RetroDuo NES/SNES Clone Official Thread. Castlevania III, StarFox WORK, SMRPG WARNING

[Wraith Storm]

I forgot to add that my unit came in slightly different packaging than what's posted in the beginning of the thread, and the NES slot in my unit seems ridiculously tight.

I have seen some Retro Duos that have "Ver. 2" printed on the box. Does yours happen to have this?

While on the subject, does ANYONE know what the differences are between the Retro Duo and the Retro Duo Ver. 2? I was going to buy one but now that there are 2 versions I want to make I know what I'm buying.

[NayusDante]

The "ver 2.0" is, to my knowledge, referring to the type of famiclone that it is. I've had mine for a while now, and that's on my box.

Still, it wouldn't hurt to have some pictures of the inside of a newer unit. The boards have manufacture dates on them, so we could tell when a revision was made.

[kedawa]

Mine is a V2.0 but I don't have any idea what the difference is.

[NayusDante]

I think that a better way of putting it would be that v1.0 is the FC Twin.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

I think that a better way of putting it would be that v1.0 is the FC Twin.

No no, the FC Twin is the standard Yobo NES clone hardware, Retro Duo is a different clone hardware architechture it can play Castlevania III.

The Retro Duo V1 (the one I have) plays CVIII fine.

[Wraith Storm]

I'm not sure if I was clear in my original question. I have seen some Retro Duo boxes that have Ver.2 printed on them like the one below. I believe I have ALSO seen some Retro Duo boxes that DO NOT have Ver. 2 written on them.

This means that there are TWO different versions of the Retro Duo. I am assuming the 2.0 is a revision of sorts, but I was wondering what changes, if any, were known.

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm177/Archaictear8x/RetroDuov21.jpg

[ooXxXoo]

As I stated earlier on this thread, by now, I have taken apart at least 5 Retro Duo systems before...I've seen 3 different motherboard revisions, and by this I mean the same layout but different IC's.....At one point, one of them did in fact had a slower crystal, therefore the SNES side games did played at a slower rate...

Not sure, but maybe this have to do something with the 2.0 label....

[Canuck]

Hello guys,

Just bought one of these last week and I'm already having some issues with the NES slot. It seems that the snug fit of some of my NES cartridges are causing the pins on the cartridge connector to be bent. (I'll post a picture within the hour) Any suggestions on fixing this problem? Can the 72 connector on the retro duo even be replaced for that matter?

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y197/alpala/IMG_0435.jpg

I already moved them back into place CAREFULLY using a small screwdriver but that seems to be only a temp fix. After moving them back into place all games ran fine until the same cartridge caused the pins to bend a bit again. (Air Fortress)

[kedawa]

I'm not sure if I was clear in my original question. I have seen some Retro Duo boxes that have Ver.2 printed on them like the one below. I believe I have ALSO seen some Retro Duo boxes that DO NOT have Ver. 2 written on them.

This means that there are TWO different versions of the Retro Duo. I am assuming the 2.0 is a revision of sorts, but I was wondering what changes, if any, were known.

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm177/Archaictear8x/RetroDuov21.jpg
Well, obviously it has POWER SWITCH V2.0.
That's a pretty big upgrade in and of itself.
In all seriousness, though, mine says V2.0 and the box art is different than what you posted.
It just has a straight on shot of the console.

[ooXxXoo]

Is anyone having Retro Duo NES side sound issues?....I have found a quick fix for this...I'll post full info later....

[Wraith Storm]

Well, obviously it has POWER SWITCH V2.0.
That's a pretty big upgrade in and of itself.

