The game console "Dandy" became known to domestic buyers back in the 90s of the last century. Despite such an "ancient" age of the console, even today there are notorious fans of the exclusives that came out for the NES hardware software in those distant times.
For example, the eternal multi-platformer Super Mario Bros., which remains an absolute hit to this day, or the classic Japanese RPG Legends Of Zelda, which riveted players to the small screens of antediluvian TVs with its plot and indescribable atmosphere.
Prefix "Dandy": history of creation
Few people know that such a popular console is just an unofficial copy of the third-generation NES consoles. The fact is that the products of the Japanese company Nintendo have never been officially released on the territory of the former CIS. The local market was not of interest to foreign investors due to relative poverty and thriving piracy. But it was thanks to the latter that domestic gamers were able to taste most of the gaming hits of that time.
The enterprising company Steepler occupied a free niche in 1992 by launching a game console in Russia, which was assembled in Taiwan and was a hardware clone of Nintendo consoles. At the same time, the logo (an elephant in a red T-shirt and a blue cap) was developed by Russian animator Ivan Maksimov.
The Dandy prefix, which at that time was priced at about $94, was very fond of the local public, which allowed the company to sell more than a million copies of the console by 1994.
Model range of set-top boxes "Dandy"
Steepler's product range has changed over time. More advanced and complete models were born.
Initially, in 1992, the consoles of the Micro Genius IQ-501 and 502 models hit the domestic market (in Russia they were called Dendy Classic I and II, respectively). Both variations were very different in appearance from the original NES, and the joysticks looked more like toys than devices.
In 1993, more advanced models with built-in gun controller support became available to the consumer from the CIS. We are talking about Dendy Junior, which had much more similarities with its Japanese original. In addition, other clones of the console (for example, the Subor prefix) were produced by the supplier company, which had a slightly different device.
The most popular games on Dandy
The pirate console owes its popularity, of course, to a wide range of high-quality games released for the operating systemNES. The prefix "Dandy" supported most of them, so Russian gamers are familiar with such masterpieces as "Super Mario", "Mortal Kombat" and "Legends of Zelda".
The world-famous Tetris puzzle, developed in the USSR by Russian programmer Alexei Pajitnov, also entered the top 20 best-selling games. True, the rights to this series quickly passed to foreign owners.
A good game is considered to be a product of Konami, which in 1989 released a platform game of the same name based on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic book series. An interesting feature of this game is the ability to switch between playable characters that have different abilities.
Information carrier "Dandy"
Third-generation NES consoles used cartridges as storage media. The game console "Dandy" was no exception. Despite the fact that an unofficial clone could support licensed games, such a distribution never appeared on the Russian market. But there were more than enough fake pirated cartridges, and, judging by the reviews, not every one of them turned out to be working.
Customers often come across cartridges with big names "200 in 1" or "999 in 1". As noted in the reviews, in fact, the content of the media was nothing more than a set of useless modifications and additions that were allocated by the seller into a separate game.
The prefix "Dandy", games for which were released by third-party developers, boastsseveral exclusives. Even the Taiwanese set-top box manufacturer (TXC Corporation) tried their hand at this field. One of the famous Russian authors and developers of games for Dendy is Alexander Chudov, a programmer. Also, domestic companies released translations of some popular games, mostly technical ones.
The Dendy brand and its life in mass media
Such overwhelming popularity of the console in the domestic market led to the fact that a simple business of distributing consoles has acquired a whole commercial network, and then a cultural heritage.
In 1994, Steepler, with the participation of Inkombank, founded a subsidiary company, Dendy, which was engaged in the distribution of game consoles.
She even managed to get the exclusive rights to sell official NES consoles in the same year. A similar decision on the part of the Japanese company was caused by the intention of the domestic company to boycott the sale of another Sega Mega Drive console known at that time.
The media did not leave aside the fact of the success of virtual production in Russia. Several thematic programs appeared, telling about the novelties and intricacies of the game world. Tournaments were held in various games, which were also broadcast on television. In general, it was the appearance of Dendy that marked the dawn of the gaming industry in the territory of the former USSR.
Competition between Nintendo and Sega
Sega Master System and NES were the two most popular 8-bit consoles inlate 80s-early 90s of the last century. In the future, experts will confirm that Nintendo won this competition in the American market due to the lower price of the game console and high-quality exclusives. The situation on the domestic market is approximately the same.
Console with portable NES system, as follows from the reviews, were more popular due to the elementary nature of copying the architecture of the set-top box.
Therefore, there were much more of their clones than in the case of Sega. In addition, at the disposal of buyers was a huge range of cartridges, albeit not always reliable. In this indicator, the prefix "Dandy" loses: "Sega" had, although a modest, but fully working official distributor (it was sold under the counter anyway).
Modern life of the legendary console
Despite the fact that the production of games for the console stopped back in 1995, a huge layer of quality products still managed to come out. Some series that were extremely popular in those years are almost forgotten in our time. Therefore, even today there are lovers of antiquity, ready to plunge into the games of their youth again. This is not surprising, given how much the Dandy prefix costs today (about $5), and how many good franchises it has supported.
Most of the games that were released for the NES still get beautiful interpretations to this day. However, many fans prefer the classics to the new fashion trends, so don't be surprised to see an antediluvian console in someone's home -perhaps the owner just decided to plunge into the fairy-tale world of Zelda again or play a scene with the princess from Mario.
