Zemina

Last updated
Zemina
Company typePrivate
Industry Video games
Founded1981
Defunct1992
FateOut of business [1]
Headquarters

Zemina (Korean: 재미나, originally 제미나) was a South Korean software maker brand of Saehan Trading (Korean: 새한 상사) [2] founded in 1981. They primarily made games for the Daewoo Zemmix, but because it was an MSX computer made to look and be played like a game console, they work on other MSX computers as well. Although many of them were copies of other games, like Super Boy I (based on Super Mario Bros. ), they also produced some more original ones in their later years. [3]

Contents

Korea did not have a copyright law for computer programs until July 1987. [4] Because of that, many companies, including Zemina, sold unauthorized copies of foreign titles with their own copyright hacked in. Even after that, the new law protected only the program code, not the intellectual property as a whole, so a lot of their "own" games were ports of famous Japanese games.

Most of their titles were converted to the Master System as well. In 1992, they engaged in developing exclusive games for the Master System and Famicom consoles, [5] but not all of them were released.

They even released Nemesis 3: The Eve of Destruction under official license from Konami under the title Salamander II - all the while still selling multi game cartridges full of unlicensed copies of older Konami games. [6]

Zemina games

List of clones

GameYearSystem(s)Clone of
19421987 MSX, MSX 2 1942
Alla II1990 MSX The Seven Adventures of Sindbad
Block Hole1990 MSX Quarth
Brother Adventure1987 MSX, MSX 2 Mario Bros.
Double Dragon1989 MSX Double Dragon
F-1 Spirit: The Way to Formula-11987 Master System F-1 Spirit: The Way to Formula-1
Flashpoint1990 MSX, Master System Tetris
Green Beret [7] 1987 MSX Green Beret
Hyper Olympic 1 [8] 1984 MSX Track & Field
King Kong 2: Yomigaeru Densetsu1987 MSX2 King Kong 2: Yomigaeru Densetsu (hack of the original with English screen text)
The Micro Xevious1990 MSX Xevious: Fardraut Saga
Nemesis1987 Master System Gradius
Nemesis 2 [9] 1987 Master System Nemesis 2
New Boggle Boggle1988 MSX Bubble Bobble (with new stages)
New Boggle Boggle 2 [1] 1989 MSX Bubble Bobble (again with new stages)
Penguin Adventure1987 MSX Penguin Adventure
Soko1990 MSX Soukoban
Project A21987 MSX 2 Project A2 [10]
Puznic1990 MSX Puzznic (with new stages)
Strange Loop1990 MSX Strange Loop [11]
Street Master1992 MSX Street Fighter (with characters from Street Fighter II )
Super Bio Man 41990 MSX Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Boy (a clone of Super Mario Bros. made by the same company)
Super Boy I1989 MSX, Master System Super Mario Bros. (only 4 worlds)
Super Boy II1989 MSX, Master System Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels (only 4 worlds)
Super Boy 31991 MSX, Master System Super Mario World
Super Boy 41992 Master System Super Mario World (different character sprite)
Super Bubble Bobble1989 MSX Bubble Bobble
Tengoku Yoitoko [12] 1988 MSX Tengoku Yoitoko
The Three Dragon Story1989 MSX, Master System Knightmare
Volguard1990 MSX Vanguard
Warp & Warp [13] 1984 MSX Warp & Warp
Won-Si-In1991 MSX, Master System Adventures of Dino Riki
Won-Si-In 2Unreleased Master System -

List of original games

GameYearSystem(s)Notes
Cyborg Z1991 MSX, Master System
Eagles 51990 MSX Also known as Doksuri 5 Hyeonjae.
Magic Kid Googoo1992 Famicom Only game from Zemina to be developed for the NES.
Tatica1990 MSX

Note 1: The clone game Block Hole is also known as Sagak-ui Bimil.
Note 2: Other releases that are merely hacks of Japanese games with Zemina's logo are not listed here.

Hardware

Zemina also made hardware for the Zemmix. These include:

References

  1. 1 2 "Hardcore Gaming 101: A History of Korean Gaming". hardcoregaming101.net.
  2. Not to be confused with dozens of other companies by the same name or similar names. The Saehan Trading is no longer available.
  3. Generation-MSX.nl. "Zemina". Generation MSX.
  4. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2010-01-22. Retrieved 2010-03-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. Game World Magazine Issue 2/1992
  6. Generation-MSX.nl. "Nemesis 3 - The Eve of Destruction". Generation MSX.
  7. Generation-MSX.nl. "Green Beret (1986, MSX, Konami) - Releases". Generation MSX.
  8. Generation-MSX.nl. "Hyper Olympic 1 (1984, MSX, Konami) - Releases". Generation MSX.
  9. "Trois jeux inédits pour la Master System et la Game Gear". allgamers.fr.
  10. Generation-MSX.nl. "Project A2 (1987, MSX2, Pony Canyon) - Releases". Generation MSX.
  11. Generation-MSX.nl. "Strange Loop". Generation MSX.
  12. Generation-MSX.nl. "Tengoku Yoitoko (1987, MSX2, TAITO) - Releases". Generation MSX.
  13. Generation-MSX.nl. "Warp & Warp (1984, MSX, NAMCO) - Releases". Generation MSX.
  14. 1 2 3 "Zemmix MSX Console". Archived from the original on June 20, 2007. Retrieved June 28, 2007.
  15. "The Ultimate MSX FAQ - MSX-Music section". msxnet.org.
  16. "Zemina MSX "boxes"". Archived from the original on May 25, 2011. Retrieved August 22, 2009.
  17. "Blue-Print Zemmix informational page". blue-print.be. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2009-03-05.