"1.8" Handheld Games

The Terminator 1.8, one of the earliest known systems.

"1.8" Handheld Games is a term dubbed to a series of portable game consoles with distinct original games inside, originating in 2012. The handhelds feature many bootleg ports of various games, ranging from NES titles to Mobile and PC games. They are notable for their small, 1.8" screen (thus the term 1.8) and their bizarre game library.

Overview

The original 2012 handhelds had a typical range of around 20 to 32 games. They had 16-bit graphics and somewhat melodic-sounding music. For unknown reasons, the capabilities of the handhelds were lowered as time went on, possibly to reduce cost. Post-2013 releases have exaggerated game counts; no direct repeats, but many hacks and near-identical games. The graphics remain about the same, but the sound is a lot harsher and of lower quality. On top of that, games such as Pacman seem to be entirely missing from all later releases.

Several systems have also been found featuring the menus and screen resolution of these handhelds, but feature a list of NES and Famicom games. They seem to be limited to pre-1988 releases (excluding more recently made hacked games), and many are unplayable due to the tiny screen squashing graphics and text. This would imply some of the handhelds might be NES-based, to some extent.

As of now, it is still unknown who developed the titles contained on these units. BaoBaoLong is a possibility; the company is known for mass producing handheld systems, many of which contain these games. Another likely company is Time Top, who previously developed the GameKing line of handhelds; many of their games appear in these lineups as updated ports.

Most if not all of these handhelds store game code and data in a SPI flash IC. Examination of the contents shows that the processor in them is 65C02 based. The code contain does not seem to contain NES PPU accesses or anything else indicative of NES based hardware.

Games

The games found on these handhelds are mostly clones or ports of other game titles. Originally these were prominently advertised, but later many were altered to not be as copyright infringing. Due to the large amount of near identical games found on later units, this list is compromised of only original releases and the most interesting titles.

• 2012 - Port of the GameKing game 2003, which itself is based on 1942. Original release.
  • The name 2012 was used for several years, but was eventually changed to Raiden.

• 2048 - Port of the original game.

• Aflame Plant - Launch living vegetables at oncoming enemies using a slingshot.

• Air War - A shooting game that mixes elements from Space Invaders and Galaxian.

• Airfight - Port of Sky Destroyer, with all war connections removed.

• Anger Birds - Port of Angry Birds. Original release.
  • Later systems reskin this game as Angry Chicken. The game is identical other than some swapped bird colors. There is also an Angry Chicken II; however, it is identical except for the pigs, which are now birds trapped in cages, a la Angry Birds Rio.
    • The rather common name change from "Angry" to "Anger" almost never applies on packaging and actual units. Many systems are actually branded as Angry Birds on the top of the plastic, but it is always Anger in the game list.

• Apples Jack - Port of Mighty Bomb Jack.

• Baggage Claim - Put the bags through the correctly-colored chutes.

• Beat Pig - Whack-a-Mole game with Angry Birds pigs. Original release.
  • Strangely, when the game was added to later systems, the pigs were redrawn, given Adolf Hitler-staches and WWII helmets. A reskin of this version changes the pigs from green to pink.
    • In addition to this, there is another reskin called Hammer Chicken.

• Beer Waitress - Port of Tapper.

• Beware Cross - Port of Frogger; only one frog needs to get across, as opposed to five in the original.

• Bird Week - Port of the original game.

• Bloxorz - Port of the original game. Original release.

• Bomb Sweeper - Port of the Game & Watch game. This title stars Lucas from Earthbound.

• Box - Port of Soukoban. Original release.

• Car Parking - Drag obstacles out of the way so the car can escape through the exit.

• Cat and Mouse - A Tom & Jerry-themed game, where Jerry must collect all of the cheese while avoiding Tom and other obstacles.

• Catch Chicken - Trap the chicken in a smaller pen without crushing it.

• Cayman Washing - Port of Where's My Water.
  • A reskin of this game exists called Give Me Water.
    • Cayman Washing is likely not the original name, and it may have been changed for copyright reasons.

• Circus Charlie / Monkey Jump / Grounder - Ports of various Circus Charlie levels, separated into different games.

• Color Balls - Port of SameGame. Original release.

• Connect Four - The classic board game.

• Couple Plants - Puzzle game with Plants vs Zombies characters. Original release.
  • Later versions alter the graphics to hide resemblance to Plants vs Zombies.

