As a big fan of classic video games, I’ve recently been a happy camper seeing numerous devices coming to the market that play classic Nintendo, Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis games coming to the market. Here is a quick overview to help you pick an affordable emulator or retro gaming station.
Home Systems
Yobo FC-3
The FC-3 plays NES, SNES and Genesis games. It has a slot for each one and a switcher to select which system you want to play.
Pros: The FC-3 Emulation is very good. The NES and SNES are nearly flawless. I really liked the faithfulness of the music and sound effect emulation. The Sega Genesis emulation is also very high level, it can handle crazy high speed Sonic the Hedgehog runs and keep up with busy sprite filled screens. 2 Player games work just fine as well. It even includes a light gun for NES games such as Duck Hunt.
Cons: The controllers are proprietary and nothing like the controllers of any of the systems the FC-3 plays. The buttons are a little close together and it takes some time to get used to pressing the right ones. There are no options to map the buttons; you are stuck with a default assignment. You are also limited to only 2 players.
Retro Duo NES/SNES Console
The Retro duo looks like the mini Nintendo system and has slots for Nintendo and Super Nintendo systems. It supports two player and even has S-video out for optimum picture quality. The controllers are modeled after the original SNES controller.
Pros: The emulation is great, no complaints there, and the controller is the best out of the items reviewed here. It does feel like a SNES controller but just a bit cheaper. It definitely works though. I have heard a rumor that this is the only retro system that plays certain SNES games, although the ones I own work on both.
Cons: The sound is off a little bit off in the SNES emulation, its not too bad most of the time, but it isn’t the original quality either. The cartridge slots just seem a tiny bit small too; taking the games out is a little scary.
Portable Systems
Dingoo Game King
The Game King is basically a black box with emulators for NES, SNES, Sega Master System, Gameboy Advance and a variety of custom homebrew applications and games. It also plays mp3s lets you read text documents and store files. It connects thru USB and allows you to load up ROMs for any games you own from your computer and take them on the go with you.
Pros: The Game King has really faithful graphic emulation; games look exactly like they do on the TV screen. The audio visual output for your TV is probably the coolest feature, allowing you to play on your home television. The saving and loading features are great, especially when you only have short playing sessions. The sound emulation is great for the NES and Sega Master system.
Cons: The SNES emulation is not the best. The sound emulation is fuzzy and the sound effects are often way off. There is massive slowdown when the action gets heavy. You can minimize this by turning off the sound and raising the frame rate skip. But it is still kind of disappointing and makes sound only really usable for playing RPGs or other non-action type games.
GP2X Wiz MAME/Amiga/Console Emulator
The GP2X is a powerful device that can play SNES, NES, Gameboy, Gameboy Advance, MAME (arcade roms), Atari, NeoGeo, and even more. With 1 Gig of storage space, you have room for all your favorite ROMS which you can load from your computer onto this device along with emulators.
Pros: The GP2X is powerful! It keeps up with the heaviest 16-bit action for the SNES with only slight frame rate loss but it handles every other system flawlessly. The sound and controls respond perfectly and the over-clocking ability keeps the MAME ROMS running smoothly as well.
Cons: The buttons don’t feel like a Nintendo or Sega controller, they’re a bit small too. The biggest Con is that nothing comes set up. There are lots of resources to set it up online, but it may seem daunting to the less computer savvy gamer.
There are lots of options out there if your old Nintendo and SNES have not survived the years. Depending on your gaming needs any of these products will get you back in 8-bit action!
