Ex-Subor developers

Ex-Subor developers
Years	1990s-2000s
Consoles	Standard and enhanced Famiclone (UM6578, VTxx) plug & play systems
First game	Dance 2000 (跳舞天使)
Sounds used	Subor sound engine
Aliases	"DL" (from Dance 2000/跳舞天使)
Games published by	Various (including ABL, Techno Source, Majesco, and others)
Related companies	Subor, JungleTac

Ex-Subor developers refers to an unknown development team that is believed to have developed numerous games for plug & play devices using hardware derived from Famiclones. They are strongly connected to a line of 8-bit Dance Dance Revolution clone games that would be used in various budget TV plug & play dance mats released throughout the early and mid-2000s in various parts of the world.

Overview

The ex-Subor developers are presumed to have developed plug & play games as early as the year 2000 for standard Famiclone hardware and the enhanced Famiclone-based UM6578 and VTxx systems-on-a-chip. Games that are believed to have been developed by these developers generally share aspects with software developed for Subor's Famiclone-based educational computers, hence their namesake. Most notably, most of their games, particularly all known 8-bit Dance Dance Revolution clones attributed to them, have a distinct sound design resembling that of one from some of the software developed for Subor's educational products (namely the Subor V study cartridge and the Subor SB-2000 educational computer), with these games sharing sound effects and composition styles. Some of the developers' games also use a VGA BIOS font used in Subor's 8-bit educational products, and a few even directly reuse music from them. These aspects of the aforementioned games strongly suggest that the developers are either ex-Subor employees, or at the very least, people who previously worked with Subor to develop their educational products.

The ex-Subor developers appear to have some sort of connection to JungleTac, with several titles attributed to these developers closely resembling JungleTac's older games and hacks. Despite this, the general attributes of these developers do not match that of JungleTac. While the two companies clearly have some sort of connection, it appears as though the developer is not JungleTac itself. There is a similar unknown Jungletac affiliate company with an otherwise-distinct development style; it is unknown if this affiliate is connected to the ex-Subor developers.

While unconfirmed, it is speculated that this development team is connected to an entity known as Zhongshan Wanxin Technology (中山市万信科技电子有限公司), who reportedly worked with Subor. The only confirmed information about the development team as of writing is that they at one point credited themselves as "DL" in Dance 2000/跳舞天使, their earliest known Dance Dance Revolution clone for plug & plays and their earliest known work overall.

Games

Dance Dance Revolution clones

During the early and mid-2000s, a number of budget plug & play systems with dance mats based on those used for Konami's Dance Dance Revolution home ports would be released by various companies in multiple regions. Many of these plug & plays would come with dedicated 8-bit games based on the official Dance Dance Revolution games built-in, typically developed for Famiclone hardware. With few exceptions, these systems commonly featured a particular sound design, with music that can generally be described as "twangy" and reminiscent of music present in Subor's educational software. These games are attributed to the ex-Subor developers due to these factors among other connections between these games and Subor (i.e., the VGA BIOS font used in Subor's software).

While not a concrete fact regarding all 8-bit DDR clones, a common aspect of the ones attributed to the ex-Subor developers is that they come with one or more bonus games. While some of these games are simply pirated versions of licensed NES/Famicom games, others are either hacks or original games developed by the ex-Subor developers. The originally developed games use the same sound engine as the dance game they are bundled with, and in the case of one of the bonus games, "Knock Out"/Hit Mouse, even reuse music from software originally made for Subor's educational computers (the title theme for Subor V and the theme of the introduction demo on the Subor SB-2000 respectively).

Standard Famiclone games

• Dance 2000/Crazy Dance/跳舞天使 - Earliest iteration of the ex-Subor Dance Dance Revolution clones known to exist, notably featuring both the distinctive sound design present in the rest of the developers' work and the VGA BIOS font used in Subor's educational software. In a hidden credit that can be viewed by pressing Select on the song selection screen, the developers are credited simply as "DL".
• Hot Dance 2000
• Hot Dance/Revolution 2000
• GLK Dance/Shi Shang Tiao Wu Tan
• Dance 2000/Hot 2000
• Dance Xtreme
• Teens Star Dancer
• Hot Dance with Samba
• Dance Master - Later released as Dance Party 3
  • Bratz Stylin' Dance Party
• Twin Dancers/American Idol Edition
• Dance Party Professional

VT03 Dance Dance Revolution games

The ex-Subor developers are likely behind the software development for three dedicated Dance Dance Revolution plug & plays that use VT03 hardware, as they share the same sound engine and sound design as a majority of the generic 8-bit Dance Dance Revolution plug & play clones. Two of these plug & plays are officially licensed by Konami, and all three were released in 2006.

