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Wired article on lost Soviet games
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Wonderbutt



Joined: 30 Nov 2003
Posts: 323
Location: Doritos Inc.

PostPosted: Sat Jun 09, 2007 5:20 am    Post subject: Wired article on lost Soviet games Reply with quote

Eat Communism
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hiroshi



Joined: 07 Oct 2004
Posts: 50

PostPosted: Sat Jun 09, 2007 5:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

more communism

also, it seems weird that a Russian fairy tale would involve killing slimes, Konek-Gorbunok might be some kind of Monster World clone... or a hack of one
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shawnphase



Joined: 22 Dec 2005
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 09, 2007 8:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

completely sick. like making games out of test equipment.
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Li Wang
SnHX WiIYrd
SnHX WiIYrd


Joined: 29 Aug 2003
Posts: 798

PostPosted: Sat Jun 09, 2007 8:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

hiroshi wrote:
more communism

also, it seems weird that a Russian fairy tale would involve killing slimes, Konek-Gorbunok might be some kind of Monster World clone... or a hack of one


Awesome, the shitty Pac Man game is evidently the arcade version of Wait and See.
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Mack_the_Hairbrush



Joined: 27 Feb 2006
Posts: 30

PostPosted: Mon Jun 11, 2007 1:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I can't wait to see an article on Middle Eastern video games 20 years in the future.
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etabeta



Joined: 21 May 2007
Posts: 70
Location: Italy

PostPosted: Mon Jun 11, 2007 5:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Konek-Gorbunok is emulated by MAME, if you want to give it a try...
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CaH4e3



Joined: 21 Nov 2005
Posts: 29

PostPosted: Mon Jun 11, 2007 9:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Some more pictures:
http://cah4e3.shedevr.org.ru/misc/2007_05_23_museum.rar
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rbudrick
not rubrdick


Joined: 09 Oct 2006
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 13, 2007 6:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Wow...Soviet games...I never would have thought...

Did Russia have any exclusive home game systems? I know theat clones appeared and they played Euro and FC NES games and such, but I'd love to read more about Soviet games. I feel like I may as well be looking at videogames from Mars.

These are just so...I dunno...Russian. Or maybe even anti-Soviet (NYET! VIDEOGAMES FOR CAPITALIST PIG ONLY! GET BACK TO WORK AND SERVING MOTHER RUSSIA!), I dunno. The make me l0l anyway.

-Rob
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handofg0d



Joined: 13 Jun 2006
Posts: 455
Location: PA

PostPosted: Wed Jun 13, 2007 6:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I am very interested in these soviet games also.

Apparently they cost 15 kopecks per play - which could buy you several loaves of bread in that era. Seems like a lavish expense.

The games I'd really love to play the most are the submarine games, and the firetruck game (they have a steering wheel and a light gun built into the same unit... how cool is that!)

I highly doubt there were soviet era consoles...
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DarkTetsuya



Joined: 05 Sep 2003
Posts: 80

PostPosted: Wed Jun 13, 2007 7:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

etabeta wrote:
Konek-Gorbunok is emulated by MAME, if you want to give it a try...


Actually, as I was reading through that article all I could think about was 'I hope to God the MAME team is working on these...'

handofg0d wrote:
I highly doubt there were soviet era consoles...


I'm sure there may have been pirate Famicoms, I'd bet on it even.

DT
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etabeta



Joined: 21 May 2007
Posts: 70
Location: Italy

PostPosted: Wed Jun 13, 2007 9:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

DarkTetsuya wrote:
etabeta wrote:
Konek-Gorbunok is emulated by MAME, if you want to give it a try...


Actually, as I was reading through that article all I could think about was 'I hope to God the MAME team is working on these...'


actually it's the only one. when other ones would get dumped, they will be emulated too

DarkTetsuya wrote:
handofg0d wrote:
I highly doubt there were soviet era consoles...


I'm sure there may have been pirate Famicoms, I'd bet on it even.

DT


not sure when the dandy (russian famiclone) was distributed... it could have been after '89

nor I remember other russian consoles that old.

anyway, there were russian computers back in mid80 (both original ones and clones of western computers like spectrum & apple 2) and computers were produced in almost any eastern europe country...

mainly intended for work, but don't forget where tetris comes from Wink
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DarkTetsuya



Joined: 05 Sep 2003
Posts: 80

PostPosted: Wed Jun 13, 2007 10:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Speaking of Tetris I was surprised not to see it at all... but then I guess it wasn't widespread enough at that point? I dunno.

