In video game parlance, a multicart is a cartridge that contains more than one game. Typically, the separate games are available individually for purchase (such as Sega Smash Pack) or were previously available individually (such as Final Fantasy: Dawn of Souls). For this reason, collections, anthologies, and compilations are considered multicarts. The desirability of the multicart to consumers is that it provides better value, greater convenience, and (in the case of portable games) more portability than the separate games would provide. The advantage to developers is that it allows two or more smaller games to be sold together for the price of one larger game, and provides an opportunity to repackage and sell older games one more time, often with little or no changes.
Multicarts are distinct from minigame series such as Mario Party, Game & Watch Gallery, or WarioWare. These games are made up of several minigames specifically created for the overall game experience. In contrast to this, the NES multicart Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt contains two full-version games, each of which were available for purchase individually.
Although most commonly associated with NES and SNES, multicarts, both authorized and unauthorized, have appeared for many cartridge-based systems, including the Atari 2600, Intellivision, Odyssey 2, Master System, Sega Genesis, Vectrex and Game Boy. As storage capacity on cartridges continues to grow and become less expensive, the popularity of multicarts has seen a resurgence on the only remaining cartridge-based systems, those of Nintendo’s Game Boy Advance and DS. Since launch, these systems have seen an increase in the number of “2-in-1” and “3-in-1” games, with some re-releasing popular titles previously seen on the same platform such as Konami's Castlevania.
Among pirate Famicom games, multicarts often advertise an inflated number of games on their labels, calling them "x-in-1" (x can be any number greater than 1, such as "76-in-1," "200-in-1," "1200-in-1," and even "9999999-in-1"), but in reality usually[1] only have anywhere from five to one hundred truly unique games. The list is padded by different variations of these games, modified to start the player either at different levels or with different power-ups. The games are usually first-generation Famicom titles, several of which were never officially released outside of Japan, and in typical pirate fashion have either had their names deliberately misspelled, their copyright notices/logos removed, or both.
Other popular video game systems also have their own share of unique pirate multicarts. Unlike the Famicom, the Nintendo Game Boy multicarts have a variety of different, innovative multicart designs. Standard-sized Game Boy multicarts have either a game selection menu like the NES multicarts, or require quick toggling of the Game Boy power switch to select through games. Most of them incorporate an external soft reset button (not available on any original cart), so you can reset the game without powering off the system. To overcome the storage limitations of a standard-sized pirate cart, huge pirate carts were created. These unusually large and thick carts, more than two times the height and depth of a standard Game Boy cartridge, were able to store many of the larger new games, such as Donkey Kong Land easily. One drawback of these carts is they lack any battery backup, but some newer carts come with battery backup, so saving games on these carts is impossible if the battery backup is not included. Most of these carts were produced in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
There have been Game Boy Advance multicarts with several GBA games and several or even hundreds of NES ROMs. These carts are known to include some bootlegs, hacks or variations of games, advertising them as different games and giving them incorrect box arts on the main boxart.[2]
These multicarts were published with the consent of the owners of copyright in the games themselves, but without the console maker's consent:
Only released in Europe (PAL systems) contains Atari's early hits such as Blackjack, Boxing and Combat http://www.atariprotos.com/2600/software/32in1/32in1.htm
Due to the relative ease of duplicating Atari 2600 cartridges, a large number of pirate multicarts were developed for the system. Most of these were released outside the US and EU (most commonly Brazil).
Contains Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Junior
includes Atari's Centipede, Breakout and Missile Command
Contains two games for the Master System light gun, the Light Phaser. A third game, Safari Hunt was included in the European release.
Sega-released Master System multicarts were labeled "The Combo Cartridge" on the box, as opposed to the "Mega Cartridge" and "Two-Mega Cartridge" labels placed on single-game cart boxes.
- features Atari's Centipede, Missile Command, and Pong.
Includes remade versions of Mega Man, Mega Man 2, and Mega Man 3, as well as an unlockable exclusive bonus game called Wily Tower.
Included with Sega's lightgun accessory, contains 6 original shooting games
Includes Pac-Man and Pac-Jr., playable by entering a password or going to the Arcade. The latter of which is an exclusive remake of Ms. Pac-Man that requires three cartridges hidden.
Includes Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, and Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine. Released in North America as Sonic Classics
contains remade versions of the NES titles
contains the two arcade classics.
contains Super Mario Bros. and . The latter of which requires 300,000 points in the former.
- features Atari's Centipede, Missile Command and Pong.
Contains the three NES Ninja Gaiden games with an improved color palette and a remixed (and slightly reordered) soundtrack.
Includes Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man, playable by entering a password or going to the Arcade. The latter of which requires three cartridges hidden.
Includes remade versions of the three Super Mario Bros. games on the NES, as well as the Japanese version of Super Mario Bros. 2 (retitled ). These games featured remixed soundtracks of their NES/Famicom counterparts. A later version, bundled with some SNES consoles, also included Super Mario World.
Contains six games for the Super Scope.
Contains Defender, Defender II, Joust, , and Sinistar
Contains Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Pole Position, Galaga, Galaxian, and Dig Dug
Contains Defender, Sinistar, Robotron: 2084, Joust, Spy Hunter, and Tapper
Super Star Adventures/The Search for Pirate Pig's Treasure
contains Pole Position, Galaga, Galaxian, Ms. Pac-Man, and Dig Dug
contains Pac-Man, Rally-X, Galaga, Ms. Pac-Man, and Dig Dug
contains Pac-Man, Pac-Attack, Pac-Man Arrangement, and Pac-Mania
contains Phantasy Star I, II, and III.
2 Game in 1
After Burner/Space Harrier/Out Run/Super Hang-On
contains Ecco the Dolphin, Golden Axe, and Sonic Spinball
contains Super Mario Bros. 2 and Mario Bros.
contains Super Mario World and Mario Bros.
contains Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island and Mario Bros.
contains Super Mario Bros. 3 and Mario Bros.
contains Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and
contains Xevious, Galaga, Galaxian, Pac-Man, Dig Dug II, The Tower of Druaga, Mappy, Super Xevious, and Pac-Man VS
contains Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Sonic and Knuckles, Knuckles in Sonic 2, and Sonic 3 and Knuckles
contains all four games in the Mega Man Zero series.
contains Pac-Man, Galaga, Pac-Man Championship Edition, Galaga Legions, Pac-Man Tilt and Galaga 3D Impact, the last two of which are exclusive to this compilation.