Nintendo Entertainment System hardware clone

In video game parlance, a famiclone (portmanteau of Famicom and clone) is a hardware clone of the Family Computer/Nintendo Entertainment System. They are designed to replicate the workings of, and play games designed for, the Famicom and NES. Hundreds of unauthorized clones have been made available since the height of the NES popularity in the late 1980s. The technology employed in such clones has evolved over the years: while the earliest clones feature a printed circuit board containing custom or third party integrated circuits (ICs), more recent (post-1996) clones utilize single-chip designs, with a custom ASIC which simulates the functionality of the original hardware and often includes one or more on-board games. Most devices originate in China and Taiwan, and less commonly South Korea. Outside China and Taiwan, they are mostly widespread across emerging markets of developing countries.

In some locales, such as former Eastern Bloc, former Soviet countries (especially Russia), South America, Middle East, several Asian countries and Africa such systems could occasionally be found side by side with official Nintendo hardware, but clones were cheaper and had wider availability of software so such clones were the easiest available console gaming systems. Elsewhere, these systems often prompted swift legal action. Many of these early systems were similar to the NES or Famicom not only in functionality, but also in appearance, often featuring little more than a new name and logo in place of Nintendo's branding. In contrast, in the former Yugoslavia NES clones often visually resembled the Mega Drive, complete with the Sega logo.