Cut into the Number of Famiclones Ever Produced - Case #1: Micro Genius

How many famiclones have ever been produced? This is one of the great mysteries that has never been solved - it has been pretty difficult to estimate because reliable sources mentioning the numbers are very rare. However, during constructing Unauthorizon I’ve fortunately found some of sources previously not mentioned. That’s the reason I decided to cut into the mystery step by step, and as the first step I focus on the famous Micro Genius came from Taiwan.

The case of Micro Genius in Taiwan

As you know Taiwan was the birthplace of the unauthorized famiclones. Exhaustive statistics for Taiwanese products as a whole do not exist as far as I know, but regarding to TXC (台灣晶技股份有限公司) known with Micro Genius series of famiclones, one of the largest famiclone manufacturers in Taiwan at that time, some informative figures can be found in several magazines and newspaper articles.

The first article I would like to introduce is ‘Overview of Game Console Manufacturers in Hong Kong and Taiwan’ (港台游戏机厂家概况), in “Diànzǐ tiānfǔ” (电子天府) magazine February 1994 (Issue 1). It's an extremely rare article that examines the annual sales and production volume of a total of 10 famiclone and peripheral manufacturers in Taiwan and Hong Kong as of 1992. 

According to this, TXC was producing 100,000 units per month in 1992. In other words, 1.2 million units per year. This figure is comparable to the number of Famicoms shipped in Japan during its heyday.

(fig.1) IQ-501, the most spread model in Micro Genius series. It was pretty popular in many countries in the world, with various local brands such as Spica in Australia/Singapore/Indonesia, Dendy in ex-USSR countries, Phantom System in Brazil, Nichi-Man in Colombia, Maxplay in Peru and Marico in Thailand.

Estimated number of manufactured Micro Genius

TXC manufactured Micro Genius series of famiclone for about five years, from later part of 1989 to some point in 1994, and during this period the sales volume was on a steady rise*. Therefore, it is unlikely that the monthly production of 100,000 units remained unchanged throughout the entire manufacturing period.

There’s a research book named "Taiwan Jiaolong:  Successful Upgrading and Transformation Examples of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises" (台灣蛟龍: 中小企業升級轉型的成功實例, 1996) which stated that TXC had been growing at an average of 15% per year. Based on this, I estimate the number of units manufactured from 1989 to 1994. 

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