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Hummer Team (Chinese: 悍馬小組), later incorporated as Simmer Technology Co., Ltd. and Hummer Technology Co., Ltd. (昕馬科技有限公司), was a game developer originating from Taiwan that was founded in 1992 after a few members left C&E. They are infamous for making what many consider to be decent bootleg Famicom ports of games that were on more advanced consoles along with having games published by many different companies including SuperTone, Yoko Soft, J.Y. Company, and Ka Sheng.
In late 1997, Hummer Team would register as a formal company in New Taipei City under the Chinese name 昕馬科技有限公司. They would also initially use the English name "Simmer Technology Co., Ltd." before changing it to "Hummer Technology Co., Ltd." some time in the 2000s. During the late 90s, when the popularity of Famicom games in regions where Famiclones thrived began to wane, the team also seemed to significantly decrease in size. Despite this, the remaining members continued to make games until at least 2006, mostly for multicarts and plug & play systems. Hummer Technology also reportedly developed educational software during this period. The company would cease operations between 2014 and 2015.
Aliases
- Somari Team (used before 1995) - SuperTone misspelled Somari Team as Someri Team on both AV Bishoujo Senshi Girl Fighting and Somari covers.
- Jing Tay Team (Seen in Tiny Toon Adventures 6) - As a reference to J.Y. Company.
- Copyright (As seen in Super Mario World & Aladdin) - technically not an alias but still an identifying factor, most developers don't write the word "Copyright" in full
- Simmer Technology Co., Ltd (2000-2005)
- Hummer Technology Co., Ltd (2006-2014?)
Staff
- Hummer Cheng - Head, composer, programmer. One of the remaining staff members in 2006.
- Silvers Lin - Programmer, producer, was part of C&E. Name can be found in Aladdin through a hex editor. "Hung Hsiang _ Lin" in Donkey Kong Country 4.
- Kathy Chen - Graphics, was part of C&E. Credited as Kathy Chiang in Tiny Toon Adventures 6. According to Hummer Cheng, she designed all of the Hummer Team characters.
- Carroll Wu - Graphics. One of the remaining staff members in 2006 (ZDog graphic artist).
- Chris Ho - Programmer, first credited on Titenic and one of the remaining staff members in 2006. He would also be credited as a programmer in the SSD Company/Simmer Technology credits for the Radica Play TV Ping Pong/ConnecTV Table Tennis plug and play game (the credits are stored in the game's ROM as text data).
- Stevin Hseih - (Engine) programmer. Credited as "S.S Hsieh" in Donkey Kong Country 4.
- Terrissa Mao (Yao?) - Graphics; the word YAO appears on the background of the first stage in Street Fighter Zero 2 '97.
- Say Lee - Graphics; credited in Tiny Toon Adventures 6, and SAY also appears next to YAO in the first stage's background of Street Fighter Zero 2 '97.
- Y.Y.C - Graphics, was credited in Earthworm Jim 3 and Donkey Kong Country 4. Possibly credited as "Huei Fan" in Mortal Kombat 3.
This is a list of people who have appeared in Hummer Team's credits. However, it is unknown if these are real people or just nicknames:
- Alex Yeu - Sound designer, never seen in JY games but was credited in Earthworm Jim 3 and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 4 for music. Likely Hummer Cheng.
- Barbara King - Sound designer for Street Fighter II: The World Warrior and Street Fighter IV (under B.B. King).
- Ming June - Programmer, only appeared in Earthworm Jim 3. A "Chen Ming Jiun" is credited in C&E's Sheng Huo Lie Zhuan and Taiwanese developer Hwang Shinwei used a similar nickname for Block Force (Hwang Jiun Ming)
- Juing Long - Programmer in Mortal Kombat 3. Probably the same as above.
All the names used before the J.Y. Company era (particularly in Street Fighter II: The World Warrior and Street Fighter IV) are too hard to track because they are a lot more generic and different than the ones used in 1997.
Radica Play TV Ping Pong credits
A set of credits attributed to SSD Company Limited and Simmer Technology are present as text data in the ROM of a XaviX-based plug and play game produced by Radica China, named Play TV Ping Pong in North America and ConnecTV Table Tennis in PAL regions. Many of the credited names are Japanese and most are directly connected to SSD Company, but at least one name (Chris Ho) is directly linked to Hummer/Simmer Technology and another name does not appear to be Japanese and connected to SSD Company directly. A few of the Japanese names in these credits also do not have any public information linking them to SSD Company. They may either be freelance workers or SSD staff who do not have public information on their time working for the company available, but it is possible that these names could also be aliases for Hummer staff, as Hummer Cheng has confirmed that he went under a Japanese name during the time Hummer Technology was working on XaviX games for SSD Company (who created the XaviX technology itself).
