I find it that pretty much all the younger generations these days have no idea how video games came to Malaysia. I don't too. So for future's sake, let's document the arrival, lifespan, and popularity of arcades, and each console/handheld generations throughout the years, and to see how far back video gaming has been in Malaysia. Basically, I need those who have lived long enough to explain all that. This is kinda a tricky issue though, because while I have never seen any pre-PS2 consoles/games in a shop (or anything in that generation like Gamecubes, Xbox, or Dreamcast), I have seen things like bootleg GBC games and what seems to be bootleg SNES cartridges in very old shops. So there's the trouble of dealing with the history of bootlegs and pirated video games (anyone remember those handheld Tetris?), how they compare with the quantity of original materials here, and anything relevant.

This post has been edited by ganondork: Dec 21 2015, 04:22 AM

It started with the Atari. There was one shop in Jalan TAR last time selling Atari Computers. I believed that was the first or at least one of the first.

This

You need to know that during famicom era, we do receive the original NES (japan model) and a lot of bootleg model. Any other console like pcengine or turbografx is really rare. i dare say there is not much information before playstation era. Only NES, SNES, gameboy and few sega genesis /mega drive.

Others all play arcade. Cos console that time were really expensive.

This post has been edited by amxpayne67: Dec 21 2015, 09:41 AM

Micro Genius

Yeah. I remember that. In fact i bought my 1st computer, an Atari there. Computer in the keyboard. Just plug into tv.
Its model is Atari 600XL if i still remember correctly.

There are Commodore 64, Spectrum snd another brand starts with Zxxxx, can't remember.

ZX Spectrum you meant?

I only know these famous brands locally....Commodore, Sinclair Spectrum and Amstrad....can't think of another brand with Z...

I was so used to those old 8-BIT computers....when introduced to PC...it's very weird for me...why ah...the PC so big in a separate box from the keyboard!!! LOL.

Yeah. Thats the one. Wow. . Old timer. . .

And i really love Atari's basic programming language. Its so flexible.

This post has been edited by Blindspot61: Dec 21 2015, 04:57 PM

Old fag spotted...LOL

My dream machine...a Commodore Amiga...

Too bad can't afford one when i was a kid.



This post has been edited by Matrix: Dec 21 2015, 04:59 PM

Arcades? Space Invaders?

ok, from what I recall, the early days of video gaming, the importers were parallel importers and there was no actual official presence for video games or authorised disributors.

hence you get the same kind of con-men/con-women selling games with prices varying from shop to shop.

the 1st actual official console to be brought to Malaysia using the 'official/authorised ditributor' model was iinm Sega Megadrive.

the company appointed by sega of japan to be the authorised distributor in Malaysia (and Singapore along with several asean countries) was WYWY...

1st megadrive console (basically Japanese megadrive but pal output)



2nd megadrive console (now in English)



and the wywy company still exists until today (though merged with another company), but no longer distributes sega or any video games for that matter...

http://servtouch-wywy.my/

they had a decent marketing campaign and actually bought full page ads in the English/Chinese papers in Malaysia/Singapore to announce the arrival of officially licensed megadrive consoles/games.

when street fighter II champion edition was released for megadrive, they also put out ads on papers again...

the sony playstation (psone) was the 1st official video game console to be brought in officially by the principal companies themselves (sony Malaysia sdn. bhd.) although it suffered from piracy issues.

but sony did try and their flagship store in KLCC even had a dedicated sony psone section (I used to drool at the display and games back when I was still studying, dreaming of the day when I can own original games)

in fact, I recall that sony had to dispose a lot of original PS1 games for dirt cheap when the ps2 was in full swing and luckily enough I got to buy a few of them at the ampang cash converters shop...



and until now sony has always brought in all of their consoles to Malaysia officially and luckily enough, ever since the ps3 days, the piracy problem has largely been avoided by sony due to their stronger copyright protection.

and iinm the sony PlayStation segment brings a significant amount of money to their sales, probably just behind their dslr/camera segment.

