Mega Duck

The Mega Duck WG-108 (also known as Cougar Boy) is a handheld game console that was developed and manufactured by Hong Kong–based Welback Holdings through its Timlex International division, and released in 1993.

It was marketed under various different brands worldwide including Creatronic and Videojet, and the shell of the console came in white or black plastic. It was sold for about fl 129 in the Netherlands, and for a similar price in France and Germany.

In South America (mainly in Brazil), the Chinese-made Creatronic version was distributed by Cougar USA, also known as "Cougar Electronic Organization", and sold as the "Cougar Boy". Cougar USA didn't release the Cougar Boy in its origin country.

The cartridges are very similar to those of the Watara Supervision, but slightly narrower with fewer contacts (36 pins, whereas Supervision cartridges have 40). But unlike the Supervision, the hardware of the Mega Duck is almost identical to that of the Game Boy, enabling easy ports between the two systems.

The Cougar Boy came with a four-in-one game cartridge and a stereo earphone.

With an external joystick (not included) two players could play against each other simultaneously.

A variant in the form of an educational laptop for children was released in Germany by Hartung as the Mega Duck Super Junior Computer, and in Brazil as the Super QuiQue. An extra accessory called the Mega Duck Printer was also released for this variant.

Technical specifications

The Mega Duck features a multi board design, separating the motherboard, LCD, and controller PCB into three different assemblies. The battery compartment is found on the back casing, being the contacts connected by wires and soldered onto the main board.
* CPU: Sharp SM83 (Z80-like, embedded in the LR35902 System on a chip) @ 4.194304 MHz
* RAM: 16 KB in two 8K chips (Goldstar GM76C88LFW)
* LCD: 2.7" (48 (h) × 51 (w) mm) STN dot matrix. resolution 160×144 at 59.732155 Hz
* Colours: 4 levels of dark blue on a green background
* Player controls: 4 directional keys, A, B, Select and Start keys
* Other controls: On/off switch, contrast and volume dials
* Sound: 4 channels (2 pulse wave, 1 wavetable and 1 noise) with built-in speaker (8Ω 200 mW) and stereo headset output
* Dimensions:
* Weight: 249 g (w/o batteries)
* Power: Four AA batteries or AC adapter 6 VDC / 300 mA
* Current consumption: 700 mW
* Play duration: 15 hours on one set of four AA batteries
* Expansion Interface: Serial link for two player games (6 pins), or external joystick.
* Game medium: 36 pins ROM cartridge, 63 (l) × 54 (w) mm and 7 mm thick, 17 gram.

List of games

This is an (incomplete) list of Mega Duck/Cougar Boy games. Each Mega Duck/Cougar Boy game is similarly labelled as the same games were marketed for both systems, although not all games were released for the Cougar Boy. The notation MDxxx is used for Mega Duck Games, and the notation CBxxx for a Cougar Boy Games. A MD002 is exactly the same game as the CB002, even to a point that some "Cougar Boy" games start up with a Mega Duck logo. Some notation numbers go unused, going up to 037, but missing 012 and 023 for example.

With the exception of the pack-in game for the Mega Duck (The Brick Wall) which was developed by the manufacturer, all games were developed by Thin Chen Enterprise under the "Sachen" and "Commin" brand names, and were later re-released for the Game Boy in 4-in-1 and 8-in-1 cartridges without the license from Nintendo.

Although 24 cartridges (not counting Cougar Boy variants or add-ons for the Super Junior Computer) are known to exist, another game is listed on various websites called Tip & Tap, however, it is not known if the game was ever released, or if it existed at all.

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References

{{Handheld game consoles

Discontinued handheld game consoles
Handheld game consoles
Fourth-generation video game consoles
Products introduced in 1993