What the heck is on this $10 Retro Game handheld? Let’s find out!

Beowulf said:

177. BURAI FIGHTER

This is the first game that I recognized as a US release in a while. Side-scroller shoot-em-up featuring a flying dude who shoots an annoyingly linear collection of lasers and missiles.

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It's been a hot second, but my memory is that while I like the NES version all right, the Game Boy Burai Fighter Deluxe is actually a little better, which is pretty weird. There aren't many games I can think of like that. (Bionic Commando comes close.)

Oh, yeah, Bionic Commando on GB is legit amazing. I'm hard pressed to choose between the two.

Sarge said:

Oh, yeah, Bionic Commando on GB is legit amazing. I'm hard pressed to choose between the two.

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I actually prefer the GB version because the grapple mechanics feel a little snappier. Also liked a lot of the levels a little more, especially the final areas. Blowing up Hitler is cool and all, but getting to grapple along the underside of the Albatross in mid-flight was more fun. Felt like much more of an event.

ShakeWell said:

It's been a hot second, but my memory is that while I like the NES version all right, the Game Boy Burai Fighter Deluxe is actually a little better, which is pretty weird. There aren't many games I can think of like that. (Bionic Commando comes close.)

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I don't think I've ever played the Game Boy version, but now I feel like I need to try it out.

180. B WINGS

Another vertical shooter, but I haven’t seen this one before. It actually lets you choose a power-up right at the start. Among interesting things, it has a great deal of side-to-side real estate you can shift into (though the screen continuously scrolls up) and you can shoot down most enemy projectiles. (For those of you saying we were out of the good games: This one is actually pretty sweet!)



181. BOX WORLD

Block-pushing puzzles, fairly straightforward. The music to this is noteworthy as being endless, tinny Frère Jacques.



182. CANDY WORKESHOP

Four different types of candy emerge from the tubes on the right. You (as the bear) need to catch them and place them onto the yellow lines on the conveyer belt in bundles of one of each candy. (Extras get points for catching them but don’t count towards the bundles…I think?) There doesn’t seem to be anything else to it. And yes, it’s by Nice Code.



183. CARD CAPTOR SAKU

This is a hack of Tower Of Druaga. I’ll admit to not being a fan of the show, but I find it hard to see how this relates in any way to magic card battles.



184. CASTLE EXCELLENT

This is the Japanese version of the game we got as Castlequest. (Wikipedia claims the JP version had a save/load feature; this doesn’t appear to have that.) I’d never actually seen this game before. Apparently it’s one of the first-ever games that could qualify as a Medtroidvania.

It could be the EU version of Castlequest, as I don't think it had a save-feature either.

B-Wings is another one of those mainstays in multi-carts that always got a lot of play when I found it in one. Not as much as Clu-Clu Land or Battle City, but certainly more than Formation Z or Circus Charlie

Whoever does the title screen art for those Nice Code games really knows how to do a good cartoon bear within 8-bit limitations.

One cartoon bear is vastly nicer looking than the other

Beowulf said:

I don't think I've ever played the Game Boy version, but now I feel like I need to try it out.

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Please do! It's so good.

That Old Chestnut said:

I actually prefer the GB version because the grapple mechanics feel a little snappier. Also liked a lot of the levels a little more, especially the final areas. Blowing up Hitler is cool and all, but getting to grapple along the underside of the Albatross in mid-flight was more fun. Felt like much more of an event.

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Yeah, that is definitely one of the cool bits (and quite challenging) in the game. And you're right about the grapple - there are some differences that make it easier to deal with a bad hook placement given that you can unhook/rehook from a standstill.

Sarge said:

Please do! It's so good.

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Just to circle back: I hit a couple of stages of the Game Boy Burai Fighter Deluxe on my RG350 last night, and I agree that it's solid. I think I need to hunt down a manual because I'm not 100% certain I understand which of my powerups work at which points and which ones go away when I die.

185. BUGBEAR

Whack-a-mole! You move the hammer and hit the things that pop up. (Not much else to it, but whack-a-mole doesn’t really need much else either.)



186. SHOOT

This looks like it was pulled from the same set of Olympic games as the swimming games. It’s a skeet shooting game that wants to grow up to be Duck Hunt.



187. CHAMPIONSHIP BOW

I bowled a 154 after a lot of 4-6 splits, which is about as far from my real-life bowling ability as can be measured. Apparently the original cart supported four players.

