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Pirate Discussion => Famicom/NES => 2000-present => Topic started by: taizou on June 14, 2011, 01:10:34 AM

Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: taizou on June 14, 2011, 01:10:34 AM
got something interesting from Taobao recently, i've been busy putting this page together since then: http://fuji.drillspirits.net/samuri/ (http://fuji.drillspirits.net/samuri/)

it's a VT03-based plug & play console from around 2006 (I think) with games by none other than Hummer Team! mostly fairly simple games, the only real link back to their older stuff is an updated version of the Somari hack from the 15 in 1. but the Hummer name is actually used on the intro screen, which means they must have still existed as late as 06 (and actually as Hummer Team too, not just ex-members working somewhere else or under a different name).

i've also recorded video of all the games but it lasts about two hours at the moment so i'll trim it a bit (no one needs to see me dying a bunch of times in a Somari hack) and upload it to youtube.

the console was apparently manufactured by a Taiwanese company called Zechess which didn't last very long (it also looks a lot like those Timetop consoles (http://s4.zetaboards.com/PGC_Forums?topic=8728527/1/#new), some connection there?) but for some reason a ton of stock has appeared on Taobao recently, and a few units even seem to have made their way onto Ebay (albeit without box/manual). I know of at least one other console Zechess made, the ZDog, which i'll probably have tomorrow. and i'm also attempting to get in touch with the guy that used to run the company, i'll keep you posted on that.
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: taizou on June 14, 2011, 01:10:34 AM
got something interesting from Taobao recently, i've been busy putting this page together since then: http://fuji.drillspirits.net/samuri/ (http://fuji.drillspirits.net/samuri/)

it's a VT03-based plug & play console from around 2006 (I think) with games by none other than Hummer Team! mostly fairly simple games, the only real link back to their older stuff is an updated version of the Somari hack from the 15 in 1. but the Hummer name is actually used on the intro screen, which means they must have still existed as late as 06 (and actually as Hummer Team too, not just ex-members working somewhere else or under a different name).

i've also recorded video of all the games but it lasts about two hours at the moment so i'll trim it a bit (no one needs to see me dying a bunch of times in a Somari hack) and upload it to youtube.

the console was apparently manufactured by a Taiwanese company called Zechess which didn't last very long (it also looks a lot like those Timetop consoles (http://s4.zetaboards.com/PGC_Forums?topic=8728527/1/#new), some connection there?) but for some reason a ton of stock has appeared on Taobao recently, and a few units even seem to have made their way onto Ebay (albeit without box/manual). I know of at least one other console Zechess made, the ZDog, which i'll probably have tomorrow. and i'm also attempting to get in touch with the guy that used to run the company, i'll keep you posted on that.
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: Awesome Panda on June 14, 2011, 07:07:35 AM
I'm wondering if Hummer is referring to Hummer Team itself or Hummer Cheng. Just wondering, is the music on the menu from any of their games?

Also, looking at the games I'm surprised at how much they revamped Somari. Kind of disappointed that they didn't port the graphics straight from Sonic the Hedgehog, but at least they had some creativity with the hacking.
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: codeman38 on June 14, 2011, 07:59:15 AM
Well, this definitely explains the presence of Pink Jelly in the VT03 Pic32 documentation.

Now I'm wondering whether "VDog", as shown in the EmuVT documentation, might actually be an alias of ZDog. I mean, they even look like each other.
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: taizou on June 14, 2011, 08:33:52 AM
Cheetahmen
Jun 14 2011, 07:07:35 AM
I'm wondering if Hummer is referring to Hummer Team itself or Hummer Cheng. Just wondering, is the music on the menu from any of their games?

Also, looking at the games I'm surprised at how much they revamped Somari. Kind of disappointed that they didn't port the graphics straight from Sonic the Hedgehog, but at least they had some creativity with the hacking.[/quote]I don't think Hummer Cheng could have made the whole thing by himself personally. i'd say theres definitely a team of some kind involved. Whether they actually had many original Hummer Team members left by this point, though, i couldn't say.

Not sure about the menu music, it'll be in the video when I upload that anyway. I've checked a few Hummer NSFs and I didn't recognise it in any of them. most of the actual games just seem to use either music from Somari or that one track from Jing Ke Xin Zhuan though.

Quote:
 
Now I'm wondering whether "VDog", as shown in the EmuVT documentation, might actually be an alias of ZDog. I mean, they even look like each other.[/quote]
yeah, i think it's definitely the same dog. probably renamed ZDog after Zechess or something.
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: codeman38 on June 14, 2011, 08:34:37 AM
More research!

liaohandel (http://members.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=liaohandel) on eBay seems to have some relationship to Zechess. His profile pic is, quite literally, ZDog's title screen.

This is Liao Handel's blog (http://used104.blogspot.com/), which zechess.com redirected to at one point in 2008. I can't manage to pull up the 2006 version of zechess.com on the Wayback Machine (redirects to an IP address that wasn't archived), and the 2002 version was... a French web site on chess. Gotta love domain buybacks.

He also has this blog on Yahoo (http://tw.myblog.yahoo.com/liaohandel-zdog/). Note the URL and profile pic.

I guess this is "the dude who used to run the company", as referenced in taizou's article?
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: taizou on June 14, 2011, 08:43:00 AM
Yes exactly. :D I emailed him yesterday, no reply yet. but we'll see.
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: KingPepe on June 14, 2011, 08:49:19 AM
Are you going to be doing a video of this? I would love to see it.
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: taizou on June 14, 2011, 09:02:09 AM
yeah, i mentioned that in the first post - its all recorded, just needs editing and stuff.

and look who just turned up-
(http://fuji.drillspirits.net/stuff/zdog.jpg)
either the seller or my taiwanese agent cut off the top of his doghouse to fit it into the shipping box though >:0
well i've had a bit of a play around with it, there are three different modes but they all basically lead to the same 40 games. some are similar or the same as the Samuri's (but with digitised sound effects) but some older Hummer games seem to be mixed in too. Titenic is in there for instance. o:
on closer inspection Titenic seems to be split up into separate levels like hummersomari was on the Samuri.

oh and guess what else is on here - that Ping Pong game with the SF2 map that was listed on ABABsoft's site.
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: Doomkid on June 14, 2011, 09:53:42 AM
Wow, this is awesome! More Hummer team stuff showing up is always a good thing!
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: codeman38 on June 14, 2011, 10:00:26 AM
Now I'm wondering what exactly the relationship is between Hummer, Zechess, and ABABsoft...
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: KingPepe on June 14, 2011, 10:03:39 AM
Holy crap, this is just amazing. I wonder what that Ping Pong game is like.
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: Awesome Panda on June 14, 2011, 10:43:34 AM
Personally, I say it's kind of odd that Hummer didn't bother putting all of their old games on that plug and play console. You'd think it'd be easier to do that than make a load of new games.

