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Brazil Is An Alternate Video Game Universe Where Sega Beat Nintendo

atlasobscura.com

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Re: Brazil Is An Alternate Video Game Universe Where Sega Beat Nintendo

#61
Just for the curious, this is the current Master System they are selling http://www.tectoy.com.br/prod_interna.aspx?id=20

There is also the portable version which ressembles a controller and you plug directly to the TV http://www.tectoy.com.br/prod_interna.aspx?id=19

And the portable MDPlay which is a handheld genesis http://www.tectoy.com.br/prod_interna.aspx?id=18

;-)

I am Brazilian and SEEEEEEGGGGAAAAAAAAA will live forever!

Re: Brazil Is An Alternate Video Game Universe Where Sega Beat Nintendo

#64

I'm pretty sure the Sega Genesis also beat the SNES by a large margin here in Argentina too. At least i grew up with a Genesis and knew a lot of people who had one, while i only knew of one person who owned a SNES[1]. One of the possible reasons for this is that there were cheap pirated Genesis games available[2], which, i think , SNES games were much more expensive, probably not pirated. [1]: The graphics and fluidi…

> the pirated cartridges didn't have a persistent writable memory Wait so you had to beat every game in a single sitting?

Some classic games would generate a "code" you could enter to resume the game, all codes would deterministically map to some game state.

Ghostbusters for Sega Master System did this. One day I had a typo in my code and ended up with obscene millions of dollars.

I always wanted to go back and RE that game's code generation algorithm...

Re: Brazil Is An Alternate Video Game Universe Where Sega Beat Nintendo

#65

I'm astonished no one talked about MSX (which architecture is virtually the same as the Master System). MSX was a 8-bit computer launched in 1985 that had a great user base (selling 300k units on launch). Its open architecture which originated in Microsoft Japan and ASCII Corp. It had great success also in Europe, Japan, South Korea and others, just like Master System. This gave companies like Konami, SEGA, Namco, Ac…

Oh yeah, my beloved MSX (sniff).

Small correction: it wasn't launched in 1985 - I bought mine (A Philips VG-8000) in 1983.

Re: Brazil Is An Alternate Video Game Universe Where Sega Beat Nintendo

#66

I'm astonished no one talked about MSX (which architecture is virtually the same as the Master System). MSX was a 8-bit computer launched in 1985 that had a great user base (selling 300k units on launch). Its open architecture which originated in Microsoft Japan and ASCII Corp. It had great success also in Europe, Japan, South Korea and others, just like Master System. This gave companies like Konami, SEGA, Namco, Ac…

ah... MSX...

The best arrow keys every created on personal computers.

http://www.msx.org/wiki/images/5/52/Sony_MSX1_HB-75P.png

Have fond memories of myself playing Goonies on MSX

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9R3p1L6HGQ

Wow, first time I'm hearing this in 30 years!

Re: Brazil Is An Alternate Video Game Universe Where Sega Beat Nintendo

#67
post #60
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nintendo official manufacturer was Gradiente, but both NES and SNES had a crazy amount of non-licensed clones, and some clone manufacturers still exist (yes, you can buy a new NES and SNES in Brazil, along with new pirated cartridges)

Link?

I would love a link too for a SNES hardware clone in Brazil. I know lots of brazillian NES clones (including the infamous PolyStation), but I don't know any SNES clones in Brazil.

Re: Brazil Is An Alternate Video Game Universe Where Sega Beat Nintendo

#68
post #65

I'm astonished no one talked about MSX (which architecture is virtually the same as the Master System). MSX was a 8-bit computer launched in 1985 that had a great user base (selling 300k units on launch). Its open architecture which originated in Microsoft Japan and ASCII Corp. It had great success also in Europe, Japan, South Korea and others, just like Master System. This gave companies like Konami, SEGA, Namco, Ac…

Oh yeah, my beloved MSX (sniff). Small correction: it wasn't launched in 1985 - I bought mine (A Philips VG-8000) in 1983.

I know, but Brazil back then had import barriers on computers, cars and most of technological products in favor of national industry.

The first MSX was manufacured and commercialized only after 1985, although we had an Apple II clone (TK 2000, my first computer), ZX and TRS national clones. The first IBM PC/XT clone was lauched in 1985 as well, by Itautec.

Re: Brazil Is An Alternate Video Game Universe Where Sega Beat Nintendo

#69
post #62

Wuldn't a Raspberry Pi 1 (with emulators) work much better? It's just $25, runs 1-4th generation console games as well as MAME games. Raspberry Pi 2 can do even more for $35 http://blog.petrockblock.com/retropie/

A Raspberry Pi costs about R$200 in Brazil, or US$60.

And the majority of these consoles are bought by poor people (income of equal or less than a minimum wage in Brazil, that is R$788 or about US$235), that in the majority of cases don't have too many familiarity with technology.

So imagine that you have a low income like I said above, you have a teenage child that wants to play games. You probably don't even know that Raspberry Pi exists, so you go to a local store and see these kind of video-games selling, that are much less expensive than current-gen consoles. To make your kid happy, you buy this old console, so this is why there is still a market for them.

Re: Brazil Is An Alternate Video Game Universe Where Sega Beat Nintendo

#70
Brazillian here. Thanks to this article I remembered the many bootleg games we had here in Brazil.

For example, we had this hack called "Futebol Brasileiro 96" (something like "Brazillian Soccer 96") that was a modification of "International Superstar Soccer Deluxe" for SNES. It had brazillian teams and translated menus and narration to Portuguese, however the translation was so broken that it was funny. A clip of this game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b82MzyafDzg. I still play this game sometimes, because the narration is unique (it is more of a Spanish them Portuguese).

Another one is a hack called "Ayrton Senna Racing", modification of "Nigel Mansell F1 Challenge". This seems to be a much better hack, however I didn't play it when I had a SNES. The translation seems fine, except for the lack of accents in the words. Clip here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKeB1AXsUqY

Or this one, called "Omega Brazil '97", hack of my favorite racing game of all time: Top Gear 2. I had the original game, not this pirated version. But it is still funny (anyway, Omega was considered a luxuous car in 1997, this is why this hack used it). Clip here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJQkjHhc99M

The hacks are not limited to SNES however (the article even shows some "official" hacks made by TecToy for Sega Master System/Mega Drive (Genesis)). I remember various hacks for "Winning Eleven/Pro Evolution Soccer" (a game that was much more popular here in Brazil them "Fifa", at least until the PS3/Xbox 360 era). The majority updated team formations, translated menus to Portuguese, changed the music, etc. Some even included Portuguese narration, in some cases the sound was just ripped from live TV soccer games. An example can be found here (and it seems to be a recent patch, from this year): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Fpv4nhcAfY.

The gaming industry is much better nowadays. You can find current generation consoles in local stores, with official imports instead of going to the grey market. There is even popular series (like FIFA/Pro Evolution Soccer, Assassins Creed and GTA) that has official translations to Brazillian Portuguese, including in some cases dubbing (the last Mortal Kombat is an interesting example since some people criticized the performance of one of the artists that dubbed Cassie Cage). The games are still expensive though, but Steam helps in this case. However I sometimes miss the old times.

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