200-in-1

200-in-1
Publishers: Santok Group (UK), dreamGEAR (US) Platforms: VT02 (Thumbs-Up! 200-in-1 Retro TV Game, dreamGEAR MyArcade Retro Micro Controller), VT369 (all else), Plug & Play (Retroplay Controller and Retro Micro Controller), Handheld (all else except for GameStation 5) Released in US: 2015 Released in UK: 2015 This console has unused graphics. This console has unused text. This console has debugging material. This console has revisional differences.

This exact 200-in-1 game list has become extremely common on cheap gaming devices, but this one includes some Inventor hacks of legitimate Famicom games (including several fan-made hacks) among the typical Nice Code junk. It has over a dozen known variants from a multitude of manufacturers; generally with no software changes whatsoever compared to the original version.

The very same ROM was used in the mini arcade machine Thumbs-Up! 200-in-1 Retro TV Game.

Unused Graphics

The menu includes a lowercase font which is never actually used, despite most of the names in the menu being written with lowercase ASCII letters internally.

Unused Text

The menu contains two unused text strings.

ZYX-8B2897

This string can be found at $07C114 in the ROM. "ZYX-8B" refers to zhengyaxin_8bit, the online handle of a homebrewer who developed menu software for bootleg systems from unlicensed companies, who was notably spotted on forums like nesdev and spritesmind.

8BIT TEST

This string immediately follows the list of games, found at $07CCCA. It refers to the test program hidden in the unit, as shown below.

Main Device Test

Hidden in the ROM is a program used to test the unit, which can be accessed by holding A + B and resetting it. Oddly, it's credited to Aaronix, a company that produced Famiclones in the 1980s but seemed to be defunct by the time this unit was made.

Funnily enough, all variants got the accessing method wrong; now it can be accessed by holding A + B on the menu itself.

Revisional Differences

While most republished 200-in-1 variants do not change the software, there are a few releases that do feature various changes (such as adding or replacing games). Most of these upgrade the system to VT369.

Dark blue variant

This variant is found on the My Arcade Retroplay Controller, as well as the My Arcade Retro Machine (both from the USA) and the Retro Games Controller (from the UK), all from 2015. It is a version of this ROM with the background color changed to dark blue.

200-in-1 Retro TV Game

Please elaborate. Having more detail is always a good thing. Specifically: What are the bytes that were changed meant for?

Not to be confused with the Thumbs-Up! 200-in-1 Retro TV Game, this console has a minor revision of the variant found in the dreamGEAR MyArcade Retroplay Controller, where only bytes $07F4CD to $07F82F were changed.

Lexibook Cyber Arcade

Revision 0 of the Lexibook Cyber Arcade (serial code JL2940) has a version of this set with four changes total:

• Airial Hero is replaced with a title screen hack of Wisdom Boy, by Gamtec, lacking copyright information and a Chinese name.
• High Card is now spelled properly instead of as "HIGHCARD".
• Turtles has been changed to Grot Kid.
• Smackdown (a Tag Team Pro-Wrestling hack) is renamed to just "Wrestling" in the menu, and has its title screen blanked out.

240-in-1 variant

A 240-in-1 revision can be found in systems such as the Red5 Mini Arcade (serial code 72842). The extra 40 games are merely duplicates of games already present in the menu, making this extra game count completely worthless. Despite this, many further alterations were also made, including the following:

• A Red5 logo was added before the menu appears.
• Space Base is replaced with Calculator (labeled as "Calcul").
• Through-Man is replaced with Boat Race, a Road Fighter hack.
• Video Poker is replaced with a duplicate of Strong Pill (albeit a different revision).
• Blackjack is replaced with a duplicate of Bug Catcher.
• Texas Hold'em is replaced with Greedy Snake, a title screen hack of Greedy.
• Jump Jump is replaced with Falling Blocks.
• Airial Hero is replaced with Difference.
• Highcard is replaced with a duplicate of Air Alert (labeled as "Antiquarium").
• Slots is replaced with Boxworld.
• Smackdown suffered the same fate as in the Lexibook Cyber Arcade.
• Rescue Kuck (a Donkey Kong Jr. hack) is replaced with Fighter.
• Risker (an Excitebike hack) is replaced with The Farmer.
• Baccarat is replaced with Bomb King.
• Boxes is replaced with Cannonade.
• First Defender is replaced with Convection.
• Dominoes is replaced with Undersea Arena.
• Jumping Kid is replaced with River Jump (labeled as "River River").

Cheertone Gaming Tech CT-885

This console uses the 240-in-1 set, but with the unnecessary 40 entries at the end of the list trimmed down.

220-in-1 variant

A 220-in-1 revision is seen in systems such as the dreamGEAR MyArcade Retro Micro Controller (serial code DGUN-2869). It was kept in VT02, probably due to being a plug-n-play instead of the other systems. This console actually bothered to add 20 new games instead of just duplicating them, and has several additional changes:

• The menu features Mighty Final Fight music, and has the "220 in 1" title written in a different font from the menu. The selection cursor is also altered.
• Some game titles in the menu were slightly altered, particularly to fix spacing (e.g. "Hitmouse" to "Hit Mouse").
• On the 200-in-1, game 31, Fishwar, was a hack of Balloon Fight. On the 220-in-1, this same game slot is used for a different Fish War game - a reskin of the Famiclone Shark! Shark! port.
• Memory Test, originally game 60 in the 200-in-1, is moved towards the end of the list in the 220-in-1; this shifts the original menu order up by 1 (from games 60 onward).
• On the 200-in-1, Hoodle mistakenly loads an unhacked copy of Pinball; the 220-in-1 replaces this with the proper hacked version.
• Smackdown is renamed to Wrestling in the menu, though unlike the 240-in-1, its title screen is intact.
• As in the 240-in-1, Rescue Kuck is replaced with Fighter, and First Defender is replaced with Convection. Curiously, Risker is replaced with Fisher, a variant of The Farmer.
• Snowball is replaced with Shift, a hack of Porter.
• The following 21 games (in order) were tacked onto the end: Fishing, Primitive Man, Super Hero, Backgammon, Highway Rider, Wonder Rabbit, Hearts, Hurry Burry, Masked Man, Masked Man 2, River Jump, Toy Bricks, Trounce, Cute Fish, Defensive, Edacity Snakes, Jungly Guy, Memory Test, Patternmaker, Radish Field, and Tactful.

An unused Angry Bird of sorts can be found in the (largely reformatted) menu CHR.

GameStation 5

The GameStation 5 (or "GS5") retains the 200-in-1 game count, though has many differences of its own:

• The menu features Mighty Final Fight music.
• The game list is heavily altered, in both game order and content:
  • Games 1-46, 111-168, and 184-200 are replaced with mostly commercial NES/Famicom games.
  • Games 47-110 are replaced with games 134-194 from the original 200-in-1, presented in roughly the same order. Three additional games were mixed in: Blocks World, Falling Blocks, and Jump Jump. As in the 240-in-1, Dominoes is replaced with Undersea Arena.
  • Games 169-183 are replaced with games 114-128 from the original 200-in-1. As in the 240-in-1, Baccarat and Boxes are replaced with Bomb King and Cannonade.