Today, China is one of the biggest consumers of video games and video game technology. Granted, the country’s own graphics cards can’t compete with Nvidia’s, but China is home to more gamers who spend more on games than any other country. Not bad for a country that was first officially introduced to Nintendo barely 20 years ago.
The iQue Player was Nintendo’s attempt to break into China’s floundering video game industry during the early 2000s. It was the result of a collaboration between Nintendo and the Taiwanese-American engineer Wei Yen. Back then, the country’s government had placed a blanket ban on almost all video game consoles, but Nintendo’s higher-ups (and presumably lawyers) were undaunted and thought they could use the wording of the law to their advantage. While the Chinese government banned consoles, the ban didn’t actually specify what counted as a console, which influenced the design of the iQue Player.
Unlike the consoles and handhelds most people associate with Nintendo, the iQue Player was essentially a plug-and-play device that stuffed an entire Nintendo 64 into its controller. Even the power supply fits inside the device. If it weren’t for the iQue’s blue and green A and B buttons, red Start button, and yellow directional C buttons, you would never assume it was related to Nintendo. Of course, as it is just a controller, owners need to plug the iQue Player into their TV to play any games. Still, Nintendo’s gamble kind of paid off. While the device wasn’t particularly successful, it still gave Nintendo a chance to get its foot in the door and release the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS in China under the iQue name.
How the iQue Player Worked
When we said the iQue Player was China’s first Nintendo console, we actually meant it was China’s first official Nintendo console. Before its release, China was a veritable utopia of bootleg Nintendo games and consoles, so Nintendo and iQue members brainstormed how to ensure the iQue Player wouldn’t drown in knockoff titles.
Like the Nintendo 64 it was based on, iQue Player games run off flash memory cards owners slot into the device. Each console shipped with a free pre-installed copy of “Dr. Mario 64,” along with time-limited demos of “Super Mario 64,” “Star . 64,” “Wave Race 64,” and “The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.” But players can install more games onto their flash cartridges using dedicated iQue kiosks or the iQue website. Yes, the site is still up and running even today.
While the Nintendo 64’s library consists of close to 400 games (some were region-locked and never released outside countries such as Japan), the iQue Player’s library is comparatively anemic, with 14 titles, all in simplified Chinese. Sure, the console received popular titles such as “Super Smash Bros.” and “Mario Kart 64,” as well as more obscure games like “Custom Robo,” but it lacks popular titles such as “The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask” and “Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater.” Also, owners can only access multiplayer modes by plugging the iQue Player into a proprietary multitap accessory and connecting secondary “Swim controllers.” Nintendo and iQue allegedly wanted to add online functionality, but those plans never made it into the final product.
Why the iQue Player is so valuable
It’s an open secret that retro Nintendo consoles sell for a lot of money on the aftermarket. Today, the original NES is worth over $200 with its box and documentation, whereas the rarest Nintendo 64 consoles sell for almost $6,000. Meanwhile, a graded mint-in-box iQue Player once sold for $1,500. Not bad for a device that retailed for the equivalent of $72 at launch.
The iQue Player is a modern collector’s item because it is fairly rare. Since the iQue Player was designed for sale in China, it was only released there and sold between 8,000 and 12,000 units. These factors, combined with its use of rewritable flash cards instead of mass-produced cartridges, make every iQue Player a rare item, especially when compared to the Nintendo 64.
Surprisingly, the iQue Player also found a home within the modern speedrunning community. While the device is technically a Nintendo 64 shrunken down onto a single chip that fits within the controller, the designers behind the iQue Player managed to improve on the original N64’s design. Thanks to some coding and engineering wizardry, the iQue Player scrolls through text and loads areas and levels faster than the N64. The speedrunning community is strict about which devices (and sometimes emulators) participants must use for their records to count. It’s completely understandable why some people would pay big bucks for a device that will let them legally shave nanoseconds off their playtime.
