Hummer Team's 'King Fishing' NES Bootleg Preserved from Rare Famiclone Plug & Play
King Fishing, an unofficial NES port of SEGA's classic arcade title SEGA Bass Fishing, has long been considered a rare collector’s item within the retro gaming community.
Originally distributed exclusively on a unique fishing rod-shaped Famiclone plug & play device in the early 2000s, this elusive title represents a distinctive chapter in the history of bootleg video game development. Developed by the prolific Taiwanese studio Hummer Team, King Fishing stands out among a catalogue of unofficial demakes the group created for the NES and its many unlicensed clones.
Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Hummer Team gained notoriety for adapting popular franchises—including unofficial versions of Street Fighter II, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Mortal Kombat—to the NES platform.
Their inventive, if unauthorized, approaches have attracted the interest of collectors and game historians seeking to document and preserve these unique titles. Until recently, King Fishing was accessible only through the original, obscure plug & play device, making it a challenge for preservationists and NES enthusiasts alike.
This changed on March 6, 2024, when a Polish user known as krzysiobal on the NesDev forums announced that they had acquired one of these rare devices and successfully dumped the game's ROM.
As a result, King Fishing is now available for play on most NES emulators, opening up the experience to a global audience of retro gaming fans. In his forum post, krzysiobal described the technical process of disassembling, analyzing, and dumping the game, providing valuable insight into both the software and hardware.
King Fishing offers three distinct modes for players: practice, tournament, and King Fish—mirroring gameplay elements inspired by the original SEGA Bass Fishing while infusing Hummer Team's signature demake style. This preservation effort is a notable achievement in the ongoing campaign to document the work of lesser-known developers and the alternative hardware platforms that characterized the bootleg scene of the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
While official Nintendo consoles never saw a sanctioned release of King Fishing, the Famiclone scene—particularly throughout Asia—kept the game's legacy alive until its recent rediscovery.
The ROM dump and related documentation are now available for download via the NesDev forums, with detailed technical notes to support other preservationists and enthusiasts interested in the bootleg game catalog. The preservation of King Fishing not only adds to the richness of NES and Famiclone game archives, but also shines a spotlight on Hummer Team as one of the most fascinating pirate developers to emerge from the region.
With the title now available for contemporary audiences, the history of unlicensed gaming on platforms like the NES and its various clones continues to become more accessible and understood.
Originally distributed exclusively on a unique fishing rod-shaped Famiclone plug & play device in the early 2000s, this elusive title represents a distinctive chapter in the history of bootleg video game development. Developed by the prolific Taiwanese studio Hummer Team, King Fishing stands out among a catalogue of unofficial demakes the group created for the NES and its many unlicensed clones.
Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Hummer Team gained notoriety for adapting popular franchises—including unofficial versions of Street Fighter II, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Mortal Kombat—to the NES platform.
Their inventive, if unauthorized, approaches have attracted the interest of collectors and game historians seeking to document and preserve these unique titles. Until recently, King Fishing was accessible only through the original, obscure plug & play device, making it a challenge for preservationists and NES enthusiasts alike.
This changed on March 6, 2024, when a Polish user known as krzysiobal on the NesDev forums announced that they had acquired one of these rare devices and successfully dumped the game's ROM.
As a result, King Fishing is now available for play on most NES emulators, opening up the experience to a global audience of retro gaming fans. In his forum post, krzysiobal described the technical process of disassembling, analyzing, and dumping the game, providing valuable insight into both the software and hardware.
King Fishing offers three distinct modes for players: practice, tournament, and King Fish—mirroring gameplay elements inspired by the original SEGA Bass Fishing while infusing Hummer Team's signature demake style. This preservation effort is a notable achievement in the ongoing campaign to document the work of lesser-known developers and the alternative hardware platforms that characterized the bootleg scene of the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
While official Nintendo consoles never saw a sanctioned release of King Fishing, the Famiclone scene—particularly throughout Asia—kept the game's legacy alive until its recent rediscovery.
The ROM dump and related documentation are now available for download via the NesDev forums, with detailed technical notes to support other preservationists and enthusiasts interested in the bootleg game catalog. The preservation of King Fishing not only adds to the richness of NES and Famiclone game archives, but also shines a spotlight on Hummer Team as one of the most fascinating pirate developers to emerge from the region.
With the title now available for contemporary audiences, the history of unlicensed gaming on platforms like the NES and its various clones continues to become more accessible and understood.
