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Hummer Team (悍馬小組) was a pirate game developer that originated in 1992 after a few members left C&E. They were known for making what many consider decent NES 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. The team seems to have significantly reduced in size during the 64-bit era, but the remaining members continued to make games until at least 2006, mostly for multicarts and plug & play Famiclones (later VT03-based) and some XaviX games. Hummer Technology closed their doors in 2010.

Aliases

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. Acording 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.
  • Stevin Hseih - (Engine) programmer. S.S Hsieh in Donkey Kong Country 4.
  • Terrissa Mao (Yao?) - Graphics, thw 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 & 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 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.

Games

These are games that are known to be made by them. The games are listed by publishers and chronologically. The IDs of the main reprints or secondary variants are given in parenthesis.

NES / 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
(音速瑪莉)
1994 A port of Sonic the Hedgehog with Mario as the main character. 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. (NT-616)
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 Technologies after 1998. Their original publisher is 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,[1] 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 (unreleased)
Early 2000s (re-release)
Planned to be published by Ramar International, but only released 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).
Panda Adventure Mid-1990s (unreleased)
Early 2000s (re-release)
Planned to be published by Ramar International, but only released on ABAB Soft multicarts and several 2000s plug & plays. It is a platformer game where the goal is to reach the other side of the screen. Later hacked to create Pink Jelly and Rings (the latter being based on Lord of the Rings), both of which appear on the Super New Year 15-in-1.
Os Cavaleiros do Zodíaco 1997 (unreleased [?]) A Saint Seiya-themed fighting game; features elaborate sound samples in-game. Planned to be published by Ramar International (seen on the rare "Talking Three in One" multicart, alongside a talking version of The Dragon), but it was either canceled or released in extremely limited quantities.
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; eventually appearing on a rare ABAB Soft multicart in full, as well as cut-down versions on the ZDog and the Super New Year 15-in-1. 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.
While 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.
King Fishing 2000-2001 A bass fishing simulator game found in several dedicated, fishing rod-shaped plug-and-plays. A very similar game, through unclear means, was developed by Nice Code Software as just "Fishing".
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.

XaviX

Hummer Team helped design some XaviX games, of which there is only one confirmed title so far.

  • XaviX Ping-Pong (SSD) - 2005

Plug & play consoles

Zdog

ZDog.

These consoles were produced by Zechess Co., Ltd., a Taiwanese company that existed from around 2005-2006 run by Handel Liao - whose name also appears in the source code of ABABSoft's website - and they contain the last known games developed by Hummer. They are largely VT03-based although each contains at least one older game which still runs in standard Famicom mode.

  • Samuri - 60 games, includes individual levels from the "Hummer" hack of Somari plus newer VT03 mini games.[2]
  • ZDog - 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 by ABABSoft plus similar VT03 mini games to the Samuri.

Logo and mascot

In numerous Hummer Team games there is a three-eyed sun/sea urchin hidden in the ROM; it can generally found by a button code and/or a sprite editor such as Tile Layer Pro, although sometimes (such as in Aladdin) it is incorporated into the level graphics.

A common misconception is that this is Hummer Team's logo, but it is in fact J.Y. Company's, who published many Hummer games as well as numerous other pirates. This is why it isn't present in Hummer's games that are published by Ka Sheng (Earthworm Jim 3 and Street Fighter Zero 2 97), but is present in Ei-How Yang's games published by JY, such as Mickey Mania 7 and Contra Spirits (which was published with a Hosenkan Electronics Co., Ltd. label).

Hummer Team itself is not known to have had a logo, but from 2005-2006 they used a horse named Hummer as its mascot (a play on the Chinese characters for "Hummer" which mean "brave horse") designed by Kathy Chen. Hummer's first known appearance was in a hack of Somari on the Super New Year Cart 15-in-1 multicart, and he would later go on to star in many games on both the Samuri & ZDog plug & play consoles, as well as appearing on both consoles' intro screens. A pink cat called Pink Jelly also features prominently in these games, again having appeared first on the 15-in-1 cart.

Later into the Company's lifespan (around 2000-2010), they've also made other mascots, alongside hummer, these include:

Other Reoccuring Characters/Mascots

  • Hummer Horse the mascot representing the company, made from the play on words of Hummer Cheng's name, (meaning: Brave Horse)
  • Panda (probably based off of the character from Panda Adventure, a game developed by Hummer Cheng
  • Pink Jelly (a pink cat that is very similar in design to the cat from "3000 whys of blue cat" (except for the fact that pink jelly is not, in fact, blue), Pink jelly is the oldest mascot next to Hummer, First appearing in the Super New Year Cart 15-in-1. Their name also appears in random places in Samuri and Zdog games, with no real reasoning behind the name,
  • Zdog (originally named Vdog, before the console was picked up by Zechess) is the mascot to the console, also correspondingly named "Zdog"
  • Duck (unsure of the name), also seen with a graduation cap in the "Seesaw" VT03 demo (made in 2002), the 3rd oldest mascot
  • Chicken (the character that appears the least throughout any games)

References

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