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

Revision as of 06:45, 25 May 2023

"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 task.

Simlilar to more traditional bootleg game cartridges, the majority of unlicensed multi-carts originate from the far east, from factories in and around Taiwan, Hong Kong or in more recent years, mainland China. Third-party distributors often design the packaging and are ultimately responsible for selling the product; the same ROM can therefore appear all over the world but in different guises.

Numbered series

A variant of "KE-804", clearly labled.

Many multi-carts make the documentation process easier by having product code numbers on display (which in turn often double up as the cartridge's "name"). From this we can deduce series based on letter, or similar identifiers. In most cases, it is not known what the letters symbolise.

"Groups"

Many multi-carts lack unique identifiers, and with no ROM dumps or contextual details, can only be judged on general appearance.

Mega Drive unlicensed multi-carts (2010s)

Others

"Unique" cartridges

Multi-carts in South Korea

Several cartridges were created specifically for the South Korean market, often containing Sega Master System or ported MSX games, and menus in Korean.

Master System compilations

A small subset of multi-carts only contain Sega Master System games.

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

"Super XXX in One", standard cartridge design

Box scans	Content scans	Name	Code	Distributor	Date & price	Comments
	Cart
	Cart
	Cart
	Cart
	Cart
	Cart
	Cart
	Cart
	Cart
	Cart
	Cart
	Cart
	Cart
	Cart
	Cart
	Cart
	Cart

Group 4

2 in 1

Box scans	Content scans	Name	Code	Distributor	Date & price	Comments
					PL: 720000zł720000 (≥ 199x) ^[1]
					PL: 650000zł650000 (≥ 199x) ^[2]
	Cart
	Cart
	Cart
	Cart
	Cart
	50x50px Cart

	Cart
	Cart
	Cart

3 in 1

Box scans	Content scans	Name	Code	Distributor	Date & price	Comments
	Cart		633
Cart

4 in 1

Box scans	Content scans	Name	Code	Distributor	Date & price	Comments
	Cart
	Cart
	Cart		1625
	Cart		1625
	Cart		1626
	Cart
	Cart
	Cart
	Cart
	Cart
	Cart
	Cart
	Cart
	Cart
	Cart
	Cart
	Cart
	Cart

	Cart
	Cart
	Cart

5 in 1

Box scans	Content scans	Name	Code	Distributor	Date & price	Comments
	Cart
	Cart

8 in 1

Box scans	Content scans	Name	Code	Distributor	Date & price	Comments
	Cart

"Two in One"

Box scans	Content scans	Name	Code	Distributor	Date & price	Comments
	Cart		A-071
	Cart
	Cart
	Cart
	Cart
	Cart

White background, red text

Box scans	Content scans	Code
	Cart	K-0816 2005
	Cart	K-0816 2006
	Cart	K-0816 2010
Cart
	Cart
	Cart
	Cart
	Cart
	Cart
	Cart
	Cart
	Cart
	Cart

References

[1] ttp://twin-carts.pl/mega_drive_pirate/gynoug_and_ringside_angel.jpg

[2] ttp://twin-carts.pl/mega_drive_pirate/quackshot_and_devil_crush.jpg

[1]

[2]

@@ Line 9: / Line 9: @@
 ==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.
+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 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 [[Sega Retro:Todo/Multicarts|multi-cart project page]].
+Simlilar to more traditional bootleg game cartridges, the majority of unlicensed multi-carts originate from the far east, from factories in and around Taiwan, Hong Kong or in more recent years, mainland China. Third-party distributors often design the packaging and are ultimately responsible for selling the product; the same ROM can therefore appear all over the world but in different guises.
+===Numbered series===
+[[File:KE-804 MD Cart Alt.jpg|thumb|right|A variant of "KE-804", clearly labled.]]
+Many multi-carts make the documentation process easier by having product code numbers on display (which in turn often double up as the cartridge's "name"). From this we can deduce series based on letter, or similar identifiers. In most cases, it is not known what the letters symbolise.
-===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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+|titlematch=Mega Drive unlicensed multi-carts (% series)
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+|listseparators=,,*[[%PAGE%¦²{#replace:²{#replace:%PAGE%¦Mega Drive unlicensed multi-carts (¦}²¦)¦}²]]\n
-}}
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+|cols=4}}
+==="Groups"===
+Many multi-carts lack unique identifiers, and with no ROM dumps or contextual details, can only be judged on general appearance.
+*[[Mega Drive unlicensed multi-carts (2010s)]]
+===Others===
+===="Unique" cartridges====
+====[[Mega Drive unlicensed multi-carts in South Korea|Multi-carts in South Korea]]====
+Several cartridges were created specifically for the South Korean market, often containing [[Sega Master System]] or ported [[MSX]] games, and menus in Korean.
+====[[Mega Drive unlicensed multi-carts (Master System compilations)|Master System compilations]]====
+A small subset of multi-carts only contain [[Sega Master System]] games.
-===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:
-*[[Mega Drive unlicensed multi-carts (DT series)]]
-*[[Mega Drive unlicensed multi-carts (KC series)]]
-*[[Mega Drive unlicensed multi-carts (KE series)]]
-*[[Mega Drive unlicensed multi-carts (KH series)]]
-*[[Mega Drive unlicensed multi-carts (TH series)]]
-*[[Mega Drive unlicensed multi-carts (ZW series)]]
-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:
@@ Line 552: / Line 559: @@
 }}
 }}
-====[[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.
-{{MulticartReleaseTable|
-{{MulticartRelease
-| title=MD 8 in 1
-| cover=
-| cart=MD8in1 MD Cart.jpg
-}}
-{{MulticartRelease
-| title=
-| cover=3in1 MD Box Sonic2CoITaJ.jpg
-| cart=3in1 MD Cart Sonic2CoITaJ.jpg
-| comments=A near-identical version was also released on a Master System cartridge.
-}}
-}}
 ==References==
 <references />
 [[Category:Mega Drive unlicensed multi-carts| ]]