This post has been edited by Faidzal: Dec 21 2015, 11:32 PM

my father used to buy those game cartridges for Micro Genius (8-bit) and SNES (16-bit) in the 1990s.

One cartridge alone can cost as high as RM80.

Did arcades and the consoles enter our country about the same time they hit USA's shores, or did we only get them a few years after they got popular in the West? Are video games here as big as it is in Japan and USA in the 80s and 90s?

Were all the cartridge-based games and consoles imported (from which region?) or completely pirated? I don't think I have ever seen official game cartridges until the DS-era. In fact, I'm actually surprised our technology level was that high enough to bootleg games, including Pokemon ROMhacks and fan-translation.

What about the Nintendo 64? I have seen at least one Gamecube before (although no idea where to buy it) but I have never seen N64, Xbox, and Dreamcast in person. Were games for all those consoles pirated too?

Hearing about Commodore and ZX Spectrum, what about PC's history in Malaysia? Did we ever get (official or pirated?) Apple II and DOS/Win95, or just Japanese ones like the PC-9801? For a long time I thought Dota and CS:CZ were the only computer games out here. Did our country ever get the Doom/Quake/Half-Life/Unreal Tournament fever as America did? When did online gaming pick up here?


Overall, what is the general most popular game for each pre-2006 console in Malaysia (or, in PC's case, for each era/decades)? I think for PSX/PS2 it's obviously FIFA/NFS, whereas for GB/GBC/GBA it's Pokemon.

This post has been edited by ganondork: Dec 23 2015, 12:56 AM

i think for home consoles, we imported immitation famicoms from taiwan (micro genius etc.)
so my first console was a micro genius, back in 1991.

Start with ATARI than Micro Genius than Nitendo and SEGA and than PS1 and then PS2 and then desktop gaming and then married stop playing PS3 got PS4. My evolution in gamings.

i can recall seeing ads bout Micro Genius on TV last time lol

i can also remember MCA promoting PS3 coz can keep old people busy

our country always had all those games

but its (like most good things in Msia) limited to those neighborhoods with higher purchasing power

the kid down my road had a 3DO+Atari Jaguar. back then was like the most expensive console ever

wow..i still remember when my mum bring me to shopping complex,then i bring extra money for playing Nintendo in the shop
rm2 per hour..game used 3.5" diskette to load up..
then stopped because a lot of games are in Japanese language..can't understand a thing

Is that the one that looks like a cassette player ?

The games are on the cassette and took probably a lifetime (well maybe 15-30 minutes or probably less) to load.

My friend's elder brother came back from studying in the US that time and brought back that thing, so we all went to his house to play Lode Runners, Summer Olympics and other games I can't even remember already but mostly games that are you can find at amusement park like Ampang Park those days.

My first pc game (my dad's obviously) was around 87-88 I think, or probably 89.

Karateka was my favorite, too bad never completed the game.

The came Wolfenstein 3D which I think I completed but it was Dune II that made me enjoyed RTS.

The Atari 2600 console and original cartridges were available in Malaysia in the late 70's. At that time our CRT TV system was PAL only, so our imported cartridges would be from a PAL-compatible country (US was NTSC).

Defender was a stand-out game for the 2600.

I also have vague memory of seeing a Pong machine in KL before the Atari 2600 came out.

We had shops selling fake Apple ]['s and IBM PCs. One of these Apple shops, Pineapple Computers, is still around today.

Almost all games/software were pirated. One would go to the computer shop and choose the games from a catalogue, then wait for them to be copied to 5 1/4 inch floppy disks.

