What is the legendary pirated version of Nintendo Dendy that brought the game market to Russia?

In the 1980s Nintendo and Sega opened up game consoles markets all over the world, but in the Russia shortly after the Cold War, where the intellectual property rights were not allowed in the game, both companies were in a state that could not be cut. What pioneered such a Russian game market is "DendyIt was a pirate game machine called "a gaming machine."

How a counterfeit NES console opened up the Russian games market • Eurogamer.net
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-12-17-how-a-counterfeit-nes-console-opened-up-the-russian-games-market

When listening to the names of "Nintendo" and "Sega" in the early 1990's, children around the world should shine their eyes, but in Russia the phrase "Dendy" replaces Nintendo and Sega I was acting. In short, Dendy is "a pirated Nintendo made by Russia", and for Russians who do not know Nintendo and Sega, they seem to boast the overwhelming brand power that is synonymous with "game".

Dendy was created by Russian Victor Savyuk. At that time in Russia, stationary game consoles (console) like NES and MegaDrive were hardly sold, the game machine was PC game, it was a hobby of programmers and some game mania. Meanwhile, Mr. Savyuk who saw Nintendo's Nintendo was shocked by the innovation of a stationary game machine that can connect to a TV and play games. About the situation at that time Mr. Savyuk said, "I soon understood" This is the future. "Thanks to Nintendo, Sega, and Atari in the old days, the home game market has already been established in the world, In Russia it was different, and in Russia I found business opportunities in the home game market. "

Mr. Savyuk offered manufacturing and sales of game machines to Steepler, which was then manufacturing printers and computers at the time. Specifically, it was a plan to make Nintendo's Famicom pirated version and sell it in Russia. "What you first want to understand is that there was no law to protect the intellectual property rights of game contents at that time in Russia, that is, we sold NES computer piracy in Russia The act of saying that it was completely legal in Russia is totally illegal in the United States and Europe, and Taiwanese manufacturers did not mind such a thing. "


Mr. Savyuk decided to manufacture the Nikon's pirated version in Taiwan because the quality of the game machine made in China was low, such as a breakdown at that time. Mr. Savyuk who contacted the Taiwanese manufacturer, but he seemed to have never seen a real game machine at that time, so negotiations using FAX did not progress as I expected. "They asked me a lot of questions, such as" Is there a 60 pin or a 72 pin? "I did not know the meaning.First of all," Nintendo (NES) "And" NESCON "were not even distinguished. I did not know that Taiwanese people felt crazy when seeing that such Russian ordered 10,000 units of equipment, "explains the situation at that time.

Mr. Savyuk who came up to be able to send samples from Taiwan in 1992 saw the real thing and felt "This will be a big hit product that will cause an explosion in Russia". However, at that time in Russia it was thought that advertising activities were difficult because consumers did not fully understand stationary game machines. So Mr. Savyuk asked illustrators to design the elephant's mascot character and decided to promote it.


For gaming machines named Dendy, Mr. Savyuk spent a lot of money to conduct advertising. The situation that Nintendo's pirated game machines are advertised extensively on TV commercials seems abnormal now, but "What I want to understand is that I absolutely followed the Russian rules and laws Although we advertised pirated game machines we did not advertise Nintendo's game machines, it was only Nintendo that could appeal to me, but it was impossible in Russia. " It is.

However, Dendy, which was released in December 1992, sold only 3,000 vehicles from 2000 units in six months and was far from hit. That Dendy's video output was common in EuropePALIt was used in French-speaking countries, not in the formSECAMSystem, and the SECAM system was more expensive as the price was higher.

After a major failure, in May 1993 we adopted the PAL system "Dendy Junior" machine "new development", the design was also renewed in June was decided to be released.

Dendy Junior with Nintendo and Nintendo. The color is gray.


Output format is perfect.


It seems that the controller had its own "TURBO" button.


You can check the newly released Dendy Junior TV commercial in the following movie.

Dendy Commerical - Russian Nintendo Famicom Clone - YouTube


Dendy Junior recorded a huge hit as expected by Mr. Savyuk, including selling 70,000 units a month in two months after its release, succeeded in penetrating home games in Russia. Savyuk also succeeded in winning a share of over 70% of the Russian gaming market, also with a widespread product warranty. Dendy has penetrated as a term pointing to the game itself in Russia. For this reason, in Russia, "Dendy of your house is Nintendo? Or SEGA?" Is so strange conversation that such has been established.

Ultimately Dendy Junior sold 1.5 million to 2 million units in Russia. In 1994, Steepler founded Dendy Company as a subsidiary, and served as a representative director of an American corporation at home and NintendoFumi ArakawaVisited Mr. and Robert Lincoln and earned sales rights of Nintendo's SNES (Super Nintendo). Of course we were not allowed to sell Super Nintendo as a pirated version, but we already got the Dendy Junior, which is already on sale, until the end of sale OK in Russia.

Because the development of the intellectual property law on games was delayed, many game companies, including Nintendo, could not make local subsidiaries, but the Russian game market was made pirated by Mr. Savyuk It is a mistake that Dendy pioneered. "It is my pride that we opened the market so that we can play game business in Russia," Savyuk said.