/vr/ - Retro Games

>>9393487
>no good games or software whatsoever.
It had some adequate enough software for some purposes. The gaming was pretty damn meager, true, but you could find some alright ones to pass the time with. The best ones were mainly the ones which didn't try to be an overarching adventure, and more like simple arcade games.

>worshipped by millions of Bongs and Russians (with its hundreds of clones)
Bongs were in some harsher economy at the time, and Russia is perpetually poor from being wrecked to shit by Communism, and then oligarchs spawning from its corruption.
It should come as no surprise that inexpensive products have their appeal, Famiclones were very big in Russia for a time, for example. Cheap pirated software being easily available for the Zedex and the Famiclones is another reason.

The Zedex was never the best at anything, and it was limited, but it wasn't completely without use, and considering the economy nature it had its place in these markets. Of course the Commodore 64, the Apple II, the NES, and the Master System would all provide way better opportunities for gaming and utility software, but they also cost more money, and for the consoles the piracy was a lot less easy.

It's a little bit like the Hi-Point pistol of computers, it's not that nice, it's limited in overall power, but it does actually work, and it's not an expensive investment.

>>9393524
The reason it gets compared so much to later machines is because the Zedex lingered a really long time in the British market, stretching into the 90s even. It was competing in the market with superior machines, and it did so with a low price tag, until it became too dated to remain viable even for poorfags. You'd be surprised to learn that the Atari 2600 VGS tried the same thing, with the whole "It's just $50!" thing.