I LOVE this famiclone! I got it for my birthday, and I noticed that it doesn't play sound very well and the colors are too bright. changing the TV brightness makes the colors too dark. Can't figure out how to fix it DX. However, when I inserted castlevania 3 before I modded the audio (the mod you mentioned), the sound was fine. Same graphical issues as you but with a lot better sound. added a 7404 inverter and now castlevania works 100% with fully correct audio. I got akumaju densetsu in the mail today and it also works fine (other than the obvious audio issue. I'll fix it later :P)
Update, if you're after a Retro Entertainmet System "normal not HDMI version" be sure you get the older version with the box art like what's shown here, cause the newer versions with a cartridge in the console on the box art are very poorly made that's what I read online, or you can get the HDMI version "that has composite cables and Retro Bit focuses more on those and less on the non HDMI version that's kinda why at least what I think"
Me and my boyfriend have decided to make a video game collection the easy way, I get everything below N64, he gets N64 and above. Well, I already have a SNES, and recently got an Atari 2600. The next console I'm after is the NES, now I've been hearing that the old style front loaders haven't aged very well to now. Is this true? I would really like one, but I could also go for a top loader as well, if those are easier to find working, and less expensive. Or is a clone the way to go for me? I really intend to get serious with my collection, though.
I'm always glad to hear from my female audience. The world needs more female retro gamers! When choosing an NES, there are many options, all with their own pros and cons. A clone like this is alright for beginners and is very inexpensive, but generally speaking it isn't the system I would recommend to most people unless you have only a passing interest in NES games such that you only plan on buying like Tetris and Mario and then never any of the over 700+ games made for the NES. Depending on how serious you are about NES collecting and your budget, you might want to think about importing an AV Famicom from Japan, as it is the most reliable hardware, and get a sturdy NES-to-Famicom converter. Of course, that's probably the most hard-core solution of all, so it really depends on you. I wrote a starter guide that lists most of the available options, the general price range, and the major pros and cons of each option. You can find the article on my blog here: satoshimatrix.wordpress.com/2011/04/06/nesfamicom-starting-guide/ I'd be happy to answer any specific questions you have. Shoot me a pm and we'll go from there.
Wow you seem like a real chill dude. I liked this video it let's me know before hand to see if I really wanna buy it or not. You should buy clone systems and do reviews you'll totally build your reputation more.
Thank you. There's an entire playlist of Attack of the Famiclones episodes I've done over the years. Many more to see. th-cam.com/play/PLtsZRFeG-MhKlkY5wtueTfbKNDG7UzSTa.html
God, I remember getting one of these as a gift wayyy back in like 2012. Didn't even last a month before the pins bent and rendered the entire system unusable.
Super Famiclones have not been condensed into a single chip like the NOAC or GOAC, so that's why you don't see $20 SuFami clones. They still need to be discrete clones, which raises the price. That's because the worldwide market for Super Nintendo clones is less than half that for Famiclones, especially in high population developing countries in Asia.
Good at emulating/playing probably about 99 percent of NES Titles. The Sound and Video has been fine in the Majority of games I've tested for it. I've tested Duck Hunt, Gotcha, and both those Zapper(Gun) games work perfectly for this Clone NES System. Be warn that this system is extremely light and that if you put at a high spot like I've done that you can possibly damage it if you knock it down or pull on the system too hard with Controller in it.
It all depends on your needs. This is a good starter system, but if you're really serious about NES collecting, the AV Famicom is your best bet, although that's considerably more expensive, plus you'd need an adapter for NES carts. This is a good starter system, but the first thing you need to do is buy an NES controller. The controllers it comes with are _awful_.
Well I Have a real NES at home and some spare controllers. I was looking at this for my apartment at school. I pulled the trigger for 15 bucks how bad could it be?
I ordered one off Amazon (Silver and Black) since my NES (Toaster) started giving me problems (even though I cleaned it). Update I don't own the NES toaster model anymore, I sold it to buy an AV Famicom with the 72 to 60 pin adapter "that's what I use to play my NES games"
If you still have the console what do you think of it personally? If it broke how long did it last and how did it break? Also lol I saw you before on a gilbert gottfried video where he's on a game show saying "YOU FOOL!"
DaGameNerd Well, watch the video to find out what I think of it. The RES is a run of the mill cheap Famiclone. Not bad, but there are better clones out there. namely the Super 8.
Satoshi Matrix Oh cool uploader replied :) anyways yes I watched it but I felt like asking another user for their experience and if it met their needs. In the end I just wanna know how long it lasts and if I can use my raw famicom adapter from Gyromite, it's not like the one you have it's litteraly just the adapter from the game. As far as sound I might be able to live with it if not I'll do what you did (if I can figure it out lol). I already have an official NES but felt like getting a clone for my room, either this or a Dendy Famiclone since I mostly use Famicom games.
DaGameNerd Life expectancy for clones isn't something that can be objectively measured. It all depends on how careful you are with it. The general rule of thumb with Famiclone is to treat it carefully as if you expect it to break every time you use it. SO basically, that means don't be slamming it around, don't be roughly pulling out carts or slamming them in, don't be leaving the AC adapter plugged in at all times, and so on. This is a $20 clone and it's built like that. The controllers are complete shit and don't even use them. Use real NES controllers instead.
Great video, but in this video you pull the cartridge from one side, but in your retron 5 video you say to pull the cartridge from both sides. When I pull the cartridge from both sides it is really hard to take out, but when I pull the cartridge from one side and pull dianglely it is easy to pull out. Please explain the best way to do it, or if it's okey to keep doing it the way I've been doing it. Thanks in advance
Either is fine as long as you don't pull directly up from the middle. Don't do that with any cartridge based.....anything. No matter if you're talking about a clone like this or a stick of RAM in your computer.
I looking at buying a retro enterainment system do all the games work with conslone because been doing some resarch i cannot find a list of games that do dont work
Can you do a tutorial/video about fixing the audio from the system? I'm looking for getting one (the original NES is too overpriced by here), and I didn't find anything by the internet.
Hey Satoshi! About the audio fix for this clone, once you said it needs to put a 1kohm resistor on audio track, but I'm the tutorial to fix audio on retroduo, you said that a 2.2kohm resistor is needed, plus a 104 capacitor. Which one is correct? Thanks.
Can you use a flashcart to fool the system into running something like Castlevania 3? Or will it still not work? What about repro carts like Earthbound Zero? Does it run those?
Most Flashcarts won't work with NOACs, and the ones that will won't suddenly make incompatible games compatible. You need to understand how mappers work. Different NES games use various mappers to achieve more complex games. NOAC clones such as this one will operate with most common mappers, but MMC4 and MMC5 (mappers 10 and 5) don't work. I point you towards the bigass list of mappers for NES games. Ctrl + f to find your game you want to know about, and look at it's mapper. The game you want will work provided it isn't mapper 10, 5, and 90. 95% of NES games use mappers 0, 1 and 4 so you're good with most things. tuxnes.sourceforge.net/nesmapper.txt
It is also identical to the Hyperkin Retron 1, I recently purchased one and it is exactly the same in look, although the audio is slightly worse than this console
The reason for that is ever since the Neo-Fami from 2004, every single varient of the same thing has been manufactured by Shenzhen Qi Sheng Long Industralist Co. and simply had the name of whoever is marketing the clone for a particular market. Yobo, Retro-Bit, RETRO, or Hyperkin. None of them made it, they just license it. Shenzhen Qi is like the TOSE of China - they've developed a ton of things you associate with other companies and nobody knows who they actually are.
Gray screen is what NOACs display when there's a general input error. You either don't have a cartridge inserted, your cartridge isn't seated properly, it's one of a handful of incompatible games, or the most likely cause, your cartridge contacts are dirty. The best way to clean cartridge contacts are with cotton swabs and isopropanol. Do not use windex or anything other than as close to 100% isopropanol alcohol as you can get in a drug store.
Don’t get this I played it for about a day and they game reader messed up and from the first day I had to find something to lean it forward to make it work
What is MMC? Is that GI Joe Atlantis Factor? Will that work on Retro ES? I ordered this system (RES) and have it in hand but haven't hooked it in yet. I also have 28 old NES games including Zelda and SMBros 1,2,&3 I just dug out of my parents attic. Will the running pad and zap gun work for it?
MMCs were the Memory Management Controllers used in NES games. They allowed the NES to do more complex games than it was designed for. Remember, the NES was originally made in 1983 to compete with consoles like the Atari 5200 and Sega SG-1000. On it's own, it could do games like Balloon Fight, Popeye, and Donkey Kong. As time went on, Nintendo invented mapper control chips on the game boards that allowed the NES to do more advanced things like scroll the screen, preform bankswitching, access compressed data on the fly, save s-ram to batteries, split the screen, and so on. Games like Super Mario Bros. 3 and the Legend of Zelda would not be possible without MMCs. Towards the end of the system's life, companies such as Konami invented their own MMCs and allowed the Famicom to do some crazy things. G.I Joe Atlantis factor is an MMC3 game and yes, it works. Provided your games are clean, they'll play, and yes, you can use the power pad and zapper on the RES, but you'll need to use a CRT. You can't use a lightgun on any sort of HDTV.
Satoshi Matrix Thanks. Also, would NES Top Gun (also found with the games) work or have trouble? I'll probably do my own review once its' all hooked in. Stay tuned.
Is Final Fantasy 1 a mmc5 game? Because I got this and i have the first Final Fantasy and am Really looking forward to getting this and playing Final Fantasy 1
***** Yeah, that's Hyperkin, not Retro-Bit. As for the RetroN5, I'm still not entirely sure what to think of it. Android based, so it's emulation....yet it works with the real carts which means its depedant on the hardware of the cartridges to retrieve the software. I've got an Ouya and Android emulation on that is fantastic for the most part, but everything Hyperkin has shown has been custom built, so you can't judge how good the emulation will be solely on other Android devices. I'll be buying one for sure, but I'm skeptical of it. Retro-Bit clones like this - while not perfect, are hardware based. I see emulation as kinda cheating. LIke Hyperkin admitting that they can't make a non-shit clone so they'll turn to emulation software instead.
As usual great review. How does Battletoads run on this console ? I noticed that on some clone systems that the game will glitch out at the start of level 2. I'm wondering because if it won't work on this console then I'll have to unfortunately skip buying that game.
Rare employed some unique programming techniques that only work with a hardware quirk of the RP2A03 and discrete clones of it, not NOACs. Battletoads will fail to run on almost every single clone system ever made.
Are their any issues with using this on an HDTV? I think I heard someone mention it makes a humming noise or something. Can someone please let me know!
Well first off, don't use an HDTV with a SD console. Even on really good HDTVs, SD signals including composite will look _horrible_. Use a CRT for game consoles such as this. That's why I filmed this using a CRT rather than one of my HDTVs. Anyway to answer your question, a humming/buzzing noise is feedback from using unshielded composite comb filters built into tvs. Some HDTVs have shielding, some don't. It depends entirely on your tv. So there's no way I can tell you if you'd encounter this or not. Simply use a CRT instead. If you don't have one, check your local thrift store or even local ads. Nobody much wants CRTs these days so you'd be able to pick up a really nice one for almost nothing.
