When one reaches the top, everyone wants a piece of the glory. This transfers to video games as well as all acts of life. Let’s look at Nintendo. While they did not start the video game home 𓆉market, they did bring it back from the dead after the Atari collapse in the 80s.
The NES was like a phoenix and every console that has c꧒ome out since can be thankful for it and Nintendo in general. That said, there are, of course, less legitimate competitors out there wishing to earn a few bucks. Let’s take a look at some of the more bizarre copycat Nintendo consoles out there.🤪
10 Entertainment System
Instead of posting one of what is probably hundreds of NES rip-offs, let’s instead look at bootlegs of t𝓰he NES Classic. That t🥀hing took the Internet by storm and availability was scarce as all heck when it launched in 2016.
Leave it to the pirates to create clone systems in order to capitalize on the hype. Truthfully, this looks pretty good and 620 games does sound appet𓆉izing. However, the one thing that reveals its true nature is the name. For those curious, it’s under $30 on Amazon.
9 Pegasus
Okay that last bit was kind of a lie as it’s too hard not to discuss the Pegasus. It played NES games, but the system and controller made it look more like a SNES 🐻clone. It was distributed in markets like Serbia and Poland.
This was actually a trend in territories where Nintendo was either banned from selling consoles officially, or just never decided to go there the𝓀mselves. That’𓆉s really the story of most pirated consoles.
8 Game Child
The Game Child is, oꦫf course, a copy of the Game Boy. It looks close, but the body and screen are smaller. Plus it only has one button for action besides the D-Pad, and four buttons under the screen for options like power.
Based on research it seems like the exact identity of the manufacturer is unknown as is the r🐻elease date. As an interesting tidbit, Ashens and 🧜the Quest for the Game Child was an independent 2013 film that revolves around this clone.
7 Power Player Super Joy III
The Power Player Super Joy III, or simply just Power Player, is a plug and play console. Despite one of🎉 the ⛦looking like an N64 copy, it plays NES games.
It makes it painfully apparent most bootleggers aren’t great with hackin𒈔g together content outside of the NES’ specks, which is understandabl🤪e. No one said making consoles, or video games, was easy especially for pirates.
6 Family Pocket
This is like a Famicom, the Japanese NES, version of the Switch. The system it🌠self looks like the Famicom’s controller which is fitting given that it plays those games. However, it can also connect to a TV.
Not only that but players can plug in controllers to the system for said TV functionality or to play it on the go. It l𓂃aunched in 2019 and is also sells for around $30 on Amazon.
5 Neo Double Games
The Neo Double Games looks lik༺e the original DS design, which is to say, ugly. That DS Lite revision is what really made that system a hot seller.
An💞yway, most of the portable looks like said DS except for the four extra buttons 🔯on top. Like the Family Pocket, a revision of the Neo Double Games allowed for players to plug in controllers for multiplayer sessions on the go.
4 WiWi
Like the NES Classic, the popularity of the Wii, and the scarcity it created, made it attractive for b𒊎ootleggers. There are too many Wii clones to mention, but theWiWi is definitely among the funniest titles out there.
It also has some many questionable redesigns from the official Wii release. For example, their Wii Remote has so many buttons and the console itself uses cartridges. The other🐼 🍸controller looks like a PS1 and Sega Genesis controllers got together and had a baby.
3 GPD XD
The GPD XD launched in 2015 and was made by GamePad Digital, which is a Chinese company. It looks like a 3DS albeit with two thumb sticks at the top along with various other nꦓew button configurations.
It runs on an Android operating system meaning it can possibly run a variety of emulators. And no, not just NES games, which is෴ an amazing find. 🐟It will set buyers back by $230 according to Amazon though. At that point why bother?
2 Nanica Smitch
Whoever made this certainly didn’t spend๊ too long on the name. S✃mitch is close enough to Switch where it might fool some people. Even though it’s missing analog sticks, replaced by two D-Pads, the color scheme may even fool some at first.
However, except🐟 for the fact that there is an N in Nanica, that sounds or looks nothing like Nintendo. On the plus side it has a compelling amount of games, but the Joy-Con replacements use disposable batt🐭eries and there is no HDMI hookup.
1 SupaBoy
This article would be doing a disservice without mentioning the more “legit” bo𓆏otleg consoles out there. For example, Hyperkin put out the SupaBoy in 2011. There have revisions since, but essentially it is a portable Super Nintendo that runs🤡 SNES and Super Famicom cartridges.
It can be played on the go, or hooked up to a TV. They also make the RetroN series of consoles which have multiple cartridge slots for consoles like the NES, SNES, Sega Genesis, an𝄹d so on.