I couldn't get the file(s) extracted properly; it gave me one giant file featuring everything inside it, which miraculously runs as a heavily overdumped NES "LittleMagic". I didn't look through for too long, but I can confirm there's some pirate originals and hacks in there - though I couldn't determine if any were unique or not. If I'm thinking of the right console, I believe the NES emulator is also from our enemies at AtGames; it was used in the abysmal Bandai Namco Flashback Blast.

Also, I looked through some text strings using a hex editor. At 3C0AC30, there's a huge list of words for some reason. Like, an entire dictionary's word bulk. No idea what that's about. Another highlight is at 2AC930: it says "FUCK  YOU FOR PLAYING.   AND GOOD FUCK IN ALL." Tasteful.

how can i be grateful, if my wishes won't get perceived?
here are my wish games stored in a bin file, so try your best at seperating and then i will be satisfied okay.
just this last wish and i will leave you alone

Congratulations, you’ve reached my ABSOLUTE FUCKING LIMIT! Because of your constant whining and bitching, I’m never posting another rom on here again! Bye-bye!

Here is another unused game from the Retro Arcade Machine X - VT03 Triple. Which is the same as the already dumped VT03 Bubbles, but believe it or not, the controls are actually tolerable now! The menu graphics are slightly glitchy, which means the mapper number is probably wrong. I guess bootleg Cinnamoroll Tetris was too risky for My Arcade/the other manufacturers?

(and before a certain someone asks, i have no updates on ripping/"fixing" anything else. i just got lucky when copying random code here)

Cooking Mama: Cookstar is a game that released a few weeks back by Planet Entertainment on the Nintendo Switch...but if you look for it on the eShop, you won't find it. It was there on March...somethingith (I can't find the proper date now), but vanished a few hours later. Its disappeared from any online stores too, save for Ebay. If you want to risk getting Coronavirus in exchange for a copy, you might be able to find a cartridge in the wild, but your chances are unlikely.

So, what happened here? Theories were circulating that the game was overheating Switches and ruining Switch batteries. But the biggest rumor was that the game was a front for stealing credit card information to turn into Bitcoin - something that wasn't actually that unlikely. The first press release for the game was boasted as using "blockchain technology", something that is mainly used for cryptocurrency. Even Nintendo themselves had no idea why the game was taken down - they just did as Planet told them to.

But in the end, Cookstar's takedown ended up being because, well, the game is a bootleg. The developers *were* working with Office Create/Cooking Mama Ltd. initially; but due to the game's, quite frankly, TERRIBLE quality, the license holders backed out, asking Planet for it to either be heavily polished or canceled entirely. Instead of listening to them, Planet just released it anyway...with a lawsuit being filed mere hours later. So Planet entered panic mode, and removed every mention of the game they could.

I think its also quite clear that Planet knew EXACTLY what they were doing. The game's trailer was unlisted on Youtube, and the game just shadow-released; no pre-orders or anything. This was an intentional bootleg, and I really doubt there was miscommunication here. Its fascinating to see something like this happen, and it really makes you wonder how many similar, completely-buried cases like this there have been over the years...

(and by the way, Cookstar also features a bootleg favorite: an animation of Mama...doing the Gangnam Style dance. yes, really. https://twitter.com/inkopolis/status/1246944015683063809)

I was going to post this on The Cutting Room Floor, but they're closed for renovations right now, so I'm putting it here before I inevitably lose it...

The dreamGEAR Retro Arcade Machine X was just dumped in MAME. Its a VT368 system, so it likely won't be emulated for a while. Its one of the ones with these fancy ROM hacks (albeit at regular NES resolution): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wl-esKKJ73M

For whatever reason, the entirety of the My Arcade Retro Machine (the predecessor to this console) is in the data, from address 02000000 to 02800000. However, two bytes were altered, making it only load F-22 instead. With the data extracted, at addresses 08000C-08000D, replacing 81 and E7 with C9 and EB will allow the menu to run. Roughly 150 games present here are unused and inaccessible in the main 300-in-1 menu.

Additionally, I can find data for several of the VT368 games which didn't appear on this system, including the Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man hacks. Its amusing seeing countless bootleg strings of "NAMCO" from the only company who currently sells their classic games officially...and also extremely sad...

Download attached of the extracted 200-in-1 (w/ the two bytes replaced), in case anyone wants to analyze it, as well as pictures of Pac-text strings.

Which ones?

I think the Night Defender games were undumped. One of them is an extremely generic platformer with vaguely religious quotes; the other is...literally just Donkey Kong. The game Super Thor Quest is *also* Donkey Kong, but that one seems to have its ROM available somewhere. If they were dumped, there's not a single mention of them on the entire internet...

EDIT: Also Smart Mouse with an English title screen and different music. Piko bought the rights to most of Gamtec's games recently, for whatever reason.

Alright, so...it’s fake. We were tricked. It’s all some bizarre advertising campaign for a Soviet-themed battle royale game, from my understanding. Which they’re still not outright admitting, but its pretty obvious...

I just watched a video that appeared on my YouTube homepage called "Russian Bootleg Nintendo Games" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nB12ILnm5eM). I noticed two things about it; firstly, the guy playing used the Retron 5, making everything a glitchy mess...even though he has a Dendy and Micro Genius in the video. Great job. But more importantly, two of the cartridges shown were branded as "Dendy Junior" on the front, and are clearly test cartridges of some kind. One of them (seen at 7:08) has a handwritten label, and loads a screen with the Dendy elephant and says something along the lines of "Please connect your Dendy network adapter". The other cartridge (seen at 16:30) has no label, and loads a blank screen with Duck Hunt sounds (and flashing Duck Hunt's background covers whenever they appear). Has anyone ever seen these before, or know where they were used?