I think it's important to mention how to play these retro games on your computers, smartphones as many interested may not be aware of it
and also, how to get those ROM files for your desired game

two websites i can suggest to find both are

^to find official sources of various emulators, and also keep a watch over updates

^to find ROMs, BIOS files and other required stuff for these games
 
Anything for smart tv webos? I mean any emulator that can be run on webos and also emulated crt display properties on lcd?
 
Anything for smart tv webos? I mean any emulator that can be run on webos and also emulated crt display properties on lcd?
umm i'm not sure what's webos thing is, but if it's android tv or google tv like thing that can install android apk, then plenty of options available from that emu gen wiki website, though installation would be manual, and even then all the functionalities cannot be guaranteed as most of these android based emulators are made for touchscreen thing




( of course going up in console generations like emulating PS3 would require a monster of a PC, but ) for most general purpose emulation a pc with good enough processing power and basic graphics capabilities is more than enough; and in some case emulation is actually better on linux than on windows

as for CRT filters or shaders, yes, many emulators have it inbuilt, like PC version of puNES and Mesen have many CRT filters in it, even common FCEUX emulator has some tweaking to make a game look like on CRT tv
 
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on today's episode of DFB Retro Gaming, I'm gonna introduce you all to one very memorable game from my childhood...for...some particular reasons...

so, a defining fact with chinese bootleg games was, many times they released some lesser known japanese famicom game with changed sprites (means graphics) of characters, changed title and all, to make it sell-able in market that knew mario well...
japanese perhaps made limited official games in name of mario, while the chinese repacked a lot of games and put it in market with mario's name there...

one such originally japanese but repacked game in mario's name ended up here,
original Japanese title being Kaiketsu Yanchamaru 3: Taiketsu! Zouringen // 快傑ヤンチャ丸 3 : 対決! ゾウリンゲン (phew, it's loosely translated as "The Wonderful Yanchamaru 3: vs! Zouringen / Zoulingen ...have no idea what the hell is Zouringen here, Zou can be loosely translated as Elephant but with different characters, perhaps it's enemy gang name 🤷‍♂️) but our chinese friends simplified it as Super Mario 14 lol

in the west, first game in Wonderful Yanchamaru series was launched as Kid Nikki: Radical Ninja and i don't see many retro gamers remembering it so must be some average success or failure there

coming back to the game, title screen differences between the original and bootleg that we got here
kaiketsu yanchamaru 3 vs super mario 14.webp

both original and bootleg mario one are 95% similar, except mario's head on place of yanchamaru's, and some early enemies are replaced with typical mario ones like that koopa turtle thing, and japanese style of old era coins are replaced with mario style coins...basic sprite exchange at best

now you must be thinking, why is johny introducing us to this kind of obscure game?
well, as a kid i knew a little about original vs bootleg thing, so when i saw fuckin' suppa mario 14 on screen i was so excited that there are still some mario games to be discovered...

so i played it, and it's quite good platformer game, the main guy is armed with a flexible fighting shaft like weapon that he can strike on enemies, or when in air he can make it pogo-stick like weapon to stomp on enemies by press A to jump, then when in air kept down+B pressed, when in air press B again around corners to jump around the opposite side using shaft in pole-vault fashion but horizontally, or just kept B pressed to launch back-forth kick attack, or when in water you can use shaft to swim around too...lots of ways to explore this in-game world, yes!

music in game is also melodious and in typical chip-tunes fashion repeated through the game, each stage has different theme and boss battles have energetic theme too

just look at walkthrough video here

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Arrd3NbeOQ

so no complaints at all, game is entertaining, is playable, can be finished (yes, I remember first time finishing it i was so overjoyed...), and is overall innocent...

overall innocent ? what did i mean by that?

