RF Generation Message Board

I recently came across an internet store from Spain selling four odd NES "pirated" games.  I bought them and it turns out that they may very well be legit unlicensed NES games.  I have a thread about these with more info over at DP, http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=70582.  

The games are La Gran Aventura Submarina (Sea Dreamland), Corre Benny (Go! Benny!), Skate Boy, and Booky Man (Bookyman).  Bookyman is also on the Caltron/Myriad 6-in-1, so it's not a new game, but the other three games seem to have never been documented before.  The labels on the cartridges are all from Gluk Video, and two of the cartridges seem to have original labels underneath with the correct English game title and the CN-## code that is present at most if not all NTDEC/Mega Soft/Caltron games.  The copyright info on each game's titlescreen is also either Mega Soft, NTDEC, or Caltron Ind. Inc (see screenshots).  The carts themselves are the same carts used for the Caltron/Myriad 6-in-1s.  

Here are some screenshots of the games for those interested:

Sea Dreamland:

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/Speedy_NES/DSCN3922.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/Speedy_NES/DSCN3920.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/Speedy_NES/DSCN3919.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/Speedy_NES/DSCN3925.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/Speedy_NES/DSCN3926.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/Speedy_NES/DSCN3924.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/Speedy_NES/DSCN3928.jpg

Skate Boy:

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/Speedy_NES/DSCN3933.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/Speedy_NES/DSCN3930.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/Speedy_NES/DSCN3932.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/Speedy_NES/DSCN3935.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/Speedy_NES/DSCN3936.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/Speedy_NES/DSCN3937.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/Speedy_NES/DSCN3938.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/Speedy_NES/DSCN3941.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/Speedy_NES/DSCN3943.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/Speedy_NES/DSCN3944.jpg

Go! Benny!:

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/Speedy_NES/DSCN3912.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/Speedy_NES/DSCN3913.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/Speedy_NES/DSCN3914.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/Speedy_NES/DSCN3915.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/Speedy_NES/DSCN3916.jpg

Bookyman:

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/Speedy_NES/DSCN3908.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/Speedy_NES/DSCN3911.jpg

I'm going to scan the cartridges sometime tomorrow and then I'll post them here as well for those interested. :)

-Speedy

Cool, it would be great if you stumbled on to an unknown game!!

Cool, always interesting to find something extraordinary :)

Yeah, I'm definitely glad I bought them.  I was reluctant to at first, because I didn't think they would have undocumented games on them.  If it wasn't for a particular NES accessory that I also wanted from that store, I probably wouldn't have even bought the games ;)

-Speedy

Wow, that's amazing!  Although, when you look at how little exposure retro gaming has gotten in Europe compared to North America, I guess it's not that big of a suprise.

Man thats pretty amazing.

Major congrats on the finds.

Thanks :)

Yes, retro gaming hasn't had much exposure here in Europe, although more and more collectors are emerging.  The main difference between collectors here in Europe compared to the US is that they only seem to know about the few holy grails, and consider all other cartridges of similar value without paying much attention to differences in rarity.  I've managed to snag a lot of rares because of this because others are not willing to pay more for it than the "average" game price, which around here seems to be 5-10 euro for cartridges, and 10-50 euro for complete games (people even pay 5+ euro for SMB/Duck Hunt cartridges!).  

I wonder where these games originated from, though...because Skate Boy has Caltron Ind. Inc copyright on the titlescreen, and Caltron was based in the US.  I think the Gluk Video labels were just slapped on these cartridges to be sold in Spanish regions, because two of the cartridges have their original labels underneath with the correct English title and the CN-## code that is also present on the Caltron 6-in-1 as well as other Mega Soft/NTDEC releases.  

Here are scans of the cartridges:

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/Speedy_NES/BookyMan-Bookyman-Cartridge.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/Speedy_NES/CorreBenny-GoBenny-Cartridge.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/Speedy_NES/LaGranAventuraSubmarina-SeaDreamlan.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/Speedy_NES/SkateBoy-Cartridge.jpg

Enjoy :)

-Speedy

Hmmm, any chance of you opening those up and looking at the ROMs?  There might be some identifying features on the innards.

Good point....I tried opening them up, but the carts seem to be clipped together towards the top, so even with all the screws removed I can't seem to open them - at least it feels as though I will break them if I try too hard.  I'm gonna search the internet and see if there's info anywhere on how to open the Caltron/Myriad cartridge, as it's the same cartridge.  If anyone here knows how to open them without breaking anything, please let me know.  Thanks!

-Speedy

Cool finds Speedy. The cart looks simular to the Caltron cart. (hmmmm)

very cool Speedy. once the mystery is unraveled perhaps this thread could be worked into a static page for the site. maybe a section for pirate games?

that is cool i wonder what labels are under the labels....definitley a great find maybe even ranked up there with menavision air raid..or better.

Thanks

yeah, the cartridge as well as a few other things make me believe these are more legit than bootlet, but I guess there's no easy way to find out...I'll have to figure out a way to open these cartridges to hopefully be able to support this assumption ;)


sounds good...although I do believe (and surely hope ;)) that these are not simply bootleg carts and it may take a while to find the truth & history behind them, so maybe it's best to set up a different thread for pirated games...and use that for pirated hacks and ports (like sonic, street fighter, etc)....I'd be more than happy to pop in some Famicom pirated hacks and make some screenshots (I have a mario bros hack with teletubbies ;))...

-Speedy

*shudder*

So scary...

This is a phenomenal find.  I really, really hope you are right about these being legit unlicensed releases, as they appear to be.  That would be tremendous.  You'll have to add them to the database if you feel you can confirm their legitimacy.

Yeah, I really hope so, too....but we'd have to know the whole history of NTDEC and Gluk Video in order to know whether they are legit or not...if I find out anymore info, I'll let you guys know...

On a side note, NTDEC also released a NES Advantage-clone for both the Famicom and the Nintendo NES...here is the NES version (pic from a fellow collector):

(http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/Speedy_NES/NTDECjoystick.jpg)

Famicom version:

(http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y203/Speedy_NES/ntdecstickturbojr.jpg)

If anyone ever comes across the NES version of the joystick (difference is in the top left logo), please let me know...I've been looking for that one for quite a while now ;)

-Speedy

nice buy! i didn't realize caltron made a game titled skate boy. looking at the snap shots speedy uploaded, the game looks similar to menace beach. how is the game play speedy? i guess this means (3) new roms to add to my get list. =)

The game play is decent, the problem is that you need to react quickly, and jumping over one obstacle may lead to landing on another obstacle that you can't see yet, which ends up slowing you down enough to fail the level.  You can also skate around obstacles, but jumping is just more fun ;)  Gameplay overall is very smooth though...I would say that most of their games so far are of fairly good quality, unlike some of the other unlicensed games we know of ;)

By the way, Gluk Video released more games than just those four, they also released Spanish versions (PAL-B format, same as the carts above) of Balloon Monster, Cosmos Cop, Magic Carpet, and War in the Gulf, as well as some new games Tank (similar to the well-known game with the same name found on Famicom multis, but with much better graphics), Destroyer (shoot em up), Gluk the Thunder Warrior (featuring the character from their logo), and supposedly (but not yet verified) a game called Policeman.  It wouldn't surprise me if those aren't all of their releases either, so you've got quite a few roms to add to your get list ;)

yes i do, i will however start with these. thanx!!! 8)