BTW, I'm probably gonna sound like a complete idiot asking this but isn't VDog named after VRT?
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: codeman38 on June 14, 2011, 11:17:19 AM
Cheetahmen
Jun 14 2011, 10:43:34 AM
BTW, I'm probably gonna sound like a complete idiot asking this but isn't VDog named after VRT?[/quote]Probably, yeah. That's what I'd have guessed, anyway.
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: MLX on June 14, 2011, 11:35:57 AM
Cheetahmen
Jun 14 2011, 10:43:34 AM
Personally, I say it's kind of odd that Hummer didn't bother putting all of their old games on that plug and play console. You'd think it'd be easier to do that than make a load of new games.

BTW, I'm probably gonna sound like a complete idiot asking this but isn't VDog named after VRT?[/quote]The companies that originaly released them are owning the rights and the source code for them. I guess Hummer was getting a lot of money but when they would leave the publisher, they would loose all the sources codes and stuff. (The games are copyrighted to JY for exemple).
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: taizou on June 14, 2011, 11:48:12 AM
codeman38
Jun 14 2011, 10:00:26 AM
Now I'm wondering what exactly the relationship is between Hummer, Zechess, and ABABsoft...[/quote]yeah, and Rinco as well. I'd guess those three were all just hardware manufacturers and/or publishers and Hummer always handled the actual development, but I can't be sure.  

(Speaking of hardware the controller that comes with the Zdog is fucking awful. especially compared to the Samuri which is quite well-built. & the Samuri looking like that Timetop console makes me wonder if Zechess outsourced the actual manufacturing to different companies in China or something)

KingPepe
 
Holy crap, this is just amazing. I wonder what that Ping Pong game is like.[/quote]
Plays just like a Wii clone pingpong game, your character isn't visible and you just have to press A at the right time. its nothing all that special, I like the character portraits though.

MLX
 
The companies that originaly released them are owning the rights and the source code for them. I guess Hummer was getting a lot of money but when they would leave the publisher, they would loose all the sources codes and stuff. (The games are copyrighted to JY for exemple). [/quote]
that only seems to have been the case with JY though - some of their games released under NT or Ge De (SF4, Somari, MK4 etc) have been re-released, but no JY game ever has (to my knowledge). maybe they signed an exclusive contract with JY but not the others.
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: Awesome Panda on June 14, 2011, 11:54:37 AM
taizou
Jun 14 2011, 11:48:12 AM
MLX
 
The companies that originaly released them are owning the rights and the source code for them. I guess Hummer was getting a lot of money but when they would leave the publisher, they would loose all the sources codes and stuff. (The games are copyrighted to JY for exemple). [/quote]
that only seems to have been the case with JY though - some of their games released under NT or Ge De (SF4, Somari, MK4 etc) have been re-released, but no JY game ever has (to my knowledge). maybe they signed an exclusive contract with JY but not the others.[/quote]If that was the case, then how would JY be able to take action against redistributing games published by them? The Hummer games they published were all illegal ports, so it's not like they could take it to court.
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: MLX on June 14, 2011, 12:01:13 PM
I think Taiwan use a separate copyright service (remember that NTDEC copyrighted PacMan there). So it could have worked at the time I think.
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: taizou on June 14, 2011, 12:05:21 PM
Cheetahmen
Jun 14 2011, 11:54:37 AM
If that was the case, then how would JY be able to take action against redistributing games published by them? The Hummer games they published were all illegal ports, so it's not like they could take it to court.[/quote]Well, I dunno. It was Taiwan, it was the 90s, maybe they could. :D as far as I know until 1999 foreign copyrights didn't apply in Taiwan unless they were explicitly registered. so the only copyright enforceable in Taiwan would have been on the original elements of the games like Hummer's program code and whatnot.

edit: and yeah, what MLX said. That's why Nintendo had to sue NTDEC through their US division, they didn't have a case in Taiwan. and I guess NTDEC were stupid enough to have a US division so they kind of brought it on themselves.
also: i found Handel Liao's Picasa account http://picasaweb.google.com/104777954693978867426/Zdog# (http://picasaweb.google.com/104777954693978867426/Zdog#)

has some screens and even a couple of preproduction sketches of the Zdog. One thing that's odd is I haven't found anything about the Samuri from any page related to Liao or Zechess, its all Zdog. Maybe the Samuri was never officially released before Zechess went out of business, but they'd already had a bunch of units manufactured and someone just found them in a warehouse and stuck them on Taobao.
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: Awesome Panda on June 14, 2011, 12:51:50 PM
Probably just me, but that Pac-Man clone looks like a hack of the NES version.
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: taizou on June 14, 2011, 01:26:59 PM
oh hey I did a bit of detective work on that sketch :D (if only i had magic CSI infinite enhancement software)
 if you flip it and increase the contrast, it looks like it was drawn on the back of something interesting:

(http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/9346/mapflip.th.jpg)
http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/9346/mapflip.jpg (http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/9346/mapflip.jpg)

possibly some kind of Hummer document or invoice or something?
that definitely looks like Hummer (the horse) in the top left but the company name looks more like "Summer Technology Co., Ltd" (maybe it is an H though, and theres just some kind of pencil mark or shadow making it look like an S)... but either way I haven't been able to find anything relevant on google for Summer or Hummer Technology.

