About a month ago, when browing a site called Success Company,
I stumbled upon a device called "One Station". My "NES-eye" told me that was I was looking at could be NES/Famicom related and that it would be a good idea to
order one.
A month went until I finally carried out the order, One handheld unit and the 7 cartridges released for it, a total of $130 incl. shipping. The package arrived
this morning, so here we are.
Success didn't give out much detail about the unit, but it turns out that it was created by JungleTac, a company which is known for releasing all-in-one joypads
with unlicensed, no not pirate, NES games on them. Some of these units are known as DreamGear and VsMaxx. They're most likely
manufactured by JungleTac and then distributed by another company under the DreamGear and VsMaxx brand. One thing is for sure, JungleTac supplied the games.
Unlike the all-in-one joypads, the One Station is packed nicely in a hardcase cardboard box. Along with the handheld itself is packed an AV cable, for connecting
the One Station to a TV. Also included is 3 AAA batteries, eventhough the box says they aren't included. Yes, these batteries are used to run the One Station.
Finally a useless one page manual is included.
As mentioned, the One Station has TV hook-ups. This TV feature is said to be both NTSC and PAL compatible, however I have only been able to get it to run in NTSC
format.
The size of the One Station is about the same, if not the same, as the Gameboy Advance Micro. I'd actually go as far as saying that they completely stole
the design, but what do I care? :-)
The screen is a crisp clear 2.5" LCD screen, and I must add that the screen was a very pleasant surprise, compared to other clones with as the GameAxe and
PocketFamicom. The unit requires 3 AAA batteries, though a battery pack is supposedly available, but I haven't seen it being sold anywhere.
On the front of the unit are a few buttons, a Reset and a Start/Pause button, and of course the obvious A, B and directon pad. Unfortunately there is no Select
button. Cartridges goes into the top of the unit and sticks out of the unit, just like a Famicom cart in the PocketFamicom.
It's not hard, when you see the cartridge, to see where JungleTac got their inspiration. Yeah, it's quite obvious that the One Station is complete design rip off
of the Gameboy brand.
The cartridge format is slightly different is slightly different if you take a closer look at the PCB though.
This where the similarity ends. The One Station is capable of running some sort of 16bit games aswell as 8bit games, 8bit games which are based on the
Nintendo Entertainment System format. One can only wonder if their 16bit games are Super Nintendo compatible, but I kinda doubt it.
The following cartridges has been released for the One Station:
SUPER GAME POCKET 10 IN 1 (DIGITAL S1 16BIT)
TITLESCREEN |
MENU |
DEEP STORM |
PINBALL FISH |
JEWEL FEVER 2 |
DREAM BUBBLE |
BUSY BONG |
MAIC JELLY |
PLUMBER |
MR. ONION |
GO. SMILE |
SEEK THE RESOURCES |
The highlights on this cart, in my oppinion, are:
Pinball Fish - an arkanoid clone.
Plumber - a very sweet platform game, but hard to control at times.
Mr. Onion - Kinda reminds me of Rodland.
SUPER GAME POCKET 10 IN 1 (DIGITAL S2 16BIT)
TITLESCREEN |
MENU |
TIGER RESCUE |
FINAL ESCAPE |
MAKE WAY |
LUCKY QUE |
CADDIE |
GET THE MEET |
POOL PRO |
THE LOST WORLD |
SUPER MOVE QUEST |
FIND THE WAY |
The highlights on this cart, in my oppinion, are:
Tiger Rescue - Very cool 1942 clone.
Final Escape - Fun puzzle game, plays a little like Adventures of Lolo.
Pool Pro - Good looking pool game, but a little hard to play.
Find The Way - Baby Boomer meets Duck Hunt dog and Super Mario World 2. (Boring!)
SUPER GAME POCKET 25 IN 1 (DIGITAL V1 8BIT)
TITLESCREEN |
MENU |
AERO ENGINE |
BALL CLASH |
BIG RACING |
BLOCK OUT |
BOUNCE |
CATCH THE EGG |
DANGEROUS ZONE |
DART CHAMPION |
ELFLAND |
DUMP LORRY RACE |
FANCY MATCH |
GP RACE |
GRASS CUTTER |
HARD WIN |
INSECT CHASE |
JEWEL MASTER |
LAST CABRA |
MOTOR RALLY |
MOVE FUN |
OCEAN QUEST |
PAINT MASTER |
PINBALL TRACK |
POOL PRO |
RUNNER CAR |
SPIN BALL |
These 8bit games are quite weird if you ask me, while the titles are hilarious, most of the games themselves are pretty boring
to be honest. Games like "Grass Cutter" where you, yes cut grass, and Bouce which is a pong spin-off. But there are a few nice
ones on the cart, such as Aero Engine which has borrowed the game idea from Gradius I'm sure. Ball Clash which plays a lot like
the Gameboy game called King of the Zoo. Dart Champion looks like it was ripped directly from Track & Field and most of the racing
games have borrowed sound and such from Palcom's Road Fighter game (Konami).
