It’s difficult to ignore the novelty of playing all of the dorky Nintendo games you grew up with on a pocket-sized, full-color device, and it’s something that Nintendo only kind of delivers on in any official capacity. Sure, you can play a small variety of NES games with an annual Nintendo Online membership, and you can download stuff to your various DS devices, but certain restrictions will forever make some of your favorites out of reach, and those you can get are rarely sold at an inviting price. Do you love Super Mario Bros. so much that you’ll pay $5+ bucks every time you want it on a new device? Probably. We’re all suckers.

There are hundreds of devices out there that promise to deliver a classic gaming experience that you can fit in your pocket… and most of them totally suck. Like the RS-283, these systems will usually have enough familiar games to lure you in, a few untranslated (and therefore usually unplayable) but easy-to-port Famicom games, and then a colossal pile of misbegotten trash that has no reason to exist. Why would someone make a terrible 8-bit port of Plants vs. Zombies? The answer is ‘to fill space’ and/or ‘fool your grandma into buying this thing’. We’re only days away from a terrible Fortnite port that’s basically Commando for Atari.

The Coolbaby RS-20 is bloated with nonsense and trash, but it’s not all bad. It’s built to look like a riff on the vintage Famicom controller, which itself is very cool. It has an on/off switch, a volume dial, and most interestingly, a port to send video to your TV which actually works, so you can use the device as a controller. It’s not the most solid machine, but it does feel well-constructed.

Operating it is just as much of a user interface nightmare as all of these other devices; you turn it on, select a language, and then navigate through 47 screens of choices which aren’t really in consistent alphabetical order, or grouped by genre, or in any way that might help you find… anything. There’s no printed list to guide you through the hellscape, at least one title is just digital gibberish, and it’s unlikely you’ll ever hit the middle 200 games because of the frustration with scrolling. I’ve provided the list of all 472 games below, so you can print or CTRL-F whatever you’d like to play. When you’re done with a game, you hit reset, and the process begins anew. Like it or not. An infinite loop of tedium, backed by a grating soundtrack. The rechargeable battery has a short life, but you can also play plugged in.

Interestingly, when you select English as your language, your select screen includes some kind of anime ninja guy. For the other language, which is Chinese (the characters are zhōng and wén, which just means ‘Chinese language’), you get a Pokemon screen. There’s no Pokemon in this little machine, even though that would probably be one of the best things to include.

Even the most familiar games can seem just a little off; a character’s jump might feel delayed, or the music is pitched wrong, or the controls just feel different. Ultimately, that doesn’t make the system less fun, and it’s also fun to explore Famicom games you might not otherwise pick up if you just never got into the vast world of emulation. As far as pocket-sized games go, this is ‘good enough’, especially at the sub-$30 price range.

Castlevania in Japanese
The Famicom version of Castlevania, ‘Akumajou Dracula’.

Another weird aspect of this device is that it comes with a cartridge slot; it won’t fit any actual games, but it’ll fit a weird cart that unlocks 128 MORE games that are generally worse than the first batch, with titles like Seaport Guarl, Through Man, Assart, Fruitdish, Rural Goblin, Brother Ball, and Difference. It’s all a colossal exercise in WTFery; many of these games appear on all sorts of bootleg carts, and are often made by a company called Nice Code. Plenty are just the same game re-named, or re-skinned, and dumped into a file folder. 

[If you want to see videos of some of these games, click here!]

There’ll never be an unmodded single system that includes a full complement of NES games from start to finish, but these bootleg wonders from overseas don’t really care about your experience; they’re just selling large numbers of games packed into an attractive little console. But knowing this, and by managing your expectations, what’s the real value of terrible games? Are terrible videos games just as collectible and enriching as terrible movies?

