Is the FC twin a decent investment? I take it they are a legit item seeing as there are tons on ebay. anyone own one that can give me some info on them? I just grabbed a weaponlord and power rangers fighter(love that game) cart and need something to play them on. My snes is long dead.
EDIT: for those who don’t know it plays nes/snes games on one system.
I have been meaning to pick up one of these. They are so inexpensive that you might as well get one. I like how they have the famicon style controllers instead.
As for its legitimacy, I have read that most, but not all the patents on the NES have expired (I don’t know about the SNES). I think the idea is that, while there is some risk of retaliation from Nintendo, it isn’t likely at this point. So these clone making companies are trying scrape up whatever profits that may be left for these systems which isn’t enough to be sued over. Or so they hope.
Anyway, I have a Burgetime and Dr Mario that need a system so the FC Twin is on my list.
Oh, and don’t forget the Yobo system. It only plays NES carts but it is cheaper and uses the orginal style plug-in for controllers so you can still use your NES Advantage stick, yessss!
The FC Twin has pretty horrible compatibility issues. It simply won’t play many games or many games load with glitched sound/video/both.
With how many cheap NES/SNES there are on eBay, there is no reason to buy the FC Twin, or any other Famiclone for that part.
wow. thanks for the info!!!
Ooo, good point. You could probably just post a “WTB: Working NES” and get one in a snap from a fellow SRKer. Didn’t know about those compatibility issues…:shake: I need to be able to play Paperboy!
Ease of supporting better TV signals than simple composite. An RGB mod (and subsequent component mod) on an NES toaster is EXPENSIVE, requiring a PPU chip from a Playchoice-10 arcade board or from a few select other arcade boards. That’s even the easy part, there’s still a bunch of other work required (I seem to recall flipping the RGB signals, but its been a while). Even then, compatibility is still not 100% to an original toaster; some games use color palettes not in the replacement PPU. Better than the famiclone compatibility, but until someone starts mass producing RGB enabled PPU chips, it’s a good compromise for those wanting decent picture quality.
I’ve got a collection of bits downstairs waiting for me to get one of those PPU’s so I can make an ultimate toaster. I got a brand new NES Game Genie, so I can wire it up directly to the board and mount on whatever case I come up with; no flashing, ever, because the carts will plug into the Game Genie’s pristine connections. Just gotta find me a PPU, damnit! I’ll have the beastliest HDTV 1980’s technology in the state.
I understood “Playchoice 10” and “Game Genie” 
So you’re saying that the clones are a good compromise because they come with better video hook ups? And I take it this RGB enabled PPU chip is the part that let the playchoice 10 display on an arcade monitor so you hack that and put it in your NES for an RGB signal, correct? I am intrigued. Also, any progress pics of this Ultimate Toaster?
lol, I was in the same boat. I understood very little of that post. I think I may still get the FC. SNES on ebay start way low but seem to hit 50 bucks at least. Weaponlord and power rangers fighter weren’t listed on the incompatible list so I think I’ll be okay. I’ll post up after I get one with a review or something.
I have just read that the company Yobo that made the FC Twin has a newer system called the Retro Duo which has fewer compatibility issues. And S-video. I’d go for that one.
i have one of these. all the games i play on it work fine but the s-video is fucked up
nice. thanks for the heads up.
Yes. NES toasters can do composite (yellow cable) and RF (coax cable). That’s it. A lot of people love doing mods on consoles to get a better video signal. Most consoles have an RGB set of signals going to whatever video chip converts it to TV signals. With a bit of ingenuity or reading what others have done, you can connect those RGB signals to your own doohickey that converts it to S-Video, or even component (Red green blue cables) video for display on an HDTV.
The original NES toaster doesn’t have these RGB lines, so this isn’t possible. Some uber geek found out that the chip that does the video in the toaster has the same pinout and does the same thing as the video chips in the Playchoice, and it does have RGB. So, a lot of time and care with a soldering iron to swap them, and your toaster has RGB, which you can connect to a doohickey for S-Video or HDTV component cables.
The Fami-clones often have S-Video already, but damn near all of them have easy access to RGB.
So, NES’s and Famiclones can be hacked to include HDTV signals which look cleaner than the original. But, doing this hack on a Famiclone is much cheaper, easier, and not that big of a loss if you screw the pooch in the process.
Exactly.
Oh hell no. 
I got a ton of projects that are currently missing pieces, and I just keep an eye out for when other pieces become cheaply available. I keep an eye out when I can for Playchoice-10 boards, maybe even fixer-uppers so I can cannabalize the chip, but its not a priority enough for me to pay the current prices for one.
I’ve got a mom and pop game store near me that still has a sizeable collection of toasters. If I remember correctly they’re priced at 39.99 with one controller. He takes the contact out, cleans them, and molds them back in place.
I bought one from him a few years ago. It still turns on with no blink. It was amazing to see, because it literally had been years since I had seen an NES boot a game without a hitch.
I know this is probably taboo for purists but I find that emulation works fine and with a UPCB, you can use your arcade stick.
Emulation and UPCB?? Its so much cooler to use the UPCB directly with the NES. Once I make my cable I should be able to play it with a controller that costs around 4 times as much as the average NES does now.
I bought a NES from someone here on SRK a few months back, $70 for a system in great condition and a couple of extra games, and it even came in the origional box. It does flash but if I get one of the replacement pin connector I could fix that. Also with it I got an extention cable which I keep meaning to turn into a UPCB cable. Then I could give it a test to make sure the UPCB works with the NES.
On a side note, dont buy those crappy 3rd party NES controllers people sell. I got one thinking that it would be fine since I was just going to take the cord from it for the UPCB. I couldnt have been more wrong. The connector, although shaped like the NES controller port, wouldnt go all the way in. You could get it in with some slow but forceful pushing, but for fear of breaking something and it being an absolute pain to get out, I decided to just junk it.
yobo
I picked up an NES clone by YOBO. The thing is awesome! I have an Original NES, I just wanted to ensure that my NES would last for many more years, and also the Yobo is top loading, and much much smaller ( About the size of two NES carts stacked on top of each other). The only issues I have ever had with it is the sound. the sound works, but the pitch is off by a little bit. There are also a handful of games that don’t work with the system. I look at it this way… Spending 30$ for ease of use is well worth it to me. If your a collector , I would definetly hit up ebay and get a REAL NES.
Just my .02