: Many entries are odd "hacks" where characters are swapped—for example, a version of Super Mario Bros. where the sprite is replaced by Pros and Cons
For an eight-year-old kid, stumbling onto these was a confusing, terrifying experience. It was a harsh lesson in the wild west of unlicensed software: if it’s too good to be true, it might just be a risqué pinball game from Taiwan.
The (or similar variations like "999,999 in 1") is a legendary piece of gaming history known as a multicart . These cartridges were common in the 1990s, especially for the Famicom (the Japanese NES) or "Famiclones" like the Dendy. The Illusion of Variety nes rom 99999 in 1
The NES ROM (often seen as 9999999-in-1) is one of the most iconic "lies" of the 8-bit era. Found on pirate cartridges for the Famicom and clones like the Dendy or Super Joy, these ROMs promised thousands of games but actually delivered a handful of titles repeated with minor variations. The Legend of the "9999-in-1"
: More light-gun compatible titles. Bomberman : The early 1983 HUD version. : Many entries are odd "hacks" where characters
Usually includes:
To create "Game #250," a hacker would take Super Mario Bros. and change the memory values for the color palette. Suddenly, Mario is wearing green overalls, the sky is black instead of blue, and the ROM menus label it as a completely new title like "Dark Mario." 3. Level Skipping and Cheat Injection The (or similar variations like "999,999 in 1")
I recently downloaded a preservation dump of a "99999 in 1" ROM to see if the emulator could handle the hype. Spoiler: It took 45 seconds for the menu to render.
Even then, you might encounter issues. For example, the publicly available ROM of "Prima Soft 9999999-in-1" has its memory banks slightly mixed up, which can cause glitches unless you know how to reorder them. Emulating these ROMs is a hobby in itself, a puzzle for those who appreciate the technical side of retro gaming.
If you boot up a 99999-in-1 NES ROM today using an emulator, you will likely encounter the same core group of early-generation NES and Famicom titles. Pirates favored early games because their file sizes were incredibly small (often just 16 KB or 24 KB) and they lacked complex copy-protection chips. The most frequent games included: (The staple of every bootleg cartridge)