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History
M&D, short for Guangzhou Menglong Technology Co., Ltd. was a Chinese consumer electronics and interactive media manufacturer. The company has historically drawn notable industry backing. It raised a multi-million dollar Series A funding round from IDG Capital in 2010. The company was known for producing various toys, including handheld games. The first successful handheld line produced by M&D, called the Dream Dragon, was based on the popular Chinese franchise Roco Kingdom. That handheld introduced physical trading cards and badges that could be used in games. The cards and badges were sold in booster packs and had different effects on the games.
But in 2014, M&D decided to push the concept a bit further and to release its first handhelds featuring interchangeable cartridges.
Release
The Monon Color was released in October 2014. Instead of building high-budget original game software from scratch, M&D’s business model focused on translating widely popular domestic children’s brands, anime, and foreign gaming properties into game cartridges. For the Monon, M&D managed to secure licenses from Roco Kingdom, Marvel, and Dragon Ball.
The Monon Color is, at its core, a pretty simple handheld. The only noteworthy feature is infrared communication to allow the system to communicate with other Monon Color handhelds. But, through special cartridges, some games extended the capabilities of the handheld and added the ability to scan cards and badges. Scanning these would extend the playability of some games by adding extra characters, power ups, etc. These were sold in individual trading packs . The cards were specific per each game, but in some instances could work with other M&D handhelds such as the Dream Dragon.
Demise
The Monon Color was never designed to compete against the handhelds of its time. It was always supposed to be a relatively cheap toy aimed at people that wanted affordability over quality. Under these circumstances, the Monon Color did pretty well. When the sales started to drop, M&D abruptly cancelled the Monon Color. M&D continued to release other electronic toys, but never released a successor to the Monon Color.
Console Variation
There are four known colors. The consoles were also distributed in various formats: boxes with or without games, and blister packs. A second model of the console was released with a rechargeable battery instead of 3 AA batteries, but retained all other aspects. And while the name might suggest that a monochrome version of the Monon might exist, it is not the case.
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| Blue | Red | White | Silver/Gold |
Games
There are 20 known games. Each game retailed for around 30 RMB. The first wave of games (101–106 & 201) were all released in cardboard packaging with a black cartridge. Zombie Hunter (107) was the first game released as a blister pack, but it is the only blister-pack game to use a black cartridge. All other games in blister packs have a white cartridge. Eventually, all games originally released in boxes were re-released in the blister-pack format.
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| 101 – 赛尔号战神斗魂卡 God of War Fighting Soul Card |
102 -洛克王国魔法阵卡 Roco Kingdom: Magic Array |
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| 103 – 机甲旋风格斗大赛 Mech Cyclone: Fighting Tournament |
104 -神 Zinba!: The Lost Relics |
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| 105 – 赛尔号能源大作 Xaar Energy Combat Card |
106 – 英雄反击 Iron Man: Hero Counterattack |
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| 107 – 僵尸猎人 Zombie Hunter |
108 – 雅思塔大冒险 IELTS Adventure |
109 – 眼力连连看 Eyesight |
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| 201-洛克王国大冒险 Roco Kingdom: Big Adventure |
202-洛克王国-冰之蓝 Roco Kingdom: Ice Blue |
203 – 卡其色 黑之炎洛克 Roco Kingdom: Black Flame |
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| 204 – 藕色 洛克卡牌战纪 Roco Kingdom: Card Battle Chronicles |
205- 铠甲大乱斗 Armor Brawl |
206 – 王者徽章 King Badge |
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| 301 – 逻辑拼一拼 Logic Fight |
302 – 喜羊羊灰太狼 Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf |
303 – 七龙珠武道大会 Dragon Ball: Martial Arts Tournament |
304 – 英雄联盟 League of Legends: Ultimate Fighting |
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| 奥数实验室 Olympia Lab |
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Technical Specification
- Dimension: 130x81x33mm
- Resolution 320×240 TFT 2.4″
- CPU : AppoTech AX208 (custom 8051-derived core running at up to ~96 MHz, with integrated video features and JPEG decoder).
- RAM : 16K
- Infrared Communication
- Internal speaker + earphone jack
- 3 AA batteries or rechargeable battery
If you have any other information on this device, don’t hesitate to Contact Us.
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