Master System Lauch Overview

In hindsight I feel the MSX was the superior console of that generation after the NES. Yet the Master System was still able to surpass it in terms of historic relevance.

I just think the MSX has better exclusives like Castlevania and Metal Gear.

*And NOT the Master System.

Yep, there is. I don't know how are the taxes for retail stores (I hope they are a bit lower), but for consumers the main tax for imports is 60% of the price (including what you paid for shipping!) for products over US$ 50,00 - the exception are books and printed material in general. There's also an 1% tax for international transactions, plus an additional fee of R$ 12,00 (US$ 3,50) to pay to the post office.

So, let's say something costs US$ 300,00. Shipping from US usually goes for 22,00 if it's not a big product. All things considered, its final price will be around 499,92. But you still must consider how low are the wages in Brazil, the minimum wage right now is around US$ 293,00 (and most people are on minimum wage, sadly). So, as you may guess, importing is a nightmare, and that's why piracy always thrived over here.

To my luck, some online stores in the US, knowing this, will declare a lower value to the post office when shipping to Brazil. Last time, I bought around US$ 150,00 in DS/3DS games, but I didn't pay the 60% tax because they declared a value of just 30,00.

There was much rejoice.

So, do most companies license their systems and games to a Brazilian company to make like Sega did?

Nintedo had a licensee called Playtronic in the 90s, but after this company folded, Nintendo just quit the market, remaining import-only. Microsoft already had a huge presence in Brazil, so the brazilian Xboxes are produced locally (at least from the 360 onwards, I don't know about the original Xbox). Sony didn't have local presence until a few years ago (I think they have, nowadays, locally produced consoles); but, surprisingly, PS1/2 were the most popular consoles through the late 90s/early 2000s, and the reason is simple: while the consoles themselves were expensive (since the were imported goods), it was absurdly easy to find pirated games and places to mod the consoles.

Another thing that has a strong presence here is PC gaming. PC hardware/software is subject to some tax exemptions, so it's much cheaper to buy a very powerful PC than a PS4/Xbone. Also, the prices for digital games in stores like Steam are just the original prices converted to the local currency - sometimes even cheaper. For consoles, the physical copies are absurdly expensive, and sometimes the digital store will use the same price as retail so to keep retailers happy or something. PC gaming is really the most affordable thing here.

So, I think only Nintendo and Sega used licensees; other companies either ignored the market or produced themselves locally.

Another thing must be said about Sega/Tectoy's presence here: although Master Systems/Mega Drives are sold in stores even nowadays, they are sold as "children's toys", not really as consoles - more or less like the AT&T consoles in the US. Ever since the late 90s, Playstations are the most common consoles (although I think the 360 must have sold better than the PS3), and stores are always selling the current one. I say this because it's common to find reports saying that brazilians are still playing on Sega consoles or something...

I mean, I'm playing on my Saturn, but that's because I play retro games! It's not like people don't play on their PS4s/Xbones/PCs.

Edit: I don't know much about Atari's presence. I know console-clones of the Atari 2600 were very, very common through the 80s, as I had one myself. I don't know if official Atari consoles were ever sold.