All right, we'll admit that headline is a little inaccurate. The heavily modified Super Mario Bros. cart shown above actually plays Japanese Famicom carts (like the not-at-all-bootleg Super Bros. 5), not the slightly larger American NES carts. Semantics aside, we're sure you'll share our sense of awe at the accomplishment of fitting an entire video game system into what, at one point, was used to hold the data for a single game.

All the pieces are there, believe it or not, including A/V outputs, a svelte power switch, and two controller ports sticking out at the bottom of the cartridge. The machine seems like a one-of-a-kind hack, and doesn't look like it's going to be sold any time soon. It's a shame, too ... we' d love to get our hands on one of these, if only so we could plug in our Flash Memory PowerPak via an adapter to create the ultimate NES-cartridge-shaped hacking monstrosity.

[Via Engadget]

This week on Ask Joystiq, we look at downloading foreign content to a foreign system, streaming content to an Xbox 360, and identifying one --or possibly two? -- obscure Argentinian NES games.

If you have any burning questions, unsolved gaming mysteries, or just a desire for musings from our knowledgeable cadre of writers, drop us a line at ask AAT joystiq DAWT com (and yes, we write it that way for a reason).

Q: I might be going to Japan towards the end of the summer and might pick up some games or a system. If I get a system, how would that work when I bring it back to the states and log on-line for a Wii, PS3 or 360?? Would a Japanese Wii let me log in to only US servers or would I be able to download Japanese games from the marketplace. Same question applied to the other systems...
-- iwantmymtv

A: For the Wii, the region of the console corresponds to the region of the Wii Shop Channel -- Japanese systems will access the Japanese store, no matter where you plug them into the intertubes. You have to buy Wii Points that correspond to the system's region too, which means using a Japanese credit card or getting some Japanese Wii Points cards imported. [source]

Any PS3 will play downloads from any region, but each PSN account is locked to a specific region when you create it. Luckily, it's relatively easy to set up "dummy accounts" for each region you want to buy content, as long as you have a credit card from that country. Be warned, though: there is a significant language barrier for navigating the Japanese store.

Xbox Live users can also create dummy accounts to get around regional restrictions, but there are reports that Microsoft has been blocking downloads from accounts where this practice is detected. As always, let the international buyer beware.
-Kyle Orland

All right, here's the situation: You're staging an NES-themed musical (off-Broadway) and the big finale requires a shiny, new Power Glove for all 40 members of the chorus line. You already have access to one unopened Glove that your grandmother gave you as a present in 1995 (way after it was a hot-ticket item), but you need the other 39 before the end of the month or the opening night of your show will be ruined!

This is the only situation that we could think of to justify anyone bidding on the lot of 39 sealed, Japanese Power Gloves that recently showed up as a bulk lot on eBay. Apparently we're not imaginative enough, though, because the Australia-based auction already has four bids with a high offer of AU$90.88 (not including the hundreds of dollars in shipping costs). Maybe we're just not "bad" enough to realize the economic and cultural potential of owning what is most likely the world's largest collection of sealed Power Gloves in one place. So we leave it as an open question to our commenters: What would you do with 39 Power Gloves?

[Via GameSniped]

Remember back in the late '90s, when Square was so frustrated trying to fit their opus Final Fantasy VII onto the cartridge-based Nintendo 64 that they made their famous defection to Sony? Well, just a short decade later, China's Shenzhen Nanjing Technology Co, Ltd has apparently done what Square couldn't, squeezing the PlayStation epic onto a cartridge. And not just any cartridge .. a Famicom cartridge. How's it feel to be shown up, Square?

Of course, the conversion isn't perfect. According to a write-up from intrepid blogger CinnamonPirate (who unearthed the 2MB ROM from a Chinese blog) the polygonal graphics and cut scenes are gone, replaced with an impressively wide array of sprites, many stolen from other Final Fantasy games. The story remains surprisingly authentic, though, encompassing the entire three-disc epic while only leaving out a few optional side stories (bye bye, Yuffie and Vincent). The wide array of weapons, magic and materia from the original is a bit restricted in the port, but frankly, we're impressed that features like materia-leveling made it on to the 20+ year old hardware in any form.

The company behind the cart is apparently now primarily makes MP3 players, so our hopes for a Colecovision version of Final Fantasy XII will probably remain unfulfilled.

Dude. Remember that time we went to Tim's house and got like TOTALLY baked off his special stash and we busted out the NES and we thought the controller was, like, making the TV move around the room? Do you? Man, that thing was REAL. I like totally saw it on the internet man!

