$500 NES

[DaveMMR]

Anyone retro-gamers feeling rich?
http://www.cnet.com/news/this-aluminum-nes-beauty-is-a-500-love-letter-to-retro-gaming/

This clone uses actual NES chips so all games should run.  I love the idea behind this package (four controller ports and more hook-up options) but it's a tad (read: ridiculously) overpriced, considering you can buy an old NES with controllers, a new 72-pin connector for that NES, a seperate Famicom or a simple adapter (maybe even an FDS as well) and a whole bunch of games for a heck of a lot less. Plus it won't look as boringly generic.

[Howard_Casto]

It's not even a new product either... if you read closely they are used USED famicom guts in the thing.  It's just a fancy case with *maybe* 100 bucks worth of mods done to it.

[Generic Eric]

No integrated PowerPak?  Not worth it.  Buy now we should have access to an integrated microsd slot.  Think of all the chip tunes!

[Ginsu Victim]

Saw this the other day. Still scratchin' my head....
Good job on the part of whoever made it, since they found some suckers who'll buy it.

[s_busby_uk]

Well it's clearly aimed at shiny-thing loving people with thick wallets, but one thing that is quite cool about it is it outputs to HDMI. Not that it's the only device that can do that for you.

I dunno, if I had more money than sense I'd probably buy one.

[Generic Eric]

Here we go

+



Although, given the size of the library, I don't think you'd need a microsd card.

[ChadTower]

After all these years, with all of this NES love, it astounds me that nobody has ever really solved the 72 pin problem.  I would pay quite a bit for an upgraded solid connector that just worked.  I probably swapped out 200 connectors back in the day and never saw one work as well as an OEM did when the system was new.

[s_busby_uk]

This ugly beast is what you REALLY want

http://96.44.162.214/retron5/

[ChadTower]

Those Retron systems all suffer from even worse connectors.  People have bought several iterations of those for my kids because they know we're big retro gamers.  The systems rarely last more than about 90 days.  The cartridge ports are shallow and have no physical support for the cartridge case.  Once you get to maybe 100 cycles the connector loosens up to the point that a spirited fart in the room resets the console. 

And toss the packin controllers right into the garbage.  They are of no use.

[s_busby_uk]

They look like the worst of Chinese knock-off consoles as well. At least that aluminium thing doesn't look like it cost $5

[ChadTower]

At this point I don't care if it looks like it came with fake dog poop from a joke store.  I just want the damn thing to actually work and stay working for more than a few weeks.

[Ginsu Victim]

Since I can emulate NES on just about every device I own, I don't see the point of real cartridges anymore, other than as a collectible.

[ChadTower]

Because we like them.      

[Vigo]

At this point I don't care if it looks like it came with fake dog poop from a joke store.  I just want the damn thing to actually work and stay working for more than a few weeks.

I agree completely. It seems 90% of those retro consoles crap out immediately. I won a handheld nes/snes player a year or two ago. The thing literally lasted 1 day and erased a couple of me snes cart saves in the process.

[ChadTower]

I wonder if that pin problem could be solved by having more of a clamp type connector.  The slide in config clearly doesn't work very well for that number of pins.

[Howard_Casto]

Well not that I'm saying Ben Heck is a master engineer or anything (quite the opposite) but he did a clamp style connector at one point and it ended up being more fiddly than the stock connector in the long run.

The problem, I think at least, is that the stock 72 pin connector is a bit loose to compensate for the fact that your mechanism might not be aligned properly when you insert the cart.  The top loading nes doesn't seem to have this problem.

For the record I am now looking forward to the fake poop at the joke store case mod. 

[pbj]

I think I've got a top loader in the attic now.     I traded my uncle a Retro Duo for it and his broken SNES.  He's not the most gentle person in the world and his Retro Duo has lasted for a couple of years now.  Maybe Chad's kids need to stop trying to kill cockroaches with theirs.

