Chris' Functional Guide For Making of Spectacular Unlicensed Gaming - Major Unending Success!

While I'm sure many of you have a fair amount of games on your shelf already, I have no doubt that a few of you are just starting to assemble your game collection. So with that in mind, have you ever been out game shopping and you see a cart that looks radically different from the others? A blue nintendo game? A gameboy game with all of the pins showing? A game with an otherwise wacky size, shape or color? You more than likely have stumbled across an unlicensed game. Before you start shelling out your life savings trying to track down everything with an off-color case, perhaps you should ask yourself what you look for in a game and whether or not you need every unlicensed game out there. They range from Christian-themed games to pirated bootleg multicarts, to reproductions and more. So let us dive into the murky pond that is the unlicensed game world and see if we come up with a winner!

NOTE: I'm primarily focusing on the NES for this tutorial. There are certainly a fair share of wacky bootlegs and strange carts for other systems, but the Nintendo has the most notorious set of games and perhaps one of the largest collections.

Publisher: Tengen
Modus Operandi: Released (surprisingly faithful) arcade ports in black carts that slope down to a point on the top label side: resembling a paper airplane from the side.
Popular titles: Gauntlet, Tetris (Tengen,) Toobin, and Skull and Crossbones

Shinobi is pure ninja awesomeness!

Tengen was a branch of Atari and they released several wonderful arcade ports and a few original titles. Tengen is unique in that they started as a licensed third-party company; putting out games such as Pacman, Gauntlet, and RBI Baseball under the Nintendo umbrella. As a result of Nintendo's strict release policies, coupled with a spat over the Tengen release of Tetris: The Soviet Mind Game; Tengen started to release its games in their now familiar, unlicensed, black carts. Most of the games are ports of arcade classics such as Pacman, Toobin', Skull and Crossbones, and Fantasy Zone and a majority of the games were developed by Namco, Sega, or Sunsoft. Most Tengen carts will run you less than 10-15 bucks except for Tetris which has its own unique history of being pulled from the shelves due to a legal spat between Nintendo and Tengen over copyright. This game fetches a hefty penny for this reason - and also because it is considered a better version of Tetris with its 2-player mode intact.

It's available RIGHT NOW (as of this writing)

Publisher: Camerica
Modus Operandi: Released (moderately decent) original games and peripherals for the NES. The carts are typically gold or silver with a NTSC/PAL switch on the back. They also produced the Aladdin Deck Enhancer and the carts for it are squatty, black, and roughly shaped like an Atari 5200 cart.
Popular Games: Bee 52, Big Nose Freaks Out, and the Fantastic Adventures of Dizzy

I'm sure there's a joke about a wall, a big fall, and scrambled eggs here somewhere.

Camerica was a company that released a handful of peripherals and games developed by Codemasters. Along with Tengen, these carts seemed to be widely available in rental chains (in spite of Nintendo's strict policies condemning unlicensed games alongside their own) and the quality is nearly up there with the output of Tengen. Games such as Big Nose the Caveman, Bee 52, and The Fantastic Adventures of Dizzy are fun time-killers and while none of these games could be considered gems, they all have a quirky, fun, cheerful quality to them. Possibly one of the best Camerica releases (in my humble opinion) is Micro Machines. The Aladdin Deck Enhancer was a device made late in the NES' lifespan that was made to cut down on production/game costs by eliminating the necessity of a special chip in each cart to bypass the NES' lockout chip. Most of the games released for it are available in non-Aladdin form and there's not really too many reasons to recommend it aside for "collector's sake." What I would recommend picking up are the Quattro series that Camerica released. They are multicarts that feature 4 games of a given genre: Sports, Adventure, and Arcade. They give you a broad sampling of what Camerica has to offer and are really affordable.

It's...err...rare?!

Publishers: Color Dreams/Bunch Games/Wisdom Tree
Modus Operandi: Released (notoriously mediocre) original games and clones - as well as cannibalizing from their own library as the company later branched off from Color Dreams to Wisdom Tree to Bunch Games. Carts are usually either blue or black. Also known for releasing Bible-themed games under the heading Wisdom Tree.
Popular Titles: Spiritual Warfare, Bible Adventures, Tagin Dragon, Challenge of the Dragon, and Baby Boomer

Available in Black and Blue varieties! Gotta Catch 'Em All!

