dreamGEAR MyArcade Retroplay Controller

dreamGEAR My Arcade Retroplay Controller
Also known as: Retro Games Controller (UK), My Arcade Retro Machine (US), numerous other titles Developers: Various Publishers: dreamGEAR (US), Thumbs Up (UK) Platforms: Unlicensed NES, Plug & Play Released in US: 2015 Released in EU: 2015 This game has unused graphics. This game has unused text. This game has debugging material. This game has revisional differences.

The My Arcade Retroplay Controller, also released as the My Arcade Retro Machine, is one of many, many plug-&-play systems from dreamGEAR, but this one shamelessly includes some lazy hacks of legitimate Famicom games (including several fan-made hacks) among the typical Nice Code junk.

For unknown reasons, this exact 200-in-1 game list has become extremely common on other plug & play devices, with over a dozen known variants from a multitude of manufacturers; generally with no software changes whatsoever compared to the My Arcade releases.

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.

200 IN 1ZYX-8B2897

This string can be found at 0x7C10C in the ROM. While the "200 IN 1" part of this text is used, the ID that immediately follows it is not.

8BIT TEST

This string immediately follows the list of games, found at 0x7CCCA. 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.

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).

240-in-1 variant

A 240-in-1 revision can be found in systems such as the "Red5 Mini Arcade Machine" (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...which the menu labels as Antiquarium.
• Slots is replaced with Boxworld.
• Smackdown (a Tag Team Pro-Wrestling hack) is renamed to just "Wrestling" in the menu, and has its title screen blanked out.
• 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").

220-in-1 variant

A 220-in-1 revision is seen in systems such as the "dreamGEAR 220-in-1 Micro Controller" (DGUN-2869). 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 5 200-in-1

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.