The Story of the Aladdin Deck Enhancer

[@thorrollosson]

Haha this is a great video :) Some additional context from the inside. David Harding and Terry Hickey, the guys I dealt with mostly from the Camerica side of things, were very nice guys and probably pretty good businessmen with more traditional products. Then they hit a home run out of nowhere with that game genie, and I don't believe they ever understood the actual gaming market itself. I wish I had more input on the whole thing, but I was just a kid, and ultimately, a prop. As my mom was very ill after our house burning down and a heart condition/brain damage, and my dad wasn't able to find work, it fell on me to earn our roof. Micro Machines were the only toys to survive our fire in 1989, picking through the ashes. The fact that I'd later end up endorsing the video game had a certain poetic logic to it. The game genie and Micro Machines were my introduction to Camerica and Codemasters. Although I had very little say in the matter, being signed to do this did seem promising at first. Unfortunately, the following releases of games were a mixed bag of mostly decent to below average stuff. Worse, I absolutely knew that the 8-bit days at that time were extremely limited. I nearly begged for 16-Bit titles, and the replies I received were either vague promises or flat out ignoring the question. Seeing their plans for the Alladin made it clear they had the exact opposite idea in mind. Logical on the surface, but gamers are always looking for the next best thing, not something that played old titles on an old console. If it had been more ambitious, say with some of the more exotic add-on DSPs and processors, and had extensive cooperation with other devs, the prospects would have been at least hypothetically promising instead of an obvious dead end. After all, the PC Engine/TG16 is basically an 8-Bit with some hopped up features. Ah well, I got to meet a lot of wonderful people, and see some interesting stuff from the ground during that era. I was at the CES where Nintendo and Sony broke up their PlayStation plans and saw a great many obviously furious Japanese execs storming around. I won a New Geo by playing Fatal Fury against Chad Okada (aka The SNK Game Lord, an amazingly nice guy), I got to travel extensively and talk games with kids across the country, and of course drop by any SF2 machine I saw :) It just makes me a bit sad, if at least no longer outright angry, that the bulk of the games they stuck my name on were never as great as I felt Micro Machines was. And some series such as Dizzy, were in their own right pretty good games, but the US market was not really used to these in the context of NES experience. European gamers playing on 'home micros' such as Speccy, Sinclair, etc, were much more used to more involved and slower paced games. Even the dev cycle of putting out budget titles on tape or floppy at extremely low production costs and sticker price was a bad match for expensive to produce cartridges and $50-$60 game prices. All in all, bravo for the video. If anyone feels like they bought a bad Camerica game on my account, drop me a line when in Texas, and I'll buy you a Shiner or a Dr Pepper and apologize in person. Much love Thor

[@Sauciflash]

Too many comments I guess, yours might be lost in the sea. You could try his email, gaminghistorian at the g to the mail dot com, I'm sure a Skype call would be epic ;)

[@Xx1SailorScoutxX]

Norm should pin this comment

[@angelsapon9894]

The legend himself.

[@TransCanadaPhil]

Wow, it's neat to see you on here. I remember as a kid reading magazines like EGM, GamePro, VG&CE and always seeing your name and face on so many of the ads in those days and and my 12-13 year old self was always thinking "Wow that guy must be like the best video game player in the world". This was circa 1991-93 or so. I'm 40 now and it amazes me that I can still remember your name from those days, somehow certain things stick.

[@n64ra]

I’m in Texas and ready for that shiner 😀

[@GamingHistorian]

I bought an Aladdin Deck Enhancer back in 2015. The only thing I knew about it was that it was from the same people who made the Game Genie. It sat on my shelf for years until a few months ago, when I decided to finally dive in. The history behind this crazy accessory was way more interesting than I ever thought. Hope you all enjoy!

[@YousefCat21]

Wow back then camerica really wanted the audiance...but they failed =|

[@smallsthetimelord4066]

Interesting!

[@mrhick01]

Interesting piece of video game history. Thank you for this video.

[@ObiTrev]

Speaking about Deck Enhancers. I've heard of an add-on for the Artari 2600 that turned it into a computer. And one that allowed it to play much more advanced games, such as an RPG.

[@scottiejordan1064]

And u think this is more interesting than GENREAL COMPUTER the guys who invented game modding. when I was a kid early 80s I saw super missel attack, took years to figure out what it was.

[@marcinkuc9349]

Fun fact: Those Camerica games were very popular in Poland in the 90s, where we could play them on Pegasus, a Famicom clone distributed here. Micro Machines is one of my favourite childhood games.

[@catt6661]

Same here. And imho Robin Hood and Soccer were hits too. The all made my childhood. I had never seen any floods in Soccer as a child :) Pozdro

[@dataecto6135]

"If the Aladdin Deck Enhancer was never released...how am I holding one right now?" *The box in his hands begins to fade away into dust*

[@laineyzzz6]

Now my hard hat friend your safe from that turbo sapper

[@jacklong6106]

@@laineyzzz6 SPAH SAPPIN MAH SENTRY

[@KRDecade2009]

Mr. Nerd I don’t feel so good

[@parimabartender]

Thanks obama, I mean thanos

[@gc3k]

Great Scott

[@TugsP]

"One of my favorite games...on the Aladdin Deck Enhancer". Well played, sir.

