Look my new Mario babies!

[Zepper]

- Found in a popular junk shop, hahahaha!



- They were manufactured by Playtronic here in Brazil, original cartridges, working fine!

[tepples]

I was half expecting Bio Miracle Baby Upa.

[Bregalad]

You mean those are counterfaits ?

[tepples]

Not pirated.

My knowledge of Spanish and other romance languages allows me to get at least some sense out of texts written in Portuguese. Playtronic on Portuguese Wikipedia appears to claim that Playtronic was Nintendo's official representative in Brazil.

[Bregalad]

I really don't see much the point to tell us you found regular SMB2 and SMB3 cartridge then. Or are you that happy to have gotten them ?

[Zepper]

Not pirated.

My knowledge of Spanish and other romance languages allows me to get at least some sense out of texts written in Portuguese. Playtronic on Portuguese Wikipedia appears to claim that Playtronic was Nintendo's official representative in Brazil.

Yes, not pirated, and you're correct about the Playtronic. I own MegaMan VI too. Anyway, I'm just sharing my joy for have found such carts around here, it's very rare.

[Bregalad]

You mean they are rare because they were not manufactured in Japan like 99.9% of the NES cartridges ?
What MFG plant ID does they have ?

[commodorejohn]

I think we're all missing the point, where the point is, "yay, SMB2 and SMB3!"

Interesting, though; Brazil seems to have had a number of local representatives for other countries (Tec Toy, for example, distributed the SMS.) Is that due to some import law or other?

[Zepper]

The history here is quite different from yours (USA). I was a kid, so no clues about how the Atari company was doing its videogame marketing (at 198X), but probably together with Gradiente and Dynacom. Later, Gradiente brought the NES clone (Phantom System was the first), and Tec Toy the Master System... around 1989 as I said. So, for the NES, we had only cloned cartridges. You know, NOT the original ROM (with copyright notice and company name)... until Playtronic arrived later (199X) and became the official Nintendo here in Brazil. So, original cartridges were being produced, as NES consoles too. My my... I was a kid, how could I buy an official NES, wahhhhh... and during this time, I bought the Super NES and the Nintendo 64 later, thanks to my father.

Anyway, Playtronic has left the market and the videogame business was around zero again. The only way to acquire cartridges was in a videogame junk store, as example.

The word "rare" means this carts are NOT found so easily in the present days. I was very lucky to have found them in a popular shopping center (read: Paraguay products, heh). So, the joy of having SMB2 and SMB3 was BIG after almost 15 years, when I used magazines to solve SMB3 puzzles together with my chidhood's friend.

Now, is the drill clear enough? Let me know and I'll write another.

[No Carrier]

I'm happy for you! I understand the thrill of finding rare games and other items! Some NES games I've only seen in Nintendo Power when I was a kid, played on an emulator as an adult, and finally found on a cart. It is strange to think that after 20 years some games just don't turn up that often.

NC

[Zepper]

Yes, thank you. It's very fun to play SMB3 in my NES, not in my emulator, heh

[Bregalad]

You mean you only played counterfaits cartridge until very recently ? Is Brazil in a similar situation than China ?

And me too, I played SMB3 only under emulation until...
....yesterday. No joke.
I agree there is nothing like playing a game on the real hardware when you played it (and loved it) under emulation. You only get NES game here in europe in some garage sales (but you must chose wich garage sale wisely, because some have a lot of stuff, and some have only old big books), or rarely in used game shops but there is only junk here.
I still cannot wait the day I find a Battletoads cartridge lying arround.

[tokumaru]

Is Brazil in a similar situation than China ?

At least when it comes to the NES, yes. But, as far as I remember, the other consoles didn't have nearly as much piracy going on. The SEGA consoles were manifactured by TecToy, and I owned an original SMS and Mega Drive, with original carts only. The later Nintendo consoles (SNES and 64) were released by Playtronic, and games were mostly original. At least I remember so from playing with my friends, I was a SEGA boy! =)

The problem was that the NES was licenced too late, when famiclones already dominated the marked. I may be wrong, but maybe the SNES was already even out when they released the official NES.

After I became a Nintendo (8-bit) fan, I got to buy a clone that was still being sold in here (I guess it still is!), but the only carts you could find were those famous chinese famicom-shaped multicarts. Those are very easy to find nowadays.

I eventually bought a NES online, because I wanted the real thing. Although it's cart connector just sucks. The guy who invented that should be shot. It came with a SMB2 cart.

The same places that sell pirate carts sometimes have original carts too, but that hasn't happened for a while. You can also find original carts in online auctions, but those are usually overpriced.

Thanks to No Carrier I was able to get a lot of new carts, and a new NES. He really helped out with my collection! Thanks again! =)

I still cannot wait the day I find a Battletoads cartridge lying arround.

I found one, I found one! =)

Most of the carts I buy are destined to become devcarts, but there are some I just really like and would never dare destroying them! Such as Battletoads, Kirby, SMB2, SMB3, Ducktales, Rescue Rangers, and many others.

[commodorejohn]

Add me to the "there's nothing like the real thing" list. I actually didn't have a NES until two years ago, nor did I have my Genesis until a year later. Of course, I'd play at a friend's house when I got the chance (i.e. not that often,) but it wasn't until ~2003 that I discovered emulation. Anyway, I got my NES at Goodwill for $15 with SMB/Duck Hunt, then some time later I got SMB3. That made me exceedingly happy (especially once I disabled the lockout chip so it'd work more consistently.) Then I moved back to Minnesota and found a game shop where I got Final Fantasy and River City Ransom, which made me even happier =)

[Bregalad]

Most of the carts I buy are destined to become devcarts, but there are some I just really like and would never dare destroying them! Such as Battletoads, Kirby, SMB2, SMB3, Ducktales, Rescue Rangers, and many others.

Sure, and I'd say above all Mega Man, Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy. Since none of the last two came out in Europe I can only play them on emulation or on my own homemade cart (maybe Power Pak will remedy to this) or import (very expensive, slow gameplay, need cash card and music playing too low, maybe some graphical effects messed up).