Nintendo Couldn't Stop THIS Super Mario Clone...
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- čas přidán 19. 05. 2024
- In this video, I discuss the strange 1980s South Korean Super Mario clone series called Super Boy, which was created by the company Zemina and released for the obscure Zemmix game console (which was actually the MSX computer platform). I provide a brief overview of the history of Zemina and review each of the four games in the series.
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#Nintendo #SuperMario #MSX #NES #RetroGaming #RetroGames - Hry
Yeah the Pepsi powerup logo DOES look like the Taegeuk (circle symbol) in the Korean flag... BUT the Taegeuk doesn't have a GIANT WHITE SWISH IN THE MIDDLE LIKE A REFRESHING BOTTLE OF DELICIOUS SUGARY PEPSI COLA SODA POP! 😀
I guess it was more convenient for them to steal another trademark
PEPSI COLA SODA POPINSKI! wait, what? *forced to get the punchout out*
No! Taeguk means Korea and Korea invincible. So taeguk makes invincible
Don’t say soda pop. Just soda will do. Always sounds moronic. Every. Single. Time.
@@marktomlinson838 cry about it
They somehow made the "sorry mario but the princess is in another castle" by literally making it "Sorry Nothing" lmao
close enough
You misused AND misspelled "literally". Sorry Nothing.
@@Diesel257 Oh yeah true sorry english isn't my first language and I'm a bit of a dumbass
@@FluffyPlushyou can edit comments
@@Diesel257 They literally did though, that's not a misuse lol
SORRY NOTHING
Me when I get someone's attention and I think I'm actually distracting them
…and NO AMOUNT of AUTHORITARIAN TOLERANCE is going to CHANGE that!!! 😭😭😭 I need my beef and Valium
TO BE CONTINUED
@@Lionardo1234 END
YOU GET... NOTHING... YOU LOSE!!!
Great Giana Sisters was the clone we had here in Germany. Nintendo took it from the market almost immediately, but there were so many cracked copies in circulation that almost everyone played it..
We had it in the UK as well, the cover art was a bit more 1990s as it had a swipe at the Bros. There was a C64 and an Amiga version and I think there was work being done on ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC versions but the game was off the shelves before they were finished.
And I thoght for the longest time that Nintendo forced it off the market, instead Rainbow Arts, voluntarily withdrew it from the market because the prospect of facing Nintendo in court was way too scary for them.
The Great Giana Sisters is Great! Ik recently played it on my C64 mini and although it is a clone of SMB1 and copies the first levels, later on it becomes it's own game. It's hard but very satisfying to finish!
There's even a modern followup now that was actually pretty great.
After many years, Nintendo officially allowed a new Giana Sisters game for the DS console, what an irony.
There are actually no records of Nintendo taking action against Great Giana Sisters.
It's possible they sent an unofficial warning of some sort, but it's also possible the publisher just got scared and pulled the game on their own accord.
You guys are awesome! Thanks for checking out my video! 😁
More awesome videos coming up so subscribe if you haven't already! 👍
@CZcams TnxZ ZxnT
Comment: 9 days ago
Video: 8 days ago
@CZcams TnxZ ZxnT it was prolly a premiere
This really puts into perspective how polished and professional old school Japanese Nintendo games really were.
For real.... this clone looks like a Atari2600 game. Awful
@@JRBowling1997 Atari2600 can't do graphics like that.
To be very fair.... The MSX games aren't really that bad. There weren't many scrolling platform games on the MSX 1 (unlike the MSX 2 who had better scrolling support), and Super Boy 2 and 3 are pretty acceptable. If the MSX was capable of smooth scrolling, those games were be kinda good. Zemina did a better job here than Hudson did with the official ports for the PC-88 computers.
Of course there are some VERY good platform games on the MSX with flip screen mechanics like The Maze of Galious, The Goonies, Youkai Yashiki, but scrolling was hard on the MSX. I can remember Crusader, Theseus and Thexder as being very good platform games with scrolling (The last 2 even had multi-directional scrolling), but there were a lot of really bad ones like Valis, Candoo Ninja, Racoon Dog and so many others)
There were a lot of games of this time which were NOT Japanese that were equally polished. Go look up Giana Sisters on the Commodore 64. That was kind of a knock-off of Super Mario Brothers. Super Mario Brothers has been ported to the C=64 as well, although it does struggle here and there.