- Lawrence Su - Chief programmer.
- Akiko Kataji - Artist. May be SSD Company staff.
- Naomi Sawada - Artist. May be SSD Company staff.
- Kenichi Yasuda - Artist. May be SSD Company staff.
- Teruya Ida - Sound coordinator. May be SSD Company staff.
Games
These are games that are known to be made by Hummer Team/Hummer Technology. The games are listed by publishers and chronologically. The IDs of the main reprints or secondary variants are given in parenthesis.
Famicom
SuperTone Electronics
| Name | Released | Description | Cart No. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jing Ke Xin Zhuan (荊軻新傳) |
1992 | Chinese-language RPG, Hummer Team's first production. | S-01 |
| Street Fighter II: The World Warrior | 1992 | A port of the Super Famicom version of Street Fighter II. It was also retailed as Master Fighter II to avoid copyright infringement. | YOKO-Y1 |
| Master Fighter II: The World Warrior | |||
| Master Fighter VI' | 1993 | An enhanced version of Street Fighter II with new characters, better graphics and more stages. | YOKO-Y1 |
| Street Fighter IV (快打傳説) |
1993 | Another Street Fighter clone with completely original characters, music and stages. Also known as The Legend. | GD-01 (box) |
| Somari | 1994 | A port of Sonic the Hedgehog with Mario as the main character. Originally published by Ge De Industry Co. in 1994. Numerous versions replacing Mario with Sonic were released by Ka Sheng (such as Sonic 3D Blast 5); the Sonic-hacked variants were later reworked into The Hummer in the mid-2000s. | |
| AV Bishoujo Senshi Girl Fighting (ＡＶ美少女戦士) |
1994-1995 | Fighting game with adult-oriented content. | |
| AV Jiu Ji Ma Jiang II (ＡＶ究極麻將II) |
1995(?) | Mahjong game targeted at adults. Later re-released by Ka Sheng. | |
| Kart Fighter (瑪莉快打) |
1995 | Super Mario Kart-themed fighting game. | |
| Garou Densetsu Special (饿狼伝说) |
1995 | Port of Fatal Fury Special. It was later re-released by Ka Sheng, modified numerous times to feature a new title screen and character selection screen. | (NT-644) |
Yoko Soft
| Name | Released | Description | Cart No. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Street Fighter II: The World Warrior | 1992 | A port of the Super Famicom version of Street Fighter II. It was also retailed as Master Fighter II to avoid copyright infringement. | YOKO-Y1 |
| Master Fighter II: The World Warrior | |||
| Master Fighter VI' | 1993 | An enhanced version of Street Fighter II with new characters, better graphics and more stages. | YOKO-Y1 |
J.Y. Company
| Name | Released | Description | Cart No. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mortal Kombat II (真人快打II) |
1994 | A port of the SNES version of Mortal Kombat. This may have been J.Y. Company's first release from Hummer Team. It was also hacked and released first as Mortal Kombat III Turbo under J.Y. Company. | First prints had no IDs. (JY-011, JY-024, JY-026 (A/B)) |
| Dragon Ball Z - Super Butoden 2 | 1994 | A port of the Super Famicom game Dragon Ball Z - Super Butoden 2. | First print had no ID. (JY-012) |
| Aladdin (阿拉丁) |
1995 | A port of Capcom's Aladdin for the SNES. It was re-released under numbered sequels and had a DIP switch variant hack known as Popeye II - Travels in Persia. | First print had no ID. (JY-025, JY-026, JY-027) |
| Super Mario World (超级马里奥世界) |
1995 | A port of Super Mario World. Originally released subtitled as "Volume 1", and only featured the first 4 worlds of the game; a later revision, only seen on the "JY-120" 45-in-1 multicart, features a "complete" version with 7 worlds. | JY-028 (028) |
| Mortal Kombat II Special (眞人快打II 特別版) |
1995 | A port of the SNES version of Mortal Kombat II. It had a DIP switch variant known as Mortal Kombat III Special that duplicates the roster. J.Y. Company later released a hacked version called Mortal Kombat 3 Special 56 Peoples. | JY-029 (JY-030, JY-074) |
| Mighty Morphin Power Rangers III | 1995 | A port of the SNES version of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. A hack titled Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie IV was later released. | JY-059 (JY-073) |
| Shin Samurai Spirits 2 (真侍魂II) |
1996 | A port of Samurai Shodown II. | JY-083 (TP-083) |
| Tekken 2 | 1996 | A port of the PlayStation version of Tekken. It had a DIP switch variant called Battle Arena Toshiden. | JY-092 (JY-091) |
| Donkey Kong Country 4 (大金剛4) |
