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Unlicensed games are games released for mainly 8-bit and 16-bit consoles which aren't licensed or endorsed by the console maker. A bootleg game is a type of unlicensed game produced in breach of someone else's copyright; usually either an unauthorized port of a game from one console to another (such as Super Mario World to the Famicom or Tekken to the Mega Drive), an original game using other companies' characters or copyrighted material (such as Harry's Legend or Kart Fighter) or a ROM hack of an existing game. These games are typically considered to be poor quality when compared to officially licensed games.

For example, Menace Beach is an unlicensed game because it was produced for the NES without a license from Nintendo, but it is not a bootleg because it does not include any stolen content, whereas Somari is a bootleg game as it is an unauthorized port of Sega's Sonic containing Nintendo's Mario character without the permission of either company, even though it was programmed from scratch. Super Mario 4 is a bootleg hack, as it's a modified version of Crayon Shin Chan 4 not authorized by either Nintendo or the developers/publishers of that game. Not all hacks are pirates however; the Western release of Super Mario Bros. 2, despite technically being a hack of Doki Doki Panic, isn't a pirate because it was made by Nintendo and legally licensed.

We also have a forum called Bootleg Games Central Forums. If you have anything to discuss, please head on over! We also have a Discord channel!

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LATEST UPDATE: 7/11/2018 (Rules have been updated to include the new forums.)

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This wiki is meant to inform people of the many unlicensed games and clone consoles out there. If you would like to contribute, we need articles on:

• Bootleg and unlicensed games.
• Pirated/bootleg/unlicensed game companies, including developers, publishers and hardware manufacturers
• Cloned consoles.
• Articles focused on a certain aspect of pirates.

Need an idea for what to write about? Try one of these, or see if you can expand on one of our stub articles!

Also please look for any important announcements here.

Affiliates

We are currently affiliated with:

• VG Wiki - A general video game wiki
• Pirated Game Museum - Wiki for pictures of pirate variants of official games