A few golden oldies also made it to this cart, Paint Master which originally as Brush Roller and Jewel Master, originally known
just as Jewel. Eventhough most games on this cart are crap, they should entertain you for a while :-)
SUPER GAME POCKET 25 IN 1 (DIGITAL V2 8BIT)
TITLESCREEN |
MENU |
FIRE FIGHTER |
MR. ONION |
ULTRA DOGGY |
LOOP TENNIS |
BEAN'S ADVENTURE |
BEAT THE BIRD |
BOMB FISH |
BUBBLE BLSTER |
BUMP CAR |
CRAZY HIT |
DELIVERY MAN |
FLYING |
AWAKE BABY |
FREAK NUMBER |
GO BANG |
GOLDEN ARROW |
IGLOO LAND |
MONKEY N FOX |
RAINBOW |
ROAD STAR |
SEA WAR |
CONQUER SOUTH POLE |
SPEEDY X-WAY |
SUBMARINE WAR |
WORM CATCH |
Once again a batch of 25 games with weird titles. This one has some cool games though, such as Fire Fighter which reminds me a lot of the good
old Game & Watch days. Beat the Bird seems to take on Duck Hunt. Bump Car reminds me of Bump 'n Jump. But basicly this 8bit cart is better than the first one,
as there's a lot more playable games.
SUPER GAME POCKET 25 IN 1 (DIGITAL V3 8BIT)
TITLESCREEN |
MENU |
SPACE CASTLE |
CHALLENGE 100 |
CONQUER SOUTH POLE |
EXCEL RACING |
VR RACING |
FISH CATCHER |
FISH QUIZ |
BLOCK FLYING |
FIRE FIGHTER |
PUSH THE BALL |
DELTA FIGHTER |
GARDEN MAZE |
LONELY ISLAND |
PATH FINDER |
LUCKY LAWN MOVER |
ANIMAL POOL |
PUSH THE BOX |
RACING BOAT |
SKY MISSION |
STAR ALLY |
TRACK & FIELD |
THE NIGHT |
VALIANT RESCUE |
UNDER THE SEA |
ZERO TIGER |
The third and sofar last of JungleTac's own 8bit games. This cassette features a few repeats, such as "Conquer South Pole" and "Fire Fighter". Other than
that and the fack that they stole yet another bit of Track and Field, there's not a whole lot to say. This is probably the worst of the JungleTac 8bit carts
that doesn't feature pirate games :-)
25 IN 1 GAME VOLUME 1 (8BIT FAMICOM/NES GAMES)
MENU |
ADVENTURE ISLAND 2 |
DOUBLE DRAGON 2 |
SUPER CONTRA |
CODE NAME VIPER |
SUPER CHINESE |
8 EYES |
BURAI FIGHTER |
FAMILY J |
TOKI NO KAGI DENETSU |
BATTLE CITY |
DONKEY KONG JR. |
GALAGA |
TOOBIN' |
SUPER MARIO BROS. |
1942 |
PAC-MAN |
ALIEN 3 |
CHAMPIONSHIP LODE RUNNER |
CIRCUS CHARLIE |
DONKEY KONG |
MAPPY |
MARIO BROS. |
PINBALL |
ROAD FIGHTER |
SUMMER CARNIVAL '92 |
YIE AR KUNG-FU |
BALLOON FIGHT |
BOMBERMAN |
XEVIOUS |
GOLF |
POOYAN |
POPEYE |
PANIC RESTAURANT |
TECMO WORLD CUP SOCCER |
SUPER SPRINT |
This is what it's all about, playing Famicom/NES games on the move. There are some quite interesting games on this cart, such as the amaznig shooter "Summer
Carnival '92", but also the Japanese version of Panic Restaurant.
25 IN 1 GAME VOLUME 2 (8BIT FAMICOM/NES GAMES)
MENU |
DOUBLE DRAGON 3 |
NINJA GAIDEN 3 |
DRAGON SPIRIT |
CATTOU NINDEN |
SHADOW OF THE NINJA |
ALTERED BEAST |
KUNG FU |
MAHJONG 2 |
STAR FORCE |
TECMO WORLD CUP SOCCER |
EXCITEBIKE |
ANTARCTIC ADVENTURE |
BALTRON |
GALAXIAN |
TOWER OF DRUAGA |
BIRDWEEK |
FAMILY STADIUM |
FAMILY TENNIS |
FIELD COMBAT |
MUSCLE TAG MATCH |
PINBALL |
BRUSH ROLLER |
GOLF |
MAIC JEWELERY |
MAGMAX |
CIRCUS CHARLIE |
NINJA KUN |
SKY KID |
PAC MANIA |
SHATTERHAND |
SIDE POCKET |
SNOW BROS. |
IKKI |
SUPER ARABIAN |
BUBBLE BOBBLE PART. 2 |
Once again this cart has a few repeats, but is in general a lot nicer than the other NES game cart, as there's a lot more "late generation" games on
this one.
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