Cyber Arcade Center 120-in-1

[Awesome Panda]

I recently found out that Argos, a retailer in this country, happen to distribute numerous Famiclones and such. Earlier today I bought this Famiclone from them released by Lexibook, I have no idea who they are TBH. I have yet to open the box, mainly because it's in one of those clamshell packages which are impossible to open without scissors, but the screenshots on the box art are clearly from JungleTac games/hacks. The featured game on it (by which I mean the one on the screen) is quite clearly a hack of Magic Jewelry by Hwang Shinwei which I've seen on other Famiclones. Looking at the other screenshots, one of them kind of looks like Rad Racer, one is almost definitely a Bust-a-Move clone, one of them involves you catching eggs, (I'm pretty sure codeman38 said what game the background is ripped from on a video of it but I forgot what the game was) one of them appears to have graphics ripped from (I think) Adventure Island II, one of them is Aero Engine from the Gamespower 50 that Ashens reviewed and another is definitely a clone of Bejeweled. Oh, and one of the games on the back looks like a ripoff of Rodland starring a ripoff of Kirby or something, and the background reminds me of Mighty Bomb Jack's title screen. I'll upload some photos of the box in a bit, although don't expect good quality from a mobile phone.
BTW, here's Lexibook's website, if you really want it.

Also, for some crazy reason despite the box clearly saying 120-in-1, Argos labels it as a 100-in-1. :lol:

[brightentayle]

Price?

[taizou]

£29.99 apparently: http://j.mp/dk2yfJ (argos's URLs are too damn long)

but yeah Argos has been selling clones for years. lots of them with barely disguised hacked games and stuff. I'm surprised they got away with selling some of the shit they have, to be honest.just noticed the dude at the top of the menu/title screenshot on that page is from Columns Crown. those crazy graphics stealing bastards.

[Awesome Panda]

taizou

Oct 13 2010, 02:49:24 PM

£29.99 apparently: http://j.mp/dk2yfJ (argos's URLs are too damn long)

but yeah Argos has been selling clones for years. lots of them with barely disguised hacked games and stuff. I'm surprised they got away with selling some of the shit they have, to be honest.just noticed the dude at the top of the menu/title screenshot on that page is from Columns Crown. those crazy graphics stealing bastards.[/quote]It's JungleTac, what do you expect? But yeah, I'm surprised Argos and the distributors of these clones haven't gotten lawsuits up the wazoo. It's not like this country was stuck with the Dendy or something.

BTW, I think this cost £29.99 too much. <_<

Anyway, bad-quality photo time!

Spoiler: click to toggle

Gratuitous hand and unreadable sad onion. And yeah, I need a proper camera.

[codeman38]

I believe the background for the egg-catching game is from Mario 16 Joe & Mac.

Edit: Yep. Just found the video where I posted that-- it's definitely Joe & Mac.

[MLX]

Did anyone noticed that the sound effect that plays when you catch an egg is VERY similar to the one in Doraemon (the Somari hack) when you get rings ?

[codeman38]

MLX

Oct 14 2010, 11:34:11 AM

Did anyone noticed that the sound effect that plays when you catch an egg is VERY similar to the one in Doraemon (the Somari hack) when you get rings ?[/quote]That's because both of those sound effects are stolen from a third source: Super Contra!

[Awesome Panda]

codeman38

Oct 13 2010, 09:38:39 PM

I believe the background for the egg-catching game is from Mario 16 Joe & Mac.

Edit: Yep. Just found the video where I posted that-- it's definitely Joe & Mac.[/quote]Yeah, that one.

