Anyone ever seen this weird Samurai Nintendo console from India?
I saw this weird 'Samurai' console that looks just like a Nintend with stickers on it but it seems to have lisencing and patient # of something. What you all think? Weird.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/VTG-SAMURAI-NINTENDO-NES-BUNDLE-T-V-VIDEO-GAMES-CONSOLE-CARTRIDGE-INDIA-JAPAN-/181645909973?pt=Games_US&hash=item2a4af09fd5
http://www.ebay.com/itm/VTG-SAMURAI-NINTENDO-NES-BUNDLE-T-V-VIDEO-GAMES-CONSOLE-CARTRIDGE-INDIA-JAPAN-/181645909973?pt=Games_US&hash=item2a4af09fd5
Comments
see here: http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=5&threadid=139340
Hi, i'm from india and i have one.
The controllers(NES-004) and the RF unit(NESP-003 PAL) are the same as any regular NES.
Hi, i do not have any details on how nintendo operated in india at that time because i was too young(8 yrs). On wikipedia there was some mention about the name being samurai because of the trade laws. In india before the 90s any international company would have to share their company name with an indian company. For example motor vehicles like Leyland was Ashok-Leyland, Yamaha was called Rajdoot Yamaha, Honda was Hero-Honda and Suzuki was Maruti Suzuki but all that changed once india switched to neo-liberalism because sega in the 90s came out with mega drive 2 and that name was the same.
Of the games i own i think they are all pirated but i dont know if that was done by Samurai or someone else.I even called Samurai once just to ask about the 8bit consoles but the guy did not know much and seemed more interested in wii.
During those times there was also another company called Media and their 8bit consoles looked more like the famicom system and played famicom carts. I don't know if those were clones or licensed but i remember their ads, i don't recall seeing any ad of the samurai console on tv but i have vague memories of the media game system even though i never had that one. I always thought that they were rival companies and i never knew anything about clones and licensing and since the media system had so much publicity and exposure, i always looked at my samurai as an underdog system and felt even closer to it(Hahaha). All that changed after the internet. It was the first time i came across the word ness or NES
I have seen this name samurai with the same logo on another famiclone Micro Genius. It looks similar to the russian Dendy.
In india you can still buy famiclones and sega mega drive clones, only out here its called budget gaming not retro gaming. Gaming on the cheap and i love that. The consoles cost around 500-600 rupees(8-9USD) and the games are those globtop carts, they cost from 50-200rupees. I have seen some second hand cartridges for sale without the cartridge shell, just the green chip.
There is a new company called Mitashi that makes famiclones,8bit psp style handhelds and recently they started making lcd televisions so i guess they're doing fine. I read an interview of someone from mitashi who said that they had gone to china and developed a cricket game for the 16bit mitashi sega clones. If i find that article i'll copy/paste it here. Out here Brian Lara's cricket on sega was a big hit in the late 90s. Does anyone know who brian lara is? just curious thats all.
I found this picture of a tattered box online.
The Kung Fu you have is legit. If you open it up it has a real board inside. Do you remember what kind of box it came in? Do you still have the manual?
Originally posted by: TENGEN
That's great info Segata!
The Kung Fu you have is legit. If you open it up it has a real board inside. Do you remember what kind of box it came in? Do you still have the manual?
Hi Tengen, Its very difficult to find games with the box and manual out here. I have NEVER seen one. I saw a thread about the Samurai Rad Racer and the pcb had a chip with NES(sorry, nintendo) written on it. I saw no such thing on the Kung-Fu so i thought it was pirated. Is there a way to tell the original from the other? I will open the carts and upload some pics later.
Originally posted by: KTownKilla
You rock man! Thanks for the great info. That is so cool to see the console box and all the different games. Budget gaming!
HAHA budget gaming 4 life!
I don't think the console was manufactured in japan like all the others but instead in india itself or else they would not have put "designed" in japan. During the 80s and the 90s Made in Japan was considered high quality so they would have mentioned it if it was made in japan.
I found that article about mitashi gaming.
http://gadgets.ndtv.com/games/features/tracing-the-origins-of-gaming-in-india-8-bit-cricket-sega-and-cloning-640129
"It was very tough for me to teach Chinese people to make a cricket game," says Dugar.
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More pics:
Kung Fu
Nintendo
PAT. PEND. MADE IN JAPAN
110 in 1
Contra
wrecking crew posted by another member in another thread somewhere
super mario bros - i own this one but i still need to scan it to get better images
Take your time with the pics, i'm going to be here for a long time Now i'm seriously motivated to go hunting for these games. I'll post pics if i ever find them. Thank you very much Joe.
I found this here, at NA.
I have noticed none of the Indian Version carts have a code like the other versions.
and one from media games
i have searched quite a bit for these games online and info is very limited to say the least. i also once came across that smb cart in grey
but cant find the pic at the moment...ill post more pics as i find them, i know i have a few more samurai multicarts, and more pics of the system
if you're interested. i have never seen a box or manual for these games though i am sure they exist.
That samurai 31 in 1 has the "Samurai Made In India" pressed on the cart shell, whereas the ones i have are all stickers hiding the "pat. pend. made in japan". The more i find out the more confusing it gets haha. Keep the pics coming Joe, I'm very grateful for all of them.