U.S. sees many parallels of 'Street Fighter II Champion Edition;
global trafficking shakes old rules of controlled distribution

inally, the other shoe has dropped. Last Dec. 1, by act of Congress,

parallel imports of video games became legal to buy, sell and operate in the United States. Since then, coin-op has wondered: what will happen when a factory offers a huge video hit in "dedicated only" format to the U.S. trade? The answer is now coming into focus, thanks to Capcom USA's Street Fighter II Champion Edition. What happens is controversy and confusion... and, maybe, a challenge to the traditional rules of distribution.

For the moment, Capcom USA has reluctantly declined to discuss the situation in print (although we get the feeling they'd like to). Their decision is quite understandable; the company has a number of issues to take care of. At any rate, Capcom personnel know the pages of this magazine are open to their comments at all times.

Meanwhile, however, much of the industry is buzzing over the parallel situation. Here are some of the facts:

• At least two of the biggest "establishment" distributors in the U.S. are buying legitimate, parallel versions of Champion Edition directly or indirectly from European sources. These distributors sell the parallels to U.S. operators.

dealers is shipping parallel Champion Editions widely over the U.S., not just within his own territory.

• In early May, parallel brokers reportedly had more Champion Editions available for sale than authorized Capcom dealers had ... at least, some very reliable sources claimed this was the case. (Other sources said it may "appear" that parallel dealers had bigger supplies, simply because it's faster to ship PCBs than whole games.)

• Neither authorized dealers nor parallel brokers had as many games available as they wanted. "We'd like more games, sure," was the wry remark of one authorized dealer. And one parallel broker added: "There are not enough boards around the world to meet demand.

For those who've been asleep for the past five years, a parallel import (in our industry) is a lawfully-made video game PCB intended to be sold and operated in a foreign market ... but it is imported into the U.S. (new or used) by brokers who buy them overseas, and ship them into the States for resale.

Parallel brokers sell these boards to American operators from their own companies or through a network of dealers, often at discount prices and without needed artwork, control panel

Almost everybody worldwide is sold out through May."

• Capcom USA had stated (back in March) that no parallels would hit U.S. shores for some months. However, reliable sources said Capcom Japan sold many Champion Editions to European and Asian dealers, very shortly after U.S. release of the game. Those sales provided the parallels now flooding the American market.

• Capcom's authorized U.S. dealers are delighted with sales and earnings of their dedicated version of the game. However, they are displeased with parallel competition. They're also displeased with reports that Champion Edition is selling to Canadian tradesters in kit format.

materials, etc. that make up complete conversion kits.

For the last several years, parallel board brokers worked in direct competition with the original manufacturer's authorized, copyright-protected agents and distributors, who sell these kits in complete form or, on occasion, as dedicated video games. Once parallels become legal to operate, however, it's possible some authorized U.S. distributors may also sell parallels.

WHAT IS A PARALLEL IMPORT?