Unlicensed Games Are NOT Always Bad

[@FeralInferno]

Wow man, thank you so much for the shoutout and the very kind words. I really appreciate that. I had Pyramid back in the day, shown at 7:23. It was an interesting, but flawed take on Tetris. The slivers of space that get created can be really frustrating. I've never heard of Q Boy, that actually looks pretty awesome! Great video, really liked this topic.

[@NipplesTheEnchilada2323]

Fun fact: Tengen was actually created by Atari, and was essentially run by the Arcade division at Atari, and was made so that division could make Home console games, which they didn't have the rights to do with the Atari name.

[@rfmerrill]

The Tengen brand was also basically subsumed by Time Warner Interactive sometime around 1993 or so. You can find Genesis games that say TWI on the outside and Tengen on the inside.

[@gswanson]

​@@rfmerrillThe funny thing is that in the 90s Time Warner sold the arcade division of Atari to Midway and they became Midway West. And then when Midway went out of business, Warner Brothers bought Midway. So this is actually the third time Warner (or a division of Warner) has purchased Atari (or a division of Atari.)

[@ccricers]

Sounds similar to the situation with Kee Games (which was also Atari) but for consoles instead of getting around around exclusivity deals.

[@UltimatePerfection]

Yeah, Hummer Team were a team of real Chads when it comes to the NES development. If they were just few years earlier and made original stuff instead of bootlegs, they could have been easily another SunSoft or Capcom.

[@pojr]

I would love to do a Hummer Team episode at some point.

[@ConsoleCombat]

Exam tomorrow and still makes a video. Commitment.

[@pojr]

Indeed!!

[@f.k.b.16]

Reminds me of how I chose to tackle exams but I'm my case it wasn't commitment lol!

[@NEStalgia1985]

Yeah committed to failing. I pray I'm wrong. Hell I needed 8 hours sleep before exams or I was mush. What grade did u get POJR be honest now

[@joezar33]

​@@pojrWhat's the name of that game ? 2:50

[@pojr]

@@joezar33 Raid 2020

[@Agent-jc6ww]

Good job as always POJR. We do appreciate the sacrifice and commitment.

[@pojr]

Thank you so much!

[@UltimatePerfection]

11:00 I disagree. Inspiration from Kirby is quite obvious here - from the ability to kinda fly (though more limited as to not make the game too easy), to air puff projectile. The only thing missing are copy abilities and eating enemies. Qboy even has a hat.

[@fedorathexplorer]

Kirby inspiration is quite apparent , but what makes it 'original' is that central power meter mechanic and how it plays into both your mobility and combat . Relatively simple concept, yet unique enough to set it apart from other platformers. I'm sold

[@Lucifronz]

Q-Boy is definitely meant to be some sort of Kirby clone, but with its own spin. And the "farting" appears to be him blowing air at the ground to propel up, though I agree it doesn't look great. Gotta go overboard on the visual design of that sprite to make it look right.

[@polocatfan]

People kinda fail to realize there's a difference between "Unlicensed Games" and "Bootleg Games" Unlicensed games are just games that didn't get the permission of the console manufacturer to make, whereas Bootleg Games are games that stole assets or tried to copy a game. Not all Unlicensed Games are Bootlegs, and even not all Bootleg Games are Unlicensed. Dalmatians 3 was officially licensed by Sony despite being a mockbuster of 101 Dalmatians.

[@EpicFurbynerd76YO]

Cool.

[@Ryusuta]

One of my all-time favorite unlicensed games was a brilliant Game Boy Color game called "Final Fantasy X Fantasy War." (That's "Ex," not "10.") It's basically a side-scrolling brawler with Final Fantasy characters and monsters. You can choose between a Fighter (Easy), Archer (Medium), Mage (Hard), or Chocobo (Very Hard). The game was a little on the repetitive side, but there was a ton of creativity on display, with actual in-game cutscenes, tons of environments, and multiple bosses. While it's by no means an all-time classic, it's absolutely a very fun game to sink your teeth into for an hour or so.

