DREW VO: Cloth Map came to Brazil with one goal in mind: to understand the country’s
parallel video game universe.
Numerous political and economic conditions over the decades have resulted in a unique
and often challenging environment for those who make and enjoy video games.
To help unravel this complex web, we started in what is perhaps the best physical expression
of Brazil’s game industry: a so-called “gray market,” in the middle of São Paulo.
André Campos and the crew from Jogabilidade, a video game website based in São Paulo,
led us through the hectic streets of Santa Ifigênia Market, your one-stop shop for hacked
cable TV boxes, bootleg copies of CorelDRAW, and other electronic odds and ends.
I love that there’s cell phones and batteries over here, and then, immediately, croissants
and coffee.
It’s got everything you need!
DREW VO: Electronics cost a lot in Brazil, but if you’re willing to forego things like warranties,
you can find lower prices at a place like this.
ANDRÉ: Yeah, lower here than if you buy at what would be a Best Buy or something similar.
But still pretty high.
The PlayStation 4 produced in Brazil cost 4000 reais.
DREW: Produced in Brazil? ANDRÉ: Produced in Brazil.
DREW: Not even importing it. ANDRÉ: Not even.
That was 100% legal.
Drew: Wow.
So, 4000, market retail.
What about at a place like this?
ANDRÉ: At a place like this, they would import it and sell...
Like I said, they buy a lot of them, take them out of the cases, the boxes, so they
can fit as much as possible in a container or truck or something like that.
Bring them over, and you will be able to buy them for 2000 reais or 3000, so that's how
I bought mine in early 2014.
The Xbox One and the PS4 are still here, but Nintendo got out like two years ago.
They were saying the market wasn't good and they simply abandoned Brazil pretty much.
DREW: So would you find a Nintendo Switch at a gray market like this?
ANDRÉ: Yes, you would find it like around
1700 reais or something like that.
It's a pretty expensive hobby to have here in Brazil.
Because of that, the PS2 is still pretty strong.
The PS3 and Xbox 360, especially the Xbox 360, because it was easier to pirate.
It was leagues ahead of the PS3 in sales because of the pirated games.
DREW: Wow, so the prevalence of piracy drove hardware sales.
ANDRÉ: Absolutely.
Since the beginning, since the NES days--since the Atari, even--we had a lot of clones of
the Atari, a lot of clones of the NES.
That's how video games became popular here in the first place.
Not by importing the real, legal ones but with the pirated clones and so on.
DREW VO: Brazil’s game-hardware landscape is a patchwork quilt of clones and
officially-licensed hardware that, due to Brazilian law, had to be manufactured in Brazil.
This resulted in official, but totally different, consoles than I was used to.
Telling the difference between licensed and unlicensed hardware, however, is something
I left to André.
ANDRÉ: A Brazilian Odyssey, manufactured by Philips, with Brazilian games, Brazilian
versions of the games.
So, this would be a Pac-Man clone, it came here like Come-Come, which means Eat-Eat.
And, for a long while in pop culture, we referred to Pac-Man as Come-Come.
A Master System clone down there, which is probably a DynaVision.
Turbo Game, around here.
An NES clone that runs only on the smaller Japanese Famicom cartridge.
If you needed to play an American cartridge, you would need to buy an adapter.
There was a lot of confusion back then.
You would buy a magazine that said "Nintendo games,” but your console didn't say anything
about Nintendo. People were very confused so they started putting "Compatible with Nintendo.”
DREW VO: For more on Brazil’s game hardware anomalies, we chatted with Gus Lanzetta, who,
among many other things, helps run the SHVB, a game preservation project dedicated
to Brazilian games. DREW: So what is this?
GUS: This is actually our first locally produced game console.
DREW: Okay. GUS: This is a Telejogo.
So this is a Pong machine.
You have Game or Practice.
This is what channel it's going to transmit over, because it's RF.
Channel three or channel four.
DREW: You've got your nice RF cable here.
GUS: Oh yeah, let me show you that.
It's PAL-M, which is our video standard.
During the dictatorship they didn't want people importing stuff.
They wanted the industry here to thrive.
So they would go "you can't import US equipment for your TV station because it's going to be
the wrong color standard."
So manufacturers had to import the stuff, adapt it, and then sell it.
So we have the Telejogo II.
