Support NeoGAF

[JackFrost2012]

While trolling used game stores yesterday afternoon, I came across something I've never, ever seen before: NES Metroid, Hong Kong Version.

In fact, before I saw this game in the store, I hadn't even been aware there HAD BEEN legitimate NES releases in Hong Kong. The cartridge is identical in shape to the US NES, but is molded in a lighter shade of gray. A very incomplete FAQ I found online states that it uses a separate lockout chip from US/NTSC, Japan/NTSC, Europe/PAL, and Asia/PAL--Hong Kong/NTSC was treated as its own territory. Odd!

Despite the shitty condition of the box, I quite like the artwork. Interestingly, the back of the box teaches us that the plural of "Metroid" is "Metroid." However, it also claims that Metroid is a "Two Player Alternating Game," so it clearly can't be trusted.

Some questions for people who may know more than me:

1) Is this worth anything, even in terrible condition? Or is it more of a novelty than anything else?
2) Who distributed the NES in HK? Did they last the system's natural lifecycle, or give up early because of rampant piracy?
3) Is there any sort of master list of officially HK-released titles? I'm suddenly curious about this hitherto unknown territory.

 

[Jeff-DSA]

I don't know the answer to any of your questions, but that's still awesome.

 

[john tv]

I like that cover art.

The art in my avatar comes from the back of the Famicom Disk System version's manual, I believe. I've never seen it used anywhere else. What other unknown Metroid art yet exists??

 

[shuri]

That's pretty damn cool. Maybe the distribution was handled by Nintendo itself, much like the IQue..

 

[Fowler]

There were indeed "legit" HK NES releases, and a HK NES itself (pretty much identical to the US one). It was a bit of a red-headed stepchild though, because most people out here owned the Japanese Famicom, and I don't really ever remember seeing it anywhere but very rarely in the dark musty corners of stores (this bit of anecdotal evidence is borne out by another bit of anecdotal evidence: The flood of pirated Famicom carts and disks in HK, and the lack of any pirated NES carts).

The first time I saw one was at a fairly distant cousin's house; not knowing anything about the US NES, I laughed at her when she said she played Super Mario on it, and made fun of the weird, grey, obviously cheaply pirated boxy machine with gigantic carts. And then ate crow when we actually played Mario on it.

This answers none of your questions, but I was compelled to share it nonetheless. If I spot any HK NES stuff out here (there is one decent enough retro store), I'll tell you.

 

[Kobun Heat]

1) Worth, in this case, is pretty subjective -- I think you could sell this at a pretty decent price to an NES collector if only because it's Metroid and has some cool unique artwork.

But to determine what HK releases would be worth to the average NES collector is pretty tough, as most people only collect US releases. Certainly, if it were a totally unique GAME, like an official release that never hit the US, it might fetch more.

Since it's such a unique item (maybe not unique in HK, but unique in Japan and the US where you might only see one or two of these in a lifetime), it's just hard to put a price on.

I like it, though. It's the sort of thing I'd buy if I saw it.

2) I don't know who distributed, but the box is identical to the UK release (same small size, box art identical), and of course at that time Hong Kong was part of Britain, so maybe there's a connection there. (Distributor was Mattel in UK).

3) Maybe there's one in Chinese somewhere.

 

[MightyHedgehog]

However, it also claims that Metroid is a "Two Player Alternating Game," so it clearly can't be trusted.

Actually, quite a lot of NES titles in their initial release retail boxes claim something like two-player modes that don't exist. I always thought that, as it was the case on many NES games back then, it was kind of a form of false advertising. Sort of how virtually every title that used some form of track editor did not have working save RAM for the NA versions despite some of the boxes seeming to claim otherwise and the games themselves not having a working 'save' function...

It's interesting that there was a dedicated HK version, though.

 

[Fowler]

Oh, and Mani is Nintendo's distributor here and has been for some time now, so you might want to start there.

 

[Kobun Heat]

Hey, here's something even wierder.

HK Version Famicom

A really, really audacious pirate? Or did Nintendo actually release an official HK Famicom AND a NES?

 

[James-Ape]

I got my first console in Hong Kong, My Dad bought me a Famicom. I never saw any NES over there at all. The the time I had dragon quest (which was in Chinese or Japanese, i was too young to be able to remember, but i do remember getting to a dragon or some description) Also it came with around 64 games in one pirated cart thing, which had a cool hacked version (I assume it was hacked as I have never seen it since) of Mario Bros, called Fancy Bros where as you walked through the level it changed the platforms.