The popular games were Choplifter, Castle Wolfensten, Zork, Wizardry and a few others I have probably forgotten.

my uncle had a ZX81 which loaded software using a cassette tape. A shame it was thrown away.. would have been a valuable museum piece these days. The first PC in my home had a 8088 compatible NEC chip that ran at a glorious 8 MHz in turbo mode, a generous 640kB of RAM and a lifelike 4 colour CGA display. I used to load Loadrunner, Digdug or Thexder onto it using 5 1/4" floppies. Cost my mom and dad a cool RM6K in the late 80s

1. malaysia used to have a huge arcade scene. unfortunately due to our malaysian laws, arcade game machines are licensed the same way as gambling outlets (meaning only 18 and above can enter etc.). this changed around the last decade, but by that time arcade scene almost died bcos the ps2 basically is an arcade machine that connects to your tv.

2. yes, we were very quick with game releases wheter for home or arcade. sometimes we got the newest street fighter/king of foghters game within weeks of japanese/worldwide release...

3. pirated/bootleg cartridges came from china/hongkong/taiwan.

4. all disc based games and even PSP games were heavily pirated, the only console that managed to survive mass piracy was ps3 bcos of their hard-to-beat copyright protection...

and now ps4 seems to be heading the same direction along with xbox one.

nintendo64 ddnn't catch on in malaysia bcos of the expensive console and hard-to-replicate cartridge system. besides, too few games were relased and that time psone and sega saturn had way more awesome games than nintendo 64.

5. last time we had LAN parties...

Micro-Genius the good old time

One thing I dont understand. Why PS1 made my TV broke. TWICE

user problem, not console. ohwaii

atari with joystick + 1 button

commodore amiga

the start of my path of gaming...

how about game and watch? anyone remember this?

well , arcades centers like these are plenty in klang valley back in the 80s.

hell yeah

lemme think

I think many arcades games back in the 80s are quite up to date

like these

1943 . year released 1987



Bubble Bobble . year release 1986



Tetris . year released 1988



sega Outrun. year released 1986



....................

Goodness. 80s. feels just like yesterday when I changed those paper bills at the counter for those 20 sen coins

and 80s are no fun without game & watch!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_%26_Watch

and that happened back in 1996. all because arcades start bringing in those mesin kuda. so many get addicted to it.

remember these?

cikelempadey, of course buddy

Ps1 jump to desktop, never turn back

U use ps1 to watch porn vcd.. that's why la. Bought from petaling street somemore.

Nice. I remember seeing my classmates, schoolmates and neighbours having these. Never got to play much coz I was a shy kid, segan nak mintak pinjam. Never owned any coz I was not in that social category that can afford them.

Those days I usually only play arcade games once in a while coz it was the most affordable at 20 sen (duit sekolah habis). My favourite game was Legendary Wings - anyone remember this game? Played a lot of Street Fighter 2 as well.

Only seriously started playing games when someone donated their old pentium 100mghz pc to me. in the late '90s.

The brick game was very popular in the 90s

i remember Pineapple Computers...but Dune II mana? The father of all RTS!

I used to have this. and another one Firefighter or something (forgot the name).

Didn't remember playing this Legendary Wings. 1986.



but this game released after Exed Exes 1985



and before the legendary 1943

one of the best!

this one?

Kenot see picture. In opis.

One time I played at DV8..... Orang lain sibuk menari aku sibuk main game.

the octopus one where u dive into the bottom to collect treasures while avoiding the octopus tentacles for me is the best.

wow many old fags here hihi

i remember polistation. i dont know it is correct name or not. where the most famous games is shooting duck, contra, ninja and mario. if cant load just blow the tape.

The height of arcade in Malaysia was during Street Fighter 2 time in the early 90's. Used to go to Kotaraya after school for arcades. Kotaraya was much better in those days before invasion of Bangla.

actually before 1996, you cannot enter arcade centres if you are under 18, and this was before mesin kuda became widespread.

I should know bcos I curi-curi masuk into arcades since 1990 despite being only 12 that time all bcos I wanna play double dragon...

damn this game was hard.

I remember playing the famicom version, the only way you stand a chance is if you used the cheat codes.

