Official Hong Kong Super Famicom

[Bomberman]

Found one at a car boot the other day. Anyone know much about it? I know it was manufactured by Mani limited (it says so on the box!) it plays Jap games etc... Is it rare? I only paid ?15 for it boxed and it's in pretty good condition. I only got it because I've never seen it before. Before anyone asks, it's defo legit, it's made far too well to be fake and in near enough identical to my Jap Super Famicom.

I also have a Hong Kong Famicom which is almost identical to it's Japenese counter-part apart from English writing, Pal output and 220v. The box is also different (for the better imho)

[Ouenben]

Surely if it's not by Nintendo it's fake/illegal?

Or did Nintendo give out rights to remake the Famicom?

[crazymadone]

Surely if it's not by Nintendo it's fake/illegal?

Or did Nintendo give out rights to remake the Famicom?

They gave out the eights to Sharp, I'm sure.

Never heard of Mani though

[Bomberman]

It's defo legit. It only says Mani Ltd in the bottom corner of the box. The header of the box reads "Nintendo super Famicom". It also has the SF logo in the top right corner. The instruction manual is in both Cantonese and English. The system is NTSC-M apparently and the box states "for sale and use in Hong Kong only" The box actually features a photo of the console (as opposed to the colurful outline of a SF shown on the Jap box). There are Nintendo seals of quality all over it and the quality of the hardware and art-work are consistant with other Nintendo products I own (and I own quite alot!!!)

Having researched a bit on the internet I've found that Mani are a production company based in Hong Kong. What is strange though is that there appears to be two Hong Kong versions: The Hong Kong Super Nintendo and The Hong Kong Super Famicom. I'm yet to establish the difference.

Even more interesting is that there are apparently two Hong Kong versions of the orininal famicom. They got a Hong Kong Famicom (which I own ) and a Hong Kong NES. The NES was asthetically the same as the UK NES expept the words "Hong Kong Version" appear under "Nintendo Entertainment System"

I know that the HK Famicom is relatively rare (though of equal value to it's Jap brother) but google isn't giving me much info about my Mani SF, maybe it's quite rare/valuable?

[Bomberman]

Bizzarely enough, I've just had a look at my HK Famicom and it's apparently made by Simon & Toys Ltd. Again it is a legit Nintendo product (has the seals of quality and quality you'd expect from Nintendo)

I'm coming to the conclusion that Nintendo used external production facilites to make some of their consoles in HK. They probably allowed these companies to have their name on the box (although significantly less prominant than the Nintendo logo) either for a reduction in production fees, or more plausibly because these companies have better reputations in HK.

[Bomberman]

Some pictures of Hong Kong varietys (if anyone's interested!)

Hong Kong NES


Hong Kong Famicom:


I cant find any photos of the Hong Kong Super Famicom though.

[anagrama]

I'd imagine that they were made by Nintendo, but just distributed by Mani/whoever, like Samsung (Sega) & Hyundai (Nintendo) did in South Korea.

[MiG]

I have a Hong Kong version famicom same as the one in the picture. My aunt brought it back from Hong Kong in about 88 for me. Its definately legit.

That is the first Hong Kong NES ive ever seen though.. pretty cool.

[Kubrick]

[Bomberman]

That's the one I got! Only cost £15 for it and it's in very good condition. I've just looked up that auction and he wants £70 for it + hefty postage, think I got myself a bargain

[vertigo]

Interesting.
Suggestion: Open it up. If there's Nintendo branding on the board and it contains the right set of chips, that's a fairly good pointer that it's legit.

[anagrama]

It's legit, trust me.

[Bomberman]

Interesting.
Suggestion: Open it up. If there's Nintendo branding on the board and it contains the right set of chips, that's a fairly good pointer that it's legit.

I'm not techinallly minded enough to open it up. There's no way it's fake. There was never a doubt in my mind. I only raised this topic because I'd never heard of it before and wondered if others had.