On Amazon, they have a special adapter to hook up AV cables to which converts to HDMI. That might be a good solution, I'm not saying for sure it's a good alternative, because I don't have one.
Yes, there are plenty of clones that do SNES. Among the best is Retro-Bit's RetroDuo 2.0. You can check out my full review right here: Attack of the Famiclones - Retro Duo Review As for N64 clones, they don't exist yet because the patents haven't expired yet. Wait at least a few more years. Around 2016 is when you should start to expect to see them.
Elizabeth Goriz In case you missed the joke, yes Gyromite works on the Retro Entertainment System. The joke is that in actuality there is no such thing as Gyromite, as even the NES version still refers to itself by its Japanese name, Robot Gyro.
hi satoshi. i recently got one of these consoles and i noticed that SMB has many sound issues. you can really notice it when you get a coin or a mushroom. is there anyway to fix this?
+LunarForte Correct, you won't find labels typically, but all NOACs share the same pinout. Work your way from the rca jack backwards to the trace and possibly via to the audio output pins and solder there. This differs on every clone so I can't tell you precisely what to do, a multimeter is your friend here.
so is there any difference between wiring a 1kohm resistor or a 1.5 kohm one to the audio traces? i saw a pic from a guy who said that he wired a 1.5 kohm resistor on his retro entertainment system...sorry complete noob here
+a w a y チャネル2 Yes* (read for more details) the Retro Entertainment System and other Famiclones will play PAL NES games. But..... The PAL NES used it's own unique processor, clocked at 1.66Mhz - 17% slower than it's NTSC counterparts used in everywhere that wasn't a PAL/SECAM country. As a result, PAL games were themselves 17% slower, unless reprogrammed to run at that speed. Since the global market for clone systems is overwhelmingly NTSC as it covers both North America and Japan (the primary successful markets), this and virtually all other clones are NTSC based, meaning they run at 1.79Mhz. Most PAL games are playable on an NTSC clone, but they'll run at NTSC speed, meaning 1.79Mhz, meaning 17% faster than PAL. Since the NES doesn't have its own dedicated sound chip (the CPU handles that), the game as well as the music will run about 1.7x normal speed, like hitting a fastforward button. Some games that were not released outside of PAL markets like Elite will have severe graphical issues. If you plan to buy one of these, also plan on buying NTSC games. The PAL NES was very much an afterthought Nintendo had at the time. When it comes to NES gaming, you'll want to ditch PAL and go NTSC. This isn't always the case when it comes to retro gaming, but with classic Nintendo, NTSC has clear advantages. The opposite is true of the Master System.
+Satoshi Matrix i didnt know about the processor being slower but in UK & Ireland(where i am at) they gave the production rights to Mettel which a long story short there were 2 NES's(NESI?... Entertainment systems) & a lot of confusion cus some games only worked on later NES's(Nintendo made NES)... we had it oddly rough with the home console market came, the MD did change that but over here prices are overinflated as f*ck. thank you for your input & i will be getting one of these with a NTSC honey bee. (dont plan on paying 10€ for super mario). Also i love your Uncommon Game Showcase made me wanna quit emulating & hunting for weird Multi Carts & shit.
+a w a y チャネル2 Right. The NES had a PAL A and PAL B, which is used to distinguish between the UK and mainland Europe because Nintendo hated the idea of a European Union I guess. Cunts. As for importing NTSC games from North America, shop around. Prices are rising for retro gaming in general, so you probably will find that 10€ is the average price for games that are desirable, if not higher. I've seen Contra sell for what would be 40€ for you. And that's not even an uncommon game! Thanks for watching my stuff. Check out my newer vids too. Lots and lots of stuff I've reviewed and covered.
It's useless on it's own unless modded because by stock 98% of the NES-101s in existence are RF only, with the Composite versions only being avaialble through Nintendo Repair Centers as replacements for detective systems under warranty. That said, the system has a wonderful design, it makes playing games way easier because the cartridge connector is far more reliable and the NES-101 controller is in my view the best controller Nintendo has EVER made. From the ergonomics to the feel and size of the dpad, they got everything right. It's easy to see how they went from that to Virtual Boy controller, which frankly, is again one of the best things about the Virtual Boy. Overall though, you're far, far better off buying the Japanese model, the new Famicom HVC-101, commonly called the "AV Famicom". Composite video and dual mono stock, plays all Famicom games, has the NES 7-pin controller standard, still has the Famicom DB-15 port, and plays expansion audio. With a pin adapter, it'll play NES games too.
Well, most HDTVs have a composite video input but the signal will look bad and there's a good chance of video lag. For the best experience, just go get a CRT. They can frequently be found in thrift stores or private ads on places like kijiji for next to nothing or even free.
It looks just fine on my Samsung 24 inch HDTV, in fact it looks close to like the front loader composite video quality. However, on my CRT HDTV, the picture quality is dark. Video quality and lag will vary among HDTVs but real hardware will always have less lag than emulators. My Samsung HDTV has an option to change "Response Time" to fastest and this eliminates a lot of lag, whereas my CRT HDTV does not have this option. Lag and video quality can be improved with AV to HDMI upscalers believe or not, they usually handle 240p signals better than most HDTV built-in scalers.
Unless I am remembering incorrectly, it probably would be better to get a RetroDuo instead of this. I thought the compatibility was quite good for NES games, better than this, even... but again, I could be forgetting.
Satoshi Matrix If one of you guys got this clone can you tell me about the controller? I already bought the clone and after watching this I am wondering about how other people liked the controller.
The RES controller is _terrible_. Among the worst I've ever come across. Buy an OEM NES-04 controller as soon as you get this, you'll want to replace the stock controllers immediately.
I have an honest question to ask, if you were to use the Japanese versions of games that would use MMC5 chips, such as the Japanese Version of Castlevania 3 or Uncharted Waters, do they work with 60-72 pin adapters without major glitches? (other than the obvious incompatibility with the special sound chips) I have been kinda wanting to get one but I am interested in that, as Uncharted Waters is one of my favorite games of all time, and I am able to deal with the Japanese text. I am also fine with everything that might need to be done to the console, I was just curious as to if they would work.
+Meeptroid Zero Let me break down your question so I can give you a detailed answer. Most Famiclones (this one included) are not able to run MMC4, MMC5 and Mapper 90 games. It doesn't matter what region the cartridge is as these mappers all work as advanced co-processors to the 2A03 and are unable to function on the vast majority of clones. You cannot circumvent this fact by using the Famicom versions. However, the Japanese version of Castlevania III does _not_ use MMC5. That's a misconception. The Japanese Castlevania 3 - Akumajou Densetsu - uses Konami's own mapper, the VRC6, which also had built-in expansion sound capabilities. The VRC6 _is_ compatible with most Famiclones although the expansion audio is not. If you really want to play Uncharted Waters and other Koei games like perhaps Gemfire, you'll need the real hardware. I would suggest buying an AV Famicom as that's the most reliable and sexiest version of the hardware.
+Satoshi Matrix Thanks for the information, and I think I am realizing things, I just honestly don't know about all these games, and Uncharted Waters, or Daikoukai Jidai (its Japanese name) was a game I was hoping to play, as like I said above, its one of my favorite games if all time, but there's so little information about said game, that I didn't know how the chip worked and if the NOAC would be compatible with any of the 2 versions, I think I know now to either save up for a real NES or deal with the reality that the game wouldn't work. Its a good thing there's an SNES version of the game, and my first console was an SNES, although, I am astounded at how many clone console NOACs cannot play MMC5 games. Honestly, the only ones I know of that work with them are the Retro duo and the Retro Trio (or whatever the name is). Are there any others that you know of that support MMC5? Also, how is the compatibility of the Super Joy 3? That's the one Famiclone I own as of now.
+Meeptroid Zero I dunno how much you know, so I'll start from the beginning. Since the early days, Famicom and NES games are all governed by memory mapper chips commonly simply called "mappers". Mappers allow games to do things the hardware alone is incapable of. The earliest mappers were simply solder joint connections on the board that dictated mirroring - in other words, scrolling. If a game hard to scroll horizontally, it had such a mirroring mapper. Over time, the Famicom hardware from 1983 began to age and developers wanted more advanced games starting in 1987, Nintendo introduced the Memory Mapper Chip 1 - or MMC1 for short. This was an integrated chip built right into the cartridge that would handle mirroring digitally and could also mirror in any four directions on the fly. This is how games like Metroid and Zelda were achieved. Without the MMC1, these games would not have been possible on the hardware. In time, Nintendo introduced the MMC2 (Punch-Out) and then MMC3 which a huge number of games used including Mario 3. Each mapper they introduced was more advanced and more complex than the last, and in Japan, third party developers began to develop and use their own mappers as well, some of which eventually rivaled the complexity of the MMC3 and beyond. With the MMC4, Nintendo had a chip that was able to compete with the PC Engine and MegaDrive in terms of hardware scrolling effects and sprite size. The MMC5 chip was Nintendo's crowning achievement as it was a ridiculously complicated feat of engineering that especially bypassed the NES hardware's limitations and instead of it being like a coprocessor, the NES itself was really more like the co-processor of the MMC5. To this day the MMC5 remains impossible to fully emulate via an FPGA and even most PC NES emulators struggle to completely grasp all of the MMC5's capabilities. NOACs are based on reverse engineered design documents based on the 6502 which the Famicom is based. But the documents that were originally used were not perfect and contain many flaws. To my knowledge there isn't a single existing NOAC that is able to play MMC4, MMC5 or Mapper 90 games. I dunno here you heard that the Retro Duo and Retro Duo Trio can, but they can't. To play MMC5 games, you need a real system. Again, I don't recommend you buy an NES-001 or NES-101, get a HVC-101 commonly called the "AV Famicom". yeah it'll cost $80+, but it's well worth it. Or, simply emulate. There are many devices that do this kind of thing wonderfully these days. I personally use an Ouya. Heck, you can even hook up an NES controller to it if you really wanted to. I've got a video review of the Ouya if you're interested on my channel. Plus lots of other clones. The Super Joy III has very poor compatibility. It's not a good clone. I've got a video review up on my channel of the thing.
+Meeptroid Zero That's easy - The Super 8. Absolutely the Super 8, even unmodified. But if you can do the cap mod, then it's all the better. I have two reviews of it. an older SD one that's longer and detailed, or an HD one that's more concise and in HD. th-cam.com/video/SIQ2Fij-W_E/w-d-xo.html
I got the Silver and black one, and I like the Retro Entertainment system, I was going to get the Yobo FC game console but until I heard about this problem from this video, I went for the Retro Entertainment System and glad I made that choice. FC Game Console (NES version) Review ( ̄へ ̄)
GameGenie works by intercepting game code before the console and altering hex values. GameGenie will work with any game that is itself compatible with your Famiclone. There's nothing special about GameGenie. It will work if the game will work.
