The Mega Duck, also known as the Cougar Boy, is a handheld game console developed by Hong Kong-based company Welback Holdings and released in 1993.[1] It is a complete hardware clone of the original Game Boy with minor technical changes, and was announced as a direct competitor to it. The console was distributed worldwide under various different brands, including Timlex, Creatronic, and Videojet. It would notably be distributed in South America as the Cougar Boy.
Like the original Game Boy, the Mega Duck not only features a similar shape to the handheld, but also has identical inputs, sporting identical buttons to the Game Boy (directional pad, A, B, start, and select buttons), a contrast slider on the left side, a power switch at the top, and a volume slider and port for an external connector on the right side. The Mega Duck also accepts 4 AA batteries or a 6V power adapter for power like the original Game Boy. While the Mega Duck's hardware is virtually identical to the original Game Boy, it is not physically compatible with Game Boy cartridges, with Mega Duck and Cougar Boy cartridges having double-sided 36-pin connectors.[2]
List of games[]
This section lists all known games for the Mega Duck and Cougar Boy. In total, 24 unique titles are known to have been released for the Mega Duck/Cougar Boy systems. All released titles are identified with a three-digit number, with Mega Duck releases using the format MDxxx and Cougar Boy releases using the format CBxxx for the ID. Due to the obscurity of the system, it is currently unknown if further releases were made.
With the exception of The Brick Wall, all known Mega Duck/Cougar Boy games that were released were developed by Taiwanese game developer Sachen (a.k.a. Thin Chen Enterprise), who are more well known for their unlicensed Famicom and NES games. Some of the Mega Duck games developed by Sachen credit "Commin", which is a known alias of Sachen. Many of the Sachen-developed games would later be ported to the Game Boy by Sachen themselves for multicarts and as standalone cartridge releases.
Released[]
| ID # | Name | Developer | Release date | Cougar Boy release? | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 001 | The Brick Wall | Unknown (credited to Timlex International) | 1993 | ? | Only known released Mega Duck/Cougar Boy game that is not developed by Sachen. |
| 002 | Street Rider | Commin | 1993 | Yes | |
| 003 | Bomb Disposer | Commin | 1993 | Yes | A print of the Cougar Boy release with a Mega Duck cartridge label is known to exist. |
| 004 | Vex | Commin | 1993 | Yes | Named Vex Block on the title screen. At least one cartridge of the Mega Duck release of the game lacks the ID at the left side.[3] |
| 005 | Suleiman's Treasure | Commin | 1993 | Yes | |
| 006 | Arctic Zone | Commin | 1993 | Yes | The name used on the packaging and cartridge of all known releases, as well as the manual of the Cougar Boy release, misspell the name as Artic Zone. |
| 007 | Magic Maze | Commin | 1993 | Yes | A print of the Cougar Boy release with a Mega Duck cartridge label is known to exist. |
| 008 | Puppet Knight | Commin | 1993 | Yes | |
| 009 | Trap and Turn | Commin | 1993 | Yes | |
| 010 | Pile Wonder | Commin | 1993 | Yes | |
| 011 | Captain Knick Knack | Sachen | 1993 | ? | |
| 013 | Black Forest Tale | Commin | 1993 | Yes | |
| 014 | Armour Force | Commin | 1993 | Yes | A print of the Cougar Boy release with a Mega Duck cartridge label is known to exist. An alternate revision of this game is also known to exist that features changes from the common retail release. The cartridge this revision came on had a slightly different shell and no label, and it is unknown if this revision was commercially sold.[4] |
| 018 | Snake Roy | Sachen | 1993 | Yes | |
| 019 | Railway | Sachen | 1993 | Yes | |
| 021 | Beast Fighter | Sachen | 1993 | ? | A port of the game to the original Game Boy would be released by Sachen in the year 2000. |
| 026 | Ant Soldiers | Sachen | 1993 | ? | |
| 028 | 2nd Space | Sachen | 1993 | ? | |
| 029 | Magic Tower | Sachen | 1993 | Yes | Named Magical Tower on the title screen. A port of the game to the original Game Boy would be released by Sachen on multicarts and as a standalone cartridge.[5] |
| 030 | Worm Visitor | Sachen | 1993 | ? | |
| 031 | Duck Adventure | Commin | 1993 | ? | Named Duck Adventures on the title screen. |
| 035 | Four in One | Sachen | 1993 | Yes | Multicart containing four original games developed by Sachen: Virus Attack, Electron World, Trouble Zone, and Dice Block. Included as a pack-in game with some Mega Duck units. |
| 036 | Five in One[6] | Commin | 1993 | ? | Multicart containing five original games developed by Sachen under the Commin name: Store Tris ("Stotris 1"), Store Tris 2 ("Stotris 2"), Taiwan, Japan, and Hong Kong; the latter three games are mahjong games. |
| 037 | Zipball | Sachen | 1993 | ? | Only the Mega Duck release has been documented, which is reported to be very rare.[6] It is unknown if a Cougar Boy release exists. |
Unknown[]
The following games are confirmed to have at least been planned for release on the Mega Duck, but whether they exist in any tangible form is unclear.
