6 unique game consoles released only in China

Chinese consoles are such a fascinating topic to talk about. From Nintendo allowing other companies to rebrand and distribute its hardware to a rich history of bootlegs, it’s cool to see how the country’s manufacturers have responded to the booming video game industry. Famiclones were trendy for a while, with the Subor company even casting Jackie Chan for the role of spokesperson. They were in fact clones of the Nintendo Famicom, released in the West under the name Nintendo Entertainment System (NES).

Since the official device was too expensive, the clones released a few years later dominated the Chinese market thanks to significantly lower prices – otherwise the system would be combined with a computer. Chinese handheld systems have become widespread in recent years, particularly with the rise of interest in retro-emulation. Ayn, Retroid, Anbernic, MagicX, etc. are providing solid handhelds aimed at emulation, with the Ayn Thor becoming the new hardware darling. However, the systems we’re going to talk about today aren’t something that could be found too far from China when they were released.

In 2002, Wei Yen, a Taiwanese-American engineer, teamed up with Nintendo to create iQue. This would be the second time the two would work together, as Yen had previously been a senior vice president at Silicon Graphics while that company was involved with Project Reality, which became the Nintendo 64. It’s now a localization company, but in the 2000s it was Nintendo’s way of distributing hardware in mainland China. The console ban was only two years old, but there was a small loophole: handheld consoles were not subject to the ban.

In 2003, iQue released iQue Player, a plug-and-play controller that essentially contained a Nintendo 64. The brand would go on to release several Game Boy equivalents (more on those next), but suffice to say things were a little weird with these releases, with the iQue Player often attracting the most attention thanks to its exclusivity.

There was only “Dr. Mario 64” included in the system, with timed trials for “Ocarina of Time”, “Star Fox 64”, “Super Mario 64” and “Wave Race 64”. A total of 14 titles were released on iQue Player until 2006, which were distributed by taking it to a kiosk and transferring the game to the memory card. The last two games released were “Animal Crossing” and “Custom Robo”. The “Zelda” spin-off, “Majora’s Mask”, was announced for the system, but was never released.

In 2004 and 2005, iQue released all three versions of the Game Boy Advance, including the Micro. The iQue DS and iQue DS Lite arrived in 2005 and 2006, followed by the iQue DSi in 2009 and the iQue 3DS XL in 2012. The systems themselves were not exclusive to China – some were also sold through Taiwan’s ETMall channels for a short time – but we still include them in this list since the vast majority of sales were in mainland China and the two countries have deeply intertwined trade histories. And ultimately, it’s the way they were distributed in China that makes them unique.

Only eight games were released for the GBA, with previously unreleased translations being released on the Chinese market site, TaoBao, at an asking price of $4,500 for the bundle. According to a report, iQue gave up publishing further titles because piracy was rampant on the systems thanks to flash carts.

The DS saw even less software, with only five games released. Meanwhile, Nintendogs arrived with the DSi. What made the DS a convenient system was that importing games was quite simple thanks to the lack of region locking. Although iQue DS systems were region-free, the games were not, so they are not playable outside of the iQue ecosystem.

Then things got worse with the 3DS. Not only is there a region lock on the console, but it can also only play titles released in the region. No eShop access, but “Mario Kart 7” and “Super Mario 3D Land” were pre-installed on each device. Other titles included “Mario Tennis Open”, “Nintendogs + Cats” and “Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon”, as well as “Pokémon Sun”, “Moon”, “Ultra Sun” and “Ultra Moon”.

A bizarre Famicom clone, the Xiaobawang SB-926 essentially housed two entire machines in one keyboard, including a fully functional Famicom clone. The PC side supported BASIC and several programs, like calculators and rudimentary games. These were supplied on a cartridge, with several versions available. The one presented by YouTuber Inkbox was version four of the software package. When it came time to play Famicom games, the same cartridge port was used and an included controller plugged into the side.

The Xiaobawang SB-926 educational computer was developed by Subor (the English name of Xiaobawang) and was the first way many Chinese young people used to play Nintendo console games. It was so successful that Jackie Chan became a spokesperson for the company – but Subor fell on hard times when the console ban came into effect. It persevered and continues to be in business, despite reports confusing another virtual reality entity with a similar name.

SB-926 would be the last system led by Subor Director Duan Yongping. Under his leadership, Subor’s line of Famiclones and personal computers became extremely popular, with the SB-926 released in 1995 and its first, the D25, released in 1989. Duan Yongping would go on to found a small company called BBK Electronics, which was behind Oppo, OnePlus, Realme, Vivo and many other brands among a wide range of electronic devices.

As China lifted the ban on consoles, a handful of Android or PC set-top boxes were announced. Some of these, like Subor’s Z+ system, were never officially released, but the ZTE FunBox had a short lifespan before also disappearing into the ether. A joint venture between ZTE and The9, it was an Android-based box with 2GB of RAM, micro USB, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth.

Information on the success of the console is slim to none. Once released in China, there is usually very little information on how it was received. That said, perhaps that’s a bigger indicator than a news article saying it failed horribly. When the console ban was lifted, there was a rush to corner the market, and it’s very likely that ZTE simply didn’t survive the scramble as expected.

It looks like EA and Take-Two have upcoming plans for the ZTE FunBox, but again, not much information is available about them after the box is released. If it ran Android and launched around 2014, it would likely coincide with the general increase in support for Android phones from EA and Take-Two.

At the height of the Nintendo Wii craze in 2007, China was heavily under bans on the consoles. To get around the console ban, hardware was positioned with alternative features so that it wasn’t just a gaming machine. Part of this was the Sports Vii, released in 2007, much to the bewilderment of various websites of the time. Woozad’s former Chinese division took care of this, reviewing different games and hardware.

This was very clearly a very low power device. All of the games that came with the Vii were mostly rip-offs of “Wii Sports” or “Wii Play”, with tennis, golf and table tennis highlighted as part of its selection. However, the Vii was only capable of 16-bit games, equivalent to the Sega Mega Drive or Super Nintendo over a decade earlier. Apparently blue and pink color combinations were also available.

This was apparently successful enough for a second revision of the hardware, ditching the Wii look. Instead, the second iteration opted for a horizontal approach, with a less Wii-like remote control. Inevitably, the second console was rebranded and pushed to other regions, notably Japan.