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Supervision: handheld of the less fortunate


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Apart from the horrible technical info TailChao has, my Supervision came in the mail today. I think I got one of those units that has never been played apart from the buyer testing it. I played a little bit of Crystball. It's a fun little Alleyway clone. I think I'll probably take the batteries out when I'm not playing it though. Alleyway though is not my cup of tea. I think I'll get some more games for it.

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  • 6 months later...

There's not much to remember about the Mega Duck, it's a swollen Game Boy clone which uses proprietary cartridges. The Game Fighter knocks off the same hardware in far more interesting and waterfowl-free way.

 

But I didn't bump this topic to discuss the Ultra Goose, did I?

No, and I'm so very sorry.

 

On 7/23/2020 at 4:05 PM, DeathAdderSF said:

As far as emulation is concerned, that's old hat. Peter Trauner had a solid driver for MESS back in 2003. But what you want is Wataroo because it's the most hardware accurate.

 

WARNING

FOR CRAZY PEOPLE ONLY

 

Oh no, it's Wataroo v0.8.0.0

 

After a long period of neglect - this is a complete overhaul of both the underlying SuperVision emulation and interface, the latter now matches BupSystem v0.9.6.4's. My reverse engineering notes have also been rewritten based upon a year of thorough extremely stupid hardware tests. Like entropy, SuperVision prices and the number of AS IS / FOR PARTS OR REPAIR units will only increase - so if you'd like to accurately experience this brick of disappointment (not that you should), give it a try.

 

See you next version for TV-Link support!

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  • 3 weeks later...

I got something after nearly rotting in customs for a month yesterday in the mail.  If you want to called the supervision the handheld of the less fortunate, I'm wondering where the Timetop Gameking II would fall in line with that?

 

64x32 pixel POKEMON MINI-ish like display, quality of LCD about same too so it's not a blur fest, confounding is the sampled audio(seriously) which seems to have the potential to stream some quality recordings.  A built in game that clones Adventure Island plays VAMPIRE KILLER ripped probably off the NES Castlevania which is a hoot.  I got the model 2 which looks like a PSP, model 1 is GBA like, there was a 3rd version of the system but it went into the weeds.

 

Surprisingly this thing has quite a lot of games, some even reissued into quite a good many 4in1 carts.  It comes with 3 games built in, then a second included 4in1 cart in the box with it I'm told can be randomly chosen.  Finding info is a pain, sparse at best, some places you have to hit the web archive and even that data is fairly terrible.  Last good-ish site online active seems to be this one, I know the admin from facebook, but it's spotty at best. https://www.obsoleteworlds.com/gameking.html

 

I just ordered off that facebook group out of greece a pair of 4in1 carts for the thing, that'll get me from 7 up to 15 games --wee! :D hah

 

Maybe this can be your next add to the craptitude of C tier systems to list on that site. :D

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If I remember well, the Game King is a weird oddball when in come to sound and even graphics; as it was designed to allow for developping cheap games and takes advantage of the ever-falling ROM/Flash prices and the evergrowing space of them, as well as the faster CPUs available.

Basically the Game King sounds are just compressed audio files, a quite wasteful method but as I said, ROM is cheap and most Game King games are quite short.

Display is also very crude if I recall, basically displaying image files or something very prooly optimized but working "good enough" for the display.

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Something like that yeah.  You can get a taste at that link with reviews too.

 

You're right, the audio is quite good, sampled, a mix of sfx, potential verbal even, and usually a nice shorter looping music score.   Pretty much what I said before.  It's not bad, but the small resolution hurts what can be shown, yet despite the lack of space it works strangely well.  It's just a mix of ok and bad ideas that somehow still works to be somewhat amusing enough to mess with for more than a few minutes at a time.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...

