Salio

Salio Inc. (サリオ株式会社) was the only company to publish games for the Mark III/Master System in Japan besides Sega themselves. Salio's games were labeled as "Silver Cartridge" releases, in contrast to the "Gold Cartridge" branding used for Sega's own cartridges. Prior to the Mega Drive, very few third-party companies supported Sega's platforms due to their lack of a licensing model. The only other third-party company to publish games during this period, Tsukuda Original, produced game cartridges for the SG-1000/SC-3000 platforms (including their own clone console, the Othello Multivision), but they abandoned this business prior to the launch of the Mark III.

Salio was actually a dummy company created by Tecmo so they could circumvent Nintendo's exclusivity policy on third-party publishers and release games on competing platforms without repercussion. Salio's office was located at the Azumabashi district of Sumida, Tokyo, which was the location of Tecmo's original headquarters (back when they were known as Tehkan Ltd.) before relocating to Chiyoda in 1985. Only three games were published under the Salio brand: two on the Mark III and one on the PC Engine. Tecmo would publish games on later Sega platforms under their own name after Nintendo became less restrictive on third-party supporters.

Softography

Master System

• Argos no Juujiken (Rygar) (1988)
• Solomon no Kagi: Oujo Rihita no Namida (Solomon's Key) (1988)