That’s a bit mean.. - For $1 you can follow me on Floatplane for a photo of every video game item I get, when I get it. www.floatplane.com/channel/ga...
I believe it's to do with copyright circumvention. Back when these came out it was pretty hard to prove a _patent_ infringement (If someone makes a compatible with different hardware, your patent doesn't stop it; At the time patents didn't extend to covering logic inputs and outputs) but _copyrighting_ your box art and text meant any 1:1 clones could be dragged straight into court for copyright infringement, and the damages sought would be equal to a reasonable assessment of the business lost from the counterfeits plus case costs. 💰 Using misspellings and intentionally poor resolution images would often be enough to throw _reasonable doubt_ over whether the fake box-art was a _poor quality copy_ (Infringing) or merely a different work _inspired_ by the official art (Not infringing) and it would be a lottery for Nintendo whether to pursue a case that they might lose along with a lot of money and potentially unhelpful case history against them. ⚖
@@DimT670 Prolly reffers to sh!tty nintentrash practices to make products different based on where they were sold. One can argue that exports were pretty garbage by comparison to domestic.
Proper hardware clones like this are way more interesting than the typical systems on a chip to me, with all the effort that went into reverse engineering and manufacturing the proprietary chips, I'd love talk with someone who helped make em.
I agree. Good clones are awesome. As a kid I played my whole life in a cloned Sega Genesis lol. I thought it was real. 90's clones are way better than today's clones. And also most model 1 Sega Genesis clones are capable of Sega CD and 32x
It def had to be someone who worked at the factory, maybe not. But who knows. I feel like all sorts of interesting documentaries could be made of these stories
I had two of the boxed controllers in this era and thought they were legit for at least a year or two before one day I noticed how the color of the Super Nintendo logo wasn't right compared to all of my other boxes and then I started to get suspicious and opened one of the boxes up and i was pissed.....that said, I do own one of the legit loose late release controllers
The official SNS-101 SNN-CPU-01 board has PAL/NTSC jumpers too (bottom side). Nintendo stopped using different motherboards for each region with the 1chip-01 in the older SNS-001. I’ve found a couple 1chips that were PAL-modded in Thailand and they cut the trace between one of the jumpers and soldered a crystal to one side to inject the right frequency (Nintendo would’ve populated the board with a different crystal) and they bridged another jumper. They also replaced the RF modulator with one of their own.
No, but a lot of collectors collect for the sake of collecting, or to try to make a profit later, they have no intention of even playing the games. I mean I remember they started GRADING games and putting them in SEALED CASES that mean NOBODY CAN PLAY THEM unless they break the case.@@maskettaman1488
One defect in your theory is that these things were made back when the original ones were in the shops - which is honestly pretty obvious just looking at the construction. There wasn't any "collectors market" back then. My guess is that someone found a stack of them in the back of a warehouse in Taiwan or HK where they had been sitting for years and just decided to sell them.
This was almost certainly made in Taiwan. Before they joined the WTO in 2002 Taiwan actually wasn't that integrated into the world economy (it even used to be kind of a pain in the ass to fly there), which meant (among other things) that industrial level piracy was more or less legal until around 2002-2003 (Anyone who was into anime then will probably remember the Taiwanese bootleg OSTs that every other comic book store seemed to sell). So a Taiwanese company could hire engineers to decap and reverse engineer all the SNES chips and Nintendo really couldn't do much to stop them.
Yeah, I was never really into Anime, but I can certainly remember those Son May discs because they were everywhere. Assuming those chips are the same as the ones used in most of the full-size SNES hardware clones (which they probably are, since the numbers match) they were fabbed by UMC - but never branded as such because they were still covered by some of Nintendo's patents and the optics of a company that was majority owned by the Taiwanese government making bootleg parts was pretty bad. Something similar happened earlier with Micro Genius/XTC/小天才 and the Famiclones - the company was formed by a bunch of ex UMC engineers and the chips were "officially" designed by them after they left UMC, although the timescales involved make that rather questionable. @@irtbmtind89
If you are talking about that "2503" on the PCB, I seriously doubt that's a date code - the whole board is full of through-hole components, and by the early 2000's the low cost manufacturers had turned pretty much entirely to SMT. Also, these cloned new style SNES were definitely in HK in the late '90s and being sold for less than half the price of the original Nintendo ones. @@eDoc2020
@@TrimeshSZ It's the exact same font as used on date codes and James said these started popping up online around 2005. 2003 seems reasonable for year of manufacture. They probably started production in the 1990s and then kept making them.