1997 | A port of Donkey Kong Country. It had a DIP switch variant hack known as Jungle Book 2. | JY-033 (JY-032) |
| Tiny Toon Adventures 6 | 1997 | A port of Tiny Toon Adventures: Babs' Big Break. A DIP switch variant titles the game Porky Pig and Daffy Duck, though otherwise leaves the graphics unaltered. | JY-115 (EL-002) |
| Final Fight 3 | 1998 | A port of Final Fight 3. J.Y. Company's final original game, also the last game they've released from Hummer Team. | JY-116 |
Ka Sheng
| Name | Released | Description | Cart No. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sanguo Chunqiu: Sichuan Sheng (三國春秋 四川省) |
1996 | A Mahjong solitaire (Shisen-Sho) game with a story mode and a versus mode. It was later released by ABAB Soft and other Plug & Play manufacturers. | |
| Yuu Yuu Hakusho Final | 1996 | A port of the game of the same name. Chinese and English versions exists. Two hacks released by Ka Sheng also exist. | (NT-642) |
| Earthworm Jim 3 (蚯蚓吉姆3) |
1997 | A port of the SNES version of Earthworm Jim. | NT-876 |
| Street Fighter Zero 2 '97 | Late 1997 or 1998 | A port of the Street Fighter Zero. Two versions exist and were released under the same cover. The later versions remove the introduction sequence and most of the characters, retaining only four. | NT 6037 |
| Mortal Kombat 3 | 1997-1998 | Mortal Kombat backport, was modified numerous time to feature different-sized rosters and title screen. The game is also known as Ultimate Mortal Kombat 4. | |
| The King of Fighters '96 | 1998 | A port of The King of Fighters originally developed for J.Y. Company but ultimately released by Ka Sheng. | NT6101 |
Others
The following games were made by Hummer Team after 1998. Their original publishers are unknown, although some of these games were re-released by ABAB Soft, and some were only released on a "Super New Year" 15-in-1 multicart by 鴻景 (Hong Jing). Panda Adventure and Space Shuttle Exploration have Rinco (Ramar International) logos in their data, and Ramar produced some game cartridges around 2000 that were only sold in mainland China,[3] so they may have been the original publishers. Some of these games later appeared on Trump Grand Famiclones, including many of the Power Joy models distributed in the U.S./Europe.
| Name | Date | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Space Shuttle Exploration | 1996 (Rinco, unreleased?) Early 2000s (re-release) |
Published by Ramar International/Rinco, although it is unclear how it was released. Currently, the only known releases are on ABAB Soft multicarts and several 2000s plug & plays. It is a space shooting game. The game over music is modified from Hummer's Tekken 2 port. Later hacked to create Space Destroyer Exploration, as well as a version which replaces the spaceships with cars (yet is still called Space Shuttle Exploration). All known releases except for the original Rinco release are dumped. |
| Panda Adventure | Mid-1990s (Rinco, unreleased?) Early 2000s (re-release) |
Published by Ramar International/Rinco, although it is unclear how it was released. Currently, the only known releases are on ABAB Soft multicarts and several 2000s plug & plays (ie., Power Joy Supermax). It is a platformer game where the goal is to reach the other side of the screen. Later hacked to create Rings (being based on Lord of the Rings) which was then hacked once again to create Pink Jelly, both of which appear on the Super New Year Cart 15-in-1. All known releases except for the original Rinco release are dumped. |
| Os Cavaleiros do Zodíaco | 1997 | A Saint Seiya-themed fighting game based on the film "Saint Seiya: Legend of Crimson Youth" (as evidenced by the appearances of Coma Berenices, Carina Atlas and Phoebus Abel). It is notable for its extensive and elaborate use of sound samples in-game and in cutscenes. Published by Ramar International/Rinco (seen on the rare "Talking Three in One" multicart, alongside a talking version of The Dragon).[4] Currently undumped. |
| Titenic | 1998 (unreleased) Early 2000s (re-release[s]) |
A beat 'em up game based on the 1997 film Titanic. The game was planned to be published by Ka Sheng, but went unreleased. It would ventually appear on a rare ABAB Soft multicart in full, as well as on the ZDog and the Super New Year Cart 15-in-1 as cut-down versions. Later hacked to create Harry's Legend, which is based on the Harry Potter novel series; the Harry's Legend version had much wider distribution.
