The famous cassette tape PIRATA for the Commodore 64
In 1988 a monthly Neapolitan magazine called PIRATA was published in Italian newsstands, with a Pirata logo on the cover, containing a floppy disk with 5 famous pirated games and the classic manual, all in a brand new rigid plastic box. It was really a real magazine, with a lot of editorial and contact information. The magazine, however, had little success and only a few issues were released, probably 10. The magazine appeared again on newsstands in late 1992 or, most probably, in 1993, where the stock remains were offered again (without the plastic case) with a "special" stamp attached above, and a 6000 lira Soft Alga. The Soft Alga is the famous full copy of an original cassette, but there was a trick. Inside the magazine they had removed all floppy so there was only the magazine and a paper card, so actually selling the 6000 lire pirate tape cassette on the newsstands.
Probably it was also a move to bypass the new anti-piracy law and make the Neapolitan pirate tape appear as something legal, and given the situation a direct link is possible between those who published the Alga Soft and those who were behind the Pirate magazine. This trick was used to sell all inventories of Soft Algae of 6,000 lira (in fact both recent and old cassettes were included).
But it does not end there, because at the same time pirated floppy disk containing games for for Commodore Amiga were sold in the same way, with games mostly released in 1992 that were presumably sold in newsstands in the same way as Alga Soft but at the price of 10,000 lire. So, we can assume that they tried in this way to sell residual pirated Amiga games at newsstands, and on the other hand we are certain that those who made the Alga Soft pirate tapes also took care of the market relative to the pirated floppy disk for Amiga.
Furthermore, we note that the Pirata magazine was released in different numbers, an indication that at the time it had not been successful and had therefore generated quite a bit of stock. Obviously, the games were random attached and on the same issue of the magazine, which had printed the references for Commodore 64, you could find as much a cassette for the commodore 64 as well a floppy disk for Amiga, surely creating a certain confusion in the buyer.
The printed price was 6,000 lire if there was a C64 cassette and 10,000 lire if there was a floppy disk for Amiga, essentially the same prices that could be found on sale individually in the newsstands of certain areas before the piracy law.
In the pictures below we see clearly when the magazine's stock fund was put back on the newsstands years later. We know it must have been 1993 or end of 1992 because the Addams Family game was released for Commodore 64 only in late 1992, and the same is valid for Space Crusade, also released in 1992 for the Commodore 64. If we consider that the aim was to sell the Soft Algae stocks, it was probably 1993. As you can see, in the same magazine, without the floppies, were included random Neapolitan pirate game cassettes taken from the 6000 lira Soft Algae.
The included cassette is an 100% Pirate cassette
But the magazine was used also to sell pirated Amiga games
This is how the first issues of the Pirata magazine looks like, with the original rigid plastic cover
Inside it was possible to find the floppy disk and the actual paper magazine, the only piece that will be recycled years later
We know that at least 10 numbers have been released
Here is how the manual looks like (from Pirate number 6, June 1988)
source: http://infogiochi.altervista.org