• Dance Dance Revolution Disney Mix - Licensed port of the PS1 release to VT03 hardware. Features songs such as the "Mickey Mouse March" and "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious".
• Dance Dance Revolution: Strawberry Shortcake - An original DDR game, not based on a preexisting Konami release.
• Double Dance Mania: Technolight Edition - A large, two-player dance mat. Only features three generic songs: Firestorm, Riptide and Vortex. Minigames include 25 Hurdle Challenge (clone of a Track & Field event), Asteroid Racers (an asteroid-dodging game), Duck & Dodge (a Whac-A-Mole game), Hip-Hop Scotch (follow the on-screen moves), Snowstorm (a Breakout-like game), and Radium Star (a hack of Pinball).
  • Radium Star is built off of the UM6578 Pinball hack, as evidenced by it featuring near-identical graphics in the bonus rounds; however, the rest of its graphics are largely unique.
  • The "original" version of Double Dance Mania appears to include Radium Star, but otherwise features different software that likely comes from other developers (including the uncommon VT02 games Echo Chamber and Trounce).

Gamezone II arcade ports

Five unlicensed ports of arcade games for NES/Famicom hardware were included on the Gamezone II plug and play system, which otherwise had its game selection mostly comprised of pirated NES games. The games that were ported are Scramble, Missile Command, Asteroids, Frogger, and Moon Cresta. All of the ports with the exception of Asteroids feature original songs played back on the sound engine used in the ex-Subor games on the attract/title screens of the ports. This along with the composition style of these songs matching the one in the ex-Subor developers' presumed Dance Dance Revolution clones suggests that they were likely behind the development of the ports.

In addition to the similarities in sound, there are also a handful of similarities in coding between the Gamezone II ports and other games presumed to be from the ex-Subor developers. For instance, the hopping sound in the port of Frogger is the same as the paddle-hitting sound in the "Rescue" Arkanoid hack, which is otherwise not a common and/or recurring sound effect.

UM6578 games

Several UM6578 games were likely produced by the ex-Subor developers. These titles appear on some uncommon plug & play systems, such as the "Wikid Joystick 14-in-1" and the "Console TV Challenge". The majority of these games have UM6578 variants credited to or otherwise connected to JungleTac, or in some cases, are direct hacks of JungleTac's games (i.e., Rescue is a hack of an Arkanoid hack titled Block Shock, originally produced in 2001 and attributed to "DJ-JUNGLE").

Original or JungleTac-based games

• 99 Layers - Clone of NS-Shaft.
• Alien Attack - Included in the ABL Wikid Joystick 14-in-1's game set. Unlike most games attributed to the ex-Subor developers, this game uses the Super C sound engine used in most of JungleTac's games. A game credited to JungleTac, Aero Engine, is a direct version of this game and is known to have a UM6578 variant. Whether it came before or after Alien Attack is unclear.
• Bee's Attack - A shooting game similar to Space Invaders. The enemy designs appear to be loosely based on Galaga. The Game Over screen uses the font of the Sega logo. The character on the high-score screen (presumably your main character) is taken and modified from Red Zone on the Sega Genesis.
• Future Soldier - The player must rescue tied-up people while shooting at enemies from a top-down perspective. Title screen graphics are taken from Zero Tolerance and the main character's portrait on the HUD is from True Lies.
• Pyramid Secret - Clone of the shareware PC game Zeek the Geek with original graphics.
• Shark - a game similar to Shark! Shark! for the Intellivision, where the player's fish must eat other fish (without being eaten themselves).
• Space War - A near identical clone of Recca. Uses the VGA BIOS font for the "PAUSE" text. A game credited to JungleTac, Star Ally, is a direct version of this game; it is known to have a UM6578 variant that features a 2003 copyright notice attributed to JungleTac on the title screen and changes the font of the "PAUSE" text. Whether it came before or after Space War is unclear.
• Air Force, Frontier Fire, Hurricane - Various games based on JungleTac's top-down shooting game engine (as used in numerous standard JungleTac games like Bolt Fighter).

Hacks of Famicom/NES games

Games based on preexisting JungleTac hacks that reuse some graphic assets, while redoing others. The music and sound effects are often extensively altered. For additional information on the "original" hack variants, see the JungleTac page's "Hacks" section.

