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Talk on discord some time ago made me remember all those ugly pixel games I played on my amazing NES clone when I was kid :notlikelbob:
It was time when people in Poland earned 700zł monthly (like 150€). And clone of NES console cost 200zł. So 1/3 of monthly salary. Original NES console was released in 1983, but thanks to Russian occupation we were cut-off from “nice western thingies”. Which didn’t matter anyway, when original NES console cost 200$. So people would need to pay full monthly salary 10 years after it’s release to be able to buy it.
So there was market for cheap, in theory illegal NES clones that used pirated game cartridges. Honestly I’ve never seen original NES cartridge. Apart from Fnord’s post some time ago about selling them.
That’s how original clone of NES looked like:
It was sold with 4 on 1 or 168 on 1 yellow game cartridges (and that’s only cartridges I know from real life).
But original (heh!) Pegasus died after it’s cheaper clone was released. So in fact it was clone of clone of original NES. And it was console my father bought in ~1998/1999. Looked like this:
So I haven’t only never seen original NES cartridge, I’ve also never hold gamepad that would look like original NES gamepad. Mine was cheap PS1 gamepad clone. There were people on farmer’s markets or IT markets with tables with pirated yellow cartridges. And you could either go and buy new cartridge, or exchange your old cartridge for new paying little extra. That’s why I never had many at a time, as owning many cartridges was too expensive.
So I decided to make a list with games I played in. I think it’s more or less full list, I don’t have energy or time to watch few more playlists with “150 NES games” to find something new. With short description what I liked and what was meh.
- Bomberman - my mum played it constantly. This and Dr Mario. I wasn’t really good at it, was dying after enemies were starting to move really fast. But otherwise it was nice and relaxing game
- Circus Charlie - played when friend visited me from time to time, as it allowed 2 - 3 players sessions. It’s funny to see how someone plays in it so effortless, we were dying in it quite fast and it was more of “who will manage to get any points” than “who will score high score”
- Chip n Dale Rescue Rangers - Another game where I could beat only first levels. Still I really liked it, most probably because graphic was nice and colorful
- Contra - I never managed to get past 1st jungle level. So I kept repeating it over and over again. And I don’t get why people say this game was super amazing
- Duck Hunt - I had lightgun, and it was for long time only game that used it. Still I was kinda ok with basic mode with ducks. Couldn’t score many points in disks throw mode
- Dr Mario - another game played mostly by my mum. I could play on easy for some time, but it was getting too repetitive later on
- Galaga - I did play it few times but never liked it. In contrast to my brother that could play in it constantly. And then when we bought PC he played in Chicken Invaders all the time
- Hudson’s Adventure Island - Again beaten only 1st level. Never could get past section with skateboard
- Hunt for Red October - another game where I couldn’t get past 1st level. I remember it really well though, as my father repeated first few levels hundreds of times (he also couldn’t beat whole game)
- Hogan’s Alley - another game that used lightgun. I really liked it. Most probably I could beat whole, not like in other games where I couldn’t get past first 1 -2 levels
- Road Fighter - I remember only collecting rainbow cars. And that I couldn’t beat it xD
- Super Mario Bros - I liked it. I think I even managed to rescue princess few times. Once I was really far in game but we had to go out to visit uncle. So I left working console, I will continue playing when I will be back. Sadly console overheated and I came back to see colorful stripes on TV screen ; _ ;
- Spider Man - even though I couldn’t beat more than 1 -2 levels I really liked it. As it was one of not many action games I had. And only with well-known super hero
- Spy Hunter - 2nd care game we owned at some point. I hated this helicopter so much.
- Tanks - clone of Battle City, played on clone of the clone of original NES. How deeper we can go D:? Played in co-op. I think it was first game I played on NES clone in general, so I have this weird kind of sentiment towards it
- TAS Track & Field - another game that was played in 2 - 3 players.I never liked shooting flying disks here
- Tiny Toon Adventures - I really liked to play as tornado-guy. It was hard for enemies to kill him :D
- Tom and Jerry - I don’t remember much from it, apart that I played in it
And that’d be all. I never owned any other gaming console or handheld. I got PC in 2001 (it was bought from money gathered on my and my brother first communion). And I used it (with slight upgrades) to the beginning of university when I had to buy laptop to be able to do assignments separately from my brother and dad “gaming time”. And this PC is still used by my father (it has Radeon HD 4850 inside xD). It’s crazy to think that for like 8 years I could play only for 6h per week. That’s why beating Gothic 2 took me few weeks. And games felt to be way longer in general.
I think I’ve played all of those except for Spiderman and Tom & Jerry. Tom & Jerry does actually look like it could be a fun game (Spiderman not so much)
I’ve also never hold gamepad that would look like original NES gamepad.
Be glad you’ve never used one of those :P They had really sharp edges that would dig into your fingers & hand when you used them, and it was not uncommon for the skin to get harder on the left thumb right at the joint because of this for people who played a lot of NES games. That condition even got an (informal) name, Nintendo thumb.
Contra - I never managed to get past 1st jungle level. So I kept repeating it over and over again. And I don’t get why people say this game was super amazing
Good controls and a fair challenge. The game never throws anything at you that you can’t realistically avoid. I used to be relatively good at this game, back in my glory days I could 1-continue clear it. I should see if I can still do that.
You’re terrible at Contra :glare:
I know :( I watched them play through it on Awesome Games done Quick, and they did it twice as fast as me.
