Which consoles were released by iQue

If you study the history of Nintendo, you will find that they never directly conducted business in China. All console sales were conducted exclusively through intermediaries. For example, the company Mani Limited sold classic Game Boy consoles. They even had "Mani Limited" written on the back label.

Later, in the early 2000s, Nintendo, together with Professor Wei Yen, opened the company iQue (China) Ltd and began selling consoles under the iQue brand.

Now Nintendo collaborates with Tencent. And it is this company that sells Nintendo consoles in the Chinese market. But iQue still exists, although it no longer deals with console sales, only translating games into Chinese.

Despite various speculations, you should understand: all consoles released by iQue are not clones, reassembled, or refurbished Nintendo products. With rare exceptions, these are exactly the same consoles, just with a different logo.

Let's take a look at which consoles were released by iQue.

iQue Player

The first console to hit the market was the iQue Player. And this is the only console that has significant differences from its counterpart – the Nintendo 64.

Despite the fact that it looks like a controller for a console – it is a full-fledged console. Only it cannot run regular Nintendo 64 cartridges. It used a flash cartridge that could be rewritten using iQue Depot.

When purchasing, please note that it is often sold without a cable to connect to the TV. But it can be soldered, guides are available online.

Read more about this device in the article: «History of Nintendo in China – iQue Company».

iQue Game Boy Advance

On June 8, 2004, iQue launched the Game Boy Advance console.

This was a complete copy of the Nintendo Game Boy Advance, except for the logo on the front of the console and the label on the back.

It had no regional restrictions and could run games from any region.

Read more about this device in the article: «History of Nintendo in China – iQue Company».

This console was released in three standard colors: iQue Black, iQue Platinum, and iQue Clear Blue. A limited edition iQue Commemorative Mario was also released.

You can view them in the article «Catalog of Rare and Limited Edition Game Boy Advance Consoles».

iQue Game Boy Advance SP

On October 27, 2004, sales of the iQue Game Boy Advance SP AGS-001 began. For some reason, many people think that iQue started sales with the AGS-101, but this is not the case.

There are no significant changes in this console. Except that the cartridge port on the iQue Game Boy Advance SP is always white, while on the Nintendo Game Boy Advance SP it is black.

Interestingly, iQue released many limited editions. There were consoles with both regular Nintendo characters and national Chinese motifs.

Red console - "Chinese Dragon", gray console - "Metroid".

You can view other limited editions and their sets in the article: «Catalog of Rare and Limited Edition Game Boy Advance Consoles».

Read more about the history of this device in the article: «History of Nintendo in China – iQue Company. Part 2. iQue SP».

iQue DS

On July 23, 2005, iQue began selling the iQue DS console.

The firmware chip in this console was changed. It was increased from 256 KB to 512 KB by including Chinese language support. Moreover, just like in the Nintendo console, the iQue DS retained English, so you can safely buy this version of the console without needing to reflash it.

There is a common misconception on the internet that Nintendo DS consoles cannot be reflashed like the Nintendo DSi. In fact, this can be done, and there are even benefits to such reflashing, for example, the backlight has four brightness modes, like the Nintendo DS Lite. Read more about this in the article: «FlashMe».

Regional restrictions also appeared. The iQue DS could run NDS cartridges from any region. But the games released by iQue itself could only be run on the iQue DS, meaning they could not be played on the Nintendo DS.

Read more about the history of this device in the article: «History of Nintendo in China – iQue Company. Part 3. iQue DS».

iQue Micro

On October 1, 2005, as part of a global launch, iQue began selling the iQue Micro.

In general, like earlier versions of the Game Boy Advance, there were no differences here. The console had no regional restrictions.

Read more about the history of this device in the article: «History of Nintendo in China – iQue Company. Part 4. iQue Micro, AGS-101, and IDSL».

iQue Game Boy Advance SP AGS-101

In early 2006, without any announcements, iQue began selling the Game Boy Advance SP AGS-101 console.

This version of the console, except for the brighter screen, was no different from the iQue Game Boy Advance SP AGS-001.

This version of the console had its own limited editions.

You can view other limited editions and their sets in the article: «Catalog of Rare and Limited Edition Game Boy Advance Consoles».

Read more about the history of this device in the article: «History of Nintendo in China – iQue Company. Part 3. iQue Micro, AGS-101, and IDSL».

iQue DS Lite

On June 25, 2006, the iQue DS Lite console went on sale.

This console had the same bonuses and regional restrictions as the iQue DS. That is, it could run any NDS games, but Nintendo DS Lite consoles could not run iQue DS games. English could also be enabled in the console settings.

Read more about the history of this device in the article: «History of Nintendo in China – iQue Company. Part 3. iQue Micro, AGS-101, and IDSL».

iQue DSi

In December 2009, the iQue DSi console went on sale.

Oddly enough, this is perhaps one of the two consoles that is worse than the Nintendo version.

First, the iQue DSi has no language other than Chinese.

Second, it has stricter regional restrictions than the Nintendo DSi. While Nintendo DS cartridges run without problems, Enhanced Nintendo DS cartridges (these are cartridges with enhanced features for the Nintendo DSi, such as Pokemon White) do not run on it. DSi games themselves only run from iQue.

Note that the iQue DSi XL version was not released.

iQue 3DS XL

In December 2012, iQue released the final version of the console – the iQue 3DS XL.

This is perhaps the strangest version of the console. The Nintendo eShop was not opened for it. No game cartridges were sold for it, and the two games that were released were pre-installed on the console's memory card. iQue DSiWare games could not be run either.

The only third-party games that could be run on the iQue 3DS XL were cartridges released for Taiwan or Hong Kong.

The only plus is the ability to reflash the console. If this is done, all regional restrictions are removed.

No other versions of the iQue 3DS were released.

Epilogue

iQue released many different Nintendo consoles. But the saddest thing here is that they essentially became a middleman company. After all, initially they had grandiose plans. After the iQue Player, they wanted to release the iQue Box (read more in the article: «The Closed Project GameCube 2 – iQue Box»), and then they wanted to make the iQue NetCard (read more in the article: «History of Nintendo in China – iQue Company. Part 5. Company Problems and iQue Wii»). But all this remained at the project/prototype stage.

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