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ZDog

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ZDog is a multi-game plug and play console released in 2006. The hardware was manufactured by Zechess and the software for the console was developed by Hummer Technology, who are better known by their previous name Hummer Team. The ZDog console uses the VT03, an enhanced single-chip Famiclone developed by V.R. Technology in collaboration with Hummer Technology[1] that would also be used in low-cost plug & play systems by various companies throughout the 2000s. It contains 44 games, some of which are repurposed Famicom games previously developed by Hummer Technology. Some of the games included on the ZDog are present in another plug & play system produced by Zechess and Hummer Technology, the Samuri.

The ZDog reportedly only had around 300 units produced in total[2], making it the rarest of the Zechess/Hummer plug & play systems. It is known to have been sold on eBay and Yahoo! Auctions Taiwan during its initial release year of 2006.[3] It is unknown if the ZDog was sold physically during this time.

Overview[]

Title screen.

Title screen.

When powered on, the system displays a splash screen featuring Hummer Technology's horse mascot. Following this, the ZDog title screen is displayed, offering three different modes of play, each of which lead to a shared set of 43 minigames. Fully completing any mode will display a credits screen featuring ZDog dancing.

Selecting the game controller icon will take the player to the full, isolated list of 43 minigames; alongside a "Star Bank" as a 44th menu entry, which acts as a means to check progress. It uses a very similar menu interface to the Samuri plug & play, featuring a tree stump with alternating ZDog animations as the player completes games. While the Star Bank is only selectable from this game mode/list, it still tallies progress obtained from the other two game modes.

Selecting the TV icon will take the player into an adventure mode. The player guides ZDog across a map of buildings, each of which will load a minigame at random. Clicking on the handyman ZDog statue opens an options menu; allowing for selecting between 1 or 2 players (the latter appearing as Hummer on the map), and changing difficulty to easy or hard mode. Humorous animated cutscenes of ZDog are shown upon completing a stage.

Selecting the doghouse icon will take the player into a "virtual pet"-like mode featuring ZDog. The player can play with and pet ZDog, as well as whistle to get his attention; his current mood is highlighted at the bottom of the screen. An additional game controller icon appears within this mode; clicking this icon enters a second adventure mode with randomized minigames, using a different map than the "TV icon" mode.

While most of these minigames are original to the Samuri and utilize the VT03's extended features, a set of minigames are isolated versions of individual stages from Titenic, an infamous Titanic-themed game by Hummer Team. The Titenic ROM used as basis is the "Super New Year Cart 15-in-1" version (rather than the original ABAB Soft version); no visual differences are present in-game, though the unused title screen is altered to read "Perils of the Sea".

The ZDog makes extensive use of digitized sound effects in the main menu, virtual pet mode, and minigames, which are played back using the VT03's enhanced 8-bit PCM channel. The games that the ZDog shares with the Samuri have added digitized sound effects.

List of games[]

Many of the minigames on the system are themed around Hummer Team's recurring set of original characters. In addition to the titular ZDog, this character set includes "Hummer" (a horse), "Pink Jelly" (a cat), "Cool Panda", and the lesser-seen "Ducky Duck" and "Bruce Cock". The former three characters will be referred to within gameplay descriptions.

Note that while the game selection is shared between the three game modes, their standalone versions often have more levels per game compared to the adventure campaigns (under default settings).

ZDog unit with its packaging (commercial photo by Zechess)

ZDog unit with its packaging (commercial photo by Zechess)

