Hey guys, an indie Taiwanese “company” (more like a group of students) named ITG just released a new Famiclone game this weekend, Cross-Strait Independence. The game was designed for use on Famiclones, I have no idea if it will run on NES machines (adapter + cart) or not. Please keep this in mind when purchasing.

As far as I am aware, this is ITG’s second game release, and first unique release. Their first title, which was limited to a mere 50 pieces, was a conversion of an unlicensed plug n play samba game, complete with maracas. I can ask Robbie about it if you guys are interested, he is one of my former students and his girlfriend is involved in the company.

Cross-Strait Independence is a shooter game, basically a hypothetical battle between China and Taiwan. The game takes place in Taiwan, and is reasonably geographically accurate, considering the limitations of the Famicom.

I just got my copy of the game, the build quality is decent. Recycled game shells and boxes, hand-cut labels and manuals, brand new pcbs and components. If you’re looking for something to get WATA graded, this would be a pass, but I think it’s a step up from their previous cart, and it passes.

The gameplay itself is...quirky. Some of the music tracks are okay, others are odd. The same goes for the whole game. I personally find the game to be enjoyable, though it definitely isn’t a Battle Kid or something like that. It fits in nicely with many of the other Taiwanese games from the 90s, and I think that is what the developers were aiming for. The game is also a bit offensive, well it is very Taiwanese-sided, haha.

I’m going to place one order of carts to help distribute to you guys, and that is it. That’s what this thread is about.

From what I’ve heard, there will be at a maximum 300 pieces of Cross-Strait Independence produced, and that includes both the “international version” and the (censored) localized version, which has had the name changed. This thread is for the uncensored international version of the game.

Pictures:

 

Prices are as follows (includes shipping worldwide):

CIB: $68
CI: $50
C: $40

I’d personally recommend the CIB version of the game, since it includes the beautiful box with professionally done work by a local artist, with CI as a minimal (the manual includes a map and what not).

I will let this thread up for roughly two weeks, if you are interested in this game, please post below and also mention if you want cart-only, with manual, or CIB. After two weeks I’ll send out transactions here, we can settle up on money, and then I’ll order. You guys should have these by September  

*On a side note, I feel this could become the next Hong Kong ‘97. The game reflects the awkward situation over here at the moment, and it will either stay a testament to that, or become quickly banned, depending on what happens in the next year or two over where I live.

I’ve also heard that ITG will release their second original game by the end of the year, though it is doubtful we’ll have a chance at obtaining it.   This game is about rescuing endangered Leopard Cats, to help raise funds and awareness throughout Taiwan on this creature’s plight. I think less than 20 carts will be made though, it’s just more for helping local causes.






 

Sign ups:

The numbers by each name is just for me to keep track of everything. If anyone changes their mind, please also let me know.


CIB:

001:  neodolphino
002:  Ferris Bueller
003:  duiz
004:  driveshaft
005:  a3quit4s
006:  alonso (off N/A)

CI:

C:

101: dockvalentine

Any gameplay videos of this?

Also I am not sure what happened to the font as you were typing but it is very hard to read.

I'd be interested. Already dipped a toe in crazy Taiwanese homebrew, so why not a whole foot XD

Edit: For a CIB, that is.

Yeah try to change the formatting of your text, it gives me a headache! Are you not able to post uncensored pics from your location or those are what you received? Did you mentor your former student at all in his gaming pursuit?  

Sign me up for a cart only.

Get me a CIB and I'm interested in that first release.

I'm interested in a CIB copy.

I am interested in the CIB edition

CIB please.

I tried to solve the font problem, I'm not sure what was going on as I was using my phone to post this. Anyway I tried to solve it, it looks fine to me howabout to others?

About a video, I played through tonight and made a short video which can be seen here:







 

I could post uncensored pictures, but I posted and censored those myself, after receiving my copy and taking pics. *That country* is worse than millennials in terms of being offended, and I don't want to end up in some sort of camp, after "disappearing", just for taking orders on the game. I know it is an etreme situation and highly unlikely, but I can't take any risks. 

If you watch the video, you can see some of the "offensive" material, such as shooting down the flags, poking fun at the failed "Two Systems" concept, and the swine-flu pigs  

 

I'm going to edit the list above to keep track of who's interested, and in what. If anyone changes his or her mind after watching the video, please let me know, no problems, I can gladly edit people out too.

On another note, I've been having some quirky results getting the game **to run properly** on my AV Famicom. It loads, but then will lock up as I try to navigate away from the main introduction screen. I will investigate this and see if I can find out what the situation is. I've already contacted ITG about it, though for me personally it's not a huge deal since I have more than enough Famiclones to run the game on.

I had suggested to the guy I know, Robbie, that perhaps to smooth this over and resolve a potential conflict, the game could be bundled with a Famiclone, which would also be beneficial towards those on here who don't want to fiddle with adapters and what not. If the added cost was only $5 - $15 per game, would anyone here be interested in this?

About mentoring, well it's my former student's hot gamer girlfriend who is involved, haha    I only made two suggestions, and both were taken:

#1:  Originally they had planned on a package artwork that featured the two countries' leaders, facing off (sort of like on the title screen), and I suggested they tone it down a bit and make it more generic, for the safety of everyone.

#2:  I told Robbie straight up that by now there are too many good indie games coming out, so it would be hard to approach the western market (for what it's worth, the Taiwan retro market's only been taking off in the past year or so, luckily for me abut 7 years after I got into this stuff...)  So my suggestion was to either make something really amazing, or something unique, that people could relate to. They took the latter approach, focusing on this game (political protest basically), and then the nekst one about saving an endangered animal.

 

Sending this to the top!

Up

P;aced my order late last week, just received it today. 20 pieces of Cross-Strait Independence CIB, two pieces loose, three pieces of the censored version. All shipped to me in a pomelo fruit carton, lol.



I'll send out transactions to everyone shortly, I'll pack orders up this weekend and then ship out next week. Still got a few of these, post here or message me if interested.

Censored version! Looks like I forgot to request a variant!

Didn't get the PayPal address in the transaction?

Exactly! Count me in if you have extra of it.

I didn't see any PayPal address or payment info in the transaction request?

I'll take cib uncensored. Pm me with info

I'll take one too. Uncensored  

Has anyone received the game or a tracking number yet?

No, nothing yet...