Thoughts on the OneStation

[madhatter667]

I haven't found many threads on this little handheld unit. After some limited reading about it on what I could hfind...I ordered one... the idea seemed too good to pass up...small, easily portable classics. Though it was backordered when I made the purchase, DX came through, I was/am really happy with their service. For those of you who might be worried about buying from a company in Hong Kong, these guys seem to have a good rep with overseas (from their perspective) customers,and hell...they came through like they said they would... so I have no gripes.

 

I got my OS in the other day, and gave it its first spin last night at work (security... in this field, you NEED entertainment). Overall, I am pretty impressed with it. It's the "elite" version, so it's semi-ergonomic and all that. I nabbed two 99-in-1 carts for it, knowing full well that there would be a lot of game overlap.

 

The handheld itself seems really nice, especially at the $28 price point it has. Sound is pretty good, with just a tinge of speaker buzz when turned up all the way. Turn it down a smidge and it's fine. Controls are fine, the only beef I have is the jump and fire/run buttons on SMB are swapped. I can learn to play this way with some practice. The screen is really nice, it's clearer than you'd imagine at 2.5" Batteries, an audio/video out cable, and a 10-in-1 cart come packed with the system, so you can play it right out of the box. I haven't played much of anything on the 10-in-1 yet. The 99-in-1 cart that ends with designation B has Mighty Final Fight on it...worth it's $4 price tag to me right there to be able to play this on the go. But the cart also has Donkey Kong, DK2, and DK3, Galaga, Balloon Fight, Xevious, Kung Fu, Dr. Mario, Clu Clu Land, Pac-Man, Excitebike, Wrecking Crew... and even Devil World (if you haven't played this one... it's an interesting twist on the maze-chase genre....really fun, and a little more challenging that I think most would expect... I have this for the Famicom)... plus many others (some of which, obviously, haven't seen a US release). I have found that you can't really judge a game by the name on the menu screen... you'll have to fiddle with it... as Yie-Air Kung Fu was just "Kung Fu" and Kung Fu was "Spartan X' and Dr. Mario was "Space Hospital" and Mario Brothers was "Mr. Mary." Overall, not a bad collection of game titles though.

 

Controls are pretty crisp, and responsive, though I have large hands, and have to get used to playing on a small handheld... it is by far the most compact gaming rig I think I have ever gotten me mitts on. Though this does make it great as a random pack along accessory for any situation where you might end up wanting to pass some time in a fun manner. I'll have to eat a few more bucks to grab some of the other multicarts... I know there is game overlap with a lot of the 99-in-1s, but there are also games that aren't shared across the whole spectrum. The really low price point is enough to make me take that shot.

 

I just figured that some of you guys might be interested to read a little more about the machine, from a more hands on perspective. This machine isn't some revolution... but really an inexpensive, easily portable way to get a classic game fix. Plus if you are like me, and don't mnd what is essentially pirate tech (I own a good handful of famiclones, and some of them are pre-NES patent expiration), or even find this stuff strangely intriguing...I think you'd have fun with a OneStation.

 

My two cents on the subject, at any rate.

[so_tough!]

Thanks Madhatter ( I love your name! haha)! I'm going to have to look this one station up!

 

[Reaperman]

sounds like the elite is everything I've heard about the main one. And the carts slide all the way in.

it's a shame the games are getting harder to find.

 

I'm not sure, but I think this is the manufacturer's site. Seems like I saw info about them on there before they came out, but they could just be a brand or distributor. Whatever it is, they seem to sell customized products. I wonder what it would cost to get a run of custom onestation multicarts produced?

I'm going to assume that they can't handle any but the most simple of nes games, though.

 

I've noticed dealextreme has a couple other new handhelds in their other 'consoles section'

they look like onestation clones, but who's to say?

Edited May 30, 2008 by Reaperman

[madhatter667]

DX does have some other handhelds that I was wondering about....like the CoolBoy. The OS Elite doesn't seem to have a game shortage... at least not last time I looked on DX anyway. I'll likely be hitting them up for a couple more on payday. Good times!

[madhatter667]

Ah, so I spent a little time with the 10-in-1 pack in that the system came with. There is a decent Tetris clone on there (but the 99-in-1 has Tetris, so big whoop), and there was another thing that was titled Mr.Onion or something like that which was a platformy-crawl around a stage via ladders to get keys and unlock and save y our girlie Onion squeeze... or something...kinda fun though...save for the keys and enemies respawned/reset whenever you died.