Top 10 Unlicensed Games That Are NOT Bad

[@MCastleberry1980]

Probably good to have the "Tengen doesn't count" rule since that'd possibly end up dominating the list

[@Larry]

To be honest, Codemasters shouldn't be on this list for the same reason Tengen was taken off, all their games are ports of established video games released on British home computers. With the exception of Micro Machines, that was native to the NES originally. Also, Crystal Caves is a knock-off of Boulderdash/Rockford.

[@TODAYWEARETALKINGABOUT]

That's true Also hey Larry I hope you been feeling better nowadays

[@fattomandeibu]

I remember the Micro Machines/Dizzy "Game Genie" carts that actually piggybacked a real cart for the lockout chip. Never had a NES myself because those things cost a bomb, it seems odd that they say they sold as many as Sega did Master Systems, but I guess they include units sold from bargain bins during the early '90s in that figure as they were pretty rare until after the SNES and MD dropped, and by that point it was more common to see a 16 bit machine.

[@TODAYWEARETALKINGABOUT]

@@fattomandeibu he actually did a video about such carts on his channel and avgn

[@goatbone]

Tengen had licensed games on the NES already before producing unlicensed games. Not like the Codemasters situation at all.

[@TODAYWEARETALKINGABOUT]

@@goatbone I think all code masters on nes was unlicenced until later consoles like mega drive which are licensed

[@trevorblue4531]

About Bible Buffet: Was hoping you'd mention the clear voiceover or the fact that the quiz questions are only in the manual, like AVGN! Very good video still!

[@The-E-Base]

Major correction from someone who played Hell Fighter: The green orb switches your weapon to a fireball, which is slower, but does more damage. The spreadshot is assigned to the yellow orb. Also, collecting 2 yellow orbs in a row turns it into a homing projectile, meaning thankfully you'll technically be able to shoot behind you. Also for Q-Boy, it's Stage 2-4. There is no 2-5.

[@PainweedingPills]

Mermaids of Atlantis kinda reminds me a bit of Puzzle Bobble/Bust A Move games, indeed a hidden gem!

[@battra92]

Honestly that's a pretty solid list. Mermaids of Atlantis is definitely a hidden gem.

[@pojr]

Indeed

[@PopfulFrost]

Pun intended?

[@AwesomeHairo]

Literally?

[@microbry]

Wait, Tengen Tetris had 2 player, though fwiw... ;) My playtesting days at Tengen was after that, but I remember how insulting it seemed at the time that the "Official" Tetris was only one player compared to what Tengen had made and held that they had legitimately licensed.

[@ToaderTheToad]

What's hilarious is that Nintendo Tetris DOES have a 2-player mode in the code and can be activated with a game genie code. Of course, it's unfinished (there's no unique background which makes it look really jank, but it still shows it was planned at one point), but someone made a romhack to fix up the 2P mode

[@Ian-of9oi]

Unlicensed games = freedom baby!

[@kaboomgamer333]

honestly tengen and code masters had the quality of official nes games (partially because tengen were given official nes tools)

[@KamenRiderGumo]

Honestly surprised to not see Firehawk on here. That was a surprisingly good shooter, even though most of the game lacked music.

[@FeralInferno]

I actually went searching for Q Boy after your first video talking about it. Couldn't find a copy at my local retro gamestore or even on eBay. The search continues! Awesome top 10 video!

[@pojr]

Yeah lol, I don't think I've ever seen the game for sale online anywhere. And thanks!

[@cappa310]

Just Download the rom till you find a hard copy. Make sure you actually going to like it

[@PhilipMarcYT]

​@@cappa310Maybe it's possible to buy a repro cart? It's an unlicensed game, anyway.

[@JMFSpike]

@@PhilipMarcYT Collectors don't want repros because they have no value. But yes, if all you wanted was to play the game on real hardware you could certainly buy a repro cart or make one yourself.

[@striderskorpion]

It should be noted that Camerica published Codemaster's games in North America. Sachen didn't publish their games outside of Taiwan, but they did release their games in both 60 (Famicom) and 72 pin (NES) format. Publishers in other countries did license and release their games for those territories (e.g., Color Dreams and AVE in North America and HES in Australia).

