The Supaboy - New SNES handheld from Hyperkin

[burn_654]

I saw this for sale on one of my rounds - Gamerz Haven in Jamestown, NY. It was $60 iirc. Pretty neat looking console but I didn't get to try it.

[Satoshi_Matrix]

burn_654, can you confirm the price and availability? If so, would you be willing to act as a middle man and pick it up and mail it to me if I send you the money? Just a thought.

[burn_654]

I'm not entirely certain if I can, but I'll definitely get more information on it/check the availability the next time I'm there and maybe come up with something. It's about 40 minutes from my house and the guy knows me. I tend to head that direction about every other weekend or so. There was definitely a boxed one on the shelf the last time I was there, I noted it was different beside the FC16go they also had.

Come to think of it, the other Gamerz Haven (same area) has had hyperkin stuff like the Retron 3 and such. Maybe they just got an early shipment or have a deal or something.

[intro9]

I'm not entirely certain if I can, but I'll definitely get more information on it/check the availability the next time I'm there and maybe come up with something. It's about 40 minutes from my house and the guy knows me. I tend to head that direction about every other weekend or so. There was definitely a boxed one on the shelf the last time I was there, I noted it was different beside the FC16go they also had.

Come to think of it, the other Gamerz Haven (same area) has had hyperkin stuff like the Retron 3 and such. Maybe they just got an early shipment or have a deal or something.

Actually the retail units have not shipped yet. Tey sent out a limited number of preview units to retailers for survey work on the units quality. Hyperkin pretty much said "here, test this out, fill out this survey and do what you want with it when your done" i know this because they sent me one heheh. Tey are all individually numbered with a sticker on the front of the unit. The true retail version is supposed to ship sometime before christmas.

I will say, the lcd is gorgeous. No ghosting or anything. And the biggest surprise was the quality of the face buttons. No wiggly mushy feel like alot of the knockoff stuff. There was one technical problem present which was that of a high pitched squeal that was far worse with the charger plugged in. I imagine theybshould fix that before a retail relase.

Intro

[kedawa]

I'm especially bothered by high frequency noise, so I really hope they fix it.

[Satoshi_Matrix]

Any word on exactly when it was be available for sale? I want to buy from a seller who will accept returns in case of dead pixels, the bane of any handheld.

For those of you who already own the unit, several questions if you don't mind.

1. How is it's d-pad? intro9 mentioned the face buttons feel good, which is great to hear, but I'm concerned a stiff OR mushy d-pad will ruin the experience.

2. what is the physical measurement of the dpad? I want to know if it would be roughly possible to transplant a d-pad from an authentic SNES controller if needbe.

3. When you use the AV output, does the LCD screen turn off?

4. Has anyone tested the battery life? Hyperkin at E3 said to expect around 5 hours, but I'm wondering if anyone can confirm. The FC-16 GO has only around 2 hours tops so I have high hopes for the Supaboy.

5. Has anyone run into games that WON'T work on the Supaboy? I assume it lacks the region coding chip, making later revisions of Super Mario RPG not to work.

6. Along the same lines, does EarthBound treat it as a copy device and therefore enable its anti-piracy protection (making enemies far more numerous and therefore the gameplay much less enjoyable)

7. How tight/loose is the cartridge slot? Does it have a nice slot like the FC-16 Go/Retro Duo or "death grip" like the TriStar/Super 8?

[jwmollman]

This looks like a more professional version of these:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFa72yfnOsI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJZT6LgNJxA

Thanks for the info. I'll look into this!

[Rickstilwell1]

SupaBoy can also play SFC games, which to my knowledge the FC16Go cannot because of those stupid plastic tabs.
I'm not a fan of clamshell designs, either, so the SupaBoy is already looking like the better choice.

The plastic tabs on these kinds of systems come right off with some sharp pliers made for wire stripping. Heck they're just clone systems anyway so I'll gladly add functionality to them.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Any word on exactly when it was be available for sale? I want to buy from a seller who will accept returns in case of dead pixels, the bane of any handheld.

For those of you who already own the unit, several questions if you don't mind.

1. How is it's d-pad? intro9 mentioned the face buttons feel good, which is great to hear, but I'm concerned a stiff OR mushy d-pad will ruin the experience.

It's very stiff, but very responsive.