188. HOT MARIO

In deeply disappointing news: This is another copy of Super Mario 16. I had such high hopes for it, too.



189. FRANTIC MOUSE

Looks like we have another Nice Code masterpiece here: This mouse is climbing up a beanstalk by jumping between moving pink clouds—if you miss a jump, you fall and have to start over. There don’t seem to be any collectables and I’m going to guess there’s no end. This was apparently on other collections as “Jumping Kid” and “Penguin.”



190. CHUBBY CHERUB

First off: The Japanese name is so much better: Q-tarō the Ghost: BowWow Panic. It also explains why this floating naked guy is shooting hearts at dogs whose barks can kill him. I appreciate the twist on the usual platformer that you have a limited flight meter that the collectable foods refill. Apparently there are friends to rescue at the end of each stage.

Citation Needed, but I believe Chubby Cherub has the distinction of being the first 3rd party release on the NES.

Octopus Prime said:

Citation Needed, but I believe Chubby Cherub has the distinction of being the first 3rd party release on the NES.

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Per Parish's NES Works book, M.U.S.C.L.E. Tag Team Match, Tag Team Wrestling and Ninja Kid also came out in October 1986 with Chubby Cherub. Wikipedia says that Ninja Kid, MUSCLE and Cherub all launched on the 29th by Bandai; Tag Team Wrestling has a generic October date and was Data East's first NES title.

Cherub was localized without its anime/manga license that Beowulf notes, Little Ghost Q-tarō. Ninja Kid was originally based on another anime/manga, GeGeGe no Kitaro. MUSCLE was the sole title that kept its license, thanks to the little plastic figures of the same name popular in the 80s worldwide. Even Dragon Ball, one of the most popular anime/manga properties of all time, was not exempt of being stripped from its license in localization; it became Dragon Power in the US when it released the following year.

I adore these deep knowledge drops, please never stop

Beowulf said:

180. B WINGS

Another vertical shooter, but I haven’t seen this one before. It actually lets you choose a power-up right at the start. Among interesting things, it has a great deal of side-to-side real estate you can shift into (though the screen continuously scrolls up) and you can shoot down most enemy projectiles. (For those of you saying we were out of the good games: This one is actually pretty sweet!)

183. CARD CAPTOR SAKU

This is a hack of Tower Of Druaga. I’ll admit to not being a fan of the show, but I find it hard to see how this relates in any way to magic card battles.

184. CASTLE EXCELLENT

This is the Japanese version of the game we got as Castlequest. (Wikipedia claims the JP version had a save/load feature; this doesn’t appear to have that.) I’d never actually seen this game before. Apparently it’s one of the first-ever games that could qualify as a Medtroidvania.

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B-Wings is one of many early FC SHMUPs that fell through the cracks during the early NES years. My Famicom guidebook says something about the ending message, so I looked it up on YouTube. It's in Japanese (but spelled out in romaji), and translated, it says:

Congratulations!
Your mission is complete.

From now on, your mission is studying.

Good luck.
Don't be a dick!*

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This is a very good backhanded ending text. Bravo, devs.

*The literal text is いじめはダメだよ, "you mustn't bully."

Anyway,

I'm pretty sure Druaga relates to Cardcaptor Sakura about as deeply as Battle Beasts does to Donkey Kong. I have owned both the NES and FC versions of Castle Quest / Castle Excellent. The save feature, IIRC, could only be accomplished with a rare, obscure attachment called the Famicom Data Recorder, which wrote your save data onto a literal cassette. Also, the game is incredibly hard. The NES version gives you something like a dozen lives to begin with, but the FC version isn't so kind.

Phantoon said:

I adore these deep knowledge drops, please never stop

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Seconded!

191. CLIMBING

Does anybody else remember Devil Bunny Needs a Ham? The best thing about it was the story, where you were inexplicably climbing a tower and the eponymous bunny was of the odd belief that knocking you off would earn him a ham. Not sure why that’s on my mind.

Anyway, in this game you’re inexplicably climbing a tower and various arrows, iron balls, fires, ninja stars, evil clouds and the like all try to knock you off. Your only defense is sliding back and forth between sides of the tower. It’s by Nice Code as appears elsewhere titled “High Tower.”



