2020 is over! 2021 is here! Want more numbers? How about 256? We have a new article that will show you how to access 256 Worlds in Super Mario Bros. using everyday household items. Well…everyday items for a Famicom collector, anyway. Check it out!
What do Captain Tsubasa and Ninja Gaiden have in common? Sure, they’re both made by Tecmo, but did you know they were part of a larger series of games called the Tecmo Theater? Check out our latest article to find out more!
Self-described purveyors of “premium tangible things”, iam8bit, has announced their CD release of the Gimmick! soundtrack. The CD contains a remastered soundtrack and comes with a double-sided fold-out poster. Gimmick! is well-known for being the only game that made use of the Sunsoft 5B chip’s expanded audio capabilities, allowing Masashi Kageyama’s compositions to be realized with extra depth, complexity, and character. The CD will be available in the iam8bit store starting on March 5th, 2020.
The Famicom World article on the Konami Ｑ太 Adapter has been updated. Recent developments by Youtuber Russian Geek (aka, Pixel Devil) and prolific rom-dumper CaH4e3 have revealed new information about this rare piece of Famicom hardware. Russian Geek tracked down the adapter and one of its games on an online auction. While creating his video, he sent both items to CaH4e3 for analysis. CaH4e3 was able to reverse engineer them so that they are now playable within Famicom emulators. We can now see what education-by-Famicom looked like! Be sure to give Russian Geek’s video a watch (Russian with English subtitles), and consider joining his English Subtitles Patreon if you are able.
The 2019 edition of the annual Famicase exhibition is now open. The exhibition features Famicom cartridges with label art for fake games. The 2019 entries are not yet archived on their website, but many entries can be found on social media.
A flaring crimson flame
is the color of their eyes.
They take down all in their path,
leaving it smoldering in their wake.
Striders!
A ROM of the Strider Hiryu prototype has been released by Nintendo Age user Arasoi. Joestar, of Game Club 199X fame, tipped us off to the release by posting a link to a video of his playthrough on our forums. The prototype is pretty buggy (moreso than the NES release), but it’s always good to see another Famicom prototype get released!
For those who just want the details about what’s different in the prototype, check out Chris Covell’s great comparison article. Some of the big differences are karaoke lyrics for the game’s intro music (!), an increased difficulty due to less health and item drops, graphics glitches galore, and, as of now, no known way of seeing the ending after defeating the final boss.
If you want to see all of the differences in action, be sure to watch Joestar’s playthrough.
The annual Famicase Exhibition is now on display! Famicase is a gallery of self-made labels for fake Famicom games. Each year, the Japanese game store Meteor shows off the designs in their store. They also place the designs online for easy viewing. Go check them out, and maybe enter your own design next year!
A copy of the rare Famicom prototype “Parody World: Monster Party” recently sold on eBay from seller tsunami.video.games, who found the rare gem in a dusty old box of kusoge. The listing ended at an impressive £2,050.00.
This is only the second known copy of this game for the Famicom. While it did see an official release in the US (as simply “Monster Party”), the version was heavily censored due to copyright concerns. Auction winner BeaglePuss mentions in a Nintendo Age thread that “I have no doubt at this point that the game went unreleased due to copy write infringement and no other reason. Every boss in the game is recognizable from your favorite 80’s films.” User MrMark0673, who had access to BeaglePuss’s newly acquired rarity, did a playthrough of the game and notes, “the copyright issues are epic throughout this one. There is on average one slam dunk law suit per level.”
Unlike the owner of the first known copy of the prototype, who chose to divulge very little information about the game, BeaglePuss plans on selling reproductions copies of the game in NES and, as long as manufacturing details can be worked out, Famicom forms.
The video game graphic design blog Game & Graphics recently posted a gallery of pulse line carts and boxes. The consistency of the label designs and the spectrum of cartridge colors makes the pulse line carts very photogenic. Check out their site for more photos and graphics.
Even the most expensive Harry Potter Blu-ray collection is sorely lacking in Famicom pirate carts. The Uninvited Gremlin helps to remedy this with his review of the bug-tastic Harry’s Legend.