then theres a number VT038M0003, which I guess means VT03 8 megabit ROM no. 0003 or something, and possibly a list of games? the only one I can make out is Kangaroo-something, which i suppose would be either Kangaroo Fighter or Kangaroo Hunt.
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: Awesome Panda on June 14, 2011, 01:37:56 PM
Definitely looks like an S to me, although they'd be a bit stupid to make an alias by changing the first letter of their name IMO. What I don't get is why it looks clearer than the rest of the name.
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: taizou on June 14, 2011, 01:53:00 PM
yeah, it does look clearer, that's what makes me think its from something else (maybe there's another piece of paper underneath?) and its not actually part of the name.
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: Awesome Panda on June 14, 2011, 01:59:25 PM
Might be. The message is obviously written in Comic Sans but the S looks a bit different than it's supposed to.
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: KingPepe on June 14, 2011, 02:08:46 PM
Something odd I noticed about Hummer when I was looking at his mane. In the photo, it shows him having a curl instead of a spike like in the normal pictures. Nothing big but I guess his design changed a bit overtime?
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: codeman38 on June 14, 2011, 03:15:12 PM
"Hummer Technology Co. Ltd." in Chinese would be "悍馬科技有限公司", which... seems to also be what's written above the name if you squint at it. However, I'm only finding mainland sites of very similarly named, but unrelated, companies with a Google search of that. Hm.

Edit: Actually, the more I squint at the English name, the more it looks like it might be "Simmer"? I wish that first Chinese character weren't covered up by the sun!
More suggestion that ZDog = VDog:
- In the menu screenshot (https://picasaweb.google.com/104777954693978867426/Zdog#5573128162246075826), the "Z" is in a completely different font from the rest of the title.
- On the title screen (https://picasaweb.google.com/104777954693978867426/Zdog#5573128263010728322), the "Z" is awfully small for the space that it's filling. Which is sort of shaped like a "V". (Note how the "DOG" part neatly fits into its space, in contrast.)
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: Awesome Panda on June 14, 2011, 03:47:07 PM
codeman38
Jun 14 2011, 03:15:12 PM
Edit: Actually, the more I squint at the English name, the more it looks like it might be "Simmer"? I wish that first Chinese character weren't covered up by the sun![/quote]Looking at the Chinese characters (Traditional, if I remember correctly that's what they use in Taiwan) I don't think it says "Summer". As far as I can tell it says Hummer like it should, but what the S is doing there is beyond me.
BTW, are any of those 59 (or however many it is if you discount the rehashes) games supposed to be Pink Jelly?
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: taizou on June 14, 2011, 03:58:29 PM
I don't think so - Pink Jelly (the character) shows up in a lot of them, but Pink Jelly (the game) was just a rehash of Panda Adventure, and theres nothing using that engine on there. (or on the Zdog for that matter)
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: MLX on June 14, 2011, 04:53:32 PM
What other old Hummer games are in the zDog ?
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: taizou on June 14, 2011, 04:55:17 PM
only Titenic and Ping Pong, as it turns out. I thought because one of the first games I tried turned out to be Titenic, it'd probably have a few more, but most of them are just variations on the same stuff from the Samuri.
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: Awesome Panda on June 14, 2011, 04:57:36 PM
Does the zDog have The Hummer on it, and if so, is it a full game instead of split up into acts?
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: taizou on June 14, 2011, 05:04:10 PM
nope. here's a full game list:

1. Space Cruiser - a shooter, same engine as Air Combat from the Samuri
2. UFO Carrier - another level of the same game  
3. Space Fort - and another
4. Zdog Hero - basically the fighting game from the Samuri, only with Zdog, Hummer, Pink Jelly & Panda
5. Hummer Hero - same thing, play as Hummer
6. Jelly Hero - probably self explanatory by this point
7. Benthal - another variation on the shooter engine, starring a whale and set underwater
8. Sea Serpent - more underwater shooting
9. Octopus - and again
10. Submarine - single screen shooter, you can go underwater to avoid stuff
11. Diplopod War
12. Pterodactyl - crosshair shooting game, defend your house from pterodactyls to the aladdin theme tune
13. Duck Runaway
14. Space Ball - something with the sprites from Juggling Stunts but youre in the middle and you have to catch the ball thrown by the other two. in space!
15. Harpoon
16. Surfing - you control Pink Jelly on a surfboard, and you have to avoid sharks
17. Hunting - similar to the hunting games on the Samuri, but with multiple stages and different animals mixed in together
18. Fly Eater - Greedy Frog on Samuri
19. Seals
20. Knock the Roots - variation on Big Hammer etc
21. Puppy Saver
22. Cross Street
23. Cute Heads
24. Matching
25. Venice Mugs - variation on Tomatina from the Samuri but youre throwing mugs at people in Venice
26. Moose and Water
27. Honor Ribbon - Arkanoid clone
28. Mad Jumper - variation on Jelly Motor Boat
29. Shipwreck - Titenic level
30. Heroine - Titenic level
31. Cat vs Dogs - Pac-man clone
32. Pingpong
33. Foredeck - Titenic level
34. Double Decker - Titenic level
35. Elevator - Titenic level
36. Ocean Hero - Titenic level
37. Panda Hero - fighting game again
38. Mad Dogs - variation on Crazy Cats, actually appears in the Samuri's manual
39. Samurai
40. Butter Fly
41. Lobster
42. Lion vs Zebra
43. Monkey - basically like Moose & Water but with a monkey in a tree
44. Star Bank
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: MLX on June 14, 2011, 05:17:01 PM
Cool thanks.

I also had fun with the piece of paper. I used a similar way as Taizou but I made it a bit less dark:
http://www.hapoelshack.com/img/maxi/mapforpass5lcl.jpg (http://www.hapoelshack.com/img/maxi/mapforpass5lcl.jpg)
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: KingPepe on June 14, 2011, 06:13:41 PM
Well, to me now it looks like it says either "Suamer" or "Summer".
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: codeman38 on June 14, 2011, 06:41:31 PM
I still think it looks like "Simmer"-- the second letter looks more like an "I" than a "U", especially if you line it up with Comic Sans in Photoshop or whatever.

