What's up, subscribers and readers of this blog?
It's time for another "Reviews" post. It's about time to take a look at one of my Famiclones in collection.
And it's one of the most wide-spread all well known Famiclones in ex-USSR countries back in 1990s.
Video Game System Subor SB-225, also known as Liko KL-235, re-branded by BBG Electronics.
Released approximately in the mid 1990s, this is one of the most common Famiclone models to come by that Subor made
It's time for another "Reviews" post. It's about time to take a look at one of my Famiclones in collection.
And it's one of the most wide-spread all well known Famiclones in ex-USSR countries back in 1990s.
Video Game System Subor SB-225, also known as Liko KL-235, re-branded by BBG Electronics.
Released approximately in the mid 1990s, this is one of the most common Famiclone models to come by that Subor made
Let's take a look at what it says.
"Телевизионная игровая приставка" / "Gaming TV Console"
"СЮБОР" / "SUBOR"
My particular version is the later version by Subor, titled as Liko KL235, re-released by Liko.
So it says "COMPUTER TV GAME KL-235".
And then it offers a few tips on the console, such as :
High Image Quality / Высокое качество изображения
2 Turbo Joysticks / Два турбо джойстика
And we have the main unit itself on the box.
You can also meet the console, titled as Subor D25, which would be the earlier release by them.
You can check this console on one of my earlier blogspot posts here: http://somerussianmariodude.blogspot.com/2014/11/pickups-21-famicom-cartridges-21-mega.html
It just says Subor TV-Game 25, and the console colors differ from the earlier version.
Anyway, onto our Liko KL-235.
Once we open up the box, we can see the following contents:
We can see the main console itself, AV cables, RF cable, power adapter, light gun, the cartridge and controllers themselves. I didn't get any manual with this particular console, so I can't show it to you in this review.
Here's the closer look at the console. Looking at this console, you may immediately recognise that it looks really similar to Nintendo Famicom, but colored all in black.
My particular version here on photo is Liko KL-235, the later re-release by BBG Electronics, as I said earlier.
The controllers are attached to the console, and in order to replace them if they get broken, you would have to take adapt the whole console, which is held by 6 screws, just like original deal.
What's pretty cool is that this console looks to be never opened, as the "Warranty" sticker remained here on one of console screws spots.
If we put Subor SB225 and Liko KL235 next to each other, we can see that there are very minor differences.
We can also see that the controllers have the difference regarding the main logo. On Subor we can see their logo, and on Liko controller it just says Liko.
Same thing can be seen with 2nd player controller as well.
As we can also see here, the gamepads look similar to Nintendo Famicom ones design-wise, but they are colored in black as well.
And one great difference between original controllers and the clone ones is the turbo buttons on both controllers, which help quite a lot to beat certain games easier.
It's kind of debatable in a way if turbo buttons are considered as cheating. I don't think that turbo buttons means cheating, and that's because you don't change the gameplay code the same way, as if you used Game Genie, for example. The game remains the same, so turbo buttons are perfectly fine to use. Try to change my opinion on that, those NES gamers, who grew up with NES controllers without turbo by default! :P
The bottom side of these two consoles. Nothing much of a difference to be found here, for the most part everything is the same for both Subor SB-225 and Liko KL-235.
On the front of both consoles we have the 15-pin port. This is where you'd insert Famicom accessories and use later on. Among those, you can use light gun, that came with the console. As for the controller with 15-pin port, it really depends on the controller itself. If it's something like Hudson's Joycard, released for Famicom, it will work as Player 1. But if it's the 15-pin controller made for pirate consoles, it should work here as Player 2. So, for example, your friend can press that Start button in Battletoads game in order to join in. :D
As for the gameplay compatibility stuff, and overall how it plays games. This is a pretty standard Famiclone, that works with NTSC hardware, but forced PAL speed, which means that games will work much slower than on NES or real Famicom. I personally haven't seen or tried modifying it in order to run in NTSC, and I don't really have any desire to do so.
1) I don't have anything against PAL speed, since it's what many people back in 1990s played video games at, and for many of us it remained as a native speed, and NTSC is perceived as much faster and something unusual.
2) I prefer to have the hardware as original as possible when I got it. This means that I wouldn't do anything to modify hardware-wise, and would be glad to keep it as something of a historical artefact from decades ago.
