Power Player: NES bootleg...uh...TV games.

[AndrewTS 0]

Has anyone out there seen these things? Set of 3--one looks like an N64 controller (with useless analog stick), one is a gun, and other looks like a 3rd party Genesis controller. Apparently you plug them directly into the TV like those Namco, etc sets and you can play a ton of NES games.

 

It's not just in China Town or very disreputable import stores...but right in the middle of my local mall.

 

I've heard from a few online friends that it isn't just around here, but apparently they are being hocked in their malls, too. There's a sticker that says "Made in China," and not surprisingly there are no Nintendo logos or endorsements on it.

 

Apparently it doesn't even work for a lot of the games, but I'm not going to buy it for 45 dollars and check them all. I doubt "Tekken" or "King of Fighters" are going to be what I expect (as in, probably not even the portable versions).

 

Apparently people are suspiciously staying clear around here, but wonder if anyone else has stumbled across it. Nintendo is going to be mighty ticked...

[Guest Smues]

Bought one in December at my local mall, well two. One for me, one as a gift. But I knew EXACTLY what I was getting when I bought it, junk. Or as I call it, super fun happy junk. A lot of people are going to be dissappointed buying it thinking it might be quality like the Atari game controllers. At least 2 or three of the games don't work at all, stuff is mislabeled like mad (Tekken, alladin etc.). What's really fun is where they'll be a game, then elsewhere there will be the same game with a different name, and it starts on level 3 of the game or something. OO I almost forgot my favorite. I can't remember what they named it, but it's Dr. Kong Jr. Math in a different color set. But it's worth the money because it's hilarious to laugh at all the crap. And there's enough good games that work on there (Mario, contra, Kung-fu(labeled Spartan X), and duckhunt come to mind (the gun works surprisingly well). Also when you turn it on it says it's like 76,000 games in one, so what it does is just lists all the games over and over so it totals 76,000. After each game it usually has three random letters, so game one might be Contra GHF, and then at 97 would be Contra XLP and so on. I also like how the packaging has nothing to do with the product (like the starwars picture). Good times

 

Ooooo yeah and one last thing I remember about it, I'm sure there are more fuck ups I haven't found, but when you play duckhunt you can shoot 2 ducks or 1 dwck. DWCK HUNT!

[razazteca 0]

I saw it being sold on QVC a few months ago. It looked like the N64 controller and had a cart in the memory card slot which had 100s of NES games like Ice Hockey, Gradius, Kung Fu.

 

Is KOF labeled as Chinese Fighers 9x?

[AndrewTS 0]

No. Some little girl was scrolling through the list and I saw "Tekken," "King of Fighters," etc.

 

Of course, multiple labels...probably both of them are some third-rate anime fighting game knockoff.

 

So basically for 45 dollars you can get a few working NES games and play it on your TV?

 

It's not too bad...except that, for free, you can download and emulate those games, and it's every bit as legal as that thing is.

 

QVC? Geez, Nintendo's anti-piracy efforts are really quite slack these days.

 

Props on the detailed report, Smues.

[razazteca 0]

I think the games fall under the public domain loophole and had different names so the company would'nt get sued.

[Guest slacklet]

Here's a video of QVC shilling this device back in 2002:

 

http://www.nesplayer.com/misc/QVC.wmv

[starvenger 0]

No. Some little girl was scrolling through the list and I saw "Tekken," "King of Fighters," etc.

 

Of course, multiple labels...probably both of them are some third-rate anime fighting game knockoff.

 

So basically for 45 dollars you can get a few working NES games and play it on your TV?

I've seen it sold for between $30-40. The guy I talked to said that the box says "thousands of games" but really there are only about 80 that repeat.

 

And as for the names, yeah, I think they just programmed them in to more or less fit the genre. Basically look at the name, and think of the NES equivalent, and that's probably it. Smackdown! was M.U.S.C.L.E. btw.

 

It's not too bad...except that, for free, you can download and emulate those games, and it's every bit as legal as that thing is.

This is true, but since this system is designed like those Atari/Intellivision games that they're selling right now, you can bring it to a friend's place and play it. Plus... a light gun!! I have the emulator on my PC, and I almost bought this thing anyways because you could play Duck Hunt and Hogan's Alley...

[AndrewTS 0]

I think the games fall under the public domain loophole and had different names so the company would'nt get sued.

I think they'd have to be a hell of a lot older than that to be public domain, especially since, because of the NES Classics releases, Nintendo may have renewed the copyrights if it was necessary.

 

Changing the names would protect you from copyright infringement in this case, because the actual work itself was the property. It's a bit different than, say, an unlicensed licensed games (you know what I mean) being sued for for infringing on intellectual property.

[Karnage 0]

Are the characters, colours and names of the games slightly changed? I think that's why they got around all the legal troubles and could be available in malls and on shopping channels.

[AndrewTS 0]

As far as I could tell, no.

[Anya 0]

If it's what Im thinking of EGM was making fun of it a few years ago.

 

I want to play Tekken!

[ragingfear79 0]

They had Cartridges like this in the old famicom system, where on the box it would say that it had 7600 games when in reality it had about 100. The rest of them where the same games but with cheats on them or they would start you in a diff level. For example on Mario 3 if you pressed select you would have unlimited powerups and stuff. Now these games where not endorsed by Nintendo or any other company associated to them. aaahh the goood ol days.

[razazteca 0]

Just saw the product at the mall for $37.50. The display model had Super Mario Brothers on.