Ah, Color Dreams. Better and wiser game reviewers than I (Seanbaby, The Angry Video Game Nerd, and many more,) have decimated the Color Dreams/Wisdom Tree/Bunch Games collections for their shoddy controls, mediocre graphics, absurd storylines, and grating music. That being said - I know at least a handful of people (as well as myself) who have a strange, morbid nostalgia for this quirky little footnote in video game history. Many of their games are either clones of popular titles (Super Mario Bros 2, Legend of Zelda, Solomon's Key) or actually clones of their own games (Sunday Funday is Menace Beach with 30% more Jesus, Exodus is really just Crystal Mines gone all Old Testament, etc.) Some of my friends and I would actually file these games into the so-bad-they're-hilariously-great category. They come in baby blue and black varieties and many places online will tell you that one variety is rarer than the other. If that's true, I honestly don't understand nor care to understand the distinction. As far as I can tell the colors are interchangeable based on how much stock they have of one type or the other and just about every copy of Captain Comic I see has an "inverted Jenny" style label so just because your label is upside down doesn't make you a lottery winner. Besides, that game is so bad-it's-awful. So we all lose. Their rarer/ more valuable games are Baby Boomer, Tagin Dragon, Operation Secret Storm (a game based on the first gulf war!) and Challenge of the Dragon. Whether or not they are worth the price is based entirely on how hardcore of a collector you are. Lukie Games frequently has most of these games available on a fairly regular basis so if you need to fill out your unlicensed game collection, I can't think of a better place to do it!

Publisher: American Video Entertainment
Modus Operandi: Released (mostly forgettable) puzzle games, clones, and a handful of original titles here and there.
Popular Titles: F-15 City War, Deathbots, Wally Bear and the NO! Gang, Venice Beach Volleyball

Brought to you in Booty-vision!

AVE put out quite a few games in their time as an unlicensed game publisher - many of which are fair-to-middling games that would not be out of place among the game packs you get when you get a stock Microsoft PC with games such as Solitaire, Mahjong, Blackjack, a sliding puzzle game, and a Tetris style game as well. Probably the best game from AVE is F-15 City War which feels the most like a professional action shooter game. For the hardest of core game collectors - you should start with this game first, and then pick up oddities like Wally Bear and the NO! Gang,  Deathbots, and Mermaids of Atlantis. For someone looking for a lot of these games (as well as many other unlicensed games) should pick up the Maxivision 15, better known as the Maxi-15. It combines a few games from AVE, American Game Cartridges, and Color Dreams. The cart includes many of these AVE games as well as rare titles Menace Beach and Chiller which make the multicart worth the price of admission alone if you're a collector that needs every NES game but not necessarily every NES cart.

Let's not get it twisted - they aren't ALL individually awesome games...

Publisher: Panesian
Modus Operandi: Released (less than stimulating) adult games for the NES that were themselves clones/hacks of other unlicensed games with nudity shoe-horned in. Games were released in black carts not unlike a backwards AVE cart and housed in Clamshell VHS style boxes.
Popular Titles: Hot Slots, Bubble Bath Babes, and Peek-a-Boo Poker.

Earn yourself a cool 1000 Lukie Points in one sweep!

While this publisher only released three games here in the states - not much to justify bringing it into this list; it's a unique company in that they released the only set of Adult NES games here in the US (barring Sachen's Honey Peach and a few other Hacker International games that would wind up on strange multicart bootlegs.) There's really nothing special about the games themselves, 8-bit nudity aside - and they are all just naughty versions of other releases. That being said, they are interesting to collectors because they are very scarce (being available strictly through phone order) and very few made it into the market.

So that is a brief sampling of what is out there in the vast universe known as unlicensed games. There's certainly games that didn't make my list here. There's "Action 52"...but you don't really want that. And there's a slew of white, grey, translucent, and black carts that have multiple games, homebrew games, or unreleased games on them. If they are cheap and you're willing to take the gamble, pick one up! Most of the previously mentioned games are available at Lukie Games on a regular basis so get yourself a copy or put yourself on the waiting list!

Just say "meh?!"

