New Plug n' Play system actually has GOOD classic games!

[FlightSuit]

...or for a store buyer to think nothing of purchasing illegal knockoffs

 

Do you think the buyers for Walgreens actually have a clue?

 

By the way people, there's no possessive apostrophe in "Walgreens."

 

This is confusing, because the chain was founded by a Mr. Charles Walgreen (no S at the end), and the firm's name is The Walgreen Company, but they don't officially spell their store names with an apostrophe.

 

Quite a conundrum for us Grammar Police, as the correct spelling, in this case, is grammatically incorrect.

[pinball22]

...

The US may indeed be devolving into a third world country.. but how could you say something like "its pretty bold for a store buyer to think nothing of purchasing illegal knockoffs"?

 

 

I think he meant the person who does purchasing for Walgreens and chose to buy these, not you.

[chrisbid]

...

The US may indeed be devolving into a third world country.. but how could you say something like "its pretty bold for a store buyer to think nothing of purchasing illegal knockoffs"?

 

 

I think he meant the person who does purchasing for Walgreens and chose to buy these, not you.

 

 

yes

[jeremysart]

...

The US may indeed be devolving into a third world country.. but how could you say something like "its pretty bold for a store buyer to think nothing of purchasing illegal knockoffs"?

 

 

I think he meant the person who does purchasing for Walgreens and chose to buy these, not you.

 

 

yes

 

Ahh, I see I see.

Probably just a case of "Our big supplier said we should carry these", and the distributor Walgreens would likely not know what was going on here.

I guess it would be in best interest to report something like this. I mean, it is relatively harmless, but it could evolve into something bad. Maybe these folks should put their effort into paying artists and developers to create original games for these things

[S1500]

I mean really, the NERVE of these Mall employees not having intricate knowledge of the copyrights of almost 30 year old video games! If they are too lazy to put these through a disassembler & checking against known good ROMs, why do they even show up to work?

 

Paul Blart: Mall Copyright Enforcement Cop

[BrianC]

AntAdv was only released via Colecovision in the US (Famcom only in Japan).

 

Antarctic Adventure isn't Famicom only. It was originally released for the JP/EU MSX computer, which other versions are ports of. There's also a GB/GBC version that was released in a Konami GB collection for EU (GBC) and JP (GB).

Edited September 25, 2009 by BrianC

[jeremysart]

AntAdv was only released via Colecovision in the US (Famcom only in Japan).

 

Antarctic Adventure isn't Famicom only. It was originally released for the JP/EU MSX computer, which other versions are ports of. There's also a GB/GBC version that was released in a Konami GB collection for EU (GBC) and JP (GB).

 

You do not have to get technical about it and "correct" me. I was simply stating that the game was not released in the US for NES, but only for the Colecovision.

MSX never existed in the US, and I dont live in Europe so I never seen it on GB.

[Retro Rogue]

MSX never existed in the US, and I dont live in Europe so I never seen it on GB.

 

Huh? Spectravideo and Yamaha both released MSX machines here.

[BrianC]

 

You do not have to get technical about it and "correct" me. I was simply stating that the game was not released in the US for NES, but only for the Colecovision.

MSX never existed in the US, and I dont live in Europe so I never seen it on GB.

 

Woah! That's a bit harsh. The information didn't have to be given at all, nor was this intended only as a correction. I understood what was stated, but I thought it would be worth mentioning the other versions since it was incorrectly stated that the game was Famicom only in Japan.

 

I don't understand the logic in treating something like it doesn't exist just because it wasn't released in your country (and in this case, a couple MSXes were released here). The MSX Antarctic Adventure wasn't released here in the US, but it was still released. It's not like there aren't plenty of places with information on the Konami GB Collections (which were released in both Japan and Europe, BTW, just with different numbers and GB b/w with SGB support in Japan and backwards compatible GBC with no SGB support in Europe). I have never been to Japan or Europe (I'm in the US BTW). I have knowledge of the games because I read about them on various websites like wikipedia, shmups, gamefaqs, google, and even hardcore gaming 101. It's not like these things can't be imported or played in the US either.

Edited September 26, 2009 by BrianC

[FlightSuit]

I don't understand the logic in treating something like it doesn't exist just because it wasn't released in your country...

 

 

Next you're going to suggest that we should learn about other cultures and have respect for them!