Well, the cartridge connectors on the NES-001 can be replaced. I actually just replaced the pin connectors on my NES-001, it's really easy and cheap to do. They're $8 on nintendorepairshop.com (where you can also find replacement NES controllers both OEM and clone). That said, if the actual BOARD on the NES is fried, then hell yeah these guys are a good substitute in most cases. Oh, and stereo video? :)
Replacing a flawed design that wares out with another of the same design doesn't fix the problem it just extends the problem into the future. As well, new production pin connectors are made by third parties and are not of the same quality as the original ones Nintendo installed, ensuring they will fail much sooner. No, you're better off with pretty much anything other than the NES-001, unless you want to go and completely rebuild the cartridge mechanism, which some people have done. The NES isn't capable of stereo audio. I duunno if I explained it here, but many clones have the option for dual mono, which is carried on the stereo channel of RCA. That means that you get audio out of both left and right channels. That said, it is possible to pseudo stereo mod an NES/Famicom by sending two of the four sound channels to the left and the other two to the right. This creates an interesting effect, but you need a good sound system or headphones to really hear the difference this makes.
Satoshi Matrix Well, yeah, you'll find no argument that the NES-001 is a hell of a lot more high-maintenance than the NES-101, or really any top-loading system. I still can't believe Nintendo went with that design instead of top-loading in the first damned place. Anyway, while I have your ear, have you tried Krikzz new Famicom-to-NES converter? How does it compare to the Gyromite one, or to the black market converters of the day?
Yuko Asho It's a great idea, and just as I like RetroZone's NES pcbs, I think it's great that there are alternatives to cannibalizing original games. The problem is that the new production Famicom to NES internal game shell adapters are about twice as expensive as is reasonable. If they were $15, that'd be kinda pricy, but alright, but at $25, you can buy a Gyromite adapter for only a few bucks more, which also nets you a shell. I'd be a lot more enthusiastic if those adapters were cheaper.
Satoshi Matrix There's that, yeah. I hate the idea of having to bust up, or worse, try and mold, my own shell for the converter. Honestly, it's a crying shame RetroZone doesn't sell their clear shells anymore, since that would have been an awesome way to get a shell not only for this, but for repros that use the INL boards.
I heard a guy bought one of these with his Amazon credit points and his ended up breaking all because he removed 1 game cartridge from the slot and the screw broke off the post, and his didn't accept offical NES controllers. Here's his video. /watch?v=lHLOM3HB8qI
What an absolute idiot. In order to rip the cartridge bay from its mounting screws, he would have needed to apply about twice as much force as is needed to pull a game out and therefore the failure is his fault, not the unit's. You don't pull directly, up, you pull to the side, and then the other side. Sort of wiggle the cart out. Anyone who has ever used any vertical loading console ever would tell you this. Also if you can't use OEM Nintendo controllers, then how am I magically able to do so in this very video? He's 100% wrong about that.
Yeahthis noac chip is good enough torun first and 2nd gen nes games, but last gen nes games just simply struggle to run it or not without glitches, but at the other hand it's lavible that company's still producing halve replicated/emulated nes hardware, am mean even famiclones from the 90's were even better.
Brandon Herrera The Everdrive will work, but not every game will. Regardless of if its the real cart or via the flashcart, incompatible mappers will remain incompatible, meaning the MMC4, MMC5 and mapper 90. That means no Castlevania 3, Famicom Wars, Final Fantasy 7.
I've ordered this console a few minutes ago, in blue/orange😅 I never had an nes or anything before (only a gba). My english isn't the best, is this console good for 25€/$?
You'd get a solid power light, but nothing else. The red "blinking light" of the NES-001 is caused by the NES-10 lockout chip contained within the console. See, in late 70's Atari released the VCS (aka 2600) and allowed anyone who wanted to develop for it the means to do so. This lead to an eventual glut of terrible games by amateur programmers that flooded the market, reducing visibility of quality games, and that largely lead to the crash of 1984. To avoid that from happening again, Nintendo controlled all manufacturing of NES games (hence why every NES game is the same gray shell) and to further secure the system, they installed a chip that would authorize the game to be played. Problem was, the NES-10 chip would become faulty if the contact pins of either the console or cartridge were dirty. Of course eventually unlicensed carts did start to appear once means of neutralizing the NES-10 were discovered, and nowadays its even recommended you can disable the NES-10, as the system doesn't need it to function. Clone systems don't have the NES-10, so no blinky lights on any of them.
You will have trouble playing some games. Battletoads freezes in Level 2 on clone consoles, so you have to warp to level 3 in Level 1 just to able to play the game. Paperboy and Dirty Harry won't play in clones because it won't recognize the controller. Castlevania 3 and Uncharted Water won't work since they use the MMC 5 mapper.
Not entirely true. Atari didn't let anyone make games for the VCS. Activison was the first ones to break ranks and do so, and Atari DID try to get them to stop in court but they lost. Also it's the 10NES chip.
i saw your video on your nes dogbone controller to sega genesis and you never have done a video on making your famicom to nes adapter ( I know you can find some online) but those sometimes are to expensive and I like how you to a bottom of an nes cart and and you stick a famicom game on the top and what im saying It looks nice and better than any other adapter
Jason Skonning neither are things that I can make tutorials for. They were things I did through a lot of careful planning and prevision soldering. For the NES 101 controller on Genesis, you essentially need to take a Genesis controller, remove the multiplexer solder wires to the pins, disable the 4021, and find the corresponding traces. Nintendo did not make doing so easy as the traces are VERY small. As for the Famicom to NES adapter, well, that's a copy of Gyromite that has an NES to Famicom adapter built in. All I did was cut away the plastic to the point where you can freely access to the adapter part, then shaved away more plastic as was needed.
Neither; it's a Famiclone. Famiclones are glop-top consolidated reverse engineered clones of the NES hardware that simulate the performance of the original hardware. Famiclones are neither emulation (which is one piece of hardware behaving as non-native hardware) nor is it actual hardware. Famiclones are reverse engineered clones.
Or get a Famiclone and get an Everdrive N8 to play ROMs from an SD card. Keep in mind, some clones don't work with the Everdrive, but I think all of Retro-Bit's clones should.
jrfjosh Just because a clone can run the N8 doesn't mean specific games will run on the N8 via a clone. Certain mappers won't work on NOAC clones even with the N8. So if you want to play all games, emulation bests Famiclones and flashcarts.
I agree. Emulators can have better compatibility. I just prefer hardware clones over software emulation. Emulators just don't give me that "feeling" like I am playing the actual game, hardware clones do. It comes down to preference and how important the incompatible titles are to each person. Jobelbute said they didn't have the carts anymore and wanted to get playing again and it sounded like they had ROMs. So a clone and flash cart may be a good option for them, unless they want higher compatibility.
jrfjosh I also agree with what you're saying, but generally speaking, my advice is the Ouya. Increasingly people are getting rid of CRTs and HDTVs have already begun to completely phase out Composite, S-Video, and even Component. Not only that, but a clone + a flashcart would end up costing more than an Ouya would, which is HD ready and can do a lot more than just play NES games. Even if you never looked at any Ouya specific games (there actually are several hundred excellent Ouya games by this point) the Ouya also offers a wide range of emulators for things like SNES, Genesis, Neo-Geo, PS1, GameBoy Advance and so on. I personally use an NES to USB adapter and use an actual NES controller when playing NES games. I get that there's something integrable that is lost through emulation, but using the original controller mitigates a lot of that.
Satoshi Matrix what? howd you make a famicom adapter out of a legit NES game? does this have soemthing to do with most gyromite cartdges booting up as "robot gyro"
The Japanese version fo the NES - the Famicom - was launched in 1983. It uses a 60 pin cartridge connector. When Nintendo redesigned the console for North America in 1985, they redesigned the cartridge connector with an additional 12 pins to serve as lockouts, preventing third parties from making their own games (this was eventually thwarted by Tengen, Camerica and others). As a result, 72 pin NES and 60 pin Famicom games are not natively interchangable, meaning that all NES games had to be manufactuered completely seperately of Famicom games. But since Nintendo was the sole manufactuer of cartridges, there was a backlog and the company was worried they would not be able to produce enough cartridges for the 1985 holiday season. As a stop gap measure, Nintendo manufactered Famicom converts and used existing Famicom cartridges for many of the first production of NES games throughout 1985 and 1986. By 1987 Nintendo ceased this and began to produce 72 pin versions that had no such adapter. This being said, it is very difficult to tell if an early NES game has an adapter or if it's a 72 pin version. Gyromite contained to be produced until 1991, meaning that the number of Gyromite carts without the adapter greatly exceeds the number with. When searching in the wild today, it's really just the luck of the draw. I own about 600 NES games, and of all of them only seven games contain Famicom adapters. It's rather rare.
+Alexey Filippenko They were a Russian brand of Famiclones for the PAL/SECAM market. and also pirated games because Nintendo had a trade embargo against the soviet union, and even after the collapse, Nintendo still didn't officially open business deals in the Russian Federation. hence rampant piracy
+Alexey Filippenko They were a Russian brand of Famiclones for the PAL/SECAM market. and also pirated games because Nintendo had a trade embargo against the soviet union, and even after the collapse, Nintendo still didn't officially open business deals in the Russian Federation. hence rampant piracy
+Satoshi Matrix In Poland we had Pegasus/es and Dendy as well, actually. That's why you could buy some really rare games for a measly price of 2-3 bucks more or less. Used to own Flintstones: Surprise at the Dinosaur Peak, Mr. Gimmick and Little Samson, I don't think I paid more than 10$ for all of them. You could buy the carts either at your local market or in certain... household goods stores, for some reasons. :v In fact, back in the day I didn't even know this was all rather shady. Good ol' times.
+Satoshi Matrix Yes, they were widely popular and spread in Russia and post-USSR in general, and even in some European countries. They were actually made in China as well as thousands different pirated cartridges that were extremely widespread and cheap too. Since that time China has become a meme in Russia, basically a synonym of something extremely cheap and of questionable quality. Hundreds of cartridges like "9999 in 1" with like 5 slightly modified games starting from different level or even more likely on some messed-random-shit level, and also they would very funnily pirate games. Did you know that we had 17, SEVEN FUCKING TEEN Mario games on our Dendy??? They were even reviwed on TV as if they were legit ! Like Adventure Island became "Mario" after changing hero sprites etc. Lol. So these were pretty crazy and funny times, but the thing is - the systems and cartrigdes were actually working pretty well and many still work up to this day, even though they were cheap. And some pirated game ports, like Jungle Book, were in fact better than the official port! Imagine that. And I believe that the system is still a pretty good option for a beginner NES collectioner, nowadays it's being produced not only in China but in Russia too lol. But the new version is a bit worse than the original, for instance it just won't run Castlevania 3 'cause apparently 90s Chinese pirates were better than 2010s lazy Russian ones, but still something to possibly look up to.
Alexey Filippenko In Poland you can find Pegasuses (our version of Dendy) up to this day pretty much. Loooads of games were 'Mariofied', for instance Don Doko Don 2, Bokkute Upa etc. I also owned a hack of Super C called 'Darkwing Duck 2', lol. :D In most European countries Sega used to be a much more popular brand than Nintendo, but not here - you'd be hard-pressed to find a Sega Genesis, but it's very easy to purchase a Famiclone even nowadays.
janroel vos Yes, but it will run them according to NTSC specs. To complay with PAL 50Hz and also SECAM, Nintendo adjusted the Famicom hardware for the European market with a new PPU and also adjustments made to the CPU clockspeed. Whereas the NTSC Famicom and NES is clocked at 1.79Mhz, the PAL NES was clocked at only 1.66Mhz, meaning it's essentially 17% slower. As a result, most PAL NES games were reprogrammed to work with the slower clockspeed. When you run one of these PAL games on an NTSC system including the RES, the game will run 1.7 times normal speed. This will also affect the music, as the CPU is also the sound processor of the NES. So the gameplay and the music together will run 1.7x faster than normal. This is of course, assuming there isn't a PAL version of the RES. There very well might be. You'd have to check with local suppliers and game shops.
