Retro Duo - Worth $36.99

[titanzguard]

I saw there is an official thread talking about this system but just wondering if its worth a 36.99 price tag with free shipping? I have atleast 2 NES systems and 2 SNES's but was gonna pick this up to save space and so I could pack away my originals. I know its not 100% compatible. Any thoughts? Experiences? Would appreciate anyones opinion on this system.

[titanzguard]

My bad guys!

Just realized I posted this in wrong forum. Could an admin please move this to the What's it worth section. My apologies!

[joedick]

This thread will probably have way more info than any new one could possibly hope to have:

http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1503742&mode=linear#post1503742

[PapaStu]

My bad guys!

Just realized I posted this in wrong forum. Could an admin please move this to the What's it worth section. My apologies!


**Moved for great succes**

Check out joedick's thread too. It is a potential alternative for you as well.

[Diosoth]

Their average price ANYWHERE is $50 PLUS shipping so yes, it's a good deal.

[mobiusclimber]

I'm not sure I understand the question being asked here, but I feel the need to contradict Diosoth for a second. You can purchase a brand new Retro Duo off the Amazon site for around $40 shipped. Amazon.com sells them for $45 w/ free shipping. I'm not sure where $50 plus shipping is coming from. I'd imagine Ebay would be cheaper than Amazon, as that is usually the case, but I haven't checked.

If you're asking whether it's worth it to purchase one of these, I wouldn't. You own a couple NES and SNES. If you bust the tabs inside an SNES you can play most import Sufami games. (All the ones you'd be able to play with the Retro Duo anyway.) Not sure, but I'm going to assume this plays Famicom carts too. Well I'd suggest getting an actual Famicom. They aren't incredibly expensive and they're a much better collector's item. IF that's too expensive AND you own a top-loader, then a simple converter would be a great idea. I've gotten some knockoff converters pretty cheap, but they don't work so well if your NES is a toaster that you need to line the carts up perfectly inside to get em to work (if you see wht I mean). I consider all these unlicensed clone systems to be shoddy, having owned several in the past (tho not this particular one). Most manufacturers use cheap parts to keep the costs down. Sure it's cheap compared to buying two of the actual consoles (or four depending on how you look at this thing), but that's the big problem. It's that cheap because the parts used are cheap. Most clones feel like they'll break in your hands.

So I'd say only get this if you want to start collecting clone systems, but not b/c you either think you can get rid of the real systems for this (unless you really aren't a collector and don't care about playing all the games, seeing the colors & hearing the sounds as they were meant to be produced, and don't mind replacing this thing in six months when it stops working) or because it seems like a better option for getting into import games. I certainly wouldn't spend more than $40 for a new one, and definitely much less for a used one (they are $30 on Amazon for used).

[Diosoth]

I'm not sure I understand the question being asked here, but I feel the need to contradict Diosoth for a second. You can purchase a brand new Retro Duo off the Amazon site for around $40 shipped. Amazon.com sells them for $45 w/ free shipping. I'm not sure where $50 plus shipping is coming from. I'd imagine Ebay would be cheaper than Amazon, as that is usually the case, but I haven't checked.

If you're asking whether it's worth it to purchase one of these, I wouldn't. You own a couple NES and SNES. If you bust the tabs inside an SNES you can play most import Sufami games. (All the ones you'd be able to play with the Retro Duo anyway.) Not sure, but I'm going to assume this plays Famicom carts too. Well I'd suggest getting an actual Famicom. They aren't incredibly expensive and they're a much better collector's item. IF that's too expensive AND you own a top-loader, then a simple converter would be a great idea. I've gotten some knockoff converters pretty cheap, but they don't work so well if your NES is a toaster that you need to line the carts up perfectly inside to get em to work (if you see wht I mean). I consider all these unlicensed clone systems to be shoddy, having owned several in the past (tho not this particular one). Most manufacturers use cheap parts to keep the costs down. Sure it's cheap compared to buying two of the actual consoles (or four depending on how you look at this thing), but that's the big problem. It's that cheap because the parts used are cheap. Most clones feel like they'll break in your hands.

