Found a "Power-Joy" Cart (any info?)

[Cambot]

I picked this up from a thrift store today. I think this is a Famicom bootleg, but not sure.

Check out the awful English text on the back. I'll include a scan of the back for your amusement.

http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/6936/powergj7.th.jpg (http://img69.imageshack.us/my.php?image=powergj7.jpg)

http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/6972/powerbackcq5.jpg

Anyone know what game/games come on this thing. I don't have a Famicom, or I'd check it myself.

[Gapporin]

It more than likely came from a Power Joy console (yep, picture confirms it (http://stormscorner.com/ewb/oldsite/mystudio/hr16/mods/images/pj.jpg)). They're basically Famiclones shaped like N64 controllers, and they come with their own lightguns as well. I've owned two so far, with only the major difference being is that one of them had a Famicom slot in the back while the other one did not. The Famicom slot could be used to play any Famicom game, not just the Power Joy cartridge (although there were some amusing clipping problems with Gradius II, but hey, what can you do).

For the games themselves, it's actual Famicom games that have been hacked and/or altered in some way to remove any presence of Nintendo's copyright notices. Off the top of my head, the games included are: Pinball, Lunar Pool, Balloon Fight, Mach Rider, Contra, Hogan's Alley, Wild Gunman, etc. etc.

As far as I know, the cartridge itself isn't actually needed: All the games are built in to the controller. What I'd like to know is if the cartridge has all the games that are already built in, or if it's a different set of games entirely. I've never had a Power Joy cartridge to go with my systems, so I wouldn't be able to comment on that.

[Sweater Fish Deluxe]

This cartridges came bundled with a certain version of the Power Joy that I don't think had any games built in. I've seen a list of what games are on that cartridge somewhere, but I don't know where. As I recall it doesn't have the exact same 76-in-1 list that most of the other Power Joy systems have built in, but it's very close and has all the usual mapper 0 suspects plus one or two larger games like Adventure Island or Contra (I think it actually doesn't have Contra, though).


...word is bondage...

[GetImOliver]

I found one of those carts at a Goodwill some time ago. In fact, it was also the PJ-008 cart. The picture Gapporin had was of PJ-001, so I'm wondering if there are also carts 002-007 and beyond out there. Anyone have a list?

[alxbly]

I've got a variant of the Power Joy:

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y70/alxbly/More/guides/GunboyDoubleSuperJoy.jpg

Gunboy Double Super Joy... great name, huh?

It has a space for a cart to be inserted on the underside of the controller (you can see it by clicking here (http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y70/alxbly/More/guides/Gunboy05.jpg)) but it's not packaged with a cart. It also has games pre-installed on it, so I think the cart is just extra games or extra levels in some games.

[Gapporin]

It has a space for a cart to be inserted on the underside of the controller (you can see it by clicking here (http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y70/alxbly/More/guides/Gunboy05.jpg)) but it's not packaged with a cart. It also has games pre-installed on it, so I think the cart is just extra games or extra levels in some games.

Actually, I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that's just a standard 60-pin Famicom slot. If you ever come across a Famicom game, you should try testing it in there. For what it's worth, the Power Joy's Famicom slot works in the same way.

[alxbly]

Actually, I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that's just a standard 60-pin Famicom slot. If you ever come across a Famicom game, you should try testing it in there. For what it's worth, the Power Joy's Famicom slot works in the same way.

Yeah, I'd read before that it was a famicom slot, although I've never tried it. The box for the Gun Boy shows a yellow cart attached, so it seems there's a few different carts for these things.

I also own a Super Joy III (http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y70/alxbly/More/guides/SuperJoyIII.jpg) and it too has a famicom slot. The Super Joy really is bad though. This photo (http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y70/alxbly/More/guides/SuperJoyIII11.jpg) shows how roughly cut the Famicom slot is on the Super Joy; the plastic looks and feels like it was cut with a blunt saw. In comparison the Gun Boy is miles better... but it's still quite poor overall.

[evg2000]

Power joy:

http://evg2000.com/graphics/famicom/hardware/powerjoylmtd.jpg

http://evg2000.com/graphics/famicom/hardware/powerjoylmtdbox.jpg

came with ten games built in:

http://evg2000.com/graphics/famicom/hardware/powerjoylmtdsc1.jpg
http://evg2000.com/graphics/famicom/hardware/powerjoylmtdsc2.jpg

and the cart has 84 games on it:

http://evg2000.com/graphics/famicom/hardware/powerjoylmtdsc3.jpg

later,
Charles

[MarioMania]

Does the Cart have the 60 Pins so it could be played on the Famicom

[FABombjoy]

FWIW, I have a Power Joy... a different looking one... and the cart that shipped with it doesn't work in my Famicom, only the Power Joy.

[MarioMania]

Not even on the NES with a Converter...

[InsaneDavid]

Welcome to the world of pirate multicarts. There's an entire line of Power Joy multicarts that end up bundled with a Power Joy Famiclone. Gapporin pretty much covered it. Most of the systems have games built in, some do not. Nearly all, if not all, have a cartridge slot in them that will accept Famicom cartridges. The build quality of the Power Joy systems is what is to be expected of bootleg Hong Kong electronics - shoddy. I picked up yet another one of these with the PJ-001 cartridge this month for $4. (over in the finds thread, page three, here's the picture...)

http://www.classicplastic.net/digitalpress/DP-Finds-2007-07-03(02).jpg

This perticular one prompts a "9999 in 1" menu with no game inserted, which really means "six games repeated thousands of times." It's like Duck Hunt, Wild Gunman, Hogan's Alley, Sqoon, Magic Jewelry, Super Dynamix Badminton. The menus and assortments of the built in games seem to vary wildly. The ones I've come across have all been different from the pictures above. The multicarts usually contain 60 or so unique games, mainly early simple Famicom titles that can be crammed onto a single board with globtops.

I have had 100% success rate getting the cartridges to work with my infamous Famicom to NES adapters for play on a normal toaster NES. All the games work fine, including the shooting games. (play much better with the Zapper) FABombjoy's report of a Power Joy with an incompatible cartridge makes me want to hunt down variants of these even more. :) Amusingly though, a Famicom copy of Hogan's Alley would not work properly in the Power Joy system, targeting was WAY off.

Right now I'm attempting (in vain) to lock down lists of all the games on the different Power Joy cartridges as well as the games they originally were (since the titles are often different on the list) and so forth.


The picture Gapporin had was of PJ-001, so I'm wondering if there are also carts 002-007 and beyond out there. Anyone have a list?

Working on it. ;)