[@louistournas120]

Get an Upper Decker, it just keeps on giving and giving.

[@titanium_rocket1505]

I freaked out when this was in the AVGN episode!

[@Marcusthedingus]

I know

[@BlakeBaggott]

I love how the Gaming Historian makes me care about things I didn’t even know I wanted to care about

[@SonicFanDU]

Had to watch this after AVGN recent episode!

[@WWE-Fan-420]

same

[@DarkMetalSpider]

same! somehow I had missed this one.... watching this right now!

[@PlutoniumPanda]

Yup lol even though I'm subscribed to both I hadn't caught this video yet.

[@dubyaw9511]

Calm and collected video game nerd

[@trevorrandom]

Me too

[@gusrendell6083]

James Rolfe makes a passing remark in his latest video which I think defines the appeal of Gaming Historian. While describing the undoing of Camerica thanks to the Deck Enhancer™ the Nerd says ‘not even the Gaming Historian found any clear proof,’ a statement which goes by quickly but rather poignantly exemplifies the thoroughness and depth which Norman examines his topics and subjects. He himself mentions in a video about his own history that he saw a niche to fill with a detailed historical approach to looking at gaming, and there’s truly no one offering content on the same level as Norm. His background in education and research is bolstered by slick and utterly charming production, all of which is a means of conveyance for exceptional and compelling insight into a history that holds many interesting and critical stories. Norm’s offerings set the bar very, very high and there aren’t any contemporaries that provide content that teaches about the nooks and crannies of gaming in such an engrossing way. Thanks for the great content.

[@cilonrs]

If even the Nerd respect you, you are doing a great job

[@funnyperson4027]

I would like to point out that even if they don’t do primarily history videos, the guys at my life in gaming and gaming quarterly are some other great retro game youtubers that give a more focused look at the hardware

[@AllGamingStarred]

I appreciate your educated backhanding of the AVGN's comments

[@briantaylorcloe7725]

@@funnyperson4027 MLiG and CGQ are incredible - along with Jeremy Parish - may be my Mount Rushmore of Gaming History

[@funnyperson4027]

BeeTeeCee _ agreed I don’t know why I watch them, I don’t even play retro games but the retrospective look at games, consoles, and a multitude of similar things in the medium really makes for a user friendly approach

[@Fondoofus5542]

11:15 “It almost feels like a sonic game.” Nerd: But with all the fun taken out!

[@samuelcorreia1696]

Rewatching all the GH videos for the 2nd time, and still astonished with the quality of the content in every single video. Undoubtably one of the best channels in all KZbin. Huge thumbs up for Norman and all GH collaborators, from Portugal with love!

[@TransCanadaPhil]

These were definitely available at retail in Canada for awhile when they first came out. I remember seeing them on retail shelves at places like "Zellers" back in the day.

[@0Synergy]

Could be why it's hard to find proof. Zellers has been memory holed

[@TransCanadaPhil]

@0synergy yeah there are a lot of old large Canadian retailers that were around at the time that are now gone. Places like “Consumers Distributing”, “Eatons”, “Woolco”, “K-Mart”, “Zellers” (as previously mentioned). These were all large mainstream retailers that sold video games across the country.

[@neongrey333]

@@TransCanadaPhil oh man i remember consumers!

[@TransCanadaPhil]

@ yup I used to buy video games there all the time! Remember you'd walk in and basically just order everything from a catalog, fill out a slip and hand it to the merchant, kind of like doing a manual deposit/withdrawl at a bank back in the day.

[@SonofMrPeanut]

I will always grin seeing that Paul Rudd SNES ad.

[@mrhashbrown8283]

That man will never age I fucking swear

[@twicethemegapower3995]

Cant-Man: Mom Said No

[@austinfrazier7325]

@@mrhashbrown8283 I was literally about to say the same thing!

[@thestwinner680]

I wanted to comment on the same thing, but wasn't sure/aware *it was actually HIM?!* Hahaha LOL, yeah, dude looked practically identical to today, except maybe skinnier, of course. ;D

[@MartyM.]

Did he crank up the 4D3D3D3? (Tim & Eric reference lol)

[@The_RadicalOne]

Dang, now I wish I had kept mine. Nice throwback memory though.

[@herbderbler1585]

I feel your pain. I still regret selling my old Atari 2600 at a garage sale back in the 90s because I had a NES and SNES and didn't need that old piece of junk anymore. If only I could have foreseen what video game nostalgia would mean to us in the future.

[@TanukidLeaf]

So it WAS released in stores?

