The Supaboy - New SNES handheld from Hyperkin

[nusilver]

the mail arrived today, and I got my replacement Supaboy.......which has the exact same audio issues as the first one I had returned to Hyperkin because of the high pitched audio and have been waiting around for the replacement for nearly a month.

What the hell Hyperkin? an RMA was already filled out for a system with bad audio and you send me ANOTHER one with the SAME PROBLEM?! UGH. The first one was bought from amazon, so its the Amazon seller's fault, but this replacement came directly from Hyperkin and it's STILL bad! This is totally unacceptable! Don't you guys check these things!?

I want this system returned and replaced with a FUNCTIONAL system WITHOUT the audio issues. This is ridiculous.

Crap. I'm sorry to hear that. Have you PM'd Tofu?

[Taiyaki]

That's incredible. Is the sound issue on the unit you just received the buzzing problem?

[Satoshi_Matrix]

yeah. new system, same problem. It's pretty discouraging to trust Hyperkin in the future. I mean shit happens sure, but this kinda thing is unacceptable. I shouldn't have to go three units just to get one that works as advertised.

[Taiyaki]

That was extremely careless on their part. With all this confusion now I have to wonder, is there any evidence that this is not the final product? Nusilver and I are still wondering whether we have prototypes or the actual retail version. Perhaps Tofu will enlighten us when he comes by next time.

[Satoshi_Matrix]

Yeah. I don't blame Tofu or Hyperkin themselves, just whoever botched my order by sending me a replacement unit with exactly the same problem as the unit that was returned.

[TKO]

Yeah. I don't blame Tofu or Hyperkin themselves, just whoever botched my order by sending me a replacement unit with exactly the same problem as the unit that was returned.

Could it be that all retails have the same audio issue?

[Taiyaki]

Could it be that all retails have the same audio issue?

This is exactly what I was trying to get at. How do we know that the second unit SatoshiMatrix received, and the one Nusilver and I have are not the final product already?

[MachineGex]

This is not directed at anyone in particular in this thread. It is just how I feel towards companies who make retro products that no other campanies have the balls to make:

I tend to give companies who are making retro products more slack since they are doing something that not too many companies have the balls to do. If we all jump on their shit for every single little problem, they may get tired of it and not release future retro products. I give them every chance in the world to fix mistakes. Personally Tofu is one of the best and nicest guys I have dealt with. I am sure he is busy, the holidays and everything tend to screw everyone over.

Like I said, this is not directed at anyone. I just really appreciate any company who tries to make a retro console. We are a very picky group of consumers who know the ins & outs more than most. We tend to be very hard on new-retro products. I just hope that doesnt scare companies off.

[Taiyaki]

This is not directed at anyone in particular in this thread. It is just how I feel towards companies who make retro products that no other campanies have the balls to make:

I tend to give companies who are making retro products more slack since they are doing something that not too many companies have the balls to do. If we all jump on their shit for every single little problem, they may get tired of it and not release future retro products. I give them every chance in the world to fix mistakes. Personally Tofu is one of the best and nicest guys I have dealt with. I am sure he is busy, the holidays and everything tend to screw everyone over.

Like I said, this is not directed at anyone. I just really appreciate any company who tries to make a retro console. We are a very picky group of consumers who know the ins & outs more than most. We tend to be very hard on new-retro products. I just hope that doesnt scare companies off.

I have to agree with you there.

The problem though is that the same target audience here who love the retro and love the idea of portability are by nature picky and difficult. In my opinion they might be making a mistake to go for affordability, when they could in fact sell these for $129 or even $159 and many of us would still be buying it so long as it's up to expectations.

There's a lot to be proud of with the Supaboy, the issues need to be solved but the concept is great.

[tofu]

For those of you who still have open issues with your Supaboy, contact the customer service manager directly at Lawrence@Hyperkin.com or (626) 571-5100

He is in charge of customer service. He is incompetent. He outranks me. There is nothing I can do about him.

Taiyaki in particular who lives in France, please take a video of your current Supaboy and send me a link. There are several differences from the main product and the prototype. I cannot reveal what the main differences are, that's simply verboten.