HAHA! Damn that made me laugh, I can't believe that I overlooked that defining feature. LOL

[ooXxXoo]

For those that are having sound issues with the NES portion of of the Retro Duo(scratchy sound+missing a few effects), here's a quick easy fix:

Good games to test this mod are Super Mario Bros.3 and Ninja Gaiden(play these for a few minutes so you'll notice the difference)...
Unplug from the Power outlet and Turn on and off the Retro Duo for a few seconds before doing anything else, so you'll get rid off any remaining current left....After completely carefully taking apart the RD motherboard from the shell, look at the back side of the NES portion(near the AV Jacks and closest to the NOAC)..Please ignore the gray ribbon wires, they belong to another mod...

http://usera.imagecave.com/capcom2000/hpim7781.jpg

Look directly at the NOAC and right above it between the NOAC traces,you'll see the words "rest" and "sound" written near the actual NOAC..There is a solder spot right under the word sound(This word is going to be found nearest to the Red RCA jack)

http://usera.imagecave.com/capcom2000/hpim7785.jpg

Get yourself a 0.1uf ceramic capacitor (104)...Add a bit of solder to this point under the word "sound" and attach a leg of the ceramic cap there....The other leg should be connected to the ground side of the White Rca Jack connector...(as show in these pics)..

http://usera.imagecave.com/capcom2000/hpim7816.jpg

http://usera.imagecave.com/capcom2000/hpim7817.jpg

Make sure to shield this new cap legs connections or you may experience a bit of ghosty lines on the video, not a huge problem though.....

After this, your NES games will sound just fine.....This worked great for me...And if anyone tries this, let me know if it worked for you..

[Yakumo]

That's a great mod but what gets me is why can't the people who make these things do a proper job in the first place :(

Yakumo

[Leo_A]

In the earlier days of this thread, I asked if Top Gear 3000 worked with the Retro Duo. I don't know why I didn't try it myself, but I was bored last night and finally got around to testing it, and Top Gear 3000 worked perfectly.

The SuperNes compatibility of this thing impresses me, I didn't think there was much of a chance of it working with the DSP-4, a chip used only in one cartridge that was only fairly recently emulated.

[Tupin]

Hello guys,

Just bought one of these last week and I'm already having some issues with the NES slot. It seems that the snug fit of some of my NES cartridges are causing the pins on the cartridge connector to be bent. (I'll post a picture within the hour) Any suggestions on fixing this problem? Can the 72 connector on the retro duo even be replaced for that matter?

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y197/alpala/IMG_0435.jpg

I already moved them back into place CAREFULLY using a small screwdriver but that seems to be only a temp fix. After moving them back into place all games ran fine until the same cartridge caused the pins to bend a bit again. (Air Fortress)
I had the same problem, except it was one pin and the game was Abadox. I bent it back into place and everything is fine.

I would recommend using a Game Genie when using carts that are hard to remove, these things are well built, but they ARE still Famiclones. :wink 2:

[Tupin]

Oh, and Exodus: Journey to the Promised Land works, along with the licensed Tengen version of Pac-Man.

[Distraughtite]

Ok so I bought a retroduo about a month ago, and here are the games that I have tested and work.

1. Primal Rage
2. Street Fighter II
3. NBA Jam
4. NBA Jam Tournament Edition
5. Mortal Kombat 3
6. Punch-out
7. Super Punch-out

But my question is, (would extremely like help with this), is there any way I can connect a light gun to it? Is there any type of adapter that can connect to the super nintendo ports which the retroduo has? I mean I bought a light gun thinking it would fit, but I was horribly wrong haha. Money is not a factor here people. Any help is viciously appreciated.

[Tupin]

http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=125330

Read that thread.

I just wish Innex would come out with an official adapter already. :|

[Nedax]

Hello I am wondering about Final Fantasy Mystic Quest for SNES. People have reported it works perfectly and what-not, but when I turn on my SNES with the cartridge in all I get is sound.. sorry I am really new to this Retro Duo System and this is the only game I have right now.. =( Can anyone help me? I cleaned it with an alcohol q-tip and everything.

[kedawa]

If you have an NES game in the other slot, take it out.
Are you using composite or s-video?

[Nedax]

If you have an NES game in the other slot, take it out.
Are you using composite or s-video?

I've tried both composite and s-video. I am using a 720p 37" Sharp LCD TV, it has hook-ups for these s-video and composites and I have no other way to hook up (vcr etc). I don't have any games for these systems except FF:MQ to test if maybe it's the system (which I'm doubting/hoping not since its brand new). The game worked fine at the pawn shop without being cleaned.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Sorry I've been dragging my feet on updating the main compatiblity list. I'll get to it this weekend.