Adventures in Unlicensed Games: Spiritual Warfare (NES, Gameboy)

Well gang, it's Christmas time! Today we'll be discussing Wisdom Tree's "Spiritual Warfare" for the NES. I had a fun time reviewing it - it's a pretty wacky game with a crazy premise. I know that Bible games have been done to death online, the Angry Video Game Nerd did four excellent episodes on the matter, and they can be a touchy subject for a few - but in this review I'm tackling a game that actually has a few great highlights. While it's not the best game in the world, it has its merits. I poke a little fun but am not out to hurt anyone's feelings so I've reeled the unabashed sarcasm in a bit. Hope you guys & gals enjoy and have a safe and happy holiday!
- Chris

The term "spiritual warfare" evokes many images in the mind. Take for example: The Crusades. A bloody chunk of history where religious wars raged in the late 1000's up until nearly the 1300's. How about the battle that has raged in the Middle East between Palestinians and Jews for as far back as anyone can remember? In truth, people have been killing one another over beliefs shortly after the first two people looked up at the night sky observing the majesty of the cosmos and disagreed vehemently on how and/or why it came into existence. That's perhaps a bit of an oversimplification; often politics, land disputes, economics and the rise and fall of empires have more to do with supposed religious warfare than simply the opponent's deity of choice. It is, however, a motivation when it comes to conflict between nations, sects, tribes, etc.

A quick Google search of the term "spiritual warfare" also brings up a much different meaning - a blanket war against evil. It could be as simple as the spiritual conflicts within one's self - IE: the kind of stuff that Ronnie James Dio would sing about. More often than not it's a term that describes the actions of die-hard, unwavering, radically conservative Christian leaders (the kind that really seemed to spring up in the early 80's with folks like Pat Robertson, Oral Roberts, Jimmy Swaggert, Jerry Fallwell, and the Bakkers.) The kinda folks who would tell you that your kids can't watch Teletubbies because Tinky-Winky is a symbol for gay pride, or that Harry Potter is a Satanic abomination and an icon for the Occult. Spiritual warfare is about keeping out "evil influences" in order to live a better life. So hide your Quija boards, Marilyn Manson records, skateboards, black clothing, and video games because the fun police just arrived!

That is, unless your video games are made by developer Wisdom Tree! Wisdom Tree is a small independent game development house that would make Christian themed games that would be sold in Christian bookstores. An interesting fact is that Wisdom Tree is a branch of game developer Color Dreams which also released such wholesome games as "Robodemons" and "Menace Beach" (but I'll save those wonderful games for another time.) Wisdom Tree, Color Dreams, and Bunch Games (another branch of C.D.) have a reputation for putting out sub par games that had to be released unlicensed, presumably because Nintendo had fairly strict content policies and religious references were certainly one of them - as well as policies against games that consistently look like they were made by a third grader. Nevertheless, Wisdom Tree released the game Spiritual Warfare in 1992. This is the kind of game that Stewart from "Beavis and Butthead" or the Flanders kids from "The Simpsons" would have loved!

They don't look too eager to hear
"the good news."

The first thing you'll notice if you've played any of the other Wisdom Tree games is that the graphics aren't all that bad. They are certainly a marked improvement over some of the old Color Dreams games like Robodemons. Also, with most of these Wisdom Tree games you have the joy of guessing which game (Color Dreams or popular licensed game) that this game is trying to emulate. In the case of Bible Adventures, the game plays a lot like Super Mario Bros. 2. Some of the Wisdom Tree games like Sunday Funday are just retooled versions of older Color Dreams games. In the case of Spiritual Warfare, it's an awful lot like Legend of Zelda. Let's face it, there's a lot worse games that you could base your knock-off game on and for the most part Wisdom Tree does a good job. Remember the old man who would give you advice, items, etc? Well, here it's an angel and you trade in doves as currency for different varieties of the "fruit of spirit." The menu screen looks similar, the level design and perspectives are similar, and overall the game has some of the fun elements of Zelda without some of the frustrating difficulty.

Look kids! It's...kinda like...Zelda?