well, in stage two of the game, there's this particular enemy, a kid-like thing that looks like this :oops:
1740137047651.webp
:oops: a kid-like enemy, holding on his PP, sending his 💦 out in straight line towards player to hit them ?! :oops:🤷‍♂️
i'm not kidding, just watch above video from 6:14 onwards

back when i was a kid and playing this game as Super Mario 14, i just found it funny that some kid was pissing at mario....but after growing up and loosing my innocence i realised it was something else entirely :oops:
oh you pesky japs...
 
on today's episode of DFB Retro Gaming, I'm gonna introduce you all to one very memorable game from my childhood...for...some particular reasons...

so, a defining fact with chinese bootleg games was, many times they released some lesser known japanese famicom game with changed sprites (means graphics) of characters, changed title and all, to make it sell-able in market that knew mario well...
japanese perhaps made limited official games in name of mario, while the chinese repacked a lot of games and put it in market with mario's name there...

one such originally japanese but repacked game in mario's name ended up here,
original Japanese title being Kaiketsu Yanchamaru 3: Taiketsu! Zouringen // 快傑ヤンチャ丸 3 : 対決! ゾウリンゲン (phew, it's loosely translated as "The Wonderful Yanchamaru 3: vs! Zouringen / Zoulingen ...have no idea what the hell is Zouringen here, Zou can be loosely translated as Elephant but with different characters, perhaps it's enemy gang name 🤷‍♂️) but our chinese friends simplified it as Super Mario 14 lol

in the west, first game in Wonderful Yanchamaru series was launched as Kid Nikki: Radical Ninja and i don't see many retro gamers remembering it so must be some average success or failure there

coming back to the game, title screen differences between the original and bootleg that we got here
View attachment 25731

both original and bootleg mario one are 95% similar, except mario's head on place of yanchamaru's, and some early enemies are replaced with typical mario ones like that koopa turtle thing, and japanese style of old era coins are replaced with mario style coins...basic sprite exchange at best

now you must be thinking, why is johny introducing us to this kind of obscure game?
well, as a kid i knew a little about original vs bootleg thing, so when i saw fuckin' suppa mario 14 on screen i was so excited that there are still some mario games to be discovered...

so i played it, and it's quite good platformer game, the main guy is armed with a flexible fighting shaft like weapon that he can strike on enemies, or when in air he can make it pogo-stick like weapon to stomp on enemies by press A to jump, then when in air kept down+B pressed, when in air press B again around corners to jump around the opposite side using shaft in pole-vault fashion but horizontally, or just kept B pressed to launch back-forth kick attack, or when in water you can use shaft to swim around too...lots of ways to explore this in-game world, yes!

music in game is also melodious and in typical chip-tunes fashion repeated through the game, each stage has different theme and boss battles have energetic theme too

just look at walkthrough video here

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Arrd3NbeOQ

so no complaints at all, game is entertaining, is playable, can be finished (yes, I remember first time finishing it i was so overjoyed...), and is overall innocent...

overall innocent ? what did i mean by that?

well, in stage two of the game, there's this particular enemy, a kid-like thing that looks like this :oops:
View attachment 25736
:oops: a kid-like enemy, holding on his PP, sending his 💦 out in straight line towards player to hit them ?! :oops:🤷‍♂️
i'm not kidding, just watch above video from 6:14 onwards

back when i was a kid and playing this game as Super Mario 14, i just found it funny that some kid was pissing at mario....but after growing up and loosing my innocence i realised it was something else entirely :oops:
oh you pesky japs...

Man, are you writing this stuff yourself and simply copying someone's blog form yesteryears?

This kind of stuff is what blogs were made for!​
 
Man, are you writing this stuff yourself and simply copying someone's blog form yesteryears?