@@fuzzywzhe Giana Sisters was good but... not even remotely close to be as good as Super Mario.
European games were usually made by very talented programmers who would always try to push the hardware to its limits........ while many times having no idea of how to make a *good* game. SO they were very hit and miss (But there were guys like Factor 5 or Sensible Software who seemed to know how to do good games).
Japanese devs while sometimes also pushed the hardware, at that time they seemed to try to stick to what the hardware could easily do and make a good game around that. You could see that on the MSX or the NES easily. Instead of trying to do things the hardware struggled to do, japanese devs would usually design their games to be fun within the limitations of the hardware.
I think I would love a version of SMB3 where the prize boxes were totally random. And an invincibility item that takes your powerup away could be cool too, especially in a game like SMB3 where it sometimes feels like there are too many powerups.
@@DoomKid yeah
Super Random Bros
Prize boxes? No one in the history of time has ever called the question mark blocks prize boxes. Go stand in the corner.
@@marktomlinson838 ture
South Korean here. As far as i know, even in the early 2000s, my country was rather too lenient with copyright infringement and stealing assets from other media. Stealing assets often happened at that time. Granted, some companies did make OG games like Fox Ranger, Pee and Gity, Blade Warrior, and Cookie Shop series, but they were mostly not as globally successful as the products we are making today.
An embarrassing sight, but gamers and kids certainly had some good memories. Our gaming industry grew up a lot from this. And dare i say, it's remarkable.
Edit: Fixed some typos and mentioned another local game. And speaking of, Dave the Diver is the pinnacle stuff right there
It's really amazing to see how recently (and quickly) South Korea grew up as a nation. In just the last 15 years, your nation became a true global economic power. That's how it appears from the US anyway. Greetings from Phoenix, Arizona, USA. :)
Thats is no ambarrassment on It. Be proud and happy about your country !!
"Pee and Gity" 🗿
The original SMW had so much polish, even looking at it today you can feel the care they put into it, they really wanted to push their new system and they did it
South Korea also had strong anti-Japanese sentiment so they couldn't even release Nintendo games over there in South Korea during the 80s.
I think things have calmed down over the years but back in the 80s I believe it was almost impossible to import anything from Japan over there to South Korea due to their anti-Japanese policies.
Thus is the reason why Bootlegs exist in the first place.
They could release games, but had to do it through a third party. The NES for instance made it over there as the Hyundai Comboy, as Nintendo sold the license to the technology to Hyundai Electronics for the Korean market.
nes released 1989 in korea, and super boy came out in 1989. (i don't know exact month and date)
The nes was published by 현대 the korean company, so consumer don't realize that is japanese stuff.
it just a mario's copy-cat for keep NES in check.
Bruh what did japan do to...
*oooooohhhhh... Oh no.*
@@GUNUFofficial Basically every country's history in a nutshell.
Some games got through with Japanese voices removed (jojo hftf)
It was said that Nintendo was never quite the same after this injustice. Saying "I'll never let even something slightly close to infringing on my copyright exist in this world. Not a one! NEVER AGAIN!" From that point on Nintendo strikes down all videos, community run events in this moments memory.
If Nintendo tried that with me, then I would poison Nintendo so badly, as well as other media franchises likewise, that the entirety of culture would collapse in on itself like a black hole.
supervillain origin story
What community run event? I genuinely can't think of any legitimate community run events that have been taken down.
@@randomcanadian6298 there was a smash bros brawl online event that got cancelled by Nintendo since it had to be modded to work online
@@dazcar2203 Ah, the one where they needed an illegal copy of the game. Can't even fault Nintendo for shutting that event down, honestly. Don't know how the event hosts expected to get away with an event that you had to use a pirated game to join considering Nintendo's crackdown history on far less textbook stuff.
2:51 "Sorry nothing"
You can tell they were lazy.