[@Kashmir23]

No never

[@Kashmir23]

That’s what Norm said? So how did you get one?

[@aguyandhiscomputer]

@@herbderbler1585 I'm 38 and threw my Commodore 128 in the garbage when I was 16 or so because I didn't play it anymore. I weep a little every night.

[@DoctorTalon]

This is always fun piece of history to revisit. Camerica products fascinated me ever since my mom got me Fantastic Adventures of Dizzy as a Christmas present 28 years ago. I hadn't seen anything like it, because it was a gold cartridge and I didn't know until about a decade ago that it was an unlicensed game. Learning about Camerica's history with The Game Genie and the curious Deck Enhancer truly made this a rabbit hole of gaming. Thank you for sharing this! Your million views are well-deserved!

[@ricemenarq6230]

this video already better than the upcoming Aladdin movie.

[@PH96Official]

Oh Dammnnn 😎

[@blackheartgamingonline]

OOF

[@DanielAyy]

Ah das hot! Das hot!

[@GamingHistorian]

oof

[@DanielAyy]

@@GamingHistorian big oof

[@RockstarMazy]

My man, I love how you've grown and your content is always quality. Thank you for your hard work and insight

[@yukariyakumo1999]

0:40 Wait a minute... He has two of them? Nobody has two! Who would own multiple copies of something that's shitty?

[@gelo0894]

Lol

[@Koridai011]

Then why does James Rolfe have Multiple Cartridges of et

[@Koridai011]

Actually, the reason why he has two so he can review both different versions of it

[@handlessuck589]

AVGN has like, a hundred Intellivoice modules.

[@supakusuta]

@@Koridai011 It's because people kept sending copies of ET to AVGN, He even has sealed copies and some of the copies are the PAL version.

[@UltimateTechHub]

I love this gaming history. I grew up in the 80s and 90s and loved video games.

[@alswo9628]

Came from AVGN, you earned my subscription.

[@youjuhwan9697]

yessss

[@PACKERMAN2077]

You mean you didn't know who the Historian was?..... You missed a lot of quality stuff

[@alswo9628]

@@PACKERMAN2077 Don't worry; I normally don't binge-watch, but when I do it's for the occasions like this.

[@xiaolongdrake5353]

I was brought here by AVGN

[@craigland7349]

Oh DECK enhancer...I seem to have clicked on the wrong video.

[@matthewpalmer4543]

Were you looking for a duck enhancer too?

[@amso7169]

Matty Palmer I hope he meant that instead of.... yeah.

[@TheOofaloofa]

Or dock enhancer

[@TheOofaloofa]

Also ew dude WTF

[@nthgth]

🤣🤣 good one

[@DaxSchaffer]

I'm 99% sure that's Tony Jay narrating the SNES commercial at the beginning.... which basically means that Megabyte liked Nintendo games. No one else had a voice like him, it's just so iconic. Also, your videos are always so well researched. I'm glad there are thoughtful people like you on KZbin who don't just scream information at their audiences like a moron.

[@GenerationGapGaming]

The switch disabling the lockout chip is savage lol! Great video as always and love finding new bizarre NES hardware.

[@muz426]

GenerationGapGaming really man,Savage =^\

[@katherineberger6329]

Atari: Goes through the trouble of stealing a copy of the 10NES code to make a backward-compatible "Rabbit" chip that ends up getting them sued by Nintendo. Camerica: "Ha ha ha, microcurrent pulse goes brrrrr."

[@justanotheryoutubechannel]

@@katherineberger6329Unfortunately, the clone chip method was the only true solution, Color Dreams/Wisdom Tree were never able to get 100% reliability with a pulse-switch method despite using up to 9 different methods and configurations. A bunch of their documents got leaked and you can read about how they tried to get 100% reliability but many consoles took up to 9 attempts to work, and the last model released was so reliable that even with their best efforts 13% of their test consoles couldn’t be cracked. Camerica presumably would’ve had the same trouble.

[@HellOnWheel]

AVGN's Aladdin episode randomly came into my feed today, which is how I first learned about your channel 4 years ago! I know you're working on something big right now, so I'll just watch some classic episodes to help keep your views up 😉

[@GameHammerCG]

The Dizzy games are wonderful. Dizzy is essentially the British 8-bit Mario. His games are held in high regard by so many British retro gamers. :)

[@GameHammerCG]

The SNES Man The New Zealand Story wasn’t just popular, it was an absolute craze. I recall people who didn’t even Game talking about The New Zealand Story.

[@minibigs5259]

....the help line....

[@GameHammerCG]

Mini Bigs Don’t get me started on the CodeMasters helpline. What a money-grubbing scam that was.

[@Lost_n_Found_1]

Did anyone assume that Dizzy was either the son or relative of Humpty Dumpty there? Just wondering, lol.

[@GameHammerCG]

SykosymatiK Asking for a friend? ;)

[@acvieluf]

I bought a deck enhancer once. It was not what i thought it was.

