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Vast Fame Co. Ltd. (Chinese: 廣譽科技有限公司) was an unlicensed developer of handheld games that was founded in the late 1990s and headquartered in Dali City of Taichung County, Taiwan, which in the modern day is Dali District in Taichung, Taiwan. Vast Fame claimed to have been founded in 1998 on their website.[1] They would legally register as a company on April 2nd of the following year. Their last known game was published in 2003[2], and the company would shut down on January 2, 2004.
Sound engines
Game Boy Color
One common feature found in most of Vast Fame's Game Boy Color games is that they use a sound engine stolen from Mega Man V, known as Rockman World 5 in Japan. An obvious indicator of this sound engine being used is that all Vast Fame games that use the sound engine still use the original sound effects from Mega Man V. Only three Game Boy Color games that are attributed to Vast Fame are known to use different sound engines: Super Fighters S, which uses the sound engine from the Game Boy port of The King of Fighters '96, Harry Potter 3 (released in English as Harry Potter 2), and its Journey to the West-themed reskin, West Story. The latter two use the sound engine from the Game Boy version of Konami's Parodius Da! and, atypical of Vast Fame's work, directly use soundtracks from the original game.
Game Boy Advance
All of Vast Fame's known Game Boy Advance games use sound engines written from scratch that are binary compatible with the sound format used in the Mega Man V/Rockman World 5 sound engine. Two revisions of this sound engine are known to exist: one is used in most of Vast Fame's GBA output that exclusively uses the PSG channels; the other revision is used in two games, Digimon Ruby and Super Robot Wars: Ultimate Edition, and has limited support for PCM samples, which are primarily used for percussion in music tracks (Digimon Ruby exclusively plays back an audio sample on the title screen).
Confirmed games
These are games in which Vast Fame is explicitly credited or which they have otherwise been confirmed to have developed.
Game Boy Color
- Zook Hero Z (路克英雄Z) (1999) - A.K.A. Zook Z, Rockman Z, Rockman DX6, Rockman DX8. For unknown reasons, most releases of this game for Chinese-speaking territories use Japanese text in-game with the exception of the title screen. A version on one of Vast Fame's multicarts and the Li Cheng versions (Rockman DX6 and Rockman DX8) are dumped. Original English version is dumped, but currently does not work on emulators
- Super Fighters S (超級格鬥S) (1999) - A.K.A. Super Fighters '99, The King of Fighters 2000. Not credited in-game but has V.Fame boot logo. Similar to Zook Hero Z, all text in the game's victory screens is in Japanese. Original Taiwan release and Super Fighters '99 title hack are dumped, the ROM of the former receiving a cracked version for emulators. The original Taiwan releases of both this game and Zook Hero Z were published by "New GB Color", and based on the IDs printed on the back of the boxes for both games, this game appears to have been released directly after the latter (Super Fighters S has an ID of 0002, and Zook Hero Z has an ID of 0001)
- Queen Fighter 2000 (女王格鬥2000) (2000) - A.K.A. Gals Fighters. Dumped as unmodified and cracked ROMs
- Feng Kuang Da Fu Weng (疯狂大富翁) (2000) - A.K.A. Crazy Monopoly, Crazy Richman, Super Taiwan Tycoon.[3] Original Taiwan single cart release and multicart version are dumped - the former can only be emulated in hhugboy with the "Vast Fame (Taiwan releases)" unlicensed compatibility mode configured while the latter runs in most Game Boy emulators and on flashcarts
- Digimon Adventure Pocket (數碼暴龍 口袋版) (2000 or 2001) - Also known as Digimon Pocket. Same sound engine and similar interface to other RPGs from Vast Fame. Found on Silver Version 12-in-1 multicart with other Vast Fame titles. Multicart version (Chinese) and Kongfeng release are dumped
- Sheng Shou Wu Yu (聖獸物語-神龍傳說) (2001) - Multicart and Kongfeng versions dumped
- Shi Kong Xing Shou (時空星獸) (2001) - A.K.A. Space Time Star Beasts, Spatio Monoster, Spatio Monsters, Timer Monster. Multicart, Kongfeng (牧場物語GB6), "SL" (mainland China), and Waixing versions dumped
