Items for Atari 2600 manufactured in Brazil

[lazzeri]

On 12/10/2019 at 12:24 PM, Retro Robey said:

Hello Sr. Ferraz,

 

From reading this form you seen to be someone who knows a lot about Brazilian Atari 2600 games etc.

 

Have you ever seen these boxed colour CCE games? I haven't been able to find them anywhere else.

 

I also have squirrel boxed with instructions in fantastic condition.

 

Regards, Retro Robey.

 

  Those are indeed really rare. I do have a single one complete, and a friend of mine has three IIRC.

   Mine is Phantom Tank.

Edited December 13, 2019 by lazzeri
Pic

[Retro Robey]

21 minutes ago, lazzeri said:

 

   That is just beautiful. Congratulations! ?

 

   Please keep in mind when looking for the missing ones that there is a motherf... Gentlemen making repros of those and selling them on MercadoLivre. ?

 

Yes I have seen the ones he is selling, they are smaller than the originals and poor quality, so at least they won't be mistaken for the real thing, also he only has 15 designs so he is missing some!

[Retro Robey]

23 minutes ago, lazzeri said:

 

  Those are indeed really rare. I do have a single one complete, and a friend of mine has three IIRC.

   Mine is Phantom Tank.

Very nice, I would like to try and get as many of the colour CCE games boxed as I can, I think 3 is a good start, but they are so rare I doubt I'll be able to get any of the others. My dancing plate cartridge is in really good condition though, and I think that one is the hardest to get.

[Foxsolo2000]

15 hours ago, Retro Robey said:

Here's my collection of boxed t-handle Tron games from Brazil, only need two more for the complete set, but it's taken me years to get all these.

That is truly a beautiful sight to behold.  Thank you for sharing.

[lazzeri]

On 12/13/2019 at 7:50 PM, Retro Robey said:

Very nice, I would like to try and get as many of the colour CCE games boxed as I can, I think 3 is a good start, but they are so rare I doubt I'll be able to get any of the others. My dancing plate cartridge is in really good condition though, and I think that one is the hardest to get.

 
   Yes, Dancing Plate is indeed a pain.

 

   I am not even sure that a complete CCE Color set exists scattered among fellow collectors. ? 

 

[Rom Hunter]

What about this one?


Like Bobby is Going Home, it's in black plastic as well in white.

Are there more CCE originals in black plastic?

Edited December 18, 2019 by Rom Hunter

[Retro Robey]

6 minutes ago, Rom Hunter said:

What about this one?


Like Bobby is Going Home, it's in black plastic as well in white.

Are there more CCE originals in black plastic?

The only one I have in a black case is Bobby is going home, never seen Mr postman before very nice!

Squirrel was definitely released in a black case as well.

[Retro Robey]

On 12/12/2019 at 10:55 PM, Foxsolo2000 said:

Yes please that would be greatly appreciated.  When I used to collect I never came across any Brazilian games with a box and most of the obscure ones I have never seen proof of them ever having a box on release so any pics would be fantastic.

Here's some that I think must be quite rare, because once you've opened the game you can't reuse the box, so they would all have been thrown away, no one in those days bought games to collect, only to play ?

[Foxsolo2000]

5 minutes ago, Retro Robey said:

Here's some that I think must be quite rare, because once you've opened the game you can't reuse the box, so they would all have been thrown away, no one in those days bought games to collect, only to play ?

Now that is something I have never seen before.  Blister packs for VCS games.  Thank you for enlightening me.  Are there instructions behind the games or printed on the back on the pack?

[Retro Robey]

11 minutes ago, Foxsolo2000 said:

Now that is something I have never seen before.  Blister packs for VCS games.  Thank you for enlightening me.  Are there instructions behind the games or printed on the back on the pack?

Just a label on the back, instructions could be inside maybe, but I don't know... I'm not going to open to find out ?

[Foxsolo2000]

1 minute ago, Retro Robey said:

Just a label on the back, instructions could be inside maybe, but I don't know... I'm not going to open to find out ?

Incredible.  Once again many thanks for sharing this information.  Appreciated.

[Rom Hunter]

2 hours ago, Foxsolo2000 said:

Now that is something I have never seen before.  Blister packs for VCS games.

http://www.atarimania.com/list_games_atari-2600-vcs-hes-blisterpack_label_460_2_G.html

Edited December 18, 2019 by Rom Hunter

[Foxsolo2000]

2 minutes ago, Rom Hunter said:

http://www.atarimania.com/list_games_atari-2600-vcs-hes-blisterpack_label_460_2_G.html

Thank you Rom for the information.  I really need to study your site more   In all my years of collecting I never found any blister packs for the bulk of the foreign releases I managed to attain were always loose so I had no idea what the original packaging once was.