• CS-Fire - Based on Counter Strike, but plays more like Contra.

• Dancer Trace - Psy, of Gangman Style fame, must "trace" the arrows in the order they appear. The game is likely supposed to resemble Dance Dance Revolution, but the notes do not go to a beat.
  • A nearly identical clone called Crazy Dancer changes the way the arrows appear on-screen.

• Demon Warrior - Based on SonSon in gameplay mechanics, but is very different in appearance.

• Destroy Bricks - Based on Tetris Attack/Panel De Pon.

• Dinosaur War - Protect the baby dinosaur from oncoming enemy dinosaurs by breathing fire onto them.

• Disappear Birds - Put the bird in the correct spot so it can destroy the others.

• Disappear Boxes - Move the boxes in the correct order so they can be destroyed.

• Duck - Port of the original game. The game is easier than the original counterpart.

• Elevator Action - Port of the original game.

• Flying Bullet - A strangely violent game where you must shoot all of the men on screen with a limited amount of bouncing bullets.

• Front Line Spy - Shooting game based on the PC game CrossFire. Original release.
  • Later systems rename this game The Agent.

• Fruit Knight - Based on Fruit Ninja, but features a visible ninja who is locked on a background plane (so there is no complete "swipe" movement). The game is also aesthetically very different. Original release.

• Gang Tie III - An Iron Man-themed, side-scrolling shooting game similar to Gradius.
  • On some systems, the player controls a character resembling Captain America rather than Iron Man. It is possible the game is changed often to reflect the "blockbuster superhero film" of the current time.

• Gemstone - A Zuma-inspired game (even sharing the music from their port of said game) where you launch colored balls from above in order to clear the line of gems.

• Greedy Jerry - Jerry (from Tom & Jerry) must collect all of the items scattered around the level; he is constantly bouncing, however, and will never stay still.

• Greedy Snake - A snake game.

• Honey Mary - Port of the Game & Watch game Mario's Cement Factory, with Mario pouring honey rather than cement.

• Hunger Frog - An attempt at a Cut The Rope-style game. You control a bow and arrow, and must pop the balloons when they are hovering over the prince frog below, so he can eat the candies attached to them.

• Hurdle - Clone of a Track & Field event.
  • Most companies inevitably clone all of the events from Track & Field, but impressively, this seems to be the only one of its kind.

• Impossible - Port of The Impossible Game.

• Jumping Frog - Guide the prince frog to hop on the lilypads in the correct order.
  • This game also has a reskin called Mouse Jumping that uses the graphics from Cat and Mouse.

• King Boxing - Port of a GameKing game. Original release.
  • Later systems reskin this game as Match Stick Man. The original seems to no longer be featured.

• Lose Picture - Find the other missing half of the picture. Original release.

• Lucky Box - You control one of four animals, and collect boxes and hope you don't get a bomb, similar to Russian Roulette.

• Magic Ball - A "find the ball in a cup" game. Original release.

• Magic Stone - Port of Columns.

• Melons Bowling - Launch melons from the conveyor belt into the oncoming Zombies.

• Melons vs Zombies - Whack-a-Mole game with Plants vs Zombies characters. Original release.

• Monkey Running - Based off of Nice Code's Climbing.

• Montezuma - Port of The Treasures of Montezuma. Original release.
  • There are several basic hacks of this game which change several game rules or graphics. Examples include Montezuma II (different piece-turning mechanic) and Eliminate (features animals instead of gems).
    • On the lefthand side of the screen, there is an enemy snakehead from Mega Man 3. This was likely intended to be a frog, implying a connection to the unrelated Zuma series.

• Mutative Maze - You control a blob creature, who can only pass through doorways of his color. To get through the maze, you must "mutate" into another color by passing over it.

• NS-Shaft / NS-Tower - Ports of the original games. Original release.
  • Later systems remove the generic protagonist and replace him with Risk-King.
    • These games received numerous later reskins, including Gangnam Run and Jumping Panda.

• Pacman - Based on the original game, but it plays slower and changes the Power Pellet (it now freezes the ghosts momentarily instead of allowing them to be eaten). Original release. 

• Parachute - Port of the Game & Watch game.

• Pi Wang - A seemingly original, auto-scrolling platformer where a panda must fart to hop over broken parts of a bridge. The amount of farts are limited, but more can be gained by eating bamboo sticks.
  • A hack called Running Cool removes the bamboo and fart mechanics from the game. This actually makes it impossible to play, as many of the gaps cannot be cleared without farting.