I have a lot of good memories from original NES gamepad, i have my original NES in spain, i will try another battletoads run to test the gamepads
I had good memories of it, and then I tried to use it again :P For me at least, it’s way too small, and those sharp edges really dig into my hands & fingers. I much prefer the SNES controller (even if it’s too small as well)
Thanks for writing this post, I’ve never seen these particular clone consoles before. That second variation of the console looks so illogical. You open a lid resembling a CD tray, just to pop in a cartridge inside? :D It’s like an opposite version of the console Nintendo and Sony developed together but was never released.
Clone consoles have a history of trying to look like other consoles. Probably in an attempt to fool people, like parents buying things for their kids. Sometimes these things make sense, like the infamous Vii, which really was Wii-like
Sometimes it makes no sense what so ever if you just look at the games. Like the Polystation 3
Yes, that’s a PS3-looking system with a small LCD screen sticking out of it (it folds in, and without it, it just looks like a small, kinda cheap PS3). It plays like those small 80’s single game LCD hand-helds that you could buy at the local supermarket for 8€)
Famiclones, like the one Mskotor posted are quite famous for being… creative. Here’s a penguin
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OMG these are hilarious…I’ve never heard of these knock-offs. I mean, tell me they got sued for IP infringement or something…?
Sadly not. The companies making these tend to make them in countries where enforcement of such laws are poor, and they tend to be sold through channels that make them hard to track. So you won’t find them in your local regular store, but you might find them in a stall in your local flee market, or in some slightly shady out of the way store. And these days on places like Ali express
Goodness, never heard of AliExpress either (had to Google).
Thanks for sharing more, these are horrendous! I’m starting to get a headache just looking at the picture of that ‘Polystation’, it can’t be very comfortable to use like that. D:
Yeah, there was cartridge slot under this cover.
And it looked better. It was time when PS1 was already a thing, so it was better to have console that looked like it, than old NES :P
OMG I never knew console knock-offs was a thing.
Yeah. they were sold on flea markets, farmer / IT markets and so like. And no one did something with it, as it was time of transformation here, so government had bigger problems than catching people who offered bit of “western luxury” to masses. Like creation of working industry after mess commies left here or fight with bribes in all government offices.
Like biggest market was in capital at old stadium. 5000 “companies” that were trading mostly with illegal goods. IT stuff, guns, clothes and so like. They did do something about it, but never killed illegal trading completely. Only after it was closed in 2007 it died on it’s own. Between 1995 - 2001 police confiscated 10 mln illegal CDs / VHS cassettes. And it’s only a fraction.
Guns and games sold together– a one-stop shop!
Say what you will about these knockoffs, but nowhere else can you find a cartridge with 999999 variations of the same 7 games in 1. ☺
Yeah. I had this cartridge :D
I’m PL too, and I guess I’ve been in a parallel gaming universe ever since the beginning. The NES nostalgia that’s going on has absolutely nothing on me. I had an Atari 130XE myself. No gamepad, but joystick. I had exactly one cartridge (with Karateka, cause the compute supported those, but mostly 5.25’’ floppy disks with games of unidentified origin ;) Some other kids in the village had a Commodore that ran tapes, and one more kid in a neighbouring village later had an Amiga with 3.5’’ discs. I remember playing on someone’s ZX Spectrum one time too. We ran gaming sessions with half of the other kids in neighbourhood, rotating between my place, the Commodore siblings’ house, and then most of the time later on with the Atari guy (cause by then it had best games). And then after few years, when I was 10 my parents bought a 486 - proper PC gamer ever since. ^^ The only handheld I had was this in the times before Atari (well actually it survived quite long, and maybe if I sifted through all the junk in the attic, maybe I would even find it:).
My cousin had this keyboard-tape-consoles. But my father thought it was too complicated xD
They are classified as home computers, not consoles ;) Sort of ancestors of PCs, hence my remark I went parallel to the console market all the time :) And back then they were pretty easy, especially if you wanted to only play games - you only needed to stick a disc/ tape. You could boot a system of sorts (and I even did write some super simple “game” thing in BASIC), but if you wanted to stay oblivious that this part exist, you could just be sticking game discs and avoid the “complicated” aspect altogether :)
That handeld is not exactly subtle about what it’s cloning :P
Where those home computers original hardware or clone systems? I’ve heard a bunch from people who have moved from eastern European countries to Sweden about how their computers were mostly clone systems that were trying to emulate (at the time) 3-5 year old hardware, often going as far as directly copying the internal architecture. But I’ve got no first hand experience with these things at all.
PL is technically central Europe ;) Of course after those years I can’t know for sure, but nothing suggests those were clones. It had the proper logo, what seemed to be original packaging, etc. Without going back in time and disassembling it it’s hard to tell one way or another. ;) Unlike Nintendo and such, Atari, Commodore & Amiga computers were fairly widely available here. And their weren’t cheap at first, suggesting them being originals. Later on, Amiga 500, 600 & 1200-1800 became very popular, and cheaper. But that’s just supply & demand in the works.
@Handheld, for the Russians it makes sense - there was a Russian cartoon Ну, погоди! (Nu, pogodi!) with the wolf and the rabbit being the exact same ones presented in the handheld. For the Nintendo one, that’s just a random wolf, which just doesn’t make sense where did they get that idea. But oh well ;)
Hey, very interesting to read what playing video games meant in Poland during the communist era.
Well it was after USSR fell. During occupation we had only vinegar in shops and food stamps xD And oranges during Christmas. And it started tradition, there are no Christmas Holidays in Poland without oranges in home.
Oh ! So that means after 1989, there were still no real consoles in Poland but only clone consoles and it was not on behalf of ideology (like “fighting evil ideas and leisures from the degenerate Western countries”, which was also a good justification ex post of unhealthy economies’ symptoms, which hinder the import of these “luxury products”) but because of market laws, because these goods were too expensive for the Polish purchasing power of the time ?