Original Game	Hack Name(s)	Notes
Arkanoid	Rescue	Based on a preexisting JungleTac hack titled Block Shock. Has a 2003 copyright notice on the title screen.
Balloon Fight	Balloon War	Based on a preexisting JungleTac hack titled Balloon Boy 2. The Balloon Trip mode is removed.
Bump 'n' Jump	Water Bike	Based on a preexisting JungleTac hack titled Jump Car.
Circus Charlie	Clown	Uses a sprite of Mr. Do from Neo Mr. Do! on the title screen.
Duck Hunt	Super Hunter
F-1 Race	Mega Race	Based on a preexisting JungleTac hack titled Race One. The original version takes place in space, while the presumed ex-Subor version instead changes the background to Mount Rushmore.
Hogan's Alley	Target	Uses modified graphics from Streets of Rage 2, Contra: Hard Corps and Combat Cars.
Lode Runner	Magician
Lunar Ball	Table Ball
Magic Jewelry	Fruit Master	Uses a modified sprite of Pac-Man from the Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures intro. It is unclear if this is based on JungleTac's preexisting Jewel Master hack or not.
Pinball	Pin Ball	Themed after a carnival tent. It was later re-hacked into the VT03-based Radium Star, which is seen on some Double Dance Mania consoles.
Road Fighter	Road Hero	Based on a preexisting JungleTac hack titled GP Race.
Sky Destroyer	High Tide
Slalom	Alps Ski
Tennis	Tennis	Mario is intact, but his hat is removed.
Wild Gunman	Quick Shoot

An uncommon console called the "Solar Games Super 7 in 1" features VT02 hacks based on the JungleTac/ex-Subor developers UM6578 library, but are closer visually to Inventor ROM hacks of the same games.

Intellivision and Coleco ports

The ex-Subor developers were likely behind the development of several games - running on NES/Famicom hardware - for Intellivision and Coleco-branded plug & plays, which were published by Techno Source in North America in 2005. The Intellivision games are ports of various titles from the system, and have no relation to the Intellivision ports produced by Nice Code Software, which were used in earlier Techno Source releases. The Coleco games, rather than being ColecoVision ports, are based on the "Head-to-Head" handheld LCD sports games from the late 1970s; ironically, some of these games are also featured on the Intellivision systems. Oddly, original games not based on actual INTV/Coleco properties are also included in both game sets; several of these are clones of other games from the 80s.

While Nice Code's Intellivision (and Atari) ports are still occasionally distributed on plug & play systems today, the ex-Subor developers' licensed ports were only used on four consoles total (the Intellivision 2nd Edition, Intellivision X2, and separate 6 and 12-game variants of the Coleco Head-to-Head system) and are not known to have been distributed on other consoles.

Coleco games

• Baseball - also used on the Intellivision X2 with modified graphics
• Basketball
• Boxing - uses sound effects from Punch-Out!! and Super Mario Bros.
• Car Racing - a generic racing game; uses sound effects from F-1 Race
• Deep Sea Madness - a clone of Space Invaders
• Football - also used on the Intellivision X2 with modified graphics
• Hockey - also used on the Intellivision X2 with modified graphics
• Kung Fu Fly Catcher - an original game where, when a fly appears on the screen, the player must press the button as fast as possible; this will catch the fly in a pair of chopsticks, and the player is given a score based on their "reaction time". Uses sound effects from Galaxian
• Racquetball - an original game which is effectively Pong played on one side; with the opposite end being a solid wall
• Sea Defender - a clone of Missile Command
• Soccer
• Wallbreaker - a generic Breakout clone; uses sound effects from Arkanoid and Super Mario Bros.

Intellivision games

• Astrosmash
• Beach Volleyball - port of Spiker: Super Pro Volleyball
• Buzz Bombers
• Crown of Kings - port of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons: Cloudy Mountain
• Deadly Discs - port of Tron: Deadly Discs
• Frog Bog
• Long Drive Golf - An original game where the player must hit their golf ball a further distance than the opponent. The game is copyrighted directly to Techno Source rather than Intellivision on the title screen.
• Maze Shoot - port of a minigame from Sharp Shot
• Night Stalker
• Pinball
• Soccer
• Space Armada
• Space Gunner - port of a minigame from Sharp Shot
• Tennis

Trivia

• The Techno Source Coleco systems' basis on using the "Head-to-Head" games - rather than the more popular ColecoVision titles - was likely due to Coleco (under River West Brands' ownership) not actually owning many, if any, of the ColecoVision game IP rights. Ironically, many later 2010s Coleco systems (particularly from AtGames) appear to just use the ColecoVision library without license, including titles that Coleco would almost certainly have no legal ownership of.
• There is a set of three Coleco-branded 10-in-1 handheld consoles released around the same time as the "Head-to-Head" plug & plays. Some of the games on these systems resemble the JungleTac VT09 library, but are custom coded versions running on unknown hardware. Whether the ex-Subor developers or other staff related to JungleTac were behind the development of these games is unknown.