The ZDog version skips the title screen, it has an unused title logo reading "Perils of the Sea". |
| War | 1999 (unreleased) Early 2000s (re-release[s]) |
A game where the player must kill enemies crossing above. Uses Donkey Kong Country 4 and Earthworm Jim 3's music and graphics, as well as Titenic's enemy graphics. Appears on a rare ABAB Soft multicart and several Power Joy plug & plays. Dated 1999, though the released version features Osama Bin Laden as the final boss, suggesting it may have been completed post-9/11. |
| Dance Y2K | 1999-2000 | Originally part of an unreleased(?) "Hot Dance 3-in-1" cartridge. The original form of the game is undumped, though it exists as leftover data in Dragon Running/War of Strike Mouse (which, in their "plug & play" form, only use one byte to control the game; this byte can be changed to load Dance Y2K). However, the leftover data does not include the actual music. Graphics of Anpanman as a dancer appear in the ROM, but are unused. |
| Dragon Running | 1999-2000 | Originally part of an unreleased(?) "Hot Dance 3-in-1" cartridge. It is a racing game similar to Track & Field's 100 Meter Dash. Only uses the d-pad, presumably intended for a dance mat. Appears on several Power Joy plug & plays. Later hacked to create Fast Running. |
| War of Strike Mouse | 1999-2000 | Originally part of an unreleased (?) "Hot Dance 3-in-1" cartridge. It is a Whack-A-Mole game where the player must throw mallets at moles while avoiding hitting stray cats. Only uses the d-pad, presumably intended for a dance mat. Appears on several Power Joy plug & plays. |
| Finger DDR | Early 2000s | A Dance Dance Revolution clone with Butterfly as the only song. Only uses the d-pad, presumably intended for a dance mat. Appears on several Power Joy plug & plays. Graphics of Pikachu and Hello Kitty as dancers appear in the ROM, but are unused. |
| Ping Pong | Early 2000s | A ping pong/table tennis game. Only confirmed to appear on the ZDog, though it likely had an ABAB Soft cartridge release as well. |
| The Egg / The Duck | 2005 | Two variants of a Duck Hunt clone that uses music from Donkey Kong Country 4. Only appears on the Super New Year 15-in-1; a VT03 conversion appears on the ZDog. |
| Soccer of the World | Unknown | A soccer game that uses Donkey Kong Country 4 music; only known to have surfaced (in its original form) on the mid-2010s "Game Prince RS-16" handheld. Unused graphics credit "ARBA Soft", an obvious alias of ABAB Soft, with remaining data from a seemingly-canceled 4-in-1 release present (with the other three games likely being the "Hot Dance" titles). Hacked versions were released by Waixing as Goal Keeper and Penalty Kick. |
Plug & plays
ZDog.
As early as the year 2000, Hummer Team would begin doing development work for plug and play systems under the Simmer Technology name, and later on using the name Hummer Technology. Their earliest known work on plug and play games was for a XaviX-based device produced by Radica China that was released in the year 2000. Hummer Technology would also develop plug and play games for systems based on dedicated Famiclone hardware, with only one plug and play game known to have been developed by them for this hardware.
Hummer Technology's most well known plug & play work would be made when they started working with Zechess Co., Ltd., a Taiwanese company run by Handel Liao (whose name also appears in the source code of ABABSoft's website) that was founded in 2005, to create two multi-game plug and play consoles. These two consoles would be centered around a unique progress system that is tied to gameplay, and would also contain the last known games developed by Hummer Technology. The consoles produced by Zechess use VT03 hardware, an extended version of the Famicom/NES hardware with enhanced graphics, although each one contains at least one older Hummer Team game that still runs in standard Famicom mode.
Famiclone/VTxx
- King Fishing - A fishing game designed for a dedicated plug & play unit shaped like a fishing rod with a crank mechanism. The unit that the game would be included on was distributed by multiple companies in multiple regions, sometimes under different names, with the earliest known release being from 2000-2001 by a company named Excalibur Electronics. The unit uses NES-on-a-chip hardware with the game itself being a standard MMC3 Famicom/NES game designed to interface with the proprietary hardware. Hummer would be credited in the game as Simmer Technology in a hidden credit screen that is activated with a button combo.
- Samuri - VT03 system manufactured and released by Zechess. Includes 59 games and a Star Bank "game" that acts as a means to check your progress. The console is centered on a gimmick where playing through multiple rounds of a game gives you a star. Collecting more stars from completing games lets you evolve a caterpillar, which is shown on every game's title screen, into a girl with butterfly wings, which is alluded to on the Samuri's box. The games on the Samuri include individual levels from the "Hummer" hack of Somari plus newer VT03 mini games.[5]
- ZDog - VT03 system manufactured and released by Zechess in limited quantities. Comes with a toy dog which carries the actual console unit in its backpack. 44 games, which can be accessed through one of three modes: a standard game list, a map screen or a virtual pet style mode. Games include levels from Titenic, the Ping Pong game listed on ABABSoft's website, plus similar VT03 mini games to the Samuri.
