FC Mobile:Portable NES

[jboypacman]

Ran across this over on RetroBlast.Com and it looks interesting..........

 

http://www.retroblast.com/20080429609/Late...ortable-NES.php

[Atari5200]

it's a good looking system, not practical though. Who's going to carry a back pack of carts around? I'll stick to emulation on my GP32 or Blackjack II.

[jboypacman]

I think it would be could to have around the house but agreed its not practical for trips.

[keilbaca]

One word.

 

PowerPak.

 

Now, only if they will get more in production, i'll be getting one.

[madhatter667]

I've got one of these. They're pretty neat. Make sure your batteries are fresh, otherwise your screen doesn't look so backlit! Ha ha ha! At least it's a good indication of when it's time to swap batteries. These don't have AC adapters, so you're kinda stuck with batteries. They do have a video out, so you can run it to a TV... basically a handheld famiclone with a 72 pin instead of 60, and it runs to a screen first. I like it... and depending on where I am going, I'd pack a couple carts with me.

 

PowerPak?

[Vic George 2K3]

Now let's see if there can be a commercially-produced SNES portable.

[Reaperman]

PowerPak?

it's an nes flashcart which takes compact flash cards. The down side is that it has very low compatibility with fakey NES systems. The retro duo is the only one I've heard of it working on.

[jimid2]

I saw these on Ebay a couple weeks back and was trying to decide whether or not to buy one when a new west coast seller brought a bunch on-line last night with a BIN about $10 less than anyone else was selling them for, so I jumped on one... I can't wait until it arrives!

[NixonTech2071]

WTF it looks like a Game.Com! LOLCATZ! but seriously, This takes the wrong image for a portable NES.

[BydoEmpire]

I saw these on Ebay a couple weeks back and was trying to decide whether or not to buy one when a new west coast seller brought a bunch on-line last night with a BIN about $10 less than anyone else was selling them for, so I jumped on one... I can't wait until it arrives!

I think it would be pretty fun to have, if not totally practical. Definitely post a review when you get it!

[+remowilliams]

I've got one of these and it's actually pretty good. Though to be honest my expectations were rather low.

[Reaperman]

I know I'm dragging this up, but to the people around who have them:

In the pictures the labels for 'a' and 'b' button are reversed compared with NES--is this just a labeling choice, or are the buttons really backwards?

 

I'm in that 'gotta buy a game system' mood...

sadly that mood has been hitting at least a couple times a month lately.

Edited May 31, 2008 by Reaperman

[+remowilliams]

or are the buttons really backwards?

The buttons really are backwards unfortunately. I fixed that by completely disassembling the unit and rewiring the traces. Works like a charm, but that kind of job isn't for everybody.

 

[Reaperman]

or are the buttons really backwards?

The buttons really are backwards unfortunately. I fixed that by completely disassembling the unit and rewiring the traces. Works like a charm, but that kind of job isn't for everybody.

 

I suppose being noac based, it makes sense that there's nothing in the way of a real solder point to trace back to...

what'd you use to expose them? Just a standard razor or is there some trick to it?

I've got a fair hand with a soldering iron, but I'll be honest, traces scare the hell out of me, and I've never worked on them before.

 

Maybe I should just see what's ending on ebay for under $20--that's always fun...

Edited May 31, 2008 by Reaperman

[+remowilliams]

I suppose being noac based, there's probably nothing in the way of a real solder point to trace back to...

what'd you use to expose them? Just a standard razor or is there some trick to it?

Correct, the NOAC is a glop top so nothing convenient to trace back to. Those are probably the easiest points to intersect.

 

Board traces were cut with an Xacto and I used kynar wire to reconnect them. If you are good with an iron, it's not too bad. 1st gen NOAC warts and all, I find the unit to be quite cool for the money.

[BydoEmpire]

The newest http://www.retrogramingradio.com has a hardware review of the FC Mobile. Sounds like the biggest problem is that it doesn't hold the carts firmly, so there's a high risk of having the game reset if the unit gets jostled around. That's pretty much a deal breaker for me. It's a portable - I'm going to be playing it on the go, and it's going to move around a little.

[+remowilliams]

Sounds like the biggest problem is that it doesn't hold the carts firmly

That's odd. The FC Mobile (aka Hyperkin) that I have holds the carts very firmly.

[BydoEmpire]

Sounds like the biggest problem is that it doesn't hold the carts firmly

That's odd. The FC Mobile (aka Hyperkin) that I have holds the carts very firmly.