I cannot answer that. There are literally tens of thousands x number of games in 1 pirate multicarts dating all the way back to NTDEC began producing the first ones in 1988. Even going with a specific number 150 in 1, there are still dozens and dozens. Pirate multicarts run the gambit from discrete bankswitching NROM boards to MMC1 or MMC3 clones to even unique mappers pirate developers came up with themselves. Some of these pirate multicarts require the real hardware to run and some multicarts _only_ work on Famiclones and will not work on the real system. Beyond this, I cannot answer if any specific XXX in 1 works that I don't own, and the 150 in 1 I do have is probably not the one you're asking about. That's like asking "will this system work on an HDTV". That totally depends on what TV you're talking about. The newest tvs don't even have composite inputs anymore.
Satoshi Matrix I think he means the recent 150 cartridge that actually comes with 150 games like all the mega man games and Mario games. A simple google search will yield the cart we're talking about.
Go to Aliexpress and the like and look for yourself. They sell dozens and dozens of new multicarts with just add to the sea of multicarts produced for the past 30 years! The problem with bootlegs like this is that there is zero quality control, therefore any authoritative statement I could make regarding compatibility would be unique to my systems and my multicart. I don't want to tell people anything that would make them assume anything.
I have that one, the one with all the Mega Man games and no repeats. The menu shows a screen shot of every game it has. It works just fine on this clone.
Yes but no. The PAL NES isn't the same hardware as the NTSC system. The PAL version runs at 1.66Mhz compared to the NTSC's 1.79, making it 17% slower. That speed difference has all kinds of effects on PAL games. Some PAL NES games were the NTSC version just running 17% slower. Meaning on a clone such as this, they'll run at normal NTSC speed. But many other PAL games were specifically designed for the 1.66Mhz speed, meaning on an NTSC clone such as this those games will run 17% faster, and since the NES lacks a dedicated soundchip, that means the music will also play 17% faster. And some PAL NES games such as Elite will incur visual glitches and not play properly on NTSC. While none will refuse to boot, many will have problems. Avoid PAL NES games. They're nothing but trouble.
Well, that's actually a lot less true than it used to be thanks to collectors knowing what to look for when examining a Gyromite and other NES carts that could possibly have 60 pin adapter. There are ways to tell if a Gyrmoite contains a pin adapter or not, and NES collectors in the past 10 years have snatched up pretty much all cheap Gyromites with the adapters. Now, if you want to find one that does have an adapter, you'll have to pay appropriately for it. I've been in several game shops and looked at the Gyromites and the ones that contain the pin adapter are all $30 whereas the worthless standard version is in the $1 bargain bins.
If you buy something that is defective, just replace it. I don't understand the impulse to go on the internet to discourage others from buying simply because you bought a system under warranty and didn't bother to exchange it. Sometimes, products don't work out of the box. It happens. That's why stores have exchange policies.
So tired of "Retro" this "Retro" that. I can't wait for the whole scene to just die out, so prices will go down again, and the real hobbyists can enjoy it. And more importantly these garbage cheap plastic clone abominations can go away and not tarnish the purity of these great games.
+EX Heihachi Sorry, but the whole scene will never die out, and prices will never fall. Prices are set based on demand, and the demand will only increase with time. Those who were kids when older generations of games were new are now entered the age of their adulthood where they can throw disposable income at this kind of thing and clone makers are only all to happy to appease the market. And If anything, prices will only continue to raise as interest in retro gaming isn't just with adults, but with many kids and teenagers too. About half my subscriber base are below the age of 18. These kids will grow up and only continue to drive up the cost of retro gaming. Fact of life. Also, hate to break it to you if you've got something against clone systems, but there will only be more and more clones as patents expire and those systems become completely legal to develop your own hardware. Don't be surprised if later this year we see N64 clones much like the Retro Entertainment System here. They won't "go away".
Satoshi Matrix I would throw my money at these consoles if they were closer to Analog NT in quality. Why is it so hard to make a 1:1 assimilation of a 30 year old system?
+EX Heihachi The Anologue NT is a $500 console. If you wanna spend that money, be my guest. But as for Famiclones, they exist on reverse engineered dedicated hardclone clones that began to surface around 1989, using off the shelf components. These initial clones were highly illegal, but spread like wildfire and despite Nintendo's best efforts, they only increased in number with time. The first Nintendo on a Chip clone (NOAC) was developed around 1995, and was based on the reverse engineered hardware clones available as opposed to the actual original design documents which wouldn't be available for another decade. Based on a bad copy, these initial NOAC clones had many particular issues, but nobody cared much aslong as they sold. Since then, Famiclones have actually improved considerably, especially since 2005 when they became legal and documents were released to clone makers to improve the NOAC. Despite what you might think, not all clones are identical with there being at at least five common variants of the NOAC. Made by separate engineering teams, they do not collaborate and some clones have fixes that others lack, so right now there is no ultimate 1:1 NOAC solution. For that to happen there would need to a kickstarter like fund to invest in that. The next closes thing is FPGA, where the chip emulates the entire workings of the Famicom. That could work, but the price of an FPGA chip by itself is around $100. With hardware, casing, controllers, and so on, you're looking at $150 cost minimum. For that price, many people simply would choose to buy software emulation solutions rather than dedicated hardware. So that leaves Famiclones, flawed as they are, to continue to dominate the market. There is no ultimate Famiclone because there is no market demand for one.
+Satoshi Matrix Well then more of these companies should start selling those "off the shelf parts" clones again, since they are vastly superior to these chip things. I don't see what's holding them back, since component prices have surely dropped in the last 30 years. There would be a market for these higher quality clones.
+EX Heihachi Dedicated hardware clones haven't been made since at least 1994 because the cost considerably more to produce than NOAC based clones. Yes, component prices have dropped, but it's still singificantly cheaper to produce one circuit than a motherboard with individual components. If you need an example of component complexity vs integrated on-a-chip designs, look up the history of Jeri Ellsworth's C64 Direct-to-TV. She had one hell of a time bringing that to market.
+Detoritrockcity31 Assuming your LED flatscreen tv has composite inputs, then yes. But of course it'll look like total garbage because of the nature of flatscreen tvs.
I LOVE this famiclone! I got it for my birthday, and I noticed that it doesn't play sound very well and the colors are too bright. changing the TV brightness makes the colors too dark. Can't figure out how to fix it DX. However, when I inserted castlevania 3 before I modded the audio (the mod you mentioned), the sound was fine. Same graphical issues as you but with a lot better sound. added a 7404 inverter and now castlevania works 100% with fully correct audio. I got akumaju densetsu in the mail today and it also works fine (other than the obvious audio issue. I'll fix it later :P)
Update, if you're after a Retro Entertainmet System "normal not HDMI version" be sure you get the older version with the box art like what's shown here, cause the newer versions with a cartridge in the console on the box art are very poorly made that's what I read online, or you can get the HDMI version "that has composite cables and Retro Bit focuses more on those and less on the non HDMI version that's kinda why at least what I think"
I need a dogbone controller, The original pad is a bit small.
Me and my boyfriend have decided to make a video game collection the easy way, I get everything below N64, he gets N64 and above.
Well, I already have a SNES, and recently got an Atari 2600. The next console I'm after is the NES, now I've been hearing that the old style front loaders haven't aged very well to now. Is this true? I would really like one, but I could also go for a top loader as well, if those are easier to find working, and less expensive.
Or is a clone the way to go for me?
I really intend to get serious with my collection, though.
I'm always glad to hear from my female audience. The world needs more female retro gamers!
When choosing an NES, there are many options, all with their own pros and cons. A clone like this is alright for beginners and is very inexpensive, but generally speaking it isn't the system I would recommend to most people unless you have only a passing interest in NES games such that you only plan on buying like Tetris and Mario and then never any of the over 700+ games made for the NES.
Depending on how serious you are about NES collecting and your budget, you might want to think about importing an AV Famicom from Japan, as it is the most reliable hardware, and get a sturdy NES-to-Famicom converter. Of course, that's probably the most hard-core solution of all, so it really depends on you.
I wrote a starter guide that lists most of the available options, the general price range, and the major pros and cons of each option. You can find the article on my blog here: satoshimatrix.wordpress.com/2011/04/06/nesfamicom-starting-guide/
I'd be happy to answer any specific questions you have. Shoot me a pm and we'll go from there.
Ya pasaron 10 años, ¿se casaron o terminaron? Me alegraría mucho saber que están aún unidos hoy
@@APF450 Ahora soy una tortillera
4:00 I think you was wrong there. The BB and AA buttons, are turbo buttons as well.
Hiya Satoshi! Just a quick question, how do you make your famicom adaptor?
Easy, you take a 60 to 72 pin adapter out of Gyromite or Stack Up "those 2 NES games have an NES to Famicom adapter in them"
Wow you seem like a real chill dude. I liked this video it let's me know before hand to see if I really wanna buy it or not. You should buy clone systems and do reviews you'll totally build your reputation more.
Thank you. There's an entire playlist of Attack of the Famiclones episodes I've done over the years. Many more to see.
th-cam.com/play/PLtsZRFeG-MhKlkY5wtueTfbKNDG7UzSTa.html
God, I remember getting one of these as a gift wayyy back in like 2012. Didn't even last a month before the pins bent and rendered the entire system unusable.
Wish they made a SNES only version for the same price
Super Famiclones have not been condensed into a single chip like the NOAC or GOAC, so that's why you don't see $20 SuFami clones. They still need to be discrete clones, which raises the price. That's because the worldwide market for Super Nintendo clones is less than half that for Famiclones, especially in high population developing countries in Asia.
The d-pad on my RES controller doesn't stick up and to me, the buttons are really comfortable.
Anyone else experience the issue with Metroid where you can't enter codes?
Good at emulating/playing probably about 99 percent of NES Titles. The Sound and Video has been fine in the Majority of games I've tested for it. I've tested Duck Hunt, Gotcha, and both those Zapper(Gun) games work perfectly for this Clone NES System. Be warn that this system is extremely light and that if you put at a high spot like I've done that you can possibly damage it if you knock it down or pull on the system too hard with Controller in it.
I'm convinced, I'll get it for my car
You know you can use the extension controller cables to use the NES Four Score on this system...
I point out:
Super Off Road (NES) James & Mike Mondays
Have you seen the new FC pocket? Are you going to do a review of it?
So Satoshi Matrix Do you think it is worth it for 15 bucks?
It all depends on your needs. This is a good starter system, but if you're really serious about NES collecting, the AV Famicom is your best bet, although that's considerably more expensive, plus you'd need an adapter for NES carts.
This is a good starter system, but the first thing you need to do is buy an NES controller. The controllers it comes with are _awful_.