[desiv]

Ok i stopped at Walgreens on the way home and all they had was Plug-n-Play 50 Games and it was $12.99 the companies name is dreamGear and the website is: http://www.dreamgear.net/ the address is simply a PO Box in Torrence,CA

 

From what I could tell by the minuscule pics on the back the "games" are mostly NES style games like Super Mario 2, Zelda, RC Pro Am? and such. And no i'm not wasting $12.99 on this thing....$4.99 maybe.

 

And I am not surprised at all to see these things at Walgreens/Wal-Mart etc... as much of the inventory they carry is made in China so why would they not carry what their biggest suppliers tell them to carry? Last year they had them Wii-mote games at Walgreens Dr. Ashens even reviewed them:

 

I did the same thing tonight after reading this thread

I also only saw the 50-in-1 for $12,99. I even went to a second Walgreen's to make sure. I asked the associates and asst. manager about it and the only other thing they had in stock recently was the Jakks Atari version, and that had been gone for at least a few months.

 

Same here, tho I wasn't really a NES guy growing up. I don't think I played one till MUCH later. Was into computers then.

 

But was intrigued by this thread. Neither of the Walgreens where I work had it, they both had the 50-in-1.

 

However, the one where I live (an hour + from where I work) had a bunch of them. $9.99, and some AAA's on sale (and chocolate bars for the wife.. :-)

 

It works, but it's hard to compare since I'm not an NES guy per se.

 

The Pacman looks almost identical to the NES Pacman on my Nokia 770 emulated (colors are a bit different, but the game looks the same).

In the paper insert, it calls it Pakman, with a K. But it's PacMan.

 

The Tetris clone is called Russian Puzzle game and it is NOT NES Tetris.

Donkey Kong looked (to me) like Donkey Kong, but they called it something different on the paper. (Called it Donkey Kong in the on-screen menu tho).

 

Only trouble I've had with it in the 6 minutes I played was that I kept hitting the reset button instead of start, but at least it resets quick.

 

I actually own a NES (had to replace the cart slot to get it working), but I don't have it here, and I can't remember when I last had it hooked up and what games (or game) I have. Someone gave it to me, and I fixed it. And then put it away to play with the Vectrex. :-)

 

desiv

[S1500]

I just bought one of these at Walgreens, so I'll have the verdict, and probably YouTube playthrough videos later on..

[desiv]

I don't understand the logic in treating something like it doesn't exist just because it wasn't released in your country...

 

 

Next you're going to suggest that we should learn about other cultures and have respect for them!

 

We do have respect for other cultures!

I mean, it's so cute when they think they are as good as we are....

Yes, I'm looking at you Canada, with your Socialist Commie Health care..

 

 

desiv

 

(Wow.. I almost sounded just like my Mom there! :-)

[BrianC]

oops. By "Famcom only in Japan", you meant that it's Japan only, not that it's exclusive to Famicom in Japan. Sorry about that.

 

However, I still stand by my sentiments on foreign games and the complaints about foreign games and systems simply because of the mere mention of them are a bit off putting.

Edited September 26, 2009 by BrianC

[desiv]

I just bought one of these at Walgreens, so I'll have the verdict, and probably YouTube playthrough videos later on..

 

Found this on Youtube. A quick vid with the game list and Mario Bros and Arkanoid, no sound, but it has the game list.

 

 

desiv

[S1500]

I played some games last night. Strange...

 

1. The paper list of games don't exactly match the list of games on the interactive menu.

 

2. The name of the game on the interactive menu mare different than the game's title screen.

 

3. There's a few games that apparently were listed as public domain, complete with a website address for more info.

 

I like this one so far. I haven't encountered any repeats yet. Some have level selects. Did see some misspellings through, which is a rite of passage for these types of systems.

[desiv]

Yeah, I haven't gone through them all yet, but I don't see any dupes yet.

 

Weird game choice.

 

I mean, it doesn't have Super Mario (any of them that I've found), Zelda, or some of the other big games. And the Tetris it has isn't NES Tetris, so you'd think, maybe it's trying to be legal???

 

But it does have Mario Bros, Super Contra, Pacman, Donkey Kong, etc...

 

Just a weird choice of games. But it almost has an old school NES feel.

