Sokoban 80s Product Codes

_{Published: April 23, 2024}

There is something interesting found in early Sokoban games between 1982 and 1984 released on cassette tape.

These games came with a product code provided by SoftBank, a company that distributed business and game software. You can read about this (in Japanese) here.

The product code is in the format AAAA-00000 and is known in Japan as the 'SB code.'

This is interesting because it allows us to discover insights about the release order of the games.

List of known product codes:

Considering all Sokoban 2 releases occurred in 1984, the product codes suggest the following release order for Sokoban:

• December 1982: Sokoban 1 for PC-8801 only.
• 1983 or 1984: Sokoban 1 for Sharp-X1, MZ-2000, and PC-6001mkII (including 32K version). An article in LOGiN magazine's December 1983 issue, page 138 states that those versions were in preparation. The article mentions Sokoban Extra, which is known to have been published in August, suggesting the article was prepared between September and November, so releases could have occurred in late 1983 or 1984.
• 1984: Sokoban 2 for PC-8801, and Sokoban 2 and Sokoban 1 for both PC-8001mkII and FM-7. (Compare with magazine I/O January 1984, page 104)
• 1985: Sokoban 2 for PC-6001mkII (including 32K version). (Compare with magazine I/O July 1985, page 97)

There's a question about the official December 1982 release date for Sokoban 1 on the PC-8001mkII. According to Wikipedia, the PC-8001mkII launched in March 1983. This is further supported by a picture of the machine offered for sale in magazine I/O March 1983, page 2.

Analysis of the product codes suggests a 1984 release for this version, which aligns with the known launch date of the PC-8001mkII.

Here's a table summarizing other known product codes for Thinking Rabbit games:

_{Last update: March 27, 2026}