While researching another subject, I came across a very old thread on these forums surrounding ping pong plug & play games (
http://bootleg.games/BGC_Forum/index.php?topic=185.0). Within the thread, a company called "Zinger Software Development Company Ltd.", henceforth "Zinger", was mentioned in connection with some of these games. It was also stated that Zinger is credited in VT01-related documentation, which was leaked online by developer "maxzhou88" in the early 2000s, alongside the "Portable FC-LCD" ROM archive. From my own cursory search, I found that Zinger Software was established in 2001, and was based in Shenzhen, China (
https://m.qcc.com/firm/88b9cfe4e9b0b480ff1dfbf0ab01bc0b.html). Notably, Inventor, another Shenzhen-based bootlegger, seemingly ceased operations around 2000; with identifiable Zinger productions (detailed below) seemingly being tied to Inventor.
In the aforementioned forum thread, there was visible confusion between what the Zinger ping pong game actually was; seemingly misconstruing it as being connected to the Gameinis/Cube Technology Ping Pong game (which is a whole can of worms in itself). However, I immediately knew what it was referring to upon seeing the name: a game simply titled "Table Tennis", which has since been attributed as being an Inventor and Nice Code joint-production. The Table Tennis game was also released under the name Ping Pong, and had a cut-down Waixing version titled Table Tennis 2006. As I had already noted on the wiki, the original version of Table Tennis has not yet surfaced; though it was presumably created in 2001, as it was visibly themed around the Osaka 2001 World Table Tennis Championships (with the Waixing version cheaply altering its logo to read 2006).
The Table Tennis ROM features an unused Zinger logo in its CHR data, proving it as being the game discussed in the old thread. There is a second unused logo which I cannot decipher the text of; it features a paper airplane design, however, which is also used on Zinger's logo in the FC-LCD documentation. A Zinger logo is present on the back of the court in another game, Tennis Ball; I assume that the original version of Table Tennis displayed it in a similar fashion. As a side note, the available copy of the Tennis Ball game appears to be its original release: it has a "2001 Copy Right" string on the title screen, which resembles early Nice Code copyright notation.
I have concluded that two additional pieces of software are likely from Zinger as well, as detailed below:
- The first of them is "Quiz", published by Power Joy Ltd. Its Zinger connection is evident by it using the same title screen formatting as Tennis Ball, including having the same face-like cursor next to the "Start" text. As previously noted on the wiki, Quiz has an unused tileset for an earlier version titled "The Way to Millionair"; this is likely remnants of the original Zinger version, given that its graphics contain the "2001 Copy Right" notation.
- The second is one of two English-to-Chinese dictionaries included in maxzhou88's Portable FC-LCD leak. It uses the same background music as Quiz; and with Zinger already being tied to the FC-LCD archive's VT01 documentation, it makes sense for this to be a Zinger-produced program.
There is one further potential connection between Nice Code and Zinger; however, I feel that it is somewhat inconclusive. It surrounds the game 2002 World Cup P.K., which was also leaked online by maxzhou88 (who is the game's self-credited developer). There are several connections between World Cup and the other Zinger productions: it has a spaced-out "Copy Right" notice, and its music is repurposed from the (also maxzhou-leaked) "MusicBox" karaoke demo, which itself ties back to Inventor. Naturally, maxzhou's development ties to both World Cup and the FC-LCD is also a major indicator.
Furthermore, the available design documents for World Cup are signed by "Wofire": a developer who is credited as director for numerous Nice Code productions. This, to me, indicates that Zinger was somehow absorbed into Nice Code, with some of its staff (seemingly including Wofire, but not maxzhou) being transferred over. I would assume that prior to this, Inventor was absorbed into Zinger; thus connecting all three companies. This is somewhat alluded to in a reported post by maxzhou: in which he commented that "a company in Xi'an" (i.e. Nice Code) had produced the 2008 version of Street Dance, based off of the 2000 Inventor version.
I am curious if some further discrepancies could be used to indicate Zinger-affiliated Nice Code productions. I question if factors such as the spaced-out "200x Copy Right" notation are reflective of Zinger games as a whole; whereas most wholly-Nice Code or "Gameventer" ones are more traditionally formatted as "Copyright 200x". Additionally, NESBBS has seemingly taken the liberty of dubbing individual games seen on the FC-LCD as being Zinger titles, including the Nice Code-tied math games; I feel that this is a bit broad of an assumption, but it's certainly possible.
If anyone has additional input or hypotheses on the subject, it would be appreciated. I can provide additional information and sourcing if any mentioned details are too difficult to find.
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