Archives Under "Pirates" (RSS)
Know your Famiclone carts: Waixing
25 March 2008 | Pirates | No Responses
Next up, we have the infamous Dragon Quest VIII, a game which has little to do with dragons, quests, Dragon Quest or the number VIII. The game was published by Waixing Science & Technology, one of the first Chinese mainland development and publishing houses for original Famicom games.
When Waixing began, it was famous for its attention to detail and the quality of its packaging. Unfortunately, I do not have an early sample of its games. My only sample of a Waixing cart is Dragon Quest VII and admittedly late addition to the company’s lineup, and one released at a time when it was going very, very downhill.
Waixing Science & Technology still exists, but it is mainly a factory which makes cartridges and systems for other developers. I speculate that it makes Nanjing Technology’s cartridges, and it has been in cooperation with SUBOR, the first and most successful Famicom clone developer, for the last several years. It currently produces SUBOR’s game systems and multi-carts.
Know your Famiclone carts: Nanjing
24 March 2008 | Pirates | 1 Response
So I’ve released photos of what the Final Fantasy VII cart looks like and its dimensions, but what about other Made-in-China Famicom games?
While I have yet to track down any Mars Technology games or C&E games new in box, I have obtained games from Waixing Science & Technology and Nanjing Technology, a major player in the Famicom scene of the 1990s and the current top company.
Read on for samples and full details of carts and packaging, lots of photos and measurements for any spiring pirates eager to reproduce false packaging for fun and profit on eBay.
You thought FF7 was a hoax?
24 March 2008 | Pirates | 4 Responses
Despite my article being reported on by Kotaku, Joystiq.com, insertcredit and a slew of other credible media, some people still insist Final Fantasy VII is a hoax. Some people honestly believe that the ROM does not exist, I fakes over 100 screen shots of the game in action and wrote several thousand words about nothing.
Well, guess what: you’re wrong, and here is proof.
Behold, readers, I present you with complete box shots and shots of the manual. Why not scans? Well, someone would certainly point out that I know my way around QuarkXpress and could have easily faked them, and also because I am poor and cannot afford a scanner.
Prepare yourself, for tonight we board IN HELL!
20 March 2008 | Pirates | 12 Responses
Recognizing shit is hardly a challenge. Everyone would agree that movies like Manos: The Hands of Fate and Troll 2 are some of the foulest butt nuggets to ever hit the silver screen. However, things get murky once you ask Which shit smells the worst?
The world of shitty games has several notable contenders. Atari’s E.T. was famously recalled from every Toys-R-Us following unprecedented post-Christmas season returns. Gamers universally hailed Bubsy 3D as one of the worst PlayStation titles and the worst entry in the most vapid, commercial-driven series in history. The Atari Jaguar was awash in forrible titles like White Men Can’t Jump.
Titanic 1912, the RPG, made me cry blood, pluck my arm hairs, contemplate suicide and mumble incoherently in my cubicle as I held the fast-forward key. I longed for something less painful, like being waterboarded by a burly CIA agent. And therein lies Titanic’s genius: I am planning to contact Nanjing Technology about the rights to sell an Arabic translation to the US government.
Struggling with a very mythical pirate
25 February 2008 | Pirates | 4 Responses
Creation of the Gods, also known as Fengshen Bang (封神榜) or Fengshen Yanyi, was the first Chinese story I really fell in love with, much to the dismay of everyone I have ever talked to about the topic.
I should have liked Dream of the Red Chamber, Journey to the West or Romance of the Three Kingdoms. While I do enjoy Romance of the Three Kingdoms, I was just never as crazy about it as I was, and still am, about Creation — which has all the continuity and imagination of a fever dream.
So whenever I stumble on a new video game based on the story, well, happy times abound. And so it was with this new Famicom dump of Fengshen Bang. Not to be confused with C&E’s same-titled RPG, this installment is a fighting game.
And you thought FF7 was big?
24 February 2008 | Pirates | 11 Responses
My write up on Final Fantasy VII for the Famicom seems to have made multiple loops around the Internet, slamming the server with 20GB of incoming traffic in three days. Well played, Anonymous. I’ll see your 20GB of traffic and raise you a Chrono Trigger.
ROM dumping group SKY LEAGUE has posted screen shots of what appears to be Chrono Trigger, now on the Famicom home entertainment system and branded “时空之轮.”