[@leroyvisiongames2294]

When it comes to unlicensed games, Metal Fighter and Menace Beach are admittedly guilty pleasures of mine. Metal Fighter is a legitimately fun shoot ‘em up that’s surprisingly solid for an unlicensed video game and has some pretty nice graphics and music (I love the foreboding tune they used for the main BGM, and the catchy 50’s rock ‘n roll music for the bonus stages), and Menace Beach just has lots of personality and cartoonish wackiness that retro games as a whole are known for (and the hero’s sassy girlfriend definitely gets a chuckle out of me with some of her dialogue). Plus I’m just a sucker for video games that put up a formidable challenge, because I feel like a real badass when I master them-that’s part of why I love Mega Man games so much!!

[@FeralInferno]

Finishing the Mega Man games and learning the boss patterns & weaknesses is oh-so-satisfying! Which of the classic MM series do you think had the greatest challenge?

[@XyNoST]

You should check out Houston Tracker 2 on Ti-82/83/84. These calculators can make awesome sounds ! Beside that good video as always POJR, congrats on your 10k+ subs ! :)

[@The2ndflood]

Thanks for finishing the video! I look forward to these videos every week! So I appreciate that you put so much attention into making them.

[@pojr]

Thank you!

[@UltimatePerfection]

I've always been fond of the first Pyramid game from Thin Chen. Not the second one, the first one. There's something incredibly cool about tetris with triangles.

[@TurtleCraftZ1]

Pyramid is an extremely cool idea for a puzzle game tbh

[@BlueMSX.]

a lot of unlicensed games get a back rap, but if you know where to look there's some gems in there! Great work pojr!

[@pojr]

Absolutely, and thank you!

[@ccricers]

Some of my favorite unlicensed games of the time came from Camerica. They published in the US some Codemasters games like, Fantastic Dizzy, Big Nose Caveman, Bee 52 and Micro Machines as some good action titles.

[@ExtremeWreck]

With a video like this, one shouldn't forget about Codemasters, who not only made some well done unlicensed NES games, but even made The Fantastic Adventures of Dizzy, which was seemingly made *specifically* to appeal to us American gamers, such as having scrolling, a health system & other quality of life improvements. It was so good that even Europe had their version with all the changes made for us Americans.

[@NEStalgia1985]

Gotta love that dizzy....was that code masters

[@ExtremeWreck]

@@NEStalgia1985 Yup!

[@Riz2336]

I mostly remember the tengen ones which were actually pretty good

[@pojr]

Yeah they're a weird exception to the rule, being an official licensee originally.

[@EuSouRCS]

10:46 This jump mechanics decades before CELESTE's media hype.

[@xtokumaru]

While there's no arguing that Jurassic Boy is impressive, the overall result is still pretty rough... The constant slowdown, the weird collision detection with sloped surfaces and the annoying respawning of enemies all evoke that "unlicensed vibe" and prevent the game from being objectively good.

[@robertanderson9447]

I like that bootleg/unlicensed games exist, because while there are people who phone it in and churn out barely functioning products, a good number of these creators genuinely want to put out a good game. They don't always succeed, but sometimes they do. Either way it creates an interesting piece of history.

[@javaly78]

I would think that Mission Cobra was trying to copy Twin Cobra as they are both helicopter overhead shooter games versus 1943.

[@pojr]

I haven't tried Twin Cobra, but you might be right. I compared it to 1943 because of the fuel mechanics being very similar.

[@javaly78]

@@pojr in that regard maybe it ripped off both games

[@CassiDS]

Codemasters's NES outings were...decent, I guess. They're mostly just platformer point-and-click hybrids, which doesn't offend me. Oh, and Micro Machines is pretty good, from what I hear.

