Super Nintendo SNES Model 3 that plays NES games too!

[MarioMania]

My opinion on the subject is that there is no reason to not use real Nintendo systems, especially since the costs would be similar.

Plus those NES-on-a-chip systems have compatibility issues with a fair number of games. I wonder if this has some sort of SNES-on-a-chip inside? I'm curious to know how they are doing this...

I once sold a game on ebay to some asshole who owned a pirated NES console and the game didn't work. Despite the fact that the game looked fresh from the box, convincing him that his console was a piece of trash was pretty hard to do.

What game was that

[InsaneDavid]

I wasn't aware that anyone had made a bootleg SNES. Surely the custom Sony SPC700 sound chip isn't an off-the-shelf part? And besides, won't it be a while yet before the patents expire, making such a bootleg illegal to sell?

Think about that for a moment - the words "bootleg" and "legal" will NEVER go together. All this is going to be is the start of the mass produced generation of SNES clones. (sure there are a few out there, but not at the rate of Famiclones) Since NoaC stuff can be so small now days, why not toss one in an SNES clone with a seperate cartridge connector? That's all this is going to be. A SNES clone with a Famiclone stuffed inside with it.

The controller ports will most likely be dual wired SNES style ports although it has already been mentioned that SNES and NES controllers use the same connection interface - just differently shaped.

[Jorpho]

Think about that for a moment - the words "bootleg" and "legal" will NEVER go together.

Perhaps, but Messiah would not have been able to market the Generation NEX a few years ago without incurring the legal wrath of Nintendo, no?

[omnedon]

OSG will have these 'exclusive' clones as well.

I have no inside info about quality, compatibility, or even look of the damned thing.

I expect a Yobo'esque quality clone that is more or less on par with Yobo quality.

Here's hoping SNES on a chip is at least as good as NES on a chip is. If it's not as good, :/

[omnedon]

OSG will have these 'exclusive' clones as well.

I have no inside info about quality, compatibility, or even look of the damned thing.

I expect a Yobo'esque quality clone that is more or less on par with Yobo quality.

Here's hoping SNES on a chip is at least as good as NES on a chip is. If it's not as good, :/ .

[omnedon]

OSG will have these so called 'exclusive' clones as well.

I have no inside info about quality, compatibility, or even the look of the damned thing. Those pics are Meh.

I expect a Yobo'esque quality clone that is more or less on par with Yobo quality. Which means it'll be ok, not great.

Here's hoping SNES on a chip is at least as good as NES on a chip is. If it's not as good, :/ .

[omnedon]

OSG will have these so called 'exclusive' clones as well.

I have no inside info about quality, compatibility, or even the look of the damned thing. Those pics are Meh.

I expect a Yobo'esque quality clone that is more or less on par with Yobo quality. Which means it'll be ok, not great.

Here's hoping SNES on a chip is at least as good as NES on a chip is. If it's not as good, well whoop de doo.

[MarioMania]

Can Nintendo do anything about these Knock-off's

[Cmosfm]

My opinion on the subject is that there is no reason to not use real Nintendo systems, especially since the costs would be similar.

Plus those NES-on-a-chip systems have compatibility issues with a fair number of games. I wonder if this has some sort of SNES-on-a-chip inside? I'm curious to know how they are doing this...

I once sold a game on ebay to some asshole who owned a pirated NES console and the game didn't work. Despite the fact that the game looked fresh from the box, convincing him that his console was a piece of trash was pretty hard to do.

What game was that

Taito version of Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade

[Sweater Fish Deluxe]

I wasn't aware that anyone had made a bootleg SNES. Surely the custom Sony SPC700 sound chip isn't an off-the-shelf part? And besides, won't it be a while yet before the patents expire, making such a bootleg illegal to sell?

There's been a few pirate SNES systems. One that loaded games off CD, one that looks like a SNES 2 (there's a thread discussing that system somewhere on this board) and also the Tristar 64, which in fact plays SNES as fell as 8-bit Famicom games. The Tristar is the only one of those I've used and I can say that its implementation of the SNES architecture is incredibly poor. Compatibility is shit and even games that work often have very bad sound or problematic graphics. I can't say if the other two or this new one (assuming it uses a bootleg architecture rather than just combining an original SNES board along with an NES-on-a-chip board) suffer from the same problems.