 

[ferricide]

that venerable NES site-of-sites, |tsr's (giggle) NES archive, has a couple pics of other releases, but i don't think there's much info on there. certainly not easily accessible info, anyway.

the only place i have ever seen any of these in person is jason wilson's house, so they must be rare!

 

[mutsu]

Yeah actually NES was pretty big back in the days... I had one myself and that was my first ever console...

Although I was very young then and I can't remember much now, I wouldn't be surprised if there were Hong Kong version of games. It was simply huge in those days the NES...

 

[Gazunta]

I own a HK NES. I bought it at a yard sale a few years back in Australia...looks completely identical to the Australian NES (which looks like the US one). What is interesting about it is that it had AV ports built into the side of the unit (like the original PlayStation had them around the back) and the prongs on the end of the power cord were bent into shape to make them fit into Australian power sockets

It worked for like a day or two before the grey flashing screen of death.

 

[Kobun Heat]

See, they're rare in America because nobody bothers to bring them here. It's like how in the Digital Press collector's guide, no Neo Geo Pocket import is rated below a three. To someone in HK, all the junk that you pass up every day is "rare", while this is a worthless old game.

 

[ferricide]

gaz: the australian NES didn't have A/V ports? the US one does, which makes it ++ compared to the top loading NES.

kohler: yeah, except fowler already explained like nobody had one of these. =P which seems very obvious given the proliferation of pirate famicrap from HK.

not to mention that boxed 8bit games are getting kind of rare in general...

and, yeah.

 

[Gazunta]

gaz: the australian NES didn't have A/V ports? the US one does, which makes it ++ compared to the top loading NES.

Nope. The PlayStation was the first console sold in Australia that had A/V ports as standard. All other systems up until then had RF out as standard, and you could buy A/V cables seperately. Blah!

(Wishes he could find a Saturn A/V cable now)

 

[ferricide]

it was honeslty kind of rare for A/V in the US before PS-era. at least to be standard in any way. the turbo only had it with the CD attachment or with the turbo booster (or TB plus).

genesis has the port but you had to buy the cable seperately, it was packed with an RF switch. (genesis 3 came with A/V but it came out, like, post-PS1.)

SNES has the port, of course, but came with RF.

(Wishes he could find a Saturn A/V cable now)

uh, ebay?

 

[Kobun Heat]

kohler: yeah, except fowler already explained like nobody had one of these. =P which seems very obvious given the proliferation of pirate famicrap from HK.

Okay, well then it puts it into the situation where the sort of people who are going to buy it don't have any sort of clue as to how rare it is. It's like, I've got some stuff which is absolutely impossible to find.

For example, that Ele-Conga drum? It's brand new in the package, and so you have to imagine what tiny handful of these exist outside of NCL. But if I put it on eBay, would it fetch a lot of money? Probably not.

Thus, as I said, the appeal here is that it's a unique Metroid item, which gives it added 'cool' value.

 

[Mejilan]

That's awesome Metroid artwork.

 

[cvxfreak]

Didn't later SNES systems come with A/V? Like 1993/4-onward? I seem to remember getting an A/V with mine.

 

[Red Scarlet]

Didn't they always come with them? I got mine in 92? and it had them.

Cart looks neat.

 

[Shompola]

Weird that NES PAL Aus did not have AV out while PAL Europe atleast since 1987 had them... the regular white/yellow rca contacts on the right side of the console.

 

[Red Scarlet]

I wonder when player 2 plays, maybe like in Mario 1?

 

[john tv]

It's probably just a typo.

 

[Daigoro]

cool find.

the very first thing that popped out at me when i saw the back cover was the claim for 2P. i thought that was some really RARE shit there for a sec.

I wonder when player 2 plays, maybe like in Mario 1?

they dont.

 

[Red Scarlet]

boo

 

[Rummy Bunnz]

The art in my avatar comes from the back of the Famicom Disk System version's manual, I believe. I've never seen it used anywhere else.

I have a sticker of that art. I think it came in some Nintendo publication...Power or maybe one of those guide books? I put it on my NES when I was 9 or so. It's still on there, all yellowed and torn, along with a bunch of Mario and Zelda stickers that were on the same sheet.

 

[PC Gaijin]

SNES has the port, of course, but came with RF.

The SNES came standard with A/V cables from the beginning (my launch SNES purchased in September 91 had them).

 

[Naked Snake]

For once Samus actually look feminine in her suit on that HK box.

 

[Red Scarlet]

Didn't the SNES come with both? I've always had both, and have no recollection of having to buy an RF nor an A/V cable.

 

[john tv]

Yah, SNES came with both RF and A/V. My launch SNES had 'em too.

 

[neopokekun]

Looks like the European box but with a different colored cartridge (and the "Hong Kong version" text).

