Topic: obligatory RetroUSB AVS thread.

[ClexYoshi]

http://www.retrousb.com/product_info.php?cPath=36&products_id=78

so, this is a bit special!

This, right here, is an HDMI After-market NES/Famicom with the four-score built in that can play NTSC and PAL carts.

No, it's not an emulation machine. it has a FPGA core in it, so it's actually reading your cart. I imagine if they designed this thing with the RAM expansion in mind given that it has the Famicom Expansion port, you could get the FDS running as well. yes, it does seem to also support various mapper chips and such too, so feel free to plop in your copy of Akumajou Densetsu and rock out.

also, the whole thing is USB Mini powered, which is a hell of a lot more appealing than having a brick eating up 2 spots on my power strip.

The main hiccup is the asking price for admission; $180 USD. is that worth paying for something closer to what people wanted from the NES Classic?

EDIT: Also, it's worth noting that this probably saves you on say... buying a Framemeister and then modding your NES/Famicom for RGB output via SCART.

[ThePerm]

I already have a wii u..... wouldn't it just be easier to buy virtual console games at that price? OR
an original NES and a $5 crt ntsc tv?

[BranDonk Kong]

This thing is pretty rad. It's better than Virtual Console...plays actual cartridges. I believe it has all of the NES hardware inside, with some HDMI transcoder and whatnot.

[ClexYoshi]

I already have a wii u..... wouldn't it just be easier to buy virtual console games at that price? OR
an original NES and a $5 crt ntsc tv?

Given it outputs your NES signal via RGB and upscales it to a very crisp 720p? it actually gives you higher picture quality on your NES games than even the Virtual Console. the best part is that this upscaling process also eliminates input lag.

[ThePerm]

Can you really get a higher resolution than they system 256 x 240 from the games though? My point was that if you're going to pay $185 for it you could buy most of your favorite games off virtual console.

I'm a special category though. I still have my old tv from the 90s/early 2000s that is a flat crt screen for the purpose that classic games/vhs look better on that tv.

Also, if you have a regular modern hd tv and plug an nes and make sure that the av settings are 4:3 it should look fine for the most part.

if you can't get a classic NES, https://www.amazon.com/Retro-Bit-Retro-Video-System-Nintendo-Entertainment/dp/B0012NZK8G would be fine if you did that.

[Lemonade]

Its a nice idea, but I would rather the Mini NES

[ejamer]

I can see both sides of the argument here.


For anyone serious collector who has a substantial library of NES/Famicom carts already (or intends to build such a collection), this is hugely appealing.  Granted, I say that without knowing anything about the actual physical build quality or level of compatibility - I'm assuming both are excellent. And honestly, the $185 price point doesn't seem that outrageous if you are in this position. There are tons of great games not available on Virtual Console or included with the much more limited NES Classic mini-console.


That said, I recently sold off almost all of my NES carts. This offering is too late to be of interest for me, because paying for the system and then trying to build a collection of games would be too expensive and time consuming for me at this point.  NES Classic is much more in line with what I'd want - inexpensive, compact, super convenient. Even though it's got serious gaps in the library of games included, the benefits outweigh the drawbacks for someone who would only play NES games casually.

[ClexYoshi]

I'm someone with a 50+ game collection, and someone in my family is closer to the 170~ mark. that's a big reason behind my personal desire for the AVS, especially considering my NES at this point needs maintenance and I don't really have a proper upscaler any more and the last tube TV in the house is this tiny little thing we take camping.


Ideally, I'd love to own a XRGB Framemeister, but not only does the device itself cost around $400, but then you're also having SCART cables sent to you from the UK, you're having to make sure you have SCART to RGB20 adaptors, and in the NES's case, you actually need to have the console modded to output in RGB to get the same sort of picture quality out of it you'd get out of the AVS. at this point, we're at like... $550 if we were just setting up for doing this with our NES? and that's not even accounting for potential import gaming.


I'd mainly want a framemeister for all my other stuff, butt I'm not ready to take that plunge, and even then, the AVS is a far more portable solution for taking to a friend's house or such.

[Mop it up]

Funnily enough, I actually think making NES games sharper just makes them look even more ugly. So I'm fine with the plain ol' A/V cable or RF, though I don't really want to play them on my plasma TV as they look better on a smaller screen and a CRT.

I've already replaced the 72-pin connector and have a top-loader, so I'm set for hardware as well.

[pokepal148]

Can you really get a higher resolution than they system 256 x 240 from the games though?

Sony was able to get the PS2 to be able to run PS1 games on a component cable which actually ends up looking pretty nice on an HDTV (although apparently a lot of the more cheaply made HDTVs don't have a 240p mode for Component which will cause whatever forms of witchcraft and dark magic Sony used to make PS1 games run on component to fail.)

[BranDonk Kong]

I don't think any HDTV has a 240p mode because that's not a real thing. The PS2 displayed PS1 games at 480i. Sony didn't do anything to make PS1 games "run on component" they just had a video encoder that supported it on the PS2, unlike the PS1.

[ThePerm]

Yeah its going to be 480i. 480p looks better though. NES games are at 240i but display at 480i.

Also if you have something like an ouya and want the classic feel, you can get an nes USb controller for $12. I don't have the NES usb controller, so I do it legit on Wii u. The Ouya controller sucks. I love the metal shell though. You can play with a wii controller on ouya, which is nice, but its kinda annoying to set up. I have a raspberry pi, I have not tried emulation on it, but did very easily set up my wii remote.

I re bought  a bunch of nes games on wii u. I really didn't take the time to examine the resolution, because I look at the controller when I play them.