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Post by masterthomas on May 28, 2011 21:38:33 GMT
Hello guys, I hail from a rather large country in the southern hemisphere known for its music, football and bikini fashion. And for those in the know, SEGA rarities. SEGA used to be big in Brazil. Since it was the only major hardware company with a official presence in the market, thanks to Tec Toy, their representatives, they pretty much dominated the VG scene. The guys at Tec Toy were brilliant when it came to advertising. All those kids who turned on their TVS on Saturday morning to watch their favourite shows, such as Dragonball or Power Rangers, would be graced with short 30sec infomercials of the "Master Club", in which a guy would give hints and demonstrations of MS games. I was one of those kids who helped Tec Toy gain a whopping 85% of the VG market in this country in the early 1990s. Coming back from work the other day, I saw a Master System Evolution (Tec Toy's latest model) being sold in an electronics shop right next to a PS3. After a month having fun with it I decided to buy an old Master System 3.  So here I am. I already bought Phantasy Star, Sonic Chaos and I'm searching for the Brazil-only Street Fighter II right now. Nice to meet y'all. |
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Post by playgeneration on May 28, 2011 21:47:10 GMT
Welcome
Its damn cool that you can still buy a brand new Master System console in 2011. I think its a shame so many consoles get killed off when there's plenty of life left in them. Its pretty crazy that the humble Master System has managed to outlive the Playstation and Gameboy for instance.
Do you manage to find games in the wild too? or buy them online?
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Post by quantum180 on May 28, 2011 22:06:18 GMT
Hey mate, Welcome to the forums!
Great to have a contact in Brazil, as SMS was huge over there.
Make sure you post pics when you buy a brazil only release.
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Post by Private Joker on May 28, 2011 22:13:44 GMT
Welcome! Very good you found your way here! Please stick around and feel free to "teach" us all you know about the Master System over there! I would like to see some pictures of the Master Systems still in stores if you can get some  |
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Post by masterthomas on May 28, 2011 22:20:12 GMT
Sure, Joker. I'll take some pictures of it. The MS Evolution looks exactly like this:  Since it does not have a cartridge slot, it comes with 132 games on the system's memory. Among the title included are classics such as Sonic 1, Alex Kidd and the Miracle Wordl, Shinobi, etc. |
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Post by Private Joker on May 28, 2011 22:31:43 GMT
Yeah, I've seen that one for sale. Been thinking about getting one.
How is the screen quality and button layout?
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Post by masterthomas on May 28, 2011 23:09:24 GMT
Screen quality is OK, it definitively works better on LCD TVS than the vintage consoles. Used it in a 40'' LED TV without seeing major distortions.
As for the button layout, they're fine. I've only played Shinobi to be honest and I found the buttons a tad slippery.
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Post by Retrobob on May 29, 2011 0:27:19 GMT
Looks very sexy - but why six buttons?
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Post by Batman666 on May 30, 2011 3:20:13 GMT
Welcome and that MS Evo looks quite awesome!
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Post by masterthomas on May 30, 2011 7:35:26 GMT
Some of Tec Toy's games need more than 3 buttons or so I've heard. I never bothered to play one of them.
The MS Evolution costs R$199,00 (£75), so I don't how it is successful, since a kid can buy a PS2 slim for just a slightly higher price. But it is selling pretty well.
Oh, I miss the old days of SEGA glory. We in Brazil got the Mega Drive a whole year before the US. If you guys are interested, I might later write a feature about the fruitful history of the SMS in Brazil.
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Post by meu2 on May 30, 2011 7:57:47 GMT
Some of Tec Toy's games need more than 3 buttons or so I've heard. I never bothered to play one of them. The MS Evolution costs R$199,00 (£75), so I don't how it is successful, since a kid can buy a PS2 slim for just a slightly higher price. But it is selling pretty well. Oh, I miss the old days of SEGA glory. We in Brazil got the Mega Drive a whole year before the US. If you guys are interested, I might later write a feature about the fruitful history of the SMS in Brazil. It would definitely be interesting to hear more about the Sega/Tec Toy relationship form somebody that lived through it. The SMS Evolution is certainly an interesting product. I wonder if it's based on the SMS2 hardware or is it a single chip solution inside. I actually assumed that Tec Toy were still manufacturing some form of Mega Drive as well and just decided to use the same 6 button for both. Is it true that Tec Toy released an SMS Evolution style console with a guitar controller? Good luck finding the big Tec Toy games like Street Fighter II. If it's tricky for you to find them you can probably imagine how hard it is to find them in the rest of the world! |
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Post by Melanogaster on May 30, 2011 21:51:51 GMT
I wonder if it's based on the SMS2 hardware or is it a single chip solution inside. Courtesy from rupert:  I actually assumed that Tec Toy were still manufacturing some form of Mega Drive as well and just decided to use the same 6 button for both. I think it's more like it, indeed. Is it true that Tec Toy released an SMS Evolution style console with a guitar controller? That's actually a Mega Drive-ish console:  Sorry to break into the thread...  welcome, masterthomas. |
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Post by meu2 on May 30, 2011 22:05:13 GMT
It's been a while since I've cracked open the SMS2, but that looks like a simplified circuit alright (though not quite quite down to NOAC levels). I imagine it must be pretty light for it's size given the amount of empty space.
I must have been thinking of that Mega Drive console alright. The guitar actually looks pretty cool, but I wonder what you play with it.
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Post by masterthomas on May 31, 2011 7:22:54 GMT
Good luck finding the big Tec Toy games like Street Fighter II. If it's tricky for you to find them you can probably imagine how hard it is to find them in the rest of the world! In fact, it isn't all that difficult to buy Tec Toy games such as SF2 around here. Two copies of SF are for sale at this very moment at a pawn shop near my workplace. I'll buy one later this week. I used to have SF for the SMS, but I sold it along with my old SMS portable (the fat controller with a cartridge slot in the back). As for the Mega Drive with the guitar controller, well, Tec Toy developed a Guitar Hero ripoff called "Guitar Idol" (not very creative, yeah). The game's included with the console. |
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Post by meu2 on May 31, 2011 8:04:31 GMT
As for the Mega Drive with the guitar controller, well, Tec Toy developed a Guitar Hero ripoff called "Guitar Idol" (not very creative, yeah). The game's included with the console. So do you know if Guitar Idol is technically a new Mega Drive game, or does it just happen to run on the same unit? |
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welcome, masterthomas.