- Shui Hu Shen Shou (水滸神獸) (2001) - A.K.A. Suiko Monster,Mythos,Shawu Story. Original Taiwan release, as well as the multicart, Li Cheng, and Kongfeng versions are dumped
- Super Fighter 2001 Alpha (超級格鬥2001α) (2001) - Dumped as unmodified and cracked ROMs
- Devil Island (惡魔島) (2002 or earlier) - Same sound engine as other Vast Fame games. Found on Silver Version 12-in-1 multicart. Reuses several resources from Digimon 3 and Shui Hu Shen Shou, and credits feature psuedonyms used in Vast Fame's Game Boy Advance game Zook Man ZX4/Rockman & Crystal. Multicart version and a mainland Chinese "SL" release, 惡魔城2-月風魔篇, are dumped - the former can run in most Game Boy emulators and on flashcarts, while the latter is partially emulated in hhugboy (has to be run with "Vast Fame (SL releases)" unlicensed compatibility mode configured)
- Fellowship of the Rings (2002) - An extensive modification of Devil Island based on the movie adaptation of The Lord of the Rings that turns the game into a linear platformer. The earliest known release was in English and was published by "New Game Color Advance" using the name The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings on the packaging. The game would also have two Chinese releases for mainland China done by Li Cheng and Kongfeng: the former would release it as Mo Jie 3 - Bu Wanme De Shijie (魔戒3-不完美的世界), and the latter would release it as 指環王2 in 2003. Both Chinese releases are dumped - the Li Cheng release has both unmodified and fixed ROMs available, the former only running in hhugboy and the latter made to work on most Game Boy emulators and on flashcarts, while the Kongfeng release can only be emulated in hhugboy with the "Vast Fame (SL releases)" unlicensed compatibility mode configured
- Harry Potter 3 (哈利波特3 神奇の光輪) (2002) - Released in English as Harry Potter 2. Contains menu graphics from Zook Hero 2. Has a variant that was released on some of Vast Fame's multicarts. An unprotected original print of the English version is dumped, as well as a Kongfeng release of the Chinese version and a Chinese title hack
- Soul Falchion (格鬥劍神) (2002) - A version has leftover graphics, music and ROM ID from Queen Fighter 2000 & Super Fighter 2001 Alpha. This game also appears in the manual for Zook Hero 2 alongside other Vast Fame titles[4]
- Xin Feng Shen Bang (新封神榜) (2002) - A.K.A. Feng Shen Yanyi 2: Gold Version, 封神演義2金版. Multicart version dumped.
- Zook Hero 2 (路克英雄2) (2002) - A.K.A. Zook 2, Rockman DX3, Rockman X3, Rockman 3, Rockman Zero. Original Chinese (Taiwan) version is dumped, but currently only works on hhugboy with the "Vast Fame (Taiwan releases)" unlicensed compatibility mode configured. Deprotected variants of the Chinese version (Rockman DX3 and Rockman D3), along with the version on Vast Fame multicarts, are also dumped and work on most emulators.
- Bai Wang Da Fu Weng Jin Ban (百萬大富翁-金版) (200?) - A.K.A. Millionaire, Monopoly Gold Version, Monopoly 2, Crazy Richman 2, To Be A Millionaire. Sequel to Feng Kuang Da Fu Weng, featuring new music and more playable characters
- San Guo Zhi - Lie Chuan (三国志-烈传) / San Guo Zhi - Ao Shi Tian Xia (三國志-傲視天下) (200?) - A.K.A. Shawu Story. Has V.Fame boot logo and certain versions contain the Vast Fame screen.[5] Multicart and mainland SL versions are dumped. Original Taiwan release is dumped, but currently does not work on emulators
- West Story (200?) - Journey to the West themed shooter that uses the same music and game engine as Harry Potter 3. Featured in some Vast Fame multicarts
Sintax also made an unofficial entry in the Zook Hero series named Zook Hero 3 for the Game Boy Color, which is not to be confused with Rockman & Crystal/Battle Network Rockman Crystal. It uses graphics (mainly for item capsules) that look near identical to ones from Zook Hero 2, and the HUD used in-game also superficially resembles the HUD from the same game. It may have been made with permission from Vast Fame considering that Vast Fame is known to have offered development assistance for Sintax's Game Boy Advance games.
