Nintendo wanted to curb software piracy in China, and bypass the ban that the Chinese government has implemented on home game consoles since 2000.

It was originally planned to play Super NES in addition to Nintendo 64 games, and had a release date set for mid-October with debut markets including Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Chengdu, expanding into the rest of China by the following spring.

The iQue Player's library has 14 games, light conversions from past releases for the Nintendo 64 in Europe, North America, and Japan.

[16] iQue Player games differ slightly from their Nintendo 64 counterparts, with the text and voices having been translated to Mandarin.

The only exceptions are the Mario games and the previously Japan-only Sin and Punishment, where the text has been translated but the voices remain in English.

Some features were removed due to the system's lack of support for Nintendo 64 controller accessories like the Rumble Pak.

[citation needed] Speedruns of several games, such as Super Mario 64 and Star Fox 64, are sometimes carried out on the iQue Player due to quicker loading times and faster scrolling text than the Nintendo 64 versions.