So I've found a small bit of proof that MK4 (The really dodgy one using a bastardized KF engine) is indeed related to all the other Hummer/JY fighters of the time, and unsurprisingly the proof is in the text:
http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/7935/piratedsimilar.pngYou can see that after the alphabet and number 0-9 in each game, there is a [. .] followed by a [ - ] and a weird little Orb which might have been a pointer of some sort. Also, the numbers use the EXACT same font. MK4 (bottom left corner) also has this. Also, you might notice Garou Densetsu Special's alphabet font was directly ripped and re-used for Street Fighter Alpha Zero 97, the newest and apparently last of Hummer's fighting games (A pretty crappily programmed one at that) and the KF engine's final spin. More proof of common ancestry!
But what I find really weird is how poorly made MK4 is. The music, the gameplay physics, the timing, the charchter select screen - it all SUCKS in comparison to MKII and MKII special, which of course came first. The grabs don't work right, and you can cause a never-ending round by rapidly pressing B and kicking your dead opponent as the round is attempting to end. In this I see several possibilites - They got one or more new programmers (which would mean some of the old/more experienced programmers left) right beore development for this game started (of course, using the KF engine- they see it as their ol' reliable) and as they went to work it became increasingly obvious they had no idea how to, you know, MAKE A GAME. Sheesh this thing is bad even compared to SFII., which to be fair was the first of the pirated fighters.
On a related note, music from Harry's Legend is in Mortal Kombat 4.. if you make it to Stryker's stage, listen close - its the "level select" music from Harry's Legend, but in a different key! Its like another case of DK JR's stage in Fart Fighter, and the boss music from Jing Zin Quan or whatever that old supertone RPG is called. Crazyness, people!
EDIT: This video will prove to you guys that MK4 came after Harry's Legend and Garou Densetsu Special, and paved the way to Street Fighter Alpha Zero '97 (AKA The Death of Hummer Team)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2gwLh6FFX4This pirated NES game stuff just gets weirder and weirder. I'd like to use the PC they were building these games from, and shuck off my own pirated NES game using the Kart Fighter engine - Have a Mari V.S. Rayden battle, or maybe Chun Li V.S. Sub Zero... lmao. That would kick ass.[/quote]It is known that MK3 (4 was made later), was related to Hummer. It has been supposed that one guy left Hummer and made it with some random people. Both the programming and the graphics are bad. And as all Hummer's ending credits 2 programmers, I doubt one left in 1996 to make that one. It's very likely he/she took some engine code. He could have later joined ABAB Soft with the other ex-Hummer members.
The orb is always used. It is the point that appear when you win a fight. Garou and SF2Z97 uses the same HUD. Tekken 2 does also. The lastest Hummer game is King of Fighters '96. SFZ297 was made one year before that one. And SFZ297 isn't badly programmed. Difficulty is high but the whole game is good. KoF96 is awesome. Also MK4, SF2Z97 and KoF96 do not use the KF engine. They all use revisions made later than that game. And KOF isn't the first game that use the engine. It is Street Fighter II. So please call it "SFII Engine".I've been thinking that all those problems with MK4 are caused by bad/lazy programming. The sprites are all stucks with 4 colors (unlike other Hummers game) and the fighting is bad. Graphics aren't good but not that terrible.
Also I highly doubt Harry's came before MK4. All musics do not fit in any stages and they are all lazy small loop.
Everything you pointed here has been discussed on RX Community.