Clone Consoles

[The Laird]

So who else finds clone consoles pretty interesting?

I spent ages looking through a thread on another forum the other in wonder at the design of some of them and thought it would make a good thread for here too.

Please post your photos of your favourites and tell us why you like them!

I'll start off with the Dreamstation, which looks a bit like a Mega Drive II but has cartridges like an N64 and is in fact a Famiclone! Cool design though.

[outdated_gamer]

The Famicom I had as a kid most certainly was a clone system. These remained popular in parts of Asia, Africa and South America well after the 90s and had the wildest marketing slogans and designs on there boxes.

I also recall some Game & Watch clones, but I'm not sure if they actually used Nintendo's IPs (mostly not).

After the Wii hit the market, I remember there used to be quite some clone systems too and some stores started banning them.

Nowadays, I guess most clone systems are phones rather than consoles, but I recall seeing a PSP-like system that could have passed as a clone console.

[paranoid marvin]

I found it interesting many years ago when someone posted a load of Soviet-era clone Speccies. One was made of wood!

[The Laird]

I found it interesting many years ago when someone posted a load of Soviet-era clone Speccies. One was made of wood!

I couldn't find that but I did come across this horrendous thing!

[paranoid marvin]

I found it interesting many years ago when someone posted a load of Soviet-era clone Speccies. One was made of wood!

I couldn't find that but I did come across this horrendous thing!

Looks like it was made out of an answering machine!

[rocky1980]

The scorpion, that MD clone that was on bad influence. i wanted one so much

[Matt_B]

Here's an Apple 1 in a wooden case:



The computer only came as a bare board with it up to the user to supply components such as the power supply, keyboard and case. It being well before the days when small production runs of plastic components were a viable proposition, making them out of wood was one of your better options. I suspect it was much the case with a lot of the Russian Spectrums; people just crammed them into whatever was available resulting in a bewildering array of different looking machines.

Wooden PC cases are still a thing too apparently, although I'll stick with the metal variety myself.

[kiwimike]

I love some of the Chinese clones, NES made to look like mega drives etc

[Sephiroth81]

I'm not typically a fan and don't own any, but Analogues "Super Nt" of the SNES/SFC looks excellent (and should be for the price!)

The emulation on a lot of these devices seem questionable, but the Super Nt goes well beyond what would be normally expected of these devices, and is "higane" accurate. Nothing official, like the Virtual Console, comes close.

I do own a Nintendo DS Lite which i think is a "Clone"! But i think thats not the terminology used and unrelated to this thread....and more of a rip/knock off! Works perfectly though...on both GBA and DS slots.

[The Laird]

Well what about a Famiclone that looks like an Atari Jaguar but with a PS1 controller and a Saturn light gun?

[JamesC]

I wonder what the Zenon 1 looks like?

[The Laird]

I wonder what the Zenon 1 looks like?

No idea, but check out this bad boy!

[English Invader]

I have this famiclone which I found in a Cash Converters for £10:
http://ultimateconsoledatabase.com/famiclones/aroo.htm

It actually holds up quite well and runs most of the games I've thrown at it (especially the multi-carts from Aliexpress but original Famicom carts run as well). The system actually comes with a lightgun as well as the 84-in-1 cart but they haven't shown the lightgun in the picture. The system is of PAL designation and only has composite output.

The other clone I have is the GB Boy Colour (Chinese hardware clone of the GBC) which sells on Aliexpress for about £30. It's basically the same layout as the GBC but with cheaper plastic for the buttons/d-pad and a DS style backlit screen. The only real downside is that the aspect ratio is a bit off but it doesn't affect gameplay.

[JamesC]

I wonder what the Zenon 1 looks like?

No idea, but check out this bad boy!

Want!

[The Laird]

I thought the car one was pretty bizarre but check this one out!