Incidentally, haven't got around to playing it yet as I need 3 AAA batteries and a mini-screwdriver but the manual that this comes with has a list of the games. To point out some of the more interesting (in terms of posting them here, at least) there's a game called Block Out which may or may not be a rip off of the 3D Tetris game of the same name. (not to mention, that was ported by Hwang Shinwei to the NES except renamed 3D Block) There's a game called Go Bang which I assume is a hack of Gomoku Narabe Renju by Nintendo, I think Bubble Blaster is the Bust-a-Move ripoff on the box, Elfland is included which is almost the same thing as the unlicensed 1992 game, there's one named Pet Shop which I guess would either be a Nintendogs ripoff or a renamed version of Bob Shop, there's one called Dragon Fire which I assume is the Fire Dragon hack (way to rename it, JungleTac ) and there's also a game listed called Risker. That could be the awful Excitebike hack, but I'll find out soon enough. For some odd reason, while Track and Field is listed on there, a lot of the events from the game are listed seperately, much like some of those Famicom multicarts. Oh, and if you have a severe mental problem then you'll be pleased to find not one, but two games that involve mowing the lawn! :lol: (Grass Cutter and Lucky Lawn Mower)

Even better, this includes quite possibly the best video game ever conceived, Bingo Zap. :yay:

[codeman38]

Cheetahmen

 

there's one called Dragon Fire which I assume is the Fire Dragon hack (way to rename it, JungleTac )[/quote]Hee, yeah, JungleTac ripped off not only Konami's sound driver, but also the work of another company that stole Konami's sound driver. :lol:

That's not the only Gamtec game they've used, either. There's another game called "Wison" on some of the JungleTac clones, which is literally identical to Gamtec's puzzle game "Wisdom Boy" except for the music.

And now I'm wondering if there's some sort of connection between Gamtec and JungleTac, or if this was just one unlicensed developer stealing from another...

[Awesome Panda]

codeman38

Oct 14 2010, 12:49:16 PM

Cheetahmen

 

there's one called Dragon Fire which I assume is the Fire Dragon hack (way to rename it, JungleTac )[/quote]Hee, yeah, JungleTac ripped off not only Konami's sound driver, but also the work of another company that stole Konami's sound driver. :lol:

That's not the only Gamtec game they've used, either. There's another game called "Wison" on some of the JungleTac clones, which is literally identical to Gamtec's puzzle game "Wisdom Boy" except for the music.

And now I'm wondering if there's some sort of connection between Gamtec and JungleTac, or if this was just one unlicensed developer stealing from another...[/quote]Wait, if they ripped off Gamtec that might they have obtained the Konami sound driver from one of their games? It's even more confusing when you take the stolen Super C sound effect into account.

I've played Wisdom Boy before, but Wison doesn't seem to be included on this thing unless it was renamed.

I doubt JungleTac is formed from Gamtec judging by their games, I think this is more of a case of one company stealing from another. Not to mention, this can be backed up seeing as JungleTac also hacked Hwang Shinwei's Magic Jewelry and I severely doubt all three developers are the same entity.Now that I've got this thing working through much frustration from an unnecessary screw, I can start detailing these games.

Shoot section
1. Tank - A bit like Jackal on the NES, except not as good
2. Aero Engine - This one was on the Gamespower 50 that Dr. Ashen reviewed. One of the best shooters here.
3. Valiant Rescue - Generic shooter with ripped off Contra graphics and a title screen without a title, just people having a picnic.
4. Zero Tiger - Again, a title screen without a title and another generic shooter.
5. Star Fighter - Looks almost identical to one of Trump Grand's games, except without a title screen.
6. Bugs - Kind of like Battle City except with bugs and the screen scrolls.
7. Block Flying - Seems to be a graphics hack of Quarth with no music, although the blocks disappear differently.
8. Bolt Fighter - Yet another generic shooter without a title on the title screen. I see a running theme here.
9. Delta Fighter - Another generic scrolling shooter without a title screen.
10. Last Cabra - Same again, except with explosions ripped from Recca.
11. Space Castle - Generic Space Invaders clone.
12. Star Ally - Again, explosions taken from Recca although this shooter seems to be better than most.
13. Submarine War - You sunk my battleship.