Thanks for the continued input!!!!

[Tupin]

There's a Limited Edition of the RetroDuo out right now, but let me say, it's not the most visually appealing console ever made.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Retro-Duo-Super-Nintendo-NES-SNES-Twin-Game-system-GD_W0QQitemZ400025339976QQihZ027QQcategoryZ139971Q QssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

And people thought the red/black color scheme looked ugly.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

There's a Limited Edition of the RetroDuo out right now, but let me say, it's not the most visually appealing console ever made.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Retro-Duo-Super-Nintendo-NES-SNES-Twin-Game-system-GD_W0QQitemZ400025339976QQihZ027QQcategoryZ139971Q QssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

And people thought the red/black color scheme looked ugly.

Is that some sort of "Iron Man" limited edition?

[Tupin]

Is that some sort of "Iron Man" limited edition?
More like Ronald McDonald. ROFL

[NayusDante]

Perfect for playing McKids.

[Tupin]

Okay, does anybody's copy of Dragon Warrior I work?

It works on my NES, but this might be a case like 720 where I had to insert the game in a specific way.

[Necrosaro420]

Okay, does anybody's copy of Dragon Warrior I work?

It works on my NES, but this might be a case like 720 where I had to insert the game in a specific way.

Just checked mine, works fine

[Tupin]

Okay, Ski Paradise on the Super Famicom works, but it has a glitch that causes some of the area that's supposed to be snow be solid blue. :?

Not sure about Tommy Moe's Winter Extreme, someone should try it.

[Tupin]

Okay, new development. Tried my Famicom Disk System on my Retro Duo (purchased around August of last year) with an adapter and guess what?

It worked. The BIOS screen was not scrambled, it started up normally and proceeded to have the Mario and Luigi screensaver work. I didn't insert a disk, but I can only assume it would boot past that.

I guess this proves that there has been revisions on the system, which is cool.

[Diosoth]

I have the red and gold edition coming in the mail. My plan was to keep that one in its box and use my FC3 Plus to play games, but if I can't do anything about the dark picture I get in Genesis games(see my post in the FC3 thread about that) then I may open it to use, ditch the FC3 Plus and get a Genesis instead.

[Auzlander]

Great review! I have a Retro Duo and I can't believe that I can play Almost all my classic game on it!

Great console.

[Flippy8490]

I've tried a RetroDuo, its a pretty solid unit.

[Chemdawg]

yea this review helped me find the retro duo is a good fit for me, so i recently just got one. plays all my games fine, other than some nes games being a bit hard to pull out its a pretty damn good buy.

[NayusDante]

So... in my endless quest to defeat my television's composite input artifacting, I replaced my stereo receiver. While my main motivation was to get digital audio from the new consoles, I also wanted one that performed video upscaling.

I went with the Harman Kardon AVR-247, and found a good deal on a factory refurbished model. After testing the audio, the first thing that I hooked up to it was the Duo. Upscaling to 480p over HDMI, the composite input looked great... for a few seconds. The beautiful uncorrupted image would float from the bottom to the top of the screen, then flicker and go blank for a few seconds, and it would loop, on both NES and SNES. Same thing with S-Video.

When I tried the component output, I got a stable image, but the top third was all wavy. The receiver has an A and B output mode, but neither seemed to make a difference on either input.

I got my N64 to output a stable upscaled image with S-Video, but it was black every other frame. I suppose it's kinda like a stereoscopic effect, but still...

Dreamcast over S-Video was fine.

This leads me to believe that the RD is outputting in an odd video format. I know that the NES had off-screen overscan areas, so maybe it's emulating that. I'm wondering if there's any kind of device I can run the signal through to do away with it. A "VGA box" might work, and Yobo makes one that's ~$50 shipped on Amazon.

I'm beginning to wonder if doing a component mod to my RD would be a better option. Has anybody written up an easy-to-follow guide yet? I'm sure that I could do it, but I'll need more than just a schematic.

[Tupin]

ooXxXoo probably knows how to do it.

[Lanf]

After this, your NES games will sound just fine.....This worked great for me...And if anyone tries this, let me know if it worked for you..

