We loved it because it was the ultimate expression of "quantity over quality" done so poorly it circled back to art.
: Because these cartridges prioritized volume (even fake volume), they rarely included the expensive SRAM or batteries required for saving progress. The Cultural Impact
Actual hardware pirates in the 1990s (the infamous "Golden 16-in-1" carts) used this trick constantly. They would take one game and hack the title screen to say "Mario 1," "Mario 2," "Mario 3," then just loop the same code. A "99999 in 1" is usually just repeated 19,998 times each.
To pretend the games are different, developers apply simple palette swaps or change game assets. For example, you might see " Moon Mario
