I had already submitted the Nintendo FAMICOM as amended in Hong Kongaise this entry, but the other feature of this very small area south of Canton, is to have also had the right to its own version of the NES, distributed by also Simon & Toys. This article will give a visual presentation (even if the light is not with me today for photos…) This version of the console, as well as’a comparison with our European NES. You will see there are quite a few differences friendly.
The Control Deck Hong Kongers and blue dress
For Info, the console was sold as a beautiful Control Deck dressed all in blue and stamped “Hong Kong Version”. To my disappointment, I did not find what Full Deck Control to date. By cons I have this console loose but complete (I myself dézonné and I have changed the connector with a brand new) and the game Super Mario Bros. “Hong Kong Version” to go with. Compare this version of Hong Kong and our French NES :
The first thing that should strike you is the word HONG KONG VERSION on the valve closure of the port cartridge, the second is the color of “band” along the controller ports and the top of the console. The latter is gray instead of black as we used to see. Another difference, no port at the back SCART, but an output antenna, as models of United States. As against this remark an AV-Mono on the right side the console. Know that our NES, even if it has a scart cable in appearance, still lots of composite mono-, this is what explains its colors well slobbering. The image quality of this release via HK composite is identical to that of our NES with the only difference that we must manually select the AV channel on your TV. Below the console, where are usually the information on the console (No. of series…), labels are also interesting as the address of Simon & Toys where we discover that the company had 8 telephone lines… wow, we should not have so much in France 
.
Now look at the cartridge Super Mario Bros. Again I do not own the game box, but these are usually smaller than ours, in much the size of the cartridge, because they do not include the famous piece of polystyrene that was found in our games and whose presence is still a mystery (but I guess it's to have more room to write back in French + in Dutch). Let us return to the cartridge. Notice how its color is different ? It is a very light gray, almost white, and corresponds to the upper part of the console (Unlike at home where the cartridges are of the same color as the bottom of the console), it is rather nice as it looks much more highlight the label. Indeed, you should also note that the artwork used for this “Hong Kong Version” is the version FAMICOM et not the version “slurry pixel” shared with us. One last little detail, HK cartridges are molded as early versions of cartridges sold in the United States, comme mon Gyromite US (in which was a Famicom Adapter > Official Nintendo NES you can see on my instagram). This casting has five instead of three screws on the back of the cartridge and lacks the two closures with ties on the high side.
Finally be aware that these little boxes, artworks in various, they were found in Europe, Spain and Germany including. Here are a few of my latest purchases a NES, US games (cheaper than VF…) but above all a cartridge “European Version” of Kid Icarus using the artwork of Famicom Disk version rather than the version “slurry pixel” !
Finally, we must remember that in Asia, there are two other versions of the NES, the Convoy sold in South Korea and ASIAN VERSION sold in other countries of Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Philippines…). Each of these NES games with its own packaging and labeling different. When in Europe, we had consoles PAL-A and PAL-B, as these NES MATTEL VERSION (available aussi au canada me the Ensemble), SPANISH VERSION, ITALIAN VERSION and EUROPEAN VERSION:
In conclusion, Here are two versions of Nintendo 8bit Hong Kong gathered here for photo.
discovery that each new article… c so cool especially since it is disorienting
Nice article again. I do not know anything about the existence of these Asian models. It is true that the cartridges are more beautiful than the boiled pixel and the NES HK is not bad in this version.
Excellent article and wonderful discovery. I can not wait to see what will the volume 4 History of Nintendo.
Amazing, I did not know that Hong Kong had the right to its own version, modeled on Western models… But was it an official model?
It would be interesting to know if the cartridges for the NES hackers have existed : HK has produced Famicom cartridges pirates in the chain, but she does the same for his version of the NES?
Yes yes of course all that is featured on this page is Official. Just as in France it was first ASD who then distributed the Bandai NES Nintendo did before installing / handles or even its distro in Europe, HK it was the company Simon & Toys (then it was Mani Limited Time SNES) and South Korea, Hyundai.
Here is the list of current distributors such : http://www.nintendo.com/corp/distributors.jsp
Cartridge format NES hackers have indeed existed in their time, in parallel with official localized versions, they are also highly sought by collectors today (because of excellent quality and with a good selection of titles normally reserved in Japan).
You can see in here.
They were produced by a company called Hong Kong Game Cartridge ltd.
Good information! First, time I saw the HK NES. ‘He’ looks like his Asian Version cousin whos also feature grey “band” like the 1 I own. Could HK NES was the twin cousin of Asian NES or somewhat?
Hey lena, welcome to the blog
Yes the asian version (shown at the bottom of the article : http://scanlines16.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/asian.jpg) also features the gray band. Games were also in clear gray cartridge but instead of blue label they featured black ones. I think the Asian version was available in Taiwan, Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia and maybe Malaysia and Thailand.
Same hardware probably with just a different lid, tough I wonder if they were PAL-A or PAL-B
Hi Dentifritz, Thanks again for the details. I’m from Malaysia & I got the Asian NES donated from my brother in-law. Hope I can have 1 HK NES to accompany my lonely Asian NES at home.
Should be ok for you to find, Hong Kong isn’t that far from Malaysia compared to France hehe
You can try here : http://gamedoctorhk.com/
Not sure if Frankie (the shop owner) has any stock at the moment though.
Rumor that I’ve heard saying the HK NES can’t play PAL A (UK, Italy & Australian a.k.a “Mattel Version” or “NES Version”), PAL B (France & Sweden a.k.a “European Version”), Spanish & US NTSC games. Only its own kind games. I’ve bought PAL A region games from eBay which was labelled as “Mattel Version” or “NES Version” & the “Version Espanola” games, and I’ve tried it on my Asian NES. It can runs the PAL A & Spanish games too, without any troubles eg. blinking, a result of rejection which we all know causes by the lock-out chip.
live ebay, I personally have the new Famicom av and it is the best