Unlicensed, unreleased, un-bad NES game unearthed

by Kyle Orland { Feb 8th 2007 at 12:45PM }

As part of a new series on super-obscure games that should come to the Wii's virtual console, the prototype hounds over at The Lost Levels have unearthed Buzz and Waldog, an unreleased game from Korean company Daou Infosys. The colorful, well-made platformer was to be released by a mail-order publisher without an official license from Nintendo, putting it in rarefied company of those sleek black Tengen cartridges and crappy religious games.

Unfortunately, the game never actually made it to market, though a few review copies did leak out. That's no reason for you not to enjoy it, though --The Lost Levels has released the ROM and a series of YouTube videos showing off the Mario/Sonic/Bonk inspired gameplay. Good stuff.

[Via GameSetWatch]

Tags: buzz and waldog, BuzzAndWaldog, Daou, lost levels, LostLevels, NES, prototype, unreleased

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Myke @ Feb 8th 2007 12:56PM

I'm seeing a huge similiarity in that terrain design to the "donut" levels in Super Mario World, anyone else???

kevinski @ Feb 8th 2007 1:06PM

I immediately thought of SMW upon looking at the screenshot, as well.

Slaziman @ Feb 8th 2007 1:16PM

Me too, I thought it was going to be about a sprite hack for SMW

Sarge @ Feb 8th 2007 1:18PM

Ah, no! Spiritual Warfare was an excellent Zelda clone. The rest... I agree.

And this looks interesting, time to track down a ROM dump.

Sarge out.

2kings @ Feb 8th 2007 1:19PM

Boo not working on nestopia :(

Rootbeer @ Feb 8th 2007 1:23PM

It's not the most original take on the platformer genre, but it does appear to be exceptionally well done, especially for an unknown development house.

I wouldd have expected a game of this calibre to have come from a the likes of Hudson or Sunsoft, or maybe one of the Capcom B-teams.

Lion @ Feb 8th 2007 1:53PM

Somehow I doubt that Nintendo will allow unlicensed games to appear on its Virtual Console.

Don't get me wrong, some of the best NES games were unlicensed Tengen games. (I had copies of "Tetris" and "After Burner" myself.) I just don't think that Nintendo is willing to swallow its pride and say that these are NES games.

Jake @ Feb 8th 2007 1:59PM

"I just don't think that Nintendo is willing to swallow its pride and say that these are NES games."

If the money is there, Nintendo won't scoff at the idea. They don't have to call it an NES game. They can just call it an original VC title or something.

Stagger @ Feb 8th 2007 2:19PM

As the youtube description says, it looks like a rip-off hybrid of Super Mario and Looney Toons for the NES. That was a great game.

wait in the car @ Feb 8th 2007 2:39PM

I just buzzed my waldog the other night...

Myke @ Feb 8th 2007 2:49PM

Hahaha, WITC wins this round, I did a spit-take.

Mr Khan @ Feb 8th 2007 4:08PM

Chalk up another one

Maybe Nintendo stole (or borrowed, whatever) this games ideas for level designs for Super Mario World, because that is definitely too similar (that thing above the character's head also looks like a Cape Feather, right?)

Arbuz Chokaro @ Feb 8th 2007 4:31PM

Wow, the last boss is some sort of large reptilian that shoots fire? HOLY MOSES, It's REVOLUTIONARY.

I would laugh if it wasn't a black kung-fu Mario with a fro.

Seriously, there were "?" boxes.

reppy @ Feb 8th 2007 4:34PM

It's like playing every single platformer ever. On weed.

kap @ Feb 9th 2007 12:50AM

It's actually part of a series of "Virtual Console Alternatives", not "super-obscure games that should come to the Wii's virtual console". Nobody in their right mind would want to see what's about to be unleashed on the virtual console, much less pay for it. :)