Famiclone

In <a href="/facts/Video_game_parlance/KvCvXrMA">video game parlance</a>, a famiclone is a <a href="/facts/Clone_console/gCMDXVeR">hardware clone</a> of the <a href="/facts/Nintendo_Entertainment_System/YD59GCQQ">Family Computer/Nintendo Entertainment System</a>. They are designed to replicate the workings of, and play games designed for, the Famicom and NES. Hundreds of unauthorized clones and <a href="/facts/Multicart/nV4rp20b">unlicensed game copies</a> 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 feature a <a href="/facts/Printed_circuit_board/muSR2p43">printed circuit board</a> containing custom or third party <a href="/facts/Integrated_circuit/fjn6vg7C">integrated circuits</a> (ICs), more recent (post-1996) clones utilize single-chip designs, with a custom <a href="/facts/Application-specific_integrated_circuit/YGUXpX50">ASIC</a> which simulates the functionality of the original hardware, and often includes one or more on-board games. Most devices originate in <a href="/facts/China/lTjIXY5p">China</a> and <a href="/facts/Taiwan/VcJoUD8w">Taiwan</a>, and less commonly <a href="/facts/South_Korea/pCobAaVw">South Korea</a>. Outside China and Taiwan, they are mostly widespread across <a href="/facts/Emerging_market/DAdHmQnE">emerging markets</a> of <a href="/facts/Developing_countries/eTfS4kxl">developing countries</a>.
In some locales, such as former <a href="/facts/Eastern_Bloc/12f32hA7">Eastern Bloc</a>, former <a href="/facts/Post-Soviet_states/usrFwWTU">Soviet countries</a> (especially <a href="/facts/Russia/jfkCwyxn">Russia</a>), <a href="/facts/South_America/PhrFEMk7">South America</a>, <a href="/facts/Middle_East/8CD6pLWv">Middle East</a>, several <a href="/facts/Asia/4IToYrrQ">Asian countries</a> and <a href="/facts/Africa/XkqQUP9s">Africa</a> such systems could occasionally be found side by side with official Nintendo hardware, but clones were cheaper and had wider availability of software so such clones were the easiest available console gaming systems. Elsewhere, these systems often prompted 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. In contrast, in the <a href="/facts/Former_Yugoslavia/PXRlHx9q">former Yugoslavia</a> NES clones often visually resembled the <a href="/facts/Mega_Drive/7GuPYDhM">Mega Drive</a>, complete with the Sega logo.
Few of these systems were openly marketed as "NES compatible". Some of the packaging features screenshots from more recent and more powerful systems, which are adorned with misleading, or even outright false, quotes such as "ultimate videogame technlology" [<a href="/facts/Sic/qB9MUUWF">sic</a>] or "crystal clear digital sound, multiple colors and advanced 3D graphics". Some manufacturers opt for a less misleading approach, describing the system generically as a "TV game", "<a href="/facts/8-bit/2CkhLNoH">8-bit</a> console", "multi-game system", or "<a href="/facts/Handheld_TV_game/bPxXP8p2">Plug & Play</a>", but even these examples generally say nothing to suggest any compatibility with NES hardware. They would often be distributed along <a href="/facts/Multicart/nV4rp20b">pirate multicarts</a>.

Famiclone open-in-new

Famiclone