WOW! :eek 2:
Thanks a lot ooXxXoo ! Once again you're showing incredible skills!!

Does your mod restore all the channels in Ninja Gaiden (for example)?

Too bad I never did any soldering: I'll never be able to do it myself... :(
Any chance to buy one Retroduo already modded from you? :help:

Lanf

[Diosoth]

I've found Wisdom Tree games hard to insert and remove due to the plastic case being designed differently.

You should be able to use the Yobo FC Twin Zapper, theoretically, since it has the SNES plug.

[Lanf]

Another thought: does the RetroDuo Red & Gold Limited Edition solves the NES sound problem?

Also, there is a Silver/Black color available: is there any hardware modifications?

[Cryomancer]

Alright, we got a red&gold one. Let me know if you guys have specific questions about stuff and how I can test it. I don't have tons of games though.

I've noticed that the NES slot on this thing is way too tight, games pretty much have to be wiggled into and out of the thing, and two pins are already popping up. Pushing them back down seems to make the games go in much better so it's probably them causing the problem. Is this common? Any fix? Sorry if it's been covered but I didn't feel like reading 9 pages to see right this moment.

[Diosoth]

Alright, we got a red&gold one. Let me know if you guys have specific questions about stuff and how I can test it. I don't have tons of games though.

I've noticed that the NES slot on this thing is way too tight, games pretty much have to be wiggled into and out of the thing, and two pins are already popping up. Pushing them back down seems to make the games go in much better so it's probably them causing the problem. Is this common? Any fix? Sorry if it's been covered but I didn't feel like reading 9 pages to see right this moment.

I have a red/gold. The NES slot is tight but I have no bent pins in it yet.

I opened it. The motherboard has a revision date of 5/23/2008.

[ooXxXoo]

Any of you with the newer Retro Duo models are willing to take an internal picture of the motherboard?...Thanks!
....
...

[Battlehork]

So... in my endless quest to defeat my television's composite input artifacting, I replaced my stereo receiver. While my main motivation was to get digital audio from the new consoles, I also wanted one that performed video upscaling.

I went with the Harman Kardon AVR-247, and found a good deal on a factory refurbished model. After testing the audio, the first thing that I hooked up to it was the Duo. Upscaling to 480p over HDMI, the composite input looked great... for a few seconds. The beautiful uncorrupted image would float from the bottom to the top of the screen, then flicker and go blank for a few seconds, and it would loop, on both NES and SNES. Same thing with S-Video.

When I tried the component output, I got a stable image, but the top third was all wavy. The receiver has an A and B output mode, but neither seemed to make a difference on either input.

I got my N64 to output a stable upscaled image with S-Video, but it was black every other frame. I suppose it's kinda like a stereoscopic effect, but still...

Dreamcast over S-Video was fine.

This leads me to believe that the RD is outputting in an odd video format. I know that the NES had off-screen overscan areas, so maybe it's emulating that. I'm wondering if there's any kind of device I can run the signal through to do away with it. A "VGA box" might work, and Yobo makes one that's ~$50 shipped on Amazon.

I'm beginning to wonder if doing a component mod to my RD would be a better option. Has anybody written up an easy-to-follow guide yet? I'm sure that I could do it, but I'll need more than just a schematic.

Some scaler chips do not support the 240p resolution used by old game systems. The N64 and Dreamcast are outputting 480i, so those work fine. Whereas the Genesis, SNES, NES etc. actually output 240p. I have a Yamaha receiver that won't scale from those systems either.

[NayusDante]

I tried my PS2 over component, playing PS1 stuff. Same problem...

[Insaneclown]

I have the FCPLUS 3 slot.

[Battlehork]

I tried my PS2 over component, playing PS1 stuff. Same problem...

PS1 games are also 240p, for the most part.

[genesisguy]

I've never tried one of these, and I'm not trying to be a wise ass but why not just buy an old SNES or NES? I guess they cost more, but really they aren't THAT expensive if you find one at a thrift or garage sale.

[Sonicwolf]

I've never tried one of these, and I'm not trying to be a wise ass but why not just buy an old SNES or NES? I guess they cost more, but really they aren't THAT expensive if you find one at a thrift or garage sale.

