Recommend A Clone System (not R5)

[Jagosaurus]

OK ladies & gents. After roughly 15 yrs of repairing NES systems & helping them limp along I've decided to buy a clone for reliability (perhaps that's an ironic statement). Just having a new system I don't need to clean, replace pins, pull lock out chip, bathe in alcohol, etc... will be nice. Not looking for an all in one replacement.

Can you guys recommend a solid NES clone?

A) I'm not spending $130 on a Retron 5
B) Will be hooking up to a CRT via composite or svid
C) I have SNES mini & Genesis MK1 still kicking but adding either of those wouldn't hurt (NES is the priority though)
D) I understand there will be some compatibility issues. I won't have a heart attack if it won't run a handful of games
E) I like RPGs so must work well with battery saves
F) Original controller compatibility needed
G) Solid (perfect not needed) emu - nice picture, nice sound

Help a brotha out.

-Jag

[Gunstar Green]

All the earlier console-on-a-chip clones fail on one level or another so it's hard to recommend one. The Super Retro Trio is probably the best of those right now as far as quality goes and as far as the features you want.



If you want to go cheaper there's always the Retron 3.



There really hasn't been much development on the non-multi-system front in recent years but if you're really on a budget there's these clones based on the old Neo Fami.

[JoeAwesome]

I'm picking up this one tomorrow from HPB ($10 after 50% off coupon):

http://www.nesclone.com/reviews/retro-b ... ystem-nes/

I'm mainly picking it up to play my multicarts and use my original controllers, but I'll let you know how it goes after testing.

[Gunstar Green]

Yeah, that's the old re-packaged Neo Fami. It'll work just expect poor sound and inaccurate colors like just about every NOAC clone.

[JoeAwesome]

Yeah, that's the old re-packaged Neo Fami. It'll work just expect poor sound and inaccurate colors like just about every NOAC clone.

It's really just for the multicarts (playing Snow Bros.), not to replace my toaster.

[lisalover1]

I'm picking up this one tomorrow from HPB ($10 after 50% off coupon):

http://www.nesclone.com/reviews/retro-b ... ystem-nes/

I'm mainly picking it up to play my multicarts and use my original controllers, but I'll let you know how it goes after testing.

Are you sure that will work with your flashcart? I know that most NES/Famicom flashcarts have issues on Famiclones.

[BoneSnapDeez]

I have one of these and like it. The sound isn't too horrible. And you can use actual NES controllers which is a huge plus.

[JoeAwesome]

I'm picking up this one tomorrow from HPB ($10 after 50% off coupon):

http://www.nesclone.com/reviews/retro-b ... ystem-nes/

I'm mainly picking it up to play my multicarts and use my original controllers, but I'll let you know how it goes after testing.

Are you sure that will work with your flashcart? I know that most NES/Famicom flashcarts have issues on Famiclones.

Multicarts, not flashcarts. I've seen multicarts work on this system, but I don't know about flashcarts.

[Tanooki]

You're pretty much shit out of luck if you refuse to use an original or the retron 5. The only option I can think of isn't much of one because you can't use the original games, and that's the Ouya using USB dongles to jack in a real controller.

The stuff from Yobo is terrible and the retrobit and previous hyperkin stuff isn't terribly much better. The issue on all three they use various quality system on a chip setups and each of them range from not great to terrible. You can count on all three of them having a color palette that is off. Each of them will have some form of sound issues from either being off key or missing notes if not DPCM sound recordings/effects entirely. More or less every one of them will not run MMC5 games (CV3, Koei stuff, Laser Invasion) at all stock, but some can be soldered and rigged to run at least Castlevania 3. The least awful of them is the retron3 but not by much of a margin. They all have a specific list of games that will not work beyond the MMC5 stuff stock, some more than others, and the audio issue is worst to best from the Yobo, Retrobit and Hyperkin stuff.

[Jagosaurus]

I can't justify the 135 for a box that play carts for systems I have. The Linux OS & save states are nice but I can do that with a PC.

Just looking to get more use out of my NES library w/o tinkering with a console. If its 90% accurate & price aggressive. I'll take it.

Thanks for the suggestions. Will research them all.