The iQue Player (, stylised as iQue ''PLAYER'') is a

handheld TV game A handheld TV game or plug and play game is an integrated home video game console and game controller, usually battery powered, which connects directly to a television. The game software is built directly into the unit, which is typically designe ...

version of the

Nintendo 64 The (N64) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo. The successor to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, it was released on June 23, 1996, in Japan, on September 29, 1996, in North America, and on March 1, 1997, in Europe and ...

console that was manufactured by

iQue iQue, Ltd. () is a Chinese video game/game localization and support development company located in Suzhou. It was founded as a joint venture between Wei Yen and Nintendo in 2002 as a Chinese video game console manufacturing company. The follo ...

, a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...

between

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produce ...

and

Taiwanese-American Taiwanese Americans () are Americans who carry full or partial ancestry from Taiwan. This includes American-born citizens who descend from migrants from Taiwan. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, 49% of Taiwanese Americans lived in the state of Califo ...

scientist

Wei Yen Wei Yen () is a Taiwanese-American technologist and serial entrepreneur. He has been involved with several companies, including most recently as Chairman and Founder of AiLive. Yen received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering in Operating Syste ...

after China had banned the sale of home video games. Its

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

name is ''Shén Yóu Ji'' (神游机), literally "Divine Gaming Machine". ''Shényóu'' (神游) is a

double entendre A double entendre (plural double entendres) is a figure of speech or a particular way of wording that is devised to have a double meaning, of which one is typically obvious, whereas the other often conveys a message that would be too socially ...

as "to make a mental journey". It was never released in any English-speaking countries, but the name "iQue Player" appears in the instruction manual. The console and its controller are one unit, plugging directly into the television. A box accessory allows multiplayer gaming.

History

Development

China has a large

black market A black market, underground economy, or shadow economy is a clandestine market or series of transactions that has some aspect of illegality or is characterized by noncompliance with an institutional set of rules. If the rule defines the se ...

for video games and usually only a few games officially make it to the Chinese market. Many Chinese gamers tend to purchase

pirated Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the copyright holder, s ...

cartridge or disc copies or download copied game files to play via

emulator In computing, an emulator is Computer hardware, hardware or software that enables one computer system (called the ''host'') to behave like another computer system (called the ''guest''). An emulator typically enables the host system to run so ...

. Nintendo wanted to curb software piracy in China, and bypass the ban that the Chinese government has implemented on home game consoles since 2000. Nintendo partnered with

, who had led past Nintendo product development such as the Nintendo 64 console and the

Wii Remote The Wii Remote, also known colloquially as the Wiimote, is the primary game controller for Nintendo's Wii home video game console. An essential capability of the Wii Remote is its motion sensing capability, which allows the user to interact with ...

. Originally, the system would support games released on Nintendo consoles prior to the

GameCube The is a home video game console developed and released by Nintendo in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, and in PAL territories in 2002. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 (1996), and predecessor of the Wii ...

, including the

NES The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in American ...

Super NES The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South Korea, 1991 in North America, 1992 in E ...

, and Nintendo 64, but it was decided only to include Nintendo 64 games. Additionally, '' The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask'' was planned and is shown on the back of the box, but was later cancelled.Archived a
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine

Release

The iQue Player was released on November 17, 2003 with few

launch game This list includes terms used in video games and the video game industry, as well as slang used by players. 0–9 A ...

s. Nintendo's strategy to market games in China was to show how video games can help improve children's mental and social development. However, the launch was not successful. The total estimated sales was between 8,000 and 12,000 units. At first, the only way to get games was via the iQue Depot, but in 2004, Nintendo released iQue@Home to download at home. The last game, ''

Animal Crossing is a social simulation video game series developed and published by Nintendo. The series was conceptualized and created by Katsuya Eguchi and Hisashi Nogami. In ''Animal Crossing'', the player character is a human who lives in a village inhabi ...

'' (动物森林, ''Animal Forest'') was released in 2006.

Discontinuation

On October 31, 2016, iQue reported that iQue@Home service would be discontinued by the end of December 2016. The service was gradually phased out until the content distribution servers went offline in 2018.

Technical details

The iQue Player is a size-reduced

console, using

system-on-a-chip A system on a chip or system-on-chip (SoC ; pl. ''SoCs'' ) is an integrated circuit that integrates most or all components of a computer or other electronic system. These components almost always include a central processing unit (CPU), memory ...

technology. It plays Nintendo 64 games specifically

ported In software engineering, porting is the process of adapting software for the purpose of achieving some form of execution in a computing environment that is different from the one that a given program (meant for such execution) was originally desi ...

to the system. * Processor: R-4300i 64-bit CPU, 140.625 MHz * Memory: 16 MB DDR (8 MB available) * Graphics: 100,000

polygons In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure that is described by a finite number of straight line segments connected to form a closed ''polygonal chain'' (or ''polygonal circuit''). The bounded plane region, the bounding circuit, or the two toge ...

/second, 2.09 million colors * Sound: ADPCM 64

Games

The iQue Player's library has 14 games, light conversions from past releases for the Nintendo 64 in Europe, North America, and Japan. One game was canceled, '' The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask'' and another, a Traditional Chinese version of '' The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time'', was completed but never announced. iQue Player games differ slightly from their Nintendo 64 counterparts, with the text and voices having been translated to Mandarin. The only exceptions are the ''Mario'' games and the previously Japan-only ''

Sin and Punishment ''Sin and Punishment'' is a rail shooter video game co-developed by Treasure and Nintendo for the Nintendo 64, and originally released only in Japan in 2000. Its story takes place in the near future of 2007 when war breaks out as humanity is stru ...

'', where the text has been translated but the voices remain in English. Many

glitches A glitch is a short-lived fault in a system, such as a transient fault that corrects itself, making it difficult to troubleshoot. The term is particularly common in the computing and electronics industries, in circuit bending, as well as amo ...

and errors from the original games have been fixed. Some features were removed due to the system's lack of support for Nintendo 64 controller accessories like the

Rumble Pak The is a removable device from Nintendo which provides force feedback while playing video games. Games that support the Rumble Pak cause it to vibrate in select situations, such as when firing a weapon or receiving damage, to immerse the player i ...

. Some features were added, and many games that allow the player to enter their name now have the option to use their iQue Player's username. Speedruns of several games, such as ''

Super Mario 64 is a platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It was released in Japan and North America in 1996 and PAL regions in 1997. It is the first ''Super Mario'' game to feature 3D gameplay, combining traditional ''Su ...

'' and ''

Star Fox 64 known as ''Lylat Wars'' in the PAL regions, is a 3D rail shooter video game developed by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It is the second installment in the ''Star Fox'' series and a reboot of the original ''Star Fox'' for the Super Nintendo Ente ...

'', are sometimes carried out on the iQue Player due to quicker loading times and faster scrolling text than the Nintendo 64 versions. Nintendo had plans to support network multiplayer in games that originally only support local multiplayer, which would work in a similar manner to that of an

References

External links

iQue Player website

{{Fifth generation game consoles Nintendo 64

IQue iQue, Ltd. () is a Chinese video game/game localization and support development company located in Suzhou. It was founded as a joint venture between Wei Yen and Nintendo in 2002 as a Chinese video game console manufacturing company. The followi ...

Products introduced in 2003 Discontinued video game consoles IQue consoles Online video game services