Thank you for this review. Can't imagine how much these cost because I know only a few were released before the company folded, so they are probably collectors items now but I will not make any effort to purchase one.
I was wondering... The uses that got the ZX Vega Plus did they get there money back too or was the test(you could call it too `The ZX Vega Plus Beta Version`, it does sound better then test version) version all they got, I think they should of got both cause having to wait like about 4 years for something is a long time...? I wrote a lot of stuff about The Vega Plus on THEC64 Community Website because both RGL and RCL are connected, if they never made the ZX Spectrum Vega first, THEC64 would not exist, it even uses code from it, how THEC64 changes its settings and THEC64 Joystick buttons in a CJM file, thats from the ZX Spectrum Vega, it uses the same type of file, I asked RGL.
I don't know anything about the Vega+, but that 2D barcode decodes to a number that looks an awful lot like it could be a serial number. If you're worried about revealing the source you might want to check on that.
It isn't, this is a re-upload. I was actually the very first person to review this on TH-cam and wrote the famous Vega+ Kickscammer documentary. My old channel was taken down by copyright trolls and I lost everything, so I am in the process of trying to restore it. I had a lot of requests from people on Facebook to put this one back up, so here it is :-)
Curious about the serial number paranoia. RCL is dead and gone. (and even if not - they've got so many lawsuits flying about what do they care?) I'd put it in the comments with bold type.
Can't really fault them for not including games they didn't have the rights to. Looks like they ran out of time and money hence the obviously not QAd controls.
This was made by the same people that made THEC64(Paul Andrews and Chris Smith), they left the RCL company and then the Vega+ was killed, straight after they left they made RGL and THEC64 was born in 2018, you can not leave a project in mid air and think it will be alright, you need to complete the first one first before starting a new one after the first one is completed, this shows it does not work, and you can not leave a preorder product cause it will never be made, you need to stick it out, we are all individuals so do not think the same as everyone, so will have differences and have different views so have to put them aside and carry on, otherwise no one will make anything... :)
Has anyone worked out how to copy it firmware off it, it might be hackable and what hardware it uses and if some finds it specs then it might be able to be recreated by someone maybe with a raspberry PI and a LCD screen, you only need the launcher that runs when you start it and the emulator, it might look like that its part of the emulator but its not if its has a Alwinner A20 SoC CPU(Mark Fixes Stuff said it has a ARM A20 processor, in another video) so as powerful as THEC64 Mini but if it has a A20 why is it not using HDMI, it would be compatible, it uses composite. I wonder it the AV works, composite on it. These are test versions NOT the final retail version, the ZX Spectrum Vega Plus never got made in the end. I have never heard of someone making 400 prototype units, these are all test models so all have something wrong with them so are not the final retail model that gets made at the factory, these are test models that get sent to the company it look at and if something need changing or models they don't like so they was stored.
@@TheLairdsLair Thats a good idea, at lest it will feel like a retail version, I have the ZX Spectrum Vega that this is based on and it does not have a A20 on it, it uses Linux but its not hackable. I see a few people are having a problem with the Vega+ Directional Pad, it might need something under it so it makes the pad stick out more so its easier to press, it looks to low so it hits the case around each button on the Directional Pad so you have to press them hard for it to move Up, Down, Left and Right.
@@TheLairdsLair to be fair, I did back a bunch of things in the early days of Kickstarter and were successful. But I've followed many over the years without investing and they've pretty much all failed. The ones I came closest to investing in but thankfully didn't was the Atari console one and the star citizen game
@@nefariou5 Heh - and yet compared to this and the Amico - the VCS did come out. Works great. I'm typing to you on it right now XD The Atari VCS tried to fall into the same trap (corrupt owners getting greedy after seeing the campaign funds come in). The person who spearheaded the 'Ataribox' idea initially, made a run for the campaign money. Fortunately, Atari (all two dozen of them) still had a functioning company head who promptly shitcanned him (and the moron in Boulder CO who initiated the hardware design but then tried to kill himself skydiving) and reformatted the product into a competent Ryzen box (thanks to legacy Apple product finishers in San Jose 'SurfaceInk'). Not only am I typing to you on it now (via Ubuntu) but the AtariOS side (of the dual OS configuration) just got it's copy of Atari 50 installed (which supports the paddle controllers combined with the classic controllers). It's done it's job to allow me to test Proton / Linux on Steam before the Steam Deck arrived (2 years after the VCS was released) nicely. In that time it replaced a Mac Mini upgrade for 1/4 the price and delivered me 4+ times the speed of the legacy Mac Mini it replaced. Best-of or top end - no, but a nice mini PC anyway that did it's job before I got my SD. In-fact, it's been a daily driver for over 2 years as I got my 'Linux skills' in shape (never got into Linux 'whole-hog' prior). Plus I like supporting the indie devs on the AtariOS side. Which is niche as hell to be sure, but they're big fish in a small pond online-storewise prior to re-releasing their efforts on Steam. If there's any takeaway from the above bla-bla - if your expectations weren't that of a miniPC with an interesting story behind it and niche use-case, then you've got lots of boring options elsewhere. Otherwise I'm happy with it.