Edit: http://cl.ly/1H0h1G0Z2m2w2i3P1G0Q (http://cl.ly/1H0h1G0Z2m2w2i3P1G0Q) - A comparison of "Simmer", "Summer" and "Hummer" typeset alongside the mystery text.
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: taizou on June 14, 2011, 07:52:25 PM
Yeah, you're right, it does look more like Simmer. but then the S doesn't look entirely like Comic Sans. hmm.
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: KingPepe on June 14, 2011, 07:57:54 PM
Yeah, now I see it a lot better.
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: MLX on June 15, 2011, 09:05:44 AM
That S is really odd:
http://www.hapoelshack.com/img/maxi/mmertechcoltd.jpg (http://www.hapoelshack.com/img/maxi/mmertechcoltd.jpg)
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: Doomkid on June 15, 2011, 10:51:45 AM
Wow, I never thought things would get to this level of research. Simmer lines up a lot better, but... Due to the out of place S, it might just be a botched U. Either way, Summer team makes sense in the way that theyve always used that Sun as their logo. Maybe outside of what we see in the games, their company was referred to as "Summer Team" on their documentation/legal forms/order forms and whatnot.... But who knows.
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: Awesome Panda on June 15, 2011, 11:39:59 AM
I think I just found something rather interesting. While looking for info on the Abab Soft archive, it turns out that the author of the page was actually Handel Liao. I'm guessing he either worked at both Zechess and Abab Soft, or they were both the same company.
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: MLX on June 15, 2011, 11:42:04 AM
http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/1653/eyetvsnapshot4.jpg (http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/1653/eyetvsnapshot4.jpg)

Look at the H.

Anyway, I don't see why they would name themself Simmer or Summer if they put Hummer in the copyright of a console that was probably released after that (as Taizou said, it was probably never released). This paper would have been made at the same time of the zDog thing. They would use Hummer then Simmer/summer then Hummer again? No sense.
Can't believe I missed that when I examinated the source code of the page.
His complete Picasaweb account: https://picasaweb.google.com/liaohandel (https://picasaweb.google.com/liaohandel)

Or maybe he was working in Hummer Team ?
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: taizou on June 15, 2011, 07:42:11 PM
just completed maps mode on the Zdog. and guess what!
(http://fuji.drillspirits.net/stuff/zdogcredits.jpg)
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: KingPepe on June 15, 2011, 07:55:36 PM
Well, from Titenic to that, Rebecca's gone but everyone else is there along with Handel Liao. I'm kind of curious if Panda Adventure has appeared on any of those plug-n-plays by any chance seeing how he pops up on the Samuri and on the ZDog.
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: taizou on June 15, 2011, 07:59:37 PM
Yeah, Panda Adventure (or one of the 15 in 1's games on the same engine) is something i definitely expected to see on one of these, maybe with upgraded VT03 graphics. Maybe they just didn't bother because it kinda sucks.
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: KingPepe on June 15, 2011, 08:06:56 PM
That or the levels were split into several games like The Hummer and Titenic and somehow formed back into one for the 4-in-1. (...although I think Hummer went from NES to VT03 so I could be wrong)
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: taizou on June 15, 2011, 08:21:18 PM
I don't think there's enough variety in that game to split it up really - maybe they could have made it into two or three games with different graphics or something, like on the 15 in 1. but either way I think the 4 in 1 release or some undiscovered version by Rinco came first, then all the 15 in 1 variations. then any plug & play version would have been made after that I guess, if one exists somewhere.

incidentally I just took a look at the Zdog's PCB, there's a smaller one mounted on a larger one, the larger one has "VT03060417-B-02" on it.. maybe 060417 is a date? (ie 17th April 2006). the smaller one seems to be the one with the actual ROM chip and VT03, that one says HZ9979 V2.0.
(theres also a number "HZ0601032 Ver 2.1" on the instruction sheet that comes with it, and the Samuri has HZ0600316 on its intro screen. I guess HZ stands for Hummer-Zechess)
just found a secret in the zdog, if you hold down A, B, select and start on startup you get a screen saying "2006-05-24 HZ0601032 VER 3.8". as far as i know theres nothing like that in the Samuri though.
oh wait, yes there is. :D in the Samuri its "2006-05-15 HZ0600316 VER 3.5". you also get a chance to hear the whole menu tune if you do that - ordinarily it doesnt get to play unless you keep moving the cursor around because it'll just reset to the title screen.
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: MLX on June 16, 2011, 04:37:04 PM
Awesome. I bought 2 Samuri and I'll record bunch of videos.
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: Awesome Panda on June 16, 2011, 04:38:22 PM
Just wondering, what's the significance with the "HZ06xxyy" thing, apart from the obvious?
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: taizou on June 16, 2011, 04:57:29 PM
not exactly sure - i'd guess HZ06 = Hummer Zechess 2006, then the next three digits (003/010) are some kind of product number maybe? the last two are probably the ROM size (in megabits).
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: Awesome Panda on June 16, 2011, 05:09:45 PM
I doubt the last two numbers are the ROM size. It seems weird that the Samuri would be smaller than the ZDog, from what I can tell there's more games on it. Then again, Hummer could've just been wasting loads of space.
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: taizou on June 16, 2011, 05:18:02 PM
yeah the Samuri does have more games, but the Zdog has two extra modes and sound samples, they might take up a bit more space. I'll look up the part numbers of the flash chips though, i should be able to find out from those.

edit: yeah i checked, i was right. :D
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: Doomkid on June 16, 2011, 11:33:21 PM
taizou
Jun 15 2011, 07:42:11 PM
just completed maps mode on the Zdog. and guess what!
(http://fuji.drillspirits.net/stuff/zdogcredits.jpg)[/quote]Ugh... I accidentally reported this image before, but the mods will knoe it was an accident. Damn that button being right next to the reply button!!

