Kouchuu Kakutou Mushi-1 Grand Prix

Discuss Smilesoft/Rocket Company in general here.
RacieB
Posts: 871
Joined: Thu Dec 28, 2006 4:27 am

Re: Kouchuu Kakutou Mushi-1 Grand Prix

Post by RacieB »

Kouchuu Kakutou Mushi-1 Grand Prix (Beetle Grapple Insect-1 Grand Prix) is a DS game produced by Rocket Company. As far as I understand, it's pretty much about weird anime children training realistic 3D beetles to fight eachother on a stump >_> There were also playing cards given out with the first release of the game which had the beetles on them. I've always wanted to play this because the screenshots look hilarious, but it doesn't work on DS emulators, and I don't want to pay $40+ just to find out it's actually terrible / I can't understand what's going on / whatever. Here's its website: http://www.rocketcompany.co.jp/mushi1/

Anyway, while unpacking the NDS rom for this game (I wanted to get the 3D models of the insects) I came across the header information, which included the following:

Code: Select all

0x00  Game title                 MUSHI-ONE GP
0x0C  Game code                  AKFJ (NTR-AKFJ-JPN)
0x10  Maker code                 2N (Smilesoft ???, Rocket ???)
Was Smilesoft working on this game before the company was dissolved? Or when Smilesoft handed its licenses over to Rocket Company, did that include some of their (outsourced?) employees as well? Or.. did Smilesoft BECOME Rocket Company? Although if the latter is the case, why would both company names be credited in the rom...? This is really strange, I'd guess the first option myself though.

EDIT: Hm I also just realized, the dates are very weird here too. Smilesoft died in mid-2003. The DS wasn't released until Nov 2004, and Beetle Grapple itself wasn't released until almost exactly a year later.
Milnivri(imported)
Posts: 351
Joined: Wed Dec 27, 2006 10:14 pm

Re: Kouchuu Kakutou Mushi-1 Grand Prix

Post by Milnivri(imported) »

Interesting...

I checked another Rocket Company DS ROM, and the maker code was also 2N, suggesting the same thing? Oh and how did you get the maker codes by the way?

Well it's possible that Rocket Company wanted to acknowledge that Smilesoft is "part" of them, or something to that extent.

Oh wait, I noticed that all the Smilesoft ROMs also had 2N!

P.S. By the way, welcome back! xD
RacieB
Posts: 871
Joined: Thu Dec 28, 2006 4:27 am

Re: Kouchuu Kakutou Mushi-1 Grand Prix

Post by RacieB »

I'm not sure what the 2N denotes, I'm just pointing out the fact that it credited Smilesoft by name x_o I was using an unpacker called dslazy, if you open a rom in it and hit the blue "i" button it will show the rom header info.

Looking at the few other DS roms I happen to have, I get the following:

Animal Crossing Wild World

Code: Select all

0x00  Game title                 ANIMAL CROSS
0x0C  Game code                  ADMP (NTR-ADMP-EUR)
0x10  Maker code                 01 (Nintendo)
Pac-Pix

Code: Select all

0x00  Game title                 PAC-PIX     
0x0C  Game code                  APCE (NTR-APCE-USA)
0x10  Maker code                 AF (Namco)
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Blue Rescue Team

Code: Select all

0x00  Game title                 POKE DUNGEON
0x0C  Game code                  APHE (NTR-APHE-USA)
0x10  Maker code                 01 (Nintendo)
So I don't have a clue what the 2N is for.


EDIT: Okay, weird. I looked it up, and it's the company code. Here's a list of them: http://www.ndsretro.com/download/Nintendo_Companys.txt

Apparently 2N is attributed to games that Smilesoft AND Rocket made. Why would they share that code if Rocket was a separate company?
DeKaFu
Posts: 90
Joined: Thu Dec 20, 2007 11:31 pm

Re: Kouchuu Kakutou Mushi-1 Grand Prix

Post by DeKaFu »

Hmm. This is really weird. XD
Rocket company started before Smilesoft, right? Its website says it started in 1998, and Smilesoft didn't have any releases until 2000...

Do these codes exist in the GBC and GBA games as well as DS games? It'd be interesting to see if Rocket Company had claim to 2N before Smilesoft even existed, or if Smilesoft had it first, or if nobody had it until they fused...
Kimbles(imported)
Posts: 470
Joined: Mon Dec 24, 2007 3:17 am

Re: Kouchuu Kakutou Mushi-1 Grand Prix

Post by Kimbles(imported) »

From what I've been able to find, Rocket didn't start releasing games or have a website until mid-2003 when they ate Smilesoft, so probably they got the code from Smilesoft and it simply worked out. D: It makes you wonder what they were doing all that time though, if they started in '98. >_>
RacieB
Posts: 871
Joined: Thu Dec 28, 2006 4:27 am

Re: Kouchuu Kakutou Mushi-1 Grand Prix

Post by RacieB »

Well, looking at an archive of Smilesoft's company info page, it never said when they were established.. who wants to bet what year THAT was >_>?
User avatar
andwhyisit
Site Admin
Posts: 1197
Joined: Fri Dec 14, 2007 9:24 pm

Re: Kouchuu Kakutou Mushi-1 Grand Prix

Post by andwhyisit »

Yay! RacieB is still alive! :D
Blaziken257
Posts: 983
Joined: Fri Dec 22, 2006 11:52 am

Re: Kouchuu Kakutou Mushi-1 Grand Prix

Post by Blaziken257 »

OMG, the first post from you in over half a year!

Anyway, it's possible that it happened. Who knows? But according to you, Dino Device 2 was inferior to the first one. So if they were the same people, why would they suddenly produce worse games? Then again, there are other companies out there that have been worse than they used to be...

And yes, the codes exist in the GBC and GBA games:

Image
RacieB
Posts: 871
Joined: Thu Dec 28, 2006 4:27 am

Re: Kouchuu Kakutou Mushi-1 Grand Prix

Post by RacieB »

This weirded me out enough that I had to post it XD; Although I do have some Telefang-related stuff going on lately that I'll probably show off soon.

My idea was that maybe Smilesoft's president was the one who REALLY liked monster-collection RPGs, then when he got arrested the rest of the company went "that's it, let's change our name and make weird DS crap! If I have to make one more blinking GameBoy peripheral..."
Kimbles(imported)
Posts: 470
Joined: Mon Dec 24, 2007 3:17 am

Re: Kouchuu Kakutou Mushi-1 Grand Prix

Post by Kimbles(imported) »

XD well, the best way to check would be to compare the credits for Smilesoft and Rocket games. *shrug* I've found Telefang's credits in the rom, and Telefang 2 has its in the manual... But heck if I'd need to buy or play one of Rocket's games to completion... >__>
Post Reply