NES Piracy
As most of you probably know, the NES was the first home console from Nintendo, because it was the first, it's very simple to make and also very easy to develop software for. In the US and Western Europe, Nintendo made sure that all the software and hardware was official. However in the East, things were a little more lax...
Hardware
There are hundreds of NES 'clones', these clones are simply a NES in a different shell. They can be found in PlayStation shells, N64 shells and even totally new designed shells. These clones are almost all the same but there are a few, rare, interesting clones.
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These two clones are by far the rarest and most sought after, why? Because they are portables. They are, in effect, a NES with a screen and controller built in. In fact, according to some, there are only 1000 Top Guys in existence.
Software
By far the most common pirate software are 'Multicarts', these are cartridges with multiple games on them. However, far more interesting are the so-called 'Hong Kong originals' these are completely new games developed illegally for the NES. HK originals are often terrible games with the graphics changed to make them seem new, but every so often a great HK original pops up on the net.
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Three of the most famous HK originals are pictured above. Mortal Kombat is a simple rip off of the popular fighting game, it is surprisingly good with most of the fighters and backgrounds recreated faithfully. Somari is Sonic the Hedgehog, Except with Mario in place of the spiky blue guy, music, levels and gameplay have all been recreated well. Kart Fighter is a simple Street Fighter style beat 'em up with all the characters in from Mario Kart for the SNES, solid gameplay and good graphics make this game a must for any nerd.
Downloads
(NOTE: Files need to be unzipped)
NES ROM for use with a NES emulator.
Related Links
This site has tons of info and pics of loads of NES clones.
Huge section on piracy. Check it out.
Here you can download a NES emulator to play your ROMS.