2. what is the physical measurement of the dpad? I want to know if it would be roughly possible to transplant a d-pad from an authentic SNES controller if needbe.

Exactly 1 inch by 1 inch. Not sure of the real measurements of a real SNES d-pad.

3. When you use the AV output, does the LCD screen turn off?

The AV is off when it is plugged in to the TV and as I mentioned in my post, you can NOT use the unit as a controller when it is plugged in, in fact, when it's plugged into a TV unless you plug SNES controllers in to the controller ports unit it goes pretty berserk and resets frequently. Once you plug controllers it it works perfectly. Not sure what that's all about or why they don't permit the unit to be used as a plug & play.

4. Has anyone tested the battery life? Hyperkin at E3 said to expect around 5 hours, but I'm wondering if anyone can confirm. The FC-16 GO has only around 2 hours tops so I have high hopes for the Supaboy.

I haven't tested it for that length/in that capacity, sorry.

5. Has anyone run into games that WON'T work on the Supaboy? I assume it lacks the region coding chip, making later revisions of Super Mario RPG not to work.

I don't have a copy of Super Mario RPG, but I've seen reports that it's functional with all versions.

6. Along the same lines, does EarthBound treat it as a copy device and therefore enable its anti-piracy protection (making enemies far more numerous and therefore the gameplay much less enjoyable)

Don't know.

7. How tight/loose is the cartridge slot? Does it have a nice slot like the FC-16 Go/Retro Duo or "death grip" like the TriStar/Super 8?

No death grip, I've had no problem inserting/removing games.

Also, I'm waiting for Hyperkin to release the final version of this product, as the current one (all of them confirmed by Hyperkin rep) has a high pitched whistle/whine that is present during all aspects of play. If they correct it I'm going to send mine to them for repair/replacement. So, even if you see one of the 100 test market units out for sale, I'd say wait for the revised version.

[Satoshi_Matrix]

Good to know. If you have contacts with them, can you ask when they expect it to be officially released?

Thanks.

[MIZPHIT]

Saw one of these yesterday at 3D Games store at Katy Mills Mall in Katy, Tx. The unit was number 29 if I remember correctly, and they had it priced at $80. The employees didn't look too happy to be there lol, so I didn't bother to strike up a conversation about it with them. I just bought some items and left.

[intro9]

Just thought I'd add that I'll check out Super Mario RPG and Earthbound tomorrow when I get into my store.

As Frankie Says has already already most of your questions, I'll take care of the few he couldn't answer for ya.

Also want to add that the cartridge port is snug but not overly tight. It also has a locking mechanism on it to prevent cartridge slippage.

I have a funny feeling that they might be removing that locking feature when the retail release is made available. They seem to be looking for ways to cut cost on the final run of the unit, or at least that's the impression I got when I was filling out the questionairre and speaking to the representative.

You can be assured I told him that the screen quality and button quality is of the utmost concern! Hopefully the other 99 people who reviewed this thing along with me echoed that statement.

Anyways like I said, I'll check out Earthbound and I have 2 copies of Mario RPG that I can check out as well. If I remember tomorrow heh.

Intro
Classic Game Junkie

Any word on exactly when it was be available for sale? I want to buy from a seller who will accept returns in case of dead pixels, the bane of any handheld.

For those of you who already own the unit, several questions if you don't mind.

1. How is it's d-pad? intro9 mentioned the face buttons feel good, which is great to hear, but I'm concerned a stiff OR mushy d-pad will ruin the experience.

2. what is the physical measurement of the dpad? I want to know if it would be roughly possible to transplant a d-pad from an authentic SNES controller if needbe.

3. When you use the AV output, does the LCD screen turn off?

4. Has anyone tested the battery life? Hyperkin at E3 said to expect around 5 hours, but I'm wondering if anyone can confirm. The FC-16 GO has only around 2 hours tops so I have high hopes for the Supaboy.

5. Has anyone run into games that WON'T work on the Supaboy? I assume it lacks the region coding chip, making later revisions of Super Mario RPG not to work.

6. Along the same lines, does EarthBound treat it as a copy device and therefore enable its anti-piracy protection (making enemies far more numerous and therefore the gameplay much less enjoyable)

7. How tight/loose is the cartridge slot? Does it have a nice slot like the FC-16 Go/Retro Duo or "death grip" like the TriStar/Super 8?

