Nintendo Entertainment System hardware clone

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Owing to the popularity and longevity of the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES; known in Asia as the Family Computer, or Famicom), the system would become one of the world's most cloned video game consoles. Such clones are colloquially called Famiclones (a portmanteau of "Famicom" and "clone"), and are electronic hardware devices designed to replicate the workings of, and play games designed for, the NES. Hundreds of unlicensed clones have been made available since the height of the NES popularity in the late 1980s. The technology employed in such clones has evolved over the years: while the earliest clones featured a printed circuit board containing custom or third party integrated circuits (ICs), more recent (post-1996) clones have utilized single chip designs, with a custom ASIC which emulates the functionality of the original hardware, and often includes one or more on-board games. Most devices originate in Asian nations, especially China and Taiwan, and to a lesser extent South Korea.

In some locales, especially South America and the former Soviet Union, where the NES was never officially released by Nintendo, such clones were the only readily available console gaming systems. Such was the case with the Dendy Junior, a particularly successful NES clone which achieved widespread popularity in Russia and former Soviet republics in the early 1990s. In fact, 'to Dendy' is still a common Russian verb for 'to play video games', and 'dendy' a generic term for game console. Elsewhere, such systems could occasionally even be found side by side with official Nintendo hardware, often prompting swift legal action. Many of these early systems were similar to the NES or Famicom not only in functionality, but also in appearance, often featuring little more than a new name and logo in place of Nintendo's branding.

Perhaps not wishing to attract attention from Nintendo, few of these systems are openly marketed as "NES compatible." Very often they are sold in very attractive and misleading boxes, featuring screenshots from more recent (and more powerful) systems and adorned with misleading, or even patently false, quotes, trumpeting "...ultimate videogame technlology..." [sic] or "...crystal clear digital sound, multiple colors and advanced 3D graphics." Some manufacturers will opt for a less misleading approach, describing the system generically as a "TV game," "8-bit console," or "multi-game system," but even these examples generally say nothing to suggest any compatibility with NES hardware.

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Post-patent Famiclones

Some of Nintendo's patents on the Famicom expired in 2003, followed in 2005 by NES-specific patents such as those covering the 10NES lockout chip. While Nintendo still holds various related trademarks, NES hardware clones are no longer necessarily illegal on the basis of patent infringement. This matter is complicated by the effect of different patents awarded in different countries, with different expiration dates. Nintendo sued Gametech in 2005 for selling the PocketFami, despite the patent expiration. Nintendo lost this suit. However, Famiclone manufacturers who incorporate copyrighted games into the unit may still be subject to legal liability on that basis, due to the much longer expiration term for copyrights.

While the old-style Famiclones continue to be found, the newly legitimised market has seen several clones that openly advertise support for original Famicom or NES games (or sometimes both), a feature not usually publicised by previous clones, which were often marketed as cheap gifts rather than Famicom-compatible systems. Examples of these newer efforts include the Generation NEX, which resembles a flattened version of the original NES and supports both NES and Famicom games, Gametech's Neo-Fami (also released in both Famicom and NES compatible versions as the "FC Game Console" by Yobo Gameware), and the handheld PocketFami, a more ambitious, albeit still slightly flawed, successor to the older TopGuy, GameAxe and Game Theory Admiral. However, these more legitimate clones are still based on the same NES-on-a-chip architecture as the older systems, and as such still suffer from many of the same compatibility problems.

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Brazil

Since 1989, NES- and Famicom-compatible consoles were manufactured and released in Brazil by local companies, who also provided tech-support and sold Nintendo games. The first system, in 1989, was Dynacom's Dynavision, which used the 60-pin Famicom Japanese cartridge format. In 1990, the Top Game, manufactured by CCE, was released; it used the 72-pin American cartridge format. The BitSystem, also using the American cartridge format, was manufactured by the now-defunct company Dismac. The Phantom System was released 1991 by Gradiente, and was the most popular Brasilian Famiclone. It had controllers which were clones of the Mega Drive's. In 1993, Nintendo themselves arrived in Brazil and released the NES with American cartridge slot.

