Anyone who's ever been to a flea market or gone to some sketchy online seller's website has probably seen famiclones (poorly made game consoles with NES hardware), often of shitty quality, full of rom hacks or just straight up unlicensed games. While most of these consoles go relatively undiscovered and aren't exactly given the spotlight when found, the games on them can be stupid, fun, or disturbing. Unfortunately for the inconspicuous homebrew title "Roblock", it appeared it was the latter of the three types of games...
First Mentions (2008-09)[]
Original post by DeclanXIV
On June 6th, 2008, a user named "DeclanXIV" posted on the BootlegGames forum, informing others about the 57th title on a 61-in-1 system. This 57th title was reportedly "Roblock" and was presumed by the original poster to be a version of Roblox for the NES. No images or gameplay was attached with the post, only leaving mention of BoylerTech 61-in-1 consoles containing them.
Commenters on this original post seemed intrigued, most likely as Roblox was a 3D game, which the NES hardware was unable to replicate. Users such as "397y" would reply back, with additional evidence of the game's existence, presence on other consoles, and more. It would not be until July 27th, 2009 that in-game screenshots surfaced.
Gameplay Images and Breakthroughs (2009-2010)[]
Title screen post
On the 27th of July, 2009, "397y" would share an image of the title screen after finally getting their hands on a 61-in-1. The message containing this would also reveal some very unusual information; the game had some sort of code preventing access to the game, much to the dismay of the people who were still poking around for more info.
People would continue to try and find a way to break this code and allow gameplay to be accessed. By November of '09, the community had realized that the code required a passcode of 5 digits to unlock the code's editor. This would be the mistake that would ruin one person's livelihood in a matter of a few minutes.
2010 and most of 2011 passed without a shred of discovery. That would be the case until the 18th of December, 2010. 397y had found something new.
Guess Your Way to Failure (2011)[]
397y had cracked the 5 digit code. 18756, it was, a number that was completely insignificant. But getting in was the prize, so, whatever, it had use. Once 397y was in, they'd see something unlike something they'd ever seen in bootleg game files before. Something terrifying.
In 397y's own words: "I was unsure of how to react when what I presumed to be a Roblox Avatar with a grin than must have doubled the size of anything that Cheshire Cat could have done popped up. No text. The only sound was this low hum."
Someone had finally uncovered the secrets that this unsuspecting game had held. All the things that had been wanted were resolved! Or were they?
Imprinted Smile (2011)[]
In an act quite foolish, an unregistered user would do something you usually wouldn't do: Go deeper into a rabbit hole that experts still haven't gone through. Setting up a livestream of himself on this developer screen in the "live-chat", he would sit there with it as the hum got deeper, as the smile grew, until he could no more. It was a sizzle from the cables, then flames. Engulfing everything in the room, except for the grin that felt as if it was consuming more and more, imprinting itself in the memory of the user forever, as the stream ended without a further notice.