Unlicensed games are games released for mainly 8-bit and 16-bit consoles which aren't licensed or endorsed by the console maker. A pirate game is a type of unlicensed game produced in breach of someone else's copyright; usually either an unauthorised port of a game from one console to another (such as Super Mario World to the Famicom or Tekken to the Mega Drive), an original game using other companies' characters or copyrighted material (such as Harry's Legend or Kart Fighter) or a hack of an existing game. These games are typically considered to be poor quality when compared to the official games they imitate, and they're also typically made by a Taiwanese or Chinese developer, although unlicensed games have been made by companies from other countries as well.

For example, Menace Beach is an unlicensed game because it was produced for the NES without a license from Nintendo, but it is not a pirate because it does not include any stolen content, whereas Somari is a pirate game as it is an unauthorised port of Sega's Sonic containing Nintendo's Mario character without the permission of either company, even though it was programmed from scratch. Super Mario 4 is a pirated hack, as it's a modified version of Crayon Shin Chan 4 not authorized by either Nintendo or the developers/publishers of that game, but not all hacks are pirates; the Western release of Super Mario Bros 2, despite technically being a hack of Doki Doki Panic, isn't a pirate because it was made by Nintendo and legally licensed.

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This wiki is meant to inform people of the many pirated games and clone consoles out there. If you would like to contribute, we need articles on:

• Pirated games
• Pirate/unlicensed game companies, including developers and publishers
• Pirate/cloned consoles, including NES clones
• Articles focused on a certain aspect of pirates (Multicarts, hacks, certain games like the AV card games)

When writing articles, make sure that:

1. Grammar, punctuation and spelling is correct.
2. It doesn't sound like a review. It should sound like it's informing something, not an opinion about the game.
3. If you can't access something, sign up on the wiki. If you are signed up, ask me (KingPepe) on my talk page or on the forums.

Also please look for any important announcements here.

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We are currently affiliated with:

• VG Wiki - A general video game wiki
• Pirated Game Museum - Wiki for pictures of pirate variants of official games