  1. Space Cruiser - A vertically-scrolling shooter; uses the same engine as Air Combat from the Samuri.
  2. UFO Carrier - A variant of Space Cruiser.
  3. Space Fort - A variant of Space Cruiser.
  4. ZDog Hero - A fighting game featuring ZDog, Hummer, Pink Jelly, and Cool Panda. In the ZDog Hero variant, the player controls ZDog; amusingly, one of his attacks has him lift his leg and pee on the opponent. This game acts as a variant of Kangaroo Fighter from the Samuri, though some characters' movesets are altered in comparison.
  5. Hummer Hero - A variant of ZDog Hero in which the player controls Hummer.
  6. Jelly Hero - A variant of ZDog Hero in which the player controls Pink Jelly.
  7. Benthal - A vertically-scrolling shooter with an underwater theme; the player controls a dolphin.
  8. Sea Serpent - A variant of Benthal.
  9. Octopus - A variant of Benthal.
  10. Submarine - A top-down shooting game where the player attacks large submarines. The player must submerge themselves in the water to avoid missiles fired by other subs.
  11. Diplopod War - The player controls a giant crab, and must shoot smaller crabs at incoming lobsters. Eventually, the player will face a giant boss lobster. This game also appears on the Samuri.
  12. Pterodactyl - A crosshair shooting game; the player must defend the floating house from pterodactyls.
  13. Duck Runaway - A VT03-enhanced version (or possibly a recreation) of The Egg, a game previously featured on the "Super New Year" 15-in-1. It is a crosshair shooting game where the player hunts ducks; if the ducks lay eggs on the ground, the player will lose 50 points. This game is also on the Samuri.
  14. Space Ball - The player controls a blue rat, and must dodge a ball as it is thrown back-and-forth around him by two red rats (somewhat like circle dodgeball).
  15. Harpoon - The player controls a harpoon to stab fish, turning them into bones; the game is won when enough fish are stabbed. This game also appears on the Samuri.
  16. Surfing - The player controls Pink Jelly on a surfboard, and has to avoid sharks that jump out of the water.
  17. Hunting - A crosshair shooting game where the player hunts animals. Based on the hunting games seen on the Samuri (e.g. Gorilla Hunt and Bear Hunt), but with multiple stages and different animals mixed in together.
  18. Fly Eater - The player controls a frog, whose goal is to catch a specific number of flies flying around the screen before time runs out. This game also appears on the Samuri as Greedy Frog.
  19. Seals - Hummer repeatedly throws a beach ball towards a group of four seals facing cardinal directions; the player guides the seals' heads to bob up and catch the ball on their noses. This game also appears on the Samuri.
  20. Knock the Roots - Hummer stands on a stack of snakes and tree roots; the player controls a hammer, and must knock Hummer down to safety until no objects are left. The game is similar to the traditional Japanese toy Daruma Otoshi. A variant titled Big Hammer appears on the Samuri.
  21. Puppy Saver - A group puppies are approaching the end of a table; the player must save the puppies from falling off of the edge by picking them up and placing them into a basket. The player does not appear to be penalized for missing a puppy, as long as the score requirement is met. This game is also on the Samuri.
  22. Cross Street - A Frogger clone where the player has to guide ZDog across the street without getting hit by oncoming traffic. Unlike the original Frogger, the player traverses down the screen rather than upward. This game also appears on the Samuri.
  23. Cute Heads - A "match-3" puzzle game similar to Bejeweled, featuring various Hummer Team character heads as tiles. If the player makes a row of three or more heads, they will explode and new heads fill their place; the player can use a limited amount of bombs to clear out full sets of tiles. This game also appears on the Samuri.
  24. Matching - Match cards with various Hummer Team characters on them. This game also appears on the Samuri.
  25. Venice Mugs - The player must throw mugs at unsuspecting residents of Venice from the bottom of the screen. A more logically-themed variant titled Tomatina appears on the Samuri.
  26. Moose and Water - The player controls a moose, and must drink water from a pond; the player must watch out for a crocodile, who will lunge out of the water to attack and retrieve the moose. This game also appears on the Samuri.
  27. Honor Ribbon - An originally-programmed clone of the Nice Code Software game Diamond, which itself is a clone of Arkanoid. The game is given a loose military theme, with the central diamond being replaced by a small Pink Jelly.
  28. Mad Jumper - The player controls Pink Jelly holding a trampoline, who appears to be inside of a sunken ship. In a similar fashion to the Game & Watch game Fire, Pink Jelly's goal is to bounce Hummer to the right side of the screen, without letting him fall to the ground. A variant titled Jelly Motor Boat appears on the Samuri.
  29. Shipwreck - The first of several variants of Titenic; it is an isolated version of the first level.
  30. Heroine - Isolated version of the second level of Titenic. Contrary to the title, the player controls Jack in this level rather than Rose.
  31. Cat vs Dogs - A Pac-Man clone where the player controls a small Pink Jelly while avoiding dogs.
  32. PingPong - an advanced, first-person ping pong game; while repurposed for the ZDog, it was originally designed for an unknown company by Hummer Technology. It features a stylistic cast of six human characters; it uses computer-synthesized (i.e. text-to-speech) voice lines in-game.
  33. Foredeck - Isolated version of the third level of Titenic.
  34. Double Decker - Isolated version of the fourth level of Titenic.
  35. Elevator - Isolated version of the opening segment in the fifth level of Titenic, in which Rose evacuates the flooding ship.
  36. Ocean Hero - Isolated version of the remaining content in the fifth level of Titenic, in which Rose escapes the Titanic.
  37. Panda Hero - A variant of ZDog Hero in which the player controls Cool Panda.
  38. Mad Dogs - The player assumes the role of a boy, competing against a girl to remove a set of ZDogs from a shelf. Whoever removes the last remaining ZDog on the shelf loses the round; as the final one will lunge at the losing player and bite them. A variant titled Crazy Cats appears on the Samuri.
  39. Samurai - The player controls a samurai, and must chop rolling-down watermelons and apples with his katana; the player must also duck to dodge incoming ninja stars (shuriken). This game also appears on the Samuri.
  40. Butter Fly - The player controls a feather swatter, and must swat away butterflies while avoiding hitting wasps. This game also appears on the Samuri.
  41. Lobster - The player controls a large lobster, and must snip tentacles off of an octopus to protect its children. This game also appears on the Samuri.
  42. Lion vs Zebra - The player controls a lion, and must chase down a zebra to repeatedly attack its rear end. This game also appears on the Samuri.
  43. Monkey - A game very similar to Moose and Water; the player controls a monkey, and must eat apples while dodging a leopard that lunges upward.
  44. Star Bank - A progress-tracking tool that updates as the player finishes minigames to completion.