If life is a game that's gonna be my end screen
it makes i micro bit more sense if you think of it as "sorry (there is) nothing (here)"
Really interesting to see ports of Mario to other consoles that aren’t bootleggy jank. Super Boy from what I saw here looks like a competent port, although I wonder if the 16 level limit was due to ROM limitations at the time?
the amount of levels being in a multiple of 2 seems very well of rom space tbh
No it isn’t complete I believe
It only stands for probably 5 levels
@@fuki98 so you havnt seen any bit of full gameplay of this
@@fuki98 SORRY NOTHING
What do YOU think? The invincibility powerup in Super Boy 3 looks like a 90's Pepsi symbol. It also looks like the symbol in the South Korean flag (makes more sense). Problem is, the powerup symbol has a WHITE swirl accent in the middle. The Korean flag does NOT have the white swirl. The Pepsi symbol DOES have the white swirl!
Is it Pepsi or Korea?! I am confused... 🤔
Gruz why are you so in love with super boy?
He obviously drinks a Pepsi as when I drank a Pepsi I broke the fabric of reality 😎 😎
I think … PEPSIII MAAAAAAANN! 🤣
What a strange little series of bootlegs/ports.
Lol
I think it's weird gruz!
What an interesting oddity, it's weird to think that South Korea only has copyright laws for like 40 years. I wonder how things like publishing books worked like before their implementation.
Also isn't it more likely that the "Pepsi logo" is supposed to be the *Taijitu* the traditional korean version of ying and yang that's also found on the flag of South Korea?
Pretty much
I guess it worked just fine. copyright being important for artists is propaganda, just look at any of the CC art sites.
40 years? If they've had them since the 50s, that would be 60 years...
@@DaVince21 I'm stuck in the 90s ok😅
@@shinyagumon7015 Understandable! 😄
As the more the game grew it started to be more a bit original, if they kept changing it it could've been a good original game
Yep.
i had a stroke reading this
Like giana sisters?
Which makes it ironic (and kinda cool) that a Giana Sisters game would later be officially licensed and released on the Nintendo DS. So their relationship eventually had a happy ending.
@@RhythmHeavenandBFDIFan why?
There also was a Super Mario Bros. 3 clone series called Super Bio Man.
Which as well was released for the MSX, got a Master System conversion and shares lots of other traits with Super Boy.
It didn't steal any graphics, instead it had completely new ones.
Is there gonna be a video about it too?
Oh yeah, i remember that. And also, only Super Bio Man 1 and 4 exists, cuz 2 and 3 are lost.
I want to see about that game series too.
@@oxintoma32dev Actually, nobody knows if 2 and 3 even exist or if they ever did exist. You would think they must have been a thing, but so far there is no evidence for them. Someone would have to ask one of the developers about it.
Interesting. That name kind of sounds like the original name Mega Man DOS 3 had.
Man, I hope someone in the SMBW romhacking community sees this and get inspired to remake SB4 as a romhack for the SNES (if they haven't already). Bring it full circle. Wonderful video, thanks!
People did this for Super Special Mario Bros. on NES (worth a look!), so there's definitely an interest to make such ports!
Would honestly love to do that after I get the basics of ROM hacking done. It's not for soon, though!
I’m a Super Mario World hacker and I might just give it a go someday. I already like to take inspiration from more obscure sources like betas and bootlegs, so this should be good. I’ve already seen remakes of certain fangames and of the NES SMW bootleg. I will say that I love how the Thwomps behave, it reminds me of common custom enemies known as Mad Thwomps in that it slams up and down repeatedly, but the way it decelerates and accelerates looks really good, especially compared to the rest of the game, and even to the official Super Mario Bros. 3
@@solgaleo3533 Interesting! You're undeniably better at this than I am, so go right ahead :) if you ever get started, do post it here if you want, I'd love to see it!
@@thewitheredstriker thanks, lol. I have a trailer for my current project I recently uploaded if you’re interested, I made it for a big event in the SMW hacking community
6:02 the "Pepsi logo" is the center of the South Korean flag 🇰🇷
So, is Pepsi Cola the official soft drink of South Koreans?
@Hello there r/woooosh
You don't know how grateful I am for you making this video. It's mostly unrelated to the topic overall, but my dad had an old Yamaha keyboard that had a bunch of classical music songs on a demo button and I knew all of their names except for the very first one which I learned to play just by listening to it over and over.
For about twenty years I've been trying to figure out the song but even looking up the exact model of keyboard didn't help me with figuring it out.
