Videogaming in Bangkok, Thailand?

Well, soon I'll be on the last year of my study to become a nurse :smt023
And then I'll have the oppertunity of taking a half semester abroad as an exchange student. Amongst the places I can go, are a hospital in Bangkok, Thailand.
And that is why I would like to ask you gamegurus a couple of questions from a collector's standpoint.
Basically I'm interested in all consoles, especially retro..


1. Has anybody been there?
2. How big is/was videogaming in Thailand?
3. What systems and games were released or can be found in thailand?
4. Is there a retro market?
5. Is there some special super-duper can only be found in Thailand item, to be on the lookout for?


(I´m secretly dreaming of finding cool saturn shit, and a pcengine.. :drinkers: )

Any additianal info on this topic would be greatly appreciated,
Thanks

 

I had a roommate from Thailand who told me some interesting things. You can apparently get classic stuff like Famicom and what not easily enough if you look around. The interesting thing he said, was PS2 games (as that's the only one of the current generation that's really popular there) - he said it's harder to find original PS2 games than copies, and that most PS2 systems you buy at gamestores are already pre-modded. He told me tales of going into gamestores, requesting a game, the seller going into the back room and emerging 15 minutes later with a freshly printed copy for about $5. :smt043

Not sure if it's like that everywhere, but it sure sounds interesting.

 

Yea Thailand a while back was the king of CDRs/silvers, Thai stores cracked many of the protected PSX games that were distributed by warez groups.

 

I have Thai family, I was ther last year.

Ragnarok is massive, and some other online RPG's, you'll see dedicated interweb shops and giant banners in the streets for these.

Ive been getting PSX boots there since around 1996, there are of excellent quality usually with fromt & back covers. PS2 boots these days, i have some also very nice, didnt see any DC last time I was there, but got sent some for the "Dream Game" console :smt043

PS2 seems mostly called Gamestation 2. Basically the bootlegs ARE teh official games, you buy them in supermarkets, proper game shops etc. As far as arcades, seen none, only internet cafe style rent and play PSX games...............the selection of games is great, last time i picked up Panzer Bandit, saw some wierd games like Pepsiman, good mix of imports & western games.

There are Famiclones a plenty, most popular are PikaOne, there's 2 sets of this, one deluxe with a gun. The Xbox look-a-like is next, and there was also a "computer", i couldnt tell what it was, the carts were not famicom. Very few single hgame carts, at most was like Mario/Rockman collection, most were 52 in 1 etc.

Fair few Gameboy ripp offs in markets.

 

Thanks people.
Now I better start saving up :smt009

 

Hmm,.... Hospital work in thailand, sounds like a blast....

 

Ahh the good old days.

 

There was this PSX warez "brand" called "GameStation", with a GS logo that looked like a replica of the PSX logo, and all.

They made GREAT serigraphed copies of very high quality silver copies. Their version of the Japanese and american versions of Chrono Cross was absolutely beautiful. Also, Tales of Eternia, Legend of Mana, and Front Mission 3.

I stopped being able to get those "good" copies once the mexican black market had CD burners in like 2000, but back in the 90s, those copies were great.

Are they a Thai group?

Their product was many a time better than the original.

 

how come was the product many a time better than the original ?

that thing sounds exiting

 

The printing on the CD was much better, full colour and all.

This brand also released "Gamers" branded PSX copies, the same logo sometimes, and other times something reminiscent of an NBA logo.

Weird.

It was better, methinks, because the pictures on the disc were so well printed it almost had texture. Almost sure some sort of serigraphical process.
Plus these were very high quality silver discs - almost original media. For (At the time) 50 pesos, which was like 6 dollars back then? Original games were like 600 pesos and they never brought RPGs since "they don't sell"... so these made me happy.

Front mission even had a transparent case with well printed inserts resembling those of the original.

Now, you get cheap copies in very bad quality media and titles written in black market... and most don't work.

 

Heres a small selection of my Gamestation & PSOne games, got about 80 or so managed to fuck a fair few up over the years. Infact them Gamestation 2 ones are brand new never chipped my PS2.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/baseley09/thaigames.jpg

The bottom middle 2, and furtherst top are Dream Game disks, SFIII DI, Tokyo Highway 2 & Spce Channel 5. Some came w/ jewel, some like most with fron/back in celophane sleve.

 

Don't you think I've thought about this?
I've made arrangements to have a custom-made self-inflatable doll with me. It will be kind of rolled up in the form of a bag, and a good yank on the tit will make it go puff!.. special features include build in compas (the needle will always point towards...) build in gba, and a small storage for keeping salted fish. :smt033

So yes. This way, in case of a repeat of the awfull events, I WILL be able to have sex, even if there is no high ground.
And make it out of there to tell my story.

 

These three have very good printing on the discs.




Too bad my Camera is pretty crappy in terms of short-range images, but the discs have full colour artowrk printed, probably serigraphed, texturized. The disc is silver, like an original Audio CD.

These were copied by "players" or "gamestation" and bought in the black market in Mexico in 1999 and 2000

 

cool shit.

 

XerdoPwerko, your camera doesn't have a focus/flower switch on it?

Those are high quality copies. Even most silvers from Hong Kong are just silver on the top side with the title in chinese by a thermal printer.

I've got some Costa Rican PSX discs somewhere, I think they're just CDR with thermal black & white printed labels. They come in a cheapo jewel case with !!! an inkjet printed cover !!! looks horrible.

 

Edit: Duplicate post, why can't I delete this? :\

 

Not sure anybody would be interested though :smt043

 

Nope, camera cannot be focused. Somewhat cheap, but it takes good pictures from larger distances.

BUT I have a scanner.

Why didn't I think of this first?

Most copies are crappy down here, like those you mention.... Now, not even that, but home made CDR copies in very crappy media...

These have very high quality printed covers, front and Back, and even the "middle" one in Front Mission 3, but did come in crappy jewel cases.
The Chrono Cross discs did come in a double case, though.

Click the links to see the images (they might be somewhat too large to place directly)

http://xerdo.monkeysensei.net/chrono1.jpg
http://xerdo.monkeysensei.net/chrono2.jpg
http://xerdo.monkeysensei.net/legend.jpg
http://xerdo.monkeysensei.net/manacode.jpg

The fourth image shows the words "legend of mana US" that are actually written on the band of the disc, like the code or title of original Audio discs or movies.

Most copies by this group (Tales of Eternia, Front Mission, Threads of Fate, etc.) Have this.