192. FRUITDISH

Fruit falls from the upper pipe, and pressing A will transform it into different fruits. You’re trying to change it to enough of the fruits you need (shown on the lower pipe) before time runs out. By Nice Code; also called “Falling Fruit.”



193. CONTEST

You’re one ship that can fire homing bombs out of any part of it. The other ship fires bouncing stars. You need to exhaust the other ship’s double health bar by shooting it. If you get touched, both positions reset but you only lose one health.

Apparently this is a hack of only the second level of Saboteur. Saboteur is an unreleased Atari 2600 game, ported to bootleg NES hardware, and published on Atari-licensed plug & plays, which would later be extensively hacked and included on non-Atari-licensed plug & plays.



194. COOKIES LABYRINT

You are a mouse who must run through a labyrinth collecting cookies. Apparently this Nice Code title is on other collections as “Mike Pig.”



195. FUTURE TANK

I thought to myself, “Is this a hack of Battle City?” And yes, it is.

Beowulf said:

Just to circle back: I hit a couple of stages of the Game Boy Burai Fighter Deluxe on my RG350 last night, and I agree that it's solid. I think I need to hunt down a manual because I'm not 100% certain I understand which of my powerups work at which points and which ones go away when I die.

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I think I misread your comment - I was referring to Bionic Commando. Chalk that up to my excitement in folks actually talking about the Game Boy version, haha!

I just thought of a really dumb question to ask, not actually really knowing Japanese: Galaga is an advanced version of Galaxian, right? Are they using the -aga suffix the same way the Final Fantasy games uses Firaga and Thundaga?

Beowulf said:

I just thought of a really dumb question to ask, not actually really knowing Japanese: Galaga is an advanced version of Galaxian, right? Are they using the -aga suffix the same way the Final Fantasy games uses Firaga and Thundaga?

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I think this is more or less a coincidence, a function of how Japanese speakers tend to associate weirdness or coolness with things that start or end with the syllable "ga." There's a third game in the Galaxian series, "Gaplus," which seems to reinforce that. I could be wrong, though. I'm well-versed in the language, but certainly not fluent.

196. BOAR FORESTBV

The glitchy version of Adventure Island 2! Haven’t seen that one in a while.



197. CRAZY COONS IN C

A SMB hack that actually isn’t insanely difficult (just moderately so), except that a pipe in 1-2 warps you to the minus world that loops endlessly. It appears to be the “Crazy Coons in Cloudland” hack that I found more of on Youtube. (I don’t have any backstory on the hack, so I have no idea how racist they intended the title to be.)



198. CRYSTAL BLAST

You’re the purple plane and fly back and forth at descending heights. You need to drop bombs onto the stacks of balls and diamonds to pop them and get points (before you fly low enough to hit them—it’s reverse Space Invaders). The hitboxes for the balls are REALLY thin and the bombs are tiny—you need to hit them just right to pop them. Appears to be by Nice Code.



199. DANGER BRIDGE

Dudes walk down from the top, and you can move the pink boxes side-to-side to create paths across the DANGER BRIDGE. (The dudes sometimes follow the path straight and sometimes turn, so you can’t always predict where they’ll be.) Each stage has a certain number of dudes you need to get safely across before too many drown. This is by Nice Code and apparently based on the Game & Watch game Manhole.



200. DEFORMABLE

And this is one more Nice Code game: A two-player racing game where you need to collect the gold squares and avoid hitting stuff. Getting to the end first seems very secondary to collecting the most items. I’m guessing “deformable” is there because there’s a power-up that transforms your car into a rocket car briefly. My research reveals this is a clone of Street Racer for the Atari 2600, with identical levels. Apparently it shows up on various collections as Lightning, Gallop, Road Hero, and Transform.

I’d also like to just stop and take a minute to note that I’ve catalogued 200 of the 500 entries on this list. That’s a lot of NES games!

Fewer if you consider how many are repeats, Romhacks or bootlegs.

Nice Code does good sprite-work though, give 'em credit there.

A weird quirk of Japanese, Chinese, and possibly some other Asian languages is that the words for "transform" tend to get machine-translated into "deform," so you see the word all over the place on off-brand and bootleg items that include some sort of transformable thing.

Dracula said:

A weird quirk of Japanese, Chinese, and possibly some other Asian languages is that the words for "transform" tend to get machine-translated into "deform," so you see the word all over the place on off-brand and bootleg items that include some sort of transformable thing.