[@DebonairOfTheWind]

One letter makes a difference in life

[@Lentoron]

I also bought a Deck enhancer. I couldn't figure out how it was supposed to enhance my Deck.

[@Lentoron]

@acvieluf you spelled I wrong

[@DebonairOfTheWind]

@@Lentoron ask your boyfriend

[@Clay3613]

@@DebonairOfTheWind Seriously dude?

[@Eugenes84]

Congrats on being featured on AVGN. Making KC proud!

[@howiefeltersnatch8148]

Anyone else see a young Paul Rudd in the first commercial?

[@calebreader5818]

That *is* a young Paul Rudd. I had to do a double take!

[@jacefiore6203]

@@calebreader5818 How did you that?

[@troublemagnett]

God I was hoping someone would mention it

[@SidNightWalker]

I instantly recognized him, holy crap! I totally forgot about that badass commercial too.

[@mawinstallation6626]

Holy... it's him!

[@Renebean]

I wish we had Gaming Historian when I was in school back in the day he'd be right up there with Bill Nye and LeVar Burton

[@stevePHXD]

Except then he wouldn't be the gaming historian, he would just be gaming current events

[@SomariTheAdventurerJam6]

The Super Sonic Joystick

[@karlhans6678]

@@stevePHXD the paradox

[@technimechanical]

Except he really wouldnt be on that level whatsoever especially considering there wouldnt be a whole lot to talk about back then considering everything was still relatively new

[@favoritemustard3542]

Butterfly in the sky..? *I Can Fly Twice As High !*

[@rickyj3034]

gaming historian is like a drug to collectors ( well for this collector)...after every video I find myself at the local retro video game shop or ebay. cant help but feel that my bank account hates you but my heart loves you

[@Hailinel]

This is all really interesting to hear! I remember renting Micro Machines when I was a kid and almost immediately returned it. It was the only unlicensed game I had ever come across and had no idea what was going on with the weird cartridge with the exposed part of the underside that just refused to work in my NES. I guess the switch was just flipped in the wrong way.

[@FalloutLibertyHell]

Paul Rudd knows gaming ;)

[@syxx7wun]

Ok yea, i thought that was him lol

[@brianm5563]

Was going to comment on that and looked to see if anyone else did first 👍

[@IamSpeedyWay]

lol imagine if he added the rudd roll.

[@paulngo4631]

Damn he aged well. I look nothing like my teenage years.

[@Captain-Palsy]

I knew it 😁

[@MikeCantGame]

Love how you were featured on AVGN. 2 of my favorite youtube channels coming together. i would love to see more projects in the future. It would be really cool to see both of your styles clash on an AVGN episode side by side

[@AbbreviatedReviews]

I had no idea Micro Machines wasn't a licensed Nintendo game. I remember playing it and loving it and playing the more recent spiritual successor Toybox Turbos and also enjoying it as well. The original was way too difficult for me to beat as a kid though toward the end. Those super fast cars and the boats would end it for me.

[@cattyfang4289]

I thought you would’ve known that if it the cartridge was different

[@ExtremeWreck]

@@cattyfang4289 I think he didn't know that because of how good of a game it was.

[@mancubwwa]

@@cattyfang4289 Zelda also came on gold cartridge and it was as official as offical gets.

[@cattyfang4289]

mancubwwa but Zelda used the same cartridge design but with a different color

[@Cat780j]

@@cattyfang4289 im not sure if a kid can be aware of an unlicensed game soley because of a cartidge deisgn

[@GregsGameRoom]

This is fascinating. Great work as always Norm! It's a wonder more companies didn't try this to cut costs, but I guess since Nintendo was manufacturing all the cartridges, it would have meant they were unlicensed...

[@mileskay7566]

Central planning (Nintendo's Monopoly on NES cartridges) kills innovation, but what else is new.

[@TheRezro]

@@mileskay7566 Well, hipsters who pretend that they know what talking about, because they complain about big business presuming that it is "always wrong", also aren't anything new 0_0 If you wouldn't be dense, you would notice that all those were expansion chips and lockout chip needed for practical reasons (what was primarily quality control). Beside security chip what prevent shuffleware from diminishing value of console, most of those chips were result of the innovation exactly. Camerica could use standardized parts exactly because they didn't give a shit about quality and innovation. And I'm not saying that Nintendo wasn't monopolistic bastard at the time, but you accusations regard them are obviously false in case of innovation or them knowing what they are doing. So go away 0_0

[@mileskay7566]

@@TheRezro My point flew way over your head. Think before you attack people. In short, if anyone wanted to make a NES cartridge legally, they had to get Nintendo itself to do it. There was no, "Hey Nintendo, can we design them like this?" because Nintendo, long past the point of being reasonable when the '83 crash was in the rear view mirror, wanted a homogeneous brand for their NES. Nintendo did this with selfish intension. They hid behind the idea they were protecting the game industry with their monopoly, when really their impractically expensive cartridges (in effect artificially set prices rather than market equilibrium) were hurting other companies, such as Naughty Dog who were just a start-up. Central planning by definition kill innovation. Sorry, comrade. If one person sits in the brainstorming room instead of it being public access, less innovation happens. Gasp!