Bootleg mini-consoles are kind of like the outsider art of the video game world; there’s no real marketability in a game where you have to avoid letting a bird crap in your outstretched hand, but it exists. Someone was compelled to fill a space by making a playable game about avian excrement. Someone else made a port of Sonic that’s legitimately unplayable because it lacks the physics to make it work, and a version of Angry Birds that’s a sidescrolling kind-of-puzzle game that’s missing enough to also not function.

These birds are angry for different reasons.

It all calls back Action 52, the legendary unauthorized NES cart that included Cheetahmen, a game so notoriously unplayable that levels couldn’t be finished. It became so popular that it was fixed decades later thanks to a Kickstarter; that cult following wanted to see a terrible thing succeed, so maybe these terrible little devices that appear and vanish on eBay have that same place in history. There’s even a Japanese word for bad games that might be fun to play if you want to punish yourself and/or laugh: kusoge. Every one is a weird anomaly, but is ultimately an enjoyable experience if you’re ready to get weird and manage expectations.

The Coolbaby is strange, but not nearly as strange as the aforementioned RS-283, whose entire purpose was to play a game about an ant colony, and as an afterthought, hundreds of other games. It can’t be denied that it’s a fun curiosity, and a really cool part of a bootleg handheld collection.

Below is a complete list of games on this device, typos included. The first 150 have been categorized, but the rest are up to you to explore, since that’s most of the fun here. You’re welcome.

Purple is a legitimate NES game, more or less
Blue is a weird variation of a NES game
Red is a Famicom game that never made it stateside
Green is a bizarre port of something
Grey is poor quality filler-ware that’s never made it to a legit cart