Game Boy Advance
The following games released for the Game Boy Advance are confirmed to be produced by Vast Fame. It is worth noting that the following games also use the same copy protection scheme, which is only known to have been use for games developed by or strongly believed to have been produced by Vast Fame.
- Zook Man ZX4 (2003) - A.K.A. Rockman & Crystal, Battle Network Rockman Crystal. - Graphics for a 2003 Vast Fame copyright notice and large graphics of Vast Fame's logo and Chinese name are buried in the ROMs of both the English and original Chinese Zook Man ZX4 versions. Received an alternate mainland Chinese release by Kongfeng as "洛克人大戰 - 水晶版" with an updated title screen. English and original Chinese (Zook Man ZX4) versions are dumped
- Digimon Sapphire (數碼怪獸 藍寶石) (200?) - Released in English and Chinese. Same sound engine and dialogue font as Zook Man ZX4/Rockman & Crystal, and credits feature psuedonyms from Zook Man ZX4/Rockman & Crystal and Devil Island. Most of its graphics are stolen from Digimon Battle Spirit[6]. Two Chinese versions of the game are known to have been released: a Taiwanese release and a mainland Kongfeng release, the latter using the English release's box art on the cart label.[7] English version is dumped
- Jue Zhan San Guo (決戰三國) (200?) - Chinese only. The same large graphics of Vast Fame's logo and Chinese name from Rockman & Crystal/Zook Man ZX4 are buried in the ROM
- Super Robot Wars: Ultimate Edition (機械人大戰 - 終極版) (200?) - Contains the same large graphics of Vast Fame's logo and Chinese name that are also in Jue Zhan San Guo and Zook Man ZX4/Rockman & Crystal in its ROM. This may just be a leftover from it likely being built off of Jue Zhan San Guo's engine and is not necessarily indicative of Vast Fame intending to release the game under their own name. The game also reuses music from Shi Kong Xing Shou, Sheng Shou Wu Yu, Zook Hero 2, Soul Falchion, Super Fighter 2001 Alpha, and Jue Zhan San Guo.
Accessories
Vast Fame is known to have developed the software for a "Fire Bird" cheat cartridge released in China. The cheat card itself is translucent blue and has "GB金手指" and "FIRE BIRD" written on it.[8] The ROM header name for the cheat card's software is "VAST FAME 1.0", and an icon in one of the menus is a Game Boy cartridge with the text "VF" on it. It is unknown who manufactured the hardware for the "Fire Bird" cheat card.
Multicarts
Circa 2002 or later, Vast Fame would release several multicarts compatible with the Game Boy Color. Five are known to exist, all of which contain color games known to be developed by Vast Fame. Some of the games included are earlier builds and contain differences from their final releases. Three of these multicarts also include original unlicensed monochrome Game Boy games, all of which were previously released as single cartridge games by Gowin circa 1993 and late 1998, some under different names from the ones in the multicart versions. The inclusion of these games, which were originally released by Gowin with copy protection, as well as a few mono games from the multicarts being earlier/debug builds of the Gowin versions or based on pre-Gowin releases of the games (i.e., Top Secret is based on the 1993 pre-Gowin release of Lost Trips credited to Songtly and Jumbo that goes by the same name, and still has Songtly and Jumbo credits in the graphics data), suggest that at least some staff from Vast Fame were involved in the development of the mono games.