OK, I'm not an NES guy, but I mean it has Mario Bros (orig), Pacman, DigDug, DonkeyKong, but no SMBs or Zelda.

Kind of retro-retro. :-) Probably just me.

 

desiv

[Mord]

I played some games last night. Strange...

 

1. The paper list of games don't exactly match the list of games on the interactive menu.

 

2. The name of the game on the interactive menu mare different than the game's title screen.

 

3. There's a few games that apparently were listed as public domain, complete with a website address for more info.

 

I like this one so far. I haven't encountered any repeats yet. Some have level selects. Did see some misspellings through, which is a rite of passage for these types of systems.

 

If you could, could you give an example of an apparent public domain game and web address. Yeah, I'm pretty skeptical about such claims since for something to be in the public domain the original author has to explicitly PUT it there. (and putting it in a creative commons license is NOT the same as public domain, no matter how much I see some people claim it does. )

 

The idea of expecting something to expire from copyright on it's own is laughable these days.

Edited September 26, 2009 by Mord

[S1500]

I'll have to decipher the screenshot a bit. The jiggly font they decided to use for the opening screen is a bit hard to read. Funny, *Billy Mays voice* you don't get one, but TWO snake games in this system.

 

The d-pad is a bit better than others, as it's raised a bit from the controller, not unlike analog thumbsticks. This made games like F1 Racer(ie Pole Position) not as frustrating to play.

[FlightSuit]

If you're going to be spending money on one of these pirated NOAC systems, the "Game Fillip" that I got at a Chinese discount store is still a much better deal: 88 games built in, a cartridge slot, an AC adapter, two PS1 style controllers, and a light gun, all for $17.

 

These TV games they sell at Walgreens are interesting, though. I just wish something new or different would happen with those things. Since the entire TV plug-in game industry is totally married to the NOAC design, we can't really expect anything but more of the same from the bootleggers.

 

The legit, licensed manufacturers, however, do seem to have brought some pretty decent arcade and 2600 ports to the NOAC platform, and their stuff tends to be much more durable, often with real joysticks and paddle controllers and what-not.

[nathanallan]

I had a Game Fillip once! Wasn't my thing so I gave it to a friend of mine. Whenever I go to Juarez (Been a while now, probably will be a lot longer with all the stuff happening) I would see all KINDS of neat rip-offs. I'm still looking for the one that looks like a 360, just for kicks-- cart slot, controls look like ps2, cart slot for famicom games. But it's going to be a while.

[FlightSuit]

Here's an entire thread that I started regarding the Game Fillip:

 

DONGkey Kong

 

I have an interesting collection of bootleg/knock-off toys, most of which are from China, but one or two are from Mexico.

 

I'm mainly into Godzilla bootlegs, but I occasionally run across something else. I'm lucky to own one of these, for example:

 

 

Galacy Cop Darth Vader knock-off

[nathanallan]

That Darth Vader thing is neat! If it were me and my stuff was halfway organized I'd make a vid showcasing some of it, maybe the most interesting things. Nice!!

 

I tried to get into the whole clone thing, but there are too many and not enough room for everything. It seemed like for a while every other week there was a new clone system out, all playing the same things but looking like a different console. Right now all I have is a broken PS1 lookalike only for a possible case for something in the future.

[FlightSuit]

Here's another fabulous bootleg which I'm lucky to have in my collection:

 

Horrible Uncanny Embryo

 

It's a motorized Mothra larva that crawls along on your floor.

 

I guess in the minds of the bootleggers, larva = embryo.

 

What's really interesting is that, if you look at the box art, you'll see an image of H.R. Giger's alien. So, in order to obfuscate the fact that they're selling an unlicensed Godzilla toy, they're trying to trick you into thinking it's an unlicensed Alien chestburster toy!

 

Classic knock-off marketing logic. I love it!

 

I found this thing at a Kay Bee Toys factory outlet store, of all places.

[[d2f]Iggy*SJB]

My local Walgreens only has the 50 in 1 controller... I'm gonna go check CVS, and maybe WalMart. I want one of these...but it sucks not being able to find one.

 

Please tell me that the version of Donkey Kong on there is close enough to the arcade version that I won't be able to tell the difference.

 

I have Donkey Kong 64... which allegedly has the arcade version of DK in it... but I can't unlock it. I don't particularly like DK64, TBH.... but I'd like to play the port of the original on it.