I'm trying to figure out if it is indeed possible that prototype systems entered the main distribution channel. I don't see how it could have possibly happened unless the factory had extra stock and sent it along with the main shipment. This remains unlikely since both the factory and ourselves dumped all extra prototype parts to another party.

[tofu]

Just a sidebar here.

If Hyperkin made a system that retailed for $129 to $159, our markup would be another 5-10%, the majority of profits would go to the retail outlet. The is intended, as retailers have a larger percent of overhead cost than we do. Could I accomplish a lot more with a 5-10% margin, not really.

Nobody gets rich making retro systems, we make more money selling cheap replacement cables and lately batteries. There are several folks who make absolutely great hardware, mostly custom, and I'll namedrop one here for anyone looking for a great Neo Geo MVS home console goto:

http://arcadeworks.net/


I have to agree with you there.

The problem though is that the same target audience here who love the retro and love the idea of portability are by nature picky and difficult. In my opinion they might be making a mistake to go for affordability, when they could in fact sell these for $129 or even $159 and many of us would still be buying it so long as it's up to expectations.

There's a lot to be proud of with the Supaboy, the issues need to be solved but the concept is great.

[Taiyaki]

I understand, so I was wrong. :/

I'll take a video and send it to Mr Lawrence. Thanks.

[nusilver]

Just want to drop in real quick to remind Tofu and everyone at Hyperkin that we're all very thankful for everything they've done...especially for the Supaboy. I've been waiting half my life for a portable SNES, and now that it's here, I'm just bummed that the one I had had issues...but I'm very much looking forward to getting it back. It's seriously one of my favorite things ever, issues or no, and I only had it for two weeks.

So again: thanks Hyperkin!

Now, carry on with the arguments. :)

[Taiyaki]

Just want to drop in real quick to remind Tofu and everyone at Hyperkin that we're all very thankful for everything they've done...especially for the Supaboy. I've been waiting half my life for a portable SNES, and now that it's here, I'm just bummed that the one I had had issues...but I'm very much looking forward to getting it back. It's seriously one of my favorite things ever, issues or no, and I only had it for two weeks.

So again: thanks Hyperkin!

Now, carry on with the arguments. :)

From the looks of it we probably have the final release (based on SatoshiMatrix receiving another unit with the same sound issues). Unless Tofu can confirm that the final release has no hum/buzz what so ever, perhaps this is what we have like it or not. :/

I second the part about being grateful to Hyperkin, it's 16 years overdue but it's fantastic to have it here and we can only look forward to what comes next in this series and improved models in the future. Best regards to Tofu, his colleagues and everyone at Hyperkin!

[kedawa]

I guess I'm not grateful enough to buy a busted product.
It seems like clone makers just give up when the product is 95% done.
With all the money and effort that goes into designing a product like this, you'd think it would be worthwhile to spend that extra little bit to make it perfect.

[MachineGex]

That's exactly what we said kedawa, glad you got our mass email about it. I tend to give the company a pass on small things cuz I never expect it to be 100%. For the cost of most of these products, they are pretty damn good. The is always the choice of making your own or paying someone $300++ to make you a system. All things considered, I am surprised these systems get made at all.

Not too many companies have employees that are willing to drop in a forum and help customers out. I believe that deserves respect. No one is saying people cant voice their thoughts on a product, just do it with respect and consideration. People tend to loose tact when on the internet.

Also, this isn't a first party product. If nintendo was making it, I would see the complaints being alittle more fair. This is a third party company doing it. They have a few more hurdles to overcome and their pockets arent as deep.

[Taiyaki]

Things like the light above the logo, the dust under the screen, the scratched buttons, and perhaps even the flickering screen are all details I think many of us can give a pass, but the buzzing and the very mediocre sound coming from the unit is really not acceptable, it's a distraction and significantly harms the experience.

I find I get better sound by putting thick cotton pads on the two speakers to soften the sound, it also reduces the buzz, not a definite solution but it improves things a little.

[MachineGex]

Yeah, Taiyaki, I agree with you 100%. Nothing wrong with saying whats wrong with it as long as you do it with tact and some respect. I can't imagine the amount of work that goes into making something like this. All the tech stuff, legal stuff, etc. is a huge hurdle.