We had a gentleman try and sell one of these at my store a while back. He insisted it was "worth several hundred at least". I told him it was fake. worth at most maybe around $20, and that I wasn't interested in paying anything for it. He got quite irate. I can't 100% confirm since I don't remember, but I'm pretty certain the one put in front of me had the same serial number too. His had a different RF switch with it too, so maybe these were cobbled together out of whatever oldstock they had lying around. Don't know if it was the same inside since we didn't crack it open, of course. Something that might particularly interest you is the box his came in had almost the exact same kind and level of damage: it's like the counterfeiters realized these things would never pass in front of the kind of collector who will pay for mint-condition oldstock, but also recognized that no collector would fall for a mint-condition item being sold at the cost these were selling for.
Based on the pieces show in the video, it wouldn't really surprise me if they were just gathering any old cables they could find and just slapping stickers over them. Pretty smart on their part if they intentionally gave the product wear and tear to fool the average buyer.
Honestly, they probably did at least some of the "errors" intentionally to easily weed out the people who would actually check for those kinds of things. It's like the Nigerian Prince scammers having typos and being generally unbelievable, it's so that only the people who could easily be fooled wouldn't immediately discard them. Kinda sad when you think about it.
@@Myriadyssome of it, yeah. Reproducing active Nintendo copyrights is also hugely financially risky. If they Nimtundo them, it's got at least some defense. Seems like it might not really hold up in court to me, but that doesn't stop em from doing it.
@G1sandG1rlsGaming @@Myriadys Yeah. Sad to say, the entire retro game industry is kind of a massive scam. There is basically no money in making legitimate retro gaming hardware, so they have to try and make these fake bootlegs to scam people into thinking they're somehow rare and valuable. I mean hell, for not much you could get a Retron console, which is a reproduction NES with crisp 1080p HDMI out made of brand-new parts which will last the rest of your life, and an Everdrive Cartridge, which is an NES cartridge with flash memory that can hold every NES game ever made. Or just download roms and play them on an emulator for free which, with nothing more than an HDMI cable to connect to TV and a USB NES controller, will be practically indistinguishable from playing on a real console.
@@blarghblargh Bootlegs like this are usually made in places like China or Russia, where it's very difficult if not impossible to actually enforce your copyright, that's why these bootlegs have existed for years and nothings really been done about it.
@@ToTheGAMES Other than the whole "trying to fool people" aspect (which admittedly is a huge part of their MO) I think companies like this are doing a great service. Legit consoles are becoming so expensive with all the bullshit going on these days with the collector's market, so decent alternatives for the average Joe who just wants a console they can hook up to a CRT and get something close to the original experience is welcomed imo. If these things are compatible with flash carts or SD-card mods, that's fantastic.
As a Yu-Gi-Oh player, a hypothetical: Pros of counterfeit staples: Drives the price of the genuine articles down if they flood the market Cons of counterfeit staples: I have to jump through hoops to make sure I don't accidentally buy a counterfeit
@@GuyDude-hk8uy I've honestly resigned myself to acknowledging that corporations are not consumer based and will go out of their way to prevent us from having the things we want so they can sell a rental license to us later. I've started buying so many custom cartridges and discs so that I can guarantee I can play them whenever I want. Games were meant to be played, not hoarded.
Give me an OG controller and I'd happily use this little pirate box; would sit right at home between my N64 with a smashed top shell and my NES. Right now the only SNES component I have is the power adapter... for some reason.
@@thewhitefalcon8539 Because I've already got those on my phone and PC. I like having something to play my cartridges though, and if it looks and works like an original SNES, well, I'm in.
