Many overseas companies during the classic game era thrived on selling
ripoff pirate games in their native countries. A few companies, however,
managed to innovate, and Brazil-based Dynacom was one of them.
Much like other companies in South America, Dynacom got its start in
the early 80's by selling (illegal) 2600 clones and ripoff games in Brazil.
Later in the decade, however, they briefly test marketed a handheld
Atari 2600 clone named Megaboy. Their aim was to market this system
for children's learning purposes. This was evident by the pack-in
cartridge, which was a 4-in-1 educational game.
Like the TV Boy, Megaboy can only be considered a handheld to the extent
that it is relatively small -- about the same size as a Sega Game Gear or
Atari Lynx its size alone. It did not have a built-in screen for on-the-go
gaming. However, it was a convenient little console that could run on
either two AA batteries or using an AC adapter. Additionally, a
wireless antenna allowed for remote control gaming by setting the TV
to channel 3.
Unlike the TV Boy, however, it did not have any games built into the
system. On the flip side, however, the Megaboy has a cartridge slot
and can play any number of 2600-compatible games whereas the TV Boy
The pack-in game for the Megaboy was a 64K educational game. You heard right,
64K! That's twice the size of the next biggest 2600 game, Fatal Run. The
cartridge contained quiz games in four disciplines: Math, English, Music and
Science. We left the cart plugged in the Megaboy and let the attract mode
run its course, but even after 2 hours, not a single question was ever
Rumor has it that Dynacom decided against a nationwide release of the
Megaboy, making this system difficult to find, even in Brazil.