Dunno if this counts as a Famiclone, but last month or even further back, I found and bought an all-in-one 8-bit retro gaming console at Five Below with everything scaled down including the "CRT" monitor. It even had a tiny NES console and controller.
I used to have a huge collection of these clone consoles, but I look at them differently than most people. Depending on the laws that existed at the time when the console came out from its country, it determines what I would call it. For example, let's say Nintendo did not have a copyright law in a certain country; then I would consider it a clone console, not a bootleg or a rip-off. There were many countries that were closed off to the rest of the world when it came to technology. That's just the way I look at it. In some cases, there was no ill intent; it's just one country went into better theirs by trying to bring a product into the country in which the government would not allow some of these companies. You had to pass them out and say they were educational toys; video games were illegal in some countries. So yeah, I have a different point of view than most people. Okay, now that I'm done rambling, I also have fun memories of the car Famicoms. One of the first ones I had was a repurposed shell of a VCR rewinder. They took the shell of a device to stick your VCR tape into to rewind it. It made a famicom out of it. And of course it was red. I have not seen one on the internet, but it was shaped something like a Lamborghini, so this one I sold off a long time ago. I have the Game Boy Color Style Famicom in my closet right now in the box, but it is labeled Power of Joy." The one I have does not come with the cartridge adapter. What is amazing about this one is the plastic quality. It doesn't have that chemical smell you get with newer Famicoms; it's actually quite durable I have the Power Games Penguin also complete in the box. Mine is the black, white, and yellow feet version they came in. They came in different colors: blue, red, and I think even yellow. These colors replaced the black on the penguin. The controller's mind came with both the same. They are of the original PlayStation 1, not the analog-style controller. It came with a pistol-style light gun. The art style on the box features characters from the Xbox Shinobi and Mario 64, so I guess that gives it the time frame when it came out; there is no date on the box I can see. Maxxplay / Power Joy was one of those that were similar in design. I do not remember which one it was, but there was a home shopping network infomercial TV channel called QVC. They were selling these on their TV shopping channel, and they were showing Flintstones, Super Mario Bros., and a whole list of other games that were being sold to Americans live on TV. How this came about would be an interesting story. Now here is my rarest Famicom clone system. It is from Poland. It is a Pegasus-branded company. It is shaped exactly like the American Super Nintendo and is scaled exactly with matching controllers that plug into the front with a working American-style eject button, reset button, and American color pattern light gun. It really captures people's attention when you plug in a Famicom Disk System into it.
So far, before watching this episode, I only knew the Polystation and Dendy... But they weren't the end of the bottom! Some of them are indeed bizarre and funny! However, I have to agree that Phantom System is the best of them all... In the past, I used to play some games with it, in a neighbor's house. And I felt intrigued on why my CCE's Top Game wasn't processing the amount of colors and sound that the Phantom System was doing. I compared with other Famiclones that I got to know in the period and I realized that my Top Game was the Ugly Duckling of the bunch, even with the advantage of accepting both US and Japanese cartridges. The reverse engineering of Gradiente's Phantom System was masterful. So, I would put this one as more "wonderful" than "weird". Only in my country, Brazil, you may find other bizarre Famiclones: Dynavision 2 and 3, Super Charger, Bit System, Top or Turbo Game... You can make a series of episodes with the same theme, by the way, contemplating other Famiclones.
For some reason I have a Polystation. I also have an Orb branded famiclone that looks exactly like a japanese Famicom that I got from Debenhams randomly for a tenner a few Christmases ago. Has a multicart with it of random naff unlicensed type games but I got a 150 in one Famicom cart from Aliexpress and it works fine in it!
The unlicensed use of the "Superman" score in the last advertisement caught me by surprise. Also, were they ripping off the classic Paul Rudd SNES commercial from the early 90s?
