The Strange (and Rare) Videogame Pics Page

SEGA

GENESIS - MEGADRIVE

PIRATE GAMES

At the beginning of the Megadrive-Genesis life it was very easy to find in Europe and in the Far Eastern markets pirate carts from Hong Kong. Mainly they were compilation of 2, 4 or 8 games (and most of the games were Sega-made titles in their Japanese versions). Those carts vanished few months after the Megadrive was officially launched in Europe (probably bacause Sega of Europe pressions on importers) and soon became rare items. Here there are pics of two pirate carts both with 4 different games.

This is the first cartridge. It includes the following games: Dick Tracy, Yochi (a side-scrolling adventure similar to the Valis series), Verytex (a simple shoot'em up) and Airwolf (based on the populat TV show).
In the carts there is not a menu to select a title: every time you turn on or reset your console a new game appear.
Note that both carts have a particular shape that is between a US Genesis cart and a Japanese Megadrive cart: in this way it could be used with every Sega 16-bit system made.

The box: it is like any other Genesis/Megadrive box but it has no instruction booklet.

This is the second cartridge. It includes the following games: Bare Knuckle (better known as Streets of Rage), Street Smart (a beat'em up), Golden Axe II and Alien Storm.

The box. Note that this cart has a identification number: 1625.
Lately there was a new wave of pirate Genesis carts from the Far East: many games were also original and there were games based on Tekken characters, games with Mario as the main character and a lot more. Since the western markets are no more interested in 16-bit systems, these carts are very difficult to find: good places to buy these games are China, HK, Taiwan and South American markets.