Well I Have a real NES at home and some spare controllers. I was looking at this for my apartment at school. I pulled the trigger for 15 bucks how bad could it be?
Dan Mercuri
I see. Well in that case, simply watch this video thoroughly and find out.
Dan Mercuri if it works I’d probably just keep the nes. I’ve had no luck tho crt or hdtv
@ 12:31 that familiar sound...
Read the annotation!
I'm a dunce and have no idea where the "audio traces" are. Can you link me to a picture showing where to solder the resistor?
Traces are pcb pathways or lines that link components electrically. If there's enough demand, I'll make a tutorial on my blog for this.
The sound this broke randomly. Any tips?
Cool! Turbo Buttons!
I ordered one off Amazon (Silver and Black) since my NES (Toaster) started giving me problems (even though I cleaned it).
Update I don't own the NES toaster model anymore, I sold it to buy an AV Famicom with the 72 to 60 pin adapter "that's what I use to play my NES games"
If you still have the console what do you think of it personally? If it broke how long did it last and how did it break?
Also lol I saw you before on a gilbert gottfried video where he's on a game show saying "YOU FOOL!"
DaGameNerd Well, watch the video to find out what I think of it. The RES is a run of the mill cheap Famiclone. Not bad, but there are better clones out there. namely the Super 8.
Satoshi Matrix Oh cool uploader replied :) anyways yes I watched it but I felt like asking another user for their experience and if it met their needs.
In the end I just wanna know how long it lasts and if I can use my raw famicom adapter from Gyromite, it's not like the one you have it's litteraly just the adapter from the game.
As far as sound I might be able to live with it if not I'll do what you did (if I can figure it out lol).
I already have an official NES but felt like getting a clone for my room, either this or a Dendy Famiclone since I mostly use Famicom games.
DaGameNerd Life expectancy for clones isn't something that can be objectively measured. It all depends on how careful you are with it. The general rule of thumb with Famiclone is to treat it carefully as if you expect it to break every time you use it. SO basically, that means don't be slamming it around, don't be roughly pulling out carts or slamming them in, don't be leaving the AC adapter plugged in at all times, and so on.
This is a $20 clone and it's built like that. The controllers are complete shit and don't even use them. Use real NES controllers instead.
Satoshi Matrix Thanks for the reponses :) can I use my adapter though since it doesn't have the shell like yours does?
Great video, but in this video you pull the cartridge from one side, but in your retron 5 video you say to pull the cartridge from both sides. When I pull the cartridge from both sides it is really hard to take out, but when I pull the cartridge from one side and pull dianglely it is easy to pull out. Please explain the best way to do it, or if it's okey to keep doing it the way I've been doing it. Thanks in advance
Either is fine as long as you don't pull directly up from the middle. Don't do that with any cartridge based.....anything. No matter if you're talking about a clone like this or a stick of RAM in your computer.
Basically, stuff will be fine as long as you take care of it and don't do stupid things.
Where you get the little adapter from and what's is call so my retro bit console can have mono and stero
I’m trying to find the electric adapter for this to make sure it doesn’t set out of fire. What is the voltage and amperage?
I looking at buying a retro enterainment system do all the games work with conslone because been doing some resarch i cannot find a list of games that do dont work
mine never came with a red cable?? doesnt even have a spot on the back of the console to plug one in, just yellow and white
+prowrestlinglegacy That's because it doesn't need them it just doesn't have good enough whatever
+prowrestlinglegacy It still plays
+prowrestlinglegacy He just uses one
Can you do a tutorial/video about fixing the audio from the system? I'm looking for getting one (the original NES is too overpriced by here), and I didn't find anything by the internet.
Hey Satoshi! About the audio fix for this clone, once you said it needs to put a 1kohm resistor on audio track, but I'm the tutorial to fix audio on retroduo, you said that a 2.2kohm resistor is needed, plus a 104 capacitor. Which one is correct? Thanks.
Both are correct.
One applies to the RES.
One applies to the RetroDuo 2.0.
Satoshi Matrix ok, but to fix the audio on the RES, I have to use the 104 capacitor or just the 1kohm resistor?
Can you use a flashcart to fool the system into running something like Castlevania 3? Or will it still not work? What about repro carts like Earthbound Zero? Does it run those?
Most Flashcarts won't work with NOACs, and the ones that will won't suddenly make incompatible games compatible.
You need to understand how mappers work. Different NES games use various mappers to achieve more complex games. NOAC clones such as this one will operate with most common mappers, but MMC4 and MMC5 (mappers 10 and 5) don't work.
I point you towards the bigass list of mappers for NES games. Ctrl + f to find your game you want to know about, and look at it's mapper. The game you want will work provided it isn't mapper 10, 5, and 90. 95% of NES games use mappers 0, 1 and 4 so you're good with most things.
tuxnes.sourceforge.net/nesmapper.txt
Can you(or have you) do(ne) a similar review about a budget Snes clone?
There's really no such thing. The closest is the RetroDuo, which yes, I have made a video review for.
It is also identical to the Hyperkin Retron 1, I recently purchased one and it is exactly the same in look, although the audio is slightly worse than this console
The reason for that is ever since the Neo-Fami from 2004, every single varient of the same thing has been manufactured by Shenzhen Qi Sheng Long Industralist Co. and simply had the name of whoever is marketing the clone for a particular market. Yobo, Retro-Bit, RETRO, or Hyperkin. None of them made it, they just license it. Shenzhen Qi is like the TOSE of China - they've developed a ton of things you associate with other companies and nobody knows who they actually are.
I just got one and turn it on wi though a game is it so post to be a blank black screen?
When I turn mine on, it has a weird grey screen with dark grey squares. Can someone tell me why this happens? Thanks.
Gray screen is what NOACs display when there's a general input error. You either don't have a cartridge inserted, your cartridge isn't seated properly, it's one of a handful of incompatible games, or the most likely cause, your cartridge contacts are dirty.
The best way to clean cartridge contacts are with cotton swabs and isopropanol. Do not use windex or anything other than as close to 100% isopropanol alcohol as you can get in a drug store.
@@SatoshiMatrix1 thank you SO much! I thought the console didn't work
Don’t get this I played it for about a day and they game reader messed up and from the first day I had to find something to lean it forward to make it work
What is MMC? Is that GI Joe Atlantis Factor? Will that work on Retro ES? I ordered this system (RES) and have it in hand but haven't hooked it in yet. I also have 28 old NES games including Zelda and SMBros 1,2,&3 I just dug out of my parents attic. Will the running pad and zap gun work for it?
MMCs were the Memory Management Controllers used in NES games. They allowed the NES to do more complex games than it was designed for. Remember, the NES was originally made in 1983 to compete with consoles like the Atari 5200 and Sega SG-1000. On it's own, it could do games like Balloon Fight, Popeye, and Donkey Kong.
As time went on, Nintendo invented mapper control chips on the game boards that allowed the NES to do more advanced things like scroll the screen, preform bankswitching, access compressed data on the fly, save s-ram to batteries, split the screen, and so on. Games like Super Mario Bros. 3 and the Legend of Zelda would not be possible without MMCs. Towards the end of the system's life, companies such as Konami invented their own MMCs and allowed the Famicom to do some crazy things.
G.I Joe Atlantis factor is an MMC3 game and yes, it works. Provided your games are clean, they'll play, and yes, you can use the power pad and zapper on the RES, but you'll need to use a CRT. You can't use a lightgun on any sort of HDTV.
Satoshi Matrix Thanks. Also, would NES Top Gun (also found with the games) work or have trouble? I'll probably do my own review once its' all hooked in. Stay tuned.
TopGun should work even on this budget famiclone.
Is Final Fantasy 1 a mmc5 game? Because I got this and i have the first Final Fantasy and am Really looking forward to getting this and playing Final Fantasy 1
Hi.... Now that you've had this unit a couple of years, how is it holding up? Do you still play it?
Well, I don't usually play it, no. I use my Super 8. Much better clone. Check out my video review of it.
Can you make or link a video about where to solder the 1K ohm resister?
It's just literally across the audio out pin and any ground point.
Thanks
Do you have any idea when the new Android based Retrobit system is out? Will you be buying one?
*****
Yeah, that's Hyperkin, not Retro-Bit.
As for the RetroN5, I'm still not entirely sure what to think of it. Android based, so it's emulation....yet it works with the real carts which means its depedant on the hardware of the cartridges to retrieve the software.
I've got an Ouya and Android emulation on that is fantastic for the most part, but everything Hyperkin has shown has been custom built, so you can't judge how good the emulation will be solely on other Android devices.
I'll be buying one for sure, but I'm skeptical of it. Retro-Bit clones like this - while not perfect, are hardware based. I see emulation as kinda cheating. LIke Hyperkin admitting that they can't make a non-shit clone so they'll turn to emulation software instead.
Yeah I meant the Retron5, my bad.
As usual great review. How does Battletoads run on this console ? I noticed that on some clone systems that the game will glitch out at the start of level 2. I'm wondering because if it won't work on this console then I'll have to unfortunately skip buying that game.
Yeah, Battletoads doesn't work no 99% of NOACs. This one is no different.
Satoshi Matrix. Damn
Rare employed some unique programming techniques that only work with a hardware quirk of the RP2A03 and discrete clones of it, not NOACs. Battletoads will fail to run on almost every single clone system ever made.
Thanks for the quick replies. I'll get the game for cheap and enjoy the first level lol.
Are their any issues with using this on an HDTV? I think I heard someone mention it makes a humming noise or something. Can someone please let me know!
Well first off, don't use an HDTV with a SD console. Even on really good HDTVs, SD signals including composite will look _horrible_. Use a CRT for game consoles such as this. That's why I filmed this using a CRT rather than one of my HDTVs.
Anyway to answer your question, a humming/buzzing noise is feedback from using unshielded composite comb filters built into tvs. Some HDTVs have shielding, some don't. It depends entirely on your tv. So there's no way I can tell you if you'd encounter this or not.
Simply use a CRT instead. If you don't have one, check your local thrift store or even local ads. Nobody much wants CRTs these days so you'd be able to pick up a really nice one for almost nothing.
On Amazon, they have a special adapter to hook up AV cables to which converts to HDMI. That might be a good solution, I'm not saying for sure it's a good alternative, because I don't have one.
i actually like this!
Nice. I have always used emulators on my pc. This is just the thing I'm after. Is there one for the n64 or Snes?
Yes, there are plenty of clones that do SNES. Among the best is Retro-Bit's RetroDuo 2.0. You can check out my full review right here: Attack of the Famiclones - Retro Duo Review
As for N64 clones, they don't exist yet because the patents haven't expired yet. Wait at least a few more years. Around 2016 is when you should start to expect to see them.
this was the only console i owned........*WAS*
What’s the specs on the power supply?
I mentioned this game system in my Nintendo entertainment system review for a cheaper nes for new comers to video games
Thank you very much
Elizabeth Goriz In case you missed the joke, yes Gyromite works on the Retro Entertainment System. The joke is that in actuality there is no such thing as Gyromite, as even the NES version still refers to itself by its Japanese name, Robot Gyro.
hi satoshi. i recently got one of these consoles and i noticed that SMB has many sound issues. you can really notice it when you get a coin or a mushroom. is there anyway to fix this?
