Pegasus was a video game system sold in Poland, Serbia, Bosnia, Czech Republic, and Greece. It was a hardware clone of the Nintendo Famicom aka Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), also called a Famiclone.

Processor 8-bit MOS 6502 1,79 MHz Video Clock 5,37 MHz Resolution 256 x 240 Color Palette 25 on screen

(out of 64 possible) Standard NTSC ("forced" to PAL standard, 50 Hz refresh rate) Sound 5-channel mono 1 channel noise

1 PCM

3 channels for sounds Media ROM cartridge

(Nintendo 60-pin equivalent)

This particular Nintendo-clone was hugely popular in Poland, Serbia, and Bosnia where it has gained cult status and is still widely available on auction websites and flea markets. The console was sold in the Czech Republic, where the IQ-502 model was popular. [1]

The system was manufactured in Taiwan and sold in Poland by Bobmark International, and was built to resemble Nintendo Famicom console. Pegasus, like most known Famicom clones, was compatible with 60-pin Famicom cartridges, and partially compatible with some NES games, which could be played using a special converter. Original Nintendo games weren't popular, however, due to raging piracy and lack of officially licensed products on the market. The majority of the games sold with and for the system were cheap pirated copies, manufactured mostly in Russia and China. Games for Pegasus are widely available in Poland to this day, mostly on street markets and in small toy stores.

In 1995-1996 in the Czech Republic, Sat Game promoted a competitor called Video Game-GT3300. It had the same build as the IQ-502.

The typical retail set included the system, two detachable controllers (both with "turbo" buttons, which meant 4 buttons in total; 6-button controllers also existed), a light gun (very similar in design to NES Zapper), power supply and RF cable. The console had a built-in RF modulator, as well as audio-video RCA connectors. The system itself didn't include any built-in games but was bundled with a pirated multicart labeled "Contra 168 in 1", which contained a few of the best-known NES titles, like Contra, Super Mario Bros., and Tetris, listed multiple times with slight variations. Most of the games had a "trainer" feature, which allowed the player to adjust the number of lives, and even the starting level of the game.

Console Models [ edit | edit source ]

Pegasus for Famicom Cartridges [ edit | edit source ]

Nintendo Compatible-a model of a console without a name Pegasus often called a trial sales party. [2]

Pegasus MT777-DX (Famicom)-most know model of console sold in Poland from 1991. There were two versions: the most popular white/grey model and the rare white/red model. [3]

Pegasus MT777-DX (SNES)-model that has a SNES shelf but plays Famicom carts. Sold only in Greece from 1994.

Super Pegasus MT888-DX-sold in Poland from 1993. There is a Hoop inscription on the boxes (a subsidiary of Bobmark) [4]

Super Pegasus MT999-DX-another version of the above console also with the Hoop logo. Sold in Poland from 1994. [5]

Pegasus IQ-502-released in Poland from 1994. This model was imported to the Czech Republic.

Pegasus Game Boy-Game Boy clone sold since 1993. There were two versions: the first one exactly resembling Game Boy and the second model called 3000B. [6]

Power Pegasus-the the console being a copy of Sega Mega Drive released in 1995.

Pegasus for NES Cartridges [ edit | edit source ]

Several consoles could launch the original NES cartridges rather than Famicom as in Poland. An example is the Indonesian Pegasus MT-999DX sold by the Spica Club. [7]

New Pegasus [ edit | edit source ]

Pegasus AM-601- appeared in the fall of 2019. It has a box translated in Polish. There was also available the Golden Five compilation from Codemasters which had a reproduction of Polish instructions from the 90s.

Pegasus AM-106- released in early 2020. It has a Super Nintendo shell.

End of Pegasus [ edit | edit source ]

In 1994 there were a few changes in Polish law and Bobmark took steps to make Pegasus an 'independent system' by selling games only from producers who released their NES games without the permission of Nintendo, for example, Sachen.

In the same year, Nintendo of America established Poland anti piracy program right after official sales of licensed Nintendo products on the Polish market were started by Entertainment Systems Poland.

To fight Nintendo, Bobmark made an agreement with Sega for sales of their products. The last advertisement of Pegasus appeared in 1996. Later console wasn't advertised, especially since the company released Sega Saturn and wanted to focus on the fight against the Playstation that was released in the same year.[8] Last Pegasus models were sold in 1997.

In the early 1990s, the Pegasus system gained massive popularity in Poland, probably because until 1994 there was no official distributor of Nintendo products in Poland. The Pegasus consoles were mass-marketed by most of the major and smaller electronic stores. Also, the console had a warranty service provided by Eltors Electronic. Numerous VHS rentals offered an option to rent or exchange Pegasus cartridges, as well as entire systems. Pegasus was even officially advertised in the press and on TV. See a few of their ads here [1].

Video Game Press [ edit | edit source ]

Pegasus and its revisions received wide coverage in the Polish video game press. At the beginning of 1993 console was reviewed by one of the largest magazines in Poland called Bajtek. Top Secret (magazine belonging to Bajtek) also began to review games for this console. There Pegasus was called Nintendo compatible system and Bobmark was known as seller of games and consoles compatible with Nintendo standards. Top Secret later reviewed Sega games from Bobmark. This magazine also had a store where Pegasus games could be found in the offer. The last review of Pegasus games appeared in issue 43 (10/1995).

Since 1993 Pegasus games have been reviewed in the Videoman multimedia magazine. All reviews from this magazine were published in Kolorowy spis gier typu NINTENDO (which was initially advertised as Kolorowy spis gier typu PEGASUS). This magazine later revive games for Sega from Bobmark and the original NES.

The last magazine where Pegasus games were reviewed was the Świat Gier Komputerowych. Two games were reviewed in issue 12/1996.

The Gry Komputerowe magazine that has been also reviewing console games since 1994 openly called Pegasus a weak fake of the Nintendo console. They also reviewed games on Sega but they were provided by Discomp. From 1996, they began reviewing Sega Saturn games that were provided by Bobmark.

Secret Service did not review Pegasus games. This was because they considered it a fairly primitive system and the reviews of it would not attract people who read reviews in these magazines from advanced platforms such as Amiga or PC. In this magazine, console reviews appeared in 1996, but there were no games for Pegasus.

In the Czech Republic, the console was described in the 4th issue of the LeveL magazine. It was described there as one of the consoles available in the Videohry Slunicko store.

Gaming Events [ edit | edit source ]

Pegasus also appears at gaming events in Poland.

It appeared on Play Box 1995 where the first day was a press conference dedicated to this console (Power Pegasus was announced there). At the stands, in addition to a large number of Pegasus, there were also two demonstrations with Mega Drive and the game Sonic.

The situation has changed on Play Box 1996. The most seats were with Sega consoles (especially with the Saturn that premiered here). Pegasus demonstrations were also but in small numbers.

The Pegasus trademark was registered by Bobmark in April 1993.

From July 2019, the Pegasus trademark was registered in Poland by Dragon Trader.