[nusilver]

All, just wanted to let you guys know that I've also ordered a Pokefami DX (albeit without the Fami/MD adapters) and will be posting videos of that as well. Depending on the timing of receiving the PFDX from Japan and the Supaboy back from Hyperkin, I'll be posting some detailed English-language comparisons between the two devices to my Youtube account. There's a nice comparison of them on YouTube already, but without being able to read Japanese, it's hard to tell how the Pokefami DX really compares to Hyperkin's baby with regards to screen quality, sound quality, feel, and compatibility.

Anyway. I'm assuming these videos are about a month out, but...something for you guys to look forward to. :)

Happy New Year!

[OldSchoolGamer]

All, just wanted to let you guys know that I've also ordered a Pokefami DX (albeit without the Fami/MD adapters) and will be posting videos of that as well. Depending on the timing of receiving the PFDX from Japan and the Supaboy back from Hyperkin, I'll be posting some detailed English-language comparisons between the two devices to my Youtube account. There are some nice videos of comparing them on YouTube already, but without being able to read Japanese, it's hard to tell how the Pokefami DX really compares to Hyperkin's baby.

Happy New Year!

Much aprreciated. May I ask where you ordered the Pokefami DX from?

[nusilver]

Much aprreciated. May I ask where you ordered the Pokefami DX from?

I got it on Amazon; I did not pay what the seller was asking.

Having said that: I did find these just now - shipping worldwide from Hong Kong. Looks like it'll run about $150 USD, for those interested.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SFC-Super-Famicom-Console-system-Super-Nintendo-Entertainment-System-SNES-/260913116973?pt=Video_Games&hash=item3cbfa2372d

For what its worth, though I know most people are not going to want to spend that much, I would suggest holding off anyway - from what I understand, the Pokefami is largely inferior to the Supaboy (except, in regards to looks...but I suppose that's personal preference.)

[Taiyaki]

Nusilver> Please let us know your impressions as soon as it arrives! I might switch over and buy that too.

From what I read about the Pokefami DX

(This is not from first hand experience!)

+ Screen has warmer colors and several settings for brightness
+ Softer sound (less tinny?)
+ Better size (ratio screen to unit) vs Supaboy which gives off impression of small screen due to unit size
+ Better start and select location
+ Better reset button since it requires pressing down a few seconds.
+ Clean look (no huge name spelled on unit)
- Lower sound fidelity (slightly?)
- Less good quality build?
- Less authentic look
- Sharpness on screen just as bad (worse?) than the Supaboy.

I haven't heard anything on the battery life, I wonder which is better in that regard.

Apparently the Megadrive and Famicom adapters are more like gimmicks and do not perform well. Many games don't work and those that work are inconsistent and glitchy (particularly filled with sound issues).

As a SNES this unit might be more suitable for some people than the Supaboy, particularly interesting to me is the contrast setting button, warmer colors and softened sound.

[Satoshi_Matrix]

Who is the PokeFamiDX made by? I worry about build quality.

[nusilver]

Who is the PokeFamiDX made by? I worry about build quality.

I believe it's a company called Gamejoy Japan. Again, I won't have my PFDX for a few weeks, but I'll let you guys know how it stacks up to Hyperkin's model once it arrives. The only thing I can say for sure about the Pokefami DX right now is that I like the recessed shoulder buttons more. The Supaboy's are too clicky.

[nusilver]

looks like mine was delivered to Hyperkin today. Hope I get it back soon (wink, wink, Tofu, nudge, etc...) ;)

[Taiyaki]

Yeah let us know, I'm waiting for further news from someone to confirm what the final product is, if like SatoshiMatrix you receive a new unit with the buzz again I'm going to give up on Hyperkin, return the product to the ebay seller and go for the Pokefami DX instead.

[Genesaturn]

Just saw this for the first time a few hours ago at my local game shop....It looks pretty cool. I never bought the FC-16 Go because after playing with it at a friends the design bugged me and didn't feel right. I may have to sink some money into this. I love the TV out feature...making the NES even more portable...I like it!

[Satoshi_Matrix]

Well I'm not willing to pay the shipping to send Hyperkin back the unit they sent me, so I guess I'm going to have to live with it. It's not too bad for some games, but Mario World is terrible.