Another look at one of those lovely controllers, with its turbo buttons.
The main unit itself uses a Nintendo-on-a-chip technology, along with three boards connected together with ribbon cables. This means that it's not accurate enough in having a 100% compatibility with all NES/Famicom games.
The graphics on Super Mario Bros. would have vertical lines and the colors would look slightly different from original Famicom. But nothing too bad.
The green tilt on Super Game ports and Bubble Bobble FDS conversion would output and this would make the graphics look not so great.
As for Felix the Cat, Immortal, Jungle Book, Cliffhanger and some Eurocom games, they would display much darker than they should be.
It plays VRC6 very well, which is a nice thing, so you can enjoy that awesome music in Akumajou Densetsu. FDS sound is also presented, although I don't have an actual Famicom Disk System, so the only way to test that out for me is to play the game from EverDrive N8 flash cartridge.
And let's compare Subor SB-225 to the real Famicom from 1980s, shall we?
They are almost identical to each other with the exception of that Liko KL-235 is all black, and original Famicom is white (or in my case, yellow, since the plastic has yellowed since 30+ years) and red.
"Телевизионная игровая приставка" / "Gaming TV Console"
"СЮБОР" / "SUBOR"
My particular version is the later version by Subor, titled as Liko KL235, re-released by Liko.
So it says "COMPUTER TV GAME KL-235".
And then it offers a few tips on the console, such as :
- Turn the power switch off before loading or unloading the cartridge
- Unloading the cartridge, push cartridge ejector gently
- Sit as far as possible from TV set when playing your games
High Image Quality / Высокое качество изображения
2 Turbo Joysticks / Два турбо джойстика
And we have the main unit itself on the box.
You can also meet the console, titled as Subor D25, which would be the earlier release by them.
You can check this console on one of my earlier blogspot posts here: http://somerussianmariodude.blogspot.com/2014/11/pickups-21-famicom-cartridges-21-mega.html
It just says Subor TV-Game 25, and the console colors differ from the earlier version.
Anyway, onto our Liko KL-235.
Once we open up the box, we can see the following contents:
We can see the main console itself, AV cables, RF cable, power adapter, light gun, the cartridge and controllers themselves. I didn't get any manual with this particular console, so I can't show it to you in this review.
Here's the closer look at the console. Looking at this console, you may immediately recognise that it looks really similar to Nintendo Famicom, but colored all in black.
My particular version here on photo is Liko KL-235, the later re-release by BBG Electronics, as I said earlier.
The controllers are attached to the console, and in order to replace them if they get broken, you would have to take adapt the whole console, which is held by 6 screws, just like original deal.
What's pretty cool is that this console looks to be never opened, as the "Warranty" sticker remained here on one of console screws spots.
If we put Subor SB225 and Liko KL235 next to each other, we can see that there are very minor differences.
The only real differences here that you can see here are that the text above the power and reset buttons are presented as stickers on Subor SB-225, while on Liko KL-235 they are written right on plastic. The console title is also different, but the insides of both consoles are the same deal.
We can also see that the controllers have the difference regarding the main logo. On Subor we can see their logo, and on Liko controller it just says Liko.
Same thing can be seen with 2nd player controller as well.
As we can also see here, the gamepads look similar to Nintendo Famicom ones design-wise, but they are colored in black as well.
And one great difference between original controllers and the clone ones is the turbo buttons on both controllers, which help quite a lot to beat certain games easier.
It's kind of debatable in a way if turbo buttons are considered as cheating. I don't think that turbo buttons means cheating, and that's because you don't change the gameplay code the same way, as if you used Game Genie, for example. The game remains the same, so turbo buttons are perfectly fine to use. Try to change my opinion on that, those NES gamers, who grew up with NES controllers without turbo by default! :P
The bottom side of these two consoles. Nothing much of a difference to be found here, for the most part everything is the same for both Subor SB-225 and Liko KL-235.
On the front of both consoles we have the 15-pin port. This is where you'd insert Famicom accessories and use later on. Among those, you can use light gun, that came with the console. As for the controller with 15-pin port, it really depends on the controller itself. If it's something like Hudson's Joycard, released for Famicom, it will work as Player 1. But if it's the 15-pin controller made for pirate consoles, it should work here as Player 2. So, for example, your friend can press that Start button in Battletoads game in order to join in. :D
On the back, you get the slot, where power adapter goes. And it uses a standard 9V DC Center Pin Negative 500mA adapter. The power adapter that came with the console works just fine here, but if you wanna try playing some cartridges that would use a lot of power from the console, and produce loud noise, you might think twice about getting yourself a stronger power supply that would be compatible with the console.
I had a bad accident with one of my Super Mario Bros. 3 cartridges. I used TV GAME CARTRIDGE which was one of the earliest copies with a huge PCB and a lot of chips inside. I used a pretty weak power supply that had the needed specs, but it was low of milliamps, resulting into having power supply exploded. The console didn't suffer any damage, thankfully, nor did the cartridge, but the power adapter had to be thrown away after this and it couldn't be fixed, as trying to power on the console with it another time didn't give me any results at all.
As for the gameplay compatibility stuff, and overall how it plays games. This is a pretty standard Famiclone, that works with NTSC hardware, but forced PAL speed, which means that games will work much slower than on NES or real Famicom. I personally haven't seen or tried modifying it in order to run in NTSC, and I don't really have any desire to do so.
1) I don't have anything against PAL speed, since it's what many people back in 1990s played video games at, and for many of us it remained as a native speed, and NTSC is perceived as much faster and something unusual.
2) I prefer to have the hardware as original as possible when I got it. This means that I wouldn't do anything to modify hardware-wise, and would be glad to keep it as something of a historical artefact from decades ago.
Another look at one of those lovely controllers, with its turbo buttons.
The main unit itself uses a Nintendo-on-a-chip technology, along with three boards connected together with ribbon cables. This means that it's not accurate enough in having a 100% compatibility with all NES/Famicom games.
The graphics on Super Mario Bros. would have vertical lines and the colors would look slightly different from original Famicom. But nothing too bad.
The green tilt on Super Game ports and Bubble Bobble FDS conversion would output and this would make the graphics look not so great.
As for Felix the Cat, Immortal, Jungle Book, Cliffhanger and some Eurocom games, they would display much darker than they should be.
It plays VRC6 very well, which is a nice thing, so you can enjoy that awesome music in Akumajou Densetsu. FDS sound is also presented, although I don't have an actual Famicom Disk System, so the only way to test that out for me is to play the game from EverDrive N8 flash cartridge.
And let's compare Subor SB-225 to the real Famicom from 1980s, shall we?
They are almost identical to each other with the exception of that Liko KL-235 is all black, and original Famicom is white (or in my case, yellow, since the plastic has yellowed since 30+ years) and red.
But both have 15-pin controller port, power switch, reset button, eject slider.
And now we shall actually watch this console in action! For that I present you my 7-parter video of "Famiclone Tests" video series made to my YouTube channel.
We play on Video Game System Liko KL-235, but, as a friendly reminder, technically both Liko KL-235 and Subor SB-225 don't differ at all.
Part 1.
Game's List:
[0:30] 7-in-1 / 500-in-1 [Pirate]
[2:08] //Super Mario Bros.//
[9:58] //Wild Gunman//
[12:16] //Dr. Mario//
[15:18] Super Mario Bros. 3 (S.M.B.3, NCN-21) [Pirate]
[26:09] Super Mario Bros. 3 (S-M3) [Pirate]
[37:33] Super Mario Bros. 3 (S.M.B.3) [Pirate]
[47:59] Prince of Persia [Pirate]
[53:29] Kyatto Ninden Teyandee [Pirate]
[1:03:04] Adventure Island II [Pirate]
[1:11:57] Takahashi Meijin no Bouken Jima III (A-I3) [Pirate]
[1:21:42] Takahashi Meijin no Bouken Jima IV [Pirate]
[1:31:38] Darkwing Duck [Pirate]
[1:41:02] Bubble Bobble (FDS Conversion) [Pirate]
[1:47:42] Super Lion King [Pirate]
[1:54:25] Super Aladdin (S-L3) [Pirate]
This is the beginning, and I decided to start with the multicart that comes with the console.
And, obviously, we check how good the light gun works.
In order to be able to play Wild Gunman, I plugged the console to my JVC Model No. AV-14AT CRT TV, and from there, I connected the TV with AV cables to my Dazzle DVC100 capture device.
This way I could actually play these light gun games and test out how good the Subor light gun works.
As you can see, it's really great. We'll also come back to light gun games in one of the next parts.
Also I check three copies of Super Mario Bros. 3, and there was a reason for that. If I play the early game cartridge copy, the circuit board of which is full of chips, the console starts outputting some buzzing effect in sound. And the first copy of SMB3 definitely had a great PCB in it. If I haven't talked about my Super Mario Bros. 3 copies yet, I will do so in one of my following posts.
As we were testing next copies and checked the regular S.M.B.3, the buzzing effect went away for good.
This part also features SuperGame titles and Bubble Bobble FDS conversion that have some display problems, when played on Subor SB-225 / Liko KL-235.
Part 2.
Game's List:
[0:00] Aladdin (JY-025) [Pirate]
[6:54] Lethal Weapon (F-JI) [Pirate]
[16:53] Felix the Cat [Pirate]
[27:01] Jungle Book [Pirate]
[34:04] James Bond Jr. (EK-102) [Pirate]
[40:05] Duck Tales [Pirate]
[46:02] The Little Mermaid [Pirate]
[57:02] FC Genjin (F-C2) [Pirate]
[1:08:13] Yoshi no Cookie [Pirate]
[1:23:41] Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Japan) [Pirate]
[1:37:35] Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II (Japan) / Super Turtles III [Pirate]
[1:52:54] Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters (N-T4) [Pirate]
Most notable games in this part are Felix the Cat, Lethal Weapon, James Bond Jr., as they all display much darker than needed. You need to turn up the brightness on your TV or capture device for better picture.
Ninja Turtles games are great examples to show you how the voice samples play, and they weren't quite great here in comparison to Entertainment Computer System, for example, that we covered earlier.
One thing of note - because of region differences and oddities of Ninja Turtles game releases in Japan and North America, it turned out that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was released as Gekikame Ninja Den (Legend of the Powerful Ninja Turtles). Then there comes "The Arcade Game", which in North America was released as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game, and in Japan it was simply called as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. After that, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project gets its release, but in Japan, released before North American version, obviously, it was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Manhattan Project.
Both games have certain differences - TMNT2 most notably has slightly different title screen with personal best score appearing between game logo and player modes, and also different scoring system - in Japanese version 50pts is the minimum about points to get after defeated enemy, and in North American it's 1pt.
As for TMNT3, whereas the NES version requires players to input a form of the Konami Code in order to access the Option screen, the Famicom version has it accessible by default from the title menu. Next, entering the Konami Code in the Famicom version will simply return a generic congratulatory screen instead. Furthermore, instead of two different 2-player modes, the Famicom version has a "game type" setting on the option screen that allows friendly damage to be turned on or off by setting it to "A" or "B" respectively. This also gives the added benefit of allowing a second player to join in during a 1-player game with the friendly fire turned off.
Next up, two extra cheat codes were added to the Famicom version: a stage select code (since the setting is not available on the default option screen) and a code that increases the number of continues.
And finally, the NES Version uses a Nintendo manufactured MMC3 chip to control the game's program, whereas the Famicom version uses the Konami manufactured VRC4 chip. Although I played the game from pirate cartridge, it needs to be checked at what mapper the game was actually converted and was it VRC4 clone, because Crysis Force or Gradius II were released on pirate cartridges as well. And pirates might have definitely made the clone of Konami's chip.
Part 3.
Game's List:
[0:00] Lemmings [Pirate]
[4:29] Tiny Toon Adventures [Pirate]
[16:26] Tiny Toon Adventures II (Japan) [Pirate]
[33:35] Ninja Ryukenden [Pirate]*
[55:11] Ninja Ryukenden (TCF-NY) [Official]
[1:04:39] Ninja Ryukenden II [Pirate]
[1:17:04] Ninja Ryukenden III [Pirate]
[1:32:30] Super Contra 24-in-1 [Pirate]
[1:40:25] Rainbow Islands [Pirate]
This is where things get really interesting! Ninja Ryukenden was chosen to be tested on this console for a good reason - it plays incorrectly on ANY Famiclones that are PAL ones (with NTSC hardware and forced PAL speed).