DT
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handofg0d



Joined: 13 Jun 2006
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 14, 2007 12:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

DarkTetsuya wrote:
I'm sure there may have been pirate Famicoms, I'd bet on it even.

I meant original russian consoles - famiclones for sure. Computers - absolutely. But soviet original gaming consoles? No way.
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Wonderbutt



Joined: 30 Nov 2003
Posts: 323
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 14, 2007 6:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Think about it, if I posted this thread in 1955 I would have had an invite to meet Senator Joe McCarthy.
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PolyFX



Joined: 24 Sep 2015
Posts: 8
Location: Middle Russia

PostPosted: Fri Sep 25, 2015 6:41 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

handofg0d wrote:
DarkTetsuya wrote:
I'm sure there may have been pirate Famicoms, I'd bet on it even.

I meant original russian consoles - famiclones for sure. Computers - absolutely. But soviet original gaming consoles? No way.

Let me answer your question: in USSR, as far as i know, there were no from-scratch-original home gaming systems. Since the TV set itself was a damn expensive thing (it costed twice as a salary of an regular office worker), evolution of home gaming was really slow.
There were some Electronika portable handheld devices, that was ripped off from Nintendo Game and Watch. Those were popular as hell, and not really pricey.
After Spectrum ZX first came to USSR, it was met with huge popularity! It was so popular, that government made speccy-clones made completely on a russian electronic parts and processors. It may be, that Speccy was the first ever USSR's home gaming console.
And just after that, Dendy happened. Some guys estabilished a tradeline with Taiwan, to produce a bootleg FC. It was made with nice quality, and most of those consoles are still in working condition.
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Wonderbutt



Joined: 30 Nov 2003
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 25, 2015 6:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for that information, PolyFX. I knew that the Soviet government also produced clones of another British computer,the BBC Electron.Or was it the Micro? Good choice, the Speccy,as it was cheap and very fun to code for,as my friends tell me.
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DarkTetsuya



Joined: 05 Sep 2003
Posts: 80

PostPosted: Fri Sep 25, 2015 6:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

PolyFX wrote:
handofg0d wrote:
DarkTetsuya wrote:
I'm sure there may have been pirate Famicoms, I'd bet on it even.

I meant original russian consoles - famiclones for sure. Computers - absolutely. But soviet original gaming consoles? No way.

Let me answer your question: in USSR, as far as i know, there were no from-scratch-original home gaming systems. Since the TV set itself was a damn expensive thing (it costed twice as a salary of an regular office worker), evolution of home gaming was really slow.
There were some Electronika portable handheld devices, that was ripped off from Nintendo Game and Watch. Those were popular as hell, and not really pricey.
After Spectrum ZX first came to USSR, it was met with huge popularity! It was so popular, that government made speccy-clones made completely on a russian electronic parts and processors. It may be, that Speccy was the first ever USSR's home gaming console.
And just after that, Dendy happened. Some guys estabilished a tradeline with Taiwan, to produce a bootleg FC. It was made with nice quality, and most of those consoles are still in working condition.


Wow, well thank you for the reply! I forget how it came about but I think I saw that russian arcade article surface again so I was kinda thinking about that, and then I got the notify that there was a reply to this thread, so interesting timing I suppose.

I do remember hearing about the Dendy Famicom system, as I expected it's a bootleg system... probably only half surprised that those consoles still work, Nintendo's stuff is always built to last, so a bootleg system based on one of theirs still being around... well I guess that just means they learned from the best!
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PolyFX



Joined: 24 Sep 2015
Posts: 8
Location: Middle Russia

PostPosted: Sat Sep 26, 2015 8:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

DarkTetsuya wrote:
PolyFX wrote:
handofg0d wrote:
DarkTetsuya wrote:
I'm sure there may have been pirate Famicoms, I'd bet on it even.

I meant original russian consoles - famiclones for sure. Computers - absolutely. But soviet original gaming consoles? No way.

