One of the best and one of the weirdest things piracy could ever create, Dendy brought joy to thousands of [[UsefulNotes/{{Russia}} Russian]] kids and was the console that spawned the first generation of console gamers in Russia. At first, Dendy looks pretty much like your regular NintendoEntertainmentSystem clone, but to Russian gamers, it was so much more. It indeed had almost the same fate as NES, just on a less epic scale. Despite being completely unlicensed by Creator/{{Nintendo}} (although the short-lived publisher of the console, Steepler Ltd., imported Nintendo's consoles absolutely legally), it boasted a lot of achievements: Millions of sold famiclones and peripherals, a really huge network with own brand shops, own magazine (say hello to ''Magazine/NintendoPower''), TV show (say the same thing to ''Series/{{Starcade}}'' and related shows) and millions of obsessed fans.

Russian counterpart to ''Nintendo Power'' began its life as ''Video-Ace: Dendy'' and, design-wise, was pretty bland. However, due to the fact that its publishers, ''Video-Ace'', already had some experience (they published a few movie magazines and a PC-games magazine), the design was soon upgraded. Some of the articles were translated from ''Joystiq'', again thanks to the publishers' connections. Unlike most of its contemporaries, ''Video-Ace: Dendy'' concentrated more on the movies, treated video games more like 'interactive entertainment', and didn't have annoying ads. Oh yeah. Later, however, when the [[SegaGenesis Mega Drive]] first debuted, the Fun Club section rose in popularity and almost became a leitmotif of all generations of... ''The Great Dragon''.

Steepler's bankruptcy caused the Dendy magazine to split into two publications. One became ''The Great D'', while the second continued the line of ''Dendy: The New Reality'', although sadly, was only four issues long... While its older brother underwent a 10-year evolution from inheriting the format of ''Video-Ace: Dendy'' with some really reasonable add-ons to a magazine with loads of info on [[EasternRPG JRPGs]], next-gen consoles and {{anime}}, which, however, still retained the stuff that was loved before (8-bit and 16-bit sections, mainly). And that all was until 2003, when the magazine got scrapped due to the lack of fundings. Of course, it's expected to be revived, but DevelopmentHell still does its dirty job.

[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJQr3tnjHlg A documentary]] about the ramifications of the Dendy's bootleg nature on Russian gaming culture at the time.

Several bits of the TV show dedicated to this famiclone, ''Dendy: The New Reality'', may be watched [[http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=A7E2F4261CD950A7 here]], fully in English, or, in case if you are a complete kamikaze (or just ''was'' born in ex-USSR), you may watch it from the beginning till the end in its original language, starting from [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDzueORf25s here]].

!!The clone itself, as well as related hardware and cartridges, may be one of the examples of:

* BrandNameTakeover: Now, ''every'' famiclone is nicknamed 'Dendy', no matter if it has this name or not. Meanwhile in UsefulNotes/{{Poland}}, the imported famiclones were called ''Pegasus'', after [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/Pegasus_console%2Bpad%2Bgame.jpg this particular model]].
* CoversAlwaysLie: No, really. ''Always''. Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog slapped on the cartridge cover of ''WesternAnimation/ChipNDaleRescueRangers''? ''Chip 'n Dale'' with its actual cover but renamed to ''Grand Combat''? VideoGame/SeriousSam from ''The Second Encounter'' on the cart of ''Super VideoGame/{{Contra}} 7''? And those are only three of the examples out of thousands!
** If a multicart states to have 9999 games or more, then not only the cover will be misleading, but the menu, too. Plus, some of the games slapped on the sticker may not appear on the actual cartridge at all.
** Perfectly lampshaded by Kinaman in [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJQr3tnjHlg The Curse of The Gray Elephant]], as well as [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhRH3j3BjGU Dendy Chronicles 7]].
* FollowTheLeader and ShoddyKnockoffProduct: Not only to the actual Famicom, but to many other famiclones, not to mention the licensed consoles of the latter generations.
** Dendy wasn't the first famiclone to pop up on the market, and that's not talking about that it's not the first to swag the Famicom's original design, either.
** To make matters worse, the some of the models of Dendy had built-in gamepads, complete with no Select and Start buttons on the second gamepad, akin to the first models of Famicom.
** To make matters even worse, Dendy itself has a clones of its own, not manufactured by the now defunct Steepler. And even while those are being advertised as the consoles with more supreme graphics and sound, they weren't really different to the other famiclones (but yet it had completely nothing to do with the actual Steepler's clone).
* WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs: A lot of the cartridge labels are this, using artwork that is completely unrelated to the game and often just looks like a load of random images that have been cobbled together for no particular reason. Case in point, the ones presented in [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3f3itoyRhE Dendy Chronicles 8]].
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Actually, nobody knows what led Steepler to disappearing, although the man behind this company is now listed as a vice-president of Tenzor company, who supposedly manufactured Dendies... Or, at least, bits of it. Some people think it's because of the high price of imported Nintendo products. Some say that it's due to Lamport simply betraying their 'parents', but we may never know what happened exactly... Maybe all at the same time?