As much as the audio buzz angers me, I do like the unit quite a bit. I'm planning on making my own detailed video review this weekend. If anyone has any questions or anything they want to see, let me know now before I record.

[Satoshi_Matrix]

Well I'm not willing to pay the shipping to send Hyperkin back the unit they sent me, so I guess I'm going to have to live with it. It's not too bad for some games, but Mario World is terrible.

As much as the audio buzz angers me, I do like the unit quite a bit. I'm planning on making my own detailed video review this weekend. If anyone has any questions or anything they want to see, let me know now before I record.

[ShakeyOwnz]

Alright, so my new SupaBoy came in the mail today. I honestly have to say the buzzing isnt as detrimental as everyone seems to complain about. Sure its there, but if your not putting the volume all the way up (which you probably shouldn't anyways) its not so bad. I seemed to forget about it after a couple minutes. The only time I was hearing it was when I asked myself, "is it buzzing?" The buzzing however does not transfer over when you use it as a console (hooked up to the TV, or if it does its not coming out of the TV). I've only been able to play Secret of Mana as thats the only SNES game I own and after a couple finicky starts right out of the box, it boots up first time all the time. The controls are responsive and the D-Pad works really well even though it feels stiff in comparison to the buttons.

The feeling I got when I opened was something that I havent felt in years. To me it was like getting a super nintendo all over again. I couldn't wait to have a game to pop into it. So I made my way to my local collectibles/pop-culture store and bought a copy of Secret of Mana. Got home popped it in and fell in love again. Super Nintendo has and will probably always be my favorite console ever and honestly the SupaBoy did not disappoint me in the least.

On the whole I'd say I'm very satisfied with my purchase and cant wait to start increasing my library of games.

[TKO]

So , is it pretty much confirmed that the retail units have buzzing sound issue?

[Satoshi_Matrix]

According to Tofu representing Hyperkin, only some of them do.

However, this is inconsistent with everyone I've spoken to that owns own, and is also inconsistent with my own experiences as the unit that Hyperkin sent me as a replacement for a system with the buzzing sound.....has the buzzing sound.

I imagine that eventually this issue will be fixed and less and less units will have this audio buzz, but as of right now, I'd hazard a guess that at least 70% if not more of all the Supaboys in existence have this issue.

in fact, if anyone here has a Supaboy that does NOT have the audio buzz present in games like Super Mario World or Mario All Stars, please let me know. Based on this thread, there doesn't seem to be a single Supaboy owner that owns a perfectly functional unit.

[StealthLurker]

According to Tofu representing Hyperkin, only some of them do.

However, this is inconsistent with everyone I've spoken to that owns own, and is also inconsistent with my own experiences as the unit that Hyperkin sent me as a replacement for a system with the buzzing sound.....has the buzzing sound.

I imagine that eventually this issue will be fixed and less and less units will have this audio buzz, but as of right now, I'd hazard a guess that at least 70% if not more of all the Supaboys in existence have this issue.

in fact, if anyone here has a Supaboy that does NOT have the audio buzz present in games like Super Mario World or Mario All Stars, please let me know. Based on this thread, there doesn't seem to be a single Supaboy owner that owns a perfectly functional unit.


I've been watching this thread for a while about all the buzzing problems, however I never noticed anything on mine. I fired up Super Mario World and All Stars, cranked up the volume to max and nothing. I also tried it with some Sennheiser headphones, also fine. I'm pretty sure I don't have a hearing problem, lol. However if I put my ear right on the speaker, I can hear some buzz. At a normal distance though I don't hear any sound problems. Is that the buzzing everyone is talking about? I was also wondering if there are any youtube videos that display this annoying buzzing?

Just FYI, I preordered my Supaboy early and I guess I got one of the first batches. I got mine through Amazon, although I see people who did order from Amazon with this annoying problem.

In addition, I'm pretty nit picky when it comes to home theater video and audio gear. I've gone through lots of effort with various extra processors and equipment. Just to frame my perspective that I do have some standards lol.


.