Both the NES and the SNES are old systems. Old electronics tend to become faulty and unreliable over time. The Nintendo Entertainment System could be considered one of the most irritating systems ever for faultiness. Its a chore just to get games running on the damned thing.

The new clone systems are made to save space and have your old favorites playable on a (for the most part) more reliable, new piece of electronics without relying on emulation or other alternative digital forms.

[Diosoth]

I've never tried one of these, and I'm not trying to be a wise ass but why not just buy an old SNES or NES? I guess they cost more, but really they aren't THAT expensive if you find one at a thrift or garage sale.

They're small and compact, for one. They lack the NES10 chip and can take Super Famicom games without cartridge slot modificaton. And not eveyrone has a thrify store or garage sale to find such things.

I've listed mine for sale with 9 games in the sale section if anyone's been looking into one.

[genesisguy]

Ok, I see the space saving and the famicom option. But, I've got two SNES consoles that both work perfectly and my NES after replacing the pin connector works better than it did when I was kid. Maybe I'm just odd, but part of the fun of playing the old games is on the old consoles.

[Diosoth]

Ok, I see the space saving and the famicom option. But, I've got two SNES consoles that both work perfectly and my NES after replacing the pin connector works better than it did when I was kid. Maybe I'm just odd, but part of the fun of playing the old games is on the old consoles.

It boils down to personal choice. Some people don't own the original consoles and, like me, live in areas where people often want a fortune for them. A lack of thrift stores, game stores that charge between $40-$75 for the console because it's "retro", etc.

The Retro Duo is about 6 1/2" wide x 7" deep x less than 2" tall. Real space saver. It's also regarded as one of the better clone systems, being that it runs games that the Yobo stuff can't. Clone systems like this save shelf space, are cheaper, but aren't perfect. Never buy one expecting 100% compatibility. The Retro Dup is also the only one with s-video output(another nice feature of the modern clone hardware is standard RCA outputs, none of that proprietary stuff that consoles STILL force upon us).

It's also nice that it has SNES control inputs. You can use old controllers(because the ones packed in with the RD are rather awful, to be honest).

They can also be a novelty item to collectors.

And, unfortunately, vintage hardware isn't guaranteed to last forever. Pin connectors aside, other components can fail. My old SNES as a child eventually fried, outputting a grayscale picture. A call to Nintendo at the time actually left the phone rep admitting that it was a known problem with the system(a video chip goes bad), but this was after they stopped servicing SNES consoles. You can take care of it but it's always a possibility. A fresh supply of new compatible hardware isn't a bad thing.

[IceDrake]

Hi everyone, this is my first post.

I never owned an NES or SNES when I was young. I had a Genesis when I was about 4-5 but had 7 games (5 of which were Sonic. In fact I didn't even get those until years later). I didn't get into gaming until I got a N64 and I was too young to have known about a lot of classic retro games on the Genesis, NES, and SNES.

I've been playing ROMs of games at college since I leave my newer consoles at home. As a result, I've gotten into retro gaming. I was looking at prices of the SNES on ebay and found the Retro Duo.

Would this be a worthwhile purchase for me? I believe almost all the games I'm interested in would work.

[NayusDante]

Go for it. I'd try to get a decent SNES controller, but it's an excellent little machine for that kind of situation. Just hunt the thrifts around wherever it is you are to find cheap games.

[Chemdawg]

Hi everyone, this is my first post.

I never owned an NES or SNES when I was young. I had a Genesis when I was about 4-5 but had 7 games (5 of which were Sonic. In fact I didn't even get those until years later). I didn't get into gaming until I got a N64 and I was too young to have known about a lot of classic retro games on the Genesis, NES, and SNES.

I've been playing ROMs of games at college since I leave my newer consoles at home. As a result, I've gotten into retro gaming. I was looking at prices of the SNES on ebay and found the Retro Duo.

Would this be a worthwhile purchase for me? I believe almost all the games I'm interested in would work.