!!The ''Video-Ace: Dendy'' and its SpiritualSuccessor, ''The Great Dragon'' are the examples of:

* {{Adorkable}}: Lord Hanta may have glasses, but they just make him cooler.
* AscendedFanboy: Just see the ''Dendy: The New Reality'' entry below.
* AuthorAppeal: Vladimir Borev, the headie of ''Video-Ace'' publishing. Quoting: ''Watching the game, playing the movie''.
* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: Some games, even if they were reviewed hell long ago, get a kinda pointless, in this case, re-review. Instant example: When ''Great Dragon'' was a spinoff, ''Dendy: The New Reality'' magazine reviewed VideoGame/{{Doom}} for [[UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem SNES]]. Later on, when ''Dendy'' magazine officially died... VideoGame/{{Doom}} was reviewed. Again. And yes, for SNES. And that's when the UsefulNotes/PlayStation debuted.
* [[BrandNameTakeover Pirate Name Takeover]]: [[Franchise/MortalKombat Ho]] [[FanSpeak Sung Pak]].
** Who actually was an actor for Liu Kang in [[VideoGame/MortalKombat the first installment]].
* DevelopmentHell: The ''Great D'' is expected to be revived... And it resulted in nothing else but updates on the official website.
* DoingItForTheArt: Video-Ace: Dendy and its following installments definitely had some soul put in it. Despite some mistakes taken in as well.
** For example, you need to write a one-page review for VideoGame/BattleCity. What could you put there, considering it's a first-generation NES game? But, naturally, one fan's review was so well-written that it included a basic premise plot, description of landscape, and the ingame tanks, as well as wishing good luck to the new players. Of course, this may sound funny, but yes, it ACTUALLY is well-written, so now whenever it's needed to write a review on this game, the review follows a similar scheme.
* ExecutiveMeddling: Sadly, this is here as well, mainly in the latter era. The reason is that a Steepler wannabe, ''New Game'', which is known for its Magistr famiclones and being the first ones to '''sell the initially free''' [[GameMod Sonic Megamix]] released a 'continuation' to ''The Cool Gamer'', but it turned out to be nothing else than yet another 'Tips and Tricks for 9000 Games on Mega Drive' clone. Doesn't help that exactly the same descriptions, as well as tips and tricks can be read out on their official website.
%%** The ratings to the games they've given also fits this trope to an [[PrecisionFStrike F]]. Just for instance, how could ''VideoGame/HerzogZwei'' get 4/10 while [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGodPNSs1Y8 this, ehrm, thing]] got 6/10? And, moreover, how could ''VideoGame/RangerX'' receive 4/10?!
*** [[FollowTheLeader The worst thing is that the other books released after this one seem to copy the ratings directly from there.]]
** [[http://www.newgame.ru/ Here's their website.]] Don't yell if you get a trojan on your attempt to save a page, though.
* FanworkBan: Averted, for several reasons.
** First of '''ALL''', there is a 'Fun Club' section [[WordOfGod (it was even explained why it shouldn't be spelled as Fan Club)]] which accepted a huge load of fan work: art, game story concepts, humorous psychological tests, fiction [[FanFic (no, not this one)]], comic strips, and more, 'n more!
** And some stuff that didn't make it into Fun Club section or Art Gallery went as the tips 'n tricks pages' illustrations.
** A [[{{Feelies}} bundle]] newspaper ''Dragon Plus'' which not only included several good (and not that good) outside-the-editorial articles, but also could be bought only from the editorial one rubble each. Why so? Basically, it was allowed and '''needed''' to be reselled by the loving readers who were dreaming about making money!
** [[PromotedFanboy Some even made it to the editorial!]]
* {{Otaku}}: [[LoveItOrHateIt Believe it or not]], loads.
** Lord Hanta.
*** And, '''How'''! In his 'alternate review' of VideoGame/GarfieldCaughtInTheAct, which was ''much'' better than its scrappy [[UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem NES]] big brother, got Irated by him in all sorts, starting with how NintendoHard and annoying the game is, ending '''with''' cursing the franchise. Right, ClusterFBomb, only without swearing. He also reviewed a ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'' fighting game which not only was ''slightly'' better than ''VideoGame/YieArKungFu'' gameplay-wise, but also got a bastardized US 'localization' named [[PunBasedTitle Street Combat]]. And guess what? No bad words for this game! With the detailed description of every character! Do we need to say more?
*** On a side note... He likes ''VideoGame/DukeNukem''.
** Wren also seems to be one.
** Several fans who got into anime themselves or not without the help of Lord Hanta.
** The magazine ''even'' had a small part for reviewing anime to keep the fans on their toes!
*** And even written discussions on which animation is better: American or Japanese. Think UsefulNotes/ConsoleWars.
* SdrawkcabName: Navi Kihcto.
* TheStoic: The walkthroughs for NES games were published since the ''Video-Ace: Dendy'' was born and until the time when the magazine was about to collapse. Nuff said.
** [[SegaGenesis MegaDrive]] fits this trope in the second place, because the walkthroughs for its games were posted '''even''' with the fade of '8-bit' part, but the games for it appeared a bit later than the magazine was created.
** With Fun Club being par with the [[SegaGenesis MegaDrive]] section.
* TitleDrop: Inverted. The spin-off, which later became a separate magazine had the name of one of the authors. Ten seconds to guess his alias.
* WildMassGuessing: Yes, the magazine even had '''this''', on who Great Dragon really is.
* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: Video-Ace or Video-'''Ass'''?
** SpellMyNameWithAnS: If you go with direct transliteration, then the second. If you aim for accurate pronunciation or just don't see any sense in butchering the title '''[[PrecisionFStrike that]]''' [[PrecisionFStrike much]], then the first. In either case, this is likely to be a mispronunciation of what is otherwise supposed to be "Video-Ace" in the original Russian.