[ShakeyOwnz]

Alright, so my new SupaBoy came in the mail today. I honestly have to say the buzzing isnt as detrimental as everyone seems to complain about. Sure its there, but if your not putting the volume all the way up (which you probably shouldn't anyways) its not so bad. I seemed to forget about it after a couple minutes. The only time I was hearing it was when I asked myself, "is it buzzing?" The buzzing however does not transfer over when you use it as a console (hooked up to the TV, or if it does its not coming out of the TV). I've only been able to play Secret of Mana as thats the only SNES game I own and after a couple finicky starts right out of the box, it boots up first time all the time. The controls are responsive and the D-Pad works really well even though it feels stiff in comparison to the buttons.

The feeling I got when I opened was something that I havent felt in years. To me it was like getting a super nintendo all over again. I couldn't wait to have a game to pop into it. So I made my way to my local collectibles/pop-culture store and bought a copy of Secret of Mana. Got home popped it in and fell in love again. Super Nintendo has and will probably always be my favorite console ever and honestly the SupaBoy did not disappoint me in the least.

On the whole I'd say I'm very satisfied with my purchase and cant wait to start increasing my library of games.

So last night I was playing Secret of Mana on my SupaBoy when the screen decided it wanted to get all wavy and go ape shit. So I shut it off only to find out it didnt want to start right back up, so after about 20 mins of fidgeting with it I got it to work again, but not until my save files were erased from having to turn on/off the system so much.... I'd like to know if this is a major issue and should I send my supaboy back?

[Akito01]

So last night I was playing Secret of Mana on my SupaBoy when the screen decided it wanted to get all wavy and go ape shit. So I shut it off only to find out it didnt want to start right back up, so after about 20 mins of fidgeting with it I got it to work again, but not until my save files were erased from having to turn on/off the system so much.... I'd like to know if this is a major issue and should I send my supaboy back?

From my experience; this is the SupaBoy's way of telling you it needs to be recharged. Plug it in, and you should find it boots up normally. I'd be curious to know why no kind of LED low power warning light was thought to be included, as I had the exact same moment of panic when I encountered this freaky-screen phenomenon as well.

[ShakeyOwnz]

From my experience; this is the SupaBoy's way of telling you it needs to be recharged. Plug it in, and you should find it boots up normally. I'd be curious to know why no kind of LED low power warning light was thought to be included, as I had the exact same moment of panic when I encountered this freaky-screen phenomenon as well.

That was my first notion, needing to be recharged. But in the process of finding this out I lost my battery saves in Secret of Mana.... Not too big a deal, still backtracked me about an hour. But thank you for clarifying this for me.

[Satoshi_Matrix]

So here's my Supaboy in depth video review.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAxAu6kx7Zg

[Akito01]

So here's my Supaboy in depth video review.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAxAu6kx7Zg

That's super weird about diagonals. I know that was very much my experience with the FC-16 Go, which bummed me out quite a bit, and even the version 2 had very stiff controls. After seeing your video I went and popped in Gradius III just to be sure, because I'd been playing Super R-Type with the SupaBoy already and didn't notice that problem. I can't say I had any problem with diagonals either with Gradius III.

Although, having said that, I did (and occasionally still do) have the experience of pushing to the left and having it read as down (so Mario would duck instead of moving left). This has been less of a problem as time has worn on. I think it is fair to say that build quality is still a prominent issue with these clones, which is even more of a shame now that the price points have started to rise.

[nusilver]

So here's my Supaboy in depth video review.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAxAu6kx7Zg

Did you actually have Earthbound to test with? You claimed that the SupaBoy wouldn't run Earthbound properly, but I played for about 10 hours without running into 4x enemies. I've since completed the game, and once mine comes back from Hyperkin, I'll load up the final battle on the SupaBoy...I doubt it's going to delete my save. Once I verify this, I'd recommend you should annotate your video to mention that Earthbound doesn't actually have any problems with the Supaboy.

[nickerous]

That's disappointing about your review, Satoshi Matrix. I had high hopes for the SupaBoy, but, in my mind, the FC 16 Go is a better replacement SNES since the wireless controllers are so good. The portable sucks, but the wireless is awesome. Since it sounds like this portable sucks too, I guess I'll be waiting on the RDP reviews to see if I want one of those. The whole cartridge adapters thing sucks on that though....at least on paper. Maybe it'll be ok, but I don't have any problems with my FC Mobile 2...except the screen size.

