Finds

[Awesome Panda]

I got a few pirate carts today; a 4 in 1 multicart, Super Bubble Bobble and Squirrel King. I also got a Japanese copy of Master of Weapon for free, but I can't play it without modding my Mega Drive.

[Awesome Panda]

I got an NJ Pocket today; as far as I can tell it seems to be roughly the same size as a PVP Station and it has 4 face buttons, two of which I'm guessing are turbo functions. I'll be recording footage of it tomorrow.

[codeman38]

At a discount store called Christmas Tree Shops, I found one of their store-brand Wii knockoffs-- which just happens to look very much like one of Qi Sheng Long's "All Sports" units. With what clearly looked like Senca Tech Niutai's VT168 games, based on the illustrations.

And it had a cartridge slot that looked Famicom-like, but as Taizou has observed with his own QSL plug-n-play, not all Famicom-like cartridge slots are actually compatible.

Oh, and it was sixteen dollars.

WHY DID I DECIDE NOT TO BUY THE THING? *facepalm* Maybe they'll still have it in stock when I go back...

Edited to add: I think it might've been identical to this WiWi, actually. The cartridge definitely looks like the one that was on the box, anyway.

Edit #2: But the sports cartridge on RetroGamerVX's EZi Sports system looks very similar, and it's a much smaller selection of games. (Wish I'd gotten a picture-- don't remember whether it said 18-in-1 or 198-in-1 on the cart. Not that the cart is in any way representative of the one contained inside, regardless.) Whatever it is, though, I'm certain that (a) it's by Qi Sheng Long, and (b) it has at least some VT168 sports games by Senca Niutai.

Edit #3: GAH, my brain needs rest. I'm getting my pirate companies mixed up all over the place. Niutai, not Senca! Also, they might be Sunplus, not VT. I really should've gotten photos, because I'm running off foggy memories right now.Now that I think about it even more, I am almost certain that the console I referenced above is this version of the WiWi. The box design seems awfully familiar to me-- although I think they only showed the top 8 games on the back, and filled the rest with legal boilerplate, contact info on Christmas Tree Shops, etc.

There's a Wiii3-branded version with a similar box design. This further confirms it for me - I definitely remember this one having a Mega Drive-style controller with blue buttons.

So yeah, 16-bit Niutai games it almost certainly is! Just not sure if it's VT or Sunplus 16-bit.

[Awesome Panda]

That reminds me, I should probably look around the local discount supermarkets to see if they have any Wii clones. I might buy one if they have a Famicom cartridge slot.

[recorderdude]

Saw a copy of Bubble Bobble MD that somehow ended up in my local used game store. Not sure if I'll get it, and I'm not sure of how much they think it's worth yet, but I'll ask next time, if only for fun. The cart is standalone and the art looks different than some of the copies I've seen online, but seeing as the only other bubble bobble series game that actually came out on genesis was a licensed port of rainbow islands in japan only, I sincerely doubt it could be anything else. Do believe it said "SUPER BUBBLE BOBBLE MD" on the cart itself, though.

Looks a bit like this version, perhaps it is: http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n223/mrmark0673/Genesis%20Reproductions/DSC00590.jpg

EDIT: Looking at that URL, that cart art is a reproduction. was this art used in the original too and not just repros, or is this one http://www.segagagadomain.com/megadrive4/superbubble-cart.jpg the only known cart art for the original?

[Awesome Panda]

recorderdude

Feb 22 2012, 12:10:54 PM

EDIT: Looking at that URL, that cart art is a reproduction. was this art used in the original too and not just repros, or is this one http://www.segagagadomain.com/megadrive4/superbubble-cart.jpg the only known cart art for the original?[/quote]That's the version I have; as far as I'm aware, that's the only version that's been released if you don't count repros. Also, from what I've noticed all pirate Mega Drive carts either use the Japanese design, or the Western one with a tab cut into it.

