Pirate Gameboy Clones: A review of classic hardware from inside China

[Trenton_net]

In martial arts, it is considered an extreme acme of skill for a student to emulate the forms of their masters perfectly. By this philosophy, it is thought that copies are no worse than originals, provided that you master what it is you intend to copy.

Now in China, we all know everyone copies. In fact it’s treated almost like a national duty! This is especially true when what you copy allows expensive foreign goods to be cheap and affordable for the people. Essentially, China is one copying machine. Take a great idea, learn how it works, and copy it!

And thus Gameboy clone(s) were born!

Today we will be looking at several: The Subor Gameboy, GB Boy, Mini Boy, and Game Pocket.















As you can see, they all come in various packaging and styles. The Subor Gameboy has identical packaging front and back so I didn’t bother with the reverse side. Now let’s take a look at the actual hardware once removed from the box:









As we can see, all these systems are based on the Gameboy Pocket. The Subor and GB Boy are both 2nd generation clones, while the Mini Boy and Game Pocket are 3rd generation clones. From the exterior they all look very similar. They all sport the same style casing, but each has slight differences. The 2nd generation clones have older hardware inside as well as Chinese control pad styling, while the 3rd generation clones have newer hardware and Nintendo pad styling. All systems have an audio jack, audio control, contrast control, Nintendo link port, and AC port. The following pictures depict the systems in greater detail, as well as how they look from the back. The screen on these systems will look better than they appear because I left the factory plastic protection on them.






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Now that we have that out of the way, let’s power these units up. All units seem to run a custom BIOS, or at the very least, a hacked bios. The 2nd generation units show the logo “SGR” on bootup (I assume the designers wanted to leave their mark). The 3rd generation units make an attempt to be generic and show “LOADING…” on boot. I guess it’s easier to sell your clone plans to other companies that way. Here are some pictures of the logos. I apologize in advance for the blurry images.





As for the performance of these pirate consoles, they run very well. Although I only tried a handful of games, they all ran without a hitch. The screen and picture seem to copy the Gameboy experience nicely, and music and sound all works fine. Here is pictures of some random software running:





Just about the only thing I can complain about is that the audio appears to play slightly faster (and higher pitch) than a real Gameboy. The difference is slight and some might not realize it, but if you’re used to a regular Gameboy you’ll note its running a tad faster. I wasn’t able to tell if the actual CPU and system was overclocked, or if it was just an audio issue, but it didn’t effect the system in any adverse way. Actually, this development was interesting in the fact that it explains why many Chinese original games (at least audio wise) run slower on real Gameboys, while on these clones they sound just right. Perhaps, in the case of Chinese originals, the system speed difference also makes sloppy code run a bit faster as well, but I honestly couldn’t tell if game play was any faster on a real Gameboy or clone Gameboy. For now, I’m just assuming they implemented the audio part a little differently since that’s the only part I can say for sure is sped up.

I know I’ve talked a lot about the audio, but that’s really because there isn’t much else to pick at. Don’t get me wrong… I think the audio sounds great, but it’s just different than a normal Gameboy. Rather than keep talking, here is a sample so you can judge yourself. I just pulled out a random Chinese pirate cart and recorded some music from it.

Assembler.mp3 - 510.6 Kb

As you can hear, it sounds awesome. Certainly not buggy or partially supported like other GB clone hardware (Ie. N64 GB adapters, PS1 GB adapters, etc)

Well, there you have it! A basic run down on 4 diffrent Gameboy clones. Because these were probably only sold in China (sparingly might I add), I figure I'd better get something out on the Internet before it disappears completely. There are more popular (back in the day) Chinese clones, like the Cool Boy, and GB Boy Color, but alas I don't have them.

Some background for those who like stories. The following Gameboys were lent to me by my cousin who lives in China. He collected these factory and saved them for his collection. I asked if I could borrow some of them to make this review. I also asked if he could find more, but now days, he says its pretty difficult to find any. I do however have one spare unit he saved as a double. I said I would help him sell it since he needs the money, and the fact that in China its almost impossible to connect with people outside. PayPal, Ebay, Banks, communication, or any kind of trading is very hard if your in China :P Anyway, thats it for me. Thanks for reading, thanks to my cousin, and thanks to everyone at Assembler!

[MoBoRoS]

Very well done.
I loved your review and I think clones have their charm too.
The names are almost cracking me up!
Well done again m8!

[Yakumo]

Thanks for posting these here. I love looking at hand held clones. In fact I love looking at clones in general as long as they're not generic Famicom clones.

Yakumo

[ASSEMbler]

If you EVER EVER sell those, I get dibs.

[XxHennersXx]

i love clones. I used to be absolutely fascinated with them. well done.

[Trenton_net]

Update: I mentioned a while ago in another thread about Cool Boy clones and many people assumed I was talking about these:

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.12127

Anyway, since we are on the subject of GB Clones, I thought I would clear the air. This is the original Chinese "Cool Boy" of which I refer to.



Anything else is just a cheap MP4/Emu/Multi-system like the OneStation that just happens to use the same name...

With exception with this:



Which is also sold in game stores, but is a laptop for learning Chinese --> English.

