The PlayStation brand is about to welcome in its seventh console. It has been a glorious twenty plus years for the company and for fans. It’s also been lucrative for the bootleggers out there.
No matter what time period one looks back to, or looks forward to, it can be assured that there will always be a market for copycat consoles. It doesn’t make these consoles and the companies that manufacture them legit in the laws of decency, but the fact remains. At the end of the day they are at least funny so let’s round up the best knock-offs and share a few laughs.
10 Super Megason IV
The PS1 version that this console is ripping off looks decent. What might throw customers off is the kid seemingly flying through space. Why does he have 3D glasses, a gun, and why is he holding the controller like that? It’s basically a parody of what people think video games are like. The best part on the box is the “with extra cartridge” note even though all games, which are NES based, are preloaded onto the console.
9 Play & Power I
Like the Super Megason IV, The Play & Power I is going for a PS1 look. This console actually takes cartridges though. In fact, in a bizarre twist, the top pops open to insert games. Wouldn’t CDs be easier to pirate? Making cartridges is an expensive business. That’s why normal Super Nintendo and N64 games had no strict price and could get up to $80, or even $90. No one said bootleggers were smart though.
8 Mini Poly Station 3
The Mini Poly Station 3 looks close enough to a PS3. The font is off, but the body looks similar in shape. That is unless one actually looked at the console zoomed out. It’s tiny!
That pop-out screen is how you play. All of the games are LCD based like those Tiger Electronic handhelds from the 80s and 90s. There are no TV hookups and the console takes three AA batteries. A portable PS3 sounds great, but not like this.
7 PCP Station
“It’s addicting!” That should be the catchphrase because of the name. Another peculiar thing on the box is the addition of “earphone” on the front. Does the handheld come with one earphone, or does the sound system only support one earphone? The screen looks like it is advertising a Mario knock-off which is off brand for a Sony console along with the Xbox like button colors. Like the previous console, the PCP Station is LCD based.
6 Data Frog Y3
This is the description of the console on the online store, Alibaba. “Data Frog 4K Video Game Console With 2.4G Wireless Controller 600 Classic Games For SEGA/GBA/SNES Family TV Retro Game Console.” Is that title clear enough? This is typical for most bootleg consoles in that no matter what they look like, companies love advertising hundreds of games. For $40 that does seem worth it plus it looks like an adorable PS4 Pro with a red trim.
5 Ouye
This console looks like a PS4 and an Xbox One had a child. The controller looks closer to the Xbox side of the family. Except for all of the extra buttons around logo, it looks accurate. The name is seemingly derived from the forgotten Ouya consoles. Altogether this is a hilarious hodgepodge of systems that will probably blow up once plugged in.
4 X6 Retro Psp
Alibaba search was fun, but look at this. Whoa! The X6 Retro Psp has 10,000 games, is portable, and connects to the TV? Time to toss that Switch in the garbage. Jokes aside the portable’s body looks like a PSP. That is except for the extra bottom right buttons and the D-pad that covers the face buttons. There is also a camera on the back. For those curious, it’s about $20.
3 RS X9
The RS X9 looks like yet another PSP, night one combined with the infrastructure of the PS Vita. For example, games appear as bubbles just as they do on the Vita while the body itself is closer to its predecessor.
Thankfully the face buttons are more accurate, but the inclusion of a plus and minus button is puzzling. This could be for volume, or brightness but it could also be used as an analog stick replacement based on the design.
2 LayStation 2
Even though this is called the LayStation 2 on the console, which is clearly a PS2 Slim with PS1 controllers, it’s also called the Fun Station. On top of that, it plays 8-Bit games. Because of the different names, and because it is one letter away from PlayStation which usually auto-corrects searches, this out can be tricky to find online. Like the Play & Power I, the top opens up to plug in cartridges.
1 CT821 X7
Another portable, which once again blends two consoles together. This is basically a PS Vita except with two big differences. First, the face buttons are like those from a Nintendo console. Speaking of Nintendo, the left and right sides are painted to make it look like a Switch. The system does connect to a TV just like the Switch and supports arcade, SNES, GBA, Game Boy, GBC, NES, and Sega Genesis games. How they run is a different story.