A'can: An ill-fated console from Taiwan (English subtitled)

Been looking forward to this "documentary" video for the longest time since the guy has done it in his native language but a "Dubbed" or English Translation script of the video has never been done till now! People like him on YouTube deserves more credit on the site!

 

I watched this yesterday. Very happy it was made available in English. It's fairly easy to understand too.

 

We had a super acan collector and enthusiast here... can't remember his name lol

 

Nice! This seems like it will be pretty interesting. I'll definitely give it a watch. I haven't heard all that much about the system.

I think I know who you're talking about but I also can't remember the name. I think the logo was found in his/her signature or something like that.

 

Btw i find the games to be better than the guy in the video states, and a couple of them wouldn't mind playing if they were around in english on same emu

 

This was a great watch and an important recording to help document and preserve the consoles history.

I think there are a few collectors and enthusiasts around.

I’m pretty sure @wheelaa has a collection of A’Can games?!?!?

 

^ the guy you are talking about had "I'm pro A'can" in his signature.

 

Actually a few of those games are available on MS-DOS already (if anyone know how to hack DOS games) could translate those versions instead.

 

That's it. Where is he/she? They should be all over this thread.

 

Surprised people remember that sig. That's me! Only just recently deleted it because I never see people's signatures so just assumed it's not even displaying anymore.

It's surprising no one touched A'can sooner, this guy did a good job. I'm not exactly sure where his info about Rebel Star being samples that leaked came from, always thought it was just a game that had very limited production.

Since we're talking about A'can again, It's worth pointing out I tried contacting former A'can devs before. A few months back I got in touch with the former general manager at Funtech who unfortunately said he has no materials left over from those days. I showed him the 32x ripoff attachment that was planned and he confirmed it was only ever a concept and never went into development. I found the former sound programmer for Speedy Dragon who had nothing to share. There's also TomSoft who previously worked on the fighting game 鳥籠院(Birdcage Yard), but sadly same deal, didn't save anything.

I wish I could find more people but they've become pretty elusive. It would be neat if someone out there held onto the code for any unreleased games, but I'm sensing the immense failure of the console and all didn't encourage anyone to hold onto their past work.

BTW, the only DOS games that were ported onto A'can were African Adventures and Sango Fighter. As the guy pointed out, Super Dragon Force is an updated version of the DOS game and almost is a whole new game. Super Taiwanese Baseball League was released on the Megadrive in Taiwan and is a cheap port.

If anyone out there is really into A'can, I implore you to send your undumped games to Kevtris to get them preserved. I sent him my carts of Son of Evil, Speedy Dragon, and C.U.G, which gave a good boost to MESS's emulation support, but that sadly wasn't enough to get emulation perfected. I think the only games not dumped are Magical Pool, Rebel Star, and Formosa Duel. The rare times they do show up on auction they're stupidly expensive, unfortunately. Rebel Star is likely going to never happen unless some collector opens their heart.

 

Son of Evil sounded ike an interesting game.

 

Besides @wheelaa, i think the other A'Can fan was @Tomleecee.

 

I'm also a huge A'can fan! I'm currently only missing 3 games - Formosa Duel, Rebel Star, and Taiwanese Baseball League. I've got a lead on a copy of Formosa Duel. I'll also have some A'can games to trade soon!

I've been trying to find anyone who owns a copy of Rebel Star, but it might be one of the rarest games out there.

 

Speaking of the A'Can... (CTRL+C/CTRL+V) I can't find it online so here is a scan of a magazine dedicated to the Super A'Can I found on the net a few years ago.
http://www.mediafire.com/file/btdabq7bdd99itp/A'can+magazine.rar

 

I can maybe find some scans about the systems on other magazines at Wayback Machine to keep this going. Good find

 

I have Magical Pool and Formosa Duel - however, according to this website, they've been dumped?

https://www.mess.org/dumping/games_needed

I can't find the ROMs to them, but they *should* exist. If I ever track down Rebel Star, I'll be sure to get it dumped.

 

It's best to dump those 2 online 'cause you never know if they're been dumped before

 

Really cool to see this. I've always been intrigued by the super a'can and have wanted one for some time...

 

Hey @DarkKobold, do you still plan in dumping Magical Pool & Formosa Duel online? Just to make sure they're properly dumped

 

Very interesting. I've heard of this console for a while but never really knew much about it.