[ChadTower]

I was just talking to a friend about this a couple of hours ago and he suggested rather than a clamp style connector that someone just make a right angle swap in for the Toaster.  Dremel out a slot in the top, add a couple of rails for alignment support, and that might solve the whole thing.

IMO, the root problem is that we're talking about 72 individual contact points, and no connector is going to last forever that way.  What other devices have super high cycle connectors with that many pins?

[DaveMMR]

I never really had much trouble with the 72-pin connectors once they're replaced. I got one off of eBay and, so long as the carts are clean (quick rub of the contacts with cotton swab and alcohol does the trick), the games work on the first try without even having to push them down to load, which helps with the wear/tear on the pins.   

Yeah it's a design flaw but, luckily, an easy and cheap one to fix.

[pbj]

Friend of mine bought one off E-bay from some "respected modder" and the damned thing was just as bad as one you'd find in a dumpster.  He made me open it to make sure that the connector had actually been replaced.   

[northerngames]

retarded for $500 

remove the rf module and throw a $30 cga/ega/vga converter off ebay in a aluminum box and save yourself $425 

for 10 cents more add a power light 

[ChadTower]

Friend of mine bought one off E-bay from some "respected modder" and the damned thing was just as bad as one you'd find in a dumpster.  He made me open it to make sure that the connector had actually been replaced.   

As often as not that was my experience and I swapped a lot of them.  It seemed to be by batch of connectors.  I would get one bag that was way too loose.  The next bag would be so tight you needed Kung Fu Grip to get the game out.  The third bag wouldn't quite fit the motherboard's edge connector and I'd have to file the ends.  The fourth bag would not line up very well and I would have to manually align the thing with the mobo contacts and then hot glue it down.  I swear out of 200-250 I probably got one bag of ten that would consistently make the NES reliable again.  Everything else would get it back to working maybe 90% of the time. 

Even if you grounded the security chip on the NES (which was more often the actual culprit) you still could never get an NES back to working a true 100% of the time.  Hell, I had some systems I would swap the connector, ground the 10-NES, do a cap kit, draw a Modern Problems line in powder around the thing and snort it, sacrifice 3 Twinkies, test it with 5 games and the 5th would always blink.

[northerngames]

I swear to date a buddy of mine had a bulletproof nes he would kick it, throw it at the wall, whirl it in the air like a viking but the damn thing fired right up afterwards each time.

amazing!!

[DaveMMR]

I swear to date a buddy of mine had a bulletproof nes he would kick it, throw it at the wall, whirl it in the air like a viking but the damn thing fired right up afterwards each time.

amazing!!

I know I'm going to sound like an old fart spewing some "they don't make 'em like they used to" rhetoric but it's true. NES was a tough beast. The pins may be problematic but it can take a beating and work well.  Actually most pre-CD consoles - so long as you didn't fry any of the innards, they're quite resilient. Meanwhile, these new-fangled consoles break if you look at them cock-eyed. 

[Howard_Casto]

Well Nintendo consoles are still tough.  With the notable exception of the Wii and it's iffy combo disc drive, I've yet to have a Nintendo console or controller break. 

Kick, em, punch em, drop them off the roof, they just come back for more.  Nobody seems to notice the level of durability and design work the big N puts in their hardware though... they are too busy complaining about lines of resolution and lack of fps. 

To Microsoft's credit though, the original xbox was pretty frikkin rugged as well.  The new stuff, not so much. 

[pbj]

Oh yes... the NES was rock solid.... the reason they sold 10 billion Game Genies wasn't because it made the damn cartridges work again.... nosiree.  I haven't been given like 10 of them over the years that are fried where the power connector plugs in.... 

My SNES crapped out on me after I owned it just long enough that Nintendo wouldn't replace it.  Well, they'd "repair" it for $120.  No thanks.

My first DS died after six months of gentle handling.  One benefit of being an early adopter is they don't dispute those one year warranties.  Usually.

