D-CAT8 8bit Game Console

[taizou]

this is the D-Cat 8:



a weird handheld famiclone containing a seemingly random mix of original games, hacks and unmodified copies of licensed stuff. its also known as Vangard 8bit GameCORE which looks a bit better and has a website thats far too nice for such a shitty product, but its all the same hardware. the screen is low res, one of the speakers is fake and theres no cart slot, so you're limited to the 100 games it comes with. which sounds like a lot, but it isnt when most of them suck.

because im bored i'm gonna go through all 100 games on this thing. lets say 20 at a time.
1. Behind Enemy Lines. Graphics hack of super contra. Not too badly done really.
2. Battle Formula. aka Super Spy Hunter. by Sunsoft, unchanged and awesome
3. Super Shrek Bros. exactly what it sounds like. hack of SMB with Shrek, but most other graphics are replaced too. Based on the PAL version possibly, it seems to run faster than normal. Music is the same though, unlike most recent SMB hacks.
4. Scoring - Arkanoid hack. new graphics, music modified so it sucks. but at least there isnt much of it in Arkanoid.
5. Football - Hack of Nintendo's Soccer. terrible music again, team names changed, players are wearing hats
6. Bomb Jack  - Mighty Bomb Jack, unchange
7. Violent - Seicross hack, not too bad. music is the same again
8. Toto - Astro Robo Sasa hack. shit music. main character sprite is stolen from somewhere else i think.
9. Soldier - Sonson hack. completely changed graphics arent too bad, music is terrible again
10. Dragon - Fire Dragon hack. more bad music!
11. Benthal - Pyramid hack. Graphics arent too bad, music is changed but its not horrible like most of these hacks - its a mostly original tune rather than the old one with random notes changed. Might even be taken from somewhere else.
12. Popeye - Unchanged
13. X Racing - Piss poor hack of Zippy Race. bikes changed to cars, all scenery removed in the top-down section, behind-view bit's graphics are completely screwed - they clearly didnt even test that far.
14. Space War - Hack of Exerion. fairly old, its on the Power Joy. reasonable graphics, music is the same, yay.
15. Mars Man - Binary Land hack. music slightly modified but its not too bad.
16. Maze - Pac-man hack, terrible music, ghosts are only slightly different, pacman looks really weird.
17. Tennis - oh you know. nintendo tennis with different graphics and bad music. the umpire is now a worm or something, and there are two of what looks like master higgins from adventure island by the side of the court.
18. Star - stargate hack. music unchanged, graphics are ok but the HUD is removed entirely for some reason.
19. IQ Champion - Really weird game. seems to be original, nothing to do with IQ. you control this thing at the bottom of the screen and shoot insects flying along the top. the insects move down the screen kinda like space invaders but you don't die if they reach the bottom, they just drop jars(?) which restrict your movement. seems like you only die if it fills up with jars completely. and on most of the level intro screens the numbers dont appear properly, but i've seen it on youtube or something on a different famiclone where they show up fine. so they must have just fucked up putting it on this console. this isnt the last time that will happen.
20. Gold Digger - Super Arabian hack. i dunno. the graphics are different yay. the main sprite looks weird doing pretty much anything except walking.

[Awesome Panda]

Isn't game 22 (I forget the name) the boss levels from The Panda Prince?

[taizou]