@@thewhitefalcon8539emulators are legal. I don't understand why someone would try to disguise the word. FPGAs are also emulation. It just is hardware emulation instead of software emulation.
@@thewhitefalcon8539 Can you not say that word? Is that why my comment got disappeared? I have all the games on my PC, and phone actually... but it's nice having a way to use original carts. This thing is technically an FPGA anyway, it just looks like a real SNES.
These boxed fakes existed in the year 2000, possibly earlier. 2000 is when I first saw them on auction sites. That’s also when I took a risk and ordered a 30 dollar SNES from Overstock. It took months and I was sure the listing was in error but it did eventually show up. I was expecting a fake but ended up with a brand new genuine Yoshi’s Island SNS-101 set. I tried to order more but they canceled and removed the listing. The Yoshi set was supposed to be a Walmart exclusive but I guess they somehow got the unsold stock. There weren’t many collecting such things back then but I kept it new in the box until I got hit by a tornado a few years ago and had to say goodbye to most of my collection. :(
oof, that sucks. My friend dug up his old mint-boxed copy super gameboy, and that thing is worth like 500 bucks, CIB consoles that were exclusives/bundles tend to go for alot, this was a pack-in from a SNES bundle apparently which is why it was so rare.
Was going to comment "That's awesome" and then I got to the end. That sucks. My stepdad threw away my 2x NES, Genesis, PlayStation, accessories and all my games when I moved out at 18. Glad I took my PS2 with me though I later gave it to a friend for his PlayStation collection in 2015. I look back and I would love to have my old collection. Oh well, at least there's emulation.
I didn’t know those were an issue on clone consoles, I know mario rpg usually won’t run on anything dubious and I actually bought that years ago for testing a CIC chip workaround I made but my cart doesn’t care and runs with no CIC communication for some reason
@@Games_for_James Yeah, since only a handful of games ever used it, they tend not to solder them in. You can do it yourself, it's literally not bridged to the motherboard, that's all!!! Most of the Mega Drive knock-offs won't play Virtua Racing or Gargoyles.
At least it's easy to tell the fake apart from the writing on the box. This thing actually impresses me, it's rare to see 1:1 hardware clones like that Famiclones are obviously everywhere, in every form factor you can imagine. I imagine this thing wasn't cheap or easy to make, or we would probably be seeing a lot more SNES clones alongside them.
Watching this I was guessing it was likely originally made for the Brazilian import grey market. For those that don't know, Brazil has some unusual import laws which made Hong Kong clones of Japanese and US consoles a significant enough market to end up with a lot of clone consoles making it there. Maybe these were originally intended to pass the sniff test in Brazil, where the SNES held on a lot longer once the N64 had come out, then once the US collectors market got big enough someone realized there was more money to be made hocking them on Ebay to folks in the US. Also I just learned Brazil is one (the only?) country that used the same mains plug with both 127v mains and 220v mains in some places. Banonkers, but thankfully switchmode power supplies make that far less of a concern, and it's typical these days to put a red sticker over 220v plugs so you stand less chance of blowin up your stuff.
@@carpespasm It could be for the brazilian market, yes. Despite the Megadrive outsolding it here, I believe it because the Megadrive and Master System were manufactured for DECADES helped a lot in these numbers. Back in the 90s things were a lot closer between the snes and MD. Back then I didn't know a single person who had the MD but knew relatives and friends from school who had the SNES. Even some whose their first console was the Master System. Brazil is actually larger than the USA if you take Alaska out, truly continental in size, like 100 years ago when electricity became mainstream third world countries begun buying their electric transformers and generators from first world countries, this includes Brazil. Some regions regions here found benefits and cheaper prices going with the american system (110V) others chose the european standard (220V). Our old wall socket standard accepted both flat pin american plugs, and european plugs with round pins (extremely convenient and the best design IMO). Some high power stuff like dryers and Air conditioners even used the australian plugs for some reason. Lol Around 2005 they created a brand new standard that like... Only Brazil uses, it can accept 2 pin european plugs though it's lost all compatibility with the american standard. Even before switch mode power supplies, most electronics would had a mechanical switch for selecting the voltage. My SNES has a switch, my N64, GC and up all use switch mode power supplies. All my nintendo consoles were manufactured here.