Wit section
1. Fire Fighter - Seems to be an 8-bit version of Fire Man from the Zone 40, which was a ripoff of a NES game I can't remember the name of.
2. Jewel Master - AKA Magic Jewelry.
3. Mr. Onion - Kind of like a cross between Rod Land and an Action 52 game starring a brown Kirby lookalike.
4. Magic Diamond - Tetris with bombs, pretty much. Seems to be made from scratch though.
5. Bubble Factory - Kind of like that Funclick/Picaclick game.
6. Bean's Adventure - No, not a game based off Mr. Bean but rather a Boulder Dash derivative.
7. Move Fun - Bejeweled clone and for some odd reason, "DJ" appears in the top left of the screen.
8. Matching Tiles - One of those single-player Mahjong games where you have to match tiles.
9. Push the Box - As you might be able to guess, it's a Sokoban clone. At least there's an undo option though.
10. Beat the Bird - A bit like Duck Hunt except without the lightgun, loads of birds on the screen at once and you have to match a certain quota of shots to win.
11. Rb Chess - Reversi, and it seems to be based off the "Apple Chess" game from some of those PC Famiclones.
12. Block Out - Breakout clone.
13. Shrew Mouse - The name makes no sense but the title screen seems to be copyrighted to SVIC or something. (it's hard to read) The game itself is a clone of Snafu on the Intellivision, and interestingly there was another one on the Sudoku 49-in-1 Tweeterman reviewed some time ago.
14. Transmission - Definitely a Trump Grand game, uses the same sort of music and is in fact, a renamed version of Convection which they made.
15. Catch the Egg - That game with the ripped off Joe & Mac background, made very difficult by the horrible controls.
16. Hard Win - Goes by the name of Vitamania on another one of these Famiclones but this one has a lab background.
17. Crazy Hit - Whack-a-Mole clone that suffers from sprite flicker.
18. Difference Picture - Another Trump Grand game which actually is the spot the difference thing, and strangely enough uses a sound effect ripped from Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde on the NES.
19. Monkey N Fox - A much harder version of Pooyan with no music.
20. Dragon Fire - Yep, it's the Fire Dragon hack.
21. Pool Pro - A pool game as you might have guessed, I think this is a hack of Side Pocket on the NES.
22. Risker - A platformer style game that uses the death sound from Contra.
23. Roulette - I think you can guess what this is. The music sounds like it was ripped off from somewhere, definitely not by JungleTac or Trump Grand.
24. Ultra Doggy - Frogger clone except far slower and with bad hit detection.
25. Elfland - A hack of the unlicensed 1992 game by Tip Top. Same game except for changed music, no 2 player mode and a missing story line.
26. Garden Maze - One of those slide puzzles, except with people that get in the way.
27. Ogreish Flower - An Adventures of Lolo style game I think, and I think the main character's sprite is a re-edit of Lolo.
28. Fish Catcher - A game where you catch fish. XD
29. Fish Quiz - A game where you have to move different coloured fish to certain parts of the screen or something.
30. Sea War - A clone of Sub Scan.
31. Pinball Track - A game where you have to move a ball across a series of tubes. Much harder than it looks.
32. Build uP Road - (sic) A Pipe Mania sort of game which has a sound effect taken from Lu Ye Xian Zong. (Unless that sound effect was ripped off from somewhere else)
33. Freak Number - A game where you have to match up numbers that add up to the number on the top right of the screen.
34. Birdie Nest - Another Gamespower 50 game where you repel a bird from the bottom of the screen.
35. Go Bang - Not actually a hack of Gomoku Narabe, but it does follow the same rules as it except with a timer.
36. Grass Cutter - A game where you cut grass and clouds spawn grass for some crazy reason. It's as fun as it sounds, by which I mean it isn't.
37. Happy Diamond - Puzznic clone with Santa Claus for some odd reason.
38. Dangerous Zone - A Tetris style game, except you have to pick up and dodge blocks as some guy trapped in the area instead of controlling the blocks themselves.
39. Igloo Land - A simple Sokoban style game with a map screen which seems to have key doors taken from Super Mario Bros. 3, I think.
40. Insect Chase - A game where you play as a net and collect butterflies.
41. Loop Tennis - A game where you have to hit a tennis ball up the screen by getting it on to the racket above it.
42. Transportation - Seems to be a bit like Chu Chu Rocket in a way.
43. Awake Baby - One of those games where you have to slide pieces around with an unnecessary backstory I don't feel like copying here.
44. Magic Bubble - The Bust-a-Move clone.
45. Ocean Quest - Pretty much what happens when you rotate Road Fighter 90 degrees and make it rubbish.
46. Paint Master - A hack of Brush Roller by Hwang Shinwei.
47. Pet Shop - Seems to feature the dog from Tom & Jerry if I remember correctly (I probably don't) but it's a game where you throw balls at a dog and for some crazy reason it takes the HUD from Fatal Fury or something.
48. Bubble Master - Rubbish Zuma clone, end of.
49. Push the Ball -  One of those table hockey games, although it reminds me a lot of one of the bonus games from Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger.
50. Rainbow - A game where you play as a pot collecting stars that leave rainbow coloured trails.
51. Bounce - Reminds me of Pong, except you're controlling 4 bats facing different directions on a maze background, and it uses the death sound from Contra again.
52. Bingo Zap - Like I said before, the best game ever made. (extreme sarcasm)
53. Sky Mission - A ripoff of Astro Robo Sasa on the Famicom, the things you collect even have the letter E on them.
54. Spin Ball - A game where you move a ball on a train track in space. End of.
55. Ball Mania - A confusing puzzle game which I can't even be bothered to describe here.
56. Bingo - Does exactly what it says on the tin, near enough.
57. Slot Machine - Pretty obvious, I should think.
58. Texas Hold'em - Yep, it's Poker although difficult to play with the tiny screen.