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That's really interesting! I've definitely noticed a lot of bootleg products labeled deform but never really thought about why. Is it a certain kanji that machine translations tend to get confused by or is it something more complicated?

Dracula said:

I think this is more or less a coincidence, a function of how Japanese speakers tend to associate weirdness or coolness with things that start or end with the syllable "ga." There's a third game in the Galaxian series, "Gaplus," which seems to reinforce that. I could be wrong, though. I'm well-versed in the language, but certainly not fluent.

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One of my favorite things about that Galaxian series is how fast and loose they are with the numbering and what apparently is and isn't actually a sequel?
-Galaxian
-Galaga
-Gaplus
-Galaga '88 (or Galaga '90 for us here in North America)
-Galaxian 3? Uh... so which two don't count?

I believe Gaplus is 'supposed' to be Galaxian 2, but that's also vaguely remembered blathering from an old family friend who was an arcade hound back in the day whom sort of expanded into early hori shooters as a hobby.

I wonder if Danger Bridge is inspired by Amidakuji. Because it sure looks similar to me.

Violentvixen said:

That's really interesting! I've definitely noticed a lot of bootleg products labeled deform but never really thought about why. Is it a certain kanji that machine translations tend to get confused by or is it something more complicated?

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There are a few different words in Japanese that can be used to mean "transform." The one that, I think, gets translated to "deformation" is usually 変形 (henkei). The symbols literally mean "change shape." The jisho definitions for this word have both "deformation" and "deformity" as possible usages. The first kanji, 変, can also mean "strange/unusual," which is probably why it can be used in those different ways. (It's the same kanji used in words like 大変, taihen, "great/unusual/terrible", and, yes, 変態, hentai, which can mean "pervert" but it can ALSO mean "transform".)

Another common word, 変身, henshin, means something closer to "change body," and it's what heroes like Kamen Rider shout out when they dramatically put on their costume. A machine turning into another machine, therefore, would use the word that could also be treated as "deform."

I'm not literate in any form of Chinese at all, but I'd guess since some of the kanji carry over between languages, it's probably a similar deal.

Dracula said:

There are a few different words in Japanese that can be used to mean "transform." The one that, I think, gets translated to "deformation" is usually 変形 (henkei). The symbols literally mean "change shape." The jisho definitions for this word have both "deformation" and "deformity" as possible usages. The first kanji, 変, can also mean "strange/unusual," which is probably why it can be used in those different ways. (It's the same kanji used in words like 大変, taihen, "great/unusual/terrible", and, yes, 変態, hentai, which can mean "pervert" but it can ALSO mean "transform".)

Another common word, 変身, henshin, means something closer to "change body," and it's what heroes like Kamen Rider shout out when they dramatically put on their costume. A machine turning into another machine, therefore, would use the word that could also be treated as "deform."

I'm not literate in any form of Chinese at all, but I'd guess since some of the kanji carry over between languages, it's probably a similar deal.

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This is awesome to learn that background of. I've bought a bunch of Chinese knockoff Transformer toys over the years, and "Deformation" often appears on the boxes. I figured there was a mistranslation, but now I understand why!

201. DEJECTILE

Any guesses if this is a Bomberman hack or a Bomberman clone? (Because the graphics are different but it plays just like Bomberman.)

The answer: It’s a Nice Code Mega Bomberman clone! It’s also known as Bomber Man 2002, Bomb Kid, Bomb Time, Detonation, Parkinof, Undersea, and Undersea 2004.



202. DESTINATION EART

A first-person spacefaring game that was apparently released in the US market, but I’d never heard of it before. I can sorta-kinda maneuver around the map, though I can’t quite figure out what I’m supposed to be doing or finding. Wikipedia says there’s 2D shooter action in certain areas, too.



203. DESTROYI

This seems to be a Wrecking Crew level pack hack. I found Youtube footage of this one.



204. RAILLERY

This appears to be Flappy, but it’s an unplayable, glitchy mess. I think it’s just a bad rom dump.



205. DONKEY KONG CLAS
Exactly what it says on the tin: It’s Donkey Kong. Has anyone else noticed that the Donkey Kong noises remain the standard “video game” noise on sitcoms, all these decades later?

Additional fun fact: I have a t-shirt with this screen on it. It has gotten many compliments.