  1. Super Contra 24-in-1 [A large variety of Contra games, most of which just start you with a different weapon for no good reason.]
  2. Super Mario Bros 3
  3. Mighty Final Fight
  4. Sonic [An unplayable port of some weird levels from Sonic the Hedgehog]
  5. Jackal
  6. Contra 12-in-1
  7. Ninja Gaiden 2
  8. 8 Eyes
  9. Alien 3
  10. Bat Tery [Bats & Terry, a sidescroller in a war setting where a guy throws rocks]
  11. Blues Brothers
  12. Rockman [Mega Man 1]
  13. Plants vs Zomb
  14. Bubble Bobble
  15. Castelian
  16. Angry Bird [A sidescrolling puzzle game]
  17. Angry Birds 3 [An incredibly poor port of the mobile game]
  18. Fish War
  19. Snow Bros
  20. Rush N Attack
  21. Gun Nac
  22. Turtle 1 [TMNT1, Japanese translation]
  23. Turtles 2 [An outstanding copy, honestly]
  24. Turtles 3
  25. Adventure Island 3
  26. Cross Fire
  27. Chip & Dale 2
  28. Kage [Shadow of the Ninja]
  29. Tiny Toon 4 [actually Bugs Bunny Birthday Blowout]
  30. Tiny Toon Adventures
  31. Hot Blood Basketball [aka Ganbare Dunk Heroes]
  32. Abarenbou Tengu [Zombie Nation]
  33. Hot Blood March
  34. Hot Blood New Record
  35. Hot Blood Soccer 1
  36. Hot Blood Story
  37. 1944
  38. Asmik Kunland [Asmik-kun Land for the Famicom, about a dinosaur named Boomer in later US games]
  39. Pac Pacland [actually Clu Clu Land with Pac-Man sprites]
  40. Duck Tales 2
  41. Color A Dinosaur
  42. Conan (The Mysteries of Time)
  43. Crackout
  44. Dick Tracy
  45. Dragon’s Lair [yes, the terrible NES port]
  46. Dr. Chaos
  47. Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde
  48. Duck Tales
  49. Lifeforce
  50. Ikari [Ikari Warriors, Japanese translation]
  51. 3-D World Runner
  52. Metal Gear
  53. Double Dragon 3
  54. Akumajou Dracula [Castlevania]
  55. Aigiina No Yogen [From the Legend of Balubalouk]
  56. Alfred Chicken
  57. Flying Hero
  58. The Ultimate Gameon [aka Hikari no Senshi Foton, or Photon, The Ultimate Game On Earth, a game based on laser tag]
  59. Fun House
  60. Garfield [A Week of Garfield]
  61. Gauntlet
  62. Gekitotsu Yon Ku Batt [Gekitotsu Yonku Battle, a racing game like Rally-X]
  63. Ghosts N Goblins
  64. Gilligan’s Island
  65. Goonies 2
  66. Gun Smoke
  67. Hanano Star Kaidou
  68. Hello Kitty World
  69. Higemaru Makaijima [Hell Island : The Great Adventure of 7 Islands]
  70. Hino Tori
  71. Hyper Soccer
  72. Transmission [a top-down maze game with warp zones]
  73. Kyuu Tiger [Twin Cobra]
  74. Kick Master
  75. Kiwi Kraze
  76. Krion Conquest
  77. Lupin Sansei
  78. Majou Demsetsu 2 [The Maze of Galious : Knightmare II]
  79. Mappy Land
  80. Mario Yoshi [just Yoshi in the US]
  81. Adventure in 2100 [Miracle Ropitt: 2100-Toshi no Daibouken]
  82. Mottomo Abunai Deka [based on a 1980s Japanese detective show]
  83. Nangoku Shirei Spy Vs Spy [Spy vs. Spy 2, which takes place on an island]
  84. Ninja Akakage
  85. Ninja Kun Ashura No Shou [Adventure of Devil Castle]
  86. ????? [Puss ‘n’ Boots]
  87. Rampage
  88. Smash TV
  89. Spelunker 2
  90. Super Xevious
  91. The Chessmaster
  92. New Zealand Story [Kiwi Kraze in the US]
  93. Wagan Land
  94. Wayne Gretzky Hockey
  95. Woody Poko
  96. Yoshi’s Cookie
  97. Terminator 2
  98. Terra Cresta
  99. The Money Game [a semi-educational stock market game, untranslated]
  100. Thundercade
  101. Times of Lore
  102. Tactful [a top-down war-themed game where you drop a single land mine at a time]
  103. Total Recall
  104. Touch Down Fever
  105. Trog
  106. Twin Eagle
  107. Wit S [Wit’s – a game like Tron but with superheroes]
  108. Xenophobe
  109. Xexyz
  110. X-Men
  111. Zanac
  112. Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle
  113. Chu Da D [a card game]
  114. Ring King
  115. Dice [roll a die around a board to match it to another die]