Man, I'm telling you I'm SO not high right now. This thing was REAL. It was, like, on this motorized track or something, so when you pushed the buttons on the d-pad the whole TV, like, slid down this track. But there was this Mario level in the background, so it was like the paper Mario cutout on the TV was REALLY moving through the level. Like REALLY. Dude, you could even make Mario jump and hit motorized boxes with mushrooms and stuff. By the way, Tim scored some awesome mushrooms this weekend. You got to try them, man.

Man, don't even try to tell me I'm imagining this thing. I've got the video right here below the break. You watch it while I go scrounge up some Cheetos, man. I've got some serious munchies.

[Via Engadget]

Hideous name, and less-than-hideous hardware. CYBER Gadget's "Familator Lite" plugs into a DS Lite's GBA slot, allowing users to insert their Famicom cartridges and re-live their favorite Nintendo classics in portable form.

Would rather re-live the classics on television? The device allows for TV out. Would rather play with the original Famicom controllers? Well... the device doesn't do that, actually. But it does that other stuff!

The Familator Lite is due out in Japan in December, but no price has been set. Sadly, the device's form factor means it's only compatible with the DS Lite, and not its phatter older brother.

[Via DS Fanboy]

The next time your 'Fami' freezes up, blow as you might, it could be all over. Then again, it's nearly 2008; maybe it's time for an upgrade. Indeed, Nintendo of Japan is encouraging just that by ceasing hardware support for Famicom, Super Famicom, Nintendo 64, Gameboy and Gameboy Pocket due to a scarcity of repair parts.

It's remarkable that Nintendo's been able to service its pioneering platform for 24 long years. But, alas, nothing lasts forever. So long, Famicom. (Psst, this is when you bow your head for a moment of silence...)

[Via Arcade Renaissance]

This isn't to drive anybody with a severe obsessive ego mad -- actually, it is. Here is a video of the title screens for (allegedly) every Famicom/NES game ever made ... or is it? Perhaps there are a couple missing. Doesn't it just eat at you? All those title screens, nobody would be arrogant to presume that every title screen is on there. Surely, they must have missed some. Doesn't it gnaw at your soul, to prove that they must have missed one, two, maybe even twenty obscure games? Check the video, go frame by frame, become internet famous for twenty seconds or so for having found the games that are missing from this video.

On a lighter note, it does show how many games can still be released for the Wii's Virtual Console. There are some obscure games in there that we can remember from the good old NES days. Titles like Athena, Deja Vu and A Boy and His Blob. They'll all come out eventually. There's still plenty of VC Mondays before the Wii dies and more than enough titles to choose from as this video proves.

Hang on! This isn't some modern Wii version of the NES classic, Duck Hunt. You see, this is Ultimate Duck Hunt-ing, which despite featuring ducks in the process of being hunted, is not to be confused with Nintendo's own and entirely dissimilar Duck Hunt. Right, so Ultimate Duck Hunting is a game in which the player presumably hunts ducks, possibly in the presence of an adorable dog that every so often gets in the way of your deadly rifle shotgun. Just so we're clear on that.

Pro-G reports that Ultimate Duck Hunting will be the first foray into gaming for new publisher Detn8 (oh, as in detonate!). It's not entirely certain what has prompted the release of the game -- it's either based on a dubious attempt to cash in on a similar, popular brand (is it really?), or the misguided belief that there's an untapped desire among gamers to hunt ducks on their consoles. We'll find out which one it is when the game releases in the US this June and in Europe towards the end of the year.

During the Nintendo Press conference yesterday, I was seated next to the lovely Andrea Campton of Nintendo Gal. She quickly dazzled me with her retro and decidedly awesome business card holders, wielding one in each hand for spectacular and often deadly results. I've blurred out the details in the picture to save her from untold harassment and to discourage her from hunting me down and breaking my legs, but you should still be able to appreciate how these Famicom holders put a fun spin on business.

I'm stealing one next time I see her.

Former cellmates Nullsleep and Bitshifter have announced plans to embark on a world tour, blasting their blend of bleeps, bloops, and blizzasts from Boston to Brussels and back again.

If you're not an 8-bit believer yet, nothing will win you over except trying it out for yourself. To that end, here are links (1, 2, 3, 4) to some MP3s these torturers of Gameboys, Famicoms and other old-school video game consoles have kindly provided for downloading.

If you like what you hear, check the tour page and maybe even drop a few dollars in the donation bucket to help make it happen.