So I'd say only get this if you want to start collecting clone systems, but not b/c you either think you can get rid of the real systems for this (unless you really aren't a collector and don't care about playing all the games, seeing the colors & hearing the sounds as they were meant to be produced, and don't mind replacing this thing in six months when it stops working) or because it seems like a better option for getting into import games. I certainly wouldn't spend more than $40 for a new one, and definitely much less for a used one (they are $30 on Amazon for used).

When I bought mine, cheapest I could find them anywhere was about $50. The prices might have dropped in the past few months though with the FC3 Plus being popular. But the FC3 Plus is garbage, sad that people buy up Yobo stuff despite their mediocre quality.

He has the systems but wants this. Maybe he doesn't have ROOM to put out the big, bulky systems? The Retro Duo is a small, compact little system.

Myself, I couldn't give a flying damn about "how it was meant to be played." I don't care if the sound is 5% off. Many of these were meant to be played over an RF cable, too, but RF looks like crap. Sounds like crap, too. I wouldn't use RF if I was forced to. I also haven't played most of these games on original hardware in a decade or more and wouldn't recognize "the way it's meant to look and sound" with a gun to my head.

The Yobo stuff has shoddy hardware and uses rather cheap plastic, but the RD has far better compatibility and hardware, plus a much sturdier design. I don't know about "drop it on the floor" sturdy but I do not own a single game system that I would dare drop on the floor. Much anything has potential to break that way. These clone systems are certainly no less reliable than the Xbox 360 and it's patented RROD failures. Oh, right, they fixed that. People get an "E74" error now in the new consoles. The 360 certainly has no right to such failures and a much higher expectation of working right, given the cost.

[MarioMania]

How much does the FC3 goes for

[mobiusclimber]

When I bought mine, cheapest I could find them anywhere was about $50. The prices might have dropped in the past few months though with the FC3 Plus being popular. But the FC3 Plus is garbage, sad that people buy up Yobo stuff despite their mediocre quality.

He has the systems but wants this. Maybe he doesn't have ROOM to put out the big, bulky systems? The Retro Duo is a small, compact little system.

Myself, I couldn't give a flying damn about "how it was meant to be played." I don't care if the sound is 5% off. Many of these were meant to be played over an RF cable, too, but RF looks like crap. Sounds like crap, too. I wouldn't use RF if I was forced to. I also haven't played most of these games on original hardware in a decade or more and wouldn't recognize "the way it's meant to look and sound" with a gun to my head.

The Yobo stuff has shoddy hardware and uses rather cheap plastic, but the RD has far better compatibility and hardware, plus a much sturdier design. I don't know about "drop it on the floor" sturdy but I do not own a single game system that I would dare drop on the floor. Much anything has potential to break that way. These clone systems are certainly no less reliable than the Xbox 360 and it's patented RROD failures. Oh, right, they fixed that. People get an "E74" error now in the new consoles. The 360 certainly has no right to such failures and a much higher expectation of working right, given the cost.

The NES came with A/V cables, same with the SNES. Sure, the game developers in many cases (in the NES era) designed their games to take advantage of "bleeding pixels" to create a wider color palate than what they had available, but this only becomes an issue when you try to play a NES on an HDTV or something.

As for sturdiness, I HAVE dropped my Wii several times and it has continued to work and not break. If your 360 gets an RROD, you can send it to M$ for repairs, for free. Try doing that with one of these clone systems and see how far it takes you. But why compare this to a next gen console? Oh that's right, because the NES & SNES are pretty darned sturdy. They've survived for how many years now? And most are still working just fine and not snapped into a million pieces.

As for the sound and picture issues, I was explaining to TC that yes they do occur, yes the sound can be off from what it's meant to be, yes the color can be off from what it's supposed to be. Some games even have slightly scrambled graphics. That has nothing to do w/ your feelings. The TC can decide if that makes a difference to him/her. Simply because you don't care about it doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. And I'd be willing to bet that the TC would notice this since s/he owns the original consoles and quite possibly plays them at least semi-regularly. But whether TC notices or not, it's still present and still something to consider when thinking about whether to purchase this system or not.