Retro Duo Portable - RDP 2 in 1 Portable System

[kedawa]

I really hope it's the same, since it's going to be substantially cheaper.

[Satoshi_Matrix]

Good to know. I really wish there was more information at the moment. I'm currently a bit messed up right now regarding my access to video games so I'd be pretty interested in preordering this thing. But I don't want to commit nearly 100 bones to something without knowing a lot more about it, especially when there's some discrepancy over what the internals are.

I'm with you on that, but I think I'm going to chance it anyway. If you don't want to, the safest bet you can do is to import a PokeFami DX itself. They sell for $140 plus shipping but at least that way you know you're getting the best SNES clone on the market currently. However, there are many questions I don't know the answers to regarding the PokeFami DX, namely if the cartridge port is large enough to fit the larger square SNES cartridges. The system is designed for the curved and streamlined Super Famicom carts. It may very well be that the PokeFami DX can't run SNES games.

Well, and it [RDP] obviously doesn't support the VRC6/VRC7 chip, but then again, only the Famicom did. In that review, he didn't exactly push the system. I wanted to see if Kirby Super Star, Starfox, Castlevania III/IV, or Super Mario RPG would work. What is the estimated date of arrival on this? I may wait for some reviews from other people in this thread.

Well hold on a minute. Where are you getting that information from? It's entirely possible the RDP's NOAC can handle the Konami VRC series just fine. The question is if it can output expansion audio, which is unlikely but not impossible. Based on the RetroDuo console, I'd say it'll be able to play Castlevania III MMC5 no problem, and I'd be very very surprised if it had any issue with Super Caslevania IV or StarFox. Super Castlevania IV is purely based on the hardware of the SNES and StarFox will run on any clone. The FX chip that does the primitive polygon environments is internal to the cartridge. Kirby Super Star and Mario RPG are bos SA-1 games that have anti-piracy detection on anything but the original hardware, so they wont play on the RetroDuo Portable anymore than they will on any existing Super Famiclone.

the ETA for the RDP is Mid February 2012.

I really hope it's the same, since it's going to be substantially cheaper.

This is what makes me worry that the RDP is not the same as the PokeFamiDX. The systems sure sound similar and even look similar, but the over $30 price difference has me concerned. What we really need is confirmation and definitive proof that the PokeFamiDX are or are not the same.

[TKO]

Well , Superboy is being sold for a higher price in Japan as well. I think it's around 8000 Yens. So I still keeps my hope up.

[Cryog]

You can play US SNES cartridges with the pokeFAMI DX. The price in Japan is ￥ 7,300 ($94.00 USD) for the pokeFAMI DX , ￥ 2,480 ($29.00 USD) for the GAMEJOY Megadrive converter and ￥ 2,180 ($28.00 USD) for the GAMEJOY Famicom converter.The $30.00 difference is the profit of the reseller.

http://www.amazon.co.jp/GAMEJOY-JAPA.../dp/B005ZENZFI

[Satoshi_Matrix]

Ah That makes sense. Thanks for clearing that up. Also GAMEJOY is the best name for anything ever.

[zin0099]

is there a way to get the famicom to snes converter? not a big deal to me since i have a famicom to nes converter adapter anyway, but for anyone who would like to by famicom games the adapter would be nice to have!

[Tupin]

Satoshi, I was referring to this video where Konami-enhanced audio is not supported by the PokeFamiDX, at the ten minute mark:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Xz66T_I0Lk

Listen to Lagrange Point, especially. Not a big deal, I guess.

One thing I don't get is why can the NES adapter that comes with the RDP be used only with the RDP?

[Satoshi_Matrix]

Yes I know what you're referring to, but you said the PokeFamiDX adapter doesn't support the VRC6/VRC7. If that were the case then the games wouldn't boot at all. The problem is the NOAC sends the expansion audio signals to ground or are incorrectly wired. That's a different problem than say, NOACs refusing to boot MMC5 games like Castlevania 3 or Uncharted Waters at all.

As for why the adapter that's going to come with the RDP won't work on other Super Famiclones or the real hardware, the answer should be pretty obvious - It must just be an NES 72 to SNES 64 pin adapter that doesn't do anything but allow NES games to fit into the cartridge port. The NOAC is inside the RDP itself, and that's what runs the NES games. Since what comes with the RDP is only a pin adapter without any insturction set and NOAC, it will do absolutely nothing when fitted into other consoles, even the RetroDuo as that system has a unique board for NES games.