Thank you for this review. Can't imagine how much these cost because I know only a few were released before the company folded, so they are probably collectors items now but I will not make any effort to purchase one.
Really great timing on the reupload here what with the liquidation accounts for RCL being released this week!
Haha! You could almost say it was intentional . . . .
Some of the greatest packaging design ever. Obviously Apple snapped the designer up after this was released.
Bruh STFU. iPhones are anything but loose inside the box, and I haven’t heard of many iPhones coming damaged. Typical Google SHILL
looks like something you'd get at Poundland.
Wow, dodged a bullet with this one!
yes, glad i didn't back this
Great video keep it up looking forward to see your next video.
Thanks 👍
Ben heck did two versions one from new components he should put that one up on kickstarter, I'd buy one looks good and has a full keyboard
handhelds are so fascinating
I was wondering... The uses that got the ZX Vega Plus did they get there money back too or was the test(you could call it too `The ZX Vega Plus Beta Version`, it does sound better then test version) version all they got, I think they should of got both cause having to wait like about 4 years for something is a long time...?
I wrote a lot of stuff about The Vega Plus on THEC64 Community Website because both RGL and RCL are connected, if they never made the ZX Spectrum Vega first, THEC64 would not exist, it even uses code from it, how THEC64 changes its settings and THEC64 Joystick buttons in a CJM file, thats from the ZX Spectrum Vega, it uses the same type of file, I asked RGL.
Hardly anyone got a refund, most people were left out of pocket, that was the biggest issue!
I don't know anything about the Vega+, but that 2D barcode decodes to a number that looks an awful lot like it could be a serial number. If you're worried about revealing the source you might want to check on that.
It doesn't matter now, the person who gave me the Vega+ didn't actually care.
I see my name! What a debacle this whole affair was
What a bunch of scammers.
the vega plus was a superb concept, but it was totally screwed up.
No Manic Miner? no Jet Set Willy? Really?
I’m confused. How is this product different from the year-old TH-cam reviews of an identical-looking devices?
It isn't, this is a re-upload. I was actually the very first person to review this on TH-cam and wrote the famous Vega+ Kickscammer documentary. My old channel was taken down by copyright trolls and I lost everything, so I am in the process of trying to restore it. I had a lot of requests from people on Facebook to put this one back up, so here it is :-)
Just became a patron !
Thank you! I really appreciate that!
Curious about the serial number paranoia. RCL is dead and gone. (and even if not - they've got so many lawsuits flying about what do they care?)
I'd put it in the comments with bold type.
They weren't dead when I made the video and I was still under NDA, so I had to be careful.
@@TheLairdsLair Ah - and given their litigious nature (which is where a large amount of the funds went) - understandable. Cheers!
So bizarre. It would be very hard to design a worse product deliberately.
Can't really fault them for not including games they didn't have the rights to. Looks like they ran out of time and money hence the obviously not QAd controls.
Because they stole all the money and didn't pay the licensees, as documents show!
@@TheLairdsLair damn where is that video?!
Search TH-cam for Kickscammer ZX Spectrum Vega
@@neozeed8139 If links work: th-cam.com/video/UkvOlE8qDB0/w-d-xo.html
This was made by the same people that made THEC64(Paul Andrews and Chris Smith), they left the RCL company and then the Vega+ was killed, straight after they left they made RGL and THEC64 was born in 2018, you can not leave a project in mid air and think it will be alright, you need to complete the first one first before starting a new one after the first one is completed, this shows it does not work, and you can not leave a preorder product cause it will never be made, you need to stick it out, we are all individuals so do not think the same as everyone, so will have differences and have different views so have to put them aside and carry on, otherwise no one will make anything... :)
I wrote the Vega+ Documentary, I know the story very very well . . . . .
