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A History of Korean Gaming

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HG101 Index

크로바 Clover
Founded: 1983
Status: defunct
Key People: 이홍구 Yi Honggu:
President
Website: none

Profile:

An MSX copycat company similar to Zemina. Most of their games are unofficial ports. They also produced Joysticks and Famiclones, among other things.


Games:

셜록 호움즈 1탄 (Sherlock Holmes 1) - MSX (December 1987)


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Clover's first 'real' software release, Sherlock Holmes, was advertised as an Adventure game with Korean screentext. It is likely this was translated and ported from a foreign Sherlock Holmes game. Icoms Consulting Detective series comes to mind, but as the game is not preserved, this remains a speculation.


헬로우 강시 (Hello Kangshi) - MSX, SPC (September 1989)


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This game is very mysterious. It is only known through old advertisements by Clover (it is confirmed that it was released, though), and there doesn't seem to be any previous game with the same title this could be a port of. Hello Kangshi is actually the title of a series of kid's horror/martial arts movies from Hong Kong (Haalo Goengsi in Cantonese), so it could be the port of a really obscure chinese game. However, the series was also very popular in Korea, so it might as well be an original game, or just a renamed Japanese game to cash in with the name.



Still from the movie

플로팅 (Plotting) - MSX (1989)


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This one also only appeared in an advertisement together with Hello Kangshi, but this time the original game is well known. The screenshot to the right shows the C64 version by US Gold.



Plotting (C64 version)

홍길동 (Hong Gildong) / Hong Kil Dong - MSX, Master System (April 1990)


Hong Gildong (MSX)

Hong Gildong (Master System)


Cover

An autoscrolling run 'n gun based on the traditional Korean story Hong Gildong-jeon. The titular hero has to fight ghosts and demons, on his way to the boss (which he fights after mounting a cloud) in each stage he can also open treasure chests, which contain several powerups.

This game offers a good opportunity to take a brief look at the original tale, as it's only the first of many games that are based off or reference it. Hong Gildong is the son of a Yangban, the Korean gentry during the Joseon era (1392 to 1910). Yet he finds himself at the lower end of the caste system because his mother was a mere concubine. So despite being extraordinarily gifted, he has no perspective of social advancement, and isn't even allowed to refer to his father as such. Because he is marked as cursed, his family attempts to have him killed, but he flees and becomes kind of a Korean Robin Hood. At the end of several adventures, he conquers the demon-infested island Yuldo and establishes a nation without social discrimination. The tale is popularly attributed to the 16./17. century scholar Heo Gyun, which is not entirely undisputed among historians of Korean literature.

The game has been originally advertised by a company called Saeron System, but at least the Master System version was published by Clover in the end. Who actually developed the game is not known. The game is extremely rare, despite it being a giveaway at magazine raffles for years.


Hong Gildong (Master System)

Hong Gildong (Master System)

보글보글 (Boggle Boggle) / Bubble Bobble - MSX, Master System (1990)


Boggle Boggle (MSX)

Apparently every Korean MSX developer needed their own rendition of Bubble Bobble. Clover's variant comes with 100 all new levels, which can even be selected individually.



Boggle Boggle (MSX)

뉴테트리스 (New Tetris) - MSX, Master System (1990)


New Tetris (MSX)

Clover's version of Tetris. The "New" in the title refers to the game's two player mode, obviously the game was first available without it, but there's no proof of a previous version by Clover themselves.



New Tetris (MSX)

Super 수왕기 (Super Suwanggi) - MSX (1990)


Super Suwanggi

Super Suwanggi

The Chinese characters in the title screen read Jyuouki in Japanese, which is the original title of Sega's Altered Beast. So of course this is a port to that game, made by Jang Sungmok. It's unknown if the "Super" actually indicates some special features, or if it's all just marketing, though.



Cover

비지란테 (Vigilante) - MSX (1990)


Vigilante

Vigilante

Cover

Yet another port, the single plane brawler Vigilante is the only one of Clover's games that is preserved so far, so it is much better known than the rest. The game features three stages with plenty of enemy types and bosses, but the graphics are pretty bad even for the MSX1. It is also quite unfair, as the supposedly easiest and most common enemy type is extremely dangerous in this version. There's about one single frame to hit them, or else these mooks strangle the player for a good portion if not all of the life bar.



Vigilante

Vigilante

슈퍼 브라더스 월드 1 (Super Bros. World 1) - MSX (June 1991)


MSX Cover

As Zemina went into another direction with part 3 of their Super Boy series, Clover filled the void for an MSX Super Mario Bros. 3 clone. The game features the intro and level map from the original, but the levels are composed differently, with new enemy types, like flying Goomba bombers (probably meant to replace the mini-Goomba throwing ones). It's also significantly shorter than the original. A series of hacks of this game titled Super Bioman, with new levels and some exchanged graphics were sold by Hello Soft and Segye-ro Electronics.



Super Bros. World 1 (MSX)

Super Bros. World 1 (MSX)

More Games - MSX (1990)


Unknown Game

There are a few more games that are only known through an ad by Clover printed in 1990. Of the three, only Sky Fighter is known by its title, but it is not sure whether it was actually a by Clover. The other two show screentext in Hangeul, so it is they're either Korean developed or hacked. The latter option is less likely for games advertised in 1990, though. One seems to show a memory game, the other one just a point bonus screen.


Sky Fighter


Unknown Game

A History of Korean Gaming

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Table of Contents

HG101 Index