I'll finish the list tomorrow I think.

[taizou]

one of their games is pretty much a minor hack of Flying Hero (a licensed famicom game) too. i think they just like to steal games that are too obscure for the copyright holders to notice

so is this jungletac's 8bit/famiclone hardware then? sounds that way from the game list, but the screenshot of their Columns/Magic Jewelry clone looks like the 16 bit version. hmm.

[Awesome Panda]

taizou

Oct 14 2010, 03:40:39 PM

one of their games is pretty much a minor hack of Flying Hero (a licensed famicom game) too. i think they just like to steal games that are too obscure for the copyright holders to notice

so is this jungletac's 8bit/famiclone hardware then? sounds that way from the game list, but the screenshot of their Columns/Magic Jewelry clone looks like the 16 bit version. hmm.[/quote]Yeah, that's the Fire Fighter game I was talking about. The physics in JungleTac's game are different to the official game though. BTW, it's definitely an 8-bit clone, and the sound makes that painfully obvious.

[taizou]

yeah, thats the one. If the physics are different maybe it isnt a hack though, maybe they ripped the graphics but coded their own version from scratch.

[codeman38]

Cheetahmen

 

7. Move Fun - Bejeweled clone and for some odd reason, "DJ" appears in the top left of the screen.[/quote]DJ Jungle is yet another name that JungleTac goes by on some of their famiclones. I've also seen JungleSoft, which they actually do have a trademark on.

Quote:

 

32. Build uP Road - (sic) A Pipe Mania sort of game which has a sound effect taken from Lu Ye Xian Zong. (Unless that sound effect was ripped off from somewhere else)[/quote] Lu Ye Xian Zong's sound driver is stolen from... you guessed it... Super Contra.


Interesting that this unit combines JungleTac and Trump Grand games. I don't think I've ever seen that before!

Oh, on a related note, Gamtec's sound driver was stolen from Twinbee. The one Waixing used in Lu Ye Xian Zong, on the other hand-- as well as the one used in all of JungleTac's games-- is very clearly stolen from Super Contra. (That explosion sound is so distinctive...) Wonder if there was some sort of connection with Waixing and JungleTac? Lu Ye Xian Zong definitely feels different from Waixing's later work; maybe the devs from that went on to work for JungleTac or something.

