Back to the purples...

Some time ago I wrote a few messages about the purple Master System games only released in Portugal. It's been a while since I've completed the full set of these with the console included, so I decided to take my time and make yet another group picture with all the titles and the console. Hope you enjoy it.

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Meet the new members of the family =)

Finally, the older syster of my first consle ever has made it to my collection. I'm quite glad I bought this piece of history. This ones the "Plus" pack, which comes with the extra gun. There's also a similar pack for SMSII.

Yes it's true, up to this point I missed one of the most important videogaing pieces ever. The original Gameboy with black and white screen. I was never given this little gem when I was a kid and it took me plenty of time to get it because I had other priorities. Now that a good chance came up, I decided to buy it.

Okay so this might not be as old as the other two, but it's a very interesting item. The most beautiful PS2 console in my opinion. I felt in love when I first saw it, and now I finally have one in mint condition with a near perfect box :)

I'm happy to say that my console list is nearly completed. I'm missing only Megadrive 1 and both mega CDs as well as one Gameboy Pocket from the older consoles. However, my top priority will be getting a complete Multi Mega console. It will take some months because I'm more concerned with this terrible wave of new releases during the Xmas season and so little money available right now. Once I get all the games I want from this season within the next 4 months or so, I'll search the whole world for a complete MultiMega.

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Vintage limited editions never get old

This little treasure above was recently added to the collection. A good example of an overlooked item that disappeared for a long time, just to become another illusive collector's piece. And now that it popped from its hideout, it's hitting high values. Master System was my first console ever. This particular edition is the most special thing I have for it and I was not expecting to get it any time sooner in the future. I don't call this a lucky shot because certainly paid more than a lucky dime for sure...

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And since we're talking about rare accessories...

... here's another one, in a mint condition: the Sega Master System Converter II for the Mega Drive console. It does exactly what its name suggests: in allows you to play Sega Master System game cartridges in a Mega Drive console. I guess this is what we can call the first retrocompatibility feature that a console ever had - I might be wrong, until otherwise proven. Shame on you Sony, with so many great PS2 games still around you should not have removed that feature...

While the first version of the converter exists in quite a few numbers and it's fairly common, this second edition seems to be very scarce, specially in this condition. As a matter of fact, I'm pretty glad that I bought it. Works with both Mega Drive I and II consoles because it has a small piece that allows to controll the height of the adapter for each console. It just fits each one perfectly.

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Cables? What's that for?

The two items bellow are incredibly hard to find, yet quite impressive pieces of technology that only the most recent consoles are using regularly. Wireless controllers have been there in the market for quite a while. Using their age's techology, SEGA released infra-red controllers for its own consoles. These were pretty expensive back then, and that's probably the main reason why they become so rare. I fetl pretty interested in Saturn's wireless controllers after I first heard they existed. When I finally had the chance to pick a complete set, I did not think twice. As for Mega Drive controllers, these took me quite a while to get as well but with a lucky shot I got them as well.

Even the oldest 8bit console has its own piece of advanced technology. Yes that's right, the Sega Master System console had its own infra-red controllers. While not being produced by Sega, this licensed infra-red controller was produced by WKK. A similar controller exists for the Sega Mega Drive as well, but now that I have the original ones there's no need to search too hard for the WKK version. If I have the chance to get one, I'll get it, but I'll not search exhaustively like I did with the other two packs. This SMS controller only exists in individual packs on a single controller. So I did buy a second controller and that way I have two of each :)

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Portuguese Purple Exclusives for Master System

I usually don't mind if the editions I buy are portuguese or from different countries. Sometimes it is best for me to find a foreign version of a rare game for a cheaper price as much as the language of the game remains in english. However, not always that is possible. Some games are one-country exclusives and I have to search for the in the original place they were released.

And that's the case of the portuguese purple versions of master system. These editions were released much later, when Mega Drive took the place of the older 8bit console in worldwide markets. Ecofilmes, the official distributor in Portugal, released the latest version of Master System (III Compact) which was officially released in Brazil by the hand of Tec Toy. Following Brazil's example of keeping a very successfull console still alive and for a cheaper price in the market, Ecofilmes decided to release their own edition of 16 Tec Toy games, some of wich are in fact unavailable elsewhere in the world besides Brazil, Portugal and Spain. So far I was able to get 13 of those 16 games as well as the console itself. The public attention was already concentrated on Mega Drive by the time these games came out and by that time not many people wouldn't be willing to buy an old console despite its cheap price. Basically, it is not easy to spot these games even in Portugal. Many of them have already left the country directly into foreign collectors' homes.

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Master System Tec Toy: Portugal VS Brazil

Tec Toy, a brasilian distributor for most Sega consoles and games in the past, still produces several consoles and games from the old Mega Drive and Master System times. Some console and game variants are exclusive releases, unavailable in any other part of the world.

Back to the past... Tec Toy was responsible for the release of several (well, dozens, maybe even hundreds) top games in brazilian portuguese. But they went even further... in order to catch the attention of brazilian kids, tec toy released several exclusive games related to brazilian tv shows and comics and converted many important games from other systems (such as Game Gear) into Master System games. Some versions of several games, such as Street Fighter II', Baku Baku, Sonic Blast and Virtua Fighter only exist in Brasil. Besides the regular blue covers that are different from all the master system covers we're used to see around the world, there are also a lot of card boxes, originally released before they were replaced with the plastic ones.

Following the brazilian example, Ecofilmes from Portugal picked up some of those tec toy games and released their own versions. Only a very small amount of tec toy games were ever released in Portugal. These editions have two important tings: exclusive art cover, with the purple shading at the bottom of the box, and they also include the tec toy serial number. These are hard to get a hold of - even in Portugal, due to the low number of games available and sold. The ones pictured bellow are all the complete games I could ever find. There are at least 8 more tec toy games, including a very important one: Sonic Spinball. This Sonic Spinball version also exists in Australia, with a silver cart and box, and was released in Portugal - as I have one copy myself. But the original Ecofilmes release of that game... I am yet to find one.

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