This Company Repackaged Their NES Games. Here’s Why

The company Color Dreams was notorious for making low-quality unlicensed games. But later on, they would rebrand their entire company, and make Bible-themed games. They even repackaged some of their older games as Bible ones. Why did they do this? And how would Nintendo respond?
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Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
1:01 Color Dreams
2:10 NES Lockout Chip
4:03 Nintendo's Response
4:43 Wisdom Tree
5:52 Bible Adventures
8:48 Bible Buffet
9:47 Exodus
10:49 Sunday Sunday
12:27 Wisdom Tree Today
13:05 Conclusion
13:34 Outtro
Special thanks to the following users from pexels.com for the stock footage:
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Special thanks to streambeats.com for the music used in this video.
#nintendo #retrogaming #wisdomtree

[@FeralInferno]

That is crazy Wisdom Tree was still around til 2022! I'm shocked they made it past 1992 lol

[@pojr]

Yeah true! Although they stopped making games, and only existed to re-release their older games.

[@MaxOakland]

That’s shocking

[@SNARC15]

Surprised me too. I know some of their games came out on Genesis but I thought that was the end of them.

[@ooommm4024]

Jesus H Christ! 😂 Sorry, but I had to make that pun and am shocked Wis-Dumb Tree is still around. With all the god-awful (now rare) games they made, you would think such blunders would have put them out of business.

[@VEGANVANIA]

IMO, the real mystery is why small companies (then and now) don't focus on short, simple arcade-style games, that they'd have a chance of producing to professional standards: a small team, today, can produce _Donut Dodo,_ and a small team then could have produced something to compete with _Pac Man_ or _Defender_ -but trying to compete with Mario 3 would be a mistake.

[@MaxOakland]

That’s actuallly a great idea

[@BlueMSX.]

weird to think Wisdom Tree survived for as long as it did considering what became of Color Dreams. great video Pojr!

[@LeDingo153]

Yooo Blue!

[@pojr]

Thank you! And yeah very true. Although they hadn't made any new games in a long time, they always just re-release their older titles.

[@edrosa3485]

Without a doubt, this is the most comprehensive video on Wisdom Tree I’ve seen. Well done!

[@goatbone]

9:27 Bible Buffet comes with a book of Bible trivia questions that you refer to while you play. It will ask you the answer a question and then you look it up.

[@caucasoidape8838]

That makes more sense then. I'm not even religious, but I thought it would be dumb to market a religious game, and then not have it be religious.

[@VEGANVANIA]

@3:59 _"There's no way these games would have passed their quality assurance test…"_ -and now you're going to have to make a video about UNBELIEVABLY HORRENDOUS games that did indeed pass Nintendo's "Quality Assurance Test".

[@f.k.b.16]

That statement caught me ear too and actually that is a great theme for it's own video

[@blakegriplingph]

Wisdom Tree's use of Christian imagery is a 10000 IQ move on Dan Lawton's part, especially considering how he didn't actually did it out of piety but rather to give the Big N a holy middle finger as Dan is, at least at that time, an atheist and so were some of his colleagues; there was another story about WT's inception in that a certain Color Dreams employee moonlighted as a Sunday School teacher and thus gave them the idea of selling faith-based games as an untapped market. Considering how Nintendo would have faced immense opposition from conservative Christian parents especially from the Bible Belt, Dan's tactic worked if only out of equally cynical pragmatism. Another interesting story was that of Super 3D Noah's Ark: an urban legend states that id Software gave them the sources to Wolf3D to spite at Nintendo for forcing them to censor the game on SNES; id denied that such an incident took place and maintained that they were simply a Wolf3D engine licensee. And it seems like as though Color Dreams didn't simply rebrand as Wisdom Tree either; Dan Lawton moved on from game development and turned his attention towards CCTV systems, later doing business as Stardot Technologies.

[@ChaossX77]

I love how the enemies throw baby Moses right into the river. 😂

[@notshane3827]

Fatality!

[@BIGGIEDEVIL]

​@@notshane3827babality

[@BenHughes81]

Nintendo having a lockdown like they did, at least how it was explained to me, was due to the video game crash in 1983. Just awful games being churned out. I can get why Nintendo did that as to not have yet another crash. But I can't condone it. The reason being is that there have been unlicensed games, mainly Tengen, have been higher quality than some official games bearing the "Nintendo Seal of Quality". *Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde enter the chat*

[@KoopaMedia64]

The claim that Nintendo made the lockout system to deter bad games is a complete lie. Nintendo was driven by profit, nothing else. There were lots of terrible licensed games, look at games by Hi-Tech Expressions, some by LJN and the Rocky and Bullwinkle game.

[@pojr]

Very true. On Atari, anyone could make a game and sell it, no matter how good or bad it was. With Nintendo, there was some quality control, even if some games weren't great.

[@MaxOakland]

Yeah looking at the Wii era, the Nintendo seal of quality doesn’t mean much even to Nintendo itself

[@goatbone]

@@KoopaMedia64 I think maintaining quality was important in the wake of the US video game crash. You can't argue anything was worse than Action 52 in terms of quality but it also helped prevent lewd games being produced like in the previous generation.

[@raygunpyle]

Great video! I find unlicensed games and their company history fun to learn about. One thing I wondered about unlicensed games but never really asked was what happened if someone called the Nintendo Tips Powerline asking for help on an unlicensed game. What was their response protocol, if any. Was it a simple "sorry that game is not in our system" or did they ream you out for buying an unlicensed game, or somewhere it between? It was common back in this era and even toward the late 90s for a game company to have their own 1-900 tips line, and maybe that was the publishers workaround, but that doesn't really answer what Nintendo did.

[@thehsproductions3276]

You still deserve more subscribers!!

[@pojr]

Really appreciate that, thank you so much!!

[@CassiDS]

7:21 A game where you cannot attack has to be designed around it, and this, in all bluntness, is not.

[@pojr]

100% true

[@cjv84us]

Fun Fact: Sunday Funday and Menace Beach were repackaged in Asia as a Hentai game called Miss Peach World . Also, Menace Beach was called Flying Super Boy in Korea, which added a new title screen at the boot up.

[@pojr]

Very cool. Someday I want to do a video on Hacker International's versions of games. I did talk about them in the adult NES games video, but I didn't talk about the other games besides the 3 we got in the US.

[@btr3k]

I just realized watching this video that Menace Beach is a play on words (of Venice Beach). Yeah, I think I'm late to the party.

[@bes03c]

pojr never rehashes other videos. He always comes up with new creative ideas.

[@ChaossX77]

Is this sarcasm? I know this video subject was talked about before by others but I still enjoyed this video too.

[@f.k.b.16]

Right!? This story is far more interesting and enjoyable than I would have expected! Great job pojr

[@HeiligerGrimmnir]

You must be new to the internet. Lol. I like POJR and all but this isn't like something that 1000 other retro game channels hasn't covered.

[@dare2win215]

What a great perseverance story! I've always enjoyed figuring out how to overcome restrictions & this instance is right up my alley. Fantastic presentation.

[@csikocska]

I know some NES games you showed in the video. One hungarian KZbinr called "SpaceNinja88" made walkthrough videos about the not-so-great NES games and I enjoyed to watch them. I'm glad I learnt about the interesting backstory of Wisdom Tree company. 🙂

[@ChaosAngel209]

I love your videos. Hope your sub count gets huge.

[@pojr]

Thank you so much!

[@f.k.b.16]

3:13 it's prophetic... That year was unpleasant, the stupidity was choppy, and listening to people sucked.

[@ecernosoft3096]

4th!!! Ans already 11.5k??? We could get to 20k before the year ends!

[@pojr]

Lol maybe. Thank you!

[@jeenkzk5919]

I wonder why wisdom tree didn’t simply comply with Nintendo’s regulations. I suppose because they were a smaller company and it was just too expensive. Not to mention Nintendo did have a lot of unfair practices. Perhaps you can do a video on how Nintendo relax all of the unfair practices. Or did someone finally stand up to them and sue them? I don’t know if you’ve done a video of it or not. I don’t recall. By the way, you have great videos, and I thoroughly enjoyed them! I know you work really hard on them and I really appreciate that. Their production value is well beyond what it cost you, that’s for sure.

[@blakegriplingph]

Dan Lawton was adamant about Nintendo's unfair treatment of their licensees, and saw an opportunity with the quasi-Christian angle as it was at the time an untapped market and they wouldn't be subject to the Big N's bullying, lest end up with a PR nightmare at Nintendo's expense. Dan didn't personally care about the message as he and a few other Color Dreams staff members were atheists, but they did have some who do sincerely believe in what they're selling so there's still an air of legitimacy within the company.

[@ShanetheFreestyler]

Oh, I remember Bible Adventures as well as its sequel, King of Kings: The Early Years which had three games based, as the title suggests, the early life of Jesus Christ. The Wise Men had you play a camel carrying the wise men to see Baby Jesus, Flight to Egypt is basically the same game only you're a donkey carrying Marry and Joseph, and Jesus and the Temple had you play as Marry and Joseph separately on their way to find Jesus after being separated after leaving the feast after Passover. Overall, it's mostly the same as Bible Adventures, not great, but not terrible either. Considering one of my uncles was a preacher, it's no surprise these were among the games he bought. I gotta say though, even though their games were rather meh, (and in fairness, most religious games are even worse, so this is great in comparison), you gotta respect Color Dreams/Wisdom Tree for finding a market they could be successful in. It even amazed me to learn that they were still active as late as 2022, selling their old games and even licensing a Sega Genesis port of Super 3D Noah's Ark. As for whether or not they're still active, Wikipedia doesn't say they're defunct, but does point out their web link is dead. And you can still buy Wisdom Tree games from Steam, so it's possible they are still around in some capacity.

[@RaiderNationSOB]

I used to have Spiritual Warfare as a kid, actually pretty good game for a zelda clone.

[@Lachlant1984]

What's interesting about Colour Dreams is they made Crystal Mines II for the Atari Lynx, and as far as I know, that game was licenced by Atari. Did Atari have less strict licencing conditions?

[@Mr28d23]

Yes, You could publish mostly anything on Atari consoles. Nintendo was the most strict of all. Nintendo also had a limit on the number of games a developer could put on the Nes per year. Other console makers didn't have a limit.

[@ajthefunkmonster4767]

Dude, they literally had porn games for the Atari 2600

[@Lachlant1984]

@@ajthefunkmonster4767 Who did? Colour Dreams? Were they endorsed by Atari? I know there were a lot of VCS 2600 games that didn't get licenced?

[@Lachlant1984]

@@Mr28d23 I've heard that Nintendo had that limit, and I think I've heard reasons why they had it, but don't remember what they were.

[@ajthefunkmonster4767]

@@Lachlant1984 Not Color Dreams (shoulda worded my comment better lol) Mystique and Playaround published a few games (I dunno if they were licensed by Atari per se but there were so many adult games, it seems Atari didn't care that much, my two cents)

[@battra92]

Spiritual Warfare is actually a good Zelda clone.

[@pojr]

Haven't tried it. Only seen the AVGN episode on it.

[@f.k.b.16]

I like that they didn't try to over do that game. Most of their games are simple and not trying to reproduce the Bible 1:1. I honestly would love to see a (dare I say FUN) Christian game. One that's non-corny and non-over wordy. An allegory.... Especially now considering the hardware advances...

[@toddhouchin3252]

Great vid! I would have also enjoyed hearing about Bunch Games as part of this.

[@intel386DX]

4:19 what are those NES revisions ,and how do the second one stop color dreams to bypass the lochout chip? Any detiled information?

[@chrisbresette]

Thanks pojr - I learn a lot on this channel.

[@LuckyBird551]

Wisdom Tree also released games on the Game Boy and the Super NES.

[@RageyRage82]

I had Bible Adventures, I actually liked the Noah's Ark game the best lol!

[@coryengel]

The stock vid of the player with black fingernails… I guarantee no player of these games had black fingernails in the 80s.

[@rfmerrill]

The picture of the "10NES" you used is actually the SNES lockout chip. The one that appeared in the NES looks identical to the one in the cartridges.

[@Cokomon]

No mention of Spiritual Warfare and Super Noah's Ark 3D? Smh my head.

[@edannass]

In the words of avgn the only thing Nintendo wont try to sue is God. 😂

[@pojr]

Yup 😂

[@johnny-becker]

So I guess finding Color Dreams or Wisdom Tree games on the Nintendo E-shop is a no go? Asking for a friend.

[@phunkytowel9794]

Piko Interactive still have some copies of Wisdom tree's Noahs Ark

[@Riz2336]

I'm surprised they lasted as long as they did

[@claytonbyrd6134]

Bible Adventures was great

[@karlaboerger3619]

Unlicensed games are not a thing in today consoles. But PC still have that feeling of one.

[@suplexpizza]

whats the outro music played? it slaps

[@goatbone]

You should have covered Spiritual Warfare it stands out as being their best game.

[@Jolt7800]

As a devote Christian I cringe at some of these “Biblical” endeavors. It might have been a better witness to have been above board with Nintendo and put out excellent products. Kind of reminds me of faith based movies that are usually done poorly compared to the secular ones. Got to give it to Pojr for covering some interesting topics.

[@bubbythebear6891]

At least they found a way around the NES lockout chip fairly. Tengen had to lie to Congress.

[@ifeanyikennedy1047]

Color dream is an unserious company

[@gaeshows1938]

So underrated

[@Retrogameplayer8000]

Just checking you read every comment. How you doing POJR whats up for next video? Beard trimming soeedrun?

[@megamix5403]

Oh man, I would have loved to see some coverage on Spiritual Warfare. Any chance of a part 2?

[@Eduardo_Espinoza]

the owner really said only God can rule me.

[@fmdof]

baby moses baby moses

[@caucasoidape8838]

Yes I can blame them. lol

[@Bigbacon]

my only complaint of this video is the use of "Here's Why" in the title. So absolutely sick of see that phrase used EVERYWHERE.

[@LeDingo153]

I dont bother, but at least its way better than using any cringy clickbait titles

[@Bigbacon]

@@LeDingo153 that phrase is the definition of cringy click bait

[@AlexM-tc7ch]

95% of the unlicensed NES games are garbage.

[@georgef551]

I think Ninendo was upset because someone else was copying their idea of rehashing pre=existing games into "New" ones.

[@f.k.b.16]

Ha! That's no joke!

[@GloryToComradeForster]

First comment.

[@pojr]

Lol welcome

[@KristopherJenkins34126]

First!

[@pojr]

Welcome!

[@gaylordfocker7990]

You would see a bunch of these unlicensed games at video rental stores. Tengen games were the most popular because they had legit brand games from Atari and Sega. Some had Color Dreams crap. Definitely remember renting Raid2020 and knowing immediately what a garbage game feels like and having my weekend ruined. Hell, Deadly Towers was a gem compared to that.