Howdy! Here's the first update for 2021, and boy is it a doozy! New content has been piling up for nearly a year now, but somehow I kept letting everything (and anything) get in the way of properly processing it all. Imagine that!! *wink*

 

Anyway! Let's itemize all the rad new scans that were added today:

 

- An Eagle Plan cartridge label variant.
- A better quality TV-Link Adaptor cartridge label.
- A complete TV-Link (NTSC) product set.
- An update to the TV-Link (PAL-B) product set.
- Chinese language instructions for 2-in-1 - Hash Block & Eagle Plan.
- English and Chinese language instructions for Treasure Hunter.
- English and Spanish language instructions for Crystball.
- A “new game cartridges” catalog from AudioSonic France (courtesy of Morgane Dumont).

 

Now if you'll excuse me, all this Supervision overindulgence has left me exhausted. I'd better go lie down.

 

Supervision: handheld of the less fortunate

 

Edited by DeathAdderSF
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  • 3 weeks later...

Did somebody say Tiger? Oh yeah!! The primary focus of today's update is the “Taike Boy” from Taiwan, a Supervision variant I have been on the lookout for since the dawn of the millennium. Naturally, I am pleased as Christmas punch to now have high-quality scans of its box, instructions, and game cartridge order form. And if you mosey on over to the scans page, you can have 'em, too!

 

Of hilarious note is the fact that both Street Fighter II and “Mortal Komba” are advertised on the front of the box, suggesting that these two high-profile game titles were on their way to the Supervision. Hogwash! Utter tripe! They were never on their way to the Supervision. (But then again maybe they were, it's difficult to say.) What a shameless way to try'n sell a doomed game system.

 

Also featured on the box is everyone's (other) favorite Supervision vaporware title, Devil Paradise. Good show, gentlemen: 3 out of 5 (or 60%) of the games shown on your packaging DON'T EXIST!

 

But, wait! There's more. I've also added:

 

- A set of Soccer Champion instructions in English, Dutch, and French.
- Scans of some French language product attention & warning labels.
- A better quality scan of the Sonny sticker.

 

taikeboy.jpg

Edited by DeathAdderSF
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The French warning stickers are generic legal required stuff (still existing today), tho it's cool that Audiosonic bothered adding the Supervision logos over the red sticker. In fact, I don't recall any other company ever doing that!

 

I won't be able to do it soon, but if you're interested, I own a boxed GB 2002, so I could scan the (pretty tattered) box and instruction manual (that at first glance seems identical save for the console shape).

 

P1010931.thumb.JPG.a756787ec8abf609659a30206b45edf5.JPG

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks for the info; no wonder I couldn't recall seeing those stickers before as I don't think I've previously bought any SV crap from France.

 

As for your scan offer: thanks, but I've already got that particular box design scanned as you mentioned. If I decide I absolutely can't live without the GB 2002 specific version, I'll just buy a better condition one & scan it myself. No biggs, they pop up from time to time.

 

BTW if you haven't checked 'em out already I recently added some AudioSonic France marketing papers; you might dig on 'em.

 

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Yes, I've seen them, it's excellent. Too bad that they have "price ranges" but not what those prices are actually IRL (though prices might have been different depending on the place they were sold).

The descriptions, if you wonder, are very bland and clearly meant for either shop owners to order a specific type of game or for sellers to at least have a vague idea of what the game is about. Just look at the Tennis Pro 92 one :D

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  • 2 months later...
  • 1 month later...

Today I endured the drudgery of scanning a Supervision advertisement from our good ol' bosom chums at Goldnation, as well as, of all things, an official Supervision™ “Authorized Dealer” decal: unused, of course, because who would've cursed their business by actually displaying one of these in their shop window?!

 

Also, please note that the acronym for Supervision Authorized Dealer is, very appropriately, SAD.

 

Noticing the trademark symbol on the decal, I wondered, “Did they even file a trademark, or was that just another bunch of BS?” Well, slogging through the United States Patent and Trademark database, I discovered that yes! Indeed, the trademark was legitimately registered. The filing document downloaded from said database has also been added to the scans page.

 

Lastly for today: Do you remember all the way back to 2009 when I used the Super Fighter Team website design as a template for... this? No, you don't. Regardless, there's irony here! Because just last month, I redesigned the Super Fighter Team website using – wait for it – this website's design to inspire me. I've come full circle, and I am finally home.

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  • 6 months later...

