Danny:
Jes:
| Culture 4/30/2006 |
Second rack from the bottom, wedged between Power Rangers Zeo and Power Rangers Dinoforce The Movie, I found a gem called "Ultimate Stuntman". Ostensibly a cartidge for original NES. Except, the cartridge had a switch on the side. And it was clearly too big for a normal cartridge.
Misshappen. And silver.
Like a cosmic herald's inbred son.
(Too obscure?)
Upon further research, I present to you one of my favorite gaming histories. I really can't guarantee that my facts are all 100% straight. But I did use multiple sources, and really tried my best. If I ever write a book, this story'd have to be in. It ends with me breaking my Mario 3.
Originally founded in 1988, Camerica started out producing peripherals for the NES. Two of their first controllers were the "Supersonic" and the "Freedom Connection", one of which I actually owned. At some point, for unknown reasons, Camerica let their licenses with Nintendo lapse. When they resumed making peripherals - which never actually left the market at all - without a license, they had made some baddass new toys. Camerica actually made a wireless NES Advantage. A light gun with an actual pull-back hammer. Assorted new controllers with interesting layouts.
Fearful of the stiff competition, Nintendo revoked their seal of approval and successfully sued Camerica for infringing on their products. I figure that this is where Camerica started viewing Nintendo as irrational archenemies.
All-Work-No-Play makes Camerica a dull faceless corporation.
In 1990, Codemasters was just finishing up work on the "Power Pack". The Power Pack was a device that pluged into a cartridge, and then plugged into the game system. It patched the game's actual code to allow for cheat codes that were not built into the games. Sorta like a "Game Genie".
Except it is the Game Genie.
Camerica bought the Power Pack, renamed it as such, and after a few cosmetic changes, they released it to the market. Or, you know, tried to. Nintendo sued them yet again.
Nintendo claimed that, by post-prodution modifying the gameplay in the games it affected, Game Genies were violating the "Moral Rights" of game designers to mold their own creations. It's sorta like an argument against reverse engineering, now. Except, you know. You can only change your own copy of the game.
Months before resolving the state-side lawsuit, Camerica won the suit in Canada. And though the Game Genie did not debut in America until July 1991, Camerica ran ads - for a nonmarketable product - in gaming magazines all up until that point. Despite not having a product on the market, they ran an ad for the Game Genie. It read, verbatim: "Thank you, Canada".
I figure it's subtext could read: "Fuck your face, Nintendo."
In 1990, Camerica started to release a series of Codemasters' PC titles for the NES. Still unlicensed, of course. However, for those unaware, the NES features a lock-out chip which prohibits unlicensed games to play. It's been a staple in every Nintendo console thus far.
Thus, Camerica built their own cartridges that bypassed this chip and the 10NES code. The cartridges they made were shaped slightly differently than Nintendo's cartridges, though they still fit in the NES. The most notable difference was in color; all Camerica cartridges were gold or silver. They also featured a switch for play on European NES consoles. Why they broke region control as well is a mystery. Prolly as fuckYou++;
Now you know what the hell I bought.
Finally, in '92, at the Winter CES, Camerica announced a new device. "The Aladdin System". Later renamed the "Aladdin Deck Enhancer", the sole purpose of this device was to allow the play of unlicensed games. Advertised as an enhancement to the NES console, the Aladdin worked like Game Genie.
First, the Aladdin was jammed into the cartridge port. Then a game's jammed into that. Adding an Aladdin adds 64k more memory, resulting in better graphics and speed. At least, according to someone. I'm not sure that's really true.
The Aladdin is basically a cart without a ROM. It's all the game's inner workings, without the game inside. This allows for cheaper game production, as you don't duplicate guts or hardware. Not reproducing the mundane things for each seperate game allowed Camerica to reduce game prices. Mini-cartridges for the Aladdin retailed at about $15.
I'm fairly sure that this was really not the real point.
The Aladdin was going to be sold - for some reason - primarilly through a catalog and at-home shopping channels. Unfortunately, the Aladdin came out right as the NES was making room for the SNES and Genesis. So, even though the idea was solid, the Aladdin basically fizzled out.
Speaking of which, no one calls me a "fizzle" and gets away with it.
You know, except for that one guy.
Aladdins can now be found on eBay, sometimes, or on game trading sites. The Aladdin and packed-in game cost about $35. Further games cost around $15-20, but I don't recommend either unless you love collectors shite. Though "Ultimate Stuntman" does rock Bawls.
And looks like it grew up in Ooze.
By Danny
| Comments (5) | ||
Interesting story. Another interesting story would have been the epic tale about the guy in my dorm who played Stuntman for 4 days straight, subsisting on nothing but Papa John's pizza and copious amounts of mary jane. His name is Mark, but we don't know his last name, so we just call him "Mark-lar".
| ||
|
Sad story, Mark-lar's... Eventually, he got so sick, he could only say his own name... Really, I blame the schools
| ||
I blame mTV
| ||
I just love how there is coninuous stream of new material on this website, in fact, very similar to the pattern of Puuba.com's updates. Thanks Danny for leaving your brain children only half done. Because really, who wants to see the Venus Demilo with arms?
| ||
|
While I admire the metaphor... Read the header. Updated Sundays. My goal is a new article every Sunday, by midnight. There's one written right now, waiting for picutres to accompany. Too busy, atm, for Daily. Unless.... pay me for this?
|