Post by Yoon on Feb 19, 2008 16:48:20 GMT -5
Back in the 90s, there were a lot of bootlegged/hacked games released for the NES and other systems during that time. Most of them were made by bootleggers in China/HK/Taiwan.
Nearly all of these bootleg games were based from other games and were hacked and sold off as a sequel or port of a popular game/series/title. Someone posted some Youtube videos of these odd bootleg/pirated games, which you can see from the links below:
Mario IV (NES): www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wrkm6Lv406g
- This game is a hack of a Japanese Famicom game called Armadillo. I actually own this one. ;D Back in the early 90s, my cousin brought this game with him when he moved to the U.S. from Korea. He gave me this when he was dumping out his NES collection. This game is kinda fun, but REALLY weird. The controls were pretty awkward and the concept of Mario turning into an armadillo was odd.
Super Mario World (NES): www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkM6pVI1z8g
- This bootleg is one of the better ones, as it seems to be an thorough attempt to port Super Mario World to NES. Basically, this is what Super Mario World would have probably looked like had Nintendo tried to port it back to NES.
Mario 10: Kung-Fu Mario (NES): www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGllscFf_Qk&feature=related
- Alright, this one is plain weird.
It's obviously a hack of some Kung-Fu game for NES. The bootleggers changed the character's face to Mario and sold it off as a Kung-Fu Mario game. 
Street Fighter II (NES): www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHAK5DDNF3k
- This one's not too bad either. Had Capcom ported Street Fighter II to NES, it might have turned out something like this bootleg.
Donkey Kong Country 2 (NES): www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZC39MnieisQ&feature=related
- This bootleg seems to have been a half-assed attempt to port Donkey Kong Country 2 to the NES.
Kart Fighters (NES): www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XJa_QR_XRg
- When programming this game, the bootleggers must have thought "Mario Kart... Street Fighter II.... both are popular. Let's combine them and make a lot of HK dollars...!"
Darkwing Duck 2 (NES): www.youtube.com/watch?v=pI97jO2WdRQ
- Really bad hack of Super-C for the NES. The main character sprite looks really messed up, and the Yoshis look pretty bad too.
Sonic the Hedgehog (SNES): www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lobz4IDbfuc&feature=related
- Hack of Speedy Gonzales. The bootleggers replaced the cheese with the rings from Sonic and placed Mario sprites in the game.
There's some more videos of bootleg games on Youtube.
EDIT: Here's a few more weird ones:
Bio Hazard (NES)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9i8glSGxHvk&feature=related
- Looks like an over-head scroller version of the first Resident Evil game, ported to NES. The music is really annoying BTW.
The Dragon (NES)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEQMAK0vLpc&feature=related
- I guess this is supposed to be a Mortal Kombat/Bruce Lee bootleg game...?
Spider Man (NES)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qax6eeMDhAA&feature=related
- A hack of Ninja Gaiden 2, they replaced the Ryu sprite with Spider-Man. It looks pretty bad though.
Nearly all of these bootleg games were based from other games and were hacked and sold off as a sequel or port of a popular game/series/title. Someone posted some Youtube videos of these odd bootleg/pirated games, which you can see from the links below:
Mario IV (NES): www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wrkm6Lv406g
- This game is a hack of a Japanese Famicom game called Armadillo. I actually own this one. ;D Back in the early 90s, my cousin brought this game with him when he moved to the U.S. from Korea. He gave me this when he was dumping out his NES collection. This game is kinda fun, but REALLY weird. The controls were pretty awkward and the concept of Mario turning into an armadillo was odd.
Super Mario World (NES): www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkM6pVI1z8g
- This bootleg is one of the better ones, as it seems to be an thorough attempt to port Super Mario World to NES. Basically, this is what Super Mario World would have probably looked like had Nintendo tried to port it back to NES.
Mario 10: Kung-Fu Mario (NES): www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGllscFf_Qk&feature=related
- Alright, this one is plain weird.
It's obviously a hack of some Kung-Fu game for NES. The bootleggers changed the character's face to Mario and sold it off as a Kung-Fu Mario game. 
Street Fighter II (NES): www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHAK5DDNF3k
- This one's not too bad either. Had Capcom ported Street Fighter II to NES, it might have turned out something like this bootleg.
Donkey Kong Country 2 (NES): www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZC39MnieisQ&feature=related
- This bootleg seems to have been a half-assed attempt to port Donkey Kong Country 2 to the NES.
Kart Fighters (NES): www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XJa_QR_XRg
- When programming this game, the bootleggers must have thought "Mario Kart... Street Fighter II.... both are popular. Let's combine them and make a lot of HK dollars...!"
Darkwing Duck 2 (NES): www.youtube.com/watch?v=pI97jO2WdRQ
- Really bad hack of Super-C for the NES. The main character sprite looks really messed up, and the Yoshis look pretty bad too.
Sonic the Hedgehog (SNES): www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lobz4IDbfuc&feature=related
- Hack of Speedy Gonzales. The bootleggers replaced the cheese with the rings from Sonic and placed Mario sprites in the game.
There's some more videos of bootleg games on Youtube.
EDIT: Here's a few more weird ones:
Bio Hazard (NES)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9i8glSGxHvk&feature=related
- Looks like an over-head scroller version of the first Resident Evil game, ported to NES. The music is really annoying BTW.
The Dragon (NES)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEQMAK0vLpc&feature=related
- I guess this is supposed to be a Mortal Kombat/Bruce Lee bootleg game...?
Spider Man (NES)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qax6eeMDhAA&feature=related
- A hack of Ninja Gaiden 2, they replaced the Ryu sprite with Spider-Man. It looks pretty bad though.