[@TheRezro]

@@mileskay7566 Ironic quote: My point flew way over your head. As it is in fact exact hipster nonsense you said it is giving you full reason to lough in my face. As Nintendo is wrong for doing something they have absolutely right to do and not something what oblivious hippies would like. PS: In order to have monopoly Nintendo would need stop other companies from releasing they own consoles. Idea of monopoly don't apply to your own property after all. What is most basic logic you clearly don't posses 0_0

[@ExtremeWreck]

@@mileskay7566 I think it's sort of a mix: yes, Nintendo was a bit selfish in some regards definitely, but their way of licensing meant that outright broken games wouldn't be published on the NES. Didn't stop terrible shovelware from being put on those systems though. Remember that terrible Home Alone game on the NES?

[@chriscab8333]

Man who needs cable when there's content like this. Unbeatable.

[@noahwashburn1949]

It's a great day when Gaming Historian uploads

[@trans_beauty89]

LOVED this episode!! I never knew this thing existed and tbh when I read the title of this video in my subscriptions I assumed it was about a version of the Game Genie. Keep creating great educational content like this! ❤️

[@Movie_Games]

Why didn't Nintendo build whatever hardware that was in the Aladdin deck enhancer into the NES itself? Then sell carts for $20? EDIT: He just said exactly what I was thinking at 18:20

[@taylord5381]

Probably would of made the actual consoles more expensive.

[@CaptainCat101]

Don't you love it when you write a comment that asks a question, then it's immediately answered a few minutes later?

[@paradoxzee6834]

Well it was about piracy, it was harder for unofficial 3rd party support and pirates to get acess to the chips than just to get the rom cards

[@CaptainCat101]

@@paradoxzee6834 most of their anti-piracy measures don't work. Famicom Disk System's embedded slots, the lock-out chips, the N64 using cartridges, the GameCube using mini-disks, and Super Mario Run needing to be online. It either doesn't work, or it backfires. Even Sony imitated them by using proprietary memory cards for the PSP and Vita. They need strategies that will work, but not hurt them in the long run.

[@outtrigger]

Greed

[@JustinAndrewHarris]

I never knew about this. That's why I love your channel! It teaches me cool things. 👍🏿

[@HeavenlyFloodofRegen]

This is one of my favorite games...on the Aladdin Deck Enhancer. Best qualifier of all time.

[@gideonwaxfarb]

I've been watching these kind of videos for years, and never heard of this thing. Thanks, Gaming Historian :)

[@TheHeartlessAlchemist]

BTW, nice cameo on the AVGN episode about the Deck enhancer.

[@nensondubois]

I have a second revision B Aladdin Deck Enhancer. The reason why it can damage top loader NES consoles is because it sends the voltage spike to the console instead since it was designed without the lockout chip. Sending a voltage spike to other parts of a circuit other than it;s original pin can cause damage.

[@CSLucasEpic]

This channel, and Ahoy, are the best two in KZbin to find in depth information about video game history.

[@Galvinize03]

10:45 "It's....me?" 10:47 **X-Files theme plays**

[@lordofthecats6397]

He set that to his twitter avatar for some time.

[@acebharath]

A new Gaming Historian video. Wooohooooo !!!

[@Bwianman85]

Right?! Get so excited when I get the notification!

[@15-Peter-20]

Indian 😥

[@acebharath]

SkyBlue 1988 Indian Nintendo fans are rare right?

[@KBXband]

The AVGN led me to your channel and now it's my favorite

[@terraticeras4312]

Me:Draws an Mario and put in to my fridge Nintendo:LAWSUIT

[@JW666]

And now all the Aladdin Deck Enhancers have been blown up! ;P

[@MonadoBoy16]

Dr JW They’re still there in real life

[@michaelkeehan8094]

@@MonadoBoy16 r/wooosh

[@JW666]

Monando Boy 16 I guess you have no humor.

[@AllHailKingKurt]

I wonder what nerd wish for that to happen

[@dereklouden7415]

@@AllHailKingKurt probably a video game nerd. An ANGRY video game nerd.

[@AssociationAdmirer]

Very interesting. Codemasters/Camerica's Firehawk is one of my all-time favorite NES games; I had so many hours of fun with it. It's good to hear some of the story of the company behind it.

[@jojoface4940]

Thank you, Gaming Historian. I appreciate your informative content.

[@WordsmithVG]

I can confirm that this was sold on either QVC or Home Shopping in the early '90s. I had (and still have) this, though we never found any other game than Dizzy. We got our hands on the original Bignose game this way as well. EDIT: It was definitely '93-ish.

[@Sybertek]

Good to see that you have two Aladdin Deck Enhancers.

