7 Grand Dad

7 Mario Grand Dad is a rather infamous MMC3-based bootleg hack of The Flintstones: The Rescue of Dino and Hoppy, with Fred Flintstone's in-game sprites edited to look like Mario (well, only his head, but maybe that is enough for some people). The cartridge art is similar to Mario IV (Rock Roll 3M/Rock Roll 4, Super Mario IV), a bootleg hack of Armadillo.

Notes Data

Cheats#

Level Select#

1992 1

A surprisingly overlooked cheat can be used by pressing Select on the title screen, which iterates the number next to the 1992 copyright text through the numbers of 1 for each level (00 to 04 inclusive). Oddly enough, this wasn't programmed correctly, as it actually mixes up the stage order until the castle level and dying once reverts the stage order back to normal.

This feature is not present in the original game. However, the debug menu can be accessed by using the same method as the original game, and is identical, but does not allow you to start at the selected scene, because the code was repurposed for the level select feature.

Get 3 Hearts and Lives#

By pressing Up + Start during gameplay, you'll get 3 hearts and lives. The cartridge label does mention this feature via (albeit confusing) English text stating that "Push Up + Start button. Get addition game. And nourish the blood."

Unused Graphics#

Present in the ROM is an unused row of tiles for the rest of the right leg's knee of the Mario lookalike on the title screen (itself taken and modified from Dian Shi Ma Li). Above is a mockup of what it would look like if it were displayed correctly. Other bootlegs featuring this character do display him correctly, like Mario Fighter III.

The title screen logo from the original game is present and loaded into PPU memory. The Taito logo is loaded in PPU memory if the game is softlocked using Game Genie code ZAAAAA, however, the other graphics were overwritten with the 7 Grand Dad tiles. These leftover graphics, the debug menu, and unused text show that this is a bootleg of the original game's US version.

Some of the Mario-lookalike tiles are obscured by the Fred Flintstone sprite, and so his ear and the back part of his head isn't normally visible, although they can be seen in Dian Shi Ma Li.

Unused Text#

Present from F685-F701 is the copyright text from the original game's title screen. The text was modified to X-out the trademark names, like what was done for Taito's mention in the credits. This can be seen on the title screen by removing the cartridge when it is powered on or enter Game Genie code ZAAAAA to soft-lock the game.