12bit Blog

Famicom 198 in 1 & 218 in 1 multicarts

Posted by taizou at 2014-02-09 19:47:28 Famicom, Multicarts, Nice Code

Multicarts! For the Famicom! If you have any experience with these things, you no doubt know the perils of high stated game counts, where just about anything above a 50 in 1 is likely to contain repeats, and anything above 10 frankly could still be suspicious. But not anymore! A welcome trend coming out of China recently has been to release Famicom multicarts with game counts running up to the 100s that actually have the stated number of games on them! (more or less) And I have a couple of them here - let's start with this 198 in 1:

This one was released under the CoolBoy brand (酷孩); some previous carts (including other high-capacity multicarts and reissues of Waixing games) were released by a company called Fuzhou Coolboy Electronics Co., Ltd (福州酷哥电子有限公司) but the Chinese name is different (酷哥 kù gē rather than 酷孩 kù hái) and seemingly this is not the same outfit, because when you turn it on you see:

The menu credits "深圳市仁顺科技", Shenzhen Renshun Technology - a different company doing very similar things under a very similar brand. Presumably either they're connected somehow or one ripped off the other.

A piece of paper was included with the game list in Chinese, which is nice, if you can understand it:

for those of you who can't, here's the full game list in English, as it appears in the menu:

  1. CONTRA 1
  2. CONTRA 2
  3. CONTRA 3
  4. CONTRA 6
  5. CONTRA 7
  6. CONTRA 8
  7. KAGE
  8. FINAL MISSION
  9. DOUBLE DRAGON 1
  10. DOUBLE DRAGON 2
  11. DOUBLE DRAGON 3
  12. DOUBLE DRAGON 4
  13. CHIP & DALE 1
  14. CHIP & DALE 2
  15. CHIP & DALE 3
  16. ROBOCOP 1
  17. ROBOCOP 2
  18. ROBOCOP 3
  19. ROBOCOP 4
  20. TINY TOON 1
  21. TINY TOON 2
  22. TINY TOON 3
  23. NINJA GAIDEM 1
  24. NINJA GAIDEM 2
  25. NINJA GAIDEM 3
  26. HOT BLOOD WRESTLE
  27. HOT BLOOD STORY
  28. HOT BLOOD SOCCER 1
  29. HOT BLOOD MARCH
  30. ADVENTURE ISLAND
  31. ADVENTURE ISLAND 2
  32. ADVENTURE ISLAND 3
  33. ADVENTURE ISLAND 4
  34. NINJA TURTLES 1
  35. NINJA TURTLES 4
  36. STREET FIGHTER 201
  37. KICK MASTER
  38. MIGHTY FINAL FIGHT
  39. STREET FIGHTER
  40. MORTAL COMBAT 4
  41. ASTYANAX
  42. THREE EYES BOY
  43. SNOW BROS
  44. SPIDERMAN
  45. BATMAN
  46. KYUUKYOKU TIGER
  47. POWER RANGER
  48. GULF WAR
  49. BUBBLE BOBBLE 2
  50. DARKWING DUCK
  51. KERO KERO KEROPPI
  52. ARABIAN
  53. GUERILLA WAR
  54. DEAD FOX
  55. POWER BLADE 1
  56. ZIPPY RACE
  57. LUNAR BALL
  58. GALAXIAN
  59. MAHJONG 2
  60. TETRIS 2
  61. NAITOU
  62. TANK 90
  63. F1 RACE
  64. CHINESE CHESS
  65. SOCCER
  66. LODER RUNNER
  67. CIRCUS CHARLIE
  68. MACROSS
  69. SUPER MARIO
  70. EXCITE BIKE
  71. MACH RIDER
  72. ARKANOID
  73. LEGEND OF KAGE
  74. DR. MARIO
  75. TENNIS
  76. STAR FORCE
  77. 1942
  78. PINBALL
  79. SKY DESTROYER
  80. POPEYE
  81. MIGHTY BOMB JACK
  82. ROAD FIGHTER
  83. MUSCLE
  84. GALAGA
  85. ALADDIN 3
  86. ICE CLIMBER
  87. BOMBERMAN
  88. MAPPY
  89. HARRY POTTER
  90. TWIN BEE
  91. SPARTAN X
  92. PIKA CHU
  93. GRADIUS
  94. DONKEY KONG 1
  95. DONKEY KONG 2
  96. DONKEY KONG 3
  97. DONKEY KONG 4
  98. AQUARIUM
  99. ARENA
  100. AIR ALERT
  101. AWFUL RUSHING
  102. AIMLESS
  103. BURBLES
  104. BURROW EXPLORER
  105. BUG'S WAR
  106. BOMB KING
  107. BASEBALL NEW
  108. BUBBLE
  109. CANNONADE
  110. HITMOUSE
  111. COAST GUARD
  112. CUB ADVENTURE
  113. DEPTH BOMB
  114. DEVILDOM DOOM
  115. DIAMOND
  116. DUNE WAR
  117. FIREBASE
  118. FIRST DEFENDER
  119. FIVE DAYS
  120. FRANTIC MOUSE
  121. FRUIT DISH
  122. GALLAGANT
  123. GARDEN WAR
  124. GATE
  125. HALLIHOO
  126. HEXAPOD NEW
  127. HEXAPOD WAR
  128. LABYRINTH
  129. LUNARIAN
  130. MAD XMAS
  131. MOTOBOAT
  132. PANZER ATTACK
  133. POBBLE
  134. POLAR BAT
  135. RURALGOBLIN
  136. ROBOT
  137. SEASON GARDEN
  138. SHREW MOUSE
  139. SNOWBALL
  140. STAR FIGHTER
  141. STRAFE
  142. SMALL DINOSAUR
  143. SILENT HUNTER
  144. THE ARCHER
  145. TWIN CARDS
  146. UNDERSEA ARENA
  147. WARRIOR
  148. ABSCONDEE
  149. AETHER CRUISER
  150. AIM CRUISE
  151. P.O.W
  152. JUNGLE BOOK
  153. ABARENB
  154. ZOOM
  155. TOM AND JERRY
  156. AIR WOLF
  157. ALIEN 3
  158. SUPER SPY HUNTER
  159. SUPERMAN
  160. SWORD MASTER
  161. TAITO BASKETBALL
  162. ALL-PRO BASKETBAL
  163. SUMMER CARNIVAL'9
  164. INDIANA JONES
  165. RACE AMERICA
  166. BRUCE LEE 2
  167. BANANA PRINCE
  168. SHATTERHAND
  169. SAINT
  170. ROCKIN KATS
  171. JUUOUKI
  172. NINJA CAT
  173. GUNNAC
  174. IKARI 3
  175. PANIC RESTAURANT
  176. WHOMP'EM
  177. WOLVERINE
  178. THE LEGEND OF PRI
  179. TOP GUN
  180. TALESPIN
  181. SQUASHED
  182. NEWZEALAND STORY
  183. MISSION IMPOSSIBL
  184. MONSTER IN MY POC
  185. GUN DEC
  186. CONQUEST OF THE C
  187. MARIO 10
  188. MARIO 12
  189. MARIO 14
  190. WAR WOLF
  191. HOT BLOOD BASKETB
  192. HOT BLOOD ICE HOC
  193. HOT BLOOD NEW REC
  194. HOT BLOOD SOCCER
  195. HOT BLOOD VOLLEYB
  196. JACKAL
  197. LIFE FORCE
  198. RUSH'N ATTACK

The games listed in italics above are Chinese originals by the developer Nice Code Software; they're mostly fairly simple (their later games are better but sadly far less common) and I think most of them are dumped by now, but a couple of the more interesting ones that aren't (as far as I know) dumped are Season Garden and Zoom:

Season Garden is mostly your typical whack-a-mole game, Nice Code have certainly covered this territory before, but (as the name possibly implies) the seasons change and there are some cute touches like how the dude in the top left changes along with them.

Zoom is basically a fly-upwards-avoid-the-obstacles type of deal which later received a graphical overhaul and an extra "ing" in this VT03 version.

A few other things that aren't immediately obvious:

  • "Street Fighter" is inevitably the "Fighter Street VI 12 Peoples" version, which is one of the worse Street Fighter ports out there, but also the most common on multicarts :(
  • Super Mario Bros runs waaayy fast, I think too fast to even be the PAL version; it might be hacked somehow
  • Donkey Kong 4 is actually Donkey Kong Jr. Math; don't get your hopes up about it being the Hummer Team one or anything
  • "Pika Chu" is the Pokemon-themed Tetris game by Nice Code, also known as "Poke Tetris"
  • Harry Potter is the hack of Magic Carpet 1001 with really really really bad music
  • Gulf War is just the regular version of Silkworm
  • and Superman has had his copyright screwed around with:

(If there are any others listed you aren't sure about, post a comment!)

All in all, it's a pretty great compilation, really. Almost every Kunio game! Recca! Banana Prince (the German version, no less)! A nice combination of popular games and obscure stuff, plus a selection of Chinese originals (which, okay, is probably of more interest to me than most people). One thing I could fault it on is that they saw fit to include a bunch of Mario hacks but not Super Mario Bros 2 (either version) or 3, but still. It's a good cart!

Could it be improved, though? Someone certainly thought it could, because here we have:

The JF2181 218 in 1 Super Game! Basically the same cart again, but with twenty more games added to it. The manufacturers in this case are unknown - there's a big space where Renshun Technology's name used to be in the menu, so presumably it wasn't them, but other than that it's mysterious. And blue. And made of cheaper plastic.

I won't bother with a full game list this time as it's so similar to the cart above; a few have been rearranged as well as new games added, so the first 10 now looks like this:

  1. CONTRA 1
  2. JACKAL
  3. LIFE FORCE
  4. RUSH'N ATTACK
  5. TOP GUN
  6. WHOMP'EM
  7. KERO KERO KEROPPI 2
  8. PLEASANT GOAT
  9. ANGRY BIRDS 2
  10. SAINT

The new games here are all pretty interesting: we have Kero Kero Keroppi 2, actually the English fan translation (version 0.9, no less) of that game, "Angry Birds 2", an Angry Birds-themed hack of New Zealand Story, and... Pleasant Goat!

Yep, it's a hack of the German version of Banana Prince featuring the popular Chinese cartoon character. Of course it is. The new sprites are actually pretty cute; unfortunately they have slightly ruined the game by attempting to pull the standard hacker tactic of making it start on level 2-1 (to make it look less obviously like the original game), because it actually sends you back to level 2-1 every time you die, meaning you effectively have to complete the whole game in one life or reset and go back to the password screen each time. Which is a shame :( If it's ever dumped I'd quite like to hack the hack and try to fix it. Still, at least the original Banana Prince is on here too.

Everything from there on is the same as the 198 in 1 (aside from those games that were plucked out and moved to the first page), until you reach no. 202, where we find the remaining 17 extra games tacked onto the end:

  1. SILK WORM
  2. SD FIGHTER
  3. CHASE H.Q 2
  4. FERRARI
  5. TEMCO WORLD CUP S
  6. MARIO 16
  7. MARIO MISSING
  8. HOME ALONE 2
  9. MICKEY MOUSE 5
  10. DISNEY 2
  11. GOLF
  12. PACMAN
  13. JOUST
  14. NUTS AND MILK
  15. POOYAN
  16. BALLOON FIGHT
  17. KUNG FU

"Silk Worm" here is actually the untitled 2003 Iraq War-themed hack of that game (featuring George W. Bush, naturally); SD Fighter is just Mighty Final Fight again, Mickey Mouse 5 is Mickey's Adventures in Numberland, Disney 2 is Doki Doki Yuuenchi and everything else is what it says it is.

16 Comments

Comments

1Posted by pascal at 2014-02-10 09:17:06

Where can i download those games ( rom ) ?
Thank you very much

2Posted by taizou at 2014-02-10 13:11:55

They aren't dumped, sorry. You can download most of the games individually (except for Pleasant Goat & a couple of the Nice Code ones) though.

3Posted by Samuel-IGN at 2014-02-10 20:36:15

Great work. But I have so many questions! Most important first: What's Contra 2-8?

4Posted by taizou at 2014-02-10 22:06:14

ah the wonders of weird pirate numbering conventions.
Contra 2 = Super Contra
Contra 3 = Contra Force
Contra 6 = a hack of Contra Force - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjJdAGp4nOo
Contra 7 = a Chinese original Contra game by Waixing (ESC) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=746G7ChbTvQ
Contra 8 = a title hack of Contra 7

5Posted by kovo at 2014-03-31 20:17:02

Where i can buy this?

6Posted by taizou at 2014-04-03 11:09:54

Aliexpress is probably a good bet, or Taobao if you don't mind using an agent.

7Posted by taizou at 2014-04-18 18:05:36

oh if anyone's interested, I opened the 218 in 1 and it has "仁顺科技" (Renshun Technology) on the PCB, so I guess they were behind it after all... either they made it as an OEM deal for someone else or they were just getting wary about crediting themselves so openly on these things.

8Posted by Sven at 2014-07-24 19:50:38

What is a price?

9Posted by taizou at 2014-09-03 14:40:28

I'm not selling them, but on Aliexpress (if you search for "FC 218 in 1" or something like that) a few sellers have the 218 in 1 for $16.80.

10Posted by Gilberto at 2014-09-27 19:22:08

It would be possible to manufacture a cartridge with games I want? If yes revenderei in Brazil.
Ninja Gaiden 1
Ninja Gaiden 2
Ninja Gaiden 3
Double Dragon 1
Double Dragon 2
Double Dragon 3
MegaMan 1
MegaMan 2
MegaMan 3
MegaMan 4
MegaMan 5
MegaMan 6
Super Mario Bros 1
Super Mario Bros 2
Super Mario Bros 3
Mario is Missing
Zen the Intergalactic Ninja
Mighty Final Fight
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3
DuckTales
DuckTales 2
Batman
Batman Returns
Batman: Return of the Joker
The Legend of Zelda
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy 2
Final Fantasy 3

ALL IN ONE CARTRIDGE, CAN YOU DO IT?

11Posted by taizou at 2014-10-11 19:06:00

no, sorry! I'm not a cartridge manufacturer, I just blog about them sometimes. You could try contacting some companies in China, but they'll probably require a high minimum order quantity for a custom cartridge like that. Probably your best bet if you want a specific set of games is to just buy something like an Everdrive N8 and load them onto an SD card.

12Posted by asish chowdhury at 2015-02-21 08:34:09

Famicom 198 in 1 & 218 in 1 multicarts nse roms plzzz

13Posted by asish at 2015-03-08 14:16:18

Where can i download those games (Famicom 198 in 1 & 218 in 1 multicarts nes rom download plzz) ?
Thank you very much

14Posted by taizou at 2015-04-06 22:27:40

These aren't currently dumped, sorry. There are similar multicart ROMs at http://cah4e3.shedevr.org.ru though.

15Posted by ? at 2015-12-28 06:52:54

Sex is not allowed

16Posted by piratenesgames at 2016-07-11 09:54:10

218-in-1 ROM is already dumped by Team Europe group. Here's the download link: https://www.sendspace.com/file/tcolqx