[@Munden]

NES Cartridges that didn't boot correctly (yes, I too blew into cartridges) would sometimes boot more reliably when plugged into a Game Genie.

[@catsaregovernmentspies]

That was probably because the Game Genie would put more pressure on the 72 pin connector, helping the contacts make a connection

[@nate567987]

@@catsaregovernmentspies uh no it because it bypasses the NES-10

[@lh9591]

I want Paul Rudd to decide to get serious about gaming with a Nintendo Switch. Literally the same commercial but with present day Paul Rudd.

[@rastamouse7861]

yes!

[@benmalsky9834]

He's too much of a big star for that stuff. Can you imagine a Nintendo Switch commercial done in the style of the 90's commercials, and one of the guys in the commercial was in what is now the highest-grossing film of all time?!

[@sunsolaris]

@@benmalsky9834 I mean I assume it's no different when you see an ad for a mobile game feature Arnold Schwarzenegger or Ryan Reynolds. And those are just crummy mobile games!

[@0oidiedinatimemachineo024]

@@sunsolaris yeah exactly. if a company pays a high price many celebrities will do commercials. I mean Japan does this all the time gets big American movie actors to do commercials.

[@BoleDaPole]

dudes like 60 years old, most people under 20 don't know who he is

[@MITOMANOx]

So glad I've discovered your channel! Love your careful research and narrative style! Super duper enjoyable and mind tingling! Thanks for sharing!

[@pokehybridtrainer]

Shoutouts to those who saw this before the nerd's video. Both still kicking after so long.

[@mycelialgoddess]

Who's the nerd?

[@adhamwashere5320]

@@mycelialgoddess angry video game nerd

[@skunksecond]

[Theentiledpersonwhichisme.png]

[@DarkmanPoe]

Funny you should mention people returning Camerica products. I actually bought “Quattro Adventure” back when it was new (I fell for the hype from all the magazine adverts) and did indeed return it after I couldn’t get it to work on my NES (I could only see half the screen). I got store credit for it and got “F-Zero” for the SNES instead. Major upgrade.

[@Aristocles22]

Was that Tony Jay narrating the ad? Judge Frollo from Hunchback of Notre-Dame, Megabyte from Reboot, several voices from King's Quest VI, Baron Mordo from that Spider-Man animated series in the 1990s, Galactus from one of the Fantastic Four cartoons, etc?

[@weasel2htm]

I actually have the Aladdin Deck Enhancer / Dizzy game, along with the Quattro Adventure cartridge. My parents bought them from QVC around when the SuperNES came out. I recall enjoying the Dizzy games, but not caring much for the others. The video makes me want to pull out the NES and play it, but I took my NES and games to my dad after he mentioned wanting to play some of the NES games again.

[@SarahLJP]

I just recently found out about a similar product in Japan for the Super Famicom called スーファミターボ Sufami Turbo released by Bandai. Which was actually officially licensed by Nintendo. Unlike the Aladdin Deck Enhancer. It has two slots and had a linking feature where data could be shared between cartridges. Maybe you could do a video on it sometime.

[@fronttowardsenemy1332]

Thank you so much for this video! I remember getting the 4 in 1 adventure pack when I was a kid and never knew why the cartridge was so weird looking!

[@atomicdeath10]

Damn I miss Micro Machines. Spent many, many hours playing that game. If I remember correctly my mom got it for me as a surprise one Friday. If a game was releasing and it was in the budget she would usually buy it before it hit the shelves. One of the few perks of working for Kmart at the time.

[@TrippyCommentaries]

Amazing video! Subbed :)

[@TylerGamer765]

You’re the not angry video game nerd! Very friendly and informative. Cheers!

[@adam_wynne]

...Linus, who must prove to his buddies that he discovered the planet Earth... *SPEAKING OF DISCOVERING THINGS, TODAY'S SPONSOR IS SKILLSHARE...*

[@shiiriogami1422]

*intro plays*

[@SRBAnimate]

Use code 69420 at checkout

[@MrPhange]

I actually had a game for Sega Genesis called Cosmic Spacehead, and it came out of cartridge that looked almost exactly like a standard Camerica cartridge. The difference was that this version of the game was more of a point-and-click adventure game, with occasional side-scrolling elements that were rare and kind of broken. It actually wasn't that bad of a game, and the art design was the most 90s looking thing you've ever seen.

[@OneTrueBelmont]

I am glad I got to see a copy of your Aladdin Deck Enhancer and games before they exploded. Hopefully the fire damage wasn't too bad.

[@useful_mike]

Paul Rudd literally never ages.

