What's the difference between Aftermarket, Unlicensed and Homebrew?

[PSPMan3000]

I like classifying all my ROMs in their filenames, so I started including the qualifiers for all the retro indie games I purchase (Like all the GB Studio made titles, etc.)

Originally I was calling all of them (Unlicensed) But it seems like Aftermarket and Homebrew are worthy labels, so what exactly is the difference? This is my understanding, maybe someone can correct me.

Homebrew - A game developed by enthusiasts for a console within or outside of its official support period. Is available for free.
Aftermarket - A Homebrew game that is being sold for money after the original lifespan of the console.
Unlicensed - A Homebrew game that was sold for money during the original lifespan of the console, but without permission from the console manufacture (this also encapsulates bootlegs)

Does anyone see any issues with my definitions?

 

[tonyhoro]

Homebrew: normally stands for non-profit games, usually made by a single individual, like those that are often posted on itch.io;
Exemple: Piropa for the Gameboy Color: https://retrogametalk.com/repository/gameboy-color-roms/piropa-homebrew-gbc/

Aftermarket: games released after the console's hayday;
Exemple: Earthion, a Mega Drive game made by Yuzo Koshiro

Unlicensed: Games released without the approval of the copyright holder or without the needed approval of the console maker, like Nintendo;
Example: Tetris, made by Tengen for the Genesis / Mega Drive

Bootleg: pirated games that uses IPs that the developers didn't have the rights to. It's similar to Unlicensed but it is more associated with chinese rip-offs of popular franchises;
Exemple: Pocket Monsters Picachu for the Super Nintendo


These concepts aren't very strict, so you'll often see -- even on the RGT's Repo -- some Unlicensed releases being tagged as bootleg and vice-versa

 

[qw90700]

Now let's talk about why a game is a "Hack" and "Modded game" because it became a philosophical topic at this point lolol.

 

[Teone]

Yeah, just like you and tonyhoro said. In our case, with the repo, we prefere to streamline things a bit, so we "group" bootlegs and unlicensed under the same tag, the same way we do with homebrews and aftermarket games. It would be more complicated than we have of time and energy, to make everything properly separated, labled, identified and all that. So we trie to clarify things a bit via our entry descriptions etc.

In my personal devices I don't separate shit. It's all equal to me regarding the gaming experience.

 

[PSPMan3000]

Homebrew: normally stands for non-profit games, usually made by a single individual, like those that are often posted on itch.io;
Exemple: Piropa for the Gameboy Color: https://retrogametalk.com/repository/gameboy-color-roms/piropa-homebrew-gbc/

Aftermarket: games released after the console's hayday;
Exemple: Earthion, a Mega Drive game made by Yuzo Koshiro

Unlicensed: Games released without the approval of the copyright holder or without the needed approval of the console maker, like Nintendo;
Example: Tetris, made by Tengen for the Genesis / Mega Drive

Bootleg: pirated games that uses IPs that the developers didn't have the rights to. It's similar to Unlicensed but it is more associated with chinese rip-offs of popular franchises;
Exemple: Pocket Monsters Picachu for the Super Nintendo


These concepts aren't very strict, so you'll often see -- even on the RGT's Repo -- some Unlicensed releases being tagged as bootleg and vice-versa

Thanks this is super helpful, gonna tag stuff in my collection according to these standards