DREW: In what year were these two produced?
GUS: The first one is, like, late 70s.
And I think this one is still late 70s.
But they did this well through the 80s.
Oh and this is multi-voltage.
DREW: Hey look at that.
GUS: Because we have different voltages in different regions of the country here.
So this is prepared for any region.
But then we move ahead in time to the Atari 2600.
DREW: Light years.
GUS: Which was licensed by a company called Milmar here, and they did the Dactar.
Which is this.
DREW: They officially licensed it from Atari?
To produce it in Brazil?
GUS: Yes.
See this?
"Atari is a trademark of Atari Incorporated."
DREW: Why wouldn't Atari just sell it in Brazil?
Sell the Atari in Brazil?
GUS: Since we were going through a time, it was a military dictatorship, it was a very
protectionist economy, you know, they wanted the industry here to thrive.
I guess it was similar to what Korea went through, where you couldn't really sell imported
electronics.
You needed to have a local representative, so you had JVC and other companies like that
manufacturing the Saturn in Korea in the 90s.
So I think it's kind of like that.
DREW: They licensed it to another company. GUS: Yeah, to a Brazilian company.
DREW: Gave them the technology, basically, to then produce
in Brazil and be able to sell it.
GUS: And sometimes they would import the boards, completely ready, just done, and they would
make the carcasses and stuff like that.
That still happens now.
The PS4 kind of started out that way, and I think it still is that way.
But yeah, it helps you get around some tax stuff.
Just assembling it here was already--
DREW: So you can say "Made in Brazil.” GUS: Made in Brazil, yeah.
GUS: This was our Atari joystick.
DREW: It looks more like a flight stick, which is way cooler.
GUS: It's way more... it fits your hand better.
It's kinda like a copy of the VCS.
DREW: It looks very similar.
And because it's licensed Atari hardware, Atari games will work on this?
GUS: Yeah.
We have, like I showed you, a cartridge right here.
DREW: Yeah, this is amazing.
GUS: This was a regular box.
You can find a lot of Atari games with this logo.
DREW: Just in case there was any confusion.
GUS: It's a "cartridge with advanced technology."
DREW: Oh!
That's cool.
GUS: And you see.
DREW: That's very advanced.
GUS: That is very advanced, because you have four games.
So like this you have game one, then game two is like this, and then game three is this,
and game four is like that.
DREW: Got it.
Are these again, officially licensed?
And sold by Dactar?
GUS: Yeah. DREW: Okay.
GUS: They were.
Because, since Atari didn't publish all of these games, they didn't care.
And even stuff like Gradiente, which would later license the NES to bring it over, they
had their own NES clones and they would bring over games without licensing them.
So it was a lot of shady stuff happening back then, just to get games here.
Tectoy, which is the company that brings over Sega stuff to this day—old Sega stuff, not
like 360 games—they were formed by people that Gradiente had made a division to
go research games, see if we can bring games over here.
So they traveled, they made contacts, they figured out the industry and they were like,
“we can make a lot more money if we just make our own company."
So they left Gradiente and opened up Tectoy and then they were like "we have a company
now, you should license stuff to us."
So they brought Sega over and then people were trying to bring over Nintendo and that
took a while.
I think Nintendo was harder to convince to “oh, let us make cartridges here, let us
assemble NESs and SNESs here."
They're a more protective company I guess than Sega was, and that probably made them
take a while to come here.
DREW VO: Back at Santa Ifigênia, Sega’s head start was clearly visible in the sheer
volume of games on shelves.
Another contributing factor was the effort Tectoy made to appeal to its Brazilian audience.
As with this game, that stars a cartoon character popular in Brazil.
ANDRÉ: Chapolim vs. Dracula.
It's based on a game called "Ghost House,” so it's a re-skin of the Ghost House game.
RAFAEL: That's the reason why Chapolim is fighting Dracula.
ANDRÉ: Okay. Makes a lot of sense.
They probably had a lot of sprites for monsters.
RAFAEL: On the back, it’s in red text: “Text in Portuguese.”
This is a very, very rare thing in the past.
ANDRÉ: Yes, a nice selling point to have.
DREW VO: Some games were even downconverted for
compatibility on the more prevalent older consoles.
ANDRÉ: So you probably guessed that Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter were only for the
SNES, Genesis.
