Bootleg Games Central Forum

Pirate Discussion => Famicom/NES => 2000-present => Topic started by: codeman38 on August 24, 2010, 02:00:32 PM

Title: Modern famiclones on NicoNicoDouga
Post by: codeman38 on August 24, 2010, 02:00:32 PM
I found a list of some Famiclone-related videos on Nico Nico Douga. This guy has recorded videos of all the games on two famiclones (the Famikonyarou 54, and the Japanese version of the DreamGear 101-in-1) along with some explanatory notes (which, of course, are in Japanese, but even if you can only read kana there's some interesting stuff in there).

The Famikonyarou ones are particularly interesting, because it shows comparisons of the hacked games with the originals.

http://es.nicovideo.jp/mylist/16977644 (http://es.nicovideo.jp/mylist/16977644)

For those who don't have a NicoNicoDouga account, you can play the videos via the Nicovideo Redirector (http://mmcafe.com/nico.html). Or alternatively, replace everything before the "sm" number in the URL with http://d.hatena.ne.jp/video/niconico/ (http://d.hatena.ne.jp/video/niconico/) and that should work too.

Incidentally, I learned something from one of these, thanks to a very rudimentary ability to read kana: the music in "Falling Blocks" on the DreamGear is actually from "Kero Kero Keroppi no Daibouken". No wonder it sounds 50 times better than anything else on the console.
Title: Modern famiclones on NicoNicoDouga
Post by: taizou on August 24, 2010, 03:29:12 PM
ooh thats pretty cool. i was planning on doing some similar comparisons with the yarou myself. but laziness and all.
Title: Modern famiclones on NicoNicoDouga
Post by: codeman38 on August 24, 2010, 04:08:39 PM
One thing I'm loving in the Yarou vids is that the video maker has pointed out specific places that the hackers forgot to hack. Some of the ones that have amused me:

* The 2nd player in Frog Prince (SMB) is named Luigi, despite still being a frog-turned-human.
* In the money-collecting stage of Roge Brer (Mario Bros.), they left the "Mario" and "Luigi" score counters intact.
* In Spar (Urban Champion), there's a car driving by in the middle of a forest.
* In Rescue Kuck (Donkey Kong Jr.), the graphics for the ending were totally unhacked.

Edit: And just saw another one! They left the credits of Othello intact in "Chess". LOL. Apparently nobody actually tried to beat the CPU.
Title: Modern famiclones on NicoNicoDouga
Post by: Awesome Panda on August 24, 2010, 06:12:03 PM
I'm guessing the Famikonyarou 54 has those really bad hacks of first-gen Famicom games. Do Famicom Yarou Volumes 2, 3 and 4 exist? I've only seen 1 and 5 myself. (and 2, but not in rom format)
Title: Modern famiclones on NicoNicoDouga
Post by: taizou on August 24, 2010, 06:41:26 PM
Yeah, theres a ton of these things. they even sell vols 1-3 on cart.
website here: http://www.quicklink.co.jp/famikonyarou-vol6.html (http://www.quicklink.co.jp/famikonyarou-vol6.html)
Title: Modern famiclones on NicoNicoDouga
Post by: codeman38 on August 24, 2010, 07:37:43 PM
What's interesting about the FamikonYarou 54 is that although most of the games are the hacks of licensed games found in the previous Yarous, there are a few possibly Waixing-developed originals mixed in. Seriously wondering if there's some sort of connection between the hacks and the originals.
Title: Modern famiclones on NicoNicoDouga
Post by: Awesome Panda on August 24, 2010, 07:50:33 PM
codeman38
Aug 24 2010, 07:37:43 PM
What's interesting about the FamikonYarou 54 is that although most of the games are the hacks of licensed games found in the previous Yarous, there are a few possibly Waixing-developed originals mixed in. Seriously wondering if there's some sort of connection between the hacks and the originals.[/quote]I'm not sure about that. I doubt even Waixing could do hacks that badly. :P Also, the hacks themselves don't have those weird copyright dates that the originals (and Super Contra 7) have. Also, if I remember correctly in Bounce (a bad hack of Mappy) there's a copyright that says "2000 New Product" or something like that.
Title: Modern famiclones on NicoNicoDouga
Post by: taizou on August 24, 2010, 08:00:36 PM
Its all a bit weird really. I have a 101 in 1 that I sent to cah4e3 with one original game, F-22, credited to "Inventor".  the rest of the games are hacks, including some of the ones on the Yarou etc, but one of those also has an Inventor copyright (ironic really). which made me think Inventor was actually responsible for the hacks. (maxzhou88 also posted an Inventor graphics editor on his blog, which I'd guess would be what they used to make them).

but if that was the case, I doubt Inventor made any of the originals on the Yarou (or the D-Cat, or other stuff), because F-22 is completely different in style, has reasonable music and is far more advanced than those originals, despite being from 2001.
Title: Modern famiclones on NicoNicoDouga
Post by: codeman38 on August 24, 2010, 08:02:53 PM
Cheetahmen
Aug 24 2010, 07:50:33 PM
I'm not sure about that. I doubt even Waixing could do hacks that badly. :P Also, the hacks themselves don't have those weird copyright dates that the originals (and Super Contra 7) have. Also, if I remember correctly in Bounce (a bad hack of Mappy) there's a copyright that says "2000 New Product" or something like that.[/quote]Incidentally, I found out that Awful Rushing is not Waixing - according to the Chinese copyright database, it is by 深圳市奇胜隆实业有限公司, which Google translates as "Shenzhen Qi Sheng Long Industrial Co., Ltd." Here's their full list of products (http://www.ccopyright.com.cn/cpcc/RRegisterAction.do?method=list&no=fck&sql_name=&sql_regnum=&sql_author=%C9%EE%DB%DA%CA%D0%C6%E6%CA%A4%C2%A1%CA%B5%D2%B5%D3%D0%CF%DE%B9%AB%CB%BE&curPage=1&count=10&sortOrder=&sortLabel=).