I once got scammed like this but on a DS lite. it was marketed as New, but it was a fake box and fake chassis, but it did have the original motherboard at least Ive never seen a home console scam pull that stunt before, and they used a clone console motherboard too!
There was a massive influx of those ds some years back. The case for the ds both og and lite broke super easy espe the hinges so the refurb market was huge
I remember reading a blog post about this one quite a while back, and it was quite intriguing considering how most clones tend to at least somewhat deviate from the original than make a 1:1 counterfeit down to the packaging.
Bootleg consoles were super common in South America, I had a famiclone and then a bootleg Mega Drive, bought in '95 at the same shop where they sold originals. The box was poorly designed, probably not close to real hardware but it was a bit cheaper and it allowed me to play games from every region. It was somewhat more reliable than my neighbor's original early 90s MD. I never had the chance to try Virtual Racing or Gargoyles though, but my S3&K worked like a charm every time. Comparing it side by side with an original MD you could see it was really close (same Z80 & 68000 chips) but not as tidy, including the functioning CD expansion slot and a small 6 button joystick (mimicking the japanese one). Owning an original MD years later convinced me that I wasn't missing a thing with a bootleg, the main experience was there. In a market where consoles were not officially released the options to get one were usually from people who traveled abroad, so being a PAL/NTSC capable console meant a lot more fun than sticking to just the overpriced toy store games (usually region locked to the console they were offering). The PAL/NTSC divided latin america in a way that these bootlegs flourished, suddenly you could get cheaper games from other countries. I remember playing tons of games, at least a 100, while some friends with original NES had to play always the same bunch of games, so I believe in the end these bootlegs helped a lot to popularize gaming in the region.
My dad bought me a boxed version of the same console in about 2014 for Christmas, so I had a bit of a anxious time watching this video, there would have been absolutely no way he would have been able to tell it was a fake. I definitely did my box and console a once-over just to make sure I had the real thing. Thankfully I do. My heart was ready to drop at just the thought that I would have to tell my dad he got scammed ten years ago and never knew. Thanks for the informative video so I knew I had a legitimate console.
The second system is called the SNES jr. It was a revision that got rid of the RGB as the system didn't sell well in Europe so they dropped support for it. A common thing is to buy a jr and get the RGB mod. It gives you the most stable hardware and sound along with a more stable RGB color palate. I have one of them modded. The only version people want more than a jr is the SNES 1 chip. The RF sheilding isn't required for FCC compliance. Compliance requires the device accepts interference, not that it blocks from interference.
FCC rules most definitely require that the device doesn't cause any radio interference. If the raw board puts out too much RF then shielding is needed to attenuate it.
I actually was among those who purchase counterfeit SNES and dogbone NES controllers around that same time. I still kept them though, because I figured someday it might be a neat conversation piece. Great video!
I dont think anyone is making those anymore, i can only find famiclones and emulation boxes, that thing is probably rarer than the real one. Kinda of a shame, since this looks like a pretty high quality clone and could have been a more affordable alternative to real thing, if disclosed properly.
I remember these, because they sold the boxed fake controllers too and I bought one. I was 17, I'd just bought my friend's old SNES off of them, and it had an original controller with a busted L button post, so when I saw a boxed new SNES controller I jumped at the chance. I never thought a counterfeiter would go out of their way to print up fake boxes and everything. I remember the buttons feeling insanely stiff, and the decal around the ABXY was discolored- not quite like the one that came in your system is, it was almost a marbled beige. I specifically remember it using the wrong screws too, because I was able to take it apart and re-spray the shell black. Fun to see these again!
Man, they did so good on this that they could've sold it as a repro instead of trying to pass it off as an original and I think people would've bought them still. Not that Nintendo was gonna not go after them anyways.
SNES and Super Famicom clones are popular in Asian and Latin American countries in the 1990's and 2000's..They look like the real one but priced at $60 to $40
Imagine going through all the trouble to manufacture that box and not get the text right... even if you can't read English, just get the letters in order. Crazy.
