Subor
| Subor Culture Development Co., Ltd. | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simplified Chinese | 小霸王文化发展有限公司 | ||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 小霸王文化發展有限公司 | ||||||
| Literal meaning | Little Emperor/Tyrant Culture Development Company, Limited | ||||||
| |||||||
 Company headquarters | |
| Formerly | Nihwa Electronics Factory |
|---|---|
| Company type | Private |
| Headquarters | Floors 1-4, Xiaobawang Industrial Park Building 3, No. 1 Xinhua Road, Jinli Industrial Zone, Zhongshan, Guangdong, China |
| Owner | Yihua Group |
| Subsidiaries | Zhongshan Xiaobawang Education Electronics Co.,
Ltd. Zhongshan Xiaobawang Innovation Technology Co., Ltd. Zhongshan Xiaobawang Life Electric Co., Ltd. Zhongshan Xiaobawang Kitchen Appliance Co., Ltd. Zhongshan Xiaobawang Digital Audio Co., Ltd. Shenzhen Xiaobawang Electronic Technology Co., Ltd. Zhongshan Xiaobawang Huaxing Electric Technology Co. , Ltd. |
Subor is the western brand name for a range of consoles and computer systems produced by Xiaobawang Company (also Xiǎo Bàwáng Company), based in Zhongshan, China. Xiaobawang Company is owned by Yihua Group. The consoles were very popular at the end of the 1980s and in the 90s. Later the company diversified to manufacturing other electronic devices.[1]
History
Circa 1987, Nihwa Electronics Factory was a struggling arcade game manufacturer owned by Yihua Group.[2][3] It was headquartered in Xiqu Subdistrict, Zhongshan, Guangdong.[4]
In 1989, Yihua Group appointed graduate Duan Yongping as director of the Nihwa Electronics Factory. Duan oversaw the development of the company's first console model, the D25. It was a famiclone (Famicom / NES clone) and was given the name Xiǎo Bàwáng (Chinese: 小霸王; lit. 'Little Emperor or Little Tyrant').[5][6] The console sold at a much lower price than imported official Nintendo machines, and it became very popular.[2]
In 1991, Nihwa Electronics Factory was renamed to Xiaobawang Company, known as Subor in the west.[7]
As some parents were loath to buy devices for purely recreational reasons, in 1993 the consoles were called educational and the company produced versions with keyboard and educational software.[1][5][6] These models were based on combining the Taiwanese Laser-310 with a Famicom chip, and called Chinese English Learning Machine (Chinese: 中英文电脑学习机). The first model was the SB-218.
In 1993–4, improved models SB-286 and SB-486 were released.[2][5][8] Jackie Chan became a spokesperson for the company.[9]
In 1995, the SB-926 was released. However, Duan left the company in August. He was not satisfied with the financial setup of the company and the fact that the Yihua Group would not give him or other staff shares.[2][3] He went on to found BBK Electronics later in the same year.
In 1998, the company's last famiclone, the SB-2000, was released. Although, still using 8-bit 6502 based system (CPU UM6561), it was upgraded with 512KB of RAM, separate keyboard, mouse and disk drive. It had revised software and included a similar terminal prompt similar to MS-DOS, F-BASIC and a mouse driven GUI.[10][11]
The Xiaobawang Company was impacted by the ban on game consoles in China. The ban lasted from 2000 to 2015.[1] The company specialized in other electronic products such as dictionaries. In 2004, a number of subsidiaries were created; Xiaobawang Educational Electronics, Xiaobawang Digital Audio, Xiaobawang Electrical Appliances, and Xiaobawang Kitchen.[12]
A new video game system, the Subor Z+ / Z+ New Gaming Computer, was unveiled in 2018.[6] Xiaobawang Company also invested money into virtual reality devices.[1]
Impact
Karen Chiu stated in 2019 that Chinese people who played video games as children had nostalgia for the Xiǎo Bàwáng Video Game System comparable to such in Western countries for the actual consoles.[7]
Subsidiaries
Subor Culture Development
According to Sixth Tone, Subor Culture Development was spun out of Yihua Group, in 2015, to develop virtual reality products.[13]
Subor Culture Development went bankrupt in 2020 as per the Zhongshan Intermediate People's Court, and authorities barred Feng Baolun, the legal representative of the company, from commerce deemed "high consumption" including commercial air travel and staying in a hotel deemed to be upscale due to Feng being labeled a "discredited" person.[1] Sixth Tone said this was the only part of the company that is defunct and the Subor brand is still active.[13][6]
References
- ^ a b c d e Chiu, Karen (2020-11-09). "Bootleg gaming console maker Subor faces bankruptcy as frontman barred from air travel". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 2021-05-03.
- ^ a b c d China's Answer to the NES ft. Jackie Chan | 小霸王, retrieved 2023-07-21
- ^ a b "Xiaobawang is cool! Is it just because of the departure of a man from the endless joy to the lack of skills?". Lujuba. 2022-12-30. Retrieved 2023-07-21.
- ^ "联系我们". Subor. Archived from the original on 2022-04-23. Retrieved 2021-05-03.
中山市小霸王管理办公室 [...] 地址：广东省中山市西区沙朗金昌工业路17号
- ^ a b c "三十年没火，如今被大厂盯上的"新赛道"". finance.sina.com.cn. Retrieved 2023-07-23.
- ^ a b c d ""小霸王"被申请破产昭示自主创新才是企业持久生命力的保证". m.mp.oeeee.com. Retrieved 2023-07-23.
- ^ a b Chiu, Karen (2019-05-13). "This is the console Chinese gamers remember most fondly". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 2021-05-03.
Let's play a little guessing game. [...] which bears a striking resemblance to the classic Nintendo console.
- ^ "Day 9321 [转]发几张早期国产学习机的图片 – 映雪青帖" (in Chinese (China)). 2014-04-15. Retrieved 2023-07-24.
- ^ Zou, Zeus (2020-11-09). "Kapital Koopas: Knock-Off NES Empire Falls, Pokémon Film Gets China Release". The Beijinger. Retrieved 2021-05-03.
- ^ "Introduction to 8-bit Famicom Clone – Subor – SB2000". Computing & Technology, The Ultimate Computer Technology Blog and The Knowledgebase of Computing. Retrieved 2023-07-21.
- ^ lucy. "How does the 8-bit BASIC perform on Famicom Clone – Subor SB2000 – FBasic – Compute PI approximation using Monte-Carlo method". Computing & Technology, The Ultimate Computer Technology Blog and The Knowledgebase of Computing. Retrieved 2023-07-23.
- ^ "20多年过去了，"小霸王"终于申请破产了？". 知乎专栏 (in Chinese). Retrieved 2023-07-23.
- ^ a b Tone, Sixth (13 November 2020). "Reports of Our Death Are Greatly Exaggerated, Says Chinese Gaming Console". #SixthTone. Retrieved 2023-07-21.