[@PKMNwww411_MkII]

Crystal Mines was remade into Exodus and Joshua. Sunday Funday is a remake of Menace Beach. C&E made an RPG titled "Feng Shen Bang" which translates to "Investiture of the Gods".

[@starleaf-luna]

if you watch a little ways further in, you'll discover he compares Sunday Funday to Menace Beach.

[@Dug88]

I thought crystal mines looked familiar. I had a few of those Bible games on nes. I remembered that top down boulder falling thing but it wasn't a robot.

[@koffieleut]

I still remembering that my dad came back from work with a pile of games. Within the pile were Jurassic Boy 2 and Street Heroes. There were other games but those are the games that stick me till this day.

[@ChadWSmith]

Never thought I'd see a top ten list of NES games that unironically include Bible Buffet, Sunday Funday, Hell Fighter, and a remake of Bubble Bath Babes.

[@PhilipMarcYT]

Hot take? Common sense take! 😜 I've always loved Micro Machines especially on the Genesis, but never completed it due to falling off the stages or getting stuck.

[@49erfanaticfromnm30]

Crystal Mines actually got a sequel on the Atari Lynx. Not sure if the same guy was involved. It's about as good as the NES game.

[@adultmoshifan87]

Mermaids of Atlantis is on one of the Evercade’s Piko carts!

[@pojr]

I'm glad. I've seen it on some MyArcade units too.

[@oddobscurecollectables9529]

Thats cool never knew that Micro machines had a game for the system i recall having a Gameboy game like it though called RC racers or something now i'll have to try finding that game next time im at a game exchange

[@DragonGrafx-16]

RC Pro-Am? Which was also on NES.

[@djachmedd]

Fun subject and list! I miss Ultimate Stuntman though, that's a really cool and well designed game. Also Big nose freaks out seem very cool, but I haven't found it so I can try it out (I only play carts)

[@Cyberbrickmaster1986]

Crystal Mines had a sequel on Atari Lynx and a remake on both DS and PSP. The Lynx sequel is available on the Evercade via the Atari Lynx Collection 1.

[@KacperSobierajVargskeletor5421]

The way Hell Fighter plays makes it remind me of Jim Power: The Lost Dimension in 3D.

[@HelpTheWretched]

My fave was Fantasy Zone, though it was by Tengen. Such colourful and detailed backgrounds, such cute music. Strangely there WAS a licensed Sunsoft version in Japan, but after trying it recently via emulator, I still thought the unlicensed version was better.

[@heckintech]

Waaaay back when I was just a little chicken nugget, I remember being obsessed with this weird unlicensed NES game a neighbour had, called "CJ's Elephant Antics". It was a platformer for the C64 first, but then got ported to a bunch of systems! I got to borrow it for a night, and my small idiot brain could not get the the 3rd level boss. I just looked it up, and watched a playthrough, and it looks like it was a pretty short game! Highly recommended!

[@retrojoe85]

"I've played Big Nose the Caveman on Evercade. Like some many other Codemasters' games, it gets insanely difficult after a few levels, but in this case for a very wrong reason, a reason that turns it almost immediately into a barely playable game: controls! IT LACKS IN THE FU**IN' CONTROL' DEPARTMENT! What a great idea to develop a game! Well done, Big Nose the S**tman!" (AVGN style comment 😁)

[@tanmaz8006]

... if we can't bring up tengen games .. the only one I had you did not bring up I played a lot was "Wally Bear And The No gang"Game .. that music to this game is stuck in my head for life ...

[@Ryusuta]

I still want to see you cover Final Fantasy X Fantasy War on the GBC. It's a beat-em-up with Final Fantasy characters that, while a little repetitive and unbalanced, is quite enjoyable! I'd highly recommend it for your name video covering good-quality bootleg games. (Which I know aren't exactly the same thing, but still.)

[@infiniteS3t]

I love the “I imagine most companies who obtain licenses to popular franchises really take there time and make sure the game is excellent”. I’m assuming this excludes LJN 😅?