| Name | Developer | Announced release date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Action Zone | ? | ? | Listed in a Chinese magazine advertisement for the Mega Duck[7] and advertised on a flyer bundled with the Famicom release of the Sachen game Incantation.[8] |
| Adventure of Caveman | Sachen | June 20, 1993 | Advertised in issue 114 of "電視遊樂報導".[9] |
| Alice Adventure | ? | ? | Listed in a Chinese magazine advertisement for the Mega Duck.[7] |
| Combat Troop | ? | ? | Listed in a Chinese magazine advertisement for the Mega Duck.[7] |
| Dead Shot | ? | ? | Listed in a Chinese magazine advertisement for the Mega Duck.[7] |
| Desert Hit | ? | ? | Listed in a Chinese magazine advertisement for the Mega Duck[7] and advertised on a flyer bundled with the Famicom release of the Sachen game Incantation.[8] |
| F-1 Express | ? | ? | Listed in a Chinese magazine advertisement for the Mega Duck.[7] |
| F-1 Race Star | Sachen | June 20, 1993 | Advertised in issue 114 of "電視遊樂報導".[9] |
| Happy-Go-Lucky | ? | ? | Listed in a Chinese magazine advertisement for the Mega Duck[7] and advertised on a flyer bundled with the Famicom release of the Sachen game Incantation.[8] |
| Happy Tank | ? | ? | Listed in a Chinese magazine advertisement for the Mega Duck.[7] |
| Jungle Ball | Sachen | June 20, 1993 | Listed in a Chinese magazine advertisement for the Mega Duck[7] and advertised in issue 114 of "電視遊樂報導".[9] |
| Magnum E-9 | ? | ? | Listed in a Chinese magazine advertisement for the Mega Duck.[7] |
| New Tennis | ? | ? | Listed on a German-language pamphlet bundled with the Mega Duck printer peripheral.[10] |
| Pyramid | Sachen | June 20, 1993 | Advertised in issue 114 of "電視遊樂報導".[9] |
| Sea Fox | Commin | June 20, 1993 | Advertised in issue 114 of "電視遊樂報導".[9] |
| Super Cobra | ? | ? | Listed in a Chinese magazine advertisement for the Mega Duck.[7] |
| Universe Mission | ? | ? | Listed in a Chinese magazine advertisement for the Mega Duck.[7] |
| Wise Act | ? | ? | Listed in a Chinese magazine advertisement for the Mega Duck.[7] |
Unconfirmed[]
Older internet documentation on the Mega Duck mention a game named "Tip & Tap".[11] This game is not known to have been released, and it is unknown where this information originated from.
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ "WELBACK HOLDINGS LAUNCHES MEGA DUCK GAME" - telecompaper (archived)
- ↑ https://www.seanriddle.com/megaduck.html
- ↑ https://www.obsoleteworlds.com/mega-duck.html
- ↑ https://www.videogamesage.com/forums/topic/13270-stuff-ankos-imported/#findComment-402163
- ↑ https://www.jensma.de/pirates/index.php?gam=125
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 https://www.facebook.com/groups/864048280645927/posts/2187187674998641/
- ↑ 7.00 7.01 7.02 7.03 7.04 7.05 7.06 7.07 7.08 7.09 7.10 7.11 7.12 https://www.videogamesage.com/forums/topic/11742-decoupling-the-nes-from-the-famicom/page/5/#findComment-324824
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 https://qiezei.blogspot.com/2013/09/miscellaneous-scans.html
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 Issue 114 of "電視遊樂報導", page 106
- ↑ https://www.facebook.com/groups/864048280645927/permalink/1732388000478613/
- ↑ https://www.digitpress.com/faq/megaduck.htm