Reverse duty cycles are generated due to flaws internal to the noac. The error cannot be fixed.
Does the Retro bit work with Earthbound zero?
MMC3 games all work on the Retro Entertainment System. that includes Earth Bound repros.
What exactly are the "audio tracks" to solder the 1Kohm resistor onto?
+LunarForte Audio traces. From output of A46, A45 to ground before RCA jack.
+Satoshi Matrix Thank you! So you just solder the resistor between those two and you're good to go?
+Satoshi Matrix I can't even find anything labeled with those on the board.
+LunarForte Correct, you won't find labels typically, but all NOACs share the same pinout. Work your way from the rca jack backwards to the trace and possibly via to the audio output pins and solder there. This differs on every clone so I can't tell you precisely what to do, a multimeter is your friend here.
Satoshi Matrix can you please give us a picture of what you mean?
so is there any difference between wiring a 1kohm resistor or a 1.5 kohm one to the audio traces? i saw a pic from a guy who said that he wired a 1.5 kohm resistor on his retro entertainment system...sorry complete noob here
The difference is volume. Using a higher rating will mean you will need to turn your tv volume up higher to get the same effect.
makes sense, thank you.
does this play PAL games, i am considering getting one & listings on ebay says it's "Famicom (NES - US version)"
+a w a y チャネル2 Yes* (read for more details) the Retro Entertainment System and other Famiclones will play PAL NES games. But.....
The PAL NES used it's own unique processor, clocked at 1.66Mhz - 17% slower than it's NTSC counterparts used in everywhere that wasn't a PAL/SECAM country. As a result, PAL games were themselves 17% slower, unless reprogrammed to run at that speed.
Since the global market for clone systems is overwhelmingly NTSC as it covers both North America and Japan (the primary successful markets), this and virtually all other clones are NTSC based, meaning they run at 1.79Mhz.
Most PAL games are playable on an NTSC clone, but they'll run at NTSC speed, meaning 1.79Mhz, meaning 17% faster than PAL. Since the NES doesn't have its own dedicated sound chip (the CPU handles that), the game as well as the music will run about 1.7x normal speed, like hitting a fastforward button. Some games that were not released outside of PAL markets like Elite will have severe graphical issues.
If you plan to buy one of these, also plan on buying NTSC games. The PAL NES was very much an afterthought Nintendo had at the time. When it comes to NES gaming, you'll want to ditch PAL and go NTSC. This isn't always the case when it comes to retro gaming, but with classic Nintendo, NTSC has clear advantages. The opposite is true of the Master System.
+Satoshi Matrix i didnt know about the processor being slower but in UK & Ireland(where i am at) they gave the production rights to Mettel which a long story short there were 2 NES's(NESI?... Entertainment systems) & a lot of confusion cus some games only worked on later NES's(Nintendo made NES)... we had it oddly rough with the home console market came, the MD did change that but over here prices are overinflated as f*ck.
thank you for your input & i will be getting one of these with a NTSC honey bee. (dont plan on paying 10€ for super mario). Also i love your Uncommon Game Showcase made me wanna quit emulating & hunting for weird Multi Carts & shit.
+a w a y チャネル2 Right. The NES had a PAL A and PAL B, which is used to distinguish between the UK and mainland Europe because Nintendo hated the idea of a European Union I guess. Cunts.
As for importing NTSC games from North America, shop around. Prices are rising for retro gaming in general, so you probably will find that 10€ is the average price for games that are desirable, if not higher. I've seen Contra sell for what would be 40€ for you. And that's not even an uncommon game!
Thanks for watching my stuff. Check out my newer vids too. Lots and lots of stuff I've reviewed and covered.
how do you feel about the Nes 101 console?
It's useless on it's own unless modded because by stock 98% of the NES-101s in existence are RF only, with the Composite versions only being avaialble through Nintendo Repair Centers as replacements for detective systems under warranty. That said, the system has a wonderful design, it makes playing games way easier because the cartridge connector is far more reliable and the NES-101 controller is in my view the best controller Nintendo has EVER made. From the ergonomics to the feel and size of the dpad, they got everything right. It's easy to see how they went from that to Virtual Boy controller, which frankly, is again one of the best things about the Virtual Boy.
Overall though, you're far, far better off buying the Japanese model, the new Famicom HVC-101, commonly called the "AV Famicom". Composite video and dual mono stock, plays all Famicom games, has the NES 7-pin controller standard, still has the Famicom DB-15 port, and plays expansion audio. With a pin adapter, it'll play NES games too.
I got this unit around the time this video was uploaded, God this thing smells bad
How well does this work on an HDTV? I don't have a CRT and haven't in years...
Well, most HDTVs have a composite video input but the signal will look bad and there's a good chance of video lag.
For the best experience, just go get a CRT. They can frequently be found in thrift stores or private ads on places like kijiji for next to nothing or even free.
yeah, space is an issue so no chance of finding space for a crt.
Is the lag about the same per system, or are some better than others?
It looks just fine on my Samsung 24 inch HDTV, in fact it looks close to like the front loader composite video quality. However, on my CRT HDTV, the picture quality is dark. Video quality and lag will vary among HDTVs but real hardware will always have less lag than emulators. My Samsung HDTV has an option to change "Response Time" to fastest and this eliminates a lot of lag, whereas my CRT HDTV does not have this option. Lag and video quality can be improved with AV to HDMI upscalers believe or not, they usually handle 240p signals better than most HDTV built-in scalers.
I like using it for my HDTV. Don’t have to mod etc
Unless I am remembering incorrectly, it probably would be better to get a RetroDuo instead of this. I thought the compatibility was quite good for NES games, better than this, even... but again, I could be forgetting.
The RetroDuo is also 3-4 times the price. This is is an entry level Famiclone, not the best out there.
Satoshi Matrix If one of you guys got this clone can you tell me about the controller? I already bought the clone and after watching this I am wondering about how other people liked the controller.
The RES controller is _terrible_. Among the worst I've ever come across. Buy an OEM NES-04 controller as soon as you get this, you'll want to replace the stock controllers immediately.
I have an honest question to ask, if you were to use the Japanese versions of games that would use MMC5 chips, such as the Japanese Version of Castlevania 3 or Uncharted Waters, do they work with 60-72 pin adapters without major glitches? (other than the obvious incompatibility with the special sound chips) I have been kinda wanting to get one but I am interested in that, as Uncharted Waters is one of my favorite games of all time, and I am able to deal with the Japanese text. I am also fine with everything that might need to be done to the console, I was just curious as to if they would work.
+Meeptroid Zero Let me break down your question so I can give you a detailed answer.
Most Famiclones (this one included) are not able to run MMC4, MMC5 and Mapper 90 games. It doesn't matter what region the cartridge is as these mappers all work as advanced co-processors to the 2A03 and are unable to function on the vast majority of clones. You cannot circumvent this fact by using the Famicom versions.
However, the Japanese version of Castlevania III does _not_ use MMC5. That's a misconception. The Japanese Castlevania 3 - Akumajou Densetsu - uses Konami's own mapper, the VRC6, which also had built-in expansion sound capabilities. The VRC6 _is_ compatible with most Famiclones although the expansion audio is not.
If you really want to play Uncharted Waters and other Koei games like perhaps Gemfire, you'll need the real hardware. I would suggest buying an AV Famicom as that's the most reliable and sexiest version of the hardware.
+Satoshi Matrix Thanks for the information, and I think I am realizing things, I just honestly don't know about all these games, and Uncharted Waters, or Daikoukai Jidai (its Japanese name) was a game I was hoping to play, as like I said above, its one of my favorite games if all time, but there's so little information about said game, that I didn't know how the chip worked and if the NOAC would be compatible with any of the 2 versions, I think I know now to either save up for a real NES or deal with the reality that the game wouldn't work. Its a good thing there's an SNES version of the game, and my first console was an SNES, although, I am astounded at how many clone console NOACs cannot play MMC5 games. Honestly, the only ones I know of that work with them are the Retro duo and the Retro Trio (or whatever the name is). Are there any others that you know of that support MMC5? Also, how is the compatibility of the Super Joy 3? That's the one Famiclone I own as of now.
+Meeptroid Zero I dunno how much you know, so I'll start from the beginning. Since the early days, Famicom and NES games are all governed by memory mapper chips commonly simply called "mappers". Mappers allow games to do things the hardware alone is incapable of. The earliest mappers were simply solder joint connections on the board that dictated mirroring - in other words, scrolling. If a game hard to scroll horizontally, it had such a mirroring mapper.
Over time, the Famicom hardware from 1983 began to age and developers wanted more advanced games starting in 1987, Nintendo introduced the Memory Mapper Chip 1 - or MMC1 for short. This was an integrated chip built right into the cartridge that would handle mirroring digitally and could also mirror in any four directions on the fly. This is how games like Metroid and Zelda were achieved. Without the MMC1, these games would not have been possible on the hardware.
In time, Nintendo introduced the MMC2 (Punch-Out) and then MMC3 which a huge number of games used including Mario 3. Each mapper they introduced was more advanced and more complex than the last, and in Japan, third party developers began to develop and use their own mappers as well, some of which eventually rivaled the complexity of the MMC3 and beyond. With the MMC4, Nintendo had a chip that was able to compete with the PC Engine and MegaDrive in terms of hardware scrolling effects and sprite size.
The MMC5 chip was Nintendo's crowning achievement as it was a ridiculously complicated feat of engineering that especially bypassed the NES hardware's limitations and instead of it being like a coprocessor, the NES itself was really more like the co-processor of the MMC5. To this day the MMC5 remains impossible to fully emulate via an FPGA and even most PC NES emulators struggle to completely grasp all of the MMC5's capabilities.
NOACs are based on reverse engineered design documents based on the 6502 which the Famicom is based. But the documents that were originally used were not perfect and contain many flaws. To my knowledge there isn't a single existing NOAC that is able to play MMC4, MMC5 or Mapper 90 games. I dunno here you heard that the Retro Duo and Retro Duo Trio can, but they can't. To play MMC5 games, you need a real system. Again, I don't recommend you buy an NES-001 or NES-101, get a HVC-101 commonly called the "AV Famicom". yeah it'll cost $80+, but it's well worth it.
Or, simply emulate. There are many devices that do this kind of thing wonderfully these days. I personally use an Ouya. Heck, you can even hook up an NES controller to it if you really wanted to. I've got a video review of the Ouya if you're interested on my channel. Plus lots of other clones.
The Super Joy III has very poor compatibility. It's not a good clone. I've got a video review up on my channel of the thing.
+Satoshi Matrix OK, I have one more question, what would be your most recommended Famiclone, and I mean Famiclone
+Meeptroid Zero That's easy - The Super 8. Absolutely the Super 8, even unmodified. But if you can do the cap mod, then it's all the better.
I have two reviews of it. an older SD one that's longer and detailed, or an HD one that's more concise and in HD.
th-cam.com/video/SIQ2Fij-W_E/w-d-xo.html
I had one of them didn't last me very long now i have Old Skool ClassiQ without HD
Unknown Wolf how is that system? I'm thinking about getting one.
What do the buttons aa and bb do?
alex pencek turbo fire.