Let me answer your question: in USSR, as far as i know, there were no from-scratch-original home gaming systems. Since the TV set itself was a damn expensive thing (it costed twice as a salary of an regular office worker), evolution of home gaming was really slow.
There were some Electronika portable handheld devices, that was ripped off from Nintendo Game and Watch. Those were popular as hell, and not really pricey.
After Spectrum ZX first came to USSR, it was met with huge popularity! It was so popular, that government made speccy-clones made completely on a russian electronic parts and processors. It may be, that Speccy was the first ever USSR's home gaming console.
And just after that, Dendy happened. Some guys estabilished a tradeline with Taiwan, to produce a bootleg FC. It was made with nice quality, and most of those consoles are still in working condition.


Wow, well thank you for the reply! I forget how it came about but I think I saw that russian arcade article surface again so I was kinda thinking about that, and then I got the notify that there was a reply to this thread, so interesting timing I suppose.

I do remember hearing about the Dendy Famicom system, as I expected it's a bootleg system... probably only half surprised that those consoles still work, Nintendo's stuff is always built to last, so a bootleg system based on one of theirs still being around... well I guess that just means they learned from the best!


Actually, Dendy was really a bootleg - as far as i know, they all made up on NOAC architecture, rather than western motherboard arch. Taiwanese technicians poured black epoxy tar on the crystals. Aside from chip PCB, there were just 2 small pieces that carried joypads and RCA video and audio outputs. This compilation allows console to be almost indestructible - i've seen myself as some guys took battered Dendy from dumpster, and after a small soldering the damn thing worked!
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PolyFX



Joined: 24 Sep 2015
Posts: 8
Location: Middle Russia

PostPosted: Sat Sep 26, 2015 8:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Wonderbutt wrote:
Thanks for that information, PolyFX. I knew that the Soviet government also produced clones of another British computer,the BBC Electron.Or was it the Micro? Good choice, the Speccy,as it was cheap and very fun to code for,as my friends tell me.

Russians really liked ZX Spectrum for its circuit simplicity - a lot of engineering students made their little shops, where they soldered bootleg versions and sold them for acceptable money.
Also, there were a lot of custom versions of Speccy's firmware. Mostly, they were just translated versions of standart software, but sometimes people created amazing compilations of professional software!
Also, i forgot to mention - japanese MSX systems were popular as hell too. Since it was relatively cheap and easily reverse-engineered, MSX were used as a gaming consoles.
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DarkTetsuya



Joined: 05 Sep 2003
Posts: 80

PostPosted: Sat Sep 26, 2015 8:25 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

PolyFX wrote:
DarkTetsuya wrote:
PolyFX wrote:
handofg0d wrote:
DarkTetsuya wrote:
I'm sure there may have been pirate Famicoms, I'd bet on it even.

I meant original russian consoles - famiclones for sure. Computers - absolutely. But soviet original gaming consoles? No way.

Let me answer your question: in USSR, as far as i know, there were no from-scratch-original home gaming systems. Since the TV set itself was a damn expensive thing (it costed twice as a salary of an regular office worker), evolution of home gaming was really slow.
There were some Electronika portable handheld devices, that was ripped off from Nintendo Game and Watch. Those were popular as hell, and not really pricey.
After Spectrum ZX first came to USSR, it was met with huge popularity! It was so popular, that government made speccy-clones made completely on a russian electronic parts and processors. It may be, that Speccy was the first ever USSR's home gaming console.
And just after that, Dendy happened. Some guys estabilished a tradeline with Taiwan, to produce a bootleg FC. It was made with nice quality, and most of those consoles are still in working condition.


Wow, well thank you for the reply! I forget how it came about but I think I saw that russian arcade article surface again so I was kinda thinking about that, and then I got the notify that there was a reply to this thread, so interesting timing I suppose.

I do remember hearing about the Dendy Famicom system, as I expected it's a bootleg system... probably only half surprised that those consoles still work, Nintendo's stuff is always built to last, so a bootleg system based on one of theirs still being around... well I guess that just means they learned from the best!


Actually, Dendy was really a bootleg - as far as i know, they all made up on NOAC architecture, rather than western motherboard arch. Taiwanese technicians poured black epoxy tar on the crystals. Aside from chip PCB, there were just 2 small pieces that carried joypads and RCA video and audio outputs. This compilation allows console to be almost indestructible - i've seen myself as some guys took battered Dendy from dumpster, and after a small soldering the damn thing worked!


Wow that's pretty impressive! NOACs, huh? I wonder how the quality compares to a real famicom, as I know some of those clone systems weren't quite 100% accurate (I have a 76K-in-1 N64 pad I picked up randomly years ago that probably still works, but indeed some of the graphics and sounds are off somewhat.)
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