Anyway, whats up with that dog looking so 16 bit? Is this still running on NES based hardware, like some kind of 16 bit NES mod or something? Because if so that's badass.. Id like to see more 16 bit lookin' NES stuff :P
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: taizou on June 16, 2011, 11:59:52 PM
hah. i've done that exact same accidental report thing a couple of times on other boards. its too easy. :D

but yeah that's exactly what it is, its the VT03 OneBus system - it's basically a NES clone with a few upgrades, it's still 8-bit underneath but it supports 4bpp 16-bit-style graphics.
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: ThunderBlastMan on June 17, 2011, 09:42:51 PM
Do you have any footage of the hummer. i heard they were both on the ZDOG.
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: taizou on June 17, 2011, 10:01:29 PM
The Hummer isnt on the Zdog, its only on the Samuri. I've got some footage recorded of all the games from the Samuri though, itll be up soonish.
first video is up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YKOfOtpb_A (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YKOfOtpb_A)
covers the first 10 games.
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: codeman38 on June 18, 2011, 01:48:25 AM
Amazing how much music Hummer reused. I especially love that Jelly Motor Boat uses a tune from Jing Ke Xin Zhuan by way of Kart Fighter-- it's a *double* reuse!

Also, how did they screw up the Star Light Zone theme so badly in actual Star Light Zone (the bass and melody aren't in sync at all!), but then have it sound even better than in Somari during Sky Zoo? I mean, I could even barely excuse the former on "avoid being sued by Masato Nakamura" grounds, but when they keep it intact in another game... Hummer Team is weird.

Edit: Also, the Cute Heads theme is quite jazzy and catchy, save for that couple of sour notes that really sticks out.
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: Awesome Panda on June 18, 2011, 03:44:09 AM
codeman38
Jun 18 2011, 01:48:25 AM
Edit: Also, the Cute Heads theme is quite jazzy and catchy, save for that couple of sour notes that really sticks out.[/quote]Funnily enough, it sounds a lot like DWANGO5 map 20's music (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldlRGNP7n3A#at=123) if you ask me. Never thought Hummer Team would resort to ripping off songs from Doom WADs. :lol:
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: codeman38 on June 18, 2011, 12:22:50 PM
Cheetahmen
Jun 18 2011, 03:44:09 AM
Funnily enough, it sounds a lot like DWANGO5 map 20's music (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldlRGNP7n3A#at=123) if you ask me. Never thought Hummer Team would resort to ripping off songs from Doom WADs. :lol:[/quote]Wow, it *does* sound quite similar.

I'm guessing the music probably originated from yet another source (since pretty much all the other DWANGO5 tunes did (http://forums.zdaemon.org/viewtopic.php?t=7428)), and now I'm curious what that source might be.

Edit: A post in this thread (http://www.doomworld.com/vb/doom-general/10787-dwango5-music/) claims it was ripped from some SoundBlaster demo, which would definitely explain how Hummer Team could've found it.
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: Awesome Panda on June 18, 2011, 12:52:10 PM
TBH, I haven't got a clue whether it's more likely that Hummer would've got the MIDI through DWANGO5 or a SoundBlaster demo. I'd say the latter, because it generally makes more sense all of the music in DWANGO5 is in MUS format, which isn't easy to convert to MIDI by my experience. Then again, they probably did it by ear like I'm pretty sure is the case with most of their other games, which would explain why it isn't note perfect.

Edit: I just remembered, DWANGO5 map 1's music (HITFLOOR.mid in case you're wondering) was originally a demo MIDI itself and that was altered somewhat for the game. Map 20's music could've been the same case, which I suppose could go either way to explaining where Hummer's rendition came from. Also, about a week ago I was trying to find out what songs the DWANGO5 MIDIs were based off and ran into this thread (http://www.doomworld.com/vb/doom-general/44741-whats-the-name-of-the-song-for-dwango5-map20/). Not sure if that's any use though.
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: taizou on June 18, 2011, 03:04:49 PM
part 2 is up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGpSl-OcE4Q (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGpSl-OcE4Q)

3 is uploading now, i should have 4-6 up tonight if it doesnt take too long.

i also have some extra footage of the butterfly forms you dont see in the videos (theres no special ending when you get all 60 stars though), i could possibly upload that plus a couple of other extra clips (the hidden version screen and Big Hammer crashing a lot) as a bonus video for completeness' sake if anyone wants to see it. but that needs a lot of editing so i doubt i could get it on tonight.
3 is up http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XdLsXWXgFI (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XdLsXWXgFI)
i just queued up 4, 5 and 6, they take about an hour and 10 minutes each to upload.

4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXoNG9NBcRw (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXoNG9NBcRw)
5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aw-J5WrG_nI (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aw-J5WrG_nI)

6: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtFbzvKrjHg (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtFbzvKrjHg)

and im done!
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: codeman38 on June 18, 2011, 11:40:07 PM
So that's two real songs spotted so far: Ottawan's "D.I.S.C.O." (the menu screen and matching game) and Jean-Michel Jarre's "Oxygene IV" (Diplopod War). Now I'm curious whether any of the other unidentifiable tunes are bad 2A03 versions of actual '70s songs, heh.

Edit: Both songs by French artists, no less. I mean, seriously, this cannot be a coincidence.
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: taizou on June 18, 2011, 11:43:48 PM
yeah, its like Cube Tech's italo obsession all over again :D
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: Awesome Panda on June 19, 2011, 05:00:47 AM
Makes me wonder if that DWANGO5 song is actually a MIDI rendition of another song by a French artist, considering that it also had a German song thrown in at random. :P Mind you, it'd help if someone knew what the song was in Air Combat because I haven't got a clue as to where that's from.
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: codeman38 on October 13, 2013, 02:00:47 AM
Resurrecting a thread that's been dormant for two years because of a discovery that's entirely relevant to it...

So apparently there's an old shareware puzzle game for Windows called "UZ", one of whose tunes was covered in Famicompo Mini volume 10 (http://famicompo-mini.com/compo/vol10/). I'm attaching the original MIDI file which was used as the basis for the cover. Let's just say, it should sound very familiar if you've watched the Samuri playthrough.