(same like contra)

and recently Capcom rereleased it for ps2/psp (Capcom classics collection), but that one has unlimited continues...

Games back then are hard to win. I don't remember winning any of the games except for contra. It pun because I have 30 lives instead of the usual 3

ah yes. but many arcades those days very relax one. some jaga will ask u to leave if you wear school uniforms.

from chi liung plaza klang to kotaraya KL, man, life is great bro.

u stay mana last time?

yup!

I remember that this Ninja Gaiden 3 - The Ancient Ship of Doom is quite hard to play.

real wtf moment

obviously wearing school uniforms will get you kicked out.

there was aloophole though, in that you can legally eneter if you came with a guardian of legal age.

but like you said, the jaga tiada kesah diberikan, the more you spend at the arcades, the better.

I spent minimum rm2-rm3 per visit at least (rm1 per game).

usually playing street fighter/king of fighters/dungeons & dragons etc...

ahahaha.... which arcade that strict that time? all also can lah if you are regular

itu SF/KOF/DnD all in the 90s.

which arcade u always go last time?

and yes, back in 1992 Daytona is the best driving arcade game ( throughout the 90s actually )



although I prefer VR



that time quite expensive RM 1 per game

oh yeah, I forgot I mainly played in JB arcades (holiday plaza/komtar/city square etc.).

I know KL had awesome arcades in sungei wang, sogo top floor, even mid valley had a decent arcade as late as 8 years ago...

what was that official Capcom Malaysia authorised distributor? alpha something?

they had an arcade in sungei wang plaza 3 floor iinm, always had the latest street fighter game on one 50" screen arcade machine...

oh jb. allright.

sungai wang got Sega Satellite is one of them. only one section if I remember correctly quite big also lah got pinballs as well.

although back in the 90s Kotaraya KL is one of the biggest arcade center in KL AFAIK.subang ss15 also got arcade center. same row as Silva Jalan SS15/8A. those days before Java Shoppe among the first cc opened in 1996 I think? then, Subang Parade also got arcade.

in Klang back in the 80s and 90s, the biggest arcade center is Chi Liung Plaza then renamed to Plaza Metro.from 1st floor to 5th floor full of arcades! then other parts of Klang also got arcades. in PJ arcades are scattered.

that capcom thingy, must be Jaya Jusco Alpha Angle at Wangsa Maju.Got Capcom station there last time IIRC.

back in the 80s if you wanna play arcades either you go to The Mall, Ampang Park or Semua House. Shah Alam also got one at 1st floor bowling center PKNS. quite small but ok lah.

SOGO Batu Road also got in the 90s. until now I think.

well... and yes, anothe one. PERTAMA Complex. back in the 80s throughout the 90s. got plenty of arcades there. but got many samseng there.

This post has been edited by JimbeamofNRT: Dec 31 2015, 12:39 AM

When that start ?

I remembered going to Ampang Park every time I came to KL back then. Of course came with my dad la.

The only games he did not allow me to play was Pinball. Dunno why.

Love this thread, brings back great memories! I use to frequent Imbi Plaza and Sungai Wang, ended up buying the Megadrive 16 bit. My fav was Dragon Fury aka Devil's Crush, a pinball based game with multilevel tables and secret tables. Even had a tilt function like a real pinball machine. Played till the wee hours of the morning, next day going to work with bleary eyes, and sore thumbs, hahaha. Such a fun game and the only way to meet the boss is to enter a 'cheat code' giving you 20 balls to 'kill' the devil. Once you finish off the boss, there will be the end scene, often spectacular. Most games will have this end scene. BTW there are so many awesome games on Megadrive...Sonic the Hedgehog, MERC, Dessert Strike, Strider, Quackshot, Mickey Mouse, PacMan, just to name a few.

If not mistaken those western console last time if you want go buy ou need to get from Toys R Us. Gameboy was kinda common thing back in the days when I lay my hand on video games. Bootleg of Micro Genius cartridge also a common spot in pasar pagi/malam.

