Subor was China's Nintendo in 1993 — its 2018 comeback lasted fourteen months

Subor (小霸王) was founded in 1987 in Zhongshan, Guangdong by Duan Yongping. Its Famicom-compatible learning consoles — sold as educational tools with keyboards — became the dominant game machine in 1990s China, reaching households that could not afford a Nintendo. The brand was synonymous with a generation's first contact with video games.

The original company declined in the early 2000s as PCs and smartphones replaced dedicated learning machines. The Subor trademark was licensed to various manufacturers for unrelated products. In January 2017, a new entity — Subor Culture Development Co., Ltd. — was registered with the stated purpose of reviving the brand in gaming.

On 31 March 2018, Subor announced its formal return to the game-console market and said it would revoke third-party manufacturers' production authorisations. The announcement generated nostalgia-driven media coverage. But the company had no game library, no development ecosystem, and no hardware capability comparable to Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo. In 2019, the game-console team was disbanded.

On 5 November 2020, Subor Culture Development was petitioned for bankruptcy reorganization. The trademark owner, Guangdong Yihua Group, issued a statement that the bankrupt entity had 'no connection' to the Subor brand or its products. The comeback had lasted fourteen months from announcement to team dissolution, and the brand that meant something to 300 million childhoods ended as a licensing shell.