[@pojr]

@@infiniteS3t LOL 😂

[@Laynel8]

Don't forget THQ as well, considering the founder of THQ was the same guy who founded LJN.😂

[@davidwebb3407]

Spiritual Warfare from Wisdom Tree is a very solid game. It has a lot of similarities to Legend of Zelda. The music are very good renditions of church hymns.

[@Rushyesgenesis]

Solid! I prefer micro machines, but haven’t played Mermaids of Atlantis and would probably enjoy it

[@gitgeronimo9375]

My favorite unlicensed NES games are Treasure Island Dizzy (from Quattro Adventure) and Micro Machines

[@HypercatZ]

I remember reading good reviews about the Micromachines game.

[@Lynxan]

Another thing unlicensed games had to overcome, more so vs later NES releases, was the many enhancement chips that helped other games work on the system. A lot of late NES games where working with better hardware thanks to some of these chips.

[@mchenrynick]

The NES is quite limited without any mappers on the game cart. That's why games without them almost look like ColecoVision games with some better graphics.

[@blueblousedesigns]

6:26 reminds me of a Sega Genesis game called Chuck Rock. Virgin Interactive Entertainment created it. It just like this game, movement-wise. The character is a caveman

[@ensndkdndne-Eusjsnsns]

You should cover the Peaches Castel/Welcome to GameCube world tech demo for the GameCube.

[@wordman3624]

Metal Force was pretty good for an unlicensed game.

[@KyuJuEX099xx]

Bubble Bath Babes/Mermaids Of Atlantis ain't too bad. But Magic Jewelry still takes the cake for me.

[@jimbox114]

Spiritual Warfare is a decent Wisdomtree game. It plays similar to a Zelda game. It does have you doing mini bible quizzes throughout the game though.,

[@weirdproq]

I'm glad Bible Buffet got some recognition. I do enjoy that game.

[@aloiivwizard]

when micro machines wasn’t number one i immediately thought, he’s gonna troll with bubble bath babes. XD

[@jperih]

I was not aware Crystal Mines was unlicensed. I loved that game!

[@CalTheHogNosedBat]

You should do a look into the HD capabilities of the original Xbox, was pretty cool to find that out when I looked into playing mine.

[@anon_y_mousse]

Would modern day games made for retro consoles not also count as unlicensed? If so, that's at least a couple dozen games you need to find. It's pretty cool to see people put out new games for old systems, especially those that get actual carts made, even if they don't use proper chips.

[@FaTBoYs_GaMInG_N_NoNsEnSe]

Awesome review Brother have a great weekend

[@Riz2336]

Interesting I didn't know they did a family friendly version of bubble bath babes

[@pojr]

Indeed. Glad they did it.

[@JMFSpike]

Bible Buffet is basically Mario Party long before it existed. The theme is different, but the whole idea and gameplay are largely the same. I have to wonder if that game is where Nintendo got the idea, and I think the chances of that are actually quite high. Nintendo was very much aware of these unlicensed games back in the day (because they hated them obviously), and they stole ideas from SMB3 rom hacks for the E-world levels in the GBA version of SMB3. When you consider those things, I don't think it's ridiculous at all to think that Nintendo might have been inspired. Does Q-boy stand for Queef Boy? Because that would be hilarious.

[@Dwedit]

One unlicensed game that nobody ever talks about is Fire Hawk. For the first few levels, it's a pretty good game.

[@verteks16]

"Top 10 Unlicensed Games" - perfectly clear. "10 Unlicensed Games That Are NOT Bad" - understandable "Top 10 Unlicensed Games That Are NOT Bad" - I'm not sure what this means, people got this as "Top 10 unlicensed games" but I think "Top 10 games which are widely considered bad but are not bad IN MY PERSONAL OPINION". If it is latter, then why Micro Machines is here? Overall nice video, some obscure games which I often overlook.

[@TODAYWEARETALKINGABOUT]

Can you do a review of demake bootlegs (not fan made like fnaf on gb) As i seen people talk about the reskins or the lazy ports But I'm on about dedicated demakes Also kart fighter should of been listed as who can't say no to the best nes figher featuring bootleg mario

[@BlueMSX.]

good lineup Pojr!