It was par for the course in many Eastern European countries to basically use pop/rock songs from the West in adverts, or even in a lot of news, political and other programs, at least that was the case in Hungary where I'm from. And yeah, they were probably used without permission. :)
My whole gaming childhood was almost fully made of these knock off consoles at some point. I still use to buy some of them sometimes, even portable ones like the SUP handheld. Fun fact: in some ares of Southern Italy these weird consoles were a noticeable thing, becuase they were cheap and used to feature a very solid line up of... repeated games (yeah, a bundle of 7 games even if repeated 500 times and slightly pirated was a great thing back in the day). I need the Car King, dude!!
The NES was rare for me in my early years, so I ended up beating my first few NES games on my uncle's Famiclone from S.America. Does anyone know whata ZoomTech was? It looked like a Famiclone, but i was playing MegaDrive Sonic 1 on it in 2005!
I wonder how many famiclones were ever sold over the years, but i guess no one knows. But what if they altogether sold more then nintendo’s own official nes console. I can imagine that in such case nintendo not only did lost billions of money but also missed the boat to have potentially sold over 100 million nes systems🥲 Am mean it’s just insane how many countless famiclones there are, not only that but some companies did even had the courage to make tv commercials of it, just mind blowing.
Dunno if this counts as a Famiclone, but last month or even further back, I found and bought an all-in-one 8-bit retro gaming console at Five Below with everything scaled down including the "CRT" monitor. It even had a tiny NES console and controller.
I used to have a huge collection of these clone consoles, but I look at them differently than most people. Depending on the laws that existed at the time when the console came out from its country, it determines what I would call it. For example, let's say Nintendo did not have a copyright law in a certain country; then I would consider it a clone console, not a bootleg or a rip-off. There were many countries that were closed off to the rest of the world when it came to technology. That's just the way I look at it. In some cases, there was no ill intent; it's just one country went into better theirs by trying to bring a product into the country in which the government would not allow some of these companies. You had to pass them out and say they were educational toys; video games were illegal in some countries. So yeah, I have a different point of view than most people.
Okay, now that I'm done rambling, I also have fun memories of the car Famicoms. One of the first ones I had was a repurposed shell of a VCR rewinder. They took the shell of a device to stick your VCR tape into to rewind it. It made a famicom out of it. And of course it was red. I have not seen one on the internet, but it was shaped something like a Lamborghini, so this one I sold off a long time ago.
I have the Game Boy Color Style Famicom in my closet right now in the box, but it is labeled Power of Joy." The one I have does not come with the cartridge adapter. What is amazing about this one is the plastic quality. It doesn't have that chemical smell you get with newer Famicoms; it's actually quite durable
I have the Power Games Penguin also complete in the box. Mine is the black, white, and yellow feet version they came in. They came in different colors: blue, red, and I think even yellow. These colors replaced the black on the penguin. The controller's mind came with both the same. They are of the original PlayStation 1, not the analog-style controller. It came with a pistol-style light gun.
The art style on the box features characters from the Xbox Shinobi and Mario 64, so I guess that gives it the time frame when it came out; there is no date on the box I can see.
Maxxplay / Power Joy was one of those that were similar in design. I do not remember which one it was, but there was a home shopping network infomercial TV channel called QVC. They were selling these on their TV shopping channel, and they were showing Flintstones, Super Mario Bros., and a whole list of other games that were being sold to Americans live on TV. How this came about would be an interesting story.
Now here is my rarest Famicom clone system. It is from Poland. It is a Pegasus-branded company. It is shaped exactly like the American Super Nintendo and is scaled exactly with matching controllers that plug into the front with a working American-style eject button, reset button, and American color pattern light gun. It really captures people's attention when you plug in a Famicom Disk System into it.
Great comment - thanks for sharing!