I've been putting off an update because I didn't wanna do it, but by now y'all should know that's kinda par for the course with this website. *yawn*

 

So what super-de-duper stuffs were added this time round? An alternate set of Treasure Hunter instructions, for one. Those instructions, by the way, accompanied a cartridge that held an alternate version of the game. (Joy!!) It boots with the same energetic female voice crying out, “Shupavishun!” as featured in Classic Casino. It also displays a different copyright year (1993) on the title screen. Furthermore, the music is different. What (sadly) hasn't changed, however, is the fact that the game is still unwinnable: level 6 appears to be impossible to complete, and hacking the game to progress to level 7 instead gives you a glitchy mess. Excellent job as always, Bon Treasure (should be bon voyage). I've added a pic of said mess to the Treasure Hunter page, for your bewilderment.

 

As was already stated on the Hero Kid page, this game is also unwinnable. Though a congratulations graphic is printed on the game's instruction page, the game crashes after a certain amount of levels are played. Thus the player never sees this graphic in all its “glory.” But, never fear! The infamous congratulations graphic is indeed stored in the game binary and I've plucked it out, adding it to the website.

 

Ooh!! I hope you're ready for this last one, 'cuz you'll be pounding your chest in primal excitement over it for sure: a crinkled, full color advertisement... showcasing SONNY X'PRESS! Hooray!!

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How did I not see this website update!?!!? I live for this stuff, the supervision is the realised vision of my childhood wannabe programmer of competing against the gameboy on equal terms.

 

In all seriousness though, I'm always fascinated by any level of new info or styled stuff on obscure systems, this is THE website for the Supervision. Like, the only one [worth looking at].

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1 hour ago, Mikebloke said:

this is THE website for the Supervision. Like, the only one [worth looking at].

 

I aim to please! (Wait, maybe I don't. After all this is a Supervision website we're talking about here. Ick.)

 

It's always felt a little odd, working on a website for a game system that I don't even like. Kinda seems pretty pointless at times, as a matter of fact. But you know why I do it? Because I'm fascinated with things like the product design (label and packaging artwork), terrible English descriptions & instructions, et Cetera. And I know that if I don't scan and preserve everything, no one else will. So in that regard, it's worthwhile for me. But actually playing the games? No thank you. That's hell. ?

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8 hours ago, DeathAdderSF said:

 

I aim to please! (Wait, maybe I don't. After all this is a Supervision website we're talking about here. Ick.)

 

It's always felt a little odd, working on a website for a game system that I don't even like. Kinda seems pretty pointless at times, as a matter of fact. But you know why I do it? Because I'm fascinated with things like the product design (label and packaging artwork), terrible English descriptions & instructions, et Cetera. And I know that if I don't scan and preserve everything, no one else will. So in that regard, it's worthwhile for me. But actually playing the games? No thank you. That's hell. ?

Haha we actually had good fun with the translations last night. I was saying the game instructions and the wife had to guess the game it was a clone of. It was quite amusing. 

 

And in regards to your efforts... 

 

delta1.gif.987d80cef8dcfd9415f0ca63ca4b0786.gif

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1 hour ago, Mikebloke said:

Haha we actually had good fun with the translations last night. I was saying the game instructions and the wife had to guess the game it was a clone of. It was quite amusing.

 

Wow, really? Cool! You've created a game to play with the Supervision that's better than playing a game on the Supervision! ?

fatal1.gif

Edited by DeathAdderSF
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35 minutes ago, str0m said:

"It's always felt a little odd, working on a website for a game system that I don't even like"

 

Your powers of denial are strong ?

 

Oh, I won't deny that I tried to like the Supervision, back in the early 2000s. Hell, at one point I damn near had myself convinced! Thankfully I snapped out of it, and let me tell you: In that moment, I'd never been happier to own a Game Boy.


That said, the history of the website's harrowing development process is chronicled on the updates page, if any of y'all are interested. It's my favorite part of the website, especially the earliest entries (scroll all the way to the bottom of the page). Frankly it's a miracle the website exists online at all, considering all of that!

Edited by DeathAdderSF
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