Thin Chen Enterprise
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Thin Chen Enterprise is a Taiwanese company that developed several original games for the Nintendo Entertainment System/Famicom and Game Boy (both without license from Nintendo), and other early cartridge-based handheld systems such as the Watara Supervision. Most were released under the Sachen brand name, although the names Joy Van, Hacker International, and Commin were also used for certain early games for the Famicom and handheld consoles respectively. Thin Chen is known for making games that mimic other famous franchises like Sonic, Kirby, and Mega Man. Such examples are Jurrasic Boy 2, Q-Boy, and Thunder Blast Man (also known as Rocman X). Although the games have several similarities, they each have their own unique gameplay, except for some ports to the Game Boy Color, like Rocman X Gold.
Some of their NES games were sold in the US and other regions by other unlicensed publishers such as American Video Entertainment, Color Dreams and Home Entertainment Suppliers (HES).
The last known Sachen releases were Game Boy Color ports of some of their later NES games, released around 1999, although a compilation of many Sachen Game Boy titles was released by the Australian company Tru Blu Entertainment (a subsidiary of HES), in 2004.
Thin Chen Enterprise's website was offline from 2002, leading many to believe that the company had gone out of business. It was replaced in September 2005 by an online store (which currently only accepts orders from Taiwan) bearing the Commin name, selling several (although not all) games from Sachen's back catalogue, as well as some previously unseen products such as Famicom clone systems and Game Boy Advance accessories. However, no new games (aside from the completed but previously unreleased Huge Insect) have appeared on the site, indicating that Sachen may have ceased game development due to the diminished market for original Famicom and Game Boy Color games and the increasing complexity of developing for current consoles, particularly without a license from the hardware manufacturer.
[edit] Games
- Little Red Hood (Famicom/NES)
- Jovial Race (Famicom/NES)
- Olympic IQ
- Super Pang (Famicom/NES, unauthorized port of Super Famicom title Super Buster Bros)
- Bin Guo 75 (Famicom/NES, A slot-machine simulator)
- Thunder Blast Man (Famicom/NES/Game Boy Color, A platformer with a gliding ability and a boomerang weapon)
- Jurassic Boy 2 (Famicom/NES/Game Boy Color, A Sonic-esique game that lacks abilities from the original, such as rolling)
- Q-Boy (Famicom/NES)
- Tasac (Famicom/NES, A basic vertical space-shooter)
- Huge Insect (Famicom/NES, an unreleased Galaga-style game with a wildlife-theme rather than a space-theme)
- Bridge (Famicom/NES, an unreleased game by Thin Chen Enterprises. Not much is known about the game, though)