Interesting - maybe Scott (who did the RGR review) got a partiucularly flimsy unit.

[jimid2]

Sounds like the biggest problem is that it doesn't hold the carts firmly

That's odd. The FC Mobile (aka Hyperkin) that I have holds the carts very firmly.

Interesting - maybe Scott (who did the RGR review) got a partiucularly flimsy unit.

My FC Mobile holds carts so firmly that I can play the game while holding it upside down and shaking it violently! Of course, it might loosen up some after a few years use, but right now, I have no worries about losing a connection while playing anything...

 

I think that Scott did get a bad unit...

[yuppicide]

What's nice is I have a cartridge with 110 different games on it and it's VERY tiny.. about 1/4 the size of a real cart.. it'd fit in this system nicely so it doesn't stick out the back. Even with the 72 pin adapter I think it'd still fit nicely.

[Lord Helmet]

Now let's see if there can be a commercially-produced SNES portable.

 

There are a couple of them...the GP32 and the PSP

[Reaperman]

Now let's see if there can be a commercially-produced SNES portable.

 

There are a couple of them...the GP32 and the PSP

That's news to me. I'm not sure exactly how I'd go about hooking my snes cartridges to them, maybe you could help me figure that out.

Honestly I'm sick to death of hearing about software emulation in topics about unique hardware.

 

with the snes emulation quality of both the retro duo and fc twin it shouldn't be long before we get an snes portable. Actually, the inside of an FC twin practically taunts people to make their own.

Edited July 2, 2008 by Reaperman

[Uzumaki]

I picked up the FC Mobile mainly because there's still many NES games that aren't ported to portable consoles and I didn't want software emulator or buy a $200 portable system.

 

The screen is nice and clear but I think the screen resolution is slightly less than standard NES resolution, some finer detail and small text looks like every 'n' row and 'n' column of pixels were left out. Some detailed background image would appear to have a slight moire pattern when moving slowly.

 

There is no noticeable blurring on fast moving object or background so it appears to be active matrix. The back light source is white LED, batteries should last a long time. Also there's only 1 speaker despite the appearance of 2 so no stereo sound. Original NES never supported stereo sound anyway and AFAIK only 1 or 2 NES games could do stereo with stereo sound hack.

 

It does play Famicom games with adapter but some pirated Famicom games with hacked mapper design probably won't play right if it plays at all.

 

Now to my gripe: A and B is backward (as mentioned above, easily fixed if you're handy with soldering iron), reset button inconveniently located next to action button (easy to reset game by accident, can hack to change reset and start button around), no external power jack (can hack one in that takes 4.5v from AC adapter), and a new unit's cart connector are very tight. You'd need herculean effort to remove game cart. Then, no contrast control! A couple games I tried like Rygar and Goonies II seemed too bright, I had to tilt it quite a bit to get decent image while other games appeared just fine.

 

Finally, it is very touchy with dirty cart contact so clean em all first! Oh yeah, no player 2 port so no multi-player or light gun (on TV not on LCD) support.

 

The FC Mobile seems to use the more common Famicom on a chip design because a few games like CastleVania 3 won't play (sound, no picture) so FC Mobile is not 100% compatible despite the box and eBay description that seems to imply all NES games are useable. Also there's a slight oddity with the LCD display. When the display normally goes black (like scene change ie Metal Gear, or when resetting system), the display fades to white instead of going black. The TV displayed black properly so it's probably an oddity with LCD design. Maybe someone forgot to implement something for when display goes completely blank it should go black?

 

Overall it's far better than the original portable Famicom Game Axe (bad screen, horrible price)

 

It's a good system if you wanted a cheap portable NES without Ben Heck's price or spend time and work with do-it-yourself portable design.

 

PS one last gripe, the general appearance looks like a rejected retro 60's era transistor radio. If I can get rid of cheesy speaker design, then it would be much nicer.

 

PSs is there an official list of NES games that are known to not work with NOAC?

Edited September 14, 2008 by Uzumaki

[Vic George 2K3]

Now let's see if there can be a commercially-produced SNES portable.

There are a couple of them...the GP32 and the PSP

I mean actual legitimate dedicated products rather than systems that run an emulator.

[godslabrat]

PSs is there an official list of NES games that are known to not work with NOAC?

 

I'd think the NEX's compatibility list would be a good start, since it's just an NOAC anyway...