Emulation[]

The Samuri and ZDog were preserved by CaH4e3 years prior to the first VT03 emulation efforts, made around late 2017. By 2018, the ROM of the ZDog system would be dumped in MAME and supported on version 0.195. As of version 0.278, due to inaccuracies in MAME's VT03 emulation and its underlying NES/Famicom emulation, its ZDog emulation displays incorrect colors and does not correctly play sounds utilizing the VT03's second APU (audio processing unit). The available ZDog ROM does function correctly on the latest version of NintendulatorNRS, which emulates the VT03 and other known VTxx systems.

Trivia[]

  • A YouTube channel known as "brightech" is known to have posted a series of recordings of various ZDog games in 2008, alongside footage of a Samuri-like version of The Hummer.[4] This channel is presumably connected to Brightech International, a known manufacture of Famiclone systems.[5] All of the videos are labeled as "Handy Game", a term commonly used for handheld Famiclone systems at this time; potentially suggesting that portable devices repurposing the ZDog and Samuri ROMs were planned by the company.
  • In Matching, the card backing design is based on the title screen of the Pink Jelly VT03 demo ROM. The selection cursor, oddly, is a logo reading "Soft" (most likely connected to ABAB Soft/ARBA Soft), which is also present as unused data in Hummer Team's Soccer of the World.[6]
  • In the instruction manual for the Samuri plug & play, the game Crazy Cats is erroneously shown with a screenshot of its ZDog variant, Mad Dogs.
  • This is the last software known to have been developed by Hummer Team.
  • VDog, which seems to be an early version of ZDog, appears in the documentation for EmuVT.
  • A rendition of the theme played on the ZDog's title screen is used in the 16-bit Girl's Fun Interactive TV Game plug and play, specifically in its Mix & Match mini-game. The system was developed by V-Tac for Taikee, both of whom are not known to be directly connected to Hummer Team or Hummer Technology. It is unknown if the theme is original to the ZDog or sourced from elsewhere.

Early version[]

Public documentation of the VT03 on V.R. Technology from 2005 showcase VDog. The title appears in various captures in tooling documentation, and a binary, possibly for a technical demonstration is included. It has some of the main assets of ZDog title screen and the Virtual-Pet components accessible from the ZDog menu, but none of the minigames.

References[]

  1. ↑ Personal correspondence with Hummer Cheng, head of Hummer Technology.
  2. ↑ Correspondence with Hummer Cheng, speaking on behalf of Handel Liao (founder of Zechess).
  3. ↑ Xuite.net blog post (archived)
  4. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/@brightech/videos
  5. ↑ https://unauthorizon.org/organization/recg8eIU5t2PzMvHC
  6. ↑ https://tcrf.net/Soccer_of_the_World

See also[]

External links[]

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