- Gold Version 12-in-1 (金版中文RPG戰略+動作+益智12in1) - Currently undumped. Contains the following games:
- Suiko Monster - Shui Hu Shen Shou
- "Crazy Monopoly2" - Bai Wang Da Fu Weng Jin Ban
- Sanctity Monster - Sheng Shou Wu Yu
- Sword Fighter - Soul Falchion
- "Zook" - Zook Hero Z
- West Story
- "Zook2" - Zook Hero 2
- Devil Land - Devil Island
- Rainbow Prince - Mono game. Released by Gowin in 1993 as Prince Rainbow
- Fire Dragon - Mono game released by Gowin
- "Yehrude Prince" - Prince Yeh Rude. Mono game released by Gowin in 1993
- Magic Ball - Mono game released by Gowin in 1993
- Silver Version 12-in-1 (銀版中文RPG戰略+動作+益智12in1)
- Shishang Chaoqiang RPG + Gedou + Yizhi Ban Zuhe Ka 18 in 1 (史上超強RPG+格鬥+益智版組合卡18in1) - Similar to Silver Version 12-in-1, but removes Digimon Adventure Pocket ("Digi Monster") and adds the following games:
- Shui Hu Shen Shou (Suiko Monster)
- Sheng Shou Wu Yu ("SANCTITYMONSTER")
- Feng Kuang Da Fu Weng (Crazy Monopoly)
- Bai Wang Da Fu Weng Jin Ban (Crazy Monopoly2)
- Zook Hero Z ("Zook")
- West Story
- Prince Yeh Rude
- Zhongwen RPG Zhanlue + Dongzuo + Yizhi 6 in 1 (中文RPG戰略+動作+益智6in1) - Currently undumped. Exclusively contains color games
- Suiko Monster - Shui Hu Shen Shou
- Devil Land - Devil Island
- Crazy Monopoly - Feng Kuang Da Fu Weng
- Apotheosis - Xin Feng Shen Bang
- Zook 2 - Zook Hero 2
- Sword Fighter - Soul Falchion
- Zhongwen RPG Zhanlue + Dongzuo + Yizhi 8 in 1 (中文RPG戰略+動作+益智8in1) - Currently undumped. Exclusively contains color games
- "SANGO WRA" - San Guo Zhi - Lie Chuan / San Guo Zhi - Ao Shi Tian Xia
- "CRAZY MONOPOLY2" - Bai Wang Da Fu Weng Jin Ban
- "SPATIO MONSTERS" - Shi Kong Xing Shou
- "ZOOK" - Zook Hero Z
- "SWORD FIGHTER" - Alternate version of Soul Falchion with music from Super Fighter 2001 Alpha
- "WEST STORY" - West Story
- "SANCTITYMONSTER" - Sheng Shou Wu Yu
- "DEVIL LAND" - Devil Island
Unconfirmed games
Game Boy (DMG)
- The King of Fighters '97 (199?) - An extensive hack of the Japanese version of the licensed Game Boy game Nettou The King of Fighters '96 (released in Europe as The King of Fighters: Heat of Battle). This specific hack would be the framework for Vast Fame's Game Boy Color fighting games, with said games containing unused graphics data for the hack's select screen and this lineage being particularly evident in Super Fighters S, as the version of Nakoruru from the hack (who has extra roll animations among other unique changes) can be re-enabled in the game via hacking. These factors along with the hack's professional looking original graphical work and use of the "PC Paint Bold" font strongly suggests that the game's development is connected to Vast Fame. It is unknown if the hack was developed by Vast Fame as an established entity, though.
