RetroUSB AVS (NES/Famicom clone)


Dregoth

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Plays NES and Famicom faithfully via an FPGA. Standard unit is $185, the clear LLE unit is $650.2 (in honor of the MOS 6502 used in the original NES).

Went up on preorder as of yesterday. Ordered my LLE so of course I'm plenty biased. Some examples below (watch in 720p 60Hz), pretty cool stuff!





 
What's up with the ton of NES again?
I could understand SNES hype, but maybe it's about the whole "the 80s are back" thing.
 
Why do you understand SNES hype but not NES? What's wrong with NES games?

In my opinion, the NES has a library of fantastic games which can easily compete with modern AAA games.
 
My speculation is that there are more people with happy memories of the NES, at least here in Canada. I don't think the SNES was as wildly successful as the NES.

EVERYONE I knew as a kid who had a console had a NES (even if they also had a genesis, turbografx16, etc) but I only knew a couple friends who had a SNES. The real sales numbers probably won't bear that out but thats how it was for me.
 
Why do you understand SNES hype but not NES? What's wrong with NES games?

In my opinion, the NES has a library of fantastic games which can easily compete with modern AAA games.
Nothing against it (apart from ridiculously big amounts of shovelware, lack of savestates, unfair game design, etc...), it just surprised me that there's NES everywhere these days and so few SNES.

Maybe it's because of the trend, maybe the SNES wasn't as much more popular than the NES in America than it was here in Europe, no idea.

BTW, they were right about the 80s coming back in 2015, they even were right about MJ being exploited post mortem as a hologram:
 
Still waiting on flying Deloreans, though.
I have one. It's tiny (the car part anyway), doesn't fly very well and came from a stand at a mall and it looks like a toy DMC12 glued to one of those mini toy drones witch is probably what it is.
 
It's worth noting the development for this has been going for something like 3 1/2 years, so the near collision of release dates with the NES classic mini is coincidental. Unless bunnyboy had some insider info and is the type to capitalize on such things.

I consider it the first console that's aged well, in comparison to the Atari 2600 whose graphics were difficult to identify even back in the day. Let alone calling them "beautiful" or "nice." Plus, Nintendo's two biggest franchises effectively started there. Jumpman was certainly popular in the arcade before the NES, but the long history of mainline Mario starts with Super Mario Bros. And the third one was the best title of its era, IMHO.

I respect anyone who prefers the SNES though, the upgrades in graphics and gameplay were proportionally astounding.

EDIT: I could write volumes about the music as well, what they did with the limited instrumentation on the NES was legendary.
 
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There's a span of time between the VCS and the NES though, and back in those days every six months was revolutionary. There's 6 years between VCS and famicom (which has the same tech as the NES of '85). Between the VCS and the NES we had various consoles including the Intellivision, which I think still stands up today relatively well, at least graphically. It's true that Nintendo did some special music for their NES games though, with their tune for Super Mario Bros being especially important and long-lasting. And agreed on Super Mario Bros 3 too.
 
i'm tempted to get this for when the kids are a bit older... but hopefully by then i'll have coded some more bitbox games...
 
After reading more about this thing I have to say I too am very tempted. But since I have a NES already I'm not sure what I would get out of it.

OMG, they made a clear one ("only" 650 dollars!)

LLEbig.jpg
 
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After reading more about this thing I have to say I too am very tempted. But since I have a NES already I'm not sure what I would get out of it.

Well if the videos above don't persuade and the idea of low latency HD retro-gaming doesn't appeal to you, then it's not worth it.

It's probably debatable whether the lag with an emulator on a modern system is even all that bad... you know, measurable and impacting to a competitive gamer's skills. Retroarch with the default engine and a generic USB pad has been fine for me. Maybe I'll notice a difference though, we'll see. I was experiencing some issues with Punch-Out, could just as well be my dusty skills as it could be lag.

From a compatibility standpoint, it allegedly plays both Famicom and NES games perfectly. Hence the two slots. So even as a sort of "2-in-1" console that offers HDMI, it's not bad. But compared to a Retron 5 (which I don't own), I dunno.

(EDIT: Evidently the NES is worse on modern tv's. See bunnyboy's explanation and some statistics.)
 
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Just got this console a week or two ago after repairs from being DOA. And wow, what a console!

The system runs like a top, handles every game I throw at it. The games that didn't work had bad contacts or were cart problems. Image looks fantastic, the experience is worth the price tag for any NES collector.

So does the AVS eliminate lag, and does it matter? Yes, and it depends. I would say most games are fine in software emulation, but those games where it makes a difference it makes a BIG difference. Yuge.

I noticed immediately when playing Punch-Out. I was getting hit by the likes of Glass Joe and Von Kaiser because my dodges were too soon. Suddenly I could make it a lot further in the game, up to Super Macho Man.

Also NES Open became easier with the strokes being more accurate to my button presses. Other games feel better to play even if the lag doesn't cause gameplay problems.

Highly recommended. Hope to see one for Atari someday.
 
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