Dendy Junior by Steepler Ltd.. Dendy famiclones are still popular in Eastern Europe, with a lot of related fansites.
A famiclone is a type of clone console compatible with Famicom or NES games (or both, which is rare). As Nintendo's patents on the hardware have expired, it is now legal to sell any famiclone that does not have pirated software built in.
Hardware
A PSOne style famiclone, Play & Power I (similar to a Polystation).
The very earliest famiclones, usually made in Taiwan, were a more or less exact copy of the original hardware, using cloned chips usually manufactured by UMC. However, later famiclones produced since the mid-late 90s usually incorproate the entire system into a single small chip, known as a NES-on-a-chip (NOAC) design, which is much cheaper to produce and much smaller (allowing for more creative and compact console designs) but less faithful recreation of the original console, leading to compatibility problems.
There are also DVD and VCD players, as well as certain portable media players (often marketed as "MP5" players), which can play NES/Famicom games via DVDs, CD-ROMs, or through mass storage media, although they usually contain (often slow) emulators rather than an actual hardware clone. These are more common in the Far East than anywhere else.
VT02/VT03 & OneBus
Shark, an example of a VT03 game
The OneBus hardware is essentially a modified Famicom, designed by the Taiwanese company VRTech. Its standard OneBus famiclone system is called the VT02. Unlike the Famicom which has seperate banks for the programming and graphics, (named the PRG and CHR banks) the OneBus combines the two, meaning that only one bus is required, hence the name. The VT03 has better graphical capabilities than standard Famicom hardware, allowing for up to 16 colours per graphical tile as opposed to 4. (In both cases, one colour is transparent) There is an emulator for the OneBus called EmuVT, made by JungleTac in 2006 and credited to Wise Wang. There is also a link to a now defunct website.
Appearance
PocketFami portable famiclone.
Older famiclones, like the Dendy Junior above, usually looked nearly identical the original Famicom, while newer ones are sometimes designed to resemble a more recent console - famiclones have been modelled after nearly every mainstream post-Famicom console, from the Mega Drive to the PS3, although many original designs have also been created. More recent clones are often self contained within a controller, handheld console or other more specialised hardware (such as a keyboard or dance mat), either with (albeit with a proprietary cartridge slot, along with an adapter for regular Famicom games) or without a cartridge slot.
Software
Until about 2000, the majority of famiclones with built-in games only included pirated copies of licensed software - often with greatly inflated game counts - with a few notable exceptions; however, after this point some clones began to incorporate games with graphics and music hacked to disguise their origins, and later completely original games. Some of these original games are produced by Waixing or Nice Code Software, such as those on the 8-bit Vii (not to be confused with Kensington/Jungletac's Vii).
List of famiclones
Home Systems
- Beta 5
- Console TV by Advance Bright Limited - contains hacked games
- Dendy (Russia, by Steepler Ltd.)
- Dendy/Dendy Classic - Rebranded Micro Genius IQ-501
- Dendy Classic II - Rebranded Micro Genius IQ-701
- Dendy Junior - Unknown Micro Genius?
- Dendy Junior II
- Dendy 2/Dendy 8 - Not produced by Steepler, uses MegaDrive layouts.
- Dynavision (brazilian famiclone)
- Generation NEX (Plays both NES and Famicom carts, supposedly VT03 compatible)
- Golden China (South Africa)
- Good Boy
- Family Boy/Famikon Yarou series
- FC Game Console - AKA Neo Fami (Both 60 and 72 pin version) - by Qi Sheng Long, distributed by Gametech (Japan)/Yobo (USA)
- Magistr series - Russia, by New Game.
- Micro Genius series (Worldwide, sold under different names in some countries)
- N-Joypad - fake CD-based system by Advance Bright Limited
- NASA Entertainment Computer System - both 60 & 72 pin slots [1]
- Newtendo Super Famcom
- Nichiman (Colombia) (Rebranded Micro Genius)
- Pegasus (Poland, by Bobmark International)
- Pegasus MT777DX (Similar to Famicom)
- Pegasus IQ-502 (More modern design, with round controllers resembling the ones used in SNES - rebranded Micro Genius)
- Phantom System – Made in Brazil by Gradiente
- Play & Power I
- Polystation
- Polystation 64: The Power Machine
- Polystation II
- Polystation III
- Polystation III Super Soccer system
- Kombat-8
- Dendy 3 - Not produced by Steepler
- PS-Kid - By Cheer-Tech [2]
- Retrocon - by Blaze [3]
- Subor (Various models - from China, related to Waixing, often sold in Russia)
- Top Game – Models VG-8000 and VG-9000 (dual slot), Made in Brazil by CCE
- Ultra 8 Bit AKA Arcade Action
- Mega Arcade Action/Arcade Action 2 (OneBus based, 101 in 1 cart with hacked games + one original)
- Vii (8-bit version) (China) [4] - by Power King/Xinan Industry Co., Ltd
Licensed by Nintendo
- Comboy (South Korea, made by Hyundai)
- Sharp Famicom Titler
- Sharp Famicom TV - Released in North America as the Sharp Nintendo Television.