[@pojr]

Micro Machines is a great game, one of the best unlicensed titles. Codemasters made some decent NES games.

[@rfmerrill]

The picture of the "10NES" around 2:34 is actually the SNES version of Nintendo's lockout chip. The NES version is a much larger DIP package, and has a part number beginning with 3 or 6 (exact part number varied depending on region).

[@BusyMEOW]

I had a HES cart with 6 games on it, you had to connect an official NES cart into it like the game genie to bypass the lockout chip

[@SylveonTrapito]

Don't forget Tengen Tetris. Best unlicenced game ever.

[@pojr]

I had game footage of it, and was planning on including it in this video, but never got around to it.

[@leroyvisiongames2294]

“It’s 2AM and I’ve got an exam tomorrow” Fucking felt, bro. I just took my final for French today and I’m nervously awaiting the results-it’s been a rough semester for me because I have to actually go to school for the first time since like 2020 and this was also my first semester at a real college where you live on campus and stuff, and it takes me a while to get comfortable when I enter a new chapter of life. All I can say is good luck, man. To quote the last talking flower before the final boss in Super Mario Wonder: “You’re gonna be amazing!”

[@fattomandeibu]

My friend had an unlicenced NES cart that was shaped like a Game Genie, but rather than being a cheat device, it piggybacked the copy protection chip from a real cart to allow the game to run. It was a Codemasters game called Micro Machines.

[@nesmario123]

jurassic boy 2 actually has unused sprites for running on slopes/loops, looking up, some weird idle sprite, skidding, spring jumping, praying(?) and bouncing on those weird springboards from sonic 2 which is very interesting... it's a shame that the camera and gameplay is very jank.

[@Mr_Turtles_]

Becoming a big fan. Keep up the great work!

[@pojr]

Thank you!

[@Dwedit]

Back in 1984, Atari split into "Atari Corp" (the console division), and "Atari Games" (the arcade division). Tengen was literally Atari Games doing business under another name. At least 6 of Tengen's games mention Atari Games by name: Gauntlet, Klax, RBI Baseball, RBI Baseball 2, VS Tetris, Toobin.

[@Zobbster]

I didn't know anything about the 5 game limit Nintendo put on their publishers... that's insane!

[@IuriFiedoruk]

I still have a copy of my beloved unlicensed Fantastic Adventures of Dizzy for the NES. If this game had a password or save system, it would be an absolute classic for the system. Luckly, nowadays we have save-state for this, so I highly recommend it.

[@The-E-Base]

Gotta give them credit. Sachen was also responsible for the first and only console port of Gaiapolis, as well as nearly all Mega Duck games.

[@intel386DX]

what about Sachen's Rocman :D ther have much more games as well

[@SikSlayer]

Has an exam the next day, but still does a video at 2AM! Such dedication. What do you study pojr?

[@pojr]

Indeed! I'm a computer science major. It was a discreet mathathcs exam.

[@SikSlayer]

@@pojr Hope you did well. What is it that makes you laugh and smile so hard at the end of your intro? It always gives the show a positive vibe.

[@tuulikk2]

Could you make a video about MS DOS and Windows 95 ports of console games? I guess this kind of video could take forever to collect information on, but it would be fun to watch. I really enjoy your documentary style of storytelling with personal connections. And then your mesmerizing voice... One video can easily become two or more.

[@HeyItIsMichal]

I suggest you check out the BMB russian bootleg games for the Sega Genesis. That would be a pretty cool video.

[@AirZonkWorldChamp]

Sachen NES games seem to be very tough to find as of late too. Cool vid.

[@frankchiappetta6600]

Hope you did well on your exam!

[@pojr]

Thank you! I Aced it.