Happy new year 🎉
So far, before watching this episode, I only knew the Polystation and Dendy... But they weren't the end of the bottom! Some of them are indeed bizarre and funny! However, I have to agree that Phantom System is the best of them all... In the past, I used to play some games with it, in a neighbor's house. And I felt intrigued on why my CCE's Top Game wasn't processing the amount of colors and sound that the Phantom System was doing. I compared with other Famiclones that I got to know in the period and I realized that my Top Game was the Ugly Duckling of the bunch, even with the advantage of accepting both US and Japanese cartridges. The reverse engineering of Gradiente's Phantom System was masterful. So, I would put this one as more "wonderful" than "weird". Only in my country, Brazil, you may find other bizarre Famiclones: Dynavision 2 and 3, Super Charger, Bit System, Top or Turbo Game... You can make a series of episodes with the same theme, by the way, contemplating other Famiclones.
For some reason I have a Polystation. I also have an Orb branded famiclone that looks exactly like a japanese Famicom that I got from Debenhams randomly for a tenner a few Christmases ago. Has a multicart with it of random naff unlicensed type games but I got a 150 in one Famicom cart from Aliexpress and it works fine in it!
The unlicensed use of the "Superman" score in the last advertisement caught me by surprise. Also, were they ripping off the classic Paul Rudd SNES commercial from the early 90s?
Wait, not only is the Dendy a knockoff of the NES, but the ads used Jean Michel Jarre (Probably without attribution)?
It was par for the course in many Eastern European countries to basically use pop/rock songs from the West in adverts, or even in a lot of news, political and other programs, at least that was the case in Hungary where I'm from. And yeah, they were probably used without permission. :)
My whole gaming childhood was almost fully made of these knock off consoles at some point. I still use to buy some of them sometimes, even portable ones like the SUP handheld.
Fun fact: in some ares of Southern Italy these weird consoles were a noticeable thing, becuase they were cheap and used to feature a very solid line up of... repeated games (yeah, a bundle of 7 games even if repeated 500 times and slightly pirated was a great thing back in the day). I need the Car King, dude!!
I got your SMS book for Christmas Kieren and am really enjoying it, great stuff 🙂
Really glad to hear it! It's proved pretty popular so I just started planning out volume 2.
Merry Christmas and Happy new Year everyone.
"100 % compatible" you say. Reality is more like 95 %.
Pretty sure the Aaronix is based on the Supergrafx
The NES was rare for me in my early years, so I ended up beating my first few NES games on my uncle's Famiclone from S.America. Does anyone know whata ZoomTech was? It looked like a Famiclone, but i was playing MegaDrive Sonic 1 on it in 2005!
Polish Pegasus was also in this world :)
Did people not grow bored of the NES?
Great stuff - enjoy your time off!
The sample at the start of the video has always fascinated me, does she say "Welcome bum rubber?"
Welcome STUN Runner, from the Atari Lynx port of the famous arcade game.
@@TheLairdsLair thanks - now I know! Been bugging me for a while. Love the videos. Over here in South Africa we got MicroGenius famiclones.
Disney releases Mufasa: The Lion King: I sleep
The Liard's Lair does a video on Famiclones: th-cam.com/video/F_3iRVLbGig/w-d-xo.htmlm43s
2:25 Put x2 sounds better
Phantom System >>>>> NES (US)
Concordo plenamente!!!
That Jaguar top doesn't add up.
Why?
@TheLairdsLair do the math.
64 (Blitter)
64 (Object Processor)
32 (DSP)
32 (GPU)
16 (Slave)
= 208
How about weird controllers
Like this video you mean? 😉
th-cam.com/video/O2dhGePz_3M/w-d-xo.html
I wonder how many famiclones were ever sold over the years, but i guess no one knows.
But what if they altogether sold more then nintendo’s own official nes console.
I can imagine that in such case nintendo not only did lost billions of money but also missed the boat to have potentially sold over 100 million nes systems🥲
Am mean it’s just insane how many countless famiclones there are, not only that but some companies did even had the courage to make tv commercials of it, just mind blowing.
Bery cool video. I hadn't seen any of these before.