Difference between revisions of "Mega Drive unlicensed multi-carts"

Revision as of 15:58, 30 June 2019

"Super 5 in 1", a typical unlicensed Mega Drive multi-cart.

A common practice amongst video game bootleggers is to combine two or more games into one - in the Sega Mega Drive's case, resulting in unlicensed multi-carts. Such an idea is particularly prominent in Asia and South America - often moreso than the act of releasing bootlegs of individual games.

The process is achieved by using high capacity ROM cartridges - with early games such as Tetris shipping on 256kB ROMs, multiple copies can be placed within a 2MB or 4MB ROM with room to spare. Sometimes a simple menu would be programmed to select between the titles, or a soft reset of the console is required to switch games.

Unlike the Nintendo Famicom, in which multi-cart sizes ballooned during the 1990s and 2000s (to the point where manufacturers would (often erroneously) claim a multi-cart contained hundreds of games), it is more common to see Mega Drive multi-carts contain between two and eight games - typically when a cartridge claims to have more than ten, it is a strong indication that games will be repeated, sometimes with very minor changes. Newer Mega Drive games are rarely seen in multi-carts, not only because of their size, but due to tighter security from developers.

Sega have released multiple officially licensed compilations, which save for an expected layer of polish, offer much the same thing.

Documentation

Thousands of Mega Drive mulit-carts exist, with new ones continuing to be created today. While Sega Retro is attempting to document as many of these cartridges as possible, the volume of releases and the desire for their creators to hide their identities makes this an extremely difficult, if not impossible task.

Our documentation of unlicensed multi-carts is at a very preliminary stage, and as such we are only able to reliably group multi-carts based on appearance (with the view that a similar aesthetic likely means they are related in some way). Most multi-carts lack any sort of obvious pattern, making it dificult to cleanly represent them on this wiki. For an unorganised collection of other known multi-carts, see the multi-cart project page.

Documented

Some multi-carts have been documented in more depth, usually because the ROM has been dumped or the cartridge is unique among its peers:

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Known series

In more recent years, bootleggers have chosen to label their produce more intelligently, and so newer multi-carts are generally easier to group together:

Due to the sheer volume of releases, special consideration has been made for some countries:

Mega Drive unlicensed multi-carts in Russia

Special consideration has also been made for more "modern" multi-carts:

Mega Drive unlicensed multi-carts (2010s)

While most multi-carts do not follow an obvious pattern, some do, allowing for us to group releases together:

"N-in-1", "S" series

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"Super XXX in One", standard cartridge design

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Group 4

2 in 1

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3 in 1

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4 in 1

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5 in 1

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8 in 1

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"Two in One"

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White background, red text

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Group 8

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Sega Master System compilations

Backwards compatibility with the Sega Master System allows for collections of Master System games to be included on a Mega Drive cartridge. These products are rare amongst multi-carts, as the Master System never achieved the same worldwide foothold as the Mega Drive, and newer Mega Drive systems cannot run these games.

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References

Difference between revisions of "Mega Drive unlicensed multi-carts"

From Sega Retro

Revision as of 15:58, 30 June 2019

Contents

Documentation

Documented

Known series

"N-in-1", "S" series

"Super XXX in One", standard cartridge design

Group 4

2 in 1

3 in 1

4 in 1

5 in 1

8 in 1

"Two in One"

