Dendy (1992 - 1998) | Museum of Obsolete Media (original) (raw)
Dendy was a series of 8-bit home video game consoles that were mainly sold in Russia in the 1990s by Steepler and were unofficial clones of Nintendo’s Famicom system. They were manufactured in Taiwan, and later in China and Russia.
The Nintendo Famicom and Nintendo Entertainment System were not marketed in the former Soviet Union, and Dendy consoles became very popular with sales figure estimates ranging from 1.5 to 6 million units.
There were two consoles, the Dendy Classic line and a cheaper Dendy Junior model. The classic model was launched in December 1992 and was based on the TXC Corporation’s Micro Genius IQ-501 model. The Junior was launched in the summer of 1993 and was custom designed for Steepler by the TXC Corporation with system-on-a-chip architecture. Several Junior versions were produced during the lifetime of the system, namely the Junior II, Junior IIP and Junior IVP. There was also a Classic II based on the Micro Genius IQ-502, and a very small number of Dendy Pro consoles based on the Micro Genius IQ-1000.
In 1994 a deal with Ninteno saw Steepler gain exclusive distribution rights for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Game Boy consoles for the former Soviet Union and Nintendo refraining from any legal action over Dendy sales.
The cartridges were based on the Japanese version of the Famicom cartridge and the Dendy could run Famicom games as well as pirated Nintendo Entertainment System games. Cartridges for the Nintendo Entertainment System will not fit the Dendy due to their different shape and pins.
Dendy later faced competition from other Nintendo Famicom clones such as the Kenga and the Bitman, and from 16-bit consoles. The Steepler company collapsed in 1996, but the Dendy subsiduary continued marketing Dendy consoles until 1998.