Then I clicked on this video and it just so happens I hear the same melody playing during the very short "Brothers Adventure" segment which gave me the first real lead I've had in a long time, and just a quick search later I finally found out its name was Toy Symphony."
Sorry if this came off as a bit of a rant, just really excited to finally figure it out after all these years. Thank you!
I loved this episode, I really enjoyed the way you strung the history of Zemina together to make a compelling story
Super Boy: *beats "Bowser"*
Game: SORRY NOTHING
Lol
2:49 "sorry nothing" is honestly hilarious
Here's what I can say about these games; I actually played these games back in the day growing up in Korea in the 1990s.
It is true that South Korean government didn't really have a functioning copyright law imposed until the 1980s, but the bigger reason why Daewoo (originally Saehan) produced such clones (both the consoles and the games) was that there was a ban on "Japanese cultural products" by the South Korean government until 1998: No Japanese films, TV shows (including all Animes) and any "cultural products" were legally allowed to be sold in Korea, and yet most people still heard the stories about them through the media. Hence the need for offering some clones.
The power-up on the logo is indeed the Taeguk symbol, as stated in the original manual. The original manual for Super Boy 4 actually states that the two additional power-ups (besides milk) are actually the Ginseng roots and the whole Ginseng "fruit", the color change was probably from this old popular Korean cultural cliché which depicts anyone consuming Ginseng turns red due to its medicinal properties.
While I did play this game for sure (and I remember Super Boy 4 was actually "built-in" in the later Samsung Gaim-Boy consoles), we always considered them to be cheaper alternatives/ knock-offs of the originals. By the mid-1990s, I remember that one could easily buy a knock-off Famicoms and even Super Nintendos - and duplicate "game packs" (i.e. cartridges) of the real Nintendo games were readily available; they were either imported from Taiwan, or copied from cartridges made by the Nintendo of America.
I am Mexican and played the NES when I was a kid. I remember we had the multi-games cartridges usually considered as pirated games.
Usually these had all kind of Asian games never released in America and most had no translation so we had no idea how to play games that were not straight forward action genres or had that different spice graphics. Needless to say they weren't popular but it was super interesting to have 100 strange games in a single cartridge back in the day.
I can't imagine having to look for these to actually play the good ones in the bootleg market but it would have been a dream back then to have 5 of the hotter games for the console in one.
So it was like a localization, with local culture brought into it a little? Interesting.
It's always fun to hear about how this company of overlitigious pricks was getting, at least a little bit, shafted by knockoffs back in the day.
Boy: mom can you buy me a super mario?
Mom: we already have super mario at home
super mario at home:
sorry nothing
I had no idea I was going to learn about all this new games and system involving Mario. Thanks
4:43 this must be exactly what they would have said in court 🤣
5:14
Mario:YOU WANT SOME DRUGS KIDS?????
This is actually really interesting! Never did I know that something like this allowed people to make bootlegs without fear of copyright, especially in Korea.
Now we need a video on the best game-altering cheat codes for the super boy games. 😏
Always excited when I see a new gruz video. Been a subscriber for years now and the content is always great
6:49 looks like SMB2's Princess Peach sprite.
You know, this is a lot more impressive than I expected for MSX1-tier hardware.
Ive been fascinated with the MSX/MSX 2 since learning about the original Metal Gear and the later port of Castlevania. Konami made the best games for MSX and Im still surprised how well they made their games. And with its 2 cartridge slots, you were able to put 2 carts in at once and certain games would unlock secrets with some games - Konami once again was one for doing this.
I really like the videos you do with any kind of history; you are awesome at it.
"sorry nothing"
that just about sums it up I think... thanks!
I wonder if there will be romhacks in the future that copy the level designs of Super Boy in their respective games that they are based on.
I'm taking a guess that it's not just the Korean ('s lack of) copyight laws but also Japanese companies couldn't directly trade with Japan. So the Japanese simply couldn't do anything about it.
Another sort of Mario clone was _The Great Giana Sisters_ that was actually pitched to Nintendo as a Mario port for the Commodore 64. When Nintendo inevitably refused they changed out the sprites and released it anyway.
Nintendo didn't really stop _The Great Giana Sisters_ though, Rainbow Arts, the German company behind the game, withdrew it out of fear of Nintendo's lawyers!
