Famiclones

[shoggoth80]

Did you get it from Stoneagegamer.com? That's about the best price I have been able to find for them. Something like $15 before shipping. Easy to grab one, even if you keep it as a backup.

Shoot, the guy who runs the place posts on AA, and he had one up for sale at $8. It had a slightly damaged box, but the console was fine. Pretty nice guy by my experience. I mean, he actually interacts with his potential clientel.

Still, I think it would be HARD to beat a Retro Duo with a Fami cart adapter on it, at least as far as clones go anyway. Dunno, I just like this stuff. It's fun.

[nintendodork]

Pretty nice guy by my experience. I mean, he actually interacts with his potential clientel.

Lots of people who have their own online stores who are on here also like to talk to their consumers.  Sometimes, you get to know about stuff a little before they put it in their store

[shoggoth80]

From a business point of view, it makes perfect sense.
Money is made through satisfied, repeat customers. I have also noticed that those within a subculture (in this case, videogamers, and even more so classic gamers), tend to give more respect, and would prefer to buy from someone who is also active, and respected within said subculture.

Ever notice how a lot of passionate gamers/collectors have a lot of animosity for the soul-less eBay reseller? Hell, I ran across a guy like that while thrift hopping, and gave him a solid ration of BS (plus he was snagging all the common/popular titles... all R1 carts, like they were gold. Too bad for him that I rifed the bin first, and now have a few more solid N64 titles in my collection). This guy had a major attitude when I aksed him if he was eBay bound with a quickness after suming up his intents based on his actions. I didn't ask it in a rude manner either.

It's one of those harder to explain notions (at least at the moment, it is 11:30pm, and I got up at 4:30am on 5 hours of sleep).  It's like going to a specialty music shop where the staff are waaaay passionate about what they are doing, are active within a scene etc. It's personality, attitude, environment/atmospere, and being amicable, rather than indifferent (or even hostile) towards your target audience.

[nintendodork]

Yeah, and that way, they can recommend other games that might interest you based on what you've already bought from them.  I've gotten into a few new series that way

[shoggoth80]

I just won this thing off of eBay.
It's a type of Polystation clone. It look like a cross between the other PSOne case copies and the super soccer version... just without the case painting. This one also apparently has a bunch of ROMS built in. Forgive the crummy pic... it's from the auction page. I will snap some better ones when I get it. The seller has solid feedback, and based in the States... so getting it should not be a problem. Only coughed up something around $24 for the rig, including shipping. Not as sweet a deal as my Penguin, but definitely cheaper than a Neofami (I haven't seen many recently, and they are in the $40 range at the moment). Food for thought, I posted some links to a couple other famiclones that are floating around on eBay right now. If I didn't just win this one, I'd be adding the alien style one to my collection.
Okay, here is the current pic for what it is worth.

[ooXxXoo]

I also have a Micro Genius IQ, among other clones....I did a thread of it in another forum sometime ago.... For me, this is one of the best Famicom clones out there....It is not based on a NOAC, like most clones now a days, but instead in a copy of the original Nintendo CPU and PPU hardware socketed to the motherboard....My Micro Genius was a PAL system, and I said was, because after carefully matching pin by pin...I quickly got around it by converting it to a nice 60Hz NTSC system....This is what I did:
I had a loose official NES motherboard laying around for the longest time without any use....So, I desoldered the original NES CPU, PPU and Xtal for the CLK from the board, since the Micro Genius had a PAL crystal....and directly swap them for those of the Micro Genius.....The results were great, basically, a Famicom AV system clone... Best thing of all is, that after the modification ,there is NO game incompatibility whatsoever and with full FDS support.....I'm currently waiting on a 15 pin controller extension cable so I can build myself a controller converter and use original NES controllers with it....Even though, The Micro Genius IQ has native 15 pin controller ports for the 1st and 2nd player, Famicom 15 pin controllers are not compatible, because the ports pinouts are different, or at least mine are....

[NintendoKing]

So its more of a official system now.

[shoggoth80]

I actually read that thread when I was initially digging up information on the MG. Neat mod, though you are probably more skilled with soldering tools than I am. Mine works well as is, so I have no desire to mod it. Your thread is what made me go check region compatibility. Ha ha ha! Funny enough, I have seen fewer IQ 501s than Famicom systems. I remember a few months back, if you punched "top loader " in on eBay, you would get TONS of clone hits, and a handful of real Famis.... neither are very plentiful on eBay anymore... and the Famicoms seem to be climbing in price... and some of them are harder to trust, since there are plenty sellers in Hong Kong, which means that there is a good chance you are getting a convincing clone.. but they  want the same price point (or higher, since they're new, or boxed) than your average Famicom. I mean, there is a Famulator on there right now that is about $60USD when all is said and done...

[son_ov_hades]

Pretty interesting one here.

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Gold-Leopard-King-GLK-2010-Computer-Game-Famicom_W0QQitemZ270343944244QQcmdZViewItemQQptZVideo_Games?hash=item270343944244&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1234|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A1318|301%3A0|293%3A1|294%3A50

[133MHz]

I have that one. Mine even comes with a standard PC type parallel port for connecting to a printer!

[shoggoth80]

Oh yeah, the GLK. I am watching that one, just cause. I don't think that I will buy it though, as the price tag is just a bit on the high side for me. I can get a used round button Famicom for about $60... so there is no incentive to pay that much for a clone. PLUS I am pretty sure that the GLK is Brazilian... so I do not know if the PSU will work here, or if it will just blow up. 
Otherwise, the computer styled clones are pretty interesting.

[133MHz]

Here's a pretty nifty Famiclone I picked up today:


Family Computer System huh? What a mix!
These are nothing new to me, I always stumble with several of them in the flea markets but I don't usually pick them up, but this one was only one dollar so I couldn't let it pass . Chile was full of these mini-NES clones during the early 90s, sold alongside the real thing, most of them under the Creation brand and with built-in games. I had one a long time ago with both 60 and 72 pin slots, but it was a shitty NoAC and died shortly afterwards. I still conserve some of its remains somewhere in my house.

Here it is on top of his big brother:


It's really tiny compared to our usual beloved gray box, the cart fits snugly and doesn't fit completely inside the console. The eject lever is on the back. Here's how it looks with a random NES cart inserted:


Nothing special... but here the thing gets interesting!

A headphone jack!

Never seen a Famiclone with a headphone jack before! And it's a true headphone jack! It outputs amplified mono sound, and it sounds really nice.

In fact, using the headphone jack led me to another thing... This doesn't sound like a NoAC! The audio is correct!
Could this little cheapie Famiclone be a proper one? Let's crack it open, of course!


IT IS!!!
Look at that big board with proper CPU, PPU, RAM chips and no gloptops!

CPU and PPU, perfect clones!


Also if you look closely, on the top you'll see a bunch of solder points that resemble a 60 pin cart slot. What could be hiding there? The built-in game, of course!


Yeah! This is one of those Famiclones where the built in game is a standard Famicom cart plugged in a secondary slot inside the system! That means you can remove it, put it on a plastic shell and use it on your real Famicom, or install any Famicom game as a built in game .

After prying off the glue that was holding it to the motherboard, I managed to get it out:


I presume the glop-top is some sort of mapper.

Here are the games included:

• Contra


• Tengen Tetris


• Battle City


• SMB


• Soccer


• Duck Hunt


• Wild Gunman


• Hogan's Alley


• Ice Climber


• Ninja


• Lode Runner


• Dig Dug


• Binary Land


• Galaxian

The 72 pin connector works like a charm, unlike my NES one, and since it's a perfect clone it'll probably replace my NES for my daily gaming activities .

In conclusion, what I've thought to be another shitty NoAC turned to be a great find!
Always keep your eyes open for Famiclones! They're full of surprises!

[ericj]

Awesome find! So it's a NES-clone, meaning it has a 72 pin cart slot? Awesome how it has a 60 pin cart slot inside!

[Tupin]

I have yet to find a Famiclone, and I doubt I would ever find something as awesome as that NES one.

Is MainSuper a manufacturer of connectors or something? That's what's on my 60-72 pin converter.

[133MHz]

Is MainSuper a manufacturer of connectors or something?

Yes, just like Foxconn. I've seen the Main-Super brand on the expansion connectors of old PC motherboards too.