Yeah, thats the one. its called Jungle Adventure.another 10: (i can't be arsed doing 20 at the moment)
21. Penguin - Nuts & Milk hack. changed music actually isnt too bad, sprites are weirdly coloured though
22. Jungle Adventure - a sort of Panda Prince boss rush, with a non-panda bear, and different music, and you have to hit each boss about twenty times. the beaver is easy (you can just keep bouncing on it) but the bird is glitchy as hell - the music goes crazy, theres tons of slowdown, the tyre appears in different parts of the screen, flickers, and usually doesnt work. but worst of all it actually crashes at a certain point in the music unless you have the game on pause. i've only managed to beat that one once, its actually followed by the wasp which is only accessible in the real Panda Prince using the level select. but I dunno what, if anything, is after that. the Game Over screen is a really bad copy of the blocks from Donkey Kong Country 3's for some reason.
23. Magic Block - a Tetris clone. i've no idea where it comes from but it seems to use the Sachen/Shin-Shin/EHY sound engine, and the in-game music is actually good and stuff. unfortunately some of the block shapes are different from normal tetris which kinda makes it not as good. theres a "type" selection on the options screen that doesn't seem to do anything.
24. Air Umbrella - Balloon Fight hack, im sure the title is self explanatory. music fortunately unchanged
25. Lair's Secret - hack of Sachen's Rockball with Panda Prince music and different levels
26. Sky Invader - Sky Destroyer hack, not bad. music changed but it doesnt suck.
27. Bounce - Mappy hack. worse music, different graphics etc etc.
28. Tip Moto - Excitebike hack. graphics kinda suck but at least they kept the music
29. Hoodle - Pinball hack. crap music, weird graphics, yknow.
30. Billiard 2008 - Lunar Ball hack. with absolutely the worst music of any of these, or possibly any game ever made.

[Awesome Panda]

23 - That's a Sachen game if I remember correctly. Are all of the shapes squares in that game?
28 - I'm guessing that's the same as Risker on some other Famiclones.

[taizou]

Cheetahmen

Aug 16 2010, 08:48:17 PM

23 - That's a Sachen game if I remember correctly. Are all of the shapes squares in that game?[/quote]they're similar to Tetris blocks, just not exactly the same. it basically plays the same as Tetris, its nothing like any Sachen game I've ever seen.

Cheetahmen

 

28 - I'm guessing that's the same as Risker on some other Famiclones.[/quote]
nah, it actually isnt - Risker has a car instead of a bike, in Tip Moto its just a different type of bike.another 10:
31. Bitha = Pooyan hack. terrible music, weird graphics, again.
32. Circus = Circus Charlie, unmodified
33. Conte Enegy = Lode Runner hack, usual bad music and a weird combination of metal blocks and vines.
34. Ikki - unmodified
35. Lido - Clu Clu Land hack with a Bubble Bobble enemy or something. unchanged music
36. Spar - Urban Champion hack. quite well done IMO. its now set under a tree and the characters are two sort of goblin things
37. Airway - Xevious hack. not too bad really.
38. Slalom - Basically Rare's Slalom (same name even) but you're on a fucking motorbike. just because.
39. Destroy - Wrecking Crew hack thing
40. Babel - unmodified!

Last ones until i find some batteries. the screen's going all weird.

[Awesome Panda]

34 - A pirate that acknowledges Ikki by it's real name? Surprising.
36 - I think the main characters are supposed to be furries or something :lol:
40 - Is that Tower of Babel?

[taizou]

Cheetahmen

Aug 16 2010, 09:40:18 PM

34 - A pirate that acknowledges Ikki by it's real name? Surprising. [/quote]i know! they usually call it Ninja something something because they can't read Japanese. I bet a lot of these recent pirates are made from downloaded ROMs though, they probably got it from the filename.

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36 - I think the main characters are supposed to be furries or something :lol:[/quote] maybe! its hard to tell on this crap screen. this must be, like, the only handheld famiclone ever made without a TV out.

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40 - Is that Tower of Babel?[/quote]
Yeah thats the one.

and fuck it, heres 10 more, most of these are unchanged anyway.
41. Contra Force - Unmodified. i was gonna comment on the fucking shocking slowdown thinking its caused by the console but thats actually in the real thing. poor show konami.
42. Super Contra 8 - the one by Waixing. unchanged
43. Heavy Barrel - unmodified
44. Gun-Dec - unmodified
45. Cross Fire - unmodified
46. Adventure Island 2 - unmodified
47. Pada Adventure - from that ABABsoft multicart. otherwise unmodified
48. Musical Notes - weird original game. you control a dinosaur at the bottom of the screen, you have to catch drops falling from the top, which play a different note depending on where they fall from. it seems to be impossible to catch one of the drops without missing some on the other side though, unless theres a way to move the dinosaur faster that i havent discovered yet. theres very little to it -  the tune's very short (its also used in at least one other unlicensed game, this tetris clone with bubbles that shows up on multis and famiclones sometimes, but it isnt on this one), theres no penalty for missing notes, and after its looped about three times (which takes under a minute) the screen goes black and it just starts again.
49. Duck - by Bit Corp. unmodified EDIT! its actually glitchy to the point of unplayability, because all the graphics show up in the wrong place. grr.
50. Submarine - pretty simple original game, but kinda fun. you control a boat at the top of the screen, you have to bomb submarines below. but the music is actually good! and there are multiple stages and stuff.