Really worth getting into, a worthy subject for a video I think!
There is also a mini console version of the Zemmix V called the Zemmix Mini. It was released in South Korea on April 2019 at Lotte Mart Toys R Us.
You know, I didn’t think I would like this video before I clicked on it, but you did a great job. I like how you actually played and beat both of those Marios. Like
Super boy had the insane achievement of making me not feel sick while watching it.
cant say the same
@@theDragoon007yaboiCJ Yeah, the constant sprites glitching and janky scrolling in the first three games is in absolute dealbreaker for me. It's also obvious how shit the physics are compared to the real games. Really great video and and interesting topic, but these games are functionally dogshit today.
@@Wheelman2004 yeah i can feel the input lag just looking at it
Oh, this was a fantastic retrospective with a nice little history lesson about super questionable copyright laws. Hmmm, perhaps that could be a ROM hack itself? Super Questionable Copyright Bros!
10/10
"no underwater stages"
You sound so genuine and innocent when you speak, makes me wanna be a kid again and you’re probably older than I am. Please never change
6:05 lol, that Pepsi logo is probably supposed to be the South Korean flag 😂 🇰🇷
There's also another South Korean Mario clone called Super Bioman 1, which is even stranger still. I'm guessing it's somehow related to the Super Boy series.
I'm guessing they are not related as super bio man actually looks playable lol! I think Super boy was created by Nintendo to make all the other systems look like garbage!
I think this "Super Bio Man 1" is a Sega Master System port of "Super Mario Brothers 3". I have a copy on my computer played in emulation.
"No underwater stages"
SOLD
@1:15 “It had a cartridge port, two controllers and that”s it.” That made me laugh.
9:15 straight shota
Warms my heart to see them improve by leaps and bounds between every game, until their bootleg is respectable in its own right. Good art starts as mimickry...
holy shit killgruz I haven't seen you since 2017!! I knew your voice sounded comfortingly familiar. Looks like you're finally starting to pop off :)
That sorry nothing caught me off guard lol. Brilliant video bro. Got yourself a sub
I feel like these new level designs would make a great rom hack for the actual Mario games or possibly in Mario maker.
Thanks this was an interesting tid bit of video game history. It's not an easy thing to come by any new information these days. You rule take care
This is not even a bootleg or clone, it is just a mad lad move to even considering porting super Mario world to the master system. Congrats for the team 👏
Copyright laws have existed by centuries, but they didn't cover software until the mid 90's in most of the world. I have heard/read stories from people buying unofficial copies of software from legit shops in South America, Asia and Eastern Europe back in the day. I'm sure the list is longer. Few countries had a software industry back then, so software was under the radar of law makers.
By "having a software industry" I mean local companies "exporting" licensed software.
History of Japanesize of koreans go way back to colonial period (1910-1945). Koreans even had japanese citizenship for a number of years during this period. Koreans that wanted to make a name for themselves during this period had to adapt a Japanese name, speak Japanese, bow down to Japanese overlords.
Thus during the independent Era, it was important for the south korean gov to keep Japanese influence out of korea. Japanese media (including music, anime, books, food, etc) was banned but it was laughably easy to get Japanese goods in the black market. This ban lasted until around the period of "hallyu" post 1997 Asian financial crisis period.
Koreans had enough confidence that their products (hyundai, Samsung, lotte, SK, LG, daewoo) and pop culture can compete with the Japanese imports.
Nintendo licensed their system in Korea as "hyundai comboy". Video games were not the only Japanese goods that were rebrand korean products. There was even a korean version of Mazinga Z (taekwon V).
LG (formerly Goldstar) made CDO consoles.
Can't wait to see their takes on Super Mario Galaxy!
Man your narrative keep me up, its entertaining thx
nice video gruz! that last super boy game made me want to play some master system now haha.
Imagine what it would be like if Super Boy actually met Mario.
9:16 Super Boy: :D
The Princess: :I
Gruz i just found your channel and i love it, im prtty sure youl grow bigger and bigger, have nice day
The kid in the 4th one is pretty adorable. I think they did a pretty good job making it. It's obviously a weird bootleg, but hardly the worst.
