Dongkey Kong

[FlightSuit]

So I was browsing the dollar stores on Mission Street in San Francisco the other day, as I am a collector with a special place in my heart for illegal, Chinese knock-offs of action figures and other sci-fi or superhero-related toys.

 

This one store happened to carry something I'd read about, a type of "plug-in TV games" device that's actually a copy of the Nintendo Entertainment System, with a whole ton of classic NES games built right in.

 

The price was a mere $20 plus tax, but they gave it to me for $17 even, 'cause that was all I had in my pocket.

 

This was the best seventeen bucks I ever spent! Compared to the officially licensed plug-in TV games, which tend to be priced from $15 to $30, this copyright-infringing gray-market import has got the legit merchandise beat hands down.

 

I'm sure you all know there've been at least two Atari 2600-themed TV games, both pretty slick in that one was styled like a miniature 2600 console, while the other manages to contain all of its components within a classic Atari joystick. It's my understanding, however, that their included games are not actual ROM images of the classic VCS cartridges, but are actually modern re-creations or ports of those games. Even if they're indistinguishable from the originals, that seems a little lame just on principle.

 

The NES knock-off, on the other hand, is presumably running the same, exact software that came in the original NES carts. Eighty eight of them, built right in.

 

When I got the thing home, I was pleasantly surprised to find a few more advantages. I'd assumed that -like the TV games- the faux-NES would run on AA batteries, which could be kind of a bummer if they started to run low in the middle of a game. Happily, it's powered by an AC adapter.

 

Better yet: I'd also assumed that, like the 2600 and Intellivision-based TV games, the NES clone would be limited to just the games hardwired from the factory. Upon discovering that the thing actually has an honest-to-goodness cartridge slot, I realized it essentially was an NES, capable of playing any vintage NES cart I might happen to stumble across!

 

In the proud tradition of weird merchandise from overseas knock-off operations, this game console is sold as the "Game Fillip," with the tag line, "Have a good time!"

 

 

Goodness knows what they were getting at when they named the thing. A friend of mine theorized that they were trying to call it the Game Flip, in reference to the fact that the cartridge slot is hidden by a flip-up door.

 

Or maybe it's a reference to the fact that the user can flip through the several pages of onscreen menu and choose whichever game he or she wants to play?

 

I said this thing was playing the exact, same software contained in the original Nintendo cartridges, but that's not technically 100% accurate. In true knock-off merchant fashion, the manufacturer has changed the titles of several games so their names are similar to those of the pirated source materials, but different enough in spelling or wording that there's just the most vague, hypothetical implication that copyright is not being infringed.

 

The funniest example of this is, hee, hee...

 

 

Dongkey Kong!

 

Snicker, giggle...

 

 

<BUTTHEAD VOICE>

 

He said, "dong."

 

</BUTTHEAD VOICE>

 

There's also a game called "Milk Nuts," and Donkey Kong Jr. is referred to as "Dongkey Kong 2."

 

Another thing I like about this console is that its included light gun provides a fine illustration of the difference between our marketplace and culture and the one in which the bootleggers operate. Over here, it's a crime to remove the big, dorky, safety-orange part that visually distinguishes any BB or airsoft gun from a "real" firearm, and toy guns are almost always colored and styled in such a way that police officers would not likely mistake them for real weapons and shoot a kid brandishing one.

 

Such concerns don't seem to exist in bootleg land:

 

 

I guess maybe in China it is just assumed that children will not do stupid things, especially when there are cops around.

 

I could easily see myself robbing a bank or hijacking an ice-cream truck with that thing!

 

Heck, it's almost all plastic. Remove one or two screws, and I'll bet I could get it into a courthouse or onto an airplane.

 

I wouldn't last one week in China.

 

[Tempest]

There's also a game called "Milk Nuts,"

Nuts & Milk was a Japanese only Famicom game. I think (if I'm not mistaken) that it was the first 3rd party game for the system.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuts_&_Milk

 

Tempest

[Herbarius]

I once saw a similar "pirated" console at a street festival here in Germany. It was called "MasterGames"

 

It had the look of the PS1 (exactly the same, only the logo was different of course) and came with two PS1 controllers lookalikes like your console has, and I think even a light gun. It also had "built in games" but AFAIK those weren't official titles but really crappy stuff (think Action 52). However, if you opened the lid, instead of a CD tray you would find a NES cartridge slot and it would play most NES games.

 

Here you'll find a more detailled review of that console:

http://low.audioattack.de/mastergames/index.html

However, it's in German. However you can read this translation by Google Babelfish - it's not perfect, but readable.

