Mega Duck

Lore & Background

The Mega Duck was sold for about fl 129 in the Netherlands and for similar prices in France and Germany. Its shell came in white or black plastic. 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 did not widely release the Cougar Boy in its origin country. The cartridges are very similar to those of the Watara Supervision but slightly narrower with 36 pins (Supervision cartridges have 40). The Cougar Boy came with a four-in-one game cartridge and a stereo earphone.

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 Spain by CEFA Toys as the Super QuiQue. It uses an external game pad tethered by a cable, has a primary ROM cartridge slot and a secondary slot for a battery-backed save RAM cartridge, and an extra accessory called the Mega Duck Printer was released for this variant. The Mega Duck features a multi-board design separating the motherboard, LCD, and controller PCB into three assemblies.

Reader's Guide

The Mega Duck's significance lies in its hardware similarity to the Game Boy, which allowed easy porting of games between the two systems, and in its unusual global branding strategy under names like Creatronic, Videojet, and Cougar Boy. Its game library, with the exception of the pack-in title The Brick Wall developed by the manufacturer, was entirely created by Thin Chen Enterprise under the Sachen and Commin brand names; those games were later re-released for the Game Boy in multi-cartridges without Nintendo's license. Although 24 cartridges (not counting Cougar Boy variants or add-ons for the Super Junior Computer) are known to exist, another game called Tip & Tap is listed on various websites, but it is not known if it was ever released or existed at all. The console's laptop variants in Germany and Spain show an attempt to repurpose the hardware for the educational market, and the serial link expansion interface allowed two-player gaming. The Mega Duck remains a curious footnote in handheld history, representing a third-party attempt to compete with Nintendo's dominant handheld using compatible hardware and a fragmented global release.

Did You Know?

• The console was sold under multiple brands including Creatronic, Videojet, and Cougar Boy.
• All games except the pack-in title were developed by Thin Chen Enterprise under the Sachen and Commin brand names.
• A laptop variant called the Mega Duck Super Junior Computer was released in Germany, and the Super QuiQue in Spain.