The Grey Elephant's Curse : famicom pirates in russia

**Jamtex** · 11-14-2011

I really did enjoy this as it was more entertaining then AVGN. It was very well put together.

Dendy - Driving more people to drink then any other console.

**XerdoPwerko** · 11-14-2011

Will the next ones be subtitled eventually? I wish I could understand Russian...

**Nano Babe** · 11-15-2011

His face says it all!!! :lol:

**jpx72** · 11-15-2011

Originally Posted by BLUamnEsiac

I can't even imagine being forced to rely on Chinese pirates for video game goodness. Those poor tortured Russians!

You think here in Slovakia it was different? My first "Nintendo" was a Famicom-like Famiclone named "Video Game 700" bought in official electronics shop for a small fortune!:evil:

**s_d** · 11-15-2011

Only diplomats and very wealthy people could afford to bring extremely expensive official consoles from abroad.

Usual and not rich people (like "shitter" from GBX.ru, do you know him? he bought Panasonic 3DO NTSC-J in 90s and it was shop in closed-type village) could buy licensed consoles and games, which actually were available for sell in shops, but seems not so many people remember it. Most russians always want all dirty cheap or for free and they don't care about quality - it's the truth. They are not "poor and tortured", pirated market it's a their choice, even nowadays.

But it's made by NewGame (in Russia, I guess) and the quality even cant be compared to the Steepler's consoles. China made it much better)))

...New Game's products are made in China, plastic for them is made in russia, and Dendy were made in Taiwan.

Originally Posted by XerdoPwerko

Will the next ones be subtitled eventually? I wish I could understand Russian...

There's two new videos which are "Let's play", more than 90 minutes of video and tons of speech. I doubt that there's some heroes to make a translation for that...

**Anton69** · 11-15-2011

Hi s_d ))

Of course I know shitter from GBX. What are you talking about? I remember all the prices from that era. Of course you could buy real (not pirated) systems and games in several shops, mainly by Steepler: super nintendo (they brought it from Germany) and Sega Mega Drive (asian pal version), later panasonic 3do and sega cd (but they were extremely overpriced when appeared - actually I didnt know single person who had them). But they were not officially brought in Russia - yes, they were sold in shops (as well as pirated VHS and other stuff), but still they were part of grey market. And there were no official famicom or nes consoles or games in stores in Russia ever. And I never saw real sega games in that time also, although I heard some rumors that they were available for some time.

Originally Posted by s_d

Most russians always want all dirty cheap or for free and they don't care about quality - it's the truth. They are not "poor and tortured", pirated market it's a their choice, even nowadays.

Even nowadays it's not always true - buying a licensed xbox360 game for 80$ is still too much for the most part of the country with monthly salaries about 500$. And back in the 90's system like 3DO costed a real fortune.

And yes, Dendy were made in Taiwan but I said China because Taiwan is a part of Republic of China. And it's not the point. I said that old steepler's consoles were made much better - inside they were almost 100% clone of the famicom. And contemporary clones in Russia are pure shit compared to them.

**CoolMod** · 11-15-2011

Originally Posted by Anton69

Hi s_d ))

Of course I know shitter from GBX. What are you talking about? I remember all the prices from that era. Of course you could buy real (not pirated) systems and games in several shops, mainly by Steepler: super nintendo (they brought it from Germany) and Sega Mega Drive (asian pal version), later panasonic 3do and sega cd (but they were extremely overpriced when appeared - actually I didnt know single person who had them). But they were not officially brought in Russia - yes, they were sold in shops (as well as pirated VHS and other stuff), but still they were part of grey market. And there were no official famicom or nes consoles or games in stores in Russia ever. And I never saw real sega games in that time also, although I heard some rumors that they were available for some time.

Even nowadays it's not always true - buying a licensed xbox360 game for 80$ is still too much for the most part of the country with monthly salaries about 500$. And back in the 90's system like 3DO costed a real fortune.

And yes, Dendy were made in Taiwan but I said China because Taiwan is a part of Republic of China. And it's not the point. I said that old steepler's consoles were made much better - inside they were almost 100% clone of the famicom. And contemporary clones in Russia are pure shit compared to them.