  116. Spider-Man [Return of the Sinister Six, missing some title screens]
  117. Splash Bomb [Keroppi no Keroriinu no Splash Bomb, a Bomberman-like game with Keroppi]
  118. Sukeban Deka 3 [Female Delinquent Cop 3, based on a manga]
  119. The Farmer [catch falling sheep while avoiding falling wolves]
  120. Super Glove Ball
  121. Bounce [Mappy Land reskin]
  122. Super Star Force
  123. Tataki No Banka [Trojan]
  124. World Cup Soccer [Tecmo]
  125. 1942
  126. 1943
  127. 80 Days [Puss ‘n’ Boots : Around the World in 80 Days]
  128. Adventure Island
  129. Arkista’s Ring
  130. Astro Robo Sasa [propel yourself with bullets around an arena]
  131. Surface Fire [bad version of Millipede]
  132. Corridor [top-down fighter pilot game; reskin of something unidentified]
  133. Babelno Tou [Tower of Babel]
  134. Back to the Future
  135. Badminton [Super Dyna’mix Badminton]
  136. Baltron [similar to Defender]
  137. Banana
  138. Bandai Golf [Challenge Pebble Beach]
  139. Adventures of Lolo
  140. Adventures of Lolo 2
  141. Aladdin 3 [aka Magic Carpet 1001]
  142. Alien Asylum [Dash Galaxy in the Alien Asylum]
  143. Alpha Mission
  144. Argus
  145. Arkanoid
  146. Battleship
  147. Battle Tank
  148. Bingo 75 [Slot machine game]
  149. Cyberball
  150. Beankids [reskin of Transmission with a bean-baby character]
  151. Boulder Dash
  152. Buggy Popper
  153. Jumping Kid
  154. Burai Fighter
  155. B Wings
  156. Cadillac [aka Square Deal:The Game of Two-Dimensional Poker]
  157. Card Captor Sakura
  158. Castle Excellent
  159. Castlequest
  160. Challenger
  161. Championship Bowling
  162. Chinese Chess
  163. Chitei Tanken
  164. Choplifter
  165. Chubby Cherub
  166. Colorful Dragon
  167. Cosmo Genesis
  168. Deblock
  169. Destination Earthstar
  170. FIFA 2004
  171. Donkey Kong Classics
  172. Dorae Bomb
  173. Dough Boy
  174. Dr. Mario
  175. Drop Zone
  176. Duck [aka Duck Maze, a bad clone of Penguin Land]
  177. Dynamite Bowl
  178. Egypt
  179. Elevator Action
  180. Exed Exes
  181. Fire Dragon
  182. Firehouse Rescue
  183. Flappy
  184. Flipull
  185. Friday the 13th
  186. Galg
  187. Geimos
  188. Ghostbusters
  189. Giabbit
  190. Goonies
  191. Gradirs
  192. Gradius
  193. Gyrodine
  194. Penta Base
  195. Gyruss
  196. Harry Potter
  197. Hassle
  198. Hello Kitty
  199. Hokutono Ken
  200. Hydlide
  201. I Can Remember
  202. Ice Hockey
  203. Ice Ocean
  204. Idolshisenmahjang
  205. Little Witch
  206. Karate Champ
  207. Keroppi No Daibouken
  208. King’s Knight
  209. Kings of the Beach
  210. Resistant
  211. Twin Boar
  212. Lot Lot
  213. Mach Rider
  214. Magic Mathe Matic
  215. Magmax
  216. Major League Baseball
  217. Meikun
  218. Metal Fighter
  219. Metro Cross
  220. Mickey Mouse
  221. Pathway
  222. Dejectile
  223. Golden Bird
  224. Monster Truck Rally
  225. Ms. Pac Man
  226. Musashi No Ken
  227. Mystery Quest
  228. Ninja 2
  229. Obake No Q Tarou
  230. Onyanko Town
  231. Othello
  232. Pachi Com
  233. Perfect Fit
  234. Pipe Dream
  235. Porter
  236. Power Soccer
  237. Pro Wrestling
  238. Puzznic
  239. Q-Bert
  240. Quarterback
  241. Pac Land
  242. Palamedes
  243. Palamedes 2
  244. Paperboy
  245. Peepar Time
  246. Penguin Kun Wars
  247. Quarth
  248. RC Pro Am
  249. Route 16 Turbo
  250. Sansuu 3 Nen
  251. Seicross
  252. Mars
  253. Semerumo
  254. Sesame Street ABC
  255. Solomon’s Key
  256. Son Son
  257. Space Hunter
  258. Spartan X
  259. Spelunker
  260. Spy Hunter
  261. Spy Vs. Spy
  262. Sky Kid
  263. Slalom
  264. Snake Rattle ‘n’ Roll
  265. Soap Panic
  266. Soccer
  267. Solar Wars
  268. Sqoon
  269. Star Luster
  270. Star Soldier
  271. Super Chinese
  272. Super Mario Bros
  273. Strafe
