How should I get my retro gaming on?

nihil

Hello hello all. I am kind of burned out on next gen, the fancy graphics just don't do it for me anymore. I am in the middle of some great games (Bioshock, Uncharted, Mario Galaxy) but I have decided to go retro for a bit, feeling nostalgic as it were. I know I can get my classic fix on the virtual console but truth be told I have quite a few NES and SNES cartridges that need love. Here is my dilema. I have these systems, I surely do and in most cases I have two of them (NES, SNES, Genesis, Saturn...blah blah) but I have moved and a metric ton of my stuff is still in boxes in storage. In specific I want SNES and NES love but I don't want to bust out too many systems (the wife will kill me) so I came across those nintenclones. I have seen this bad boy, the twin fc available and it seems to do what I want and is cheap enough that I would rather pay $30 dollars than dig through all my crap. Does anyone have any of these? Are they legal to own? (yes yes patents expired) Downsides? Should I just shoot myself in the face instead of wanting to play these on an LCD television? Help. Please.

evilmrhenry

I know that the NES clones don't have 100% compatibility, but most games would work. If you're dead-set on playing a specific game, check the compatibility before buying.

The machines should be legal, too. I've seen them in Gamecrazy stores, and the patents in question have expired.

bloodatonement

On video quality, I direct you to Ars Technica's handy comparison guide.

Ryadic

I don't know if anyone has known about this, but it's a good service.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Console_classix

So far the legality of it is unclear, so if this is against forum rules - I'm sorry and delete.

But they justify it as legal because when you "rent" a copy of a game off their server it can only be rented by you. So if they own 10 copies of the original Mario Bros. game (actual catridges), only 10 people can be playing it online at a time. The 11th person needs to wait for someone to stop playing it. They also let you submit your old games to them for credit towards their service. Worth taking a look in my opinion, espeically if you want to get some retro gaming on - which you state you do.

Enjoy!

Lindsay Lohan

I did a head to head to head on the NES vs Yobo vs Gen NEX consoles awhile back, unfortunately the site isn't up anymore. My overall opinion was that the Yobo was the worst of the three, having an inferior build quality and the worst compatibility and video/audio - the Gen NEX was a bit better, MUCH better build quality but slightly quiet audio - the NES with A/V cables was the king but requiring the TLC involved with the 72 pin adaptor and obviously larger formfactor. I believe the twin is built by the Yobo folks, so I'd expect similar results.

Clones are legal to own unless they have roms built into them.

Unless you are playing some of the known trouble NES games (Castlevania III for example) you should be all set. I've heard the compatibility of the Twin for SNES is nearly flawless.

EDIT: I stand corrected - apparently we didn't delete our old content in the relaunch - here's the original story on the NES clones - assume the Twin has similar NES performance to the Yobo...
http://www.runjumpshoot.com/content/11/2/NES-Console-Buyer's-Guide.html

nihil

Thanks for the advice guys, that side by side screenshot comparison really did it for me. I'm using my virtual console to get my hands on games that I just couldn't otherwise so it is both a damn shame and an awesome bonus that it is the best way to go to play my classics on an hdtv. I just don't want to buy all of those bad boys again. lol. The system comparison was a big help, I will probably get a NEX sometime in the future but at the end of the guide where it links to another guide that explains pin connector changing, well that gave me another project to do. So, what have I learned? Nex is sexy, Yobo is bootleg, NES is still the best way to play. Thanks again.