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Limited Editions of iQue Game Boy Advance SP
When Nintendo wanted to enter the Chinese market, they established a subsidiary company called iQue. Although iQue had some autonomy, which was reflected in the fact that they released or developed their own, often improved versions of consoles (iQue Player, iQue GameCube 2), their development path generally aligned with Nintendo's. After the iQue Player, iQue released the same versions of consoles as Nintendo, and if they made changes, they were minimal, such as adding Chinese language support to the iQue DSi. And since Nintendo released limited editions of the Game Boy Advance SP, iQue had to start doing the same.
The first limited edition of the Game Boy Advance SP appeared in 2004. Perhaps the most interesting thing here is that it was related to Chinese mythology. Nintendo did not do this; all limited editions were mainly related to games (or characters), but not to the culture of individual countries.
iQue SP China Dragon
This was the AGS-001 version. Note that you can find a similar version in pure gray color on sale, but this is a custom case.
You can see more about the iQue Game Boy Advance SP China Dragon in our article: «Photos of iQue Game Boy Advance SP China Dragon».
iQue SP Metroid
Around autumn 2005, iQue released another version of the console – iQue Metroid. At one time, I thought this was a custom version of the console. But then I found confirmation from the developers themselves and an article in a Chinese magazine about this console.
In 2021, custom cases copying this limited edition appeared in China. They can often be identified by the Nintendo logo on the front panel, color mismatch (the case is pure gray, not two-tone), and the AGS-101 model version instead of AGS-001.
You can see more about the iQue Game Boy Advance SP Metroid in our article: «Photos of iQue Game Boy Advance SP Metroid».
iQue SP Mario 20th anniversary
At the end of 2005, to celebrate Mario's 20th anniversary, two limited editions of the Game Boy Advance SP AGS-001 were released.
You can see more about the iQue Game Boy Advance SP Mario 20th anniversary in our article: «Photos of iQue Game Boy Advance SP Mario 20th anniversary».
iQue SP Bingxu Dog
In April 2006, to celebrate the upcoming Year of the Fire Dog, two more limited editions of the Game Boy Advance SP were released. These were the first limited edition models of the console from iQue with a bright screen, i.e., the AGS-101 version.
You can see more about the iQue Game Boy Advance SP Bingxu Dog in our article: «Photos of iQue Game Boy Advance SP Bingxu Dog».
iQue Mario & Donkey Kong
The last limited editions of the console were released to celebrate the New Year 2007, featuring Mario and Donkey Kong.
You can see more about the iQue Game Boy Advance SP Mario & Donkey Kong in our article: «Photos of iQue Game Boy Advance SP Mario & Donkey Kong».
iQue Custom Cases
You have probably seen other cases supposedly from iQue. For example, these.
But these are homemade. That is, an original iQue console was purchased and an image was applied on top of it.
Here you need to understand:
1. iQue themselves deny that they made such consoles.
In 2007, at the LevelUp forum, an event called iQue Guest Lounge was held, where various iQue employees were invited to answer questions. In issue number 4, Qian Yuzhou (iQue Game Engineering Department) answered questions. When asked if limited edition consoles would still be sold with games, he said: «You may not have noticed, but we actually released a limited edition Metroid GameBoy Advance SP based on the theme of Metroid: Zero Mission. Of course, this was not sold as a console + game bundle. In addition, iQue has consistently released various limited edition consoles, such as the SP models "Chinese Dragon", "Mario 20th Anniversary", "Year of the Dog", "Nintendo Stars", as well as the GameBoy Micro "Famicom"».
In addition, on January 26, 2008, at an event dedicated to the release of the limited edition iQue DS Lite, there was a poster dedicated to all limited edition iQue consoles. And these versions of the consoles are not there.
2. Not a single Chinese gaming magazine had even a small advertisement/note about the release of such consoles, despite the fact that there were for others.
3. Nintendo, like iQue, was very careful about the production of limited edition consoles. For example, for the iQue China Dragon console, a special technology was used to preserve the pattern. Which is not even close in this case.
4. If you pay attention, all these consoles are released only in colors that were used for regular models.
5. To this day, in the Chinese segment of the Internet, you can order such a case or apply such an image to your console.
6. In most cases, the boxes for the consoles are no different from the regular ones.
It is very difficult to prove that some event did not happen, but all objective signs indicate that these are homemade.