I recently got back into retro games kind of like you it sounds. Like you said I checked on ebay and found this machine, read some reviews on it and it looked good. So I got it, it works great plays all the games I have and have never had a problem with it. though the controls do kinda suck, but i picked up some regular snes controllers at a local thrift store for like $.99 so not a big deal. I personally think its a great option to gettin a reg snes or nes on ebay, because first off its cheaper pretty much than either the snes or nes, atleast ones that still work, plus any snes or nes that you get that still works already has (x) numbers of years on it so it may just stop working who knows when, the retro duo is a brand new machine oppossed to one that is over 10years old. also a great thing about it is that its small probably will save you a lot of space compared to the bulky nes or snes.

[IceDrake]

Thanks. I think I will order one next month (want to be home when it gets here). Just have to decide which color scheme to go with.

[Diosoth]

Zelda II. Retro Duo vs Gamecube edition.

I'll assume the emulator on Zelda Collector's Edition is at least 90% accurate to NES hardware. Both pictures taken on the same TV, same lighting conditions.

Gamecube edition
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj72/diosoth/gamecubez2.jpg

Retro Duo
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj72/diosoth/retduoz2.jpg

The RD color is brighter, appearing more washed out. However, the Gamecube edition seems a bit dark to me, perhaps more than it should be.

The RD has a decent sound volume, though. The Gamecube is pretty silent and I have to crank the volume up.

[kai123]

I just bought one of these on ebay and after I did I noticed a listing for a RetroDuo v2. Any idea if this is an updated version? It looks identical to the others and provided zero info if there was a difference.

[Darth_Aeon]

:help: Just bought a Retro Duo (in the SWEET red and gold finish) and I want to track down the three Ultima games for the NES. Can anyone confirm compatibility?

[XianXi]

These look pretty cool. I might pick one up.

[andrew_77751]

version 2 is for the power switch , they must have re designed the switch to become better than version 1?

[toma]

For those that are having sound issues with the NES portion of of the Retro Duo(scratchy sound+missing a few effects), here's a quick easy fix:

Good games to test this mod are Super Mario Bros.3 and Ninja Gaiden(play these for a few minutes so you'll notice the difference)...
Unplug from the Power outlet and Turn on and off the Retro Duo for a few seconds before doing anything else, so you'll get rid off any remaining current left....After completely carefully taking apart the RD motherboard from the shell, look at the back side of the NES portion(near the AV Jacks and closest to the NOAC)..Please ignore the gray ribbon wires, they belong to another mod...

http://usera.imagecave.com/capcom2000/hpim7781.jpg

Look directly at the NOAC and right above it between the NOAC traces,you'll see the words "rest" and "sound" written near the actual NOAC..There is a solder spot right under the word sound(This word is going to be found nearest to the Red RCA jack)

http://usera.imagecave.com/capcom2000/hpim7785.jpg

Get yourself a 0.1uf ceramic capacitor (104)...Add a bit of solder to this point under the word "sound" and attach a leg of the ceramic cap there....The other leg should be connected to the ground side of the White Rca Jack connector...(as show in these pics)..

http://usera.imagecave.com/capcom2000/hpim7816.jpg

http://usera.imagecave.com/capcom2000/hpim7817.jpg

Make sure to shield this new cap legs connections or you may experience a bit of ghosty lines on the video, not a huge problem though.....

After this, your NES games will sound just fine.....This worked great for me...And if anyone tries this, let me know if it worked for you..
i just got a retro duo and the sound was kind of off with a few games... i did this mod and it works much better now. just wanted to say thanks, because i haven't seen this anywhere else and it's such an easy fix.

i also soldered the wire from a broken snes controller to a nes controller. if anyone doesn't know, the wires match almost perfectly, just swap the red and yellow ones.

[Joe_Cracker]

I own a copy of Kirby Superstars, it works without any problems in my Retro Duo.

[T2KFreeker]

Yeah, Innex was nice enough to send me one of these to review for Classic Video Gamer Magazine and I am impressed. For a clone system, it really is nice. Retrobit has done their homework. The sound on the NES games can be a bit bothersome at times, but other than that, it's solid buy and well worth the money. They were also nice enough to send me the red and gold edition, which is a sweet looking machine to be sure. I'm getting ready to type out my review now. Just wanted to shout out that this system is a fine piece of machinery for sure.

