Blue Swirl wrote:

No takers, eh? Ah well. Thanks to Tectoy and the immense popularity of SEGA in Brazil, we get curios like the Master System Girl - a Master System in a Game Gear-esque case without a screen that used the aerial to beam the picture to your (or a neighbour's) TV. What makes it 'for girls'? Well, it's pink. Apparently. I'd describe it more as 'second hand car red' myself. Also, it came with a built-in game called Miranda... which was Alex Kidd with a gender-swapped sprite. See also: Master System Super Compact.

Oh I like that.

When I say I like it , it's in a so-shit-it's-novel kind of way.

davyK wrote:

Oh I like that.

davyK wrote:

When I say I like it , it's in a so-shit-it's-novel kind of way.

I was going to challenge you to add one to your collection, but let's forget that plan.

Diluted Dante wrote:

I did take a look at it Swirly, but was working. The Master System Girl though, I've seen some pictures of it where it is a hot pink. I don't know if maybe they did 2 varieties, One for the Barbie lovers, and another for Ford Mondeo lovers.

That makes sense. And I'll forgive you... this time.

retroking1981 wrote:

Looks similar in concept to the Mega Jet.

Thaaaaat's the one I was trying to think of. It reminded me of something, but my moron brain kept saying Vita TV, which isn't quite right.

The reason it was so successful is because there are very restrictive taxes on imported consoles. Sega were smart enough to license the Master System to Tec Toy, who manufactured it in Brazil. This also mean that games were localised by Tec Toy as well.

Nintendo were present, but mostly as clones, which was a super fractured market, and had wildly varying quality. TecToy were producing consoles to Segas specs, so it was a good quality product.

Diluted Dante wrote:

The reason it was so successful is because there are very restrictive taxes on imported consoles. Sega were smart enough to license the Master System to Tec Toy, who manufactured it in Brazil. This also mean that games were localised by Tec Toy as well. Nintendo were present, but mostly as clones, which was a super fractured market, and had wildly varying quality. TecToy were producing consoles to Segas specs, so it was a good quality product.

Ah, I didn't know that part. SEGA being clever for a change.

Yeah, I've read about that. You could drive yourself mental trying to get all the Sega hardware if you included the Samsung branded stuff, and the Brazil exclusives from Tec Toy.

That looks awesome.

Time_on_my_hands wrote:

When did curved edges become futuristic again?

When Microsoft released Windows 11.

The pads seem pretty standard for the time, surely, compare those to the NES/MS pads. That’s not to say that they aren’t a bad design, they just aren’t a uniquely bad design. People were still frying to figure shit out back then.

Blue Swirl wrote:

We've definitely talked about it before, and perhaps in this very thread. But I don't think I've seen a picture of one before now. The "Atari Entertainment System" is a massive 'what if?' in video game history, but we don't have to speculate what it would have looked like. A prototype was shown once (and only once) at the 1984 Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show.

Behold! The Nintendo AVS, manufactured by Atari.


I dig it. Definitely a home computer of its era, but it's got a clean aesthetic, yet retains a distinct Nintendo look. The tape deck is particularly good design, and those pads are mental.

What's that little clamshell device in the top left? A game and watch type thing?

Is that not an original DS? Guessing this is from some kind of museum rather than from CES.

LivDiv wrote:

Yeah pretty sure thats the first DS. Hideous thing.

Still spanked the PSP's arse though...I remember the big love the PSP got - it is something I'd still like to get hold of today. But that weird little thing from Nintendo took over the world for a while.


The Atari/Nintendo relationship is my personal biggest "what if". The David Sheff book covers it. Atari came in extremely arrogant on Nintendo. Some guy fell asleep at a meeting which really pissed off Yamauchi who took it as an insult.

Was a real opportunity - one of the Atari execs was a good Go player and that would have been a big "in" to building a relationship with Yamauchi who was the equivalent of a chess grandmaster at it.

I didn't think the AVS had anything to do with Atari.

Isn't it just a Nintendo prototype before they settled on the Entertainment System design?

I thought the Atari deal fell through before it got to any design/manufacturing stage.

Yeah the story of the 7800 is an interesting one. Can't remember the ins and out but it was to do with the post WB split into Atari Corp and Atari Games from what I remember reading, the 7800 got lost in limbo for quite a while.

There was still a bit of goodwill towards the Atari brand at the time, it managed to outsell the Master System with its late release, would have been interesting to see how it would have done if it had released those two years earlier.

Time_on_my_hands wrote:

What's that little clamshell device in the top left? A game and watch type thing?

Diluted Dante wrote:

Is that not an original DS? Guessing this is from some kind of museum rather than from CES.

LivDiv wrote:

Yeah pretty sure thats the first DS. Hideous thing.

davyK wrote:

Still spanked the PSP's arse though...I remember the big love the PSP got {...}

LivDiv wrote:

It was a decent bit of kit, thankfully they gave it a facelift.

Anyone who didn't recognise the DS needs to hang their heads in shame. Like going to a football forum and asking what colours Man U usually play in.

The photo is indeed from Nintendo World. 

I remember at the time everyone going mental for the PSP and writing the DS off as dead on arrival. Weird how things turn out. I wonder how much of that was due to Brain Training and the older market.

But yes, the original DS was a hideous design. I think that's the main reason I bought a Lite, the upgrade in aesthetics was worth the price alone. Even with a GBA cart poking out the bottom like a digital haemorrhoid, it still wasn't as fugly as the original.

retroking1981 wrote:

I didn't think the AVS had anything to do with Atari. Isn't it just a Nintendo prototype before they settled on the Entertainment System design? I thought the Atari deal fell through before it got to any design/manufacturing stage.

I can't find it now, but the article I was reading suggested it was Atari's idea for what to do with the hardware. Entirely possible it's just the internet being wrong, and I've just leapt on it. Still cool looking, either way.