@@TheLairdsLair Documentary..?
Yep, you can find it here: th-cam.com/video/UkvOlE8qDB0/w-d-xo.html&ab_channel=Slope%27sGameRoom
Has anyone worked out how to copy it firmware off it, it might be hackable and what hardware it uses and if some finds it specs then it might be able to be recreated by someone maybe with a raspberry PI and a LCD screen, you only need the launcher that runs when you start it and the emulator, it might look like that its part of the emulator but its not if its has a Alwinner A20 SoC CPU(Mark Fixes Stuff said it has a ARM A20 processor, in another video) so as powerful as THEC64 Mini but if it has a A20 why is it not using HDMI, it would be compatible, it uses composite.
I wonder it the AV works, composite on it.
These are test versions NOT the final retail version, the ZX Spectrum Vega Plus never got made in the end.
I have never heard of someone making 400 prototype units, these are all test models so all have something wrong with them so are not the final retail model that gets made at the factory, these are test models that get sent to the company it look at and if something need changing or models they don't like so they was stored.
I'm pretty sure people have hacked them, I saw somebody just launched a Kickstarter for proper packaging.
@@TheLairdsLair Thats a good idea, at lest it will feel like a retail version, I have the ZX Spectrum Vega that this is based on and it does not have a A20 on it, it uses Linux but its not hackable.
I see a few people are having a problem with the Vega+ Directional Pad, it might need something under it so it makes the pad stick out more so its easier to press, it looks to low so it hits the case around each button on the Directional Pad so you have to press them hard for it to move Up, Down, Left and Right.
this is why i stopped doing kickstarter and indiegogo. the stuff you get out of it is usually junk, and thats if you get anything at all.
I've only ever backed 3 and NONE of them have been delivered!
@@TheLairdsLair to be fair, I did back a bunch of things in the early days of Kickstarter and were successful. But I've followed many over the years without investing and they've pretty much all failed. The ones I came closest to investing in but thankfully didn't was the Atari console one and the star citizen game
@@nefariou5 Heh - and yet compared to this and the Amico - the VCS did come out. Works great. I'm typing to you on it right now XD
The Atari VCS tried to fall into the same trap (corrupt owners getting greedy after seeing the campaign funds come in). The person who spearheaded the 'Ataribox' idea initially, made a run for the campaign money.
Fortunately, Atari (all two dozen of them) still had a functioning company head who promptly shitcanned him (and the moron in Boulder CO who initiated the hardware design but then tried to kill himself skydiving) and reformatted the product into a competent Ryzen box (thanks to legacy Apple product finishers in San Jose 'SurfaceInk'). Not only am I typing to you on it now (via Ubuntu) but the AtariOS side (of the dual OS configuration) just got it's copy of Atari 50 installed (which supports the paddle controllers combined with the classic controllers).
It's done it's job to allow me to test Proton / Linux on Steam before the Steam Deck arrived (2 years after the VCS was released) nicely. In that time it replaced a Mac Mini upgrade for 1/4 the price and delivered me 4+ times the speed of the legacy Mac Mini it replaced. Best-of or top end - no, but a nice mini PC anyway that did it's job before I got my SD. In-fact, it's been a daily driver for over 2 years as I got my 'Linux skills' in shape (never got into Linux 'whole-hog' prior). Plus I like supporting the indie devs on the AtariOS side. Which is niche as hell to be sure, but they're big fish in a small pond online-storewise prior to re-releasing their efforts on Steam.
If there's any takeaway from the above bla-bla - if your expectations weren't that of a miniPC with an interesting story behind it and niche use-case, then you've got lots of boring options elsewhere. Otherwise I'm happy with it.
This was my last crowdfund too, I didn’t realize they ever shipped any of these, I didn’t get anything.
Made in England - Shame lol !!!
I'll stick with my vita I think
Some of the nes on a chip handhelds I own have better buttons
Hello.
Utterly awful , bad and unplayable. OMG i need to have one