[Rom Hunter]

Here's another way of packaging:
http://www.atarimania.com/list_games_atari-2600-vcs-imagic-cheap_label_62_2_G.html


 

[Foxsolo2000]

1 hour ago, Rom Hunter said:

Here's another way of packaging:
http://www.atarimania.com/list_games_atari-2600-vcs-imagic-cheap_label_62_2_G.html


 

Again never seen that and never thought a company like Imagic would have employed its use.  The only different packaging I ever saw with Imagic was when they packaged Fire Fighter/Riddle of the Sphinx & Cosmic Arc/Atlantis together.  Truly fascinating stuff.  Again thank you for the heads up.

[Sr. Ferraz]

More Work Games was one of the winners of the ATARI Homebrew Awards !
Game Rally Racer !
Made in Brazil !
Congratulations !!!
I have only 2 CCE in the sealed blister pack: Pac Man and Tank (page 21 of this topic).
.
A great week !

[Randolph Laterca]

On 8/8/2018 at 8:11 PM, LS_Dracon said:

I was reading an old Brazilian videogame magazine (entitled "VideoGame") from 1991 and found 2 oddity I think some of you may like.

That was the unique mag from there featuring Atari game reviews by the time.

 

The first one is a game under development by "Engecomp" software (never heard about) that will feature a famous Brazilian singer Angelica.

There's no picture of the game, but was described as "memory game" (matching card game???).

It probably was never released, but it is interesting to know another brazilian game was in the works back in 90's (the other is MegaBoy).

 

The second surprise was an advertisement of a unknown to me "Conector Atari Console". Note Conector is the company brand, the console is just described as "Atari Compatible" console that will be released "October 1991".

Never saw this clone either. I'll post below both scans.

 

I did some search and found nothing relevant. There are many Engecomp's around to know which one was the aforementioned, and certanly Atari + Conector will never result in what I was looking for.

The Angelica game never saw the light of the day and this Atari clone looks a lot like the Phoenix (the console on these pictures is not mine) which is pretty rare.

 

[Foxsolo2000]

Do you know the identity of that Ocean game?

 

[Rom Hunter]

Here's Engesoft:
http://www.atarimania.com/pgelstsoft.awp?system=2&type=G&publisher=89&step=25

Here's Conector:
http://www.atarimania.com/pgelstsoft.awp?system=2&type=G&publisher=103&step=25

AFAIK the Angelica game was never realized.

[lazzeri]

On 12/18/2019 at 8:57 AM, Retro Robey said:

Just a label on the back, instructions could be inside maybe, but I don't know... I'm not going to open to find out ?

   No instructions inside. You can keep yours sealed. ?

[lazzeri]

On 2/4/2020 at 6:35 PM, Foxsolo2000 said:

Do you know the identity of that Ocean game?

 

   Those are 4-in-1 carts. Assorted cart, not a standardized one.

[Foxsolo2000]

9 hours ago, lazzeri said:

   Those are 4-in-1 carts. Assorted cart, not a standardized one.

Many thanks for clarifying.

[lazzeri]

I’ve recently made a Facebook post trying to explain a little on why so many pirated and cloned items in Brazil.

 

I’ll take the liberty to copy it here.

 

Original post can be found here: 

 

https://www.facebook.com/108181887408779/posts/122229289337372/?d=n

 

=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_=_

 

 

How was it possible to have so many pirated and cloned Atari games and systems in Brazil?
 

To understand that we must travel back in time a little. Be patient! ?

 

On April 1st 1964 Brazil went through a military coup. A Field Marshall was nominated President and the country started a 25-year ruling under a right-wing, nationalist government. And as in every other centralizing and nationalizing government, economy was placed under strict government control. And so when the “computer revolution of the 70s” began, our military government opted to protect the newborn Brazilian computer industry against international corporations.  In 1979 the SEI (“Secretaria Especial de Informática”, or Special Informatics Bureau) was founded, a government department responsible to decide who could or couldn’t manufacture computers in Brazil. The importing of computers and components was strictly controlled.

 

But what was the plan behind it? The goal was to create an environment that nurtured a national industry of informatics. Since Brazilians could not buy Commodore PET, TRS-80 or Apple ][ directly, Brazilian industry would naturally create its own computers, processor and software from scratch. Importing components was a slow, expensive and bureaucratic process. All manufacturers were required to sign in at SEI and inform what they intended to manufacture, and how many units, and then wait for government approval. And SEI could, unilaterally, dismiss your plans and simply say “you are not allowed to manufacture that”.

 

Of course reality came in the way. Our manufacturers, with no resources and knowledge to create computer lines from scratch, ended up copying international products. The “development of new computer lines” turned onto a license to reverse engineer and clone existing product- specially computers whose parts could be independently bough in Taiwan or in the USA, like said TRS-80 and Apple but also MSX, CoCo and even Sinclair computers. Those computers with dedicated components that could not be easily found were naturally protected – It was due to the SID chip that no Commodore 64 clone was ever made.