!!The ''Dendy: The New Reality'' show and its follow-ups are the examples of:

* TheAce: The Dennis and Alex duo, [[TheAdjectivalSuperhero The All-Knowing Videogame Experts]].
* [[AllMonksKnowKungFu All Game Developers Know Assembler]]: Suponev's, perhaps, most weird opinion on video games. Simpler version: ''All game developers are programmers''.
* AscendedFanboy: Appeared in one episode. [[spoiler:...Wren]].
* AuthorExistenceFailure: Sergei Suponev, who coincidentally got into the same death trap as Music/ViktorTsoi... Car crash.
* BootstrappedTheme[=s=]: ...Which actually come from [[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehogCD Sonic CD]] and Subterrania and used during both seasons.
* BlatantLies: Megahuge UsefulNotes/GameBoy shown in Season Two! Although you may already guess, it's a prod with a TV screen showing Super Game Boy add-on in action.
* TheCameo: Suponev appeared only once in the ReplacementScrappy SoOkayItsAverage show ''World of Dendy'', hosting the tournament for ''VideoGame/KillerInstinct''.
* CatchPhrase: 'We invite you to the world of New Reality, the world of computer games!'
** Oh, and the phrase from the theme song at the start!
* GagDub: Done by Suponev ''himself'' on ''Jurassic Park II'' (SNES) intro.
** Still, the re-dub retains the original idea, it just adds a parody grain of 'perestroika dubbers.'
* GrammarNazi: Suponev, on the others' knowledge of English and [[SubvertedTrope in extremely mild doses]].
* SequelHook: End of first season.
-->'''Suponev''': But something tells me we'll see each other again!
** [[WordOfGod And he kept his contextual promise.]]
** Sadly, the end of the second season (and the entire show in general) was mainly a sudden abrupt.
* TheManBehindTheMan: In Episode 9 of the first season, where Super Nintendo debuted, Suponev tells us about the fact that [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario]] was made by Nintendo.
** [[spoiler:[[LateArrivalSpoiler Although he said]] [[Creator/{{Nintendo}} that word]] [[LateArrivalSpoiler by accident right in the second episode of the same season]]]].
* TheProblemWithLicensedGames: [[AvertedTrope is nonexistent for this show.]]
** In '''both''' meanings of this trope. Straight and literal.
* [[VideoFullOfFilmClips Video Full of VHS Clips]]: Sometimes, before showing a game based on a movie/cartoon, Suponev inserts a VHS tape with the thing the game was based off and showed a one or two-minute fragment from it. [[spoiler:With a 'perestroika' kind of translation dub]].