The Dreamcast in Russia

I'm researching for an article and trying to find information on the Dreamcast's presence in Russia and wondered if there are any Russian collectors here who can help? I'm aware of the various forums but none of them are in English. Really, I'm just looking for info on whether the system was actually officially launched there and what the legitimacy of the Vector games distribution was (if at all). Bootlegs and copies seem to be prevalent and I'm interested to know if Sega didn't officially launch in Russia, why not? Any info anyone can supply is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

Try this: http://dc-swat.ru/forum/ there is "English Section" you can create a thread in it, most users can speak English.

Pirate bootlegs 100%. Not official crap with fatal freezes and glitches, because of "mad skills" of hackers, who were trying to translate the game. Example:

Well, it was available in Moscow without documents or games on Russian language (as European version). I don't know any official translation of anything, that comes with Dreamcast officially. (some Naomi games has official Russian language http://www.mameworld.info/ubbthreads/showthreaded.php?Number=329431)
to contact MetalliC go here:
http://forum.emu-russia.net/viewforum.php?f=25

Pictures of a box, that was available in Russia:


also this game was officially released in Russia: https://www.softclub.ru/games/pc/18366-dreamcast-collection

 

This is great info, thanks very much!

 

Thanks for the info

 

I was wrong, sorry for misinformation, guys. However it might be unofficial translation, that was made by local retailer itself, IDK.


https://youtu.be/KEMUuPwr9pk?t=11m3s

 

I honestly didn't know that the Dreamcast even had a presence in Russia. You learn something new every day!

 

In Soviet Russia, dream casts YOU!

 

Thanks, this is interesting stuff. Looking forward to seeing and more.

The instructions look like they have come from Sega or at least an official distributer!

 

Does the Russian manual mentions anything about the local distributor or has a Russian address/telephone number? If would be exceptionally helpful for documentation purposes to Dreamcast enthusiasts if there's anything relative to that.

 

source: http://www.emu-land.net/forum/index.php/topic,3470.msg1241441.html#msg1241441

 

It's based on the Japanese packaging, but doesn't have any Sega codes on it as would be expected for a first party product. Probably repackaged by a local distributor.

Bigben Interactive took on Sega Europe's Dreamcast stock in April 2001 and sold them off cheap. The Russian warranty card posted above has a 2003 date on it, so some company probably bought them up cheap then and sold them in Russia adding Russian language instructions.

 

True. Soon after, most of the remaining Big Ben's stock was bargained to BEM'S, the Belgian wholesaler. From that it flew away in the whole continental Europe. It's mainly common/unwanted games and accessories. I would be surprised to find something rare and official in Russia but that's worth digging.

 

I'm thinking of VasilyDC or SwatDC (don't remember his name) over at dc-swat.ru/forum/. That guy has several unreleased games on GD-Rs in his possesion. So there's one Russian who also is a DC collector. I'm sure you could start a thread over there and they'll be happy to answer your questions. Vasily (OR SwatDC, lol) isn't shy either, so you can directly ask about him too. I'm too lazy to do it cause it's your article, so you should do the work too

 

The Dreamcast Half Life beta/Counter Strike byproduct modding scene was heavily Russian-based.

English-side of things, there were a few Russian collectors on DCEmulation but I don't know if they're active on there anymore.

 

I think Russia was pretty much like Brazil after gamecube on consoles, there was no official release, everything was grey market at the time, until the last generation.

 

Officially released in Russia with some games which officially translated on russian language (up to 7 generation):

Sony PlayStation - Psone slim (probably phat revisions wasn't released officially)
Sony PlayStation 2/3
Sony PlayStation Portable
Nintendo DS (and newer portable Nintendo handhelds)
Nintendo Wii
Microsoft Xbox 360

grey area / unknown / unclear

Sega Dreamcast - some docs were translated?
Panasonic 3DO / Philips CD-i - licensed game "Return Fire" has russian language, plus many people had this console in 90s in big cities of Russia.
Nokia N-GAGE - has russian language in firmware, no games were translated, was available in Moscow.
SNES - was officially collaborated with local russian distributor, which used to publish bootleg famicom games in countries of former soviet union, so i would not be so sure about all this situation.
Sega Mega Drive / Genesis - ?
Nintendo Game Boy Advance / SP - ?
- - - edit:
Sega Saturn
Sega Master System
Sega Game Gear

Wasn't released officially:

PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16
Atari Jaguar
Sega Nomad
Microsoft Xbox original
Nintendo GameCube
Nintendo 64
Nintendo Game Boy
Nintendo Game Boy Color
NES / Famicom
Virtual Boy
Game.com
Neo Geo Pocket
Neo Geo Pocket Color
WonderSwan
WonderSwan Color
Tapwave Zodiac

 

SMS I & II, GG, and MD II were officially released in Russia. SMS I even had it's own SECAM board revision for Russia (France was just RGB).

Edit:

News of Sega releasing consoles in Russia through Nissho Iwai (1994)
Russian Sega show featuring Sega commercials (1994)

The local distributor was "Forrus" (Форрус).

Russian Sega pamphlet (I think MD on other side, but I don't think that I saved that);



SMS I was also sold in 1990. The Russian model (MK-3096-19) is interesting as it doesn't have a card slot, it's a kind of intermediate design between SMS I and SMS II.

And it looks like SS and Pico were also officially released in 1996 after former cloner "Bitman" became the official Sega distributor.

http://kommersant.ru/doc/233963
http://game-exe.org/index.php?n=Exe.Exe008Bitman

 

I remember seeing a TV ad for Sega Saturn in Russia in 1995-96. It was all about *FUTURISTIC CD TECHNOLOGIES, SEGA SATURN THE FUTURE NOW!*. That ad looked pretty official to me.

That doesn't matter, Dendy was the established distributor at the time and it doesn't matter that they sold nes/famicom bootlegs. If you wanted to release SNES in Russia you'd simply have to turn to Dendy.
This is well known, that SNES was indeed officially released.

As for the other consoles, you fail to mention ps4, xone and wiiu? What, they haven't been released officially? (implying that your list is seriously lacking)

 

Oh, silly me