[@JD92205]

I found this interesting, I think their plan of selling the Deck Enhancer for one price and then sell the cartridge games for $19.99, at less than half the price of the of the Nintendo game cartridge at $49.99, to market to the working families might have worked. To put that in perspective, the Nintendo games adjusted for inflation would cost $87.07 while the Alladin cartridges would run about $30. Shame the games just weren't that good, and they poured too much of their resources into an old system in addition to their other financial problems. I think this concept would have changed the video game industry at the time

[@Dargonhuman]

When I was in middle or high school, I had a teacher that broke the class into groups and tasked us with inventing something that would drastically change some part of our lives then come up with a marketing campaign for that product to sell to our classmates. One of the ideas my group came up with was a SNES game cartridge that had a slot you could put a Game Boy cartridge into like the Super Game Boy, except the SNES cart contained a full RPG game and the Game Boy carts were different characters you could play as in the SNES game. The idea was that when you put the Game Boy cart in a Game Boy system, you could train the character with a series of minigames to boost their stats, then when you put them back in the main game, those stats would carry over so that you wouldn't have to grind enemies for hours in the main game. Essentially, we came up with the Pokemon N64/Gamy Boy sharing system before the N64 was even a rumor. We rejected that idea for the class project as we figured that wasn't quite "world changing" enough to meet the project's requirements and instead went with some kind of medical something or other but the idea of having a game where you could swap customized characters or other assets basically on the fly was still intriguing to me. Even after that class, I kept coming up with ideas for games that could utilize that kind of technology, like a space shooter where you could swap out different weapons loadouts for the ship or entirely different ships all together, or a fighting game where you could have a base selection of fighters built in to the main game then get special expansion carts to plug in to use additional fighters, things like that.

[@IamR3D88]

@@Dargonhuman sounds like your idea was similar to not only pokemon, but the dreamcast vmu and a bit of skylanders with the buy other heros separately. Way before its time!

[@justanotheryoutubechannel]

It’s a good idea, Sega almost did something similar with their SVP chip. In the end Virtua Racing was the only game released using it, and it bumped up the cost significantly, so they came up with an idea of using a separate SVP-cart that would use Lock-On Technology to connect future 3D games to it, meaning they wouldn’t need an SVP in every game and they could be launched at normal retail price. At one point they had prototypes of Virtua Fighter, Star Wars Arcade, and Daytona USA using this system. Unfortunately, all these plans were dropped to focus on the 32X, which in a way was an evolution of that original idea.

[@ExtremeWreck]

@@Dargonhuman That actually sounds awesome, not gonna lie.

[@tonyisgolden5136]

I've heard about the Aladdin deck enhancer but didn't know much about it until this video.

[@roflmewaffles]

"that uhhh....people market things to make you spend more money..." oh shit we got a quick one

[@cilonrs]

I, for once, tried to pay my things with hugs. Never worked out. Damn greedy money-grubbers...

[@jesselockhart1230]

Boy, how'd that lesson go? lol

[@BagOfMagicFood]

Consumerism is a trap!

[@huzzahhelicopter2433]

10:46 this is why i love the Gaming Historian

[@VenomStryker]

Looked like Thor was trying to hold back a giggle when he was saying that the Baseball game was the best ever. :-)

[@ErnestJay88]

I don't even know that Linus Sebastian is an alien looking for planet earth. so shocking !

[@MandrakeFernflower]

Accidentally drops earth Oh shi- *loud explosion*

[@MegaJoojee]

"jumping on mushrooms reveals powerups" hmm I have to try that next time I take mushrooms.

[@thehoodybadger3402]

Beware of accidentally picking up the Debuff "Existential Crisis" however. MND and DEX was reduced by three after that and the entire game became unplayable.

[@Col_Panic]

My Mom bought me one with a few games off of QVC(TV shopping channel). It was definitely before 96, so it wasn't from that liquidation buy out you spoke of.

[@jrjard]

This is crazy! I got the 4-in-1 with Super Robin Hood when I was 5 or 6 at some thrift shop and could never remember what it was. I couldn't find it on ROM sites, and this would explain it. It's like a veil of Mandela Effect just lifted from my life!

[@Dylan_thebrand_slayer_Mulveiny]

liar

[@hmmboost]

Great time to post this; right as the Aladdin movie trailers are releasing.

[@Majorhappysaccount]

In the UK the NES and Master system lived on into the 90's as budget console options, i guess camerica was trying to tap into that market in the US not realising it didn't exist.

[@DavidTadros]

Here cause of the AVGN video. Just subbed! :)

[@LordBarros]

I had both the Quatro 4 in 1 games for NES. Not the Aladdin version but the regular games. The BMX game is actually fun once you learn the physics. And Super Robin Hood is a lot of fun, but very challangeing.

[@CheeperVHS]

Fun fact! Electronics Boutique, the small chain store he mentioned became the legendary EB Games (shortening the name).

[@blackdragons95]

you pronounced "Nintendo magasinet" correctly haha! Love from Sweden!

[@enthusiasticgamer88]

I'm so glad we're finally getting to the point where backwards compatibility is all but guaranteed for all next gen consoles. I've always felt it should be mandatory and see what Microsoft has done with One X back compat enhancement just makes me even more excited for the future. I hope this keeps going in this direction so that it's more like PC gaming where it's just upgrading hardware and all your old games still work on the new console out of the box. Regardless gaming in 2019 (retro particularly) is incredible, truly the golden age of gaming.

[@MrMarinus18]

The thing with older consoles though is that technology was still developing. So one system was drastically different from what came before. PC's also have that. You can't really play most 90's games on a modern PC without a good emulator. There are some that you can but the majority of them you can not. Building in backwards compatibility either requires reusing parts and having a weaker console as was the case with the Wii. Or requires dedicated hardware in addition to the current hardware, pushing the price up significantly as in the PS3.

[@backup368]

That Camerica logo just looks so classic.

[@FoolsGil]

This was quite bittersweet. I'm a business oriented person myself, it's sort of sad to hear when someone makes such a big hit, or several, make a wrong turn and they're done.

[@Teidi]

Is that Paul Rudd??

[@wtsyrdeal]

Looks like it!

[@psyents_8150]

I was wondering the same thing. It has to be!

[@420Ruger]

Yes, yes it is

[@ordoveritas]

According to google it is. Could be fake news.

[@420Ruger]

@@ordoveritas your life is fake news

[@Electromancer1]

I had Bee 52. This video brought back a bunch of memories of being completely lost as to what that A/B switch was for.

[@EYTPS]

First the Game Genie, then the Aladdin Deck Enhancer. What next, the Magic Game Carpet?

[@mushroomhead3619]

Or the Jafar Game enhancer?

[@WebVManReturns]

No, the Magic Lamp.

[@teddzagan5178]

LOL!

[@Dargonhuman]

The could have done Magic Game Carpet as a Power Pad knockoff...

[@OneThousand98]

you mean this? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Pad

[@KaijuKillerdude]

please do a documentary on Street Fighter The Movie (1994) P.S. also tell me your thoughts on Street Fighter: The Movie: The Game

[@halilsahin4238]

Ah the notorious Sega Cd game...

[@olschoolTonyCarter]

@@halilsahin4238 Sega Saturn game. The arcade version qas an entirely different game.

[@halilsahin4238]

@@olschoolTonyCarter oh Thank you for correcting My error 👍

[@olschoolTonyCarter]

@@halilsahin4238 You're quite welcome Bro.

[@jamesraward]

Sebastien Elkin this always reminds me of 'Expect no Mercy' - classic fighting game made into a film about fighting in the fighting game called the name of the game...

[@mikeey6804]

6:07 - I swear this is like the 4th video of your's I've seen this clip in 😂

[@MikeDijital]

Am I the only one who noticed he doesnt push the games down in the toaster, he just slides them in .. OCD is a hell of a drug

[@TooCooFoYou]

He modded his NES by switching the original push-down component with the Blinking Light mod.

[@3MenAndALetsPlay]

Its probably an NES with a replacement 72 pin connector, the NES would have you push the game down so the pins would line up, but over time this can cause damage to the pins, so the newer made 72 pin connectors often times don't require being pushed down to work. I only found out when I had to fix mine and pushing it down causes it to not work and I thought I broke it. -Pierce

[@branaa09]

Yep he has Blinking Light Win installed, I have it too.

[@DiamandiL]

@@TooCooFoYou I wonder if the Aladdin Deck Enhancer works with Blinking Light Win, as it's meant to bypass the 10NES chip.

[@sol-ym5he]

Please consider a history episode on F-ZERO, since not many people know about Captain Falcon’s home series.

[@calebreader5818]

YES. That would be fantastic!

[@ZeldaACFan17]

I played the original on the SNES!

[@benmalsky9834]

I remember F-Zero well.

[@katherineberger6329]

Most of the games for the Aladdin Deck Enhancer got another public re-release as part of the cartridge range for the Blaze Evercade in 2021 - Cartridge 12 (The Oliver Twins Collection) and 19 (CodeMasters Collection 1). The licenses of both cartridges have since expired and the cartridges are now in "Legacy" status, which means they can be purchased from online retailers, but Blaze Electronics cannot make any more copies.

[@h347h]

Tommorow Ebay will be full of Deck Enhancer listings...

[@Dikwili]

They’ve been on there for ages. You can get a decent packaged deal if you’re a smart shopper.

[@GameHammerCG]

Treasure Island Dizzy is the second in the Dizzy series, so yeah it’s not as slick as Dizzy the Adventurer (aka Prince of the Yolk Folk), which is the sixth Dizzy game. As I recall, Fantastic Dizzy is the ninth in the series and yeah, it’s huge.

[@templet45]

Excellent video as always and I truly love and appreciate your content and the time you spend on every video. I have a quick suggestion...I think a history/life of (or at least career of) Reggie video would be excellent since he is now retired and has been instrumental in Nintendo's history. We could all pay tribute to the man and get to learn more about him and I think that would be excellent!

[@Koridai011]

8:35 well I learned that the hard way - Avgn