The sound pitch is lower than it should be, as you can definitely hear by listening to the audio of other games - the sound is slower, but the sound pitch is the same as on NTSC hardware. However, Ninja Ryukenden / Ninja Gaiden when played on PAL Famiclone, sounds exactly the same as if you played in on PAL NES! Things get even more weird, when you attempt to watch the cutscenes - there is a high chance of having the game crash on the cutscene after Act 4 boss.
This is yet to be tested on other consoles, if the game is actually any playable further. But one thing I can tell for sure - no matter what copy of Ninja Ryukenden or Ninja Gaiden you have, it will always work the same way on PAL Famiclone hardware, and you might get this game freeze on cutscene! So, if you really want to play this game on Famiclones, you might look into trying out Shadow Warriors, the European version. But make sure that it's the version that actually has the weapons, so it will be much easier for you to play.
Part 4.
Game's List:
[0:00] Kiwikraze [Pirate]
[5:17] Super Bros. 8 / Don Doko Don 2 Hack [Pirate]
[16:39] Seirei Densetsu Lickle / Little Samson [Pirate]
[26:00] Rodland (JY041) [Pirate]
[35:07] Gremlins 2 (Japan) [Pirate]
[43:56] Bucky O'Hare [Pirate]
[55:24] Super Wonderful Mario / Super Bros. 2 / Super Mario Bros. 2 (Europe) [Pirate]
[1:04:17] Hoshi no Kirby (HVC-KI) [Official]
[1:20:38] Bomberman II (HFC-2X) [Official]
[1:44:16] Gotcha! The Sport [Pirate]
[1:54:54] To The Earth [Pirate]
Some of the later NES/Famicom titles are here that I check out, like Don Doko Don 2, Rodland, Little Samson, Gremlins 2.
And Gremlins 2 was chosen to be shown here not because of a pretty uncommon, but early copy with Japanese version on board, but also to show you how the Sunsoft music sounds on Subor.
Also, I decided to drop many European game titles from tests here, since this is not NES clone with 72-pin cartridge slot, but there was one pirate cartridge with European version of game, so I left it for test, and it's Super Mario Bros. 2.
The many other European titles that I showed in the video about Entertainment Computer System will work the same, with the exception of better audio here.
For a little bonus, few official cartridges are tested, and proved to be working, since it's a Famicom clone, and it's an obvious thing that Subor SB-225 / Liko KL-235 will take official cartridges as well, and there should be no doubt about that.
I reminded you earlier about light gun games as well, right? Well, here we go with Gotcha! The Sport and To The Earth, a bit more complex titles than Duck Hunt or Wild Gunman with Hogan's Alley, which aren't commonly seen in any reviews of Famiclones, so that's a good bonus.
Also, do you all remember to hold Reset button and then only turn off the console, when you play games like Kirby's Adventure? :)
Part 5.
Game's List:
[00:00] Quarth [Pirate]
[06:39] Gradius (LD01) [Pirate]
[13:14] 76-in-1 Tsang Hai 1990 [Pirate]
[13:28] //Pinball//
[16:02] //Dig Dug//
[18:33] //Mario Bros.//
[20:45] //Antarctic Adventure//
[24:06] //Choujikuu Yousai Macross//
[27:02] //Yie Ar Kung Fu//
[28:37] //F-1 Race//
[31:51] //Road Fighter//
[34:59] //Exerion//
[37:41] //TwinBee//
[42:26] //B-Wings//
[46:27] //Ice Climber//
[50:29] //Bomberman//
[54:10] //Battle City//
[55:54] //Pac-Man//
[59:39] //Galaga//
[1:03:32] //Nuts and Milk//
[1:06:32] //Lode Runner//
[1:11:32] //Lunar Ball//
[1:15:28] //Balloon Fight//
[1:17:30] //Galaxian (Abeille)//
[1:18:50] //Sky Destroyer//
[1:21:20] //Devil World//
[1:24:52] //Binary Land//
[1:26:30] //Pooyan//
[1:31:07] //Warpman//
[1:33:34] //Clu Clu Land//
[1:37:54] //Donkey Kong Jr.//
[1:38:47] //Donkey Kong (Keykong)//
[1:40:26] //Duck Hunt (2 Ducks)//
[1:42:57] //Hogan's Alley (Mode A)//
[1:44:33] //Mach Rider//
[1:45:52] //Obake no Q-tarou: WanWan Panic//
[1:49:04] //Ninja Hattori-Kun//
[1:52:59] //Wrecking Crew//
[1:56:24] //Arkanoid//
[1:59:49] //Tengen's Tetris//
[2:06:34] Super 42-in-1 [Pirate]
[2:08:24] //1942//
[2:12:01] //Excitebike//
A lot of early Famicom titles are presented here, which were released in early and mid 1980s, when Famicom was in its first years of existence.