Back then Sega handheld was one of the most expensive to get in Msia. My relatives from the states brought one for my cousin and problem arise

That Sega handheld sure use a lot battery!

Those days when i spent rm50 to buy micro genuis cartridge, and that a pirated version too. Sg Wang and kotaraya arcades....ah those memories..sob sob

4 in 1, 100 in 1 catridges. Haha.

iinm the rule about 18 and above only has been there since the beginning.

they only changed the rules around 10-15 years ago, and with that they also mandated that amusement machine centres (aka arcades) must be well lit, no smoking, no drinking and must be family friendly.

pro: now going to arcade is not considered 'bad'.

cons: most arcades now only have family-friendly games like taiko no tatsujin, para para/dance games, those card battle games like dbz/love and berry/mushi king etc., racing games etc. but strangely gun games are still there...

but occasionally there will be a USFIV/Tekken cabinet...

and one time I think I saw a KOF XIII game in one of those cabinets as well, but no one was playing...

i tried once. i got the "1001 games that u need to play before die" book.
quite interactive and full of review + history.
starting from the first pong until now.

Hahaha! At the time I must be in my mid 20's, just married and completely hooked on Sega Megadrive! The best console at the time! Sad eh? :-D

The oldest console i play before is the one with Sega logo and game is in a cartridge one, belongs to my friend, not sure what is called, not a big fan of consoles anyway. Then the last console i play is PS2, borrow from a friend of mine so that i can play GTA titles that is not available for PCs.

sega handheld was called game gear...



This post has been edited by Faidzal: Jan 3 2016, 11:41 AM

hhhmm, seem to recall this as well.

but their prices were really outrageous, almost as expensive as those cheater game shops.

iinm toys r us sold those wywy-distributed sega consoles such as the megadrive2 and sega Saturn.

oh, and around 10 years ago (2006, wow time flies) iinm Nintendo appointed an official distributor for Malaysia/Singapore (maxsoft/m.m soft) and started officially selling Nintendo consoles, and toys r us was one of the official sellers.

they sold Gameboy advance, Nintendo ds (the 1st model) and also eventually the Wii.

and I seem to recall certain Carrefour/Tesco/Jusco also selling NDS/Wii games with the m.msoft official product stickers.

(jusco/Aeon was the one in midvalley, they had a dedicated section for Nintendo games, I keep passing that booth but their prices were too high...)

Never know there was official distributor for Nintendo in Msia back then. Yeah brought a Zelda game to hack the Wii from Best Denki KLCC. Too bad parents were not informed about bootleg, if not for sure there will be alot of collector among us now.

Still keeping one Atari Console. Not sure which model is taht but it comes with 2 joysitck with sucker at bottom so it wont move around.

My dad bought me an original NES, SNES, N64 and gameboy. I still remember the N64 from Labuan shop but the price was almost 800 at that time. Super expensive. Den I bought the ps1,ps2, Wii and wiiU myself.

Because of those early years with Nintendo, I'm more interested in Nintendo consoles now. Not much interest in Sony or Xbox.

If I remember, I used to have the original Playstation when I was 5 (I'm currently 16). Had a blast with the games although not a lot. Until it broke down.

midvalley jusco it was , and was posted here (dug up the thread . lol)
https://forum.lowyat.net/topic/350351

those were like 1000 in 1 carts right?

LOL! how come back then nobody protest and make Jusco2?

ZX spectrum... My childhood PC

I miss the loading by tape...and the sound when loading.

Still have it...with my sister...kept it for nostalgia sake.

This post has been edited by Spawnster: Jan 4 2016, 07:45 PM

yup, this was it.

but funnily enough everytime i went pass the counter, there was no salesperson attending them...

but this was in 2007 - 2008 though...

come to Sunway Pyramid.arcade located near TGV. they have some of the latest games .

sorry to revive old thread



used to go to chi liung klang back in the late 90s just to play this