 

[Jak140]

I'll give you $800 for it.























Hahaha just kidding.

 

[Shouta]

It worked for like a day or two before the grey flashing screen of death.

I thought that was a problem with the system's spring and that it could be fixed.

 

[Tunesmith]

I like that cover art.

The art in my avatar comes from the back of the Famicom Disk System version's manual, I believe. I've never seen it used anywhere else. What other unknown Metroid art yet exists??

Unknown Metroid art? eh? The Metroid for NES I bought second-hand here in Euro PAL land many years back looks exactly like that, if memory serves me right I even have two copies in my attic.

I destinctly remember the stenciled see-through blue Samus figures jumping on the cover like that.

I thought they all looked like that? :lol

 

[SantaC]

the Euro PAL cover had the same boxart.

 

[Tunesmith]

the Euro PAL cover had the same boxart.

phew! Thought I was going mad there for a second.

 

[Timedog]

sweet find!!!!

 

[sarusama]

The Euro version of the GBA NES Classic series Metroid also has this cover (logically)

 

[stonedwal]

gaz: the australian NES didn't have A/V ports?

I am 99.9% sure that the PAL NES (the original model) had Mono A/V output ports - I can't check my NES as it is at my parents' house in Toowoomba, but I can most certainly recall having hooked it up through composite. RF was definitely the standard until the PlayStation, though I believe that the first batch of PlayStations came with RF cables - at least the first one I rented did. The SNES didn't have any A/V output ports but you could use the N64 composite cable on it.

 

[Sapiens]

I just emailed my immigrant friend Allan a link to this thread. This was his reply.

hahaha... first of all... why are you up this early... and second... we
had Famicom AND the normal North American Nintendo system... I am one of
the few unlucky ones w/ the Nintendo instead of the Famicon... it was
much cheaper... but there were NO games for it... I never played Mario
Brothers (Lost Levels) in my life because the Famicon version didn't
work w/ Nintendo even w/ the adpater...

*lol... so yes we did have Nintendo in HK... in fact... we had a 3rd
system that plays Nintendo/Famicon's game... not sure what's the name
of it... it looked like the Famicon and it played most of the Famicon
games w/o the adpater... I recalled that it's brownish colour... look it
up... see if you can find it... (I think it might be a Famicon clone
from China)... however, I might be wrong w/ the colour tho.

 

[truffleshuffle83]

i have mike tysons punchout hong kong version. its sweet because it comes in the half box. ive never seen metroid before though. pretty cool

 

[Johnas]

I thought that was a problem with the system's spring and that it could be fixed.

That sounds to me like the infamous 72-pin connector gone bad (kind of having to do with springs). The contacts lose their tension and don't always end up touching the metal inside the cartridge. I replaced mine a few years ago, no more blue (in my case) flashing screen, but the carts fit really tightly, it's a bit of a chore to get them in and out.

 

[Rlan]

Australian NES systems DID have a Mono AV ouput on the lower side of the system, but very few people realise this. I myself Only realised a few years ago. Topload NES only has RF out.

RF was the standard for Video game Systems even into the 32-bit era. NES, Master Systems, Megadrive and SNES systems all came with RF. All SEGA Saturns also came with RF [I've never seen one without one].

SNES had the ability to connect to AV, but it was seperate. Same dongle as the N64 and GC.

Megadrive I and II you could also buy a seperate cable, though I wouldn't be surprised if you could only get them nowadays at certain old game stores where they sell new 3rd party products. MDI could only use a mono AV cable, while MDII had a Stereo cable.

PSX and N64 started with the AV cables.

 

[Lee N]

The Euro version of the GBA NES Classic series Metroid also has this cover (logically)

No it didn't, at least not here in Sweden.

 

[Stinkles]

While trolling used game stores yesterday afternoon

...I was all, "Hey how come these old games aren't as new as these new ones?"

 

[SiegfriedFM]

Yeah, those Duck Hunt and SMB covers are PAL artwork too. In fact, I don't remember any game here having that blown-up pixel artwork the early US games have.

 

[Blackace]

It's probably just a typo.

pffttt... all my old games had it.. it was called passing the controller to you friend when you died...

 

[JackFrost2012]

pffttt... all my old games had it.. it was called passing the controller to you friend when you died...

a lot of old 2-player games had an undocumented continue code, too... it was called your lame friend steals your lives once he uses all of his so that the two of you die faster, thanks a lot!

 

[Blackace]

a lot of old 2-player games had an undocumented continue code, too... it was called your lame friend steals your lives once he uses all of his so that the two of you die faster, thanks a lot!

I'm not going down alone buddy!!!