I got the Silver and black one, and I like the Retro Entertainment system, I was going to get the Yobo FC game console but until I heard about this problem from this video, I went for the Retro Entertainment System and glad I made that choice.
FC Game Console (NES version) Review ( ̄へ ̄)
Mine is dumb and broken
Is yours a newer variation which the box art has a cartridge in the console, those versions are very bad.
Has anyone tried a Game Genie with this system?
GameGenie works by intercepting game code before the console and altering hex values. GameGenie will work with any game that is itself compatible with your Famiclone. There's nothing special about GameGenie. It will work if the game will work.
Well, the cartridge connectors on the NES-001 can be replaced. I actually just replaced the pin connectors on my NES-001, it's really easy and cheap to do. They're $8 on nintendorepairshop.com (where you can also find replacement NES controllers both OEM and clone). That said, if the actual BOARD on the NES is fried, then hell yeah these guys are a good substitute in most cases.
Oh, and stereo video? :)
Replacing a flawed design that wares out with another of the same design doesn't fix the problem it just extends the problem into the future. As well, new production pin connectors are made by third parties and are not of the same quality as the original ones Nintendo installed, ensuring they will fail much sooner.
No, you're better off with pretty much anything other than the NES-001, unless you want to go and completely rebuild the cartridge mechanism, which some people have done.
The NES isn't capable of stereo audio. I duunno if I explained it here, but many clones have the option for dual mono, which is carried on the stereo channel of RCA. That means that you get audio out of both left and right channels.
That said, it is possible to pseudo stereo mod an NES/Famicom by sending two of the four sound channels to the left and the other two to the right. This creates an interesting effect, but you need a good sound system or headphones to really hear the difference this makes.
Satoshi Matrix Well, yeah, you'll find no argument that the NES-001 is a hell of a lot more high-maintenance than the NES-101, or really any top-loading system. I still can't believe Nintendo went with that design instead of top-loading in the first damned place.
Anyway, while I have your ear, have you tried Krikzz new Famicom-to-NES converter? How does it compare to the Gyromite one, or to the black market converters of the day?
Yuko Asho
It's a great idea, and just as I like RetroZone's NES pcbs, I think it's great that there are alternatives to cannibalizing original games.
The problem is that the new production Famicom to NES internal game shell adapters are about twice as expensive as is reasonable. If they were $15, that'd be kinda pricy, but alright, but at $25, you can buy a Gyromite adapter for only a few bucks more, which also nets you a shell.
I'd be a lot more enthusiastic if those adapters were cheaper.
Satoshi Matrix There's that, yeah. I hate the idea of having to bust up, or worse, try and mold, my own shell for the converter. Honestly, it's a crying shame RetroZone doesn't sell their clear shells anymore, since that would have been an awesome way to get a shell not only for this, but for repros that use the INL boards.
Yuko Asho
well, all I could suggest is you buy a bunch of the most common NES game there is - Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt.
Porque se ven los juegos oscuros
Does this system work with the light gun
Yes batman, it does.
I heard a guy bought one of these with his Amazon credit points and his ended up breaking all because he removed 1 game cartridge from the slot and the screw broke off the post, and his didn't accept offical NES controllers.
Here's his video.
/watch?v=lHLOM3HB8qI
What an absolute idiot. In order to rip the cartridge bay from its mounting screws, he would have needed to apply about twice as much force as is needed to pull a game out and therefore the failure is his fault, not the unit's. You don't pull directly, up, you pull to the side, and then the other side. Sort of wiggle the cart out. Anyone who has ever used any vertical loading console ever would tell you this.
Also if you can't use OEM Nintendo controllers, then how am I magically able to do so in this very video? He's 100% wrong about that.
Yeah tell me about it.
Yeahthis noac chip is good enough torun first and 2nd gen nes games, but last gen nes games just simply struggle to run it or not without glitches, but at the other hand it's lavible that company's still producing halve replicated/emulated nes hardware, am mean even famiclones from the 90's were even better.
Does it play flashcarts?
Ex. Everdrive N8
Brandon Herrera The Everdrive will work, but not every game will. Regardless of if its the real cart or via the flashcart, incompatible mappers will remain incompatible, meaning the MMC4, MMC5 and mapper 90. That means no Castlevania 3, Famicom Wars, Final Fantasy 7.
***** en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Fantasy_VII_%28NES_video_game%29
I've ordered this console a few minutes ago, in blue/orange😅
I never had an nes or anything before (only a gba). My english isn't the best, is this console good for 25€/$?
Yeah, it's an okay price for a beginner console.
Okay, and can I use 400 in 1 NES Gamecards? I have the console but no 110Volts Adaptor for EU to start the console😂
Thank you!
what happens if u don't put a game in and press power? do u get the red blinking light?
You'd get a solid power light, but nothing else. The red "blinking light" of the NES-001 is caused by the NES-10 lockout chip contained within the console. See, in late 70's Atari released the VCS (aka 2600) and allowed anyone who wanted to develop for it the means to do so. This lead to an eventual glut of terrible games by amateur programmers that flooded the market, reducing visibility of quality games, and that largely lead to the crash of 1984.
To avoid that from happening again, Nintendo controlled all manufacturing of NES games (hence why every NES game is the same gray shell) and to further secure the system, they installed a chip that would authorize the game to be played. Problem was, the NES-10 chip would become faulty if the contact pins of either the console or cartridge were dirty.
Of course eventually unlicensed carts did start to appear once means of neutralizing the NES-10 were discovered, and nowadays its even recommended you can disable the NES-10, as the system doesn't need it to function.
Clone systems don't have the NES-10, so no blinky lights on any of them.
Satoshi Matrix thanks! so I wont have any trouble playing games on it?
You will have trouble playing some games. Battletoads freezes in Level 2 on clone consoles, so you have to warp to level 3 in Level 1 just to able to play the game.
Paperboy and Dirty Harry won't play in clones because it won't recognize the controller.
Castlevania 3 and Uncharted Water won't work since they use the MMC 5 mapper.
Not entirely true. Atari didn't let anyone make games for the VCS. Activison was the first ones to break ranks and do so, and Atari DID try to get them to stop in court but they lost.
Also it's the 10NES chip.
thats a long comment 😂😂😂
Does the game gyromite works on retro bit nes
Elizabeth Goriz No, but Robot Gyro does. x( ̄ー ̄ )ノ
Does the Game Genie work on this?
Yes.
could you do a video on how you make your adapters for controllers and games ike famicom adapter for nes
You'll need to be more specific. And a lot of this isn't stuff I can do videos for.
i saw your video on your nes dogbone controller to sega genesis and you never have done a video on making your famicom to nes adapter ( I know you can find some online) but those sometimes are to expensive and I like how you to a bottom of an nes cart and and you stick a famicom game on the top and what im saying It looks nice and better than any other adapter
Jason Skonning
neither are things that I can make tutorials for. They were things I did through a lot of careful planning and prevision soldering. For the NES 101 controller on Genesis, you essentially need to take a Genesis controller, remove the multiplexer solder wires to the pins, disable the 4021, and find the corresponding traces. Nintendo did not make doing so easy as the traces are VERY small.
As for the Famicom to NES adapter, well, that's a copy of Gyromite that has an NES to Famicom adapter built in. All I did was cut away the plastic to the point where you can freely access to the adapter part, then shaved away more plastic as was needed.
thanks!
does this use emulation or actual hardware to run the games?
Neither; it's a Famiclone. Famiclones are glop-top consolidated reverse engineered clones of the NES hardware that simulate the performance of the original hardware. Famiclones are neither emulation (which is one piece of hardware behaving as non-native hardware) nor is it actual hardware. Famiclones are reverse engineered clones.
oh ok
Is there any of this consoles who can run emulator games?? i no longer have my NES cartdriges and i would love to get back into this...
Ouya.
An updated look at the Ouya - The Retro Gaming Magic Box Part 1
Or get a Famiclone and get an Everdrive N8 to play ROMs from an SD card. Keep in mind, some clones don't work with the Everdrive, but I think all of Retro-Bit's clones should.
jrfjosh Just because a clone can run the N8 doesn't mean specific games will run on the N8 via a clone. Certain mappers won't work on NOAC clones even with the N8. So if you want to play all games, emulation bests Famiclones and flashcarts.
I agree. Emulators can have better compatibility. I just prefer hardware clones over software emulation. Emulators just don't give me that "feeling" like I am playing the actual game, hardware clones do.
It comes down to preference and how important the incompatible titles are to each person.
Jobelbute said they didn't have the carts anymore and wanted to get playing again and it sounded like they had ROMs. So a clone and flash cart may be a good option for them, unless they want higher compatibility.
jrfjosh I also agree with what you're saying, but generally speaking, my advice is the Ouya. Increasingly people are getting rid of CRTs and HDTVs have already begun to completely phase out Composite, S-Video, and even Component. Not only that, but a clone + a flashcart would end up costing more than an Ouya would, which is HD ready and can do a lot more than just play NES games. Even if you never looked at any Ouya specific games (there actually are several hundred excellent Ouya games by this point) the Ouya also offers a wide range of emulators for things like SNES, Genesis, Neo-Geo, PS1, GameBoy Advance and so on. I personally use an NES to USB adapter and use an actual NES controller when playing NES games. I get that there's something integrable that is lost through emulation, but using the original controller mitigates a lot of that.
what game did you make that homade famicom adapte out of?
Gyromite, IIRC. I made it in 2005.
Satoshi Matrix what? howd you make a famicom adapter out of a legit NES game? does this have soemthing to do with most gyromite cartdges booting up as "robot gyro"
The Japanese version fo the NES - the Famicom - was launched in 1983. It uses a 60 pin cartridge connector. When Nintendo redesigned the console for North America in 1985, they redesigned the cartridge connector with an additional 12 pins to serve as lockouts, preventing third parties from making their own games (this was eventually thwarted by Tengen, Camerica and others).
As a result, 72 pin NES and 60 pin Famicom games are not natively interchangable, meaning that all NES games had to be manufactuered completely seperately of Famicom games.
But since Nintendo was the sole manufactuer of cartridges, there was a backlog and the company was worried they would not be able to produce enough cartridges for the 1985 holiday season.
As a stop gap measure, Nintendo manufactered Famicom converts and used existing Famicom cartridges for many of the first production of NES games throughout 1985 and 1986. By 1987 Nintendo ceased this and began to produce 72 pin versions that had no such adapter.
This being said, it is very difficult to tell if an early NES game has an adapter or if it's a 72 pin version. Gyromite contained to be produced until 1991, meaning that the number of Gyromite carts without the adapter greatly exceeds the number with. When searching in the wild today, it's really just the luck of the draw. I own about 600 NES games, and of all of them only seven games contain Famicom adapters. It's rather rare.
Satoshi Matrix isee...well, if it workd well, the adapter works well
Does the game genie work with it.
yes.
how did you make the famicm connector?
How controller feels
Where do you get the third party mega man game?
+Ryan Teasley What are you talking about?
+Ryan Teasley You mean the Everdrive?
mine is coming in the mail WITH SUper mario 3
Cool, can't go wrong with Mario 3. Always nice to hear from a female retro gamer. Enjoy your system!
How about Gauntlet? It work?
Yes. Gauntlet 1 will work. Gauntlet 2 uses four direction mirroring though, so it won't work.