Two singlecarts, one of them being from Whirlwind Manu were tested at the beginning.
But to test the majority of earlier titles and for the sake of making this video, I played the rest from two multicarts, one being "76-in-1 Tsang Hai 1990" and "Super 42-in-1".
Those multicarts may be covered on my blog, since I have both of them, and actually the first cartridge... I actually have it two exhibits. So, yeah.
Part 6.
Game's List:
[0:00] Rockman 6-in-1 [Pirate]
[0:08] //Rockman//
[6:52] //Rockman 2: Dr.Wily no Nazo//
[17:53] 6-in-1 (NS14) [Pirate]
[18:00] //Pac-Mania//*
[27:07] 1994 8-in-1 (AB001) [Pirate]
[27:12] //Contra//
[30:18] //Jackal//
[37:24] //Duck Tales 2//
[44:49] 150-in-1 Real Game [Pirate]
[45:11] //Fire'n'Ice (Solomon's Key 2)//
[51:35] //Galaxy 5000//
[53:50] //Heavy Barrel//
[56:36] //Zanac//
[1:02:43] //Dig Dug II//
[1:05:46] //RAF World//
[1:07:58] //Dropzone//
[1:09:51] Coolboy 198-in-1 Real Game [Pirate]
[1:10:08] //Summer Carnival '92 Recca//
[1:13:26] //Chip to Dale no Daisakusen (Chip'n Dale Rescue Rangers)//
[1:26:32] //Chip to Dale no Daisakusen 2 (Chip'n Dale Rescue Rangers 2)//
[1:32:39] //Shadow Warriors (Ninja Gaiden European; no weapons)//*
[1:41:49] //Snow Bros.//
[1:44:15] //Shatterhand//
[1:48:38] //Squashed / Ninja Jajamaru - Ginga Daisakusen (North American Prototype version)//*
[1:54:58] Coolboy 400-in-1 Real Game [Pirate]
[1:55:22] //The Universe Soldiers//
[1:57:25] //Star Soldier//
[1:59:55] //Star Luster//
[2:02:09] //Challenger//*
[2:04:45] //City Connection//
[2:07:19] //Sanrio Carnival//
[2:09:03] PocketGames 150-in-1 [Pirate]
[2:09:20] //Seirei Densetsu Lickle (Little Samson)//
[2:16:37] //Double Dragon II: The Revenge//
[2:20:20] //Kirby's Adventure (Europe)//*
[2:30:44] //Flintstones: The Surprise at Dinosaur Peak//
[2:35:49] //Tom & Jerry//
More multicarts in this parts, but with a few more games that were released in end 80s - early 90s for NES.
Since Rockman / Mega Man games is something that every NES/Famicom gamer is familiar with, it would be wrong on so many levels to leave them out of test. So, I used my Rockman Super 6-in-1 multicart and just played Rockman and Rockman 2 from it.
We also check out how 150-in-1 Real Game mutlicart works here, which has problems being played on hardware clones. Since our Video Game System Liko KL-235 is actually the NOaC clone, you can guess that 150-in-1 Real Game would run just fine.
As for Pac-Mania, since the multicart is with the circuit board full of chips, it works with some buzzing effect on Subor SB-225 / Liko KL-235.
Shadow Warriors that we see on 198-in-1 Real Game is actually the European version of Ninja Gaiden, but converted to MMC3 mapper. But, due to poor conversion, the game lost its weapons, and most of them were relocated in random places. And among those "power-ups", you find the half of your character, but if you touch it, say goodbye to all your gaming process, because the game will crash! This version is commonly found on pirate cartridges from 2000s and the cart would be titled as its North American release.