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Software game titles

Since none of these unlicensed clones contain the 10NES authentication chip, most are capable of running games which an official NES model would not run. In addition, many modern NES clones come with a built-in selection of games, typically stored on an internal ROM which can range from 128 KB up to several megabytes in size.

These built-in games are usually designed to supplement, rather than replace, the traditional cartridge slot, although some devices omit such a slot entirely, allowing only the built-in games to be played. Typical numbers for the built-in "distinct" games range from as low as three to as high as fifty or one hundred games for more expensive products. The number of "distinct games" is important, because while many NES clones claim to have as many as 10,000 built-in games, most of these games are usually nothing more than hacks that allow the player to start the same game at different levels or with different numbers of lives.

The games are usually direct pirated copies of licensed NES and Famicom game titles, usually with copyright information removed and sometimes featuring other minor changes. Additionally, a number of recent clones now incorporate games which, although they may initially appear to be original, are in fact pirated copies featuring extensive graphical (and sometimes audio) modifications. Examples of this include UFO Race, based on Nintendo's F-1 Race, Pandamar (also known as simply Panda), based on Super Mario Bros., and Ladangel, based on Hudson Soft's Challenger.

However, some systems include legally licensed games - for example, the Rumble Station's 15 built-in games are licensed from Color Dreams, and Sachen's Q-Boy includes only its own original titles. Additionally, the Atari Flashback and Intellivision 25 consoles both contain NES ports of games from their respective original systems.

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Types of Famicom clones

Because NES clones are not officially licensed, they vary extremely in areas such as build/hardware quality, available games and overall performance. Most clones are produced extremely cheaply, while a few are comparable to first-party hardware in their manufacture quality. In terms of appearance and basic build, there are four general types of clones:

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Console type

This type of system is designed to look just like a real video game console. Most often this type resembles the original Famicom, but others can look like the NES, SNES, Sega Mega Drive/Sega Genesis, Nintendo 64, Sony PlayStation/PSOne, or simply be in any type of generic console shape. Usually it is easy to tell a Famiclone from the real hardware it imitates by the presence of either alternate coloring, brand names which do not match the real console's, or weak construction. Console type clones almost always utilize cartridges, and they are usually compatible with real Famicom (60 pin) or NES (72 pin) games, as well as custom-made pirate carts (especially multi-carts, pirate game cartridges which hold a large number of games as opposed to just one, which are often included with console-type clones). Console Famiclones are most popular in Asia and parts of Europe, with few actively sold in North America due to stronger enforcement of the copyrights in the games typically packaged with a Famiclone and of the design patents in the imitated consoles.

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Handheld type

These types of systems are supposed to be handheld imitators so people can use real cartridges of old-fashioned video game systems on portable consoles. GameAxe was one of the early examples of handheld NES systems that take standard NES cartridges. The GameAxe was superseded by the Pocket Famicom due to its excessive bulk.

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Controller type

This type of hardware clone, popular in America and western Europe, is designed to hold all the console's hardware in the shape of a regular game console controller, usually the N64's. Also known as "NES-on-a-chip" due to their extremely miniaturized hardware (relative to the original NES), these controllers usually eschew or at least downplay a game cartridge interface in favor of storing games directly in internal memory chips. These Famiclones can often run off battery as well as AC power, making them popular for portable usage. These clones have become especially popular in the USA thanks to the new "TV-Games" fad of selling legitimately emulated classic arcade games in a traditional-looking controller (Atari games are especially common). Controller clones can usually be found in places like flea markets, mall kiosks or independent toy stores, and most people who sell and buy them in the US are unaware or don't care that they are in fact illegally made. In Brazil this type of console is commercialized with the name GunBoy.

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Computer type

These Famiclones are designed to resemble either 1980s-style computers, modern computer keyboards or the real Famicom's BASIC kit. Usually, these clones consist of the same hardware as the Console type, but put inside a keyboard instead of a console look-a-like. They are usually supplied with a cartridge containing some computer-style software, such as a simple word processor and a version of BASIC (two of the most common are G-BASIC, a pirated version of Family BASIC, and F-BASIC, an original but more limited version), and some "educational" typing and maths games. Some even include a computer mouse and a GUI interface.

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List of famiclone products

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External links

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