Hummer Team: discovering MIDI tunes from obscure shareware games and arranging them for Famicom before anyone else has a chance to!

Attachments:
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: Robyn on October 14, 2013, 07:28:43 PM
Oh awesome, nice find! I'm wondering if the rest that haven't been found are based off of MIDIs as well.
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: NintariousFamicreep on October 20, 2014, 11:30:06 AM
Where can I BUY this?
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: taizou on October 20, 2014, 07:06:12 PM
taobao (still) - http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=4456244772 (http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=4456244772)
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: NintariousFamicreep on October 21, 2014, 02:26:31 PM
taizou
Oct 20 2014, 07:06:12 PM
taobao (still) - http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=4456244772 (http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=4456244772)[/quote]Darn, Looks like a ROM would be better than buying!
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: PirateVersion99 on June 29, 2015, 04:22:41 AM
Hi I'm new, and I would like to kindly send a topic dedicated to the DUMP of any game or plug & play like that. click here http://s4.zetaboards.com/PGC_Forums?topic=10331104/1/ (http://s4.zetaboards.com/PGC_Forums?topic=10331104/1/) (http://z4.ifrm.com/30023/163/0/e5022613//e5022613.gif)

how you think?
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: HummerTeam1001 on June 10, 2016, 05:17:57 PM
I emailed V.R. Tech to ask them if they had anything to do with the Samuri or ZDog or any other Hummer Technology/Zechess stuff. (They probably did, because on their website they have that "VDog" thing)

They probably aren't going to respond though, because their website says (c)2009 on it.  :P I didn't get a  "the email failed to send" message, so maybe it went through?

I was going to try to email some other companies involved but I can't find emails for them. I know there's like a 99% chance it won't turn up anything, but I figured it's worth a shot.

Plus, since the Samuri had the (R) registered trademark symbol next to the word Samuri, I did a trademark search for Samuri and found this trademark filed in December 2005. It probably doesn't actually have anything to do with Hummer Team though.

http://tmsearch.tipo.gov.tw/TIPO_DRE/servlet/InitLogoPictureWordDetail?sKeyNO=094016963 (http://tmsearch.tipo.gov.tw/TIPO_DRE/servlet/InitLogoPictureWordDetail?sKeyNO=094016963)

Also, is there anywhere you can still buy Samuri/ZDogs?? It looks like I'm too late to get either of them on taobao.
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: codeman38 on June 12, 2016, 01:09:30 AM
Yeah, I don't think it's related. The Chinese version of the same filing (http://tmsearch.tipo.gov.tw/TIPO_DR/servlet/InitLogoPictureWordDetail?sKeyNO=094016963) reveals that it belongs to the category of:

Quote:
 

衣服、牛仔衣、牛仔褲、夾克、休閒服、運動服、T恤、童裝、襯衫
[Google translate:] Clothes, denim clothing, jeans, jackets, casual wear, sportswear, T-shirts, children's wear, shirts.
[/quote]
Incidentally, the trademark owner is 普威實業股份有限公司 (Pu Wei Industrial Co., Ltd.).

One curious thing is that the agent who filed the trademark is He Lianguo (何連國), who comes up in this thread about video game trademarks (http://s4.zetaboards.com/PGC_Forums?topic=8052741/1/). Probably a coincidence, though, given the sheer variety of trademarks for which this person is agent.
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: HummerTeam1001 on June 12, 2016, 08:14:37 AM
Yeah, I didn't think it was related, because the picture that goes with the trademark is a samurai and doesn't have anything to do with the Samuri system. I thought maybe there was a chance though.How do you look up the Chinese versions of filings? I was going to try to, but I couldn't tell how.

I also did trademark searches for ZDog, Zechess, Hummer Technology, etc. but didn't find anything. Maybe they could be filed under their Chinese names?

VRT hasn't responded to my email yet. I don't think they're going to. :/
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: HummerTeam1001 on June 22, 2016, 12:14:30 AM
Well, what do you know, VRT replied to my email.

Here's the questions I asked:

"I would like to know if VR Technology ever made any products with a company called Hummer Technology Co. Ltd. or Zechess Co.

I would also like to know if VRT had anything to do with any of these plug & play video games:

VDog
ZDog
Samuri"

My email was actually a little longer but that's just the questions.

Here's what they said:

"Sorry late to replay.
         1. About Hummer Technology Co. Ltd. Or Zechess Co. , they used VT03 to build video game. All Game software are customer development .
         2. VRT are just have VT03 . not join customer software . all copyright belong themselves ."

Again, the email was a little longer but that's just the answers I got.

So... I also said in my original email i said I might want to ask some more questions. I have some ideas, but does anyone else have some suggestions?

Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: HummerTeam1001 on July 05, 2016, 06:13:44 PM
I think the paper really said Simmer Team because

***Deleted because the evidence I use to back up my point also has a Hummer Cheng email.***
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: Famulator on July 05, 2016, 11:11:51 PM
dahh i was afraid the email for mr cheng would be found. i had sent him a message in curiosity and was eager for him to reply

maybe he stopped using his email because rabid fanboys had found him out after this seesaw rom had been dumped

i had also found info about him that definitely would not be ok to share, but the info did mention he worked for a "Xinma Technology Co." i suppose hummer was actually renamed simmer in its final days
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: HummerTeam1001 on July 05, 2016, 11:32:54 PM
Yeah I sent an email too a while ago but never got a reply. I wasn't going to post this unless I didn't get a reply, which I didn't. :(

EDIT: I wonder if Hummer Simmer Team made any other games, since Seesaw wasn't on ZDog or Samuri. (unless I'm stupid and read the game lists incorrectly)
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: HummerTeam1001 on July 07, 2016, 12:21:23 PM
Oh hey Seesaw has a bunch of uncompiled code.

...and it also has some HTML and maybe some JavaScript?????

