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

Beowulf

Son of The Answer Man
(He/Him)
The Nice Code poll is up! Unfortunately, I couldn't include names that they didn't come up with, such as Luigi and Christ, Hot Mario, Deflower, and my mom's contribution, Marching Mickies.
 

WildcatJF

Let's Pock (Art @szk_tencho)
(he / his / him)
This was a delightful thread Beowulf! Thanks for sharing all of these with us.
 

Sarge

hardcore retro gamin'
Yep, I've quite enjoyed it, even if the selection turned to mostly junk later. That thing was looking amazing early on!
 

MetManMas

Me and My Bestie
(He, him)
Thanks for doing this! Most people would not bother documenting all the games on one of these bootleg devices filled with pirated software, but it's been fascinating to see what madness lies within.

Nice Code could likely carry a thread of their own if anybody was seriously dedicated to looking into their games history.
 

Octopus Prime

Mysterious Contraption
(He/Him)
One of the things I’m most baffled by is that the Mario hack of Joe and Mac showed up so often, but Joe and Mac itself never did.
 

Dracula

Plastic Vampire
(He/His)
It's been such a Nice ride through these 500-sorta games. Thanks for sticking with it all the way, beowulf! A couple of stray thoughts on things I missed the last few days ...

That is bananas. Does that mean there's no way to get it in the US version?

Yup! They didn't bother to reprogram it for the US. The only way you can get it in the US version is to play it on an emulator that can map a microphone input.

RetroFC_27_game_(14).png
RetroFC_27_game_(15).png


488. THE LAST STAR FI

A shoot-em-up based on the film (or more accurately, a remake of Uridium for the Commodore 64 with some film-related stuff added in), but unfortunately this copy seems to be bugged—it doesn’t actually accept any player input.

I honestly had no idea this game existed! Mindscape was apparently the publisher behind this, and they also produced a number of movie tie-in games on the NES that were all based on movies which had been out of theaters for several years (Terminator, Mad Max). It looks like a neat little shooter!

More importantly, fun fact: "Dino Riki" so-named because the inspiration behind his character design was Japanese pro wrestling legend Riki Choshu, who you may also recognize from Yakuza Kiwami 2.

Regular old Riki in the game (named "Max" in the FC version) is just some generic caveman guy, but you pick up a power-up which actually transforms you into Riki Choshu. The manual has a very good illustration of this process:

aYiKrk1.png


It says when you get the power-up, you can attack with a "Riki Lariat Bunshin."


492. THEXDER

This has a "rudimentary Metroidvania" feel to it, as you play a transforming robot exploring a maze. Square did the NES port, but doesn't seem to have otherwise really been involved in the creation of this. I'm not good enough at it to really explore, but I'm tempted to try it on a platform where I can use cheat codes and see the sights.

Thexder was quite popular in Japan. If you really wanna check it out, I'd recommend something other than the Famicom port, which was pretty pared down compared to the original PC release.
 

jpfriction

(He, Him)
That strongman power up in Riki is fun because you start chucking clones of yourself at everyone instead of your usual stone/hammer/boomerang/fireball.
 

ArugulaZ

Fearful asymmetry
Drac: You might want to try Hyper Sentinel on the Switch. It's essentially an update of Uridium, the side scrolling shooter which served as the foundation for The Last Starfighter.
 

Kirin

Summon for hire
(he/him)
Just wanted to chime in late to add my congrats for actually posting all 500(ish) games in this monster, it was a great thread!
 

Ghost from Spelunker

BAG
(They/Him)
Regular old Riki in the game (named "Max" in the FC version) is just some generic caveman guy, but you pick up a power-up which actually transforms you into Riki Choshu. The manual has a very good illustration of this process:

aYiKrk1.png


It says when you get the power-up, you can attack with a "Riki Lariat Bunshin."

I guess that's why Dino Riki was never rereleased. Not even on the Wii, which had a ton of Hudson games.
 

Dracula

Plastic Vampire
(He/His)
Didn’t stop Adventure Island or IIRC, JJ and Jeff

Both of those games had their celebrity tie-in scrubbed out or at least renamed for the American versions.

But on the other hand, so did Dino-Riki! The US manual just calls the power-up "Macho Riki." Who knows.
 

Kzinssie

(she/her)
Aw man I can't believe I missed most of the thread

I'm having a hard time organizing my thoughts right now so I will simply say I'm disappointed nobody mentioned how hard the T&C Surf Designs music slaps:

 

ShakeWell

Slam Master
(he, etc.)
Absolutely true. If there's one thing LJN/Acclaim was good at, it was getting devs who had SICK-ASS music chops to make their games, even when the games weren't good.
 

Beowulf

Son of The Answer Man
(He/Him)
With the polls closed on Friday, we have our results: The best Nice Code title is…

DEJECTILE!

In second place comes Awful Rushing, then we have a three-way tie for third between Repair Urgently, Utmost Warfare, and Police vs Thief Violent Chasing.

(But really, aren’t they all winners?)

But that also brings us to an important crossroads: I can end the thread here and go out on top, or I can do another dozen posts about where the contents differ from the Games Power 500-in-1 “thinner than paper” model of handheld.

GamesPower_Sys_(3).png

This would be a much faster process—there are actually only 330 games on that device to being with, because 170 of them are duplicates that don’t even bother to change the title. Also, at least 134 of the remaining games have the same titles as ones on the FC500 (and I’m certain more of them are direct duplicates as well). I’m going to guess there are a few dozen more rare cuts and Nice Code titles. Should I go hunting for them?
 

Torzelbaum

????? LV 13 HP 292/ 292
(he, him, his)
Did that handheld cost $10? If it didn't then you would have to change the thread title.

Also, part of me thinks you should just let the Anbernic have this thread all to itself and create a new one for this other retro game device. The new thread could be like a sequel or companion piece to this thread.
 

WildcatJF

Let's Pock (Art @szk_tencho)
(he / his / him)
I'm down for more of this sort of thing; I've oddly missed it the past week haha.
 
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