New Piece of Hardware

[BobA]

New retro console

http://www.geeky-gadgets.com/nes-snes-and-genesis-super-retro-trio-console-launches-next-month-for-70-07-02-2014/

[JDFan]

interesting -- wonder if it has the hardware from all 3 or is it using emulation and does it require the original controllers from each system or will the SNES controller work for all 3  ?

[Howard_Casto]

It's not using emulation, but it's likely horrible.  This company has been making these consoles for a while now.  The sound is usually off, specialty carts (sfx chip ect) don't work and other misc issues. 

If you look at the connector on the end of the "snes" controllers that's actually a genesis connector, so yeah I'm assuming they'll work with all three. 

[DaveMMR]

I like that these things keep the price of the legit hardware from spiraling out-of-control  (I hate competing with people going through a temporary 'nostagia kick'), but yeah, as Howard said, they're usually a little spotty on compatibility with any cartridges utilizing special chips (Castlevania III, Yoshi's Island, Starfox, Virtua Racer, etc.)

These machines are decent if you have a box full of carts in your attic and you want to give them a play without buying a bunch of dedicated consoles but, otherwise, have no serious desire to collect.

[ark_ader]

Wow what's the point in that?

[Generic Eric]

I think it is kinda neat actually.  Sure, its a SOC with limited capabilities, I seem to remember that Super Mario RPG didn't play correctly in the emulators right away.   Really, DAE remember the Yoshi box? 

[Slippyblade]

We sold the hell out of those kinds of machines when I ran the video game store.  Keep in mind that you guys are not the average person.  The average person is about as dumb as a rock from my garden and wouldn't be able to set up an emulator if their kid's lives required it.  These machines, as crappy as they are, scratch the same itch for the average person that emulators do for us.

It all comes down to a tradeo-fff.  Time vs money. Convenience vs knowledge.

[ChadTower]

I bought one of the last round of NES/SNES/Genesis clones that had ports for real controllers of all three systems.  The thing lasted about a month of light use before the dial that selects the active port stopped working.  That made it an NES only system.  Then the NES cart connector became flaky and it became a door stop.  It didn't last long at all.

[Howard_Casto]

We sold the hell out of those kinds of machines when I ran the video game store.  Keep in mind that you guys are not the average person.  The average person is about as dumb as a rock from my garden and wouldn't be able to set up an emulator if their kid's lives required it.  These machines, as crappy as they are, scratch the same itch for the average person that emulators do for us.

It all comes down to a tradeo-fff.  Time vs money. Convenience vs knowledge.

Well I'm pretty sure the "average person" is going to want to play Yoshi's Island or Star Fox or similar, extremely popular titles like that, none of which are going to work on the hardware because they have a super fx chip.  Hell even carts that have a battery backed save sometimes don't work on these things. 

Go in ebay, get your consoles separately.... if you aren't worried about condition (just has to work, doesn't have to be pretty) you can probably get all three for less than the 70 dollar price tag. 

Long story short, we aren't suggesting the common man use emulators, we are suggesting they use the real consoles.  After all, who would keep a box load of carts and not the console to play them on?

[lilshawn]

I think it is kinda neat actually.  Sure, its a SOC with limited capabilities, I seem to remember that Super Mario RPG didn't play correctly in the emulators right away.   Really, DAE remember the Yoshi box? 

what an abortion. Glad I can just emulate ALL those things (and more) on my PC now without scabing all the hardware in there.

[ark_ader]

I think it is kinda neat actually.  Sure, its a SOC with limited capabilities, I seem to remember that Super Mario RPG didn't play correctly in the emulators right away.   Really, DAE remember the Yoshi box? 

what an abortion. Glad I can just emulate ALL those things (and more) on my PC now without scabing all the hardware in there.

You have a working Xbox emulator?  Wow!

[pbj]

I got a catalog from China ~20 years ago purporting to be the same exact thing.  Of course, it was $300-400 back then.

Nobody played Castlevania 3 ever.  Stop trotting out that example.  Yoshi's Island is fun but I never even heard of it until it came out on DS.  My uncle has a RetroDuo and has played it daily for over a year without issue.  I'm a fan.

 

[DaveMMR]

Nobody played Castlevania 3 ever.  Stop trotting out that example. 

What exactly are you basing that on? "I never played it so NO ONE ever played it!"

I know plenty of people who owned and played it.

Yoshi's Island is fun but I never even heard of it until it came out on DS.

Yeah, it was a pretty major release and sold a lot of copies, fairly hard to miss if you were gaming in the mid-90's. There are plenty floating around. Again, just because you didn't hear about it doesn't mean it's obscure.

[Howard_Casto]

Yoshi's Island, if I remember correctly, was the top selling game of that year period.  On most top XX lists it's considered the best platformer on the SNES. 

As for Castlevania III, look at this:

http://videogames.pricecharting.com/game/nes/castlevania-iii-dracula's-curse

Even today approximately two copies are sold on the inter webs every day.  I would consider that popular enough. 

I get that you like the retro___ consoles, and that's fine, but it doesn't magically negate the points we were trying to make, which is if you want to play all of these games without having to worry about compatibility, you probably need to get the real hardware.