As for whether bootlegs are illegal. Sometimes they are and sometimes they aren't. If--as in the case of Atari 2600 bootleg systems--they architecture patented or--as in the case of NES-on-a-chip systems--the architecture is no longer under patent, then they can be perfectly legal if they don't include any copyrighted games or BIOS. The SNES is still under patent, though, so bootlegging it would still be illegal unless the architecture used to simulate the system is different enough form Nintendo's design that it could be considered an original system--that just happens to play SNES games! From what I've read, this may actually be the case with the NES-on-a-chip architecture, meaning that it never actually was illegal in itself even when the Famicom was still under patent.

As for this system from videogamecentral (who I've never even heard of), I certainly wouldn't spend any money on it until there's a picture of the actual unit and more info on how it's done. Seems hard to believe that the thing is supposed to ship in under a month, but they don't have anything put a photoshopped picture of a SNES 2 to show.


...word is bondage...

[CosmicMonkey]

I still can't understand why Nintendo never made a NES/SNES hybrid.

There's a huge amount of people in Japan that still play Famicom and Super Fami. Plus, the Japanese like to save space; one console is better than two. And indeed, the SFami was originally going to have Fami compatability, but it would have added too much to the cost of the unit back then. But in the years since, when it could have been done, why didn't Nintendo take the opportunity to make the SFami Jr/SNES 2 backward compatible, instead of releasing the AV Fami/NES 2?

[boatofcar]

I still can't understand why Nintendo never made a NES/SNES hybrid.

In case you haven't noticed, the Wii will be the first Nintendo console that is backwards compatible. It's just never been on their list of priorities.

[Scream And Fly]

I wasn't aware that anyone had made a bootleg SNES. Surely the custom Sony SPC700 sound chip isn't an off-the-shelf part? And besides, won't it be a while yet before the patents expire, making such a bootleg illegal to sell?

I actually have a bootleg SNES - looks almost like the real thing, packaging and all.

Greg

[playmessiah]

I still can't understand why Nintendo never made a NES/SNES hybrid.

There's a huge amount of people in Japan that still play Famicom and Super Fami. Plus, the Japanese like to save space; one console is better than two. And indeed, the SFami was originally going to have Fami compatability, but it would have added too much to the cost of the unit back then. But in the years since, when it could have been done, why didn't Nintendo take the opportunity to make the SFami Jr/SNES 2 backward compatible, instead of releasing the AV Fami/NES 2?

Actually, Nintendo's IC for the Super Nintendo had the ability to emulate the original NES games. I assume Nintendo just decide they did not want to have to hassle with an adapter or second cartridge slot.

Brad

[shadowkn55]

When this thing comes out, you might want to test games that use special chips. SA-1, C4, SDD-1, SuperFx.

Concering the NES on a chip architecture. Of the games that are incompatible, do they use out of the ordinary memory mappers?

[Jorpho]

Actually, Nintendo's IC for the Super Nintendo had the ability to emulate the original NES games. I assume Nintendo just decide they did not want to have to hassle with an adapter or second cartridge slot.

It's not that simple... While the SNES's 65c816 CPU had a compatibility mode in which it could function like the NES's 6502, that doesn't mean that all the SNES needed was another cartridge slot. At the very least, there was no equivalent of the NES's custom PPU.

But now I'm babbling about stuff that someone else probably knows a lot more about.

[GizmoGC]

So when is this 'so awesome we don't show pictures of' system coming out?

[50TBRD]

It's supposed to ship on Tuesday.

[GizmoGC]

...so people are blindly throwing money at something they can't even see a picture of? C'mon. There is really NO picures of this thing anywhere?

[boatofcar]

...so people are blindly throwing money at something they can't even see a picture of? C'mon. There is really NO picures of this thing anywhere?

Seriously. Was anyone actually dumb enough to order one of these?