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Makon Soft (more commonly known as Yong Yong) is a bootleg game developer that has made numerous games for the Game Boy and Game Boy Color. Their games are notorious for being of particularly poor quality even when compared to other pirate games, as well as most of them being strikingly similar in design and gameplay. 

Overview

Sonic3dblast5end

Sonic 3D Blast 5 ending, where the name originated.

Makon Soft seems to have originated between 1996 and 1998. Their first two games, Rockman 8 and Sonic 3D Blast 5, were monochrome, whereas all subsequent games are in color. (Their earliest color games, such as Sonic Adventure 7, suffer from a limited palette, but this improved with later releases)

The name "Yong Yong" comes from the ending of Sonic 3D Blast 5 and Sonic Adventure 7. However, all of their color games either have a maker code of "MK" or write the text "MakonSoftStudios" to RAM. 

Although their games often suffer from emulation problems, even the actual cartridge games are flawed, as due to either poor programming or the hardware being used, some of the games can either crash at random moments or at certain points. As well as this, at least two of their games cannot be completed on a real cartridge due to programming flaws, in a similar manner to the NES version of Action 52. Collision detection faults resulting in the player falling through the floor are also common. 

As well as this, all of their games seem to be built off the engine used in their Sonic games. The Sonic engine was later used in Pokémon Adventure, which refined the controls a bit from Sonic 7 and Sonic 3D Blast 5, with slight changes made to secondary game aspects, such as the health system and the character's attack. Another game engine they used was from Rockman 8, which changed certain control aspects such as the removal of momentum while walking. This engine so far has only been used in Rockman 8, hacks of said game (like Rockman X4), and Sachen's Thunder Blast Man for the Game Boy Color.

Games

Digimon 02 4 gameplay

Gameplay of Digimon 02 4.

Digimon 

  • Digimon 2
  • Digimon 3 Crystal
  • Digimon Diamond
  • Digimon 4
  • Digimon Jade - A hack of this exists called Pokémon Pearl.
  • Digimon 5 
  • Digimon Pocket - A hack of Mewtwo Strikes Back.

Pokémon and Digimon (2000-2003)

  • Mewtwo Strikes Back - Uses elements from Pocket Monster.
  • Pokémon Adventure - Appears to be based on Yong Yong's Sonic games.
  • Pokémon Diamond Special Pikachu Edition - There is a Chinese version (which appears to be the full game) and an English version that's shorter.
  • Pokémon Jade - A hack of Sonic Adventure 7 that is in full color and changes the sprites for sonic and the enemies. The English version doesn't appear to be the full version.
  • Pokémon Ruby - A hack of Digimon 5. Both short and full English versions exist.
  • Pokémon Sapphire - Hack of Digimon 5.

Others (1998-2004)

  • Donkey Kong 5/Gorilla 3
  • Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - Hack of Digimon 5.
  • Rockman 8 
  • Rockman X4 - Color version of Rockman 8.
  • Sonic 3D Blast 5
  • Sonic Adventure 7/8 - Hacks of Sonic 3D Blast 5.
  • Super Mario Special 3

Android Era (2011)

  • Rolling Ball
  • Crazy Ball
  • Crazy Ball HD

Trivia

  • Some of the game fonts are similar to those used by Ei-How Yang
  • Their games are of similar quality to Rocman X (aka Thunder Blast Man) for GBC by Sachen
  • Some Yong Yong games use a rumble cartridge similar to Pokemon Pinball and other licensed releases. They are believed to be the only unlicensed developer to do this. Games that used the rumble cartridge include Super Donkey Kong 5, Rockman X4, Super Mario Special 3 and Sonic Adventure 8, although all these games are available in non-rumble versions as well.
  • They have published some games for mobile device using Android OS, under the name "Makon Mobile Studios". However, these games cannot be found on Google Play anymore.
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