[@stuartcastle2814]

Were unlicensed games bad? I think like licensed games, they were a mixed bag. Sometimes, you get bad games (like LJN, or those Wisdom Tree games), sometimes good (pretty much anything from EA on the Genesis). After all, EA objected to the Sega licence fee, so didn't licence their games. It's not quite the same thing, as Commodore didn't require a licence to develop Amiga games, but I had a Public Domain (or freeware as it would be now) clone of Tetris. This most definitely was not licenced by anyone (let alone the men who own the rights to Tetris), but was easily the best version of Tetris I have played. Sadly, the floppy I had it on has long since died, and I was stupid enough not to back it up, so can't even play it on an emulator. As usual, an excellent video.

[@GogglzMUSIC]

Good luck on that exam! I've got most of my online ones done rn but most of my finals are projects lol

[@Vexelius]

Amazing video, as always! Personally, I think that the protagonist from Hell Fighter looks way too similar to the Prince from the NES port of Prince of Persia...

[@zerosick]

q boy might be the nes game I played as a kid on a famiclone that I was wondering what the title is, I will check out that game soon

[@Lollero200q]

Sachen sound driver 🙉

[@PixelsNcreatureS]

I have every Tengen NES title. I was so proud 30 years ago 😂

[@jeremyhouston3438]

Qboy looks like a game the was modeled after the original Kirby art that was on the old game packaging where he is white.

[@mattb6522]

Great video! Q Boy actually looks pretty cute and fun! 🙂

[@TeleviseGuy]

Is it a coincidence that this video was released while I was binging through a marathon of AVGN?

[@piratesephiroth]

at the beginning, it looks like you just came back from the bar

[@dr.zither]

Thank you! I will take a look at his channel.

[@JustALilCrowny]

My fan game is officially licensed by the gdfb clan Edit: Thank God my fan gane is made in Pocket Game Developer, it is impossible to sell games, but you can share them Edit B: Also, the game icon is like a Nes cart. Pocket game dev is on mobile

[@ajackson1451]

Another great video POJR. Good luck on that exam.

[@pojr]

Thank you! I Aced it.

[@stonent]

What classes / degree are you working on?

[@Marcusmarcb0tI]

Pojr has a beautiful smile. 😍

[@infinitecanadian]

The NES was not Nintendo's first home console; they had a Pong console.

[@thetechn1que518]

You can fart continuously without repercussions

[@CSLucasEpic]

An unlicenced game I enjoyed back then was Bee 52

[@NEStalgia1985]

Each time you fart hahahaha nice

[@michaelmartinez5217]

Are you saying q-boy was before Kirby????

[@segahatty]

Good luck on your exam!

[@turbinegraphics16]

Hes also made atari, c64 and some sega games.

[@jimbox114]

I think there are two versions of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

[@Dwedit]

You're thinking of "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade". There's only one version of Temple of Doom, but there are licensed and unlicensed versions.

[@cooltaylor1015]

Has anyone ever told you that you look just like Chris Bickford from You Can't Do That On Television?

[@f.k.b.16]

Sachen but not slouchin'

[@omegaflowey9932]

9:26.

[@TRex-fu7bt]

cool video but also get yourself a de-esser plugin

[@BigHushAffiliate]

So how did you do on your exams bruh

[@melindaweixler3682]

That's great! 🔥☺

[@TRex-fu7bt]

Cool video but get yourself a de-esser plugin

[@EuSouRCS]

There is no such a thing as a bad game,but anyone have the right to be wrong if disagrees.

[@RawrX32009]

What about something like superman 64?

[@EuSouRCS]

@@RawrX32009 rushed and unfinished game,not bad at all tho.

[@RawrX32009]

@@EuSouRCS Ok what about Jekyll and Hyde on NES?

[@EuSouRCS]

@@RawrX32009 Great game,very slow paced but very unique as well,even the harder Japanese version called Houma Ga Toki is pretty good too.

[@RawrX32009]

@@EuSouRCS true I actually like that one

[@voidmain2453]

Q boy is clearly a kirby knock off

[@JaxCoolKartunes]

No it is pronounced "Sach-in" in like a taiwanese way.