I know you're uploads are very scattered bit it's still amazing you've lasted this long making nothing but nes Era Mario content without resulting to some lame "5 things you didn't know about SMB" video
I would love to see some kind of blender or unity project called Super Boy 64.
YES
8:20 Fish wearing snorkeling gear. Now I've seen it all!
I was stationed in South Korea in 1999. I had a Playstation, and I got this upgrade put into my Playstation when I got there. The upgrade made it possible to read bootlegged games and have games nobody could get at the time.
Were there any Nintendo IP bootlegs for Classic Mac?
There was a Super Mario clone called “Amazing Dudes” and it was just about the worst one I think I’ve ever played!
You must review it on gruz 2 lol I want to see you suffer 😂
Grag & Thok Bonkheads was an original Mario Bros clone but quite well done.
Very cool! I was born in the early 80's. I remember the Atari 2600 1st. Then playing the NES was 20 times better at the time lol. 👍🏻
Then, SNES pushed even further.
I still remember that super Mario Bros flash game that used the supdated super Mario 1 graphics from the super Nintendo.
Absolutely love this video from you, subscribe
I like to close my eyes and imagine real hard that you're doing a nerdy impression of the AVGN and I love that, too, even though I know it's not intentional.
So super boy turns into pepsiman when he gets the "star"?
2:51 me when i turn in my essay
I love how when you beat the bowser fight it just says "sorry nothing"
this is an extremely fair review, nice
An American saying ANYTHING nice about the master system? Immediate sub
The Master System DID have some nice games with it, plus, hardware wise, it was on par with the Game Gear, which also had a cool little peripheral that could let you listen to AM and FM radio stations, plus, at the time, watch analog television stations, so, if it was as powerful as the Game Gear, then that is a good thing, right?
7:49 Is that Super Boy doing black face !? Cancel him ! Quick. I'm glad there's been no more super boy. Maybe he should move to Canada and go into politics or something.
Just when I think I know all the old Mario bootlegs... Excellent video.
Cool video. The color palette is a trip. Really makes me appreciate our 8bit Nintendos here in the United States.
I have a game gear game called Super 40 in 1. It has Super Boy II and I never knew what it was until watching this video. Thanks for that!
The color palet on super boy 4 was so good love the Guardians of the galaxy color vibe and some of the enemies from let 3 looked like the red hogs from Zelda 2 lol
SUPER BOY!!! I remember this because I used to be super into bootleg games.
Lol
I love how mario has a race change after picking up a fire flower.
The Pepsi Logo 😂 good stuff man!
Random items in question blocks low-key underrated.
I laughed when I heard Zenmix developed a Super Boy game for a Sega console. Things get downright magical when copyright isn't around to say no.
It's almost as if ©COPY ®RIGHT laws only hurt creativity and the authors freedom and favors the corporate leeches. Oh wait...
Love your videos of mario bootlegs and knockoffs! Would rly like to see a video on the Atari 800 game "Bros" which is probably the most depressing Mario clone.
omg the "SORRY NOTHING" at the the end of the castle lmao
Well, it's not Pepsi. It must be Taiji from the South Korean flag. I remember playing Super Boy 1 when I was 6. I never knew it was just a clone game.
@7:18 - my face went through so many confused expressions in a few seconds.
Here is a thought, are there any Romhacks of Mario games that use the Super Boy level layouts? That sounds like it could be an interesting way to experience aspects of the game while retaining Mario's excellent movement/mechanics
i'm surprised that nintendo didn't sued the later ones that stole "super mario world" sprites considering the copyright that passed that it protect it's owners ip and character likeness.
Someone made an incomplete Super Mario World for the MSX2 and is utterly brilliant really pushing the hardware to its limit.
I was shocked and the FM-PAC/OPL was pretty damn good too.
It was a tad buggy but it shows great promise.
Superboy three actually looks like a pretty fun game
makeing the question blocks random is very fucking smart
We learn something new everyday, thanks for sharing 😊👍
"super boy" (1 and 2) moves like a soap bar on a recently cut log
I once played a bootleg version of Mario vs Street fighter I couldn't believe it when my friends told me about it, but one day I got a hold of the infamous cartridge and I couldn't believe it worked. For once Street fighter was an arcade game and was not available for NES and Mario was a totally different game but somebody out there did it.
Another gem. Keep at it brotha :)