What kind of clones are there now?

**s_d** · 11-16-2011

later panasonic 3do and sega cd (but they were extremely overpriced when appeared - actually I didnt know single person who had them)

Usual big prices for imports, I doubt they were so extremely high (if even Shitter could buy 3DO...and he was usual seller, now he is a mounter), anyway just look at prices for UK for Japanese import at 90s in comparsion, for example.

And I never saw real sega games in that time also, although I heard some rumors that they were available for some time.

It's very strange, 'cause you live in capital. There's were A LOT of them (everywhere, even in Siberia). Sadly, I have only Zombies cart and box for Japenese Mortal Kombat from those days. I remember I paid about 0.5$ for one day and played licensed Castlevania (yeah, not so many people knows about region lockout and game just didn't boot until you switch region, originally I didn't know about that too) and Ottifants for an example, games like that were rental (among various pirated cartridges). After rental era I remember they were sold for like 1-2$ in some local commission shop, yes, among various pirated stuff of course.

Even nowadays it's not always true - buying a licensed xbox360 game for 80$ is still too much for the most part of the country with monthly salaries about 500$. And back in the 90's system like 3DO costed a real fortune.

I'm not into current gen stuff, but 80$ ??? I thought most high prices are not more than 60$. In comparsion with other world they absolutely normal, but you right, average salary in this fuckin' country is a nothing. And most salaries are 200-300$, not 500$.

I said that old steepler's consoles were made much better - inside they were almost 100% clone of the famicom. And contemporary clones in Russia are pure shit compared to them.

I don't think so. You know, I have THREE original Dendy Junior consoles now and all of them have ABSOLUTELY IDENTICAL problem with video output. It's not a sign of good quality, yes. Contemporary clones...most of them are total bullshit, but don't forget that Magistr Drive 2 (NTSC Sega Genesis 3 clone with processors which were original and bought from Sega).

**Yakumo** · 11-18-2011

There's a new show up now all about Ghouls'n ghosts. no English subs yet though :(
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJ1TV...&feature=feedu

**CoolMod** · 11-18-2011

Originally Posted by Yakumo

There's a new show up now all about Ghouls'n ghosts. no English subs yet though :(
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJ1TV...&feature=feedu

Well, I can always watch it and guess what they are saying? lol

**Anton69** · 11-19-2011

If somebody is interested in Dendy and its history, here's the link with all the info about it. Its on Russian, but Google translate should help:

http://dendy-steepler.narod.ru/

And here publications from different magazines (f.e. Forbes) in Russia about Steepler. It's stated that in the best times Steepler sold Dendys at 75 millions $ per year.

http://www.dendy-steepler.narod.ru/publicity.html

Also, one very interesting fact about Andrey Cheglakov - one of the guys that made Steepler back then. He was about 25 years old at that time and made a fortune on steepler (although there are rumors that all the guys lost their money later on political projects). But now he is the main investor in maRUSSIA - the first real super sports car made in Russia. Their page is on English: http://marussiamotors.ru/en/company/leaders/

**Jamtex** · 11-19-2011

Originally Posted by Yakumo

There's a new show up now all about Ghouls'n ghosts.

Er hem, i think you mean Ghost and Goblins or Makaimura (which does translate to Hell Village, so i can see why it was called Ghostly Village...).

**alex81** · 11-19-2011

Dendy Chronicles - part #4 with english subtitle available now

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJ1TVphtQiQ

**xmog123x** · 11-19-2011

Oh yeah, we got this shit(shit, as in "the shitz") in Poland. It was fucking awesome. My childhood life was based on a dendy console that looked like a super nintendo and the famous (in Poland) 168in1 cart. I still have the cart up to this day. It has everything - shooters, contra, smb, duck hunt, bomberman - yeah those were the days, just owning contra without losing a life. Back in the days we used to have markets with all sorts of games sold by russians and taiwanese guys. The labels on most carts were epic. Thanks for the movies - I love stuff like this!