Game Boy Color
- Digimon 3 (2001) - Some versions such as the English Digimon Ruby game have music from Shui Hu Shen Shou while most of the original Chinese releases have original music. The Kongfeng version, Digimon 3 Crystal, is dumped. The original Taiwanese release, Digimon 3 - Chao Meng Ban (or Digimon 3 Mewtwo), is also dumped
- Digimon Saphire (200?) - Named Digimon Sapphire on the English version's title screen, and also known as Digimon - Final Battle, Digimon Emerald, and Digimon Pearl for its various Chinese releases. Uses music from Bai Wang Da Fu Weng/Crazy Richman 2 and Sheng Shou Wu Yu plus the UI from the latter.[9][10] Currently, only the English version is dumped
- Pokémon Ruby - A significant hack of Digimon Adventure Pocket. Original English and Chinese releases currently undumped)
Game Boy Advance
- Digimon Ruby (2003) - a.k.a. Digimon Rury. Reuses music from Digital Monsters 3/Digimon 3 Crystal, Crazy Richman 2, Devil Island, Shui Hu Shen Shou, Zook Hero Z, Zook Hero 2, and Shi Kong Xing Shou
- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Sintax connection(?)
- Digimon Adventure and its reskins:
- Has the same sound engine used in some of Vast Fame's GBA games.
- Uses a remixes of the cave theme from Shui Hu Shen Shou, the victory theme from Soul Falchion and a battle theme from Super Fighter 2001 Alpha.
- Uses a sound effect from Zhen San Guo Wu Shuang by Sintax.[citation needed]
- Mario Cart, Disney Cart and 007: Mo Ri Wei Ji (also known as James Bond 007) has the same sound engine and music as Digimon Adventure.
Emulation
Game Boy Color
On the Game Boy Color, almost all of Vast Fame's primary Taiwanese single cart releases, their English releases, and some of their mainland releases use proprietary mappers that primarily act as copy protection to prevent other companies from pirating their games. These games can be dumped with no issues, but the resulting dump will not run on most emulators or on flashcarts. For the Taiwanese releases, there are two known types of protection that were used: a protection scheme used in the original releases of Zook Hero Z and Super Fighters S, and a protection scheme used in most of Vast Fame's Game Boy Color games, including all three of their fighting games. Mainland releases in the "SL" series use their own protection scheme. Some mainland releases by Kongfeng and the English game Digimon Saphire use a completely different mapper based on one used by BBD for most of their own releases, while Li Cheng releases would use their own simplistic protection scheme. Some English releases (i.e., the protected version of Harry Potter 2 and Pokémon Ruby) use their own protection scheme that is completely incompatible with the current emulation of Vast Fame's known protection mappers. A few single cart releases, such as Bai Wang Da Fu Weng Jin Ban and Kongfeng's release of Shui Hu Shen Shou, are completely unprotected and run normally in all emulators (the former's ROM is byte for byte identical to the multicart rip).
Until 2021, the only dumps of Vast Fame's Game Boy Color games available were either rips from their self-published multicarts, or alternate releases by other companies that had little to no protection. Some of the multicart rips were early builds of Vast Fame games with differences from their final releases. While emulation of the mapper used in Vast Fame's multicarts and releases of raw dumps of the 18-in-1 and Silver Version 12-in-1 multicarts were done as early as 2016, the protection schemes used in Vast Fame's single cart Taiwanese releases, English releases, and most of their mainland releases were not reverse engineered and remained unable to be emulated or cracked for some time.
In 2021, two of Vast Fame's fighting games, Queen Fighter 2000 and Super Fighter 2001 Alpha, had cracked ROMs publicly released online. It would only be in 2022 when the protection scheme used in most of Vast Fame's Taiwanese releases from the year 2000 and onward would be reverse engineered and properly emulated. Unmodified dumps of the cracked fighting games as well as the original Taiwanese release of Soul Falchion would also be released in the same year. In the following years, dumps of some of the protected Kongfeng releases, along with dumps of the original version of Super Fighters S, the original English release of Zook Hero Z, and a few dumps of various releases of Vast Fame's games have surfaced, with Super Fighters S in particular also getting a cracked version released.
As of writing, most of Vast Fame's single cart releases in Taiwan and other regions still remain undumped, and the only emulator that supports any of Vast Fame's copy protection schemes is hhugboy, which supports the protection mapper used in most of Vast Fame's Taiwanese releases, the protection mapper used in the mainland SL releases, and the mapper used in some Kongfeng releases and Digimon Saphire.
