Bootleg games are still very much around, but there was a certain charm to them back in the day, in an era when they were the stuff of legend and stealthily distributed. Getting more specific, to varying degrees in past times the Chinese market was cut-off from the mainstream video game industry, but that didn't stop intrepid regional developers making games to recreate the best titles.
YouTube channel St1ka does a great job of digging up little known titles and showcasing them, and they've now done that with some bootleg Mega Man games that did the rounds in China. Developed for Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance, there was a series titled Zook: Hero, and the actual games look decent - well, some of them.
It's fun learning about these bootleg games from back in the day and seeing them in action, so we suggest grabbing a refreshing beverage and watching the video below:
[source youtube.com]
Comments 36
I'm going to say it, and you know it to, "China steals everything", and I don't care if it looks good, if it sells they steal it, I mean hell, there was even a tv show host in China, pretty popular, guess what? he stole the work, so I think its great that people in china are trying to back some OG content, and thats also why china hates Ginshin impact, bc its just plays on "China steals everything" (Plus they banned winnie the pooh ):
"YOU GET EQUIP . . FOR HEAD!"
I'm going to say it, and you know it to, "China steals everything", and I don't care if it looks good, if it sells they steal it, I mean hell, there was even a tv show host in China, pretty popular, guess what? he stole the work, so I think its great that people in china are trying to back some OG content, and thats also why china hates Ginshin impact, bc its just plays on "China steals everything" (Plus they banned winnie the pooh ):
@nessisonett I’m just going to say it, and you know it to[o], how did two different usernames create such an identical post? You both even have the awkward colon after the parenthetical at the end.
@nessisonett are you china?
@Roam85 I'm going to say it, and you know it to, "China steals everything", and I don't care if it looks good, if it sells they steal it, I mean hell, there was even a tv show host in China, pretty popular, guess what? he stole the work, so I think its great that people in china are trying to back some OG content, and thats also why china hates Ginshin impact, bc its just plays on "China steals everything" (Plus they banned winnie the pooh ):
@Sidon_ZoraPrince This comment was officially approved by the CCP.
@Roam85 To me it seems like nessisonett is mocking Snatcher.
@Tourtus Hey, I have nothing against Snatcher, it was just stealing the comment about China stealing.
@nessisonett Oh... My bad then, sorry!
Are you sure they stole it? I wouldn't be surprised if Mega man was "Made in China" lol. (I know Akira is from Japan, this was just a joke).
I need more equip, for my head.
NINJA APPROVED
I'm going 2 say it, and you know it to, "China steals everything", and I don't care if it looks good, if it sells they steal it, I mean hell, there was even a tv show host in China, pretty popular, guess what? he stole the work, so I think its great that people in china are trying to back some OG content, and thats also why china hates Ginshin impact, bc its just plays on "China steals everything" (Plus they banned winnie the pooh ):
This game was developed in Taiwan (ie, the Republic of China), which had a lot of unlicensed ("bootleg") games companies because they were essentially considered an anathema to much of the world after the early 1970s, trade-wise, because of their conflicts with the communist-occupied mainland China. Communist China was not often making nor allowing video games in general until quite recently (though this and a few other games were excepted from this standard or smuggled into the communist-occupied mainland during the '80s-'90s). Therefore, unintentionally, the PRC flag on this article's thumbnail is inaccurate and a bit misleading, @ThomasBW84 (though the uploader of this video is at fault for that, not Tom).
The Dr Light imitation looks like Colonel Sanders, lol
"As you know, on this side of the Wall
We are Yooks,
On the far other side of this Wall
Live the Zooks"
Then my grandfather said:
"It's high time that you knew
Of the terrible, horrible thing that Zooks do.
In every Zook house and in every Zook town
Every Zook eats his bread
With the butter side down!"
@nessisonett Ahhh took me a minute... Very funny lol
Uhh, hey @Eel ? You're a mod on here right? I get the feeling this comment section is gonna go off in a bad direction...
@nessisonett SEE everything!
@Heavyarms55 I can’t really close comment sections myself. If things get too bad, please do report the comments.
@Eel Maybe you can talk to the people who can? I mean I could go down the list, but this is kinda turning into a mix of nasty politics and racism.
Bootleg and poor copyright happens in China for a reason, it’s a developing country. This means intellectual property protection laws are not developed and poorly enforced. Plus as a developing country most people in China can’t afford official releases of video games on top of the fact Mega Man was never officially released in China. Last but not least, the Chinese government has no incentive to protect Japanese IP considering China and Japan are still pretty much enemies decades after the war ended.
@Heavyarms55 we are on a website to praise the work of talented Asians and great asian companies.
@Heavyarms55 Oh I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable, I wasn't trying to be mean, just all in good fun, again i'm sorry.
@Snatcher - what are you apologising for? You didn't even say anything offensive.
Im japanese, but I can't read Zook:Hero's Japanese sentence.
very weird.
@Prizm Well if I did make him feel uncomfortable, I don't just want to say your feelings are crap, wile I don't really think I did anything wrong, I still want to validate how he feels, but uh, he never said anything, so maybe he doesn't care LOL?
@Snatcher (Random):A Hat in time is one of my all-time favorites and on Switch alone I've played over 80 hours of it.
@BizarreJelly28980 Same dude, I love that game, did my name and icon make you think about it? Snatcher is like my online persona now, I can't look at him without thinking about my self.
@Snatcher I mean yeah and funny enough every time I read one of your comments I imagine it with Snatchers voice.
@BizarreJelly28980 Aw thanks, you know, this wasn't my first user name, and I kinda wanted to change it one day, I was playing A hat in time for the first time, and I just loved snatcher, like everything about him, so I wanted to role play as him, I did for a wile, and you know, I was going to change it back by the end of the month, but this just grew on me LOL, and that's how I have my username and icon, I mean even my profile had "Stay out of my Forest kid" on it,
Also, I have snatcher sticker's placed on my PC, so ya.....(I may like him a little to much)
@Muddy_4_Ever That uh...sounds a bit risqué. Lol
it doesn't look too shabby.
@NinChocolate Who would later go on to star in his own dating sim. XD
@Snatcher Same here.
@milvus976578
Me and my sibs used to have a VHS of this book and we'd watch it ALL THE TIME! Probably haven't thought of this one in 25 years! Thanks for the nostalgia, never hurts to remember fondly...
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