Squashed is actually the planned North American release of Ninja Jajamaru - Ginga Daisakusen, but ended up not hitting the store shelves back then. And it remained to be the prototype version. It's interesting that pirates decided to put this version on their cart to have people being able to play it.
Challenger is actually one of the earlier games from Hudson Soft. For some unknown reason, the train stage works much faster than it needs to be, if the game is played on PAL Famiclone. No such problem on original Famicom, running at NTSC. That's another weird game that ends up behaving differently when played on clone systems.
As for Kirby's Adventure, I honestly don't know what happened, but this game plays with wrong colors. Maybe the problem is with bad conversion of game, or the fact that it's played on typical PAL Famiclone from mid 1990s with its compatibility problems, and it's kinda similar to what we've seen on Super Lion King and Super Aladdin? I don't know for sure... But you can see that we played the original Famicom cartridge earlier, and it worked perfectly fine.
So, you can make your own conclusion here yourself what went wrong.
Part 7.
Game's List:
[0:00] Arumana no Kiseki (KDS-ARM) [FDS / EverDrive N8]
[6:58] Akumajou Densetsu / Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse (RC845) [Official]
[56:51] Gimmick (FME-7 + AY-3-8912) [Reproduction]
And this is the last part, which consists of expansion sound chips music, so sit back and enjoy it being played from Famiclone.
The review comes to the end, and I can say for sure that this Subor SB-225 / Liko KL-235 is a great example of PAL Famiclones that were widespread in ex-USSR countries in 1990s and how good most of them could play certain game titles. Same problems with SuperGame titles or Eurocom titles can be presented on many Famiclones from that era as here.
But I can say that for that Video Game System Subor SB-225 / Liko KL-235 does, it does it very well. Sure, it's PAL Famiclone, so generally it plays the game at slower speed, but you don't have the problem with reversed duty cycles sound, like on Entertainment Computer System that we reviewed earlier. The majority of expansion sound games work very well here, and they sound even louder than regular sound channels. The picture has vertical lines, but the colors look really nice, as they aren't washed out, and brightness with saturation are at adequate level.
The light gun is really amazing, and good thing that it works on Famicom as well, so you can use it as a cheap alternative to the official one by Nintendo. The controllers have longer cords and generally they are pretty solid - not exactly on par with official Famicom ones, but they are alright, and they also have turbo buttons, which makes the gameplay much easier for some titles.
And most importantly, which a lot of Famiclones have and what original Famicom doesn't feature is the AV out connection as opposed to just RF only.
So, if you ever happen to come across Subor SB-225 / Liko KL-235, and you are interested in Famiclones, just like me, you may definitely get this console in collection. I didn't even mention that Steepler actually re-released this console under Dendy brand, adding a pretty well known elephant to us on the console stickers and on controllers.
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| Photo by Pistolero (GBX Forums) |
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| The box of Steepler re-branded Subor SB-225 |
And you might be surprised, but this console was also re-released as a fake copy of Dendy Junior, which would have the insides of Subor SB-225, but the console would be colored in regular Dendy Junior Steepler colors, such as white and grey.
In the end, I also want to say that recently Subor company that made this Famiclone actually turned out to go bankrupt. I feel really sorry that this happened to them, and I just want to thank them for their production of Famicom clones back in 1990s. They made the childhood of many people who lived in 1990s awesome, which includes Russia, Ukraine, and many other ex-USSR countries with Famicom piracy hitting the market back then. Subor was also responsible for some cartridges that you may all know, like the 7-in-1 multicart with Darkwing Duck, Tale Spin, Robocop 3, Snake Rattle'n Roll, Mickey Mouse, Seicross, Magic Jewerly, which they re-released under their own ID, 64-in-1 multicart originally by Supervision that they also re-released, and also they made some singlecarts as well with certain games.
I truly believe that without Subor our childhood wouldn't be quite as great with those 8-bit games in countries, where Nintendo didn't release their NES console and games for it. We had cheaper alternatives, and Subor was one of them, and given the fact of their SB-225 model being really wide-spread, I believe that their bad news as of 2020 with their bankruptcy couldn't be noticed among gamers and Famiclone fans. So we definitely should take a moment of time and thank them for what they did!
Thank you for reading this review! I hope it was just as interesting to read as my other posts.
And I will definitely see you in the next posts.
(C) AlexSRMD Productions (2020)



