This page lists bootleg Famicom/NES ROMs that are believed to be programming demos (i.e. not for actual release on the market). These demos are most commonly connected to Inventor and/or Nice Code Software, and often relate to music in some way (such as Dance Dance Revolution clones or karaoke games). A number of these titles were leaked online by maxzhou88 (a former Super Game developer) in the early 2000s, with little further context provided.
Street Dance[]
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Street Dance title screen.
Street Dance is a clone of Dance Dance Revolution, developed by Inventor (credited as "INVENT") in 2000. It features unauthorized renditions of various songs, such as "Butterfly" and "Funkytown"; as with many Inventor/Shanghai Paradise titles, the music is played in the Sunsoft soundfont. The game features Jar Jar Binks from the Star Wars series as one of the dancers.
While Street Dance is not explicitly confirmed to be a demo ROM, its origins are nebulous. The ROM file appears to have been posted online in the early 2000s, though the file source is unknown (and was seemingly not from maxzhou88). While the game features 68 song selections, there are only 6 actual songs present, all of which have their titles mislabeled. The other song listings are either duplicates of other songs or feature no music whatsoever; this is strikingly similar to the "karaoke" demos listed below. If Street Dance did see a commercial release in 2000 - which is currently unverified - it is unlikely that the ROM circulating online is the final copy. Of a somewhat related note, it is known that an obscure "Jazz Samba" (or Cha Cha Amigo) plug & play was released in 2000, which uses the same exact song renditions as Street Dance.
In 2008, a 2-in-1 plug & play was released that featured a new version of Street Dance; this variant is based on VT02 hardware, and uses PCM samples of actual songs. However, Inventor had almost certainly gone defunct by 2008, indicating that this version was produced by a different company. Maxzhou88 reportedly commented that the 2008 version was produced by "a company in Xi'an" that reused the Inventor game's code.[1] This was very likely referring to Nice Code Software; as they are the only known Xi'an-based studio from this time period, and the second game on the 2-in-1 (as well as the multicart menu music) originate from Nice Code. A further PCM-based variant of Street Dance titled Dance Gangnam Style would be released in the mid-2010s.
MusicBox[]
MusicBox title screen.
MusicBox is a Chinese-language karaoke demo that was created in 2002. The game was seemingly leaked online by maxzhou88 (alongside KolaOK), labeled as being a "demo" ROM.
The game features three songs, which are duplicated in the menu twice with altered names. The songs include "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", "The Last Rose of Summer" by Thomas Moore, and "Long Long Ago" by Thomas Haynes Bayly. The game features graphics of Pikachu and a penguin holding pom-poms during gameplay. An "INVENT" credit sometimes appears in the background, and many further background graphics are reused from Street Dance; suggesting that this ROM was predominantly developed by Inventor.
The title screen features a "Copyright 2002" notice, but it is cut off by the TV overscan; this may imply a connection to Nice Code Software (who used similar generic credits on 2002 releases). Additionally, the rendition of "Long Long Ago" would be reused in 2002 World Cup P.K. - a Nice Code-published title with a similar "2002 Copy Right" legal notice.
KolaOK[]
KolaOK title screen.
KolaOK is an English-language karaoke demo that was presumably created in the early 2000s. The game was seemingly leaked online by maxzhou88 (alongside MusicBox), labeled as being a "demo" ROM.
This game features 10 options in the menu, each of which has an animated video; however, the last five options do not have their music or captions programmed. The selections (both complete and unfinished) are:
- "Jingle Bells" - video shows animals skiing.
- "Happy New Year" - video shows the shadow of Santa's sleigh flying over illuminated houses.
- "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" - video shows a polar bear with presents and balloons.
- "O Christmas Tree" - video shows Santa's sleigh flying over snow-covered houses.
- "Edelweiss" - video shows a girl skiing and a reindeer skipping.
- "The More We Sing Together" - video shows a Smurf giving a flower to Smurfette.
- "Down by the Bay" - video shows a painting with art supplies.
- "Battle Hymn of the Republic" - video shows a Native American with a bat next to a chicken; a rather questionable image given that the original song called for the end of slavery.
- "Joy to the World" - video shows a witch next to a rabbit.
- "Home Sweet Home" - video shows a man singing next to a woman and a cat.
This program was most likely developed by Nice Code Software, due to similarities in coding and graphic design to their titles. The rendition of "Edelweiss" from this demo would later be reused in Nice Code's Fated Pirate.
Intellivision for NES Demonstration[]
Intellivision for NES Demonstration is a fully-coded Intellivision emulator that runs on standard Famicom/NES hardware. The emulator was programmed by homebrew developer Carl Mueller, Jr.; he would publish the demo's ROM on his website in 2016.[2]
The demo appears to have been intended to be used as a pitch to Techno Source, presumably due to their series of Famiclone-based Intellivision plug & play consoles (with non-emulated game ports programmed by Nice Code and the unknown JungleTac affiliate). An old YouTube video showing this demo features a notice reading "For Intellivision Productions Inc. & TechnoSource USA".[3] However, the released ROM changes this credit to state "For Ms. Gizelle Chan of Trumpgrand Electronic Toy Factory". It is possible that Techno Source, upon seeing the pitch, referred Mueller to Trump Grand due to their closer connection to Nice Code/Power Joy Ltd.; though the details on this are unclear. Regardless, the Intellivision emulator was never released on any plug & play console.