Here's a cartridge for both of them for the NES, which is pretty special.
Produced in and sold only around here.
So, they are pretty rare items.
DREW VO: Many other, less official games flourished here too.
RAFAEL: It’s a mod of Speedy Gonzales, for Super Nintendo.
DREW: Wow.
RAFAEL: And you save Mario.
ANDRÉ: Terrible game, but really funny.
DREW VO: But, as Gus explained, gray areas were just part of business as usual.
GUS: If you went to Santa Ifigênia, I can tell you a lot about that, because when I
was a teenager I started out working for the Chinese-mafia-owned places that sell pirated
games.
We used to do a lot of shady things.
We knew when the cops were going to raid the place.
They would tip us off.
It was usually on Mondays.
DREW: Who would tip you off?
GUS: Someone would tip off our bosses, our bosses would tell us.
DREW: Through the grapevine.
GUS: Yes.
So what would happen is... pirated disks are cheap, it was just DVD-Rs, but consoles are not.
Usually raids would happen on Monday, so Sunday night we would pack backpacks full of PS2s—this
was like in '04—and pack them full and go to cars in the parking garage and just hide
them in the trunk.
Because when you have a search and apprehension warrant for a mall, it covers all stores,
it doesn't cover cars in a parking garage.
DREW: That's news you can use from Cloth Map.
DREW VO: But that’s the kind of, shall we say, ingenuity to be expected with a population
of die-hard video game fans.
Like this guy, who runs a store called Super Anos 80, and was very eager to show off his
substantial collection.
ANDRÉ: You would plug this into an Atari and download games via the telephone.
DREW: What?!
In the 80s?
ANDRÉ: In the 80s.
DREW VO: The store is a celebration of game nostalgia, right down to this room which recreates
the “demo area” of your average rental store.
Back at Gus’ place, I got some hands-on time with another nostalgia bomb:
a Master System with dozens of built-in games.
DREW: Oh yeah.
SNES Classic, eat your heart out.
GUS: Yeah, well, don’t, because…
DREW: [laughing] Maybe not. GUS: Maybe not, yeah.
DREW: So no cartridge slot, because it's got all the games you need.
GUS: Yes.
They started doing that with the Genesis eventually.
This is one of the first models that didn't have a cartridge port.
Because it was just an expensive piece and most people weren't buying
cartridges anyway.
And so this is the next-to-last cartridge they ever produced.
So this is our version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire".
DREW: Do you know what year?
GUS: This was probably 2001.
DREW: 2001 they made a Mega Drive cartridge?!
GUS: You're gonna like this.
This has Need For Speed: Pro Street, Genesis version.
This is way later.
This is '09, I think.
DREW: And when you say “versions” of those games are those… are they hacks?
Are they unofficial ports?
GUS: No, they're official, licensed by EA and from what I can gather—there's not a
lot of information—but from what I've played of it, it looks like just ports of mobile
versions.
DREW: And those games in theory, if made on a cartridge would run on a Genesis, or a Mega Drive?
GUS: Yes. They would.
The main game on that wouldn't, because it uses an extra sound chip, because it's a Guitar
Hero for Genesis and it has actual vocals on it.
DREW VO: Oh yes.
[All Star by Smash Mouth plays]
DREW: What’s “cheers?”
GUS: "Saúde."
PEDRO: It means “health.”
ALL: Saúde!
DREW VO: Brazil’s game situation is complex,
and we had barely scratched the surface.
But you don’t have to understand it all to enjoy wandering through a place like this.
This is only the first of Cloth Map’s Brazil features.
Stay tuned over the coming weeks for a look at game fandom in Brazil, what it’s like
to make games here, and a journey into what some consider one of the most dangerous places
in South America.
If you liked this video, you can thank these folks, who support Cloth Map on Patreon.
Their contributions help pay for flights, accommodation, transport, guides, translators,
camera operators, editors, music licensing, and more.
If you think stories like this deserve to be told, and would like to see more videos like
this, consider joining us over at Patreon.
You’ll also get early access to videos, behind-the-scenes notes and documents, extended
cuts, live stream chat, and the ability to vote on where Cloth Map goes next.
[My Heart Will Go On on saxophone]
JOEY: What a funny song for that duo to learn together.
DREW: I know!