Second DS had a crapped out touch screen fresh out of the box.  They "made an exception" to their warranty to "include your blatant mishandling that caused this damage."  Next time I'll take it back to the store.

Disc drive in my Wii was a piece of ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- from day one.  Thank goodness for the external hard drive support. 

 

[northerngames]

yeah that stink's and I am just the opposite I have them all still rocking to date and they were original luanch models too.

nes, snes, N64, wii, ds, dsi, but xbox now it had the infamous power button trace short at the end of the motherboard but that is common anymore with the ones that turn on soon as the power is plugged in.

also swapped the laser and did the 12v fan mod and have not had a hickup since.

out of all console I have and had I still play the original xbox the most of all my stuff for some reason and was just playing the warriors yesterday actually lol.

the newer stuff/console's to me look amazing but there just not as fun for me as some of the classic/original's and almost all the new stuff lacks anything that is a challenge for more then 10 minutes where there is still nes titles I am stuck on 25yrs later and still trying lol.

[ChadTower]

Every early console had its one or two flaws.  Maybe I just got to see more of these because I was doing it as a side job.  The 2600 and the ColecoVision had issues with the switches getting dirty because they weren't sealed well.  The 2600 would end up with intermittent Game Reset, Select, and B/W-Color switches.  Coleco would get that on the power and reset buttons.  The Master System commonly killed the 7905 just inside the power supply.  The 5200 had awful problems with the combo RF converter/power supply connector.  The 7800 had the flimsiest power supply connector ever with that stupid mini plastic blue thing.  I'm not sure if the Intellivision was made better or if there just weren't that many in MA.  I never really knew anyone who had one and I only ever found maybe two in the wild as a collector.

[DaveMMR]

 
Perhaps I'm just speaking from personal experience. Outside of my original NES's power supply getting fried due to a power surge and a problem with the Colecovision's controller ports (common problem), just seems that my older (cartridge based consoles) were fairly reliable while my Wii, Playstation, PS2, PS3, etc. needed to be coaxed into working.

Yeah, they all have flaws but physically speaking they were tough.  If you drop your NES now, it will probably be fine.  Plus you've heard those stories of Gameboys surviving fires and other disasters.  Fairly obvious I suppose. A lot less moving parts in those older consoles.

But speaking of defects, I do remember my original Commodore 64 had to be exchanged a handful of times when I first got it, with the 1541 disk drive being replaced like 10 times.  There was a high defect rate when it first came out.  But the hardware I finally ended up with is still chugging along (even though it need a chip or two replaced.)

[Howard_Casto]

Yeah I don't know what PBJ has been doing to his consoles, but again, with the notable exception of the Wii's disc drive I've never had anything go wrong with a Nintendo console.  I still have all my original childhood consoles, and while I did recently pull the pins back out on the NES (that's the real flaw btw... the springiness wears out on the pins after a while) they still all work.... seeing as how I was a kid at the time I wasn't exactly easy on them either. 

Most of your old school consoles were pretty rugged yes, Nintendo just seemed to have a slight leg up.  It's like Chad said, most of your other consoles had some minor defects. 

But pbj is for some reason offended by any pro Nintendo comments like half the people in this forum  so we can let that go. 

The point was they just don't build consoles like they used to. 

What are the ps4/Xbone like design wise?  I know the Wii U is decidedly heavy with really thick plastic... feels like a brick.  Of course they are all too young to determine how durable they are. 

[pbj]

Not offended at all.  I've been really disappointed in the Wii U, but I've owned and enjoyed (to varying extents) them all besides Virtual Boy.  Nintendo is flogging "refurbished" Deluxes on their webstore for $205 this week.... and I thought I got a deal at $290 a month after launch.   

Nintendo was on a crash course to irrelevancy until they got lucky with the Wii.  You can chart out their console sales and they had been steadily dropping off.  We're just seeing the inevitable collapse.

 

[ark_ader]

We're just seeing the inevitable collapse.