[JSnake]

Yeah, my EB cart works perfectly fine on my SupaBoy as well.

[Taiyaki]

After seeing the pokefami DX in action I have to say to all users here, check it out instead. The screen warmth appeared more natural looking and the form and size of the system is pretty good. I might buy one myself eventually.

[nusilver]

After seeing the pokefami DX in action I have to say to all users here, check it out instead. The screen warmth appeared more natural looking and the form and size of the system is pretty good. I might buy one myself eventually.

I haven't heard anything from Hyperkin about the status of my Supaboy (I will email Lawrence...right now!), but my Pokefami DX finally shipped, after almost a week and a half after I placed the order (there was some confusion about whether I wanted the fami/md adapters right away, which I don't.) Looks like it's right on track to get here by the end of January. :puppydogeyes:

Wonder which one will arrive first?

[nickerous]

Where's the best place to buy a Pokefami DX?

[nusilver]

Where's the best place to buy a Pokefami DX?

right now, ebay and Amazon are your only options; eBay is the cheapest list price at about $135 + shipping. Search my posts and you'll find a link to the current auction, which doesn't list them as pokefami dxes, but Super Famicoms.

[Coreykun667]

I just received my Supaboy from Stone Age Gamer, and the high pitch noise is godawful, which even plays through headphones... I also seem to get some weird lines on the screen playing Star Fox, yet Stunt Rally FX plays just dandy. The unit also doesn't play Mario RPG and Kirby Superstar (I'm 99.9% sure that these are 1st rev.) I'll have to check back up on Yoshi's Island for issues, but none so far. Mario RPG has the number 34 punched in the back label and KSS has a 40 stamped in the back. I bought this assuming I was right with the 1st software revisions on both...

[nusilver]

I just received my Supaboy from Stone Age Gamer, and the high pitch noise is godawful, which even plays through headphones... I also seem to get some weird lines on the screen playing Star Fox, yet Stunt Rally FX plays just dandy. The unit also doesn't play Mario RPG and Kirby Superstar (I'm 99.9% sure that these are 1st rev.) I'll have to check back up on Yoshi's Island for issues, but none so far. Mario RPG has the number 34 punched in the back label and KSS has a 40 stamped in the back. I bought this assuming I was right with the 1st software revisions on both...

from what i recall, the stamps only mean what factory the games were assembled at, not which revision.

I recently received Kaboomer's copy of Super Mario RPG - one that works on a Supaboy. I don't have my Supaboy to test right now, but I can confirm from watching his video that it's the same cartridge. Having said that, when I opened up both copies of the game that I have, the insides are using the same PCB revision, though the chips look slightly different. I honestly don't know how to differentiate between a clone-compatible copy and a non-working copy. Sigh.

[Tempy]

Received my Supaboy yesterday. Seems like a good product - except for the loud buzzing sound which occurs even when using headphones :( Disappointed. I hope there will be some kind of fix that I can do myself (like the mods to improve the Retro Duo NES sound). I'm not expecting it to be easy or cheap to get it replaced since I'm in Europe.

[Coreykun667]

from what i recall, the stamps only mean what factory the games were assembled at, not which revision.

I recently received Kaboomer's copy of Super Mario RPG - one that works on a Supaboy. I don't have my Supaboy to test right now, but I can confirm from watching his video that it's the same cartridge. Having said that, when I opened up both copies of the game that I have, the insides are using the same PCB revision, though the chips look slightly different. I honestly don't know how to differentiate between a clone-compatible copy and a non-working copy. Sigh.

Someone told me that if there's just a 2 digit number, then it's a first rev. and the later ones had an "A" stamped too. Guess I'm wrong then. I just found out that the ones that say "Made in Mexico" work? Figures with my luck... :roll:

[Satoshi_Matrix]

Received my Supaboy yesterday. Seems like a good product - except for the loud buzzing sound which occurs even when using headphones :( Disappointed. I hope there will be some kind of fix that I can do myself (like the mods to improve the Retro Duo NES sound). I'm not expecting it to be easy or cheap to get it replaced since I'm in Europe.