Satoshi Matrix But Gauntlet 1 will work in the system straight out of the box without modifications like Castlevania 3? Thanks.
Have you even heard of "Dendy"?
+Alexey Filippenko They were a Russian brand of Famiclones for the PAL/SECAM market. and also pirated games because Nintendo had a trade embargo against the soviet union, and even after the collapse, Nintendo still didn't officially open business deals in the Russian Federation. hence rampant piracy
+Alexey Filippenko They were a Russian brand of Famiclones for the PAL/SECAM market. and also pirated games because Nintendo had a trade embargo against the soviet union, and even after the collapse, Nintendo still didn't officially open business deals in the Russian Federation. hence rampant piracy
+Satoshi Matrix In Poland we had Pegasus/es and Dendy as well, actually. That's why you could buy some really rare games for a measly price of 2-3 bucks more or less. Used to own Flintstones: Surprise at the Dinosaur Peak, Mr. Gimmick and Little Samson, I don't think I paid more than 10$ for all of them. You could buy the carts either at your local market or in certain... household goods stores, for some reasons. :v In fact, back in the day I didn't even know this was all rather shady. Good ol' times.
+Satoshi Matrix Yes, they were widely popular and spread in Russia and post-USSR in general, and even in some European countries. They were actually made in China as well as thousands different pirated cartridges that were extremely widespread and cheap too. Since that time China has become a meme in Russia, basically a synonym of something extremely cheap and of questionable quality. Hundreds of cartridges like "9999 in 1" with like 5 slightly modified games starting from different level or even more likely on some messed-random-shit level, and also they would very funnily pirate games. Did you know that we had 17, SEVEN FUCKING TEEN Mario games on our Dendy??? They were even reviwed on TV as if they were legit ! Like Adventure Island became "Mario" after changing hero sprites etc. Lol.
So these were pretty crazy and funny times, but the thing is - the systems and cartrigdes were actually working pretty well and many still work up to this day, even though they were cheap. And some pirated game ports, like Jungle Book, were in fact better than the official port! Imagine that. And I believe that the system is still a pretty good option for a beginner NES collectioner, nowadays it's being produced not only in China but in Russia too lol. But the new version is a bit worse than the original, for instance it just won't run Castlevania 3 'cause apparently 90s Chinese pirates were better than 2010s lazy Russian ones, but still something to possibly look up to.
Alexey Filippenko In Poland you can find Pegasuses (our version of Dendy) up to this day pretty much. Loooads of games were 'Mariofied', for instance Don Doko Don 2, Bokkute Upa etc. I also owned a hack of Super C called 'Darkwing Duck 2', lol. :D In most European countries Sega used to be a much more popular brand than Nintendo, but not here - you'd be hard-pressed to find a Sega Genesis, but it's very easy to purchase a Famiclone even nowadays.
Will this thing work with PAL games?
janroel vos Yes, but it will run them according to NTSC specs. To complay with PAL 50Hz and also SECAM, Nintendo adjusted the Famicom hardware for the European market with a new PPU and also adjustments made to the CPU clockspeed. Whereas the NTSC Famicom and NES is clocked at 1.79Mhz, the PAL NES was clocked at only 1.66Mhz, meaning it's essentially 17% slower.
As a result, most PAL NES games were reprogrammed to work with the slower clockspeed. When you run one of these PAL games on an NTSC system including the RES, the game will run 1.7 times normal speed. This will also affect the music, as the CPU is also the sound processor of the NES. So the gameplay and the music together will run 1.7x faster than normal.
This is of course, assuming there isn't a PAL version of the RES. There very well might be. You'd have to check with local suppliers and game shops.
Satoshi Matrix alright, thank you
is it compatible with 1-in-150 multicart?
I cannot answer that. There are literally tens of thousands x number of games in 1 pirate multicarts dating all the way back to NTDEC began producing the first ones in 1988. Even going with a specific number 150 in 1, there are still dozens and dozens.
Pirate multicarts run the gambit from discrete bankswitching NROM boards to MMC1 or MMC3 clones to even unique mappers pirate developers came up with themselves. Some of these pirate multicarts require the real hardware to run and some multicarts _only_ work on Famiclones and will not work on the real system. Beyond this, I cannot answer if any specific XXX in 1 works that I don't own, and the 150 in 1 I do have is probably not the one you're asking about. That's like asking "will this system work on an HDTV". That totally depends on what TV you're talking about. The newest tvs don't even have composite inputs anymore.
Satoshi Matrix I think he means the recent 150 cartridge that actually comes with 150 games like all the mega man games and Mario games. A simple google search will yield the cart we're talking about.
Go to Aliexpress and the like and look for yourself. They sell dozens and dozens of new multicarts with just add to the sea of multicarts produced for the past 30 years! The problem with bootlegs like this is that there is zero quality control, therefore any authoritative statement I could make regarding compatibility would be unique to my systems and my multicart. I don't want to tell people anything that would make them assume anything.
I have that one, the one with all the Mega Man games and no repeats. The menu shows a screen shot of every game it has. It works just fine on this clone.
is this region free with pal nes games?
Yes but no. The PAL NES isn't the same hardware as the NTSC system. The PAL version runs at 1.66Mhz compared to the NTSC's 1.79, making it 17% slower. That speed difference has all kinds of effects on PAL games.
Some PAL NES games were the NTSC version just running 17% slower. Meaning on a clone such as this, they'll run at normal NTSC speed. But many other PAL games were specifically designed for the 1.66Mhz speed, meaning on an NTSC clone such as this those games will run 17% faster, and since the NES lacks a dedicated soundchip, that means the music will also play 17% faster.
And some PAL NES games such as Elite will incur visual glitches and not play properly on NTSC. While none will refuse to boot, many will have problems. Avoid PAL NES games. They're nothing but trouble.
Where can I get Nes Games
Used game stores, thrift shops, local ads such as kijiji or your area's equivalent; internet forums, ebay, swap meets, conventions....lots of places.
oh ok Satoshi Matrix
Do flash carts work with this?
Along with carts and pirates, some flashcarts do work, some don't. That's not a yes or no question.
Any idea which ones work? haha
The N8 will, but all the limitations inherent to the clone remain.
Thanks mate
Multicards????
+Funyon Runyon Multicarts. The term applies to bootleg cartridges that contain multiple games or flash carts.
I misspelled it, do you know if this console supports multicarts.
Hello
Can this system play Famicom games?
With a pin adapter, yes.
Satoshi Matrix and those can sometimes be easy to find since they're in some of early NES games such as Gyromite
Well, that's actually a lot less true than it used to be thanks to collectors knowing what to look for when examining a Gyromite and other NES carts that could possibly have 60 pin adapter. There are ways to tell if a Gyrmoite contains a pin adapter or not, and NES collectors in the past 10 years have snatched up pretty much all cheap Gyromites with the adapters. Now, if you want to find one that does have an adapter, you'll have to pay appropriately for it. I've been in several game shops and looked at the Gyromites and the ones that contain the pin adapter are all $30 whereas the worthless standard version is in the $1 bargain bins.
Total garbage. Defective right out of the box usually.
The fact that this video review exists, among others, would seem to suggest otherwise.
I got one and my friend got one. Both were defective immediately. Total garbage consoles. Spend the money and get a real NES.
If you buy something that is defective, just replace it. I don't understand the impulse to go on the internet to discourage others from buying simply because you bought a system under warranty and didn't bother to exchange it.
Sometimes, products don't work out of the box. It happens. That's why stores have exchange policies.
The store did refund us. Just cautioning others to steer far clear of this particular clone console. I have my opinion just like you have yours.
I've had 3 or 4, none defective and work correctly out of the box.
your going to be paying for for games many games go as high as
300 for one game your not going to find anything under 60 bucks not worth it at all
So tired of "Retro" this "Retro" that. I can't wait for the whole scene to just die out, so prices will go down again, and the real hobbyists can enjoy it. And more importantly these garbage cheap plastic clone abominations can go away and not tarnish the purity of these great games.
+EX Heihachi Sorry, but the whole scene will never die out, and prices will never fall. Prices are set based on demand, and the demand will only increase with time. Those who were kids when older generations of games were new are now entered the age of their adulthood where they can throw disposable income at this kind of thing and clone makers are only all to
happy to appease the market. And If anything, prices will only continue to raise as interest in retro gaming isn't just with adults, but with many kids and teenagers too. About half my subscriber base are below the age of 18. These kids will grow up and only continue to drive up the cost of retro gaming. Fact of life.
Also, hate to break it to you if you've got something against clone systems, but there will only be more and more clones as patents expire and those systems become completely legal to develop your own hardware. Don't be surprised if later this year we see N64 clones much like the Retro Entertainment System here. They won't "go away".
Satoshi Matrix I would throw my money at these consoles if they were closer to Analog NT in quality. Why is it so hard to make a 1:1 assimilation of a 30 year old system?
+EX Heihachi The Anologue NT is a $500 console. If you wanna spend that money, be my guest. But as for Famiclones, they exist on reverse engineered dedicated hardclone clones that began to surface around 1989, using off the shelf components. These initial clones were highly illegal, but spread like wildfire and despite Nintendo's best efforts, they only increased in
number with time. The first Nintendo on a Chip clone (NOAC) was developed around 1995, and was based on the reverse engineered hardware clones available as opposed to the actual original design documents which wouldn't be available for another decade. Based on a bad copy, these initial NOAC clones had many particular issues, but nobody cared much aslong as they sold. Since then, Famiclones have actually improved considerably, especially since 2005 when they became legal and documents were released to clone makers to improve the NOAC.
Despite what you might think, not all clones are identical with there being at at least five common variants of the NOAC. Made by separate engineering teams, they do not collaborate and some clones have fixes that others lack, so right now there is no ultimate 1:1 NOAC solution. For that to happen there would need to a kickstarter like fund to invest in that.
The next closes thing is FPGA, where the chip emulates the entire workings of the Famicom. That could work, but the price of an FPGA chip by itself is around $100. With hardware, casing, controllers, and so on, you're looking at $150 cost minimum. For that price, many people simply would choose to buy software emulation solutions rather than dedicated hardware. So that leaves Famiclones, flawed as they are, to continue to dominate the market. There is no ultimate Famiclone because there is no market demand for one.
+Satoshi Matrix Well then more of these companies should start selling those "off the shelf parts" clones again, since they are vastly superior to these chip things. I don't see what's holding them back, since component prices have surely dropped in the last 30 years. There would be a market for these higher quality clones.
+EX Heihachi Dedicated hardware clones haven't been made since at least 1994 because the cost considerably more to produce than NOAC based clones. Yes, component prices have dropped, but it's still singificantly cheaper to produce one circuit than a motherboard with individual components. If you need an example of component complexity vs integrated on-a-chip designs, look up the history of Jeri Ellsworth's C64 Direct-to-TV. She had one hell of a time bringing that to market.
Does this work with original nes power cord?
+Mo-Beatz No; make sure you NEVER DO THAT. That would be the worst possible thing you could do.
+Detoritrockcity31 Assuming your LED flatscreen tv has composite inputs, then yes. But of course it'll look like total garbage because of the nature of flatscreen tvs.
+Detoritrockcity31 But he already knows this. He even said so.