- Sharp Twin Famicom
Multi-system
These are compatible with more than one console's cartridges, and are particularly popular in the US but have seen limited release elsewhere (so are usually found with 72-pin NES ports rather than 60-pin Famicom ones).
- FC 3 Plus - NES/Famicom + SNES/Super Famicom + Mega Drive/Genesis (+ "G-Factor", Qi Sheng Long's cartridges)
- FC Twin Video Game System - NES/Famicom + SNES/Super Famicom
- GN Twin - NES/Famicom + Mega Drive/Genesis
- Retro Duo - NES/Famicom + SNES/Super Famicom
- RetroN 3 - NES/Famicom + SNES/Super Famicom + Mega Drive/Genesis
Lock-on
These use another console for display & controls.
- Tristar/Super 8 - for SNES
- Tristar 64 - NES/FC + SNES clone, for N64
Portable Systems
- CoolBoy - The name of various different handheld systems created by Subor/Waixing, including:
- Standard Famicom cart version - also known as FC Mobile, Famizero Portable, Poke Boy [5] and distributed by New Game (Company) as Dendy Megaboy. A 72-pin NES version was released by Hyperkin in the US under the FC Mobile name.
- Proprietary cart version - uses small carts resembling the GBA's. Some contain Waixing/Nice Code games, others pirate Famicom games.
- 2PG - Compatible console resembling a PSP
- FC-Portable [6] [7] by Qi Sheng Long [8]
- FC Mobile II - includes a gun and two wireless controllers. Both 72 & 60 pin versions available, made by Qi Sheng Long. Also known as PokeFami in Japan (not to be confused with the PocketFami, which is also called "PokeFami" in Japanese) [9]
- GameAxe
- GameKing III (by Timetop, there's a non-NES clone console with the same name. GameKing I and II also exist, but these play proprietary games similar to those on the Game Boy).
- Game Theory Admiral
- Gamespower 50 - by Jungletac
- Pocket Boy FC-360 [10]
- PocketFami (AKA PokeFami, by Gametech, distributed in the UK by Blaze)
- VG Pocket Max by JungleTac
Lock-on
These use another handheld for a display.
- AdFami (aka GBA Time Machine) - for the GBA, by Gametech
- Famulator Lite - for the DS Lite, by Cyber Gadget
- Handy FamiEight - for the GBA SP, by Dragon
Multi-system
- Action Gamemaster - By Active Enterprises; massively unrealistic, never released.
- One Station - Theoretically unlimited, as the console hardware is built into the cartridges rather than the console.
Hybrid systems
These play Famicom games on a TV but have a built in LCD "brick game" for portable play.
- Polystation Advance
- Power Joy series - by Trump Grand:
- Power Joy Voyager
- Power Joy III
Controller based systems
Standard controllers
- 120 in 1 Plug And Play - distributed by Bluetek, takes the shape of a Dreamcast controller.
- Game Stick
- Mega Joy (I & II)
- Micro Genius IQ-901
- Power Player Super Joy III
- Rumble Station - Games by Color Dreams
- DreamGEAR My Arcade Series
- Super Joy
With Built-in Lightgun
- GunBoy by Advance Bright Limited
- Twin LightBlaster Joypad - Shaped like GunBoy, built-in hacks and a cartridge slot.
- Power Joy series - Manufactured by Trump Grand
- Power Joy/Power Joy II - 10 hacks built-in, only included cartridge differs.
- Power Joy Supermax - 60+30 game cartridges included, OneBus-based.
- Gun Fighter - Same shape as the GunBoy, except it's blue instead of red. Includes 64 games, which are a mixture of hacks, official Famicom games and Nice Code originals. Distributed by Tevion Gaming.
Joysticks
- 88 Games - by Macro Winners
- Air Blaster by Advance Bright Limited
- Arcade TV Game Set by Advance Bright Limited
Steering wheels
- Venturer Super Start all-in-one
Dance mats
- Dance Party 3 / Dance Master 3 by Advance Bright Limited
Keyboards
- Subor series
- Gold Leopard King series [11]
- Mega Kid MK-1000
Miscellaneous/uncategorised
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Links
See also
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