What's interesting is that a good number of these Qi Sheng Long games are ones that Waixing also holds a copyright on. Boxworld, for instance. (Edit: This would explain the name differences I've seen, as QSL's version is Boxworld, while Waixing's is Boxes World.) Maybe there was a 3rd party that developed these games for both Waixing and Qi Sheng Long?
Title: Modern famiclones on NicoNicoDouga
Post by: taizou on August 24, 2010, 08:13:09 PM
Yeah, maybe.. my guess would be the games with that same font that keeps turning up were all developed by someone other than Waixing, but Waixing also made some of their own.

i notice Qi Sheng Long has a copyright on "Benthal Adventure" though, theres a Pyramid hack called "Benthal World". and benthal (http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=benthal) is a pretty obscure word. so maybe theres a connection there. although I guess both companies might have used the same english dictionary.
Title: Modern famiclones on NicoNicoDouga
Post by: Awesome Panda on August 24, 2010, 08:17:59 PM
codeman38
Aug 24 2010, 08:02:53 PM
What's interesting is that a good number of these Qi Sheng Long games are ones that Waixing also holds a copyright on. Boxworld, for instance. (Edit: This would explain the name differences I've seen, as QSL's version is Boxworld, while Waixing's is Boxes World.) Maybe there was a 3rd party that developed these games for both Waixing and Qi Sheng Long?[/quote]Really? I thought the game names were updated on some Famiclones to get rid of any Engrish. For example, Shooting Balloons is misspelled Shooting Ballons on some of them. (I've seen a 16-bit version that has the same error) Also, on one 16-bit Wii clone one game is called Dancing Girls on the menu but Dance Girls in the actual game, which I can't understand.
Title: Modern famiclones on NicoNicoDouga
Post by: taizou on August 24, 2010, 08:26:38 PM
here's Qi Sheng Long's website btw: http://www.qishenglong.com/doce/ (http://www.qishenglong.com/doce/)
they seem to be the manufacturer of a whole bunch of shit, including the "Wiwi" Wii clone and some of those recent multi-system retro consoles.
Title: Modern famiclones on NicoNicoDouga
Post by: codeman38 on August 24, 2010, 08:32:06 PM
Cheetahmen
Aug 24 2010, 08:17:59 PM
Really? I thought the game names were updated on some Famiclones to get rid of any Engrish. For example, Shooting Balloons is misspelled Shooting Ballons on some of them. (I've seen a 16-bit version that has the same error) Also, on one 16-bit Wii clone one game is called Dancing Girls on the menu but Dance Girls in the actual game, which I can't understand.[/quote]Yeah, I thought that was the reason too, but apparently some of this is an alternate-company thing. For instance, Waixing's version of Bomber Man is called... well, "Bomber Man". Qi Sheng Long's version is "Dejectile". Same engine, same music.
Title: Modern famiclones on NicoNicoDouga
Post by: taizou on August 24, 2010, 08:37:35 PM
theres a very similar bomberman clone on the cart that comes with the Yobo Factor 5 too (same music, but 16 bit-ish graphics) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BffA4sSDpWw (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BffA4sSDpWw)
its a NES clone that also plays its own "G-Factor" games, most likely manufactured by Qi Sheng Long too (lots of Yobo's products seem to be).
Title: Modern famiclones on NicoNicoDouga
Post by: codeman38 on August 24, 2010, 08:40:40 PM
taizou
Aug 24 2010, 08:37:35 PM
theres a very similar bomberman clone on the cart that comes with the Yobo Factor 5 too (same music, but 16 bit-ish graphics) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BffA4sSDpWw (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BffA4sSDpWw)
its a NES clone that also plays its own "G-Factor" games, most likely manufactured by Qi Sheng Long too (lots of Yobo's products seem to be). [/quote]Yup, looks like it! "Bomb Kid" is exclusively by Qi Sheng Long; no such title in the database for Waixing. And yeah, I noticed that pretty much all the Yobo famiclones were listed on QSL's site.

Edit: Incidentally, if you're wondering how to enter a wildcard in the Chinese copyright database, you need to enter "%25". So, for instance, to search for anything with "bomb" in it, you'd enter "%25BOMB%25". Normally you'd just enter a percent sign for the wildcard, but the Chinese government can't code their JavaScript properly.  <_<
Title: Modern famiclones on NicoNicoDouga
Post by: taizou on August 24, 2010, 08:48:28 PM
incidentally theres a kinda interesting connection between Yobo and some older Famicom stuff - Yobo's actual company name is "Sun Team Technology (USA) Corp" (see here (http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-61549762.html) for example), and a couple of Gamtec's old Famicom games credit a "Sun Team Electronics", presumably a publisher. I emailed Yobo to ask if there was any connection but they didn't seem interested in talking to me if I wasn't doing business with them.