I'll get working on saving all of it. Maybe there's something interesting.
I'm still working on separating the HTML and uncompiled source code, but the HTML don't seem to be anything interesting, or even Hummer Team related.  :(

You don't even have to separate out the HTML to get to it. You can just change the file type from .bin to .html. Most of the page will be garbage, since it is trying to load all the games code as a web page, but not all. The parts that are not garbage are the HTML, and as you can see it is just boring.

Everything (as far as I can tell) falls into these three categories:

1. Ads from Yahoo Taiwan.
2. Dead links that used to be to ads on Yahoo Taiwan.
3. Yahoo Taiwan copyrights from 2003.

Although this is pretty disappointing, I am really curious what the heck this is doing in a Hummer Team game.  :huh: Any ideas?

EDIT: There is also code for some Javascript calendar app thing called GregorianCalendar. It takes up the majority of the ROM. Seriously Hummer Team what were you doing?  :\

EDIT 2:

Hey also in the VT03dogA.bin file on VRT's website (which I am pretty sure is part of a prototype version of ZDog and therefore made by Hummer Team) at the very end of the ROM it has some debug stuff from the compiler:

Spoiler: click to toggle
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: fcgamer on July 08, 2016, 07:32:40 AM
It sucks to go posting someone else's email address for the world to see.  Don't you folks get that there is a reason why these guys are so elusive / hard to talk to?  I will never forget one of the first guys I ever tried to chat with, ten years ago, and he said, "You don't work for Nintendo and want to sue me, do you?", and this was from an American company, not even one that infringed so badly on the copyrights.

With that said, Hummer_Team, did you send me the Mario 64 yet?  I still haven't heard anything from my folks about receiving a package from you.  Thanks.
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: HummerTeam1001 on July 08, 2016, 09:07:40 AM
I never would have posted that email if I thought anyone still used it. And even then, I only put it here because It shows that Hummer Team really was renamed Simmer Team, like on that paper.  :( (I erased that post though just in case)

And about the game, I sent it out a while ago and messaged you the tracking code. If you didn't receive the message I can send it to you again.
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: Famulator on July 08, 2016, 04:20:40 PM
Hummer_Team
Jul 8 2016, 09:07:40 AM
I never would have posted that email if I thought anyone still used it. And even then, I only put it here because It shows that Hummer Team really was renamed Simmer Team, like on that paper.  :( (I erased that post though just in case)[/quote]well it still isnt a good idea to go around and post some dudes email
even if its still in use or not thats like violation of privacy???

and considering the fact mr. cheng has worked in piracy for so long i think hed be a little suspicious of our emails, let alone any emails from other websites or countries, so he didnt answer. that and/or he has a life unlike us lol
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: HummerTeam1001 on July 08, 2016, 05:41:53 PM
Well to be fair that email is already on the internet in other places than that place.
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: Famulator on July 08, 2016, 07:20:22 PM
the places ive located hummers email seem to be only for professional contact info back when simmer tech was still around. its also grouped with personal info.

even so i still wouldnt leak chengs email online. thats just uncouth. mlx didnt leak chengs email when he interviewed him, smart move on his part.
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: HummerTeam1001 on July 08, 2016, 09:37:37 PM
Ok I get it. That was a mistake. I hadn't thought of it as leaking anything because it was publicly released right on Hummer Team's game and thus I assumed that he was ok with it.

I now get that it was a really stupid thing to do now. Sorry I was stupid. :(

EDIT: the point of that post really wasn't the email. It was the Simmer Team thing, and the other stuff about the game. I also assumed the email was abandoned when I didn't get a reply (which was a pretty dumb thing to assume) and I didn't think it through when I wanted to talk about the game.
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: MLX on July 09, 2016, 05:04:51 AM
Famulator
Jul 8 2016, 07:20:22 PM
the places ive located hummers email seem to be only for professional contact info back when simmer tech was still around. its also grouped with personal info.

even so i still wouldnt leak chengs email online. thats just uncouth. mlx didnt leak chengs email when he interviewed him, smart move on his part.[/quote]It's not about keeping it for myself or something. He is a busy person with ups and downs. I'm quite curious why would you want to contact him on your part. To ask him what? We pretty much already asked everything we could already. There is just a handful of information we couldn't share because it was about real names of some other persons (that is obvious).

And I'm going to be an extreme ass but whatever: just… no… (https://twitter.com/search?f=tweets&vertical=default&q=from%3ASuperMuppet64 hummer&src=typd)

If you want to ask him something and we think the question is interesting, we will gladly transfer the question to him.
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: HummerTeam1001 on July 09, 2016, 08:54:07 AM
I'd was going to ask if Hummer Team made any other games.
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: Famulator on July 09, 2016, 03:41:34 PM
MLX
Jul 9 2016, 05:04:51 AM
It's not about keeping it for myself or something. He is a busy person with ups and downs. I'm quite curious why would you want to contact him on your part. To ask him what? We pretty much already asked everything we could already. There is just a handful of information we couldn't share because it was about real names of some other persons (that is obvious).

And I'm going to be an extreme ass but whatever: just… no… (https://twitter.com/search?f=tweets&vertical=default&q=from%3ASuperMuppet64 hummer&src=typd)

If you want to ask him something and we think the question is interesting, we will gladly transfer the question to him.[/quote]are you really expecting those exaggerated shitposts to be all that serious also those posts are like when i was extremely excited and didnt think twice about doin this shit.
but yknow you do have a point. i shouldnt have even shared i found his email online lol. and the stuff i was gonna ask him does seem like its already been answered in that interview. : \

i did want to ask him about if he had did any other game work for non-famicom consoles. i do like his music work, its actually what got me into chiptune stuff, i may have planned asking him something about that idk. maybe other stuff..i just wanted to meet and get to know one of my idols atsall...i didnt actually intend to impose any harm.
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: fcgamer on July 10, 2016, 02:21:32 AM
I can think of a dozen reasons why someone might prefer to contact the person themselves, as opposed to as through a proxy party / intermediary.  Sorry, MLX, I can totally understand the reason why you would want to protect and discourage it, but as someone doing my own research, etc, asking you or anyone else to pass on questions just isn't the right way to go.