XaviX
According to first and second-hand accounts of personal correspondence conducted with Hummer Cheng in 2017, Hummer Technology helped design five games for the XaviX platform, a technology developed by the Japanese company SSD Company Limited. What most of the games that were supposedly worked on were was not elaborated on, but it was claimed that most of the games that Hummer Technology offered assistance for were released in 2005.
Hummer Technology is confirmed to have programmed at least one game for a plug and play system using the XaviX platform, which was a co-production between them and SSD Company Limited. Both companies were credited together in credits stored as text in the game's ROM data, with Hummer specifically referred to as Simmer Technology:
- Play TV Ping Pong (NTSC) / ConnecTV Table Tennis (PAL) - Radica China (2000)
Hummer Cheng claimed to use the following Japanese name when working on the XaviX games: 原木次郎. It is not known if he was credited under this name in the Radica Play TV Ping Pong/ConnecTV Table Tennis game. It is also unclear if Hummer Technology worked on any of the XaviXPORT games.
Other work
Between 1999 and the 2000s, Hummer Team, under the Hummer Technology (Simmer Technology) company, would work on various miscellaneous projects outside of their Famicom-based games. According to BGC Forums member "MLX", who had once conducted an interview with Hummer Cheng in 2011, some of these projects were subcontractor work for Japanese developers, although for which companies and what platforms exactly was not specified. One of the games Hummer Technology was subcontracted to work on was a cancelled Sega Saturn port, the name of which is currently unknown.[6]
Logo and Mascot
HUMMER signature
Hummer Team is not known to have used a specific logo prior to 2004, however a "HUMMER" signature can be found within the graphics data of Aladdin and Mortal Kombat II Special.
Hummer Technology Co., Ltd. logo, featuring the company's mascot.
From 2004 and onward, Hummer Technology used a horse named Hummer as its mascot, which would appear both as a logo and playable character in various games and tech demos.
Recurring Characters
Along with Hummer, a whole cast of original characters was introduced for use in Hummer Technology's later titles. All of these characters have recurring roles in minigames on the Samuri and ZDog plug-and-play consoles.
| Character | Description |
|---|---|
 Hummer |
Hummer Technology’s primary mascot, first appearing in the Seesaw/Pink Jelly VT03 demo. The choice of a horse is possibly a play on the Chinese characters for ‘Hummer’, 悍 马, literally meaning “brave horse.” Hummer has a starring role in The Hummer, a hack of Somari included on the Super New Year 15-in-1 cartridge. Alternate names: Simmer Pony, Hummer Horse |
 Pink Jelly |
A pink cat closely resembling Tails from the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, or the titular character from the Chinese cartoon 3000 Whys of Blue Cat. She first appears alongside Hummer in the Seesaw demo, also receiving a starring role in Pink Jelly, a sprite hack of Rings on the Super New Year 15-in-1 cartridge. A number of games on the Samuri and ZDog inexplicably have a Pink Jelly theme similar to the Seesaw demo. |
 ZDog |
A Jack Russell Terrier who first appeared in the VDog: Jack Russell Terrier demo, which was later reworked into the ZDog plug-and-play console, where he plays a starring role.
Alternate names: Jack Russell |
 Cool Panda |
A panda, presumably intended as the very same from Panda Adventure, making this the oldest of the original Hummer Technology characters. |
 Ducky Duck |
A duck that plays a minor role in Samuri and ZDog minigames. Whether this is intended to be a duck from The Duck on the Super New Year 15-in-1 cartridge is unclear. |
 Bruce Cock |
A chicken that plays a minor role in Samuri and ZDog minigames. A similarly designed chicken character appears alongside Pink Jelly in the Seesaw demo, but this design does not reappear in later games. |
Trivia
J.Y. Company logo screen.
- In most Hummer Team games published by J.Y. Company, the J.Y. Company logo can be found by using a button combination code. The only non-JY published game that this logo can be displayed in is The King of Fighters '96 due to J.Y. cancelling the release of this game, which led Ka Sheng to publish it instead (the logo appears scrambled however due to the graphics being overwritten). The logo also makes appearances in the background or parts of levels in a handful of other Hummer Team games JY published.
- On a company profile page for Hummer Technology on the site Taiwanbuying, the products listed that they offered are game software, educational software, and "solar power generation". It is unknown when this profile was first put up online, but it suggests that Hummer Team pursued other business ventures and developed other software outside of video games after registering as a formal company.