[Barc0de]

How does the existence of so many shitty clones affect the self-esteem of Chinese engineers? I know it is quite an accomplishment to reverse-engineer something but wouldn't all that effort be best put for something more original, or do they fear the fact that anything Chinese is bound to be crap and scoffed at?

[Trenton_net]

How does the existence of so many shitty clones affect the self-esteem of Chinese engineers? I know it is quite an accomplishment to reverse-engineer something but wouldn't all that effort be best put for something more original, or do they fear the fact that anything Chinese is bound to be crap and scoffed at?

Beats the heck out of me. I guess being lazy? It's also not uncommon to see people pirate designs from other pirate designs, which is lazy in itself.

Also, some new developments. I managed to get my hands on a legit Super Mario Land, and after going back and forth several times on the clones vs a real GB Pocket, it ineed looks like the clones are slightly overclocked compared to the original specs. I noted the timer going down a bit faster, as well as Mario being able to sprint across the map faster (Animates a tad faster too, which leads to more bluring).

Kinda of intresting. I think I might try to find my copy of Sha Wu Story. In that game, the music lags and pauses slightly between each cinematic screen. I have a suspicion that under Clone hardware, it will run perfect due to the faster speed.

[Princess Toadstool]

Wow, thanks for the review. Very, very well done! That was really interesting. I like such clones, even though I would never buy them. Isn't it amazing what crazy names the chinese choose for their clones? :-D

[Calpis]

Maybe it doesn't use a 4.194 MHz crystal like it should. I think the SGB divides the SNES master clock by 5 for 4.295 MHz.

[MoBoRoS]

Btw i didnt find out any difference between the speed.
Maybe my ear isn't well trained but imho at least the sound(since i havent seen any videos) seems to be ok.
Dunno..

[Trenton_net]

For sure there is a noticeable speed difference, it just depends on what material you use. In this case, the sample music is from Bombjack (Continue screen). If you play the game on a real Gameboy, you'll see the tune in fact has a slower tempo. This is one case where the faster speed makes the music sound just as good or better.

As for Calpis's hypothosis, I would assume something like that to be the case since its easy to do (er, mess up) and would result in what I observed.

[Barc0de]

not all games depend on the CPU's exact timing so many will just be playing at usual rates on clones.

[alecjahn]

In my short period of GB development I spent most of my time on audio. I found that a Super Gameboy would play my notes at a slightly higher pitch than expected. Oddly enough, this was found by an instructor who was a violin master (concertmaster of the city's orchestra) who told me the notes my GB was putting out were a handful of cents higher than real notes. I went home and checked this with a tuner, and it was true.

However, I did not ever used 'sequenced' music/sound as most games would have been coded with, as my project was an actual musical instrument/device that used the gameboy sound hardware as a sound generator/synthesizer. Therefore, my coding was a bit... shitty, and all notes were multiples of the frequency's... frequency (in Hz) and wasn't necessarily accurate.

(clears ass to talk out of it some more) *ahem*

The super gameboy runs a fraction faster than a regular Gameboy, so it seems very very plausible that Calpis is correct in the clock only being approximate, albeit very very close.
Without me getting to a place to analyze, can someone tell me whether this notion of "faster" is a measure of a couple beats per 10-15 seconds, or definitely more or definitely less?

[3rdman]

Originally Posted by Trenton_net

The following Gameboys were lent to me by my cousin who lives in China. He collected these factory and saved them for his collection.

That cousin of yours is in a very unique position in terms of collecting these wonderful clones. I had no idea that these existed in such variety and abundance.

thanks for sharing

[l_oliveira]

Originally Posted by Barc0de

not all games depend on the CPU's exact timing so many will just be playing at usual rates on clones.

While console games *mostly* hook on the vsync for their timing, the clock will still affect the pitch of the sound generator.

Which explains the reported behavior. Honestly I think that if it's cheaper to get 21mhz crystals made for famiclones and use them on such product, why not use them ?

Good engineering is cheap engineering if you follow the current logic of China.

[Retrogamer]

The loading screen on the "Mini Boy" cracks me up.

Thanks for showing these

[Trenton_net]

Originally Posted by l_oliveira

Honestly I think that if it's cheaper to get 21mhz crystals made for famiclones and use them on such product, why not use them ?

Good engineering is cheap engineering if you follow the current logic of China.

Exactly. I wouldn't be surprised if some part lots failed to pass QC or yield testing, yet they decided to use them anyway to save money.

[Segata Sanshiro]

Originally Posted by l_oliveira

Honestly I think that if it's cheaper to get 21mhz crystals made for famiclones and use them on such product, why not use them ?

Good engineering is cheap engineering if you follow the current logic of China.

Game Boy screw up if you use a crystal more than 12MHz. However, these are clones so they might be able to handle it. I need to get around to ordering a 8MHz crystal, so I got a double speed DMG.

[TmEE]

clones generally use CMOS parts and thus take less power, and can tolerate higher clocks...
There's this one decap copied chipped MD1 clone that runs identical to original, but withstands muuuuch more than original........ but decap copying won't be useful when it comes to NMOS vs. CMOS unless lot more effort is put into things.