As a man living most of his life in the Eastern Europe I can tell you that this type o console are just bootleg consoles of Nintendo consoles of the time that weren't available back in the 90s, because they were extremely expensive for people that just went from spending the first 8 hours of the day sitting in line for a bloody cabbage, the original consoles were also extremely scarce, so this bootlegs were extremely popular in the ex soviet union states and other 3rd world countries (I assume) as none got the money for the originals and so, bootleg were the only viable option.
I really enjoyed this video! I love learning about things like this. How these older consoles were made and the comparison between the real and fake is very interesting to me. I subscribed to the channel and hope to see more like this in the future.
I buy some of those years ago, those cost me like $20 USD at the time (in a flea market in my country), but the one i buy where bettter than yours IIRC, I don't remember all the details, but, the only piece looking odd was the a/v cable, everything look and feel legit at first, i remember because i compare with original products. Fakes exist for years (like famiclones), but this console was well made for the time, but again, i remember the ones i own looking better, at least the A/C adaptor and joysticks.
If someone had enough time to sink, they could probably pin point exactly where these fake consoles came from. Also, this one you have is a revision. So someone made multiple versions of this product, fixing some issues. There's another one online, with the same box, serials etc, a small dot on the power button... but the serial number of the board is KF388, not "-A" and that one has a larger aluminium heatsink. The cluster of chips (trio) is also flipped on the left side. Single on bottom, double on top.
I still have one of these that I had bought on eBay back when they were on the site. I knew right away that it was fake but I kept it and it's still in really good shape. I've always wondered if it worked or had any real value. Thanks for all the mechanical insight!
You need an RGB cable in order to get color from PAL, most likely. I'm from Europe and I need an RGB cable in order to get color from NTSC. By using a regular composite cable on an NTSC console connected to a PAL TVs you also get a black and white picture.
I'm glad I got mine from an old family friend. I've had it since I was in middle school, and didn't realize the rarity of them until I got older. I had the original model and I either sold it or gave it to someone, and I'm super glad I held on to my "junior" model. I kinda like it over the original anyways. (not to say the original model wasn't cool, but I liked the uniqueness for the Jr models.) I was not aware how rampant the clones of this particular version was though.
Hey I know this is your channel and it's separate from all Wade's stuff, but I wanted to thank you for making all wades mechanical and technical stuff possible. I'm another one of the do-it-all type of people and sometimes it gets to be a lot, making stuff work for people. Especially when it's a Mercedes. A bad Mercedes. Thank you James, appreciate you.
This video reassured me I have a genuine console. I don't have the box anymore for reasons (I was a dumb kid, nowadays I'm just dumb) but I do remember it had the cutout and having opened it before I saw the shielding and wide lad of a heatsink 😌
I've been wanting one of these for quite some time, but they're not that easy to find nowadays. You can sometimes find one sold as a real SNES Junior, but there's no way I'm paying $150 for a fake SNES.
found your channel today, and now im trying to fix an old atari 2600! i think the voltage regulator is fried, but i dont have a multimeter. love your videos!
Actually impressed at some of the detail (minus the spell-checking) to counterfit this. Hell real games these days don't even give you manuals and books now
I find it amazing that they can sell enough of these fake ones to actually make a profit after all the work that goes into making a clone, and then the cost of each individual clone
So I assume the three GF-6976 chips are FPGAs. Audio may be crackly because the FPGA used to replicate the audio chip might not have the hardware filter that the real SPC700 has and/or the output volume may be too high for the bit width of the DAC.
You could try soldering in the missing components for PAL mode. Apart from a few diodes, resistors and 1-2 transistors, it can't be much. Then you would have a wonderful console with which you can play everything and which also looks like the original.
I'll say this: Whilst there's a market for old consoles and people willing to pay unreasonable amounts of money for them, there will *always* be counterfeits being made to scam the less astute collector. And now that some services are „Slabbing“ retro games and other things from the era, don't be at all surprised to see counterfeit „slabs“ too... ⚠
The color thing could be related to the system being switchable from regular NTSC to NTSC with PAL color space, which is used in Brazil and other countries.
