Every once in a while
you come upon a great pirate cart. It doesn't happen
very often. And usually when you do, it'll cost you
more than you want to pay. What makes a pirate cart
one of the best? One of two things: either the
cartridge has a bunch of games on it (over 50) and
they're all unique, or the cartridge has at least
one game on it that was never made in 8-bit. This
3 in 1 cartridge has two games on it that were
never made for the Famicom or NES. That's why it's
damn cool.
Two of these games weren't made for Famicom.
If you look closely at the label, the unique
games aren't hard to decipher. In the first image is
Mortal Kombat III and in the second is
Power Rangers IV. The third slot is Galaxian;
I still wonder why it was even included since it's
such a common pirate and adds very little to the
appeal of the cartridge. The appropriate question to
ask is how well these two 16-bit games were hacked
so that they'd work on an 8-bit system?
The Mortal Kombat III loading screen.
The Mortal Kombat III title screen.
The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers IV title
screen. Wow.
I've never played the originals, but the first
thing you notice is that the controls are rigid.
They're not terrible, but it can be hard to jump in
an diagonal direction. The graphics, too, are rigid,
but aren't distracting. Overall, the games play very
well.
Mortal Kombat III is the more common of
the two rare pirates on this cartridge. Mortal
Kombat III appears on NES pirate cartridges. But
Power Ranger IV is certainly an odd one. Is
the gameplay really good? No. Is it good?
Yes. The gameplay is simple, probably because it had
to be made 8-bit. It's kind of like your typical
fighter, where it's you vs. some boss. Only it's not
just you vs. the boss. First you have to fight off a
bunch of the boss's goons, and then, once you've
killed about ten of them, you fight the boss. But it
all takes place on one screen, with limited
side-scrolling. Once you beat one boss, you go on to
the next level to defeat more goons and a new boss.
Scorpion vs. Rayden in tournament mode.
An onslaught of enemies attack Billy on the moon?
Kinbealy, with arms outstretched, using a special
move.
Normally, a cartridge with only three games on it
wouldn't be worth much. Expect to pay anywhere from $7 to $25 for
multi-carts. This one, because of the unique games
on it, could get as much as $40 on eBay.
Here's the games list:
