Game + Radio
The catchily-titled ZC-2052 is a variation on the rather prolific 9999 in 1 Brick Game toys and I’ll have to raise my hands and admit before even getting started that I’ve probably paid way over the odds for mine; my rather specific reason for this lapse of judgement will be explained as we go along, although the chances are that it won’t be worth the wait.
The innards used on the ZC-2052 aren’t identical to the GameMate 9999 in 1 that I’ve looked at previously; the claim of 9,999 games is still made on the opening screen that appears when the ZC-2052 is powered up (although not on the unit or packaging this time) but this is presumably an older iteration of the hardware because it doesn’t have as many base variations, meaning that overall tally of “games” is far further away from the ten grand mark in this case. The controls are pretty much the standardised Brick Game ones, but they haven’t been particularly well positioned; the directional controller and rotate button are reasonable but the console buttons have been placed too close together so hitting the start/pause button, which I’ve assumed is labelled here as merely S/P because there was no more space,
Game + Radio - playing a Tetris variant
As the “Game & Radio” flash of the packaging makes no bones about highlighting, this is indeed a combined unit that contains not only the electronics for the Brick Game and an FM scanning radio, two pound shop staples for the price of one! Of course, when I say “combined”, that’s only true in the sense that they’re within the same piece of plastic because the two halves operate totally independently of each other even to the point of having separate battery compartments and, despite claims to the contrary on the packaging, when the radio’s headphones are connected the sound for the game isn’t routed through them so it continues to squeal loudly from the speaker, with the output thankfully being drowned out by whatever station is playing.
The radio is fairly reasonable to be honest, the headphones are of course cheap and totally cheerless and the reception ranges from reasonably good to “transmitting from the eye of a hurricane” depending on the station and where used, but I doubt anyone expects better from these things. And if I’m finding positives, the casing might not be anywhere near as stylish as the developers would like to claim but it doesn’t look too bad and is reasonably well constructed with it.
Game + Radio - playing a driving game
So I mentioned previously about handing over far more hard-earned cash than this hardware is worthy of and my “reasoning” is purely down to the packaging; along with the usual Engrish instructions and claims such as “Wonderful Sound Effect” (although I’ve yet to hear that one), it bears not one but two badges proclaiming the device to have “MP3 Stylish Design” and, in the rather puerile and childish way that I’m perfectly aware of functioning at most days, I absolutely adored that on first seeing it and actively went in search of a unit when some “spare” cash presented itself; just the insinuation that this thing is like an MP3 player but, you know, only in the way it looks rather than at any operational level is somehow worthy of that much “bigging up” on the packaging raises a teeny little grin every time I think about it.
Mmm... MP3 style design!
So yes, I actually paid good money pretty much just for that packaging, which then required cutting open in order to get the hardware out to write it up for you lot… that’s almost a lethal dose of irony, isn’t it? I hope you’re all bloody satisfied!!
Tags: Breakout, combat, GameMate, LCD Devices, pound shop, snake, tetris
I swear the LCD Game hardware in these has been rehashed and reused for at least a good decade.
Oh yes, there are variations in the versions and the games change a little but generally speaking this is the same hardware as the Brick Game i looked at previously!