Many of the games released by unlicensed companies like Color Dreams and AVE were originally developed in Hong Kong between 1988 and 1990. This time frame can be called the "glory days" of the legal HK scene; piracy of Famicom games was still (relatively) scarce and large-scale multicarts were still too expensive to be practical to sell. As a result, along with the official release of the Famicom in Asia and the clones that followed, a few dozen original games were released by local, unlicensed companies.

Idea-Tek, releasing under the Super Mega label, was one of those companies. Games like F-15 City War, Puzzle and Venice Beach Volleyball found Asian release through Super Mega, with packaging and manuals of comparable (?) qualities to real Famicom games. The carts themselves are Famicom-compatible, and Super Mega lists addresses in the US and Tokyo on the back of the box, leading one to wonder what plans they had for Japan-area releases..

The manual and enclosed Super Mega catalog are written in Chinese and really bad English, inviting you to "enjoy the most stereo pictures and the most modern horses racing cassette" - I just had to buy it upon reading that. Unfortunately, the box appears to be in error - there are no 3d, Magic Eye, or any other special pictures in this game. Imagine how disappointed I was. (Maybe "stereo pictures" means they are enjoyed best with both eyes open?)

Enjoyable Horse Racing itself is similar in style to the games Idea-Tek got released in the US. Menu options are in characters and English, but to truly enjoy this modern horses racing cassette you'll want to be able to read the announcer's Chinese ramblings about the horses. There aren't any fancy breeding options like in Derby Stallion; just have up to six people place bets on win/place/show and watch the five horses take a lap around the track. It will not win any awards for gameplay, but it gets full points in the |tsr scale of silliness.

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