Unknown Taiwanese Famiclones

[hallyvorc]

Hi,

Now I'm writing a little Japanese book like this: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EHZqhNJUwAEbM1J?format=png&name=900x900

Taiwanese patent database has a lot of interesting information revealing unknown historical facts regarding to Famiclones, and for my book I've found various Famiclone designs which were seemingly never seen before. Could someone please identify some of them?

EFA Corporation (I guess it may not be a famiclone because it's totally unusual as of 1987)
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EHHcQyGWoAEg3D_?format=png&name=medium

SuperTone Electronics (1987, may not be a famiclone)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Jxa0EBqc67BqzcNjCHnD_Y-9Y-lIp_tJ/view?usp=sharing

Dar Yar Electronics  (1988)
https://twitter.com/hallyvorc/status/1185458858090647553

Chen Fengyì (individual, 1990)
https://twitter.com/hallyvorc/status/1185607428613656576

佳寶電子工業 (1990)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Hx4eLp9khAPNrGMElgcscYr3vss1NHyr/view?usp=sharing

Thank you,

[MLX]

I have never seen any of these consoles.

https://twitter.com/hallyvorc/status/1185607428613656576 -> They seem to be empty molds (no connectors, no PCBs). Likely test designs that never made it to the market or just fancy design by an individual as you suggested.
The second one seems fairly unrealistic. Probably just an artistic design. As you can see it seems to be designed as a portable console like the IQ-901. But it's not really hand-compatible at all. Also such cartridge insertion system wouldn't work at all due to the very different size of Famiclone cartridges. For example, "TV Game Cartridge" large shells don't even fit in the NES due to their thickness with a classic 72-60 pins adapter. I think the second one is rather an Atari 2600 clone (due to the cartridge shape).
Also on the second one, it seems there's no mechanism to actually close the cartridge insertion part. For me it feels just like a mockup and it was never intended to be marketed or sold.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Jxa0EBqc67BqzcNjCHnD_Y-9Y-lIp_tJ/view?usp=sharing -> Shape is a mix of Atari 2600 clones, Space Shuttle (MSX) clone and Bit Creator 70. I would say it was likely released. Maybe it was not seen yet because it was not sighted. Supertone was an established business that manufactured PC Motherboards among other things.

https://twitter.com/hallyvorc/status/1185458858090647553 > Doesn't remind me of anything.

佳寶電子工業 (1990) > never seen, probably it never went past the registered trademark as it seems to be portable with a screen, way too expensive and idealistic for a 1990 product.

As to clones, the first ones are from 1987 definitely. Some IQ-201 have chips from week 4x of 1987. There's advertisements from August 1987 of IQ-201 and IQ-180 (never seen any) that are known to exists. So it's not unrealistic they all planned their Famiclone by mid-late 1987.
But EFA Corp clone is definitely not made for Famicom, cartridge shape doesn't match.

[hallyvorc]

Thanks for your information.

For me it feels just like a mockup and it was never intended to be marketed or sold.

I have the same feeling too.

佳寶電子工業 (1990) > never seen, probably it never went past the registered trademark as it seems to be portable with a screen, way too expensive and idealistic for a 1990 product.

Another patent tells me that was a NES-Famicom dual slot system. Maybe one of the first of this kind?

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Vk0eHcc20o6ooVF29iAfA-44qOQaxmW8
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Y5W8erzesQ4MSZ72bFb-DSHYL1dWNIpa/view?usp=sharing

As to clones, the first ones are from 1987 definitely. Some IQ-201 have chips from week 4x of 1987. There's advertisements from August 1987 of IQ-201 and IQ-180 (never seen any) that are known to exists. So it's not unrealistic they all planned their Famiclone by mid-late 1987.

There was also a Taiwanese design patent related to IQ-201 that was applied on June 12th 1987 by Tai Shing Electronics (later the right was moved to TXC in 1990). Even before that, Bit Corporation applied their BIT70's design patent on March 4th 1987. Bit Corp and Tai Shing have teamed up at that time. They applied PPU clone patent on April 23rd at the same year. Everything indicates the first Famicom clones were ready in this period.

But EFA Corp clone is definitely not made for Famicom, cartridge shape doesn't match.

Later I found various evidence which relate the design to Sega. My bold hypothesis is... it may be an early design idea of their Mega Drive, of the time which was called "Mark V".

Thanks,

[hallyvorc]

Another unknown target in sight...

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1q4zX4wRrgE6BejyauTF6uOnL82-21nCj

Designed by 上久電子有限公司 in 1989.
This was the only patent registered by the company, and I couldn't find any video game related product by them.