  274. Super X Wing
  275. T&C Surf Design
  276. Tetris
  277. tetris 2
  278. The Last Star Fighter
  279. The Legend of Kage
  280. The Newhuman
  281. The Penguin Seal
  282. Thexder
  283. Tiger Helo
  284. Tower of Druaga
  285. Track & Field
  286. Transformers
  287. Twin Bee
  288. Valkyrie No Bouken
  289. Volguard 2
  290. Volleyball
  291. Wedding Bell
  292. Wisdom Boy
  293. Antarctic Adventure
  294. Arabian
  295. Balloon Fight
  296. Baseball
  297. Battle City
  298. Battle City 2
  299. Binary Land
  300. Bird Week
  301. Sky Invader
  302. Wrecking Crew
  303. Xevious
  304. 10 Yard Fight
  305. 4 Mahjong
  306. Black White Chess
  307. Block Puzzle
  308. Bomber Man
  309. Bomb Sweeper
  310. Box World
  311. Brush Roller
  312. Warrior
  313. Falling
  314. Chack N Pop
  315. Circus Charlie
  316. City Connection
  317. Clu Clu Land
  318. Coast Guard
  319. Cub Adventure
  320. Defender 2
  321. Deflower
  322. Depth Bomb
  323. Devildom Doom
  324. Devil World
  325. Dig Dug
  326. Donkey Kong
  327. Donkey Kong 3
  328. Donkey Kong Jr.
  329. Donkey Kong Jr. Math
  330. Door Door
  331. Dora Bros
  332. Excitebike
  333. Exerion
  334. F1 Race
  335. Field Combat
  336. Formation Z
  337. Front Line
  338. Galaga
  339. Galaxian
  340. Glommy Chess
  341. Golf
  342. Ikki
  343. IQ Champion
  344. Jewelry
  345. Joust
  346. Karateka
  347. Levin Action
  348. Lode Runner
  349. Lode Runner 2
  350. Gomoku
  351. Shrew Mouse
  352. Hallihoo
  353. Helicopter
  354. Hexapod War
  355. High Jump
  356. Hoodle
  357. Hyper Olympic
  358. Hyper Sports
  359. Ice Climber
  360. Lunar Ball
  361. Lunarian
  362. Macross
  363. Mahjong
  364. Manin Red
  365. Mappy
  366. Mario Bros
  367. Maze
  368. Millipede
  369. MUSCLE
  370. Nibbles
  371. Night Arrow
  372. Ninja Jajamaru Kun
  373. Ninja Kun
  374. Nuts Milk
  375. Pac Man
  376. Penguin
  377. Pinball
  378. Pobble
  379. Poker
  380. Polar Bat
  381. Pooyan
  382. Popeye
  383. Pyramid
  384. Raid on Bungeling Bay
  385. Risker
  386. Road Fighter
  387. Season Garden
  388. Sea War
  389. Sky Destroyer
  390. Small Mario
  391. Space ET
  392. Star Force
  393. Star Gate
  394. Tank A1990
  395. Tennis
  396. Twin Cards
  397. Twin Fish
  398. UFO Race
  399. Urban Champion
  400. Warpman
  401. Shoot
  402. Wrestle
  403. X Racing
  404. Yie Ar Kung Fu
  405. Zippy Race
  406. Climbing
  407. Power Bladez
  408. Prince of Persia
  409. Street Fighter 2010
  410. Puyo Puyo
  411. Rally Bike
  412. Rambo
  413. Robocop 2
  414. Rollerball
  415. Rooland
  416. Super Mario Bros 2
  417. Pocket Monster
  418. POW Prisoners of War
  419. Rainbow Island
  420. The Smurfs
  421. Chester Field
  422. Eggerland Meikyuuno
  423. Ernarc No Zaihou
  424. The Secret Scroll
  425. Amagon
  426. Valis The Fantastic
  427. Argos No Senshi
  428. Astyanax
  429. Athena
  430. Attack Animal Gakuen
  431. Bad Street Brawler
  432. Batand Tery
  433. Batman
  434. Battle of Olympus
  435. Blades of Steel
  436. Bomber King
  437. Booby Kids
  438. Legendary Wings
  439. Little Mermaid
  440. Loopz
  441. Lord Word of Jenny
  442. Magic Block
  443. Majou Densetsu 2
  444. Shatter Hand
  445. Mickey Mouse 3
  446. Moero Twinbee
  447. Perfect Bowling
  448. Saint Seiya
  449. Ferrari Grand Prix C
  450. Fist of the North Star
  451. Guardian Legend
  452. Guerilla War
  453. Hector 87
  454. Hokutono Ken 2
  455. Kekefu Kun
  456. Klash Ball
  457. Konami Hyper Soccer
  458. Labyrinth
  459. Layla
  460. Saiyuuki World
  461. Section Z
  462. Shanghai
  463. Shufflepuck Cafe
  464. Side Pocket
  465. Aether Mission
  466. Circle Racing
  467. Colliding
  468. Fantasy Zone
  469. Fishing Challenge
  470. Forest Kid
  471. Magic Jony
  472. Orb 3-D

    BONUS CART GAMES

1. Pacmania
2. RBI Baseball
3. Road Runner
4. Seething
5. Sky Dreamer
6. Sky Shark
7. Top Golf
8. Vindicators
9. Zoom
10. Abscondee
11. Bubble
12. Aim Cruise
13. 100M Dush
14. Airwolf
15. Animal Blockes
16. Animal Contest
17. Balloon Shoot
18. Blocks World
19. Brother Ball
20. Bug Catcher
21. Busy Bar
22. Butterfly Stroke
23. Candy Workeshop
24. Contest
25. Cookies Labrinth
26. Crystal Blast
27. The Fighting Machine [Cybernoid]
28. Danger Bridge
29. Deformable
30. Difference
31. Egg Contest
32. Escapeway
33. Fairy’s Treasure
34. Falling Blocks
35. Fated Pirate
36. Final Blood
37. Fish Story
38. Fling Ball
39. Freestyle
40. Fuit Gift
41. Ghost Castle
42. Golby
43. Greeds
44. Hammer and Nail
45. Happy Match
46. Island
47. Jump Jump
48. Lattice Winner
49. Lightning
50. Magic Egg
51. Meccano
52. Milon’s Secret Castle
53. Mirror Devil World
54. Moai Kun
55. Mouse Snare
56. Mowing
57. Music Moment
58. Ninja3
59. Nut Cracky
60. Octopus
61. Pindable
62. Pizza Boy
63. Poker Av
64. Police Dog
65. Polive vs. Thief
66. Polk
67. Pong Pong
68. Power Robot
69. Crisis
70. Rabbit Village
71. River Jump
72. Road Worker
73. 110M Hurdles
74. Seaport Guarl
75. Sea Wolf
76. Sodoku
77. Super Dynamix Badminton
78. Spring World
79. Submarine
80. Surfg Sport
81. Taboo: The Sixth Sense
82. Tag Team Pro Wrestling
83. Through Man
84. Toad in the Hole
85. Toy Factory
86. Utmost Warfare
87. Vigilant
88. War Zone
89. Water Pipe
90. Wild Worm
91. WondeBall
92. Antiquarium
93. Aquarium
94. Archery
95. Arena
96. Assart
97. Burbles
98. Burger Time
99. Burrow Explorer
100. Cannonade
101. Close Quarters
102. Diamond
103. Discus Put
104. Dune War
105. First Defender
106. Five Days
107. Frantic Mouse
108. Fruitdish
109. Gallagant
110. Gate
111. Goal Keeper
112. Panzer Attack
113. Popeye J
114. Puzzle
115. Rural Goblin
116. Shot Put
117. Snowball
118. Star
119. The Archer
120. Triple Jump
121.Undersea Arena
122. Goblet Tower
123. Javelin
124. Long Jump
125. Lunation
126. Mad Xmas
127. Magic Bubble
128. Move Box

C. David is a writer and artist living in the Hudson Valley, NY. He loves pinball, Wazmo Nariz, Rem Lezar, MODOK, pogs, Ultra Monsters, 80s horror, and is secretly very enthusiastic about everything else not listed here.