• Plants vs Zombies - Port of the original game. Original release.
  • Later systems reskin this game as Angry Animals. This hack retains Zombies, but replaces plants with various animals (including several from other games, like Angry Birds and Where's My Water).

• Porter - Based on the Game and Watch Mario Bros.; Luigi is not on the other side of the screen, and is replaced with bumpers that move the crates automatically.

• Receive Apples - Catch the apples without letting them fall. Original release.

• Receive Eggs - Port of the Game and Watch game Egg.

• Receive Fruit - Port of the Game and Watch game Fire. Mario and Luigi are replaced with two rabbits that resemble Bunny, a villager in Animal Crossing.

• Receive Gift - Based off of Nice Code's Mad Xmas.

• Risk-King - Port of a GameKing game, which itself is based on Super Mario Bros. The levels and presentation (in most cases, see below) are seemingly based on Super Mario Land. Original release.
  • Later systems remove Mario and replace him with Risk-King himself, the rabbit from the original GameKing version. All other elements remain intact.
    • There is also another reskin called Gangnam Style, in which the player controls Psy and avoids characters from various mobile games, while a terribly off-sync version of Gangnam Style plays in the background.

• Risker - Port of the arcade Mario Bros. The game scrolls to fit the entire map of the original. Original release.
  • Later systems remove Mario and replace him with Risk-King.
    • On some systems, Mario's colors reflect those seen in the arcade game, where he has a blue hat and overalls. Other consoles feature a version where Mario wears red clothes instead.
      • There is a hack called Bear vs Bald, which heavily speeds up the game in addition to altering the sprites.

• Rocket Man - You control Astro Boy, and avoid various obstacles coming your way, similar to Flappy Bird.
  • In another variation, Flying Broom, you control Harry Potter on his broom.

• The Same - Card matching game with Plants vs Zombies characters. Original release.
  • This title has many graphic hacks, such as Same Birds.

• Save Bears - Based on the Game and Watch game Fire, with a unique appearance (and differently programmed than Receive Fruit).
  • One of the three bears, in addition to the ones from Bear vs Bald and Pi Wang, resembles the main character in the Chinese cartoon Boonie Bears.

• Sea Wolf - Possibly based on the arcade game, but plays more similarly to Depthcharge. Original release.

• Seicross - Port of the original game.

• Settle Puzzle - Move the duck so the floor pattern is only crossed over once at each angle.

• Shoot Balls - Hit the heart balloons while avoiding the skull balloons. Original release.

• Shoot Monster - Another basic balloon-shooting game, but you shoot down Bloopers from Super Mario Bros.

• Slalom - A slalom game starring Luigi, complete with voice samples.

• Snow Ball - A game simulating a snowball fight.

• Stone - Puzzle game similar to Columns, but with two gems on one row instead of three. Original release.

• Sudoku - A Sudoku game. Original release.

• Tank War - Port of the GameKing game Tank.

• Target Practice - Shoot the balloons without letting any fly away. Original release.
  • Later systems rename this game Toxophily.

• Tetris - Port of the original, based on a Brick Game version. Original release.
  • The same "Brick Game" coding, like the handhelds it was based off of, was reused for various other titles, including Cubix (Quarth) and Greedy Snake II.

• Tic Tac Toe - Appears to be an unknown table game unrelated to Tic Tac Toe. Original release.

• Tower Defend - Port of Flash Element TD. Original release.

• Twin Shot - A Bubble Bobble-like game where you must kill all the enemies on a board.

• The Wall - Port of a GameKing game, which itself is based on Breakout/Arkanoid. Original release.
  • Original versions have a total of 100 levels - on later systems, the last 50 are scrapped.

• Where to Go - Likely based on the Chinese TV series Where Are We Going, Dad?, although this is unconfirmed. The game is an endless runner, where you control a dad rescuing his children while running to a flagpole at the end of the screen.

• Wing Dream - You control a pig, and must get to the other side of the screen; there is a huge gap blocking the way, with balloon-weilding monkeys flying in front. You must charge into the balloons, without hitting the monkeys' bodies, with enough force to cross the gap.

• Wisdom Heart - Port of Puzznic.

• Zuma - Port of the original game. Original release.
  • To hide from its source material, the game was later renamed to Color Stone.