[Awesome Panda]

codeman38

Oct 14 2010, 04:29:49 PM

Cheetahmen

 

7. Move Fun - Bejeweled clone and for some odd reason, "DJ" appears in the top left of the screen.[/quote]DJ Jungle is yet another name that JungleTac goes by on some of their famiclones. I've also seen JungleSoft, which they actually do have a trademark on.

Quote:

 

32. Build uP Road - (sic) A Pipe Mania sort of game which has a sound effect taken from Lu Ye Xian Zong. (Unless that sound effect was ripped off from somewhere else)[/quote] Lu Ye Xian Zong's sound driver is stolen from... you guessed it... Super Contra.


Interesting that this unit combines JungleTac and Trump Grand games. I don't think I've ever seen that before!

Oh, on a related note, Gamtec's sound driver was stolen from Twinbee. The one Waixing used in Lu Ye Xian Zong, on the other hand-- as well as the one used in all of JungleTac's games-- is very clearly stolen from Super Contra. (That explosion sound is so distinctive...) Wonder if there was some sort of connection with Waixing and JungleTac? Lu Ye Xian Zong definitely feels different from Waixing's later work; maybe the devs from that went on to work for JungleTac or something.[/quote]Ah, should've remembered thast DJ Jungle name from before.

Well, I would've said that the sound effect is from Super Contra but TBH, I've only ever heard it in Lu Ye Xian Zong myself so I assume it's taken from that.

As for the whole JungleTac/Trump Grand thing, it's kind of odd but the thing is, the vast majority of the games are by the former so maybe they ripped off a few Trump Grand games as well, especially seeing as the Snafu clone uses JungleTac sounds. Then again, I'm pretty sure Waixing is connected with Trump Grand so maybe it's a triad of tat.
Moving on with the list of the games:

Sports section
Most of the games here are taken from Track and Field on the NES, and the graphics are nearly identical to the ones in that game. In fact, they are unless stated otherwise.
1. 110m Hurdles - Nothing to point out here, apart from the fact that tapping A and B constantly is a pain on this thing.
2. Backstroke - The swimming event.
3. Basketball - Some random mini game (aren't they all? ) where you have to do some random shots at the basket from random distances.
4. Track And Field - This one seems to be made from scratch and has a player select screen (including the wonderfully named Dick and Kum :lol: ) and unlike the real Track and Field, you play the running events by holding down A. It's a doddle, to put it simply until the second level when your guy randomly stops.
5. Dart Champion - The shooting event, except you press A and B to shoot in this game.
6. Discus Put - The discus event and I could be wrong, but I think the lose music is taken from one of those horrible hacks of 1st gen games you see on the Famicom Yarou and such.
7. Golden Arrow - The archery event.
8. High Jump - Yep, you guessed it, the high jump event.
9. Javelin - Do even need to tell you this?
10. Jumping Ball - Not from Track & Field but is instead some weird game based off tennis where you have to hit targets to flip them over.
11. Super Surfing - Again, not Track & Field, in this one you play as a surfer collecting money in the middle of the sea while dodging the various idiots in your way. I'm not making this up.
12. Triple Jump - Take a wild guess.

