December 1993 |
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Spider-Man 3: Invasion of the Spider-Slayers July 1993 |
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True Lies February 1995 |
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WWF King of the Ring September 1993 |
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WWF Raw December 1994 |
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WWF Superstars April 1991 |
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WWF Superstars 2 August 1992 |
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