Famiclones: Does anyone actively collect these?

[Technosis]

Today I came across this weird Famiclone variant at a rummage sale. I'm wondering if the Famiclone system is like the second coming of the TV pong units? LOL I mean there are SO many variants, and shoddy manufacturer's (i.e. the one I have has a PAL sticker on the botton and only outputs in Black and White...and the 88 games seem to be weird derivatives of NES games like Millipede, Xevious, or Super Mario Bros.).

Does anyone here collect these Famiclone units ? Are the games on them typically games that never received a commercial release, or are they direct clones of some other system's cartridges?

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h128/technosis77/IMG_2334-1.jpg

[Steve W]

I don't actively collect them, but I tend to passively collect 'em. I won't go out of my way to seek one out, but if I come across one cheap at a thrift store or flea market, I can't resist it.

I believe that most of the games that are on these things use an early mapper chip on their original cartridges, and that's what the Famiclone is emulating, hence the games on offer being fairly primitive for Famicom games. You'll see Super Mario Bros. and Contra over and over, but not any of the later games. It astounds me that these Chinese engineers can reduce the Famicom down to a tiny little all-in-one chip, but they can't design some kind of 'super mapper' that would be downwardly compatible will all mapper designs. Then you could have some really good game selections in those things.

By the way, nice find with that Famiclone of yours! I love the crazy design of it. A mutilated Dreamcast gamepad with a handgun and steering wheel grafted onto it. Brilliant! Wish they spent as much time designing reliable hardware as they did with the shape of the unit.

[bangtango]

All I've got is the US Yobo (red/white) and the Generation NEX, both of which play actual NES cartridges, while the NEX even plays Famicon titles.

[Speedy_NES]

I used to collect them more actively before the Power Joy/Gun/etc clones started appearing....since then I only pick them up occasionally either if they're cheap or if they are somewhat unique (like educational ones with a keyboard etc). I've got a total of about 30-35 Famiclones, at least 25 are complete in box. I've been contemplating getting rid of them, though, as they do take up a lot of space.

[Sweater Fish Deluxe]

I've been into Famiclones for along time. I wouldn't say I collect them, but I like to pick up unique or cool looking ones when I see them. I guess I'm not doing that as much as I was a few years ago, but I'd still really like to pick up one of the early early mega joys that entirely built into a SNES controller rather than the later ones that were built into bulkier designs like the N64 or Dreamcast controller. I've got one in a Dreamcast controller design that I like a lot, though; it has a cartridge port and a nice design and actually contains every single mapper 0, so it's the one I use the most (though actually, these days I mostly just use nesDS on my DS flash cart).

As for the games, like Steve said, they're mostly mapper 0 games, many of which weren't released on the NES, whic might be why you don't recognize them. Though there are also a lot of Famiclones these days that have original newly written games on them (mostly ones manufactured by a company called JungleTac, though they're actually marketed by other companies usually). I've even got one with all the Color Dreams games built into it (and I've seen one with all the Wisdom Tree games on it, I really wish I'd bought it).

They can put more complicated games on these. Take a look at the game selections on the OneStation (which is a really cool Famiclone that's a handheld and actually has the Famiclone actually built into the cartridges themselves not the system, so it can also play other systems like the Genesis). They have a lot of later games and games that used different mappers mixed together, so they must have more advanced mappers that are able to do the job of more than one older mapper. The same is seen on a lot of regular pirate Famicom cartridges, too.


...word is bondage...

[MarioMania]

If it dosen't play Akumajou Densetsu right..I won't buy it

[DefaultGen]

.....

[Technosis]

Well this one was a whole $1, so no biggie LOL

[alxbly]

I've got a few that have a kinda similar style. The version I have is loosely based on the N64 controller design and doesn't have the steering wheel:

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y70/alxbly/More/guides/th_GunboyDoubleSuperJoy.jpg (http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y70/alxbly/More/guides/GunboyDoubleSuperJoy.jpg)

The quality is terrible (which I kinda expected) but slightly better than other famiclone I own: the Megajoy III. That thing stops working as soon as you look at it.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y70/alxbly/More/guides/th_SuperJoyIII.jpg (http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y70/alxbly/More/guides/SuperJoyIII.jpg)