White background, red text

Group 8

Sega Master System compilations

References

@@ Line 147: / Line 147: @@
 | cover=SuperTwoinOne MD Box AirWolfVerytex.jpg
 | cart=SuperTwoinOne MD Cart AirWolfVerytex.jpg
-| games=*''[[Air Wolf]]''
+| games=*''[[Super Airwolf]]''
 *''[[Verytex]]''
 }}
@@ Line 154: / Line 154: @@
 | cover=
 | cart=SuperTwoinOne MD Cart KabukiRunark.jpg
+| games=*''[[Runark]]''
 }}
 {{MulticartRelease
@@ Line 174: / Line 175: @@
 | cover=SuperFourinOne MD Box SDGAFSAB.jpg
 | cart=SuperFourinOne MD Cart SDGAFSAB.jpg
+| games=*''[[Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi]]''
 }}
 {{MulticartRelease
@@ Line 199: / Line 201: @@
 | cover=Super3in1 MD Box MahjongColumnsBlockout.jpg
 | cart=Super3in1 MD Cart MahjongColumnsBlockout.jpg
+| games=*''[[Columns]]''
+*''[[Blockout]]''
 }}
 {{MulticartRelease
@@ Line 229: / Line 233: @@
 | cover=2in1 MD cover ShadowDancerMagicalHat.jpg
 | cart=2in1 MD cart ShadowDancerMagicalHat.jpg
+| games=*''[[Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi]]''
 }}
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@@ Line 234: / Line 239: @@
 | cover=2in1 MD cover CoISpiderMan.jpg
 | cart=2in1 MD cart CoISpiderMan.jpg
+| games=*''[[Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse (Mega Drive)|Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse]]''
 }}
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@@ Line 239: / Line 245: @@
 | cover=2in1 MD cover MysticDefenderColumns.jpg
 | cart=2in1 MD cart MysticDefenderColumns.jpg
+| games=*''[[Columns]]''
 }}
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@@ Line 259: / Line 266: @@
 | cover=
 | cart=2in1 MD Cart AlesteDangerousSeed.jpg
+| games=*''[[Musha Aleste]]''
+*''[[Dangerous Seed]]''
 }}
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@@ Line 300: / Line 309: @@
 | cart=4in1 MD Cart BareKnuckleGoldenAxeIIStreetSmartAlienStorm.jpg
 | code=1625
+| games=*''[[Bare Knuckle]]''
+*''[[Golden Axe II]]''
+*''[[Street Smart]]''
+*''[[Alien Storm (Mega Drive)|Alien Storm]]''
 }}
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@@ Line 306: / Line 319: @@
 | cart=4in1 MD Cart SonicTokiCoIQuackShot.jpg
 | code=1626
+| games=*''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (16-bit)|Sonic the Hedgehog]]''
+*''[[Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse (Mega Drive)|Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse]]''
+*''[[Quackshot Starring Donald Duck]]''
 }}
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@@ Line 311: / Line 327: @@
 | cover=4in1 MD Box DickTracyVerytexYochiSuperAirWolf.jpg
 | cart=4in1 MD Cart DickTracyVerytexYochiSuperAirWolf.jpg
+| games=*''[[Dick Tracy]]''
+*''[[Verytex]]''
+*''[[Super Airwolf]]''
 }}
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@@ Line 316: / Line 335: @@
 | cover=4in1 MD Box MoonwalkerTF3BatmanSSS.jpg
 | cart=4in1 MD Cart MoonwalkerTF3BatmanSSS.jpg
+| games=*''[[Michael Jackson's Moonwalker]]''
 }}
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 | cover=4in1 MD Box CoIQSTMTT.jpg
 | cart=4in1 MD Cart CoIQSTMTT.jpg
+| games=*''[[Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse (Mega Drive)|Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse]]''
+*''[[Quackshot Starring Donald Duck]]''
 }}
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 | cart=4in1 MD Cart SonicASSSWW.jpg
+| games=*''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (16-bit)|Sonic the Hedgehog]]''
 }}
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+| games=*''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (16-bit)|Sonic the Hedgehog]]''
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 | cover=4in1 MD Box MFDCRQ.jpg
 | cart=4in1 MD Cart QSRMFDC.jpg
+| games=*''[[Quackshot Starring Donald Duck]]''
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+| games=*''[[Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi]]''
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+| games=*''[[Heavy Unit]]''
+*''[[Gynoug]]''
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 | cartback=2in1 MD cart back MoonwalkerWardner.jpg
+| games=*''[[Michael Jackson's Moonwalker]]''
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+| games=*''[[Bare Knuckle]]''
+*''[[Street Smart]]''
 }}
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 | cover=4in1 MD Box WB3MHHYG.jpg
 | cart=4in1 MD Cart WB3MHHYG.jpg
+| games=*''[[Gynoug]]''
 }}
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 | cover=4in1 MD Box TetrisKlaxMegapanelZoom.jpg
 | cart=4in1 MD Cart TetrisKlaxMegapanelZoom.jpg
+|games=*''[[Tetris]]''
+*''[[Klax]]''
+*''[[Megapanel]]''
+*''[[Zoom!]]''
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+|games=*''[[Tetris]]''
+*''[[Klax]]''
+*''[[Megapanel]]''
+*''[[Zoom!]]''
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+| games=*''[[Golden Axe]]''
 }}
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+| games=*''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (16-bit)|Sonic the Hedgehog]]''
 }}
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 | cover=2in1 MD cover SuperHangOnStreetSmart.jpg
 | cart=2in1 MD cart SuperHangOnStreetSmart.jpg
+| games=*''[[Super Hang-On]]''
+*''[[Street Smart]]''
 }}
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 | cover=
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+| games=*''[[Runark]]''
+*''[[Quackshot Starring Donald Duck]]''
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 | cover=
 | cart=4in1 MD Cart SonicSDRITB.jpg
+| games=*''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (16-bit)|Sonic the Hedgehog]]''
+*''[[Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi]]''
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 | cover=
 | cart=4in1 MD Cart RunarkAlienStormGoldenAxeBareKnuckle.jpg
+| games=*''[[Runark]]''
+*''[[Alien Storm (Mega Drive)|Alien Storm]]''
+*''[[Golden Axe]]''
+*''[[Bare Knuckle]]''
 }}
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 | cover=4in1 MD Box MFFMSomethingQS.jpg
 | cart=4in1 MD Cart MFFMSomethingQS.jpg
+*''[[Quackshot Starring Donald Duck]]''
 }}
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 | cover=
 | cart=4in1 MD Cart BKGAFWAS.jpg
+| games=*''[[Bare Knuckle]]''
+*''[[Golden Axe]]''
 }}
 {{MulticartReleaseEnd}}