This kind of stuff is what blogs were made for!​
no, it's my genuine experience, some nostalgia i think,
i did share about this game on good ol' DFI's chit chat thread in past, too
 
in today's episode of DFB Retro Gaming, i'm gonna introduce y'all nibbiars to one of my favourite action game on NES/Famicom, some of you might've played it - and yes, it was bootlegged by chinese too

meet Contra Force // Super Contra 6

contraforce-vs-super-contra-6.webp

everyone knows O G Contra, and its sequel Super C (or just Super Contra), but at the verrrry end of NES' lifecycle in 1992, Konami the producer of these games, made one final game called Contra Force, that took a detour from common tropes of macho-muscular gunmen going around blasting aliens to ...well... macho-muscular gunmen going around blasting terrorists - it kinda reminds me how in the west '80s action movies were either futuristic aliens blasting things (cue alien series, terminator and so) or just plain ol' blast those militants for muh FREEDOM *bald eagle screech* things, and same tropes seems to have played here as well

but heh as kids we never bothered about such things as long as we can just go bang bang and kaboom on screen

coming back to Contra Force; obviously i first got to play its chinese bootleg version Super Contra 6, which had basically increased extra lives from 3 to 9 in original, and replaced characters in the game to some 'known' names for gamers at least

contraforce-vs-super-contra-6-characters.webp
rambo is rambo, guile and ryu are from street fighter games (though they don't even remotely look like those guys in super contra 6 lol) and bill is from O G Contra but well here rather looks like shirtless batman lol...

but apart from that, screen shows some weapons next to these guys, so one can guess...
Burns // Rambo has a pistol, grenades, submachine gun...so a commando
Smith // Guile has a pistol, sniper rifle, homing missile launcher?...so a sniper
Iron // Ryu has a pistol, grenade launcher, rocket launcher...so a grenadier
Beans // Bill has a pistol, land mine, time bomb...so a...Demolition Man ? Explosive Specialist ?

anyways, game is playable, albeit with some hiccups, it IS enjoyable for what it is...after all it's a contra game, it has two-player mode (1) and inside the game you can pause the game by hitting 'start' and add computer characters for some seconds to clear difficult scenes (2, 4), weapons mentioned above are actually 'upgrades' that one can get after getting 'upgrade kits' like things after destroying objects (3)...and yes...there are lots of breakable things like crates, machines and weak walls etc (2)...stage bosses are steroid junkies that require more hits to take down, and finally, music in this game is banger - like many Konami games of that era...

contra-force-features.webp


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2CkTJ-7kYk

overall, game is fun, BUT a big problem with this game is...IT LAGS A LOT!

"huh? so if a game freezes why are you recommending it to us, Johny 🤷‍♂️"

because despite those lags that may somewhat kill your joy it can still be fun at times...in my childhood i used to think it as 'slow mo' effects you know...the game being 'lenient' to you so you can effectively hit at enemies, so unlike contra and super c where you actually need some attention and grip over controls to sail through...

so, any solution to lag?
yes, at least on emulation side...overclocking
what i mean here is, in FCEUX emulator, you can go to config -> timing -> and put these settings to make it run smoothly
1740858331746.webp

but why does it lag?
the short answer,
konami guys fucked up 🤷‍♂️ well the game was released at very end of NES in 90's when Super NES was already in market; and the game required some relevant powerful mapper chip on its cartridge to effectively run...now Konami did have their own set of mapper chips for local 'japanese' release of the games but Nintendo had 'monopoly' over international release of games, and they had their own set of mapper chips that they 'allowed' these publishers to use...Konami ended up choosing a relatively weaker mapper chip for this game over budgetary constraints or whatever, and it ruined the experience

everything is mentioned in this video

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOwhDcI3oMA

so solution? rewriting entire game for better mapper chips that Konami once had...but oh well, it's a laborious task for some real big nerd who knows assembly programming for both MOS 6502 fork that was used in NES as well as codes for these mapper chips; for most of us, emulating with overclocking works fine

i recently mentioned this game on my other post in nostalgic fashion that how some of scenes in it resembles actual military hardware and made me like this game further as i grew older and became aware of things
=> other thing that also played a little role in my leanings for defense things,
tv and video games lol
as a kid, i was a big fan of G. I. Joe cartoons, Jonny Quest - apart from usual cartoon network things, but i can still give you some examples how i was intrigued by some games
> a game called 'Contra Force'
now it's similar to contra, but instead of blasting aliens, you blast terrorists in it, and it did have some depictions of military stuff, like...
contra force military.webp