[Satoshi_Matrix]

Great! If you are allowed to answer, what did the questionairre ask? What about the rep?

I really appriciate you willing to check out Earthbound has the anti-piracy measures and if later revisions of Mario RPG will work. On at least Hyperkin's RetroN3, Earthbound treats the RetroN as a copy device and imposes its anti-piracy routines, and Mario RPG won't work unless you do a hot-swap with careful reset button manipulation.

By any chance can you test out any of these as well?

Galoob's GameGenie
Super GameBoy
[doubtful but just in case] Japanese Nintendo Power Super Famciom Data Cartridges
RetroUSB's Super Powerpak Flashcart

Given the excellent compatibility with Hyperkin's RetorN3, I assume it will play all of those without issue, but it doesn't hurt to ask.

I'm also wondering how the cartridge lock actually works. Is it simply a piece of plastic that presses against the cartridge to give it added stability or something more complex than that? Can you "lock" Super Famicom games into place as well?

[Satoshi_Matrix]

bump. Can I please get answers to my last post?

Also, a member on NintendoAge posted today that the amazon preorder page for the Supa Boy now lists the system with a release date of November 15th. If true, then that means Hyperkin must have finalized the design.

Can anyone with contacts in Hyperkin confirm this? I'm really hoping the problems of the prototypes have been worked out.

[dukenukem]

Just ordered mine from amazon and will arrive on monday.Any one else get theirs yet?

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

bump. Can I please get answers to my last post?

Also, a member on NintendoAge posted today that the amazon preorder page for the Supa Boy now lists the system with a release date of November 15th. If true, then that means Hyperkin must have finalized the design.

Can anyone with contacts in Hyperkin confirm this? I'm really hoping the problems of the prototypes have been worked out.

The squealing problem has apparently been worked out in the final release.

I'll be getting an updated version at some point in the near future, I'll revisit my review at that time.

[Parodius Duh!]

Will it play PAL region games as well as NTSC?????? if thats the case then this thing is better than an official SNES!


and if it does not play PAL region games, will the mark 3 Action replay work with PAL games being converted through it?

[Satoshi_Matrix]

SNES games are region locked between PAL and NTSC. These kind of handhelds are made with the NTSC region unlocks, so very unlikely PAL games will work. Its probably like the other hyperkin products like the RetorN3.

[Parodius Duh!]

SNES games are region locked between PAL and NTSC. These kind of handhelds are made with the NTSC region unlocks, so very unlikely PAL games will work. Its probably like the other hyperkin products like the RetorN3.

I figured just plugging a PAL cart into it probably wouldnt work, but will they work through the correct Action Replay?

[Satoshi_Matrix]

Hard to say, but if it works on the real hardware, I'd say there's a good chance considering how close Hyperkin clones tend to be to the legacy hardware.

[Satoshi_Matrix]

So has anyone picked up a Supaboy yet? I want to know if the problems of the protoypes have been ironed out.

[dukenukem]

I am waiting for mine to arrive today and will test some games out,i'll let everyone know how it goes.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

So has anyone picked up a Supaboy yet? I want to know if the problems of the protoypes have been ironed out.

No sign of them at the DP store yet either. They're sending my replacement there. I'll weigh in as well when I get mine.

[MyTurnToPlay]

Yeah, looks like they DID NOT bother to fix a damn thing.

The annoying and stupid high pitched squeal is still there. Check out youtube. A few people who already received theirs posted reviews. In EVERY SINGLE one you can clearly hear the irritating high pitched sound. Extremely ridiculous.

And the battery life seems to be lower than expected which is unacceptable in my opinion.

Either way, wait for the second revision. They weren't really serious with fixing the issues but instead wanted to get this out there and take advantage of the holiday season and people who rush to buy things. Wait till they get serious and resolve the current flaws. Great idea and product, but the way it stands now, NOT WORTH THE MONEY.

thank you.

[dukenukem]

Got mine in and yes you can hear that squeal from the speakers.Only game that hasn't worked so far is populous.D-pad feels slightly stiff and sfc games work pretty good.Only sfc game i have tryed so far is super metroid.Screen so far has no dead pixels and works flawlessly.