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Kinamania
Kinamania (Кинамания) is a Russian YouTube channel, managed by Pavel “Kinaman” Grinyov (Павел “Кинаман” Гринёв), that typically focuses on 1990s Russian video game nostalgia and it all stems from this documentary that was released on March 27, 2011.
The videos are typically filmed at his home in Rostov-on-Don. Some feature friends like Nikolai “Coulthard” Moiseev (Николай “Култхард” Моисеев), Maksim “McSIM” Yedush (Максим “McSIM” Едуш), and several others who only appear in his other projects.
History
In 2009, Coulthard recommended the Angry Video Game Nerd (AVGN) to Kinaman and made him watch an episode of it around September 28, 2009. Kinaman only knew about Novaya Realnost back then, so he was blown away at how the AVGN was funny and informative while reviewing retro games. Rolfe's work would inspire him to make his own film, so development of The Grey Elephant's Curse began in Autumn 2010.1)
On March 27, 2011, The Grey Elephant's Curse was released to the public and received critical acclaim as fans wanted him to make more videos, so he started Dendy Chronicles in May 2011 which would kick off “Kinamania Productions” and many other videos would soon follow.2) In recent years, video production began slowing down around 2014 and about 1-2 videos barely get released per month.
Projects
The Grey Elephant's Curse
The Grey Elephant's Curse (Проклятие Серого Слонёнка, Proklyatiye Serogo Slonyonka) is the first documentary that Kinaman produced in 2011, which goes over how 8-bit consoles entered post-Soviet Russia, often in the form of Chinese famiclones that they often called "Dendy", and the various issues that bootleg consoles, cartridges, games, and other peripherals had.
- The Grey Elephant's Curse - The original documentary, roughly 1 hour and 18 minutes long.
- Deleted Scene - A cut scene about fucked-up numbering with the Batman games.
- Removed Bloopers - The bloopers of the scene where Kinaman and Coulthard play Battletoads.
Dendy Chronicles + Mini
Dendy Chronicles is the episodic web series, meant to serve as a sequel to The Grey Elephant's Curse to fans who wanted more.3) Most of the famiclone-related issues were already discussed in the documentary, leaving us an entire library of bootleg games (e.g. multicarts, hacks, unofficial backports, etc.) as well as their cartridge labels and other related media such as cheat books or strategy guides.
Dendy Chronicles, Full Playlist- In reverse chronological order, for some reason.- Dendy Chronicles #1 (2011-09-30) - Mario Retrospective, Part 1/3.
- Dendy Chronicles #2 (2011-10-01) - Mario Retrospective, Part 2/3.
- Dendy Chronicles #3 (2011-10-02) - Mario Retrospective, Part 3/3.
- Dendy Chronicles #7 (2012-09-29) - Bizarre Cartridge Artwork.
- Dendy Chronicles #8 (2012-12-21) - Bizarre Cartridge Artwork, Top 10 Hit Parade.
- Dendy Chronicles #9 (2013-06-12) - Ghostbusters.
- Dendy Chronicles Mini #1 (2017-06-01) - Bucky O'Hare (anti-piracy enabled).
- Dendy Chronicles Mini #2 (2017-06-08) - Toy Story.
- Dendy Chronicles Mini #3 (2017-06-15) - Snake Rattle 'n' Roll (bad reproduction).
- Dendy Chronicles Mini #4 (2017-06-22) - Batman & Flash (Monster in My Pocket).
- Dendy Chronicles Mini #5 (2019-01-29) - Ghostbusters II.
- Dendy Chronicles Mini #6 (2019-03-23) - The Terminator.
- Dendy Chronicles Mini #7 (2019-12-25) - Easter Eggs and Leftover Code.
- Dendy Chronicles #10 (2023-05-10) - Athena.
Dendy Memories
Dendy Memories is a series of unscripted retrospectives, inspired by Contra Memories,5) since Kinaman wanted to talk about games he was fond of. Personally, these are best viewed in chronological order.
Dendy Memories, Full Playlist- In reverse chronological order, for some reason.- Dendy Memories #1 (2012-03-22) - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
- Dendy Memories #2 (2012-05-12) - Darkwing Duck.
- Dendy Memories #3 (2012-06-18) - Robocop 3.
- Dendy Memories #4 (2012-07-14) - Battletoads & Double Dragon.
- Dendy Memories #5 (2012-08-28) - Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
- Dendy Memories #6 (2012-11-26) - Prince of Persia.
- Dendy Memories #7 (2013-01-26) - TaleSpin.
- Dendy Memories #9 (2013-09-11) - DuckTales 2.
- Dendy Memories #10 (2014-06-03) - Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom.
- Dendy Memories #11 (2014-08-25) - Tom and Jerry (and Tuffy).
- Dendy Memories #12 (2014-11-22) - Super Mario Bros. 8 (Don Doko Don 2).
- Dendy Memories #13 (2015-01-30) - Multicart Games, Part 1/2.
- Dendy Memories #14 (2015-03-10) - Multicart Games, Part 2/2.
- Dendy Memories #15 (2016-03-28) - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game.
- Dendy Memories #16 (2016-12-06) - Tiny Toon Adventures.
There's also Coulthard's Memories where Coulthard talks about a lot of games in two episodes and Sega Memories where Kinaman recalls his short experience with Sega.
Miscellaneous Projects
- In The Kitchen (На Кухне, Na Kukhne) - A series of “Let's Play” videos that conveys a nostalgic at-home atmosphere. Most of these aren't subtitled, but you may want to look into them if you're trying to sift through Russian discussion since a lot of guests are featured here.
- Kinamania Live! - Archived gaming livestreams. It usually featured Kinaman and Coulthard.
- V.H.S. - An experimental, pilot episode criticizing a bad Russian dub of Back to the Future.
Notes
- It should be noted that Kinaman had watched Reploid's Russian dub of Angry Video Game Nerd.7)
- In 2013, he made a guest appearance as the “Guitar Guy” in the Ikari Warriors dub.
- On Sosach, the “Cherve Thread” (Черветред, Chervetred)8) on /fag/ is a fan community that usually stalks and rips on Kinaman and his friends, but claim to be disillusioned fans that took note of his recent stagnation and decline over the years. They also have a wiki called Chervepedia, dedicated to airing the dirty laundry of everyone involved with Kinamania in a half-serious manner.
- In Dendy Chronicles #10, the phone number in the cheat code book has a country calling code of +81 (Japan), thus the Japanese-style segment that takes place throughout the episode.
- If you look this number up, it's owned by the Japanese semiconductor company “Micronics Japan”, though its relation to Athena's developer Micronics is unclear.