With that said, it is also very shitty to be posting someone's email address like that, especially if they were working to produce gray-area products.  It is an invasion of privacy, and now the poor man will be spammed with dozens and dozens of emails from rabid fans, and most likely no one will be able to contact the guy in the future, ultimately hurting everyone.

Let's leave emails private, and if we need to contact someone, we do the research and leave it at that.  Sound good?
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: Famulator on July 10, 2016, 02:35:46 AM
i feel ashamed..even if i didnt explicitly post the email...i think i learned my lesson here?
hopefully not too many people saw the email address in the pic hummer_team had now deleted, but i sadly doubt that...
hummer_team was in the wrong for assuming mr cheng stopped using the email because he didnt get an exact instant reply, and i was in the wrong for blabbin to the whole dang world i had found the email.
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: HummerTeam1001 on July 10, 2016, 09:01:56 AM
Yeah. Sorry. :(

And it wasn't "instantly" after I sent it, it was weeks later. I still get that it was wrong and it was messed up.
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: MLX on August 08, 2016, 09:41:20 AM
We will gladly try to ask him any question you guys have. It may takes a while to get a reply through (and some he won't answer). We're doing our best to please people. We could have kept everything private (something that way too many people do) and share nothing.
The PGC~BGW staff are really trying their best to share any info we get ahold of and we do not understand why you refuse telling the questions to a "middleman". Is it too "private"? Stalking? To keep the answer for yourself? We're not trying to have exclusivity to chat with him but, really?

To answer some question: yeah Hummer (Simmer) Technology did work on some other games between 99-200x but it seems they were mostly doing subwork for japanese devs, some were cancelled also (some Saturn port, which name I have forgotten). As you know they also worked on VT03 (proof of that is the VT03 documents showing Pink Jelly an the likes). Not much more.

Really, since this is such a closed domain, we really try to bring the lights on anything we can and we do not endorse the "keep it for myself~ourselves" thing.
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: fcgamer on August 08, 2016, 11:56:08 AM
MLX
Aug 8 2016, 09:41:20 AM
We will gladly try to ask him any question you guys have. It may takes a while to get a reply through (and some he won't answer). We're doing our best to please people. We could have kept everything private (something that way too many people do) and share nothing.
The PGC~BGW staff are really trying their best to share any info we get ahold of and we do not understand why you refuse telling the questions to a "middleman". Is it too "private"? Stalking? To keep the answer for yourself? We're not trying to have exclusivity to chat with him but, really?

To answer some question: yeah Hummer (Simmer) Technology did work on some other games between 99-200x but it seems they were mostly doing subwork for japanese devs, some were cancelled also (some Saturn port, which name I have forgotten). As you know they also worked on VT03 (proof of that is the VT03 documents showing Pink Jelly an the likes). Not much more.

Really, since this is such a closed domain, we really try to bring the lights on anything we can and we do not endorse the "keep it for myself~ourselves" thing.[/quote]MLX, although we haven't chatted in quite some time, I consider you an online friend, as well as a trusted party.  With that said, here are the problems that I personally see with people going around spreading personal email addresses, contact informations via websites, etc:

For the past four years (since 2012) have been working on researching and getting materials to put together a series of print books relating to these topics.  Without trying to sound immodest, since I own so many of these games / hardware / etc, I am sitting in a position where my involvement would be almost necessary to create a complete encyclopedia book of sorts.  With that said, my limited abilities with publishing presents me with a different challenge, but I honestly wouldn't be closed towards working co-jointly with one or two others, just to help get the books published and out there.  But going back to the interviews and what not:

Here is where my problem lies:  as we saw with the Mr. Hummer email, a contact information gets posted and then a hundred people jump on it to contact the person.  In a best case scenario, the first one or two people get replies, and in a worse case scenario, no one gets a response.  But (imo) the problem gets even worse from there.

I personally think it would be most optimal to contact some of these people and conduct interviews in person.  Why?  For starters, more information could be gained than just from a back and forth email writing, secondly I know for a fact that some of these people are leery about sharing details of their gray-area involvement online to strangers.  But to buy them a dinner and talk about some parts (unrecorded), I know it would be a much easier way to get people to open up about it.  But how many interviews have I been able to conduct in person?  Exactly one, and it happened to be because one of my IRL friends actually (miraculously) is friends with the guy.  But emails go unanswered continuously.  Why?  Probably partially because of people getting pestered.  Why do I think so?  Here is why.

Aside from the Hummer email and the feasting frenzy that followed (that showed just what happens), I am sure that most of the folks here have a rudimentary knowledge of (traditional) Chinese at best, and are either writing in English or via Google Translate.  I am lucky though to have a girlfriend that is a native Chinese speaker, who also has a near-native English ability.  So she not only knows how to write an email to these folks, she also knows the culture behind how things should be written.  But alas, no dice.

So this isn't about waiting to keep answers for myself, or something like that, rather it is in the name of a research project.  Researchers always prefer first hand interviews to those conducted by others, but further more, I just sit in a position where I think I could probably get a lot more information about this stuff.

On another note, I find it funny (and somewhat hypocritial in general) that you guys are telling others that we should conduct interviews via you, yet how would you feel if the situation were reversed?  If it isn't a problem, why not just send me all the contact informations along with questions, and let me conduct in-person interviews and be the middleman for you...

Also, I think it is fair to point out that it has been referenced numerous times on here about private discussions (maybe even a private forum?) for some of the "elite" members here on PGC-BGW, where things are discussed and posted, unshared with the public.  Talk about transparency.
Title: Samuri/Star Angel - a Hummer Team plug & play console
Post by: MLX on December 17, 2016, 02:42:00 PM
Recorded a video of ZDog, I think taizou did one a long time ago but I don't know if he ever uploaded it on youtube or something. It's missing some games but it's not really my fault, they are random on map modes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTc4GFAJ0Wo (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTc4GFAJ0Wo)

Oh, and here's Tomatina (well, just the music) because it's really Hummer-ish.
https://youtu.be/N-q6bpuchnk (https://youtu.be/N-q6bpuchnk)