So what is the aim of Spiritual Warfare, you ask? To convert the dirty, wicked heathens in your neighborhood and collect the six pieces of the "Armor of God." These pieces of armor are scattered around the game and collecting them will help you access otherwise inaccessible areas. For an unlicensed game, there are actually quite a few different kinds of enemies - though it's often a mystery why they need saving. Sure, the gang members carrying around switchblades certainly could use a little guidance at the very least. But why is the kid with the basketball committing a sin? The kid playing hide and seek? The boy with the ice cream bar? Construction workers? What sins are these people committing that they are in such need of a spiritual awakening? I suppose that's the blessing and curse (some puns intended) of having so many different enemies is that they don't entirely make sense. I suppose if everyone were a thug, a drunk, and a prostitute this game would feel very lazy. At least half or better of the enemies in the early parts of the game can be saved with one quick toss of a "fruit of Spirit." The further you advance in the game, the more you should upgrade you fruit in order to convert those who need a little "extra convincing." Those who instead spit a demon out of their heads will take an extra piece of fruit or perhaps a vial of God's wrath. That's right. A little boy running around trying to preach the gospel carries around vials of God's wrath that he can toss at strangers like a bomb and turn them into doves. I think this kid is taking "spiritual warfare" a little too literally. This ain't 'Nam, this is suburbia! Overall though, the gameplay is actually kind of fun if you get into it.

Perhaps it's not the most religiously tolerant way of going about things...

Every once in a while an angel will come down from the sky and test your Biblical trivia. For the most part these questions are a cinch even to those fairly unfamiliar with the stories in the Bible. Basically, your best bet is to guess the most "common sense" guess imaginable. Sure, there are a handful of comical answers you can provide but just assume that Satan didn't say that it's easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of Heaven. The benefit of answering these Sunday school questions is to gain more doves, thus being able to afford more powerful fruit against the infidels you're supposed to be saving.

I said, "What does Pontius Pilate look like?!"

Not unlike the other Wisdom Tree games, there are a handful of frustrating moments in this game. For starters, if you instinctively know which direction you should be heading then the game is rather linear. However, if not - you can find yourself walking around in circles. I played the game three times before I bothered to talk to the boy with the balloon and grab the belt underground instead of walking around aimlessly blowing up gangsters and sugar-high children with God's mighty wrath. It's easier to get lost in the city, especially with the construction workers blocking your path and just how big the city really is. Friendly advice - don't go to the bar. Not even if you want a Pepsi and your intentions are simply to convert the wicked drunks inside. You'll be chastised by an irate angel and he'll steal your gear. Oh, and this can lead to  areas where you can get trapped. I don't really know how I did it, but I believe it was in the suburbs area where I went through a little maze and blocked myself in with falling pillars. I didn't go and recollect my belt of truth before entering the room and couldn't move the pillars, blow them up, or anything else. I had a "pray" option in my menu but it didn't do much good. For a kid who can throw around God's wrath willy-nilly, he sure doesn't have a direct enough line to the big man to help him out of a pickle like that. Another problem which, let's face it, many NES games suffered from is annoying music. The first time you hear that valiant and triumphant hymnal - it pumps you up for some religiously fueled justice. However, by minute 10 you're tired of hearing this song and have to mute the game lest you go insane. Though truth be told, and I know this is heresy (puns intended,) but the original Zelda theme can get grating at times as well. The other sound effects are decent enough - the bomb explosion is actually really impressive for a game that would otherwise be classed by some as a D-list knock-off game.

"So if I chuck this pear at a gang member, he's gonna see the light?"

So how does Spiritual Warfare stack up overall? The premise is insane and more than mildly offensive to non-Christians if you break it down to its core concept, the music is grating at best, but overall it's a game that's hard to put down. Unlike some of the other unlicensed games I have this is one that I keep coming back to! The gameplay is fairly solid (because it's essentially a watered down Zelda) and while it has some level of challenge, it's easy enough to pick up and play for a half hour and kill some time. I would recommend this game (and not even in an entirely ironic way, either.) Folks like me are bound to enjoy it for the absurdity and mildly disturbing premise (and it's the kind of game Moral Orel would be crazy for!) Folks who are more religiously minded might find this a good game for their children. Do I think that blowing up non-believers with the wrath of God is a great message for children? Heck no. However, if you want your children to pick up some bible study questions and stimulate them with a video game in the process, this just might do the trick.