first screen, some naval cannon
second screen, LITERALLY F-18 HORNET, WINGS FOLDED, ON AIRCRAFT CAREER?
third screen, some VTOL ?!
fourth screen, definitely A-10 Thunderbolt II

yeah yeah it's all fictional and back as a kid I barely knew their names but when i get to learn about it i couldn't help but remember stuffs i saw in this game as a kid and relate with it, only because of my curiosity
it's also a game that me and my siblings used to play in two-player mode a lot 😢
 
Super Mario 14 was part of Mario 4 in 1 I luckily laid my hands onto . Other three were Mario 6 (bunny sonic sort) , Mario 9 (Islander sort) & Mario 10 (Kung fu sort) .

Imo , Mario 10 & 14 had better music composers than BWood is having now .
 
Super Mario 14 was part of Mario 4 in 1 I luckily laid my hands onto . Other three were Mario 6 (bunny sonic sort) , Mario 9 (Islander sort) & Mario 10 (Kung fu sort) .

Imo , Mario 10 & 14 had better music composers than BWood is having now .
Brooooo...:cry:
believe me, I have played all of these, and here is proof,

first one had bootleg chinese copies in name of Mario 6, 9, 10 and 12,
second one had bootleg chinese copies in name of Mario 6, 9, 14 and 16
johny_s_bootleg_mario_carts.webp
hence the proof that I indeed played Super Mario 14 = Kaiketsu Yanchamaru 3 one from previous post @SKC :sad:

to give a better perspective, original titles of these games are as following
Mario 6 = Tiny Toon Adventure

Mario 9 = Hudson's Adventure Island II

Mario 10 = Jackie Chan's Action Kung-Fu

Mario 14, covered in previous post

Mario 16 = Joe & Mac

and yes, indeed lots of old games had amazing ear-catching music that may even repeat in your head after years, in fact, many of these games including original Super Mario Bros. would feel so bland had they not given soundtracks that complimented or rather enhanced a player's immersion in those games

in your case, you may want to refer to these OSTs

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wnvf7CCiS30


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBFPCNMVboQ
 
mo , Mario 10 & 14 had better music composers than BWood is having now .

and yes, indeed lots of old games had amazing ear-catching music that may even repeat in your head after years, in fact, many of these games including original Super Mario Bros. would feel so bland had they not given soundtracks that complimented or rather enhanced a player's immersion in those games

Many retro games had quite immersing and ear-catching music, sometimes out of necessity of immersion

two examples that i can give from my childhood

1. The Legend of Kage // Kage no Densetsu

this is a simple game with typical damsel-in-distress theme, this princess kiri is kidnapped by evil ninjas so our protagonist "Kage" (pronounced 'Kaa-gay' means 'Shadow' in japanese, quite an apt name for a Ninja) goes around fighting with them throwing shurikens and swinging his short sword while jumping in the sky in quite gravity defying style, meanwhile this particular music keeps on looping thorough the levels - BUT without that music, game would literally feel boring


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5kYQzXAj0o

you can feel that sense of urgency by just following the music

this one chip-tune (a colloquial word meaning music generated from electronic 'chip' mediums) became so remembered among those who played this game, that it was remixed with modern instrumentation;
but in my opinion, best version is this one, it undoubtedly has that japanese taste to it


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfPDN0PU02c

2. Chip and Dale: Rescue Rangers

now this game is amazing platformer (means "mario styled") game where you can play as Chip or Dale from that disney cartoon thing, two-player supported too, has amazing levels and all; someday i'll give a proper long post about it
but for me personally, the most memorable thing out of it, was this particular music that keeps on playing at last Zone J

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0EnL4M1jjE

i would keep on playing this just to reach last stage to hear it

and this one too was redone in modern style by some guy


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmTOay5-zBU
 

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