Edited April 23, 2009 by Herbarius

[jboypacman]

This think looks interesting and for $20($17)you can't beat it i guess.

[figgler]

Just about every pirate famicom cart I have has new names hacked in for the games, or the copyright Nintendo thing removed.

Super Mario Bros is most often Mr Mari, or the title is removed completely

[FlightSuit]

The light gun works fine, but the PlayStation-style controllers are just trash. Oddly, the ports that you plug the controllers into look just like the ports for Atari VCS controllers. I've never owned a NES, but those had the same type of port as a SNES, didn't they?

[S1500]

I actually enjoy pirate Famicom carts. It's so fun to see/play these mutant games.

[Herbarius]

Oddly, the ports that you plug the controllers into look just like the ports for Atari VCS controllers. I've never owned a NES, but those had the same type of port as a SNES, didn't they?

 

No, the original NES controller ports are different from the VCS and different from the SNES. This is what they looked like

[+FujiSkunk]

It is very easy to find those 9-pin "D" ports since so many game consoles and other pieces of hardware used the standard. A few Famiclones use NES-compatible ports, but it's much cheaper to use the D-style ports, pretty much all the all-in-ones use them. Heck, even the Flashback 1 used them, and Atari had to warn people not to plug their actual Atari controllers into it.

[TheRedEye]

Think I've been in the same shop, Mission somewhere between maybe 18th and 24th?

 

There's a similar store around there that has a bunch of sealed older games (black and white Game Boy, PS1, etc.) behind the counter, including some Sachen stuff. When I asked if I could look at them they actually told me no.

[FlightSuit]

Yeah, that's the location, roughly. That's pretty amazing that the other store straight-up told you "No!"

 

What, did those idiots think you were gonna run out of the store without paying for them? What morons.

[rockman_x_2002]

I got one of these Super Multi Mega Ultra Fun Game 10-bajillion-in-one things. Except mine is shaped like an N64 controller. In fact, it's this one.

 

As for the Atari clones, yes there are two official ones. One, the original Flashback, is styled after the 7800, but contains an NES-on-a-chip solution with re-programmed games. In general, this one you want to stay away from.

 

Its successor, the Flashback 2.0, looks like the 2600, except with push-buttons instead of switches. The difference here, however, is that it actually uses a clone of the original 2600 hardware, so it's not an emulated solution at all. Can be modded to play most 2600 carts if you're handy with a soldering iron and feeling a bit brave. But otherwise has a few fistfulls of built-in 2600 classics (and a few games included from Activision). The FB2 is well worth the time to hunt for one if you're at all interested in the 2600.

Edited April 25, 2009 by rockman_x_2002

[FlightSuit]

Whoa...

 

I didn't realize the FB2 wasn't an NES-on-a-chip sollution. Damn, if I'd known that, I mighta bought the one they had at my local Radio Shack several months ago. I think it was the last one they had, and the price may have gone down so fifteen bucks. Mighta been as high as $19.99, but no higher.

 

Of course, there's always Stella or MESS or whatever, so you can play 2600 games on your computer to your heart's content.

 

Don't know of any old-school, Atari-style controllers that plug into a USB port, though.

 

Speaking of which, what about those TV Games where the entire console is housed inside an Atari controller that plugs into your TV? Those are NES-on-a-chips, aren't they?

 

And there's a similar TV Game that's the Atari paddle controller, isn't there?

 

Anyway...

[TwinChargers]

Don't know of any old-school, Atari-style controllers that plug into a USB port, though.

 

Here you go!! Unfortunately they are currently sold out though.

 

Speaking of which, what about those TV Games where the entire console is housed inside an Atari controller that plugs into your TV? Those are NES-on-a-chips, aren't they?

 

Yep, they sure are.

 

And there's a similar TV Game that's the Atari paddle controller, isn't there?

 

Sure there is!! Although the $64 that they are selling them for isn't reasonable. Oh, and they too are NES on a chip.

[vdub_bobby]

The light gun works fine, but the PlayStation-style controllers are just trash. Oddly, the ports that you plug the controllers into look just like the ports for Atari VCS controllers. I've never owned a NES, but those had the same type of port as a SNES, didn't they?

I'm pretty sure that the original Famicom had 9-pin ports like those.

[Video]

The famicom had D9's, but the NES had the custom 5pin port.

 

Pretty sweet looking thing, looks like a Genesis3 case pretty much. How well does the light gun work? That would interest me a lot, since many of the xinone consoles, or the knockoffs don't include lightguns.

[FlightSuit]

Like I said, the lightgun works OK. I haven't played all the games yet, but so far the only one which uses it is Duck Hunt. I wish there was a port of Area 51 or T2 Judgment Day on this thing.