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I forgot to close all the tabs when I was looking at Mercado Livre (Brazilian eBay) for weird NES games so idk let's have a thread.
Here's a nice complete in box copy of Silent Assault, distributed there by Milmar. This was licensed from Sachen in Taiwan, and uses their box art.
Here's a nice complete in box copy of Silent Assault, distributed there by Milmar. This was licensed from Sachen in Taiwan, and uses their box art.
"Circus Chablie" is a very common misspelling of Circus Charlie on bootleg cartridges, and has become the game's canonical title for me. Here's an excellent example from CCE, a popular South American distributor who goes all the way back to the Atari 2600. https://produto.mercadolivre.com.br/MLB-1068239931-cartucho-60-pinos-circus-charlie-original-cce-nintendinho-_JM
What I like about Brazil is that the game companies there actually put effort into packaging even the bootleg stuff with original art, like we see here with a Turbogame version of Mario 3 https://produto.mercadolivre.com.br/MLB-1267976483-cartucho-72-pinos-super-mario-3-nes-nintendinho-original-cce-_JM
I really like these blue cartridges from Vic, and this one is a particular favorite, as it uses original Dizzy art that I don't believe I've seen anywhere else. I also suspect that this was on the level and actually licensed from Codemasters. https://produto.mercadolivre.com.br/MLB-1074392090-cartucho-72-pinos-the-fantastic-adventures-of-dizzy-nes-cce-_JM
Time Diver Avenger is fascinating...it's actually an otherwise-unreleased game from Irem, officially known as Time Diver: Eon Man! This was way before the prototype ROM was on the internet, and it's feasible that publisher Nitra got the game legitimately. https://produto.mercadolivre.com.br/MLB-1296198351-time-diver-avenger-nintendinho-8-bits-60-pinos-paralela-usad-_JM
This one made me question reality. Capcom actually did plan on doing Street Fighter 1 on the NES, and this would have been the label art for it. Inside is one of the many unofficial versions of SF2. After examination I think this is a fan-made label. https://produto.mercadolivre.com.br/MLB-1162132905-cartucho-72-pinos-street-fighter-2-verso-master-fighter-nes-_JM
This one's kinda hard to see but check out Bart vs. The World. Nintendo distributor Playtronic had a generic NES box that they'd affix cover stickers to, instead of printing a whole new box. The back had an ad for controllers! https://produto.mercadolivre.com.br/MLB-939543288-varios-jogos-nintendinho-nes-na-caixa-originais-_JM
This is the only non-Zelda gold cartridge for the NES that was an official Nintendo product! As far as I know they only did this in Brazil. https://produto.mercadolivre.com.br/MLB-1079846777-cartucho-dourado-72-pinos-2x1-super-spike-world-cup-nacional-_JM
There's actually a box for it too, which I'd love to get, as it never had a box anywhere else. I have one somewhere, but it's all sliced up to fit in a rental case.
IN CONCLUSION: Ethnocentric video game collectors are boring af, look at all this cool stuff you could have instead of trying to complete the same "set" as everyone else
The Phantom was the primo unofficial NES clone system in Brazil, but did you know all the official Phantom games were legally licensed? This is a totally official Activision game for Phantom, with the Nintendo copyright stripped out of the ROM! https://produto.mercadolivre.com.br/MLB-1494450543-phantom-system-fitas-novas-lacradas-pac-man-ghostbusters-2-_JM
There's even an "exclusive" Phantom game! Crime Busters was licensed from Bit Corp. in Taiwan. As far as I know this is the only official release of the game in an NES cartridge. https://produto.mercadolivre.com.br/MLB-1488749218-crime-busters-original-caixa-phantom-system-72-pinos-nes-_JM
Gradiente was so good at distributing the unofficial NES that Nintendo worked with them directly! Playtronic spun off from the company and was the official Nintendo distributor all the way through the N64 years. Keeping Phantom "legal" paid off handsomely in the end.
I bring all this up because people tend to dismiss old video markets like Brazil as being exclusively full of "pirates." There was a lot of that, but there was also a lot of fascinating official/"unlicensed" releases happening there, even if Nintendo itself wasn't involved.
Defining what "counts" and doesn't for video game system libraries based on what country it happens to have been sold in and whether it had the blessing of a corporation is a really limiting way of viewing history, I encourage you all to explore the world (safely on the internet)