[recorderdude]

Awesome Panda

Feb 22 2012, 12:38:09 PM

That's the version I have; as far as I'm aware, that's the only version that's been released if you don't count repros. Also, from what I've noticed all pirate Mega Drive carts either use the Japanese design, or the Western one with a tab cut into it.[/quote]Ah, good to know. I'll have to take a look at it next time to ensure the design isn't different from the repro one and possibly demo it in the store even if I don't get it (said gamestore lets you try out any of the games on real hardware)

[Awesome Panda]

recorderdude

Feb 22 2012, 01:26:32 PM

Ah, good to know. I'll have to take a look at it next time to ensure the design isn't different from the repro one and possibly demo it in the store even if I don't get it (said gamestore lets you try out any of the games on real hardware)[/quote]Well, I'm not big on repros myself but from what I've noticed, real carts are hard to find. :\Earlier today, I found something called the Powerdrive (or something like that) at B&M, which is basically a plastic driving seat and steering wheel with some rubbish JungleTac games built-in. The thing was going for about £30 if I remember correctly; as far as I'm concerned it's barely worth £1. -_-

[taizou]

hah. B&M still has those? They must be having trouble shifting them (not that I'm surprised).

Anyway I got some interesting Game Boy carts - no pics yet, I'm kinda busy, but they are:

Pokemon "動作篇" (Action Chapter, roughly): Basically an alternate version of Pocket Monster Go Go Go (the Smurfs hack) but only the title screen, main character sprite and a few other scattered Smurfs have been changed.

At first I thought it was an earlier version, but looking at the dumped PMGGG it seems to be based on the mono version of the Smurfs game, while this is based on the later colour release. So I guess when the colour version came out they just copied over the title screen and Pikachu's sprite but didn't bother hacking anything else, which means (among other things) Meowth's speech at the beginning isn't there surely one of the great moments in pirate gaming history. Still, at least it doesn't have the slowdown of the other version.

Edit: Also it's one of those "New GB Color" carts that a few early Vast Fame games were released in...

Digimon 3 "超夢" Version - possibly the original release of Digimon 3 by Vast Fame. Other than the subtitle it seems identical to the alternate-music version as seen in Qiezei's videos though. Interestingly "超夢" (literally Super Dream) is Mewtwo's Chinese name though.

Digimon D-3 - Not the one Qiezei found on Taobao recently (though I just ordered that... let's see if it's the same thing) this one is published by "Super Huge Dragon" (aka SKOB) and seemingly developed by BBD/Sintax. It's a kind of average platform game using Pokemon Pinball music, but nice enough as far as pirates go.

edit: heres a lazy phone pic:

Spoiler: click to toggle

codeman38

Feb 20 2012, 10:29:00 PM

So yeah, 16-bit Niutai games it almost certainly is! Just not sure if it's VT or Sunplus 16-bit.[/quote]As far as I know Niutai never made VT168 games, so it's probably Sunplus - it's hard to tell which one it is exactly though, Qi Sheng Long's product line gets totally confusing sometimes. The two major variants are the 87 (I think) in 1 which comes with a 69 in 1 Vt03 cart and 16 in 1 Sunplus cart, or the "198" in 1 which just comes with either a single Sunplus cart or everything built in. But those two variants show up in all sorts of different case designs and under different names and stuff. I think there's also a version out there that only has the 16 Sunplus games from the 87 in 1 version.

[Pepper-98]

Neat.  Do the games have any special boot logo or is it just "Nintendo"?

[taizou]

On my GBA SP, Digimon D3 boots with "Yiutoudz" but the other two are just Nintendo. I don't have any older GBs with me to test them on though, most of the interesting logos don't show up on a GBA.

[Awesome Panda]

taizou

Feb 24 2012, 08:03:47 PM

On my GBA SP, Digimon D3 boots with "Yiutoudz" but the other two are just Nintendo. I don't have any older GBs with me to test them on though, most of the interesting logos don't show up on a GBA.[/quote]In that case, I'm guessing the former is a pirate rerelease. :huh:

[taizou]

Some SKOB games seem to use Yiutoudz though, it looks like an original to me.

[codeman38]

The alternate version of Pokesmurfs is actually dumped - it's in GoodGBX as "Pocket Monsters GO! GO! - The Pikachu Nightmare". (Edited: See below. It's not the same one!)The Digimon 3 shows at least one hallmark of being an official VFame release: I don't think I've ever seen "New GB Color" on anything not by VFame. ("New Game Color", sure. But never "New GB Color".)

Edited to add: Well, I take that back. I have seen "New GB Color" on something not by VFame, and it was just posted above. :lol: But I don't think I've ever seen "New GB Color" on the side of the cartridge art except on VFame's titles.

[taizou]

Nah, it's not that version - the title screen and Pikachu sprite in mine are the same as the regular Pocket Monsters Go Go Go. The Pikachu Nightmare seems to have been made by someone else entirely - it kinda feels more like a fanmade hack than a pirate one.