I love my Retro Duo. The SNES games run flawlessly for the most part, but you do get slightly off colors and sound on the NES games do to the NOAC function.
Oddly enough, it is somewhat nostalgic for me. I had a crap-ass TV as a kid, so the over saturated reds and slightly tinny sound make me feel right at home.
Don't let that deter you though. It's a nice little clone system and a bargain considering you get both NES and SNES function for around $40. It is also surprisingly nice to play NES games using an SNES pad.
I have a Yobo FC, [standard famiclone], and it does the job well. But, as stated before, the console has a death grip on cartridges. I frequently have to take out the console, and push against the system as I pull the cartridge out.
I've had a Retro Duo for a little over a year, and I've been loving it. No complains, really - well, except the death grip on NES carts, but there's little that can be done about that.
I have the nifty looking red and gold "special edition" Retro Duo, and it has done me no wrong so far. I actually was thinking of playing some SNES on it today!
I bought one a few months ago, it works fine but I just didn't use it since I got my SNES fixed so I put it back in the box. I'm selling it if your interested. It's the blue/white one.
I have one too, had to import it from the USA as weren't available in the UK.
It plays many SNES games (including Super Mario Seven Stars RPG, at least, mine does), although there are many it doesn't play too - probably plays about 60% of the games I have, from a collection of a few NTSC games and the majority (about 80?) as PAL. It plays the NES games fine; I have a few NTSC and a few PAL ones.
In general, comments:
The game cart ports grip the game carts hard, although you can wiggle them out ok
SNES compatability isn't as good as it should be
SNES games have a slowdown when there is lots on the screen
However, you get a region free SNES and NES system on the games it plays - and plays them fine.
Yeah, if anyone in the UK wants to buy mine, let me know, sure we can sort out a deal - i'm going to use original hardware in my systems and region mod them, so happy to sell my RetroDuo "clone".
So I actually have had a bit of a problem with my Retro Duo now that I had to go out and say how awesome it was!
I had it hooked up via S-video on a CRTV and the picture looked great. Never had any issues with it. Last night I tried to hook it up to my HDTV via S-Video to play some SNES, but unfortunately noticed that there are RF lines that run horizontally and move from the top of the screen to the bottom. I switched it over to the NES functionality to play some Contra and the picture was so fuzzy that I could barely see anything. I switched over to the basic A/V connection and got the same results.
In anger and frustration, I took the Retro Duo back to the CRTV and hooked it up to find the picture was once again perfect, whether it was hooked up via S-Video or A/V.
Anyone know what could cause this? I thought it may be bad inputs on the HDTV, but the picture is fine when I hook up other stuff using them.
jfe2 wrote:
In anger and frustration, I took the Retro Duo back to the CRTV and hooked it up to find the picture was once again perfect, whether it was hooked up via S-Video or A/V.
Anyone know what could cause this? I thought it may be bad inputs on the HDTV, but the picture is fine when I hook up other stuff using them.
Do you have an extra large birds nest of wires or devices near the HDTV? Systems have the metal shielding in them for a reason. I don't knw about the Retro Duo but the other cheapie clones I have don't have any shielding in them at all. If you move the RD around while its hooked to the HDTV, does the interference change?
jfe2 wrote:
In anger and frustration, I took the Retro Duo back to the CRTV and hooked it up to find the picture was once again perfect, whether it was hooked up via S-Video or A/V.
Anyone know what could cause this? I thought it may be bad inputs on the HDTV, but the picture is fine when I hook up other stuff using them.
Do you have an extra large birds nest of wires or devices near the HDTV? Systems have the metal shielding in them for a reason. I don't knw about the Retro Duo but the other cheapie clones I have don't have any shielding in them at all. If you move the RD around while its hooked to the HDTV, does the interference change?
You know, I didn't even think about the RF shielding. There is a Blu-Ray player, a cable box, and an Xbox 360, all hooked up via HDMI, and also a set of Turtle Beach X4s that are hooked up to the 360 via digital optical cable. There's bound to be something from that causing the problem then. I'll have to try hooking it up again tonight to see if setting it somewhere else fixes the interference.
Mine works pretty great. I never had an nes that actually worked so I'm not the best person to compare sound/graphics to the originals, but every game I've stuck in there has worked except one (geurrilla war).
Good success with snes too. My actual snes is plugged in downstairs, but I use the retro duo for super gameboy.
I noticed that when plugging it in through s-video the nes (and maybe snes, didnt test) games were very dull. This could have been the s-video on my tv maybe. . .
