Magic John on Famicom: The Japanese Cartridge Behind Totally Rad, and Its Product Code JF-30

Magic John (マジックジョン) is a Jaleco action game for the Famicom, released in Japan on 28 September 1990. You play John, an apprentice magician. When strangers attack him and carry off his girlfriend, Yuu, he sets out to rescue her and find out who the enemy is, fighting with magic and a telekinetic ball; after each round his teacher, Mr. Pong, has advice for him. In North America the same game came out on the NES in March 1991 as Totally Rad, with its heroes redrawn.

Totally Rad is the North American cartridge, not the Japanese one. Neither is the 2025 Nintendo Switch release, which bundles both versions as a download. This guide covers what the Japanese release is, what changed on the way to Totally Rad, and how to find the cartridge by its product code, JF-30 — which, on Kataban, works better than the title.

• Japanese title: マジックジョン (Magic John), published by Jaleco (ジャレコ) and developed by Aicom, according to the English Wikipedia article
• Famicom: 28 September 1990 · product code JF-30 · 5,600円 before tax
• North America: Totally Rad on the NES, March 1991 · cartridge code NES-6T
• On Switch since 24 April 2025: City Connection’s ジャレコレ ファミコン編 (Jaleco Collection, Famicom edition) release, 990円 in Japan — Magic John plus Totally RAD, download only
• Find it by code: JF-30 on Kataban returns this one cartridge; the title マジックジョン also returns two Magic Johnson basketball games
• On eBay: Magic John famicom finds the Japanese cartridge; Totally Rad nes finds mostly the NES versions, North American and European

What is Magic John, and how is it related to Totally Rad?

They are the same game under two names. The English Wikipedia article introduces Totally Rad as the game “known in Japan as Magic John”, developed by Aicom and published by Jaleco, and dates it “in Japan on September 28, 1990, in North America in March 1991”. The Japanese release date is the same in the Agency for Cultural Affairs Media Arts Database, which lists the Famicom cartridge at 5,600円 before tax.

The Japanese game database Pikopiko Daihyakka describes the story from the Japanese side: John, an apprentice magician, is attacked by someone unknown; the goal is to rescue his kidnapped girlfriend Yuu and discover who the enemy is; you attack with magic and a telekinetic ball; and after each round his master, Mr. Pong, gives him advice.

What changed between Magic John and Totally Rad?

Mostly the characters. The English Wikipedia article — which is itself flagged as needing more citations — says the two versions “are mostly the same, except for the characters”:

• The cast. “In the original Magic John, the main characters are two preadolescent, Japanese-style cartoon friends. In Totally Rad, they are redesigned into becoming two Californian teens who talk in contemporary ‘surfer’ lingo.”
• The names. John becomes Jake, Yuu becomes Allison, and the teacher known as Pong in the Japanese version becomes Zebediah Pong
• Continues. Magic John has unlimited continues; in Totally Rad, “the player is limited to three continues”

Is the Switch release the Japanese version?

It is the Famicom game — but not a cartridge. 4Gamer.net reported that City Connection would release ジャレコレ ファミコン編：マジックジョン & Totally RAD on Nintendo Switch on 24 April 2025, download only, at 990円, as the sixth title in its Famicom line. It contains the 1990 Magic John and the overseas Totally RAD, with a Japanese translation. Outside Japan it is sold as JALECOlle Famicom Ver. Magic John & Totally RAD: the US Nintendo eShop lists it at $7.99, released 23 April 2025, with Japanese and English as its languages, and says “You can play the original Magic John in English.”

If you want to play Magic John, that is the easy way. If you want to own the Japanese original, it is still the 1990 cartridge — and a Famicom cartridge needs a Famicom, since its 60-pin board does not fit an NES without an adapter.

What is the product code, and how do you tell the cartridges apart?

The Japanese cartridge is JF-30. Four separate listings give it: Pikopiko Daihyakka, a Hard-Off shop listing, the fan wiki FamiWiki, and arcade-history, which files the game as “Magic John [Model JF-30]”. FamiWiki also gives the North American cartridge’s code, NES-6T. So JF-30 and the title マジックジョン mean the Japanese Famicom cartridge; NES-6T and Totally Rad mean the North American NES one.

The code is not in the Agency for Cultural Affairs Media Arts Database, which Kataban’s catalog is built on. We added it on 12 September 2026 from the sources above, so the catalog card for Magic John now shows it.

Why search Kataban by the code instead of the title?

Because the code finds exactly one game, and the names do not. On 12 September 2026:

• JF-30 returned 1 result: Magic John
• マジックジョン returned 3 results. The other two are basketball games named after Magic Johnson — マジックジョンソンのスーパースラムダンク (Super Famicom, 1993) and マジック・ジョンソンとカリーム・アブドゥール・ジャバーのスラムジャム'96 (Sega Saturn, 1996) — and Magic John was listed third
• Totally Rad and Magic John returned 0 results, because the catalog has no English title for this entry

So on Kataban, type JF-30. The card shows the Japanese title, the release date and the kana to look under on a Japanese shelf (マ, in the ま row).

Where can you buy the Japanese cartridge?

Suruga-ya: the code search returns a mixed list. On 24 September 2026, a Suruga-ya search for JF-30 returned seven listings: two for Magic John, both in stock at Suruga-ya itself, and five for other Jaleco Famicom games (西遊記ワールドII 天上界の魔神, エスパ冒険隊 and 風雲少林拳 暗黒の魔王). It is the same search the Suruga-ya code button on Kataban’s Magic John card opens, so read the titles and look for マジックジョン. The title マジックジョン returned four: two for Magic John and two for the Magic Johnson basketball game. Suruga-ya hides sold-out items by default, so if the list below has no マジックジョン in it, the game is out of stock that day, not missing from the shop.

eBay: search Magic John famicom, not the North American title. On 24 September 2026 (measured from Japan), Magic John famicom returned 10 exact matches: eight Magic John Famicom cartridges, one manual on its own, and one two-game set (Magic John with Two on Two). Everything below those ten was padding that eBay adds under its notice that the remaining results match fewer words. Totally Rad nes returned 57, and 51 of them were the NES Totally Rad — 26 of those say in the title that they are European cartridges (PAL, NOE, FRA or UKV) — with just one Japanese Magic John cartridge among them. The North American title finds the Western versions; for the Japanese cartridge, search Magic John with “famicom”. Kataban’s card for this game has no eBay link, because the catalog has no English title for it, so use the link below.

Magic John (Totally Rad) · マジックジョン · Famicom 1990 (JF-30) · Jaleco (ジャレコ)

Where to buy: Suruga-ya.jp — Famicom (JF-30) · eBay — Famicom
Find the cartridge on Kataban →

One game, two names, and a download that holds both. The Switch release is the easy way to play Magic John today. If it is the Japanese cartridge you are after, look for the code: JF-30.