the gun that paved the way for the Master System in Brazil

For over 32 years, the remarkable and beloved Sega Master System was released in Brazil by TecToy.

Much has been said about the path of enormous success of the 8-bit console in Terra Brasilis, where it was even much more successful than in the American market (the largest and most influential in the world), and the Japanese market, Sega's homeland.

But if the story of the Master System's journey on Brazilian soil is already quite widespread, the main factor responsible for the device's arrival at the hands of TecToy still remains unknown: an anime called Zillion.

Sega vs. the Nintendozas

In the West, the Mark III was released as a Master System and bundled the Light Phaser gun with generic, unappealing games, which made the accessory more of a fleeting curiosity than an essential gaming item. But in Japan, Sega took a different approach, tying the release of the Light Phaser to an anime, Akai Kōdan Jirion, or simply Zillion to the uninitiated.

Funded by Sega, the anime showed protagonists JJ, Champ and Apple saving humanity from an invasion by the alien empire Noza with laser pistols identical to those of the Master System.

The battle of the future

In parallel with the anime and game Zillion, released for Mark III/Master System in 1987, a month after the cartoon's debut on Japanese television, Sega released a Laser Tag-type toy, which consisted of a physical version with a revised design of the cartoon's pistol connected to a battery and a triangle-shaped receiver, which could be strapped to the body and recorded shots with beeps and a small numerical scoreboard.

The relative success of the toy in Japan led Sega to license it in other territories, which ended up leading the company to meet TecToy, at the time still a beginner toy manufacturer. Zillion was TecToy's debut in the national market, and the company immediately did a complete job of support, distribution and promotion, paying for the dubbing and broadcasting of the anime Zillion itself in an agreement with Rede Globo. The network in turn sub-licensed the cartoon to TV Gazeta, which aired it in prime time (8 pm), something unusual for cartoons shown on open television.

The success of the design and Laser Tag Zillion were phenomenal, catapulting TecToy to the same level as traditional companies in the sector in Brazil, achieving a commercial performance that surprised Sega Japan itself.

The path to the master system

In 1988, the year that Laser Tag hit stores and the anime Zillion was a hit on Brazilian TV, the Master System was in a paradoxical situation. Despised in its homeland as well as in Uncle Sam's land, the console made a successful landing in the old world, becoming a hit in countries such as England, Germany and France, which encouraged Sega to seek new markets for its consoles, including Brazil.

Aware of the Master System's potential in the domestic market and already having a good business relationship with Sega, TecToy planned to bring the Japanese giant's consoles to Brazil. However, this process was far from simple or guaranteed, since TecToy faced heavy competition from Gradiente, which almost changed the history of Sega consoles in Brazil.

In the end, the deciding factor in TecToy's favor was Zillion. Their spectacular work with the Zillion brand secured a contract with Sega, which led to the launch of the Master System in Brazil on September 24, 1989.

Good wins in the end

The success of the 31 episodes of Zillion that were shown on Brazilian open television led to two distinct effects: the anime was largely responsible for creating a generation of fans of Japanese animation, which in turn created a trail of successes in the following years, especially shown on the now-defunct TV Manchete, such as Knights of the Zodiac, Sailor Moon, Yuyu Hakusho and Shurato.

On the other hand, if it weren't for Zillion, Sega's history in Brazil would probably be very different. As fans of the Japanese giant's consoles know, TecToy's efficient and brilliant management helped to establish an entire generation of gamers, many of whom now play video games with their children. And to think that it all started with three young people and a laser gun.