Sorry, there isn't any fix. It's problem with the hardware itself. You need to get the entire unit replaced and hope your replacement doesnt have the same damn problem. Thats what happened to me. i sent mine back for replacement, and the replacement system still has the buzz.

[Coreykun667]

I tested Donkey Kong Country 2 and I get the piracy protection screen. :(

[Satoshi_Matrix]

hm. I would recommend trying it again. The DKC trilogy does have anti piracy bootscreen if it detects latency with the pin connector, but that shouldn't happen when you plug it directly into the Supaboy without the use of any other adapter. My copy of all three games works fine with the Supaboy. it's possible you have a later revision, but I still haven't heard of any such issues. Do you own any other Super Famiclones? If your copy of DKC2 doesn't work on your Supaboy it shouldn't work on any other clones either.

[nusilver]

Someone told me that if there's just a 2 digit number, then it's a first rev. and the later ones had an "A" stamped too. Guess I'm wrong then. I just found out that the ones that say "Made in Mexico" work? Figures with my luck... :roll:

Did you see that on that YouTube video? If so, you'll notice my comment telling the guy "thanks for trying, but that's not correct."

I have two copies of Super Mario RPG - los dos hecho en Mexico - one works on the Supaboy, the other doesn't.

Also, I haven't heard back from Hyperkin in several days re: the status of my Supaboy. I'm not worried, just annoyed that their customer service doesn't respond to my emails. I mean, I'm always incredibly polite...should I start being a dick?

[Satoshi_Matrix]

Whether the game was made in Mexico or Japan has little to do with SA-1 games running on clones. All revisions of the game were made in both countries. The determining factor is the board revision, which you can't tell apart aside from directly looking at it. There is no external way to tell the revision.

As for your problems contacting Hyperkin, try to be patient. I can't imagine Hyperkin is a very large company. They probably have twenty employees, tops. There's probably only a single person to address all custom relations. I'm not defending Hyperkin, but you should try to appreciate their situation.

[nusilver]

Whether the game was made in Mexico or Japan has little to do with SA-1 games running on clones. All revisions of the game were made in both countries. The determining factor is the board revision, which you can't tell apart aside from directly looking at it. There is no external way to tell the revision.

As for your problems contacting Hyperkin, try to be patient. I can't imagine Hyperkin is a very large company. They probably have twenty employees, tops. There's probably only a single person to address all custom relations. I'm not defending Hyperkin, but you should try to appreciate their situation.

I very much do understand and appreciate the situation. Having said that, it's been a week since I first emailed for an update, and regardless of a company's size, it's unacceptable to take someone's money and not acknowledge their communication in a situation like this.

There's a reason there are templates in Outlook. :)

[Taiyaki]

After trying to take videos and not being able to capture the sound issue properly with my camera I decided to give up and return the item to the seller.

Hyperkin has not been open enough about acknowledging the flaws of this system to the public. We still don't even have clarity regarding what to expect from the final product this long after it's release. This is bad business plain and simple.

The Pokefami DX and the upcoming Retro Duo Portable appear to be much better alternatives.

[nusilver]

After trying to take videos and not being able to capture the sound issue properly with my camera I decided to give up and return the item to the seller.

Hyperkin has not been open enough about acknowledging the flaws of this system to the public. We still don't even have clarity regarding what to expect from the final product this long after it's release. This is bad business plain and simple.

The Pokefami DX and the upcoming Retro Duo Portable appear to be much better alternatives.

I just received an email from Lawrence. Sounds like they're not actually repairing the device, just replacing it. So I am assuming the one I receive will be exactly the same. :/

[Coreykun667]

Did you see that on that YouTube video? If so, you'll notice my comment telling the guy "thanks for trying, but that's not correct."

I have two copies of Super Mario RPG - los dos hecho en Mexico - one works on the Supaboy, the other doesn't.

Also, I haven't heard back from Hyperkin in several days re: the status of my Supaboy. I'm not worried, just annoyed that their customer service doesn't respond to my emails. I mean, I'm always incredibly polite...should I start being a dick?

I see. Yeah, it was that Youtube video.

[Coreykun667]

hm. I would recommend trying it again. The DKC trilogy does have anti piracy bootscreen if it detects latency with the pin connector, but that shouldn't happen when you plug it directly into the Supaboy without the use of any other adapