posted by taizou @ 2014-12-11 00:04:06
Dumps
Okay so this is a tiiiny bit out of the usual scope of this site here, since it's not technically a handheld game, but... there are certainly handheld versions of the console this game is for, even if it wasn't designed that way originally, so it almost counts. And this is has kind of become my de facto ROM-dumping blog anyway, it's just that until now I've only had Game Boy stuff to post. so here's a thing:
it's Super Tank War, a pretty rare Mega Drive (or Genesis if you're American) game by Gamtec. As with many unlicensed Mega Drive games, it's quite rare - literally the only copy I've ever seen documented anywhere is the one I own, and recorded this video from. It's also pretty much a Battle City clone, which is not an entirely surprising thing for them to have made, considering the popularity of Battle City and its hacks in Taiwan and other Famiclone-heavy markets, not to mention the fact that Gamtec had already made such a clone for the NES, variously known as either "King Tank" or "Super City Tank".
The actual ROM is 256KB, but at that size (in current emulators at least) the music and most of the sound effects don't play; something similar was recently found to be afflicting Link Dragon, and the solution simply appears to be doubling up the ROM to 512KB. Presumably this is some kind of unemulated quirk of the Gamtec mapper, and it's doing something like mirroring 00000-3FFFF at 40000-7FFFF and reading the music from the latter.. for some reason (my knowledge of Mega Drive stuff is pretty much zero, as may be apparent, so I'm not really sure why they would do this, or if that even makes sense in MD terms). But anyway I'm releasing both the 256KB ROM as the proper dump and a 512KB as a hack to get the music working, similar to what I do with raw and fixed dumps of Game Boy games.
Dumped by chôkai from my cart - also special thanks to Raistlin for arranging things.
raw dump: Super Tank War (Unlicensed) [Raw Dump].zip
512k version/sound fix: Super Tank War (Unlicensed) [Sound Fix].zip
posted by taizou @ 2014-09-25 20:55:01
Dumps
here we go again! more Li Cheng stuff and, in my opinion, probably the best set so far (mostly because of one particular game)
Mo Jie 3 - Bu Wanme De Shijie 魔戒3-不完美的世界 (CBA089)
This is a sort-of Lord of the Rings game by Vast Fame based on their previously dumped Emo Dao,
except reconfigured to be entirely linear, with the map screen cut out.
This also means there are no shops (despite enemies still dropping money) and no items,
although you are granted a weapon upgrade for the final boss.
Also I poked around in the ROM a bit and there seems to be a title screen and intro text for an English version,
"Fellowship of the Rings"; I've never seen this version, but hey maybe it's out there. Or maybe there's some way to enable
it in this ROM!
raw: Mo Jie 3 - Bu Wanme De Shijie (Unlicensed, Chinese) (CBA089) [Raw Dump].zip
fixed: Mo Jie 3 - Bu Wanme De Shijie (Unlicensed, Chinese) (CBA089) [Fixed].zip
Luoke Ren DX6 洛克人DX6 (CBA091)
THIS is what I'm talking about. It's ZOOK HERO Z hell yeah 🎉🎊🌠🐯
if you aren't familiar with this one, it's Vast Fame's very first platform game, the first in their "Zook" series of Mega Man (X) clones
(the second being the more widely known Zook Hero 2/Rockman DX3), the first game to rip off
Mega Man 5's sound engine (which Vast Fame basically made their own), and generally just a really good game with great music and you should totally play it.
raw: Luoke Ren DX6 (Unlicensed, Japanese) (CBA091) [Raw Dump].zip
fixed: Luoke Ren DX6 (Unlicensed, Japanese) (CBA091) [Fixed].zip
Shuma Baobei DX6 数码宝贝DX6 (CBA097)
Some kind of RPG, heavily based on Digimon Adventure 02: D-1 Tamers for the WonderSwan Color, and developed by the same
SKOB-affiliated team as Mingzhu Koudai Guaishou 2/Digimon D4. This is one of their later efforts and seems to be much
better than their earlier stuff, although I'm not sure exactly what I'm doing in it.
interesting(?) aside: all of the characters' names appear to have been changed, either to dodge copyright or because the
developers were just fucking around;
Ryo and Taichi have become 榮恩 (Ron) and 哈利 (Harry) respectively, but I'm not sure of the origins of the rest.
raw: Shuma Baobei DX6 (Unlicensed, Chinese) (CBA097) [Raw Dump].zip
fixed: Shuma Baobei DX6 (Unlicensed, Chinese) (CBA097) [Fixed].zip
Shi Mian Maifu - Fengyun Pian 十面埋伏-风云篇 (CBA147)
And finally! This is another instalment in the "Shi Mian Maifu" RPG series by Tian Cai Xiao Zi (maybe?), using Vast Fame's San Guo Zhi engine
and music from Telefang. I have no idea how they got their hands on the engine, and it's nowhere near as good as Vast Fame's
own games, but maybe you could get some enjoyment out of this if you know Chinese.
Thanks to Shazam for supplying the cart!
raw: Shi Mian Maifu - Fengyun Pian (Unlicensed, Chinese) (CBA147) [Raw Dump].zip
fixed: Shi Mian Maifu - Fengyun Pian (Unlicensed, Chinese) (CBA147) [Fixed].zip
..so that wraps up the planned five-part Li Cheng ExtravaXingXing™
BUT of course that's not the end of Li Cheng. they could never be contained within a mere five parts. so stick around and maybe at some indeterminate point in the future i'll have some more of this stuff!
posted by taizou @ 2014-08-24 14:41:20
Dumps
whoa after a 3 month gap (sorry about that) here's some more Li Cheng stuff!
Taikong Baobei 太空宝贝 (CBA083)
This is just a Li Cheng rerelease of a Sintax game I already dumped. It's... the same. They didn't even bother to replace Sintax's boot logo with the Niutoude one, so to play in hhugboy it requires "Unlicensed compatibility mode" to be manually set to "Li Cheng".
raw: Taikong Baobei (Unlicensed, Chinese) (CBA083) [Raw Dump].zip
header fix: Taikong Baobei (Unlicensed, Chinese) (CBA083) [Header Fix].zip
The next three games are all Pokemon platform games by Makon (aka Yong Yong) and I know you all love those. For some reason Li Cheng have titled them all Shuma Baobei (数码宝贝) which is actually a Chinese name for Digimon, but as previous games have demonstrated they didn't really care about the difference.
Shuma Baobei - Huojian Bingtuan 数码宝贝-火箭兵团 (CBA085)
Also known as Pokemon Ruby (although the subtitle of this version translates to "Team Rocket"), this is a platform game starring a very red Pikachu (and yes they made a "Sapphire" with a blue Pikachu too).
Strangely, the game is permanently in some kind of debug mode; you can select a stage by pressing A or B on the stage intro screen, you have infinite lives and on touching an enemy you don't take damage but instead "collect" it as if it was one of the Pokeballs that litter the stages.
Unfortunately this also applies to the bosses, and as the game doesn't register the boss as being beaten when you "collect" it, you just get stuck in the boss area forever and it's almost impossible to actually finish any level. You can deal regular damage to the bosses sometimes by jumping on them, but usually a jump still results in a "collect". The only way to damage them consistently is by using Pikachu's electric attack, but even with this maxed out you don't get enough hits to finish them off; the only way I was able to defeat any boss was by cheating to give myself infinite electricity (Action Replay/GameShark code 01FF6BC2) or by using savestates and jumping.
If you actually do manage to beat the stage 8 boss, you'll get a blank green screen followed by a crash; I can't verify this on the real cart since Makon games don't work with my Action Replay and the game is more or less unbeatable without cheats or savestates (unless you get very lucky), but it happens both with the raw dump in hhugboy and the fixed version in other emulators, so I wouldn't be surprised if it was the case on real hardware too.
raw: Shuma Baobei - Huojian Bingtuan (Unlicensed, Chinese) (CBA085) [Raw Dump].zip
fixed: Shuma Baobei - Huojian Bingtuan (Unlicensed, Chinese) (CBA085) [Fixed].zip
Shuma Baobei - Chao Mengmeng Fanji Zhan 数码宝贝-超梦梦反击战 (CBA086)
This seems to be the original version of the game above, with a different level ordering and a correctly coloured Pikachu among other differences - but most importantly it doesn't have any weird debug features stuck on, so you can actually play it properly. It's probably better known as "Mewtwo Strikes Back" (which is also what the Chinese subtitle translates to), and it's roughly based on the Mega Drive Pocket Monster game.
raw: Shuma Baobei - Chao Mengmeng Fanji Zhan (Unlicensed, Chinese) (CBA086) [Raw Dump].zip
fixed: Shuma Baobei - Chao Mengmeng Fanji Zhan (Unlicensed, Chinese) (CBA086) [Fixed].zip
Shuma Baobei - Hai Zhi Shen 数码宝贝-海之神 (CBA087)
This is pretty much Makon's previous game Super Mario Special 3, only with Pikachu instead of Mario, some other sprites slightly modified and the levels arranged in a linear order. Apparently in some versions it isn't possible to complete the first level, but in this one you can, so.. you can enjoy the whole thing! (yay?)
raw: Shuma Baobei - Hai Zhi Shen (Unlicensed, Chinese) (CBA087) [Raw Dump].zip
fixed: Shuma Baobei - Hai Zhi Shen (Unlicensed, Chinese) (CBA087) [Fixed].zip
posted by taizou @ 2014-06-01 15:43:46
Dumps
it has come to my attention that several of my "fixed" versions of li cheng dumps released recently have the wrong cartridge type set in the header, because i am a huge fool; this will probably prevent you from saving on emulators other than hhugboy :(
i will update this post with any games affected and release properly fixed versions soon! sorry!
UPDATE 16:40 - These are the games with issues (note this only affects the "fixed" versions in other emulators, the raw dumps still work fine in hhugboy):
Wrong cart type in header, can't save:
- CBA010 Shuihu Shenshou
- CBA033 Emo Cheng 2 - Fengyun Pian
- CBA060 Mingzhu Koudai Guaishou 2
- CBA064 Gangdan Wuyu 2
- CBA073 Shuihu Zhuan - Jingdian Ban
- CBA075 Yingxiong Jian 2
- CBA078 Shuma Baolong - Diannao Pian
- CBA080 Sanguozhi Wudai
Probably wrong cart type, but doesn't save anyway (so shouldn't affect anything really):
- CBA076 Xi You Ji
- CBA079 Yingxiong Tianxia - Not sure about this one, the real cart has no battery but there are slots for unlockable characters, would make sense if those could be saved
Bigger problems :(
- CBA078 Shuma Baolong - Diannao Pian - Level 4-2 is empty so you'll just fall to your death repeatedly. This seems to be the result of some un-removed Li Cheng protection as the raw dump still works fine in hhugboy
if you want to play any of these games in non-hhugboy emulators i suggest you hold off for a bit & i'll upload fixed versions soon!
UPDATE 18:32 - New fixed versions are now available for the following games, marked with "Fixed-2" or "Header Fix-2" in the file names:
CBA078 Shuma Baolong - Diannao Pian is still undergoing further investigation!
UPDATE 19:04 - fixed the checksums now too shhh
UPDATE 23:12 - CBA078 Shuma Baolong - Diannao Pian is now working properly (hopefully), special thanks to SpaceNinja for spotting the problem & testing!
Download here: Shuma Baolong - Diannao Pian (Unlicensed, Chinese) (CBA078) [Fixed-2].zip
posted by taizou @ 2014-05-31 23:18:20
Dumps
hey the Li Cheng train is back in town, and it's brought... some games!
Xi You Ji 西游记 (CBA076)
A shooter by Vast Fame, based on their previous Harry Potter 2/3 but with a Journey to
the West setting. Basically the same as Qi Tian Da
Sheng as previously dumped by me, except there are a few extra pictures added at the
start of the intro.
raw: Xi You
Ji (Unlicensed, Chinese) (CBA076) [Raw Dump].zip
fixed (UPDATED 2014-06-01): Xi You
Ji (Unlicensed, Chinese) (CBA076) [Fixed-2].zip
Shuma Baolong - Diannao Pian 数码暴龙-电脑篇 (CBA078)
A Digimon-based platform game by Makon (Yong Yong). yep Li Cheng released these too.
raw: Shuma Baolong - Diannao Pian (Unlicensed, Chinese) (CBA078) [Raw
Dump].zip
fixed (UPDATED 2014-06-01): Shuma Baolong - Diannao Pian (Unlicensed, Chinese) (CBA078) [Fixed-2].zip
Yingxiong Tianxia 英雄天下 (CBA079)
It's TRUE
this is the GBC port of Capcom vs SNK (either by Makon, or at least someone connected to
them and/or Sachen) only shorn of all references to either Capcom or SNK, to the point that
it doesn't even have a proper title screen anymore.
Note that the raw dump requires "Unlicensed compatibility mode" setting to "Li Cheng" in hhugboy.
raw: Yingxiong Tianxia (Unlicensed, Chinese) (CBA079) [Raw Dump].zip
fixed (UPDATED 2014-06-01): Yingxiong Tianxia (Unlicensed, Chinese) (CBA079) [Fixed-2].zip
Sanguozhi Wudai 三国志五代 (CBA080)
Back to SKOB and the Digimon D4/Super Robot Wars team again; this is a strategy game with
some actually good music (on the usual bad sound engine) which makes it all the more
unfortunate that Li Cheng's release has screwed up music in the pre-battle scenes. The
original SKOB version, titled 吞食天地IV, has no such problem. Still this is totally a decent game and definitely shows progression from the developers' earlier stuff.
raw: Sanguozhi Wudai (Unlicensed, Chinese) (CBA080) [Raw Dump].zip
fixed (UPDATED 2014-06-01): Sanguozhi Wudai (Unlicensed, Chinese) (CBA080) [Fixed-2].zip