I hear on the grapevine that Nintendoh is planning a new console. 

http://www.kdramastars.com/articles/21998/20140513/nintendo-e3-2014.htm

[pbj]

We're just seeing the inevitable collapse.

I hear on the grapevine that Nintendoh is planning a new console. 

http://www.kdramastars.com/articles/21998/20140513/nintendo-e3-2014.htm

That's nice.  I won't be buying it unless it's a Wii Sports-esque game changer, though.

[s_busby_uk]

Early mutterings from Nintendo seemed to imply they were going to be looking at things from a health angle for the future. Will be interested to see if that's where they go.

[Vigo]

Nintendo is probably in a great position of opportunity to make a new system. Nintendo can swoop in a year or so from now with a more powerful system that is a perfect marriage between the PS4 and XB1 offerings and get in before too many people devote themselves to one system or another. I sounds like an easy way to catch the market when most people are still not decided.

Early mutterings from Nintendo seemed to imply they were going to be looking at things from a health angle for the future. Will be interested to see if that's where they go.

Sadly, that's probably the way they will go. For a company that blurts out ad nauseam that they are a "toymaker" and therefore reject making a gaming system that plays media well, they sure have made a ton of fitness garbage over the past few years.

Well, in a decade when they are reduced to an health equipment company, I will at least find it humorous seeing a Nintendo exercise machine sitting in a Bally Gym.

[s_busby_uk]

Nintendo is probably in a great position of opportunity to make a new system. Nintendo can swoop in a year or so from now with a more powerful system that is a perfect marriage between the PS4 and XB1 offerings and get in before too many people devote themselves to one system or another. I sounds like an easy way to catch the market when most people are still not decided.

Nintendo will need a very appealing line up and good services to level themselves with the competition, let alone stand out from it, but with the casual audience now moving form their Wii's to phones for their casual fix, they'll need to convince the "core" gamers that their system is worth buying if they're going to stop them getting a now fairly established PS4 or XB1, and that will be very hard to do at this point.

I think they will try to recapture the casual/family market once more, which is why this health stuff sounds feasible because it gives parents a reason to buy their kid the new console if it claims to keep them active. The PS4/XB1 at this point are fairly resolutely aimed at teenagers and up - Nintendo can still get at the younger/family audience if they're clever/have a good gimmick. That's basically what the Wii did after all.

That or they do something batshit crazy and surprise us all again. They're much bigger risk-takers than Sony/Microsoft.

[northerngames]

for me with mario, link, and handhelds nintendo will alway's be around no matter what sony and microsoft does.

it's been that way since they all came out last I knew and still the same today 

I never bought a psp but have had 3-4 different ds so that alone tells me nintendo got them sales 4-0 and even know the psp was better in many way's it's just not what the wife alone wanted.

just a personal example of how nes will alway's be around but the mario franchise alone is still worth millions and millions if they ever need to pimp/lease him out     

if they launch a new console with another mario, zelda, castlevania and metroid their sold no matter what sony and xbox are doing and by then nintendo has already launched while ms and sony are still trying to figure out what there even doing next...which has also alway's been the same since they came out.

[nitrogen_widget]

My kids are 5 & 7 and they are nuts about mario & his pals.
We have a Wii right now but i'm considering a Wii-U for their birthday in august because it's backwards compatible to their wii games & those characters are what they are into.
Plus Wii-U has the games they want.

They even watch youtube videos just to see how to beat the mario games on the SNES & N64 (via emulator).

I'm 42 but I was commodore 64/Amiga kid.
My little brother is 36 and was the NES & Genesis person of the family.

I did have a dreamcast for a while and a storage tote of game discs.
It still runs.
I've had it apart a few times to tweak the laser though because it stopped reading discs.

I never got into consoles though.
I was the guy plugging his win 98 tower into the TV so we could play madden.

[pbj]

Nintendo needs all the help they can get....



 

[northerngames]

is that consoles or money though very big different graph between the two