Stolen Music

One thing notable about these handhelds is the amount of stolen music compiled in games, taken from a variety of media. This is a list of currently identified songs from various titles.

• Adventure Island 2 - Level 2 Theme
• Adventure Island 2 - Level Complete
• Adventure Island 2 - Map Theme
• Adventure Island 3 - Level 3 Theme
• Adventures of Lolo 2 - Main Theme
• Adventures of Lolo 3 - Main Theme
• Angry Birds - Main Theme
• Antarctic Adventure - Main Theme
• Boulder Dash (NES) - Map Theme
• Bubble Bobble - Main Theme
• Cheers (TV Series) - Theme Song
• Chip 'N Dale (NES) - Main Theme
• Dance Xtreme Prima (Plug 'N Play) - Sha-la-la-la (rendition of the actual song)
• Dig Dug - Main Theme
• Duck Hunt - Intro
• Duck Tales (NES) - Map Theme
• Duck Tales - Theme Song
• Gangnam Style (actual sampled audio rather than a redone rendition)
• The Legend of Zelda - Main Theme
• Mega Man 2 - Wood Man Theme
• Mega Man 6 - Title Theme
• Plants vs Zombies - Main Theme
• Popeye (TV Series) - Spinach Theme
• Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom - Main Theme
• Sonic the Hedgehog - Invincible Theme
• Sonic the Hedgehog - Labyrinth Zone
• Sonic the Hedgehog - Marble Zone
• Sonic the Hedgehog 2 - Emerald Hill Zone
• Sonic the Hedgehog 2 - Ending
• Super Mario Bros. 2 - Boss Defeated
• Super Mario Bros. 3 - Hammer Bros. Battle
• Super Mario Bros. 3 - Map Theme
• Tetris (NES, Nintendo Version) - Theme C

Big Screen Versions

A handful of systems feature these titles, or modified versions of them, with the screen resolution doubled. They are rather hard to come by, and not much is known about them. There seems to be a rather complex physics engine contained in the system, so games have a lot of fast and fluent movement. The style of the games themselves is somewhat different than on the standard units, so they may be from a different publisher. Some noteworthy games include:

(Note that the descriptions for these are inferred from video footage.)

• Big Yellow Duck - A game based on the infamous World's Largest Rubber Duck, where the duck must avoid oncoming obstacles.
• Crazy Hit Man - A heavily racist game, far unlike anything ever seen on bootleg game systems in general. It is a clone of Interactive Buddy, where you fling around a Japanese soldier with the Chinese flag waving in the background. This was created during the Senkaku Islands dispute as anti-Japanese propaganda.
• Doctor Mario - Mario must rescue bleeding animals by carrying them into a hospital tent.
• Doraemon - You control a ball with Doraemon's face on it, and collect all of the items. Due to its rather strange appearance, it's likely there's an original version with less nonsensical graphics.
• Gangnam Style - An endless runner where Psy has to rescue Angry Birds. He runs across the background to New Super Mario Bros., defeating Zombies by attacking with a Plant helmet and trapping them in cages. There are also segments where Psy gains a Superman costume and must fly through obstacles. The music is notably on-sync slightly better than the "Gangnam" games from handhelds.
• Iron Man - A heavily updated version of Gang Tie III.

• League of Legends - Port of the original game.
• Let Bullet Go - A heavily updated version of Flying Bullet.
• Link Pet - Based on Pikachu, a Pokemon-themed puzzle game for early 2000s smartphones.
• Metal Slug - Based on the original game, but not a direct port.
• Pandora - Same as Lucky Box but with modified graphics.
• Plants VS Zambie 2 - Same as Plants vs Zombies but with upscaled graphics and a few new plants to choose from.
• Popcorn Ninja - A Fruit Ninja clone. Far more accurate than Fruit Knight, with near identical gameplay.
• Qiang Adventure - A hack of Greedy Jarry featuring the hunter from Boonie Bears. Because of the full screen, the entire playfield is in view, whereas it scrolled in the original.
• Smart Carbi - Based on Jungletac's Bean Adventure. You must guide Kirby through the maze to eat all of the food and reach the end goal without getting crushed by a boulder.
• Squirrel Go Home - A basic maze game, featuring Snorlax from Pokemon.
• Thin Ice - Port of the original game.
• Where is My Water - Same as Cayman Washing but with upscaled graphics.