Hwang Shinwei (黃信維) is a Taiwanese former game programmer. From the late 1980s to the early 1990s, Hwang developed bootleg ports of games from platforms like arcade and the Sega Genesis, for the NES/Famicom.
Overview[]
Hwang is the only person credited in most of his games, but it's unknown if he actually worked alone or simply only credited himself.
Many of his games also credit RCM Group, who were likely the publishers, but might also have been a development team. Some of his games also mention "Taiwan ROC" at the title screen. But this actually stands for "Taiwan, Republic of China" (where Hwang was presumably based) rather than being a company name.
Most games made by Hwang appear on multicarts, and some might not have been released stand-alone. Most of his games are also based on existing NES/Famicom games. Some games were released on NES cartridges, such as Block Force and Magic Jewelry II. Their games also seem to have been produced quickly, with 3D Block and Magic Jewelry being released the same year as the original games.
It's likely that Hwang's games are common on multicarts because of their small size as well. Unlike many bootleg games which took up more storage than the average NES/Famicom game (i.e. more than 256 KB), none of Shinwei's games exceeded 64 KB. For example, Magic Jewelry is 16 KB, a size matched only by Galaxian and Xiao Ma Li.
Possible career-ending legal action against Hwang[]
In March 1991, two Taiwanese nationals were arrested for their role in counterfeiting Nintendo games. One of them was a Tina Huang, who was Vice President of RainCo Man International Co. Ltd. - the company that helped publish Hwang's games (see above). Tina Huang's case was last mentioned as being connected to seven further arrests made in June 1991. [1]
Tina Huang may be Hwang himself, which would match up with his lack of activity after 1991.
Games developed by Hwang Shinwei[]
Full games (Single cartridge releases)[]
- 3D Block (1989/1990) - Port of Blockout.
1989 version credits Shinwei, 1990 version credits RCM Group. - Mi Hun Che / BB Car (1988/1991) - Based off Rally-X.
The 1988 release, Mi Hun Che, was published by Chi Chi Toy Company, a prolific manufacturer of pirate famicom carts in Taiwan (its logo is often mistaken for "Chui"). The 1991 version was renamed "BB Car" and may have been published or re-released by J.Y. Company. Notably, Hwang's name is romanised as Huang Hsin-Wei in Mi Hun Che, while his name is rendered in Chinese characters only in BB Car. - Block Force (1990) - Based off Quarth. Hwang Shinwei is only credited for "layout and music" in this game. "Program and character" are by Hwang Jiun-Ming.
- Brush Roller (1990) - Based off Make Trax.
- Magic Jewelry (1990) - Based off Columns.
- Magic Jewelry II (1991) - Hack of the previous game which adds extra options and a 2-player mode.
- Magic Giral (1991 - Named Wildball on multicarts). Port of unlicensed Famicom Disk System strip rock-paper-scissors game Emi-Chan no Moero Yakyuuken, using graphics ripped from that game but apparently coded from scratch. The background music also seems to be an approximate recreation.
Multicart-only games[]
These games are usually much simpler than those that received single cartridge releases, and some seem unfinished. Most of these appear on the 260 in 1 Multicart, but some are also included in the Tetris Family series (6-in-1, 9-in-1 and 12-in-1) by RCM. Some may still have been released on a single cartridge, but none have yet been discovered.
- 2 Turn Pair (1991) - Mahjong solitaire type game.
- Black Jack (1990)
- China Chess - Banqi (Taiwanese variant).
- F18 Race (1990) - A simple overhead racing game similar to Road Fighter.
- Face Tetris - A simplified port of Faces...tris III, with only two portrait graphics available.
- Frog River (1990) - Based off Frogger, a graphics variant exists as Jewelry.
- Guess Numbers (1990) - Generates a random number and help the player find it with indications.
- Magic Sound - Very basic NES synthesizer. Possibly part of the tools the developer used to compose his tunes.
- Memory Pair
- Piano
- Picture collect (1990) - Puzzle game using Adventure Island sprites.
- Punch Sprite (1990) - Also known as Punch Pipe, a whack-a-mole type game using graphics from Super Mario Bros. 2 (FDS).
- Sky Shot (1990) - A space shoot'em up in which you fire at bricks coming at you.
- Soha Poker (1990)
Trivia[]
- Brush Roller was later hacked by NTDEC to make Bookyman, which appeared as a game on the Caltron 6-in-1. It is unknown if this version was produced or authorized by Hwang himself.
- The cartridge art for 3D Block is taken from Blockout.
- An editor at website The Cutting Room Floor discovered the picture of an unknown man, possibly Hwang Shinwei, hidden in the ROM of copy-unprotected versions of Block Force.
Reference[]
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