Game Boy Advance
Unlike Vast Fame's Game Boy Color releases, their Game Boy Advance games had much stronger copy protection in that they prevented the entire ROM from being read on the cartridge if it wasn't being used on anything other than a Game Boy Advance or Game Boy Advance-compatible system, meaning that for some time, those games could not be dumped properly. In the early 2010s, however, deprotected reprints of two English versions of Game Boy Advance games believed to have been developed by Vast Fame, Digimon Ruby and Digimon Sapphire, would be sold on the now-defunct wholesaler site Volumerates. Both versions of these games would be dumped in 2011, and while they were functional, these reprints had bugs that were not present in the original releases (the Digimon Ruby reprint has a corrupted end screen and the Digimon Sapphire reprint has a bug where completing a level will save your progress, but crash the game). It would be in 2016, five years later, that original prints of Vast Fame's GBA games would be dumped and their copy protection reverse engineered, with mGBA currently being the only emulator that supports games using the copy protection.
As of writing, all six GBA games connected to Vast Fame have publicly available ROM dumps for some of their versions: the Chinese and English versions of Digimon Ruby, Jue Zhan San Guo, Super Robot Wars: Ultimate Edition, Zook Man ZX4 and its English version, Rockman & Crystal, Mo Jie Qi Bing and its English version, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, and the English version of Digimon Sapphire. Other variants of these games are known to exist, but are not dumped publicly or are undumped entirely. These include:
- 魔戒三部曲 - 所向無敵, an alternate Chinese version of Mo Jie Qi Bing released in mainland China by Kongfeng
- 洛克人大戰 - 水晶版, an alternate Chinese version of Zook Man ZX4 released in mainland China by Kongfeng
- Two Chinese releases of Digimon Sapphire
- A Chinese Kongfeng release of Digimon Ruby in mainland China
- An alternate release of Super Robot Wars: Ultimate Edition in mainland China
- An additional release of Jue Zhan San Guo
Trivia
- Many of Vast Fame's credited developers, including producer Lin Bizhi and sound designer Liao Yishen[3], formerly worked for Chuanpu Technology.
- A game called Final Fantasy IX is labeled New GB Color on the left side of the sticker, which is a trait of Vast Fame games, and boots with a TD-Soft logo, which is seen in Devil Island. This game is not widely considered a Vast Fame game however.
- Certain revisions of several of Vast Fame's games have the soundtrack changed to that of another Vast Fame game, usually a previous game in the same genre. These games do have their own soundtrack in the original? releases by Vast Fame. Examples include:
- Digital Monster 3/Digimon 3 Crystal - Shui Hu Shen Shou music
- Soul Falchion - Silver Version 12-in-1 version uses Super Fighter 2001's music
- Pokémon Ruby - Chinese "Chong Wu Xiao Jing Ling: Jie Jin Ta Zhi Wang" version uses Shi Kong Xing Shou's music
- Zook Hero 2 - "Rockman X3" version uses Zook Hero Z's music
- All the games, especially the GBA ones, have a particular glitch where when a certain sound effect plays, a sound channel for the music mutes until the song is either restarted or changed.
Gallery
References
- ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20010602081920/http://www.vfame.com.tw/company.htm
- ↑ Sky League forum post (Chinese)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Monopoly Madness Scans, Qiezei's Unlicensed Video Game Blog
- ↑ https://m.ruliweb.com/hobby/board/300431/read/30554352?cate=218&view=gallery
- ↑ http://fuji.drillspirits.net/?post=87
- ↑ YouTube - Digimon Sapphire by Vast Fame (Game Boy Advance)
- ↑ https://www.videogamesage.com/forums/topic/13270-stuff-ankos-imported/?do=findComment&comment=363170
- ↑ Thread about the "Fire Bird" cheat card on BGC Forums
- ↑ YouTube - Digimon Saphire by Vast Fame (Game Boy Color)
- ↑ Twitter - Digimon Pearl & Emerald by Vast Fame (Game Boy Color)