[KingPepe]

Huh, I'm curious to know what Panda Adventure is doing on there (unless they stole it). Is it honestly called "Pada Adventure" or is that a typo?

[taizou]

well it's their typo from the menu, the title screen still says Panda. I'm guessing they just stole it though - its the only ABABsoft game on there.

[codeman38]

taizou

Aug 16 2010, 08:25:52 PM

23. Magic Block - a Tetris clone. i've no idea where it comes from but it seems to use the Sachen/Shin-Shin/EHY sound engine, and the in-game music is actually good and stuff. unfortunately some of the block shapes are different from normal tetris which kinda makes it not as good. theres a "type" selection on the options screen that doesn't seem to do anything.[/quote]Is that the same as "Falling Blocks" on this DreamGear famiclone, out of curiosity? Or a different one? Because the music is quite catchy, even if it does sound like a knockoff of the Mr Clean jingle. :lol:

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30. Billiard 2008 - Lunar Ball hack. with absolutely the worst music of any of these, or possibly any game ever made.[/quote]Oh, gah. I have seen this hack on a Famiclone. I can definitely agree on the "worst music" comment. O.o Seriously, this one is so bad it deserves a line-in recording or something. (Or else I need to find one of the YouTube reviews featuring it...)
Also, on another note: I wonder what the font that's used in this thing's menu is from— I've also seen it used in Poké Tetris and several of those Waixing famiclone originals. It looks very much like the font from Sonic 2, but there are definite noticeable differences. Maybe it's something that Waixing made themselves?

[taizou]

codeman38

Aug 16 2010, 10:31:49 PM

Is that the same as "Falling Blocks" on this DreamGear famiclone, out of curiosity? Or a different one? Because the music is quite catchy, even if it does sound like a knockoff of the Mr Clean jingle. :lol:

[/quote]oh, hell, that has the same menu music! that tune is going to drive me insane. Different Tetris clone though. and the games on the DreamGear seem to have slightly more colourful graphics - I guess its one of those famiclones with an extended colour palette?

codeman38

 

Oh, gah. I have seen this hack on a Famiclone. I can definitely agree on the "worst music" comment. O.o Seriously, this one is so bad it deserves a line-in recording or something. (Or else I need to find one of the YouTube reviews featuring it...)[/quote]
its actually dumped - Famicom Yarou vol.5 on this page:
http://cah4e3.shedevr.org.ru/dumping_2006.php
so anyone who wants to hear it can inflict it on themselves at their leisure
all of the hacks on the Yarou 5 apart from Future Tank are on the D-Cat btw. and the Yarou 54 (undumped currently, but I think cah4e3 has one) uses that same damn menu music! argh.

codeman38

 

Also, on another note: I wonder what the font that's used in this thing's menu is from— I've also seen it used in Poké Tetris and several of those Waixing famiclone originals. It looks very much like the font from Sonic 2, but there are definite noticeable differences. Maybe it's something that Waixing made themselves?[/quote]
yeah, I was wondering about that too.. it seems to be more common in (possibly) non-Waixing originals though, rather than the definitely-Waixing ones with the copyright numbers and all.

[codeman38]

taizou

Aug 16 2010, 10:50:05 PM

oh, hell, that has the same menu music! that tune is going to drive me insane.

all of the hacks on the Yarou 5 apart from Future Tank are on the D-Cat btw. and the Yarou 54 (undumped currently, but I think cah4e3 has one) uses that same damn menu music! argh.[/quote]I'm pretty sure that, too, has some connection to Waixing! I seem to recall that I've heard it in one of the games in one of those Waixing-copyrighted famiclones, but maybe I'm misremembering.

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its actually dumped - Famicom Yarou vol.5 on this page:
http://cah4e3.shedevr.org.ru/dumping_2006.php
so anyone who wants to hear it can inflict it on themselves at their leisure [/quote]Ah, that might've been where I saw it was on the Yarou dump rather than a real Famiclone. Though I think there was a YouTube review which I can't find that featured it too.

Edit: "Dada" on that cart is also worth checking out. At least in your famiclone, you got a version of Popeye with... actual Popeye music, and not a completely tone-deaf rendition. But at least the name's appropriate, because it is very dada.  :lol:

[taizou]

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I'm pretty sure that, too, has some connection to Waixing! I seem to recall that I've heard it in one of the games in one of those Waixing-copyrighted famiclones, but maybe I'm misremembering.[/quote]
ah, i'll have to keep a lookout for that. was it on youtube?

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"Dada" on that cart is also worth checking out. At least in your famiclone, you got a version of Popeye with... actual Popeye music, and not a completely tone-deaf rendition. But at least the name's appropriate, because it is very dada. :lol: [/quote]
oh I'm not finished with this thing yet, Dada is in there too

[codeman38]

taizou

Aug 16 2010, 11:15:53 PM

ah, i'll have to keep a lookout for that. was it on youtube?[/quote]I think so. Probably was Tweeterman287's Sudoku/Sudo/Shudu Game.

Edit: No, it wasn't that one-- though it did include the music from another DreamGear famiclone. And it wasn't the Vii either. Maybe I'm just imagining things?

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oh I'm not finished with this thing yet, Dada is in there too [/quote]So they've got both Popeye and a hack thereof? Those cheeky bastards!

[taizou]

codeman38

Aug 16 2010, 11:24:01 PM

Those cheeky bastards![/quote]i know!

here's another 10 btw. with even more blatant cheekiness at no. 53:

51. Checker - Checkers, or draughts, if you like. this looks like it was intended for something else, maybe an educational clone - theres a "home" option on the title menu that just resets back to the same menu. Seems to work pretty well, but the music sucks.
52. Beast - or "Animal Contest" on the title screen. terrible excuse for a game. you press A to release a random animal from your tent thing, then the computer does the same, and both animals are taken by whoever is judged to have the "better" animal. You both start out with 18, the game ends if one person loses all their animals, but that will never ever happen. (that said, I let it sit there playing itself with the autofire button taped down, just to see what happened - the computer eventually won, but it still progressed to the next stage, which is a different colour. totally worth the wait) And to top it off it has the same shite music as Checker.
53. Football - exactly the same as no.5. for fuck's sake. 99 unique games and one repeat!
54. 1942 - unmodified
55. Sudden Strike - another fairly simple original. not too bad i suppose, compared to some of the crap on these things. you have a tank, you have to shoot trucks in a sort of pseudo-3d landscape, theres a little radar showing you where they are. thats about it.
56. Snowball - a Sokoban clone with a snowman pushing snowballs into holes. I'd like to say they took some inspiration from Snowman Legend on the Gamate but I know no one apart from me has ever played it. I think its a hack of another Sokoban clone but I can't remember its name - its not Porter, and the background music is Frere Jacques. any ideas?
57. Seaport Guarl - yep, Guarl. thats what the title screen says. this one also has kinda decent music, and also involves a tank - its top-down, and you do indeed have to guard a seaport. and another seaport, and another, and etc.
58. Pizza Boy - guy on a scooter, you have to pick up pizzas from a shop and deliver them to people around a town with constantly shifting obstacles. i'm sure i've played a better take on this same idea somewhere before.
59. Bump - no idea. you're a ...rabbit (probably), you're in water, and you have to knock these green things into whirlpools in the corner of the screen. plus it has rotational controls for some reason. i guess it's a bit like pool, if you controlled the ball, and it was a rabbit. yes.
60. Beach Ball - okay this is the last one for now, or i'm going to go insane. you control a bubble (not a beachball), it can absorb smaller objects than itself, and you get bigger if you absorb enough of them. and avoid the spikes! thats it.