NES Portable

[Beldaran]

I think this kicks ass. (http://www.thinkgeek.com/electronics/retro-gaming/ba65/)

[Dechipher]

It's all fun and games until you realize you can't play shit because youre games are whacked out.

In an ideal world...this would be cool though.

[Link 101]

I just use my PSP for that. Cool idea though. It's kind of bulky.

[MottZilla]

The PSP or Nintendo DS are better ways of playing NES games portable. Obviously since you don't need a large NES cart, but also because all unofficial NES systems are based on the same cloned "NES on a Chip" design which has known flaws. One of which is in sound, several games the sound is horribly wrong. The colors may be off, and certain games like MMC5 mapper games probably won't work or may not work correctly.

So buyer beware. Play with it if you just wanna screw around or whatever, but don't expect a perfect portable NES. If you want a better portable NES you'll need to design one like Ben Heck did where a REAL NES is converted into a portable.

[Aegix Drakan]

...hahaha, that's pretty damn cool!

[Russ]

Two words: Flash Cart.

Anyways, that does look pretty cool. Just too impractical.

[Nicholas Steel]

Two words: Flash Cart.
2 words: emulation accuracy.

[MottZilla]

Russel & franpa, what are you talking about?

The emulators on Nintendo DS and PSP emulate NES better than the NES clones in my opinion. They don't have horribly off sound channels, and the colors seem good, plus you can run some games that the clones won't.

[AtmaWeapon]

I think it's a neat idea but I stand behind Mott on his opinions regarding it. Dude knows his emulation stuff and the NES on a chip is flawed. I want to say a few years ago I saw a guy who made one of these himself by disassembling an NES and wiring an LCD up to it; that's accuracy.

I'm not really sure how much it matters anyway since practically every decent NES game, a lot of SNES games, and recently N64 and PSP games have been ported to GBA, DS, or PSP. Lots of emulation options on handheld systems, too.

[Beldaran]

I agree with everyone here, of course. It's just a novelty. I just think it's neat.

[rock_nog]

Totally, I'm with Bel here. It's not practical or anything, there are better solutions and all for portable NES games, but it's just a neat idea, especially to those of us who grew up with Nintendo and probably never thought we'd see the day when you can have an NES in your pocket.

[MottZilla]

How's it going to fit in your pocket with the size of the NES cartridge itself? ;)

The Famicom portable knockoffs are probably a bit more practical since a Famicom cart is generally half as tall as a NES cart. That's where these devices come from ofcourse, but then they adapt them to have the 72pin connector for overseas markets that have NES games rather than Famicom.

It is pretty cool, but I can't help but be bothered by the problems with it. And ofcourse the #1 problem will always be that NES cartridge are huge and most are filled with empty space.

[Nicholas Steel]

The emulators on Nintendo DS and PSP emulate NES better than the NES clones in my opinion.
Maybe, but a portable NES built from actual NES hardware will always give perfect 1:1 audio reproduction (only limited by what crappy speakers you use) and depending on the screen (sine it would likely be LCD) perfect picture.

[Modus Ponens]

I think what's being argued here, franps, is that the item this thread is about is not built from actual NES hardware.

[punkonjunk1024]

Awesome novelty, but yeah, NES on a chip is fracking terrible.

[MottZilla]

Maybe, but a portable NES built from actual NES hardware will always give perfect 1:1 audio reproduction (only limited by what crappy speakers you use) and depending on the screen (sine it would likely be LCD) perfect picture.

I guess you didn't read my first post, where I said exactly that.