 

By that time there was a very strong “gray market” of components and manufactured goods. Our government planned stimulating all our industry, not only the computer branch. So, it was strictly forbidden to import cars, for example. Also there was a very strict currency control, with a personal “quota” of how many dollars a Brazilian could buy when travelling abroad. That way, even legally buying a computer by walking inside a Miami store during your vacation was very hard. Due to that every wealthy adult Brazilian had two friendly criminals: A “doleiro”, a person you could buy dollars (cash) by paying a overprice – and it was such a common thing that the black market conversion rate was announced on the news daily!  - And an “importabandista” (import + contraband), a guy who could smuggle all those juicy things you wanted, from Scotch whiskey to Converse sneakers, from Pringles fries to… Computers and video games. 

 

Brazilian companies basically smuggle components from Taiwan so they can manufacture clones – most of the time scratching identification marks on chips so their clones would not be cloned later on. Then those computers went to market with outrageous prices – the first Brazilian PC-XT clones costed around 10,000 USD with NO adjust to inflation, while an original IBM PC with similar configuration costed about 2,000 USD.

 

What about software? The rule was the same – international software could not be imported and had no right to intellectual protection. Brazilian developed software was protected, though. So manufacturers basically copied BIOS and OS, slightly modded it - sometimes translated parts of it – and distributed it as “developed in Brazil”, which was protected under Brazilian law!

 

Finally! Let´s talk Atari 2600, shall we?

 

Atari was officially release in the USA in 1977, but in Brazil the first units arrived on early 80s, in an amateurish way and with crazy prices. First consoles were smuggled and then “Brazilianized” in an amateurish way, with electrical adaptions for the PAL-M TV Standard. A box and documentation in Brazilian Portuguese was printed and then it all went to stores. By that time the first bootlegged carts appeared – sometimes the ROM was modified so the original copyright holder was erased to simulate a “developed in Brazil” status.

 

When the legal videogame market officially started in 1983, with Polyvox paying royalties to Atari Inc. and Philips doing the same to Magnavox for the Odyssey2 system,  it seemed for a while things would change. But soon enough some companies realized that that was a market just too good to be ignored and pirated carts flooded in. That, we must remind our readers, were considered perfectly legal since foreign software had no protection under law.

 

One must remember that in early 80s Brazil was a rich country (it was once the worlds´ 5th economy)  and home to some 100 million inhabitants, all avid for the latest fad they saw on TV or in the movies.

 

And when the first pirated carts (cheap, and in so many different titles) circulated without any legal hiccups, a lot of manufacturers decided to jump in too. The few larger manufacturers that still paid royalties (Polyvox licensed Atari and Activision games; CCE apparently licensed Bit Corp. games; Possibly Dismac licensed their early releases, or claimed to) quickly found out that they were throwing money away and no licensing was ever needed and then also began releasing all sorts of pirated games.

 

Dozens of small companies popped out everywhere selling pirated carts. A group of Brazilian users recently listed as many as 150 different brands, manufacturers or distributors of Atari games. Some of those sold nationwide like said Polyvox, CCE and Dismac but also Dynacom, Robby and Digitel, among others. Some were VERY strong in some cities but not that strong in others, like “Canal 3”, who was a powerhouse in São Paulo but not that well known elsewhere, or “Atari Mania”, really common in Rio de Janeiro but nearly unheard of outside Rio. Smaller companies existed in distant states, and even small rental stores released their “brands” in mid-sized cities around the country. It was plain wild.

 

Once again, all of that was perfectly legal under Brazilian law. Actually, selling a pirated Atari cart was perfectly fine – but having an original, USA Atari game in your house was a crime of contraband!

 

[Rom Hunter]

Excellent information.

Many thanks!

Really appreciate it

[Jose Mello]

On 12/18/2019 at 8:10 AM, Retro Robey said:

The only one I have in a black case is Bobby is going home, never seen Mr postman before very nice!

Squirrel was definitely released in a black case as well.

Good afternoon. I've been watching conversations about CCE game cartridges and I noticed a black cartridge with the colorful label. I think I can contribute some more information about the CCE line. I am Brazilian and my childhood was marked by Atari. I bought a lot of CCE games at the time and I regret selling them later.
CCE launched four series of video game cartridges for the Atari line. The first series were white cartridges with colorful labels and it was a very limited edition. In the second series, the cartridges were still in white plastic but with a black label and with a single standard illustration for everyone where only the name / title of the game changed. In these cases, the box was already bigger, following the dimensions of the Atari cartridge boxes but with the front cover opening like a book to access the cartridge, manuals and catalogs. In the third series, the cartridges became in black plastic, maintaining the standard black label for everyone, changing only the name and the boxes became the same standard as the Atari cartridge boxes. In the fourth series the cartridges were still in black plastic but the black label started to have an illustrative art according to the theme of the game instead of being a standard figure for everyone and the box continued to have the same pattern as Atari. Finally, this fourth series of cartridges is now sold in blisters. Therefore, black plastic CCE cartridges were never sold with a colorful label, this should not be original. The colorful label was exclusive to the first series of white plastic cartridges.

But congratulations to everyone for the CCE cartridge collections, right here in Brazil it is very difficult to complete these series, it is very rare to find someone with such a complete collection. To finish the collection, all that remains is to have the CCE console.