Action section
1. Adventurer - Another Trump Grand game, here you play as a thing collecting hearts while dodging other things.
2. Ball Clash - A complete ripoff of Penguin-Kun Wars, sans the title screen and name entry screen. Oh, and the music and some of the graphics were replaced.
3. Balloon Man - A game where you play as a frog on balloons collecting other balloons. Strangely, the background looks suspicously similar to the one from the intermission screens of Wait and See!, the Dragon Co. pirate game.
4. Sky dreamer - (sic) Trump Grand platformer which seems to have physics similar to those of Dragon Co's games except slightly better. The music is a ripoff of the Pitfall II theme and one of the sound effects is from Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
5. Mouse Hero - Yet another Trump Grand game, this one has you controlling two mice who save bears falling slowly from the top of the screen. Kind of like a rubbish version of Kaboom on the Atari 2600.
6. Challenge 100 - One of the few decent titles so far, this one has you trying to avoid the top of an autoscrolling screen.
7. Conquer South Pole - A game where you go around as a crocodile turning penguins into ice blocks so you can collect diamonds.
8. Delivery Man - Or Bob Shop, if you prefer. You put items on an aisle or whatever they're called (those things you find in supermarkets) and people buy the stuff, simple as.
9. Magic Place - Trump Grand yet again, you play as a red bouncing square collecting stars like in Convection or whatever it's called here. Oh, and it's made in 2004 apparently.
10. Fancy Match - Lord knows what the hell the title screen is supposed to be, but it's basically a matching game with an enemy that moves around the level.
11. Worm Catch - This one seems to be a hack of Bird Week, a game I never really figured out how to play TBH. Funnily enough, a lot of the background graphics are clearly taken from Super Mario Bros. 2. (Japanese version)
12. Flying - "Drive the blue flyer into the red diferent base." Kind of reminds me of the ice cave puzzles from Pokémon Gold, except in space.
13. Grot Kid - Yet another Trump Grand title from 2004, you play as a kid in his PJ's collecting stuff in a maze.
14. Lonely Island - No, this doesn't involve being on a boat but instead, you play as what look like more detailed versions of Gurin and Malon from Binary Land, going around in what looks like stolen Adventure Island II art. (might be wrong on the game, but it looks stolen) There's an enemy that's definitely taken from another game, but I forget where he's from. Come to think of it, I think he's from Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers.
15. Lucky Lawn Mower - Makes even less sense than the other lawn mowing game, this one is basically a Boulder Dash clone with the aforementioned theme.
16. Animal Pool - You throw balls at animals which bounce back to you. Can't describe it any better than that.
17. Path Finder - A game where you collect stuff and die to the Contra death sound effect.
18. Right SPot - (sic) An odd puzzle game, kind of like the sliding puzzles.
19. The Night - A game where you shoot balls being thrown by an angel in a Tetris-style HUD and an apparent Christmas theme.
20. Towers - A weird platformer where you hold the A button down to guide how high you jump.
21. Under the Sea - No, not the Little Mermaid but rather a game almost identical to that Helicopter game you can play on the internet. Even the controls are the same here.

Racing section
Expect me to mention Road Fighter a lot here.
1. Moto Rushing - By Trump Grand in 2004, this one plays similarly to Road Fighter but isn't as good.
2. V R Racing - A basic 3rd person racing game with the option to pick your background.
3. Big Racing - This one is a lot like playing Road Fighter with the TV turned 90 degrees anti-clockwise.
4. Runner Car - Another Road Fighter clone where you collect money. The lack of speed makes it rather boring.
5. Racing Boat - A lot like the previous game, except with different obstacles and a wider track.
6. Bump Car - A poor man's (well, not necessarily considering it cost £30 but whatever) clone of Bump 'n Jump.
7. Dump Lorry Race - Much like the second game here except it's somewhat faster and the road is coloured in orange and green.
8. Excel Racing - A maze game where you go around collecting flags.
9. Fast Race - Another poor man's Bump 'n Jump clone, except this one plays a little bit better.
10. Gear Race - Kind of like game 3, except you drive upwards here. Ironically, there are no gears involved here.
11. GP Race - A slightly better clone of Road Fighter than the rest.
12. Motor Rally - Basically Dump Lorry Race with a motorbike and a HUD which reminds me of KITT from Knight Rider.
13. Road Bumper - Yet another boring Road Fighter clone.
14. Road Star - This one's a bit odd. You have to jump on to a platform by picking a certain speed to drive at.
15. Speedy Way- X - Yep, yet another boring Road Fighter derivative.
16. Truck Race - Same again, except with a truck.

And that's all of them, just so you know.


Apologies for posting more tat, but I just found out that Fish Catcher is a ripoff of the Catch the Fish bonus game from Panic Restaurant. The graphics are a little different and the music was changed but other than that, it's the same thing. As well as this, Catch the Egg (the one with the stolen Joe & Mac background) was taken from the same game, even the name is the same.