[Flibbith]

does anyone know if Star Ocean works on the RetroDuo?

[Tomato]

I'd like to thank everyone in this thread, especially ooXxXoo for his awesome NES sound fix:



awesome NES sound fix


The concept of a machine that plays NES and SNES perfectly sounds too good to be true, so when I got my first FC Twin (and discovered it was crap) and later got a Retro Duo, I was so disappointed to see it had its blemishes. I had atrocious sound problems with the NES side that effectively made it unplayable (Ninja Gaiden especially). After weeks of research on how to fix the problem or spot the differences between models so I could avoid it, I came upon this very thread and the above instructions for modifying it on like the third page of a google search. After learning how to use a soldering iron I went right at it, and now it works great. I'm ecstatic.

Thank you, ooXxXoo, Frankie_Says_Relax, NayusDante and EVERYONE who helped make this thread what it is. In more ways than one, the system works.

And sorry for bumping a week old thread with a wall of text for my first post here. I'm kind of excited. Ninja Gaiden sounds perfect.

[Nero 99]

jesu christus, I cant believe this thread is still going. lol

[ooXxXoo]

@ tomato: I'm glad the mod worked for you as well....I'm sure Ninja Gaiden among others, sound much better now...Thanks for the comments too, they keep my modding spirit alive :D ....
...
...

[Sonicwolf]

Ugh. Just bought an Retro Duo from a store in Vancouver a few hours ago and got back home. What a piece of crap. NES side is fine, SNES side looks like a VHS tape from 1977 on both composite and svideo and when I pick up the system to remove the svideo cord, the and the damned console splits in two. Unfortunately, without a car or adequate public transit, I cannot return it. bye-bye money.

[NayusDante]

Something's gotta be up with their manufacturing. Mine is rock solid, but I keep hearing about crap units...

[Sonicwolf]

This is most definately a crap unit.

Now I dont know what to do.

[thunderkid]

Has anyone got one of these with a faulty SNES pin connector? Mine is very picky about the way games get plugged in. I can never get it to play snes games correctly. In the off chance that it does, the game is very unstable and very prone to crashing. Does anyone (ie ooXxXoo) know how to fix this issue? I already tried to bend the pins in the cart slot but that didnt work. Is it possible to replace the entire SNES 60 pin (?) connector and replace it with an original 60 pin from a real SNES?

[Arkhan]

Hey hey. First real post here!

Have you guys seen the portable version of these? I forget the name already but I almost bought one at the shop by me today.

screen was real nice, backlit and about the size of a gamegear screen.

....sorta sucks to have an NES cart sticking out of it though

[StoneAgeGamer]

Hey hey. First real post here!

Have you guys seen the portable version of these? I forget the name already but I almost bought one at the shop by me today.

screen was real nice, backlit and about the size of a gamegear screen.

....sorta sucks to have an NES cart sticking out of it though

Yes the FC Mobile 2 (http://www.stoneagegamer.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=661).

[T2KFreeker]

Has anyone got one of these with a faulty SNES pin connector? Mine is very picky about the way games get plugged in. I can never get it to play snes games correctly. In the off chance that it does, the game is very unstable and very prone to crashing. Does anyone (ie ooXxXoo) know how to fix this issue? I already tried to bend the pins in the cart slot but that didnt work. Is it possible to replace the entire SNES 60 pin (?) connector and replace it with an original 60 pin from a real SNES?

Interesting to see all of this. My system is just fine, well other than the really shot AC Adapter cord, but that can be gotten around. Strange.

@Sonicwolf, have you thought about contacting Retrobit and seeing if they will ship you a new unit?

[Sonicwolf]

I managed to take back the system to the store I got it from. Aside from the split casing on the system, it worked fine on there store tv. Made me look like an asshole. I tried 4 different games with 3 different cords seperately on the RetroDuo and SNES and the duo always came out crappy looking yet when I take it back it looks fine. I got my refund and they kept it as a tester's unit. Very nice people there at GameDeals, the way it looked is that I was lieing about the system. Must have been a fluke.