[@pojr]

Thank you!

[@goatbone]

Surprised that Spiritual Warfare wasn't here. Its a competent Zelda-like adventure in a vast world. You would not place Bible Buffet or Crystal mines in front of it.

[@pojr]

My list is a little biased because I've never been a huge Zelda fan. I was never into exploration-type games.

[@chrishensley5384]

Excellent video!

[@pojr]

Thank you!

[@Gojiro7]

11:50 .....that is quite possible the most nieve thing I have ever seen in a youtube video. License games get a bad rap for the exact opposite of what you've said Pojr

[@PopfulFrost]

I'm shocked you didn't include Titenic (yes, that's how the game spells its name). Memes aside, it's a shockingly fun side-scrolling beat-'em-up. Just avoid the bastardized version called "Harry's Legend".

[@pqsk]

Just an FYI, it's pronounced MiG. It isn't spelled out.

[@jamesgross4464]

Great video thanks.

[@skRapKlan]

Still no mention of Rockball by Sachen? Strange how an awesome 2 player puzzle game like that don't make the list..

[@1-eye-willy]

no aladin deck enhancer?

[@paxhumana2015]

Boulder Dash, as well as its two spiritual sequels, Exodus, and Joshua, are not bad games either.

[@henke37]

The last game is a clear Bust-a-move knockoff. Also, surely at least one hummer team game would count?

[@zabustifu]

Bubble Bath Babes / Mermaids of Atlantis: 1991 Puzzle Bobble / Bust-a-Move: 1994

[@pojr]

They're not exactly the same. I haven't played much of Bust a Move, but I believe you launch one bubble at a time from the center.

[@richfutrell753]

Where are Spiritual Warfare and Dizzy?

[@dendroleon]

'stacked mode,' eh mermaids of atlantis?

[@MaoRatto]

Pojr.. 1. Bubble bath / Mermaids of Atlantis as they are the same core game, but I know on game that is a good adult game that also has good gameplay. xD FlipWitch is exactly that. Just because something is "adult" doesn't mean it can't be good.

[@Nokia3310do]

When the top 10 unlicensed games are mostly awful and number 1 is a reskinned adult puzzle game, it says a lot about why retailers weren't scrambling to stock these things. It's not entirely a story about Nintendo's control of the industry.

[@kins749]

Micro Machines #1!!!

[@e8root]

How is some bubble game #1 and Micro Machines or other Code Masters games like The Fantastic Adventures of Dizzy not? That is some bull sheet my friend :(

[@KacperSobierajVargskeletor5421]

Mermaids of Atlantis is far superior of a game to Bubble Bath Babes.

[@wyldelf2685]

Well i know TENGEN Tetris is actually BETTER than official NES Tetris , fact plain and simple 😮🎉 🏆😸👍

[@Volcell-85]

If you're walking diagonally your not on a grid mate 😄

[@Yamamanama]

You need to roll your r when you say "promotion."

[@markula_4040]

When you think about it, Micro Machines is both a licensed game but also an unlicensed game. Also it's using Cheerios without permission. Their disregard for proper licensing knows no bounds.

[@LawsonLee-b4i]

19112 Keebler Glens

[@DragonGrafx-16]

Crystal Mines looks like a Boulder Dash ripoff.

[@amn2014]

Hey darling could you go get me the- SHUT UP THERES A NEW POJR VIDEO!

[@pojr]

😂

[@StevenCusic]

SEVENTH!

[@DarrenDignam]

very hissy mic on this one? good content less discord and subscribe off the bat?

[@siouxmoux3]

Second 🎉

[@LenweSaralonde]

Third

[@ravensmadhouse75]

FIRST!

[@alexistramirez]

They’re the best Bootleg games

[@stonent]

Bible Buffet using the red potion sprites from Legend of Zelda and making them creatures. 2:59

[@goatbone]

11:50 This sounds like a joke but the NES library is full of poorly developed games based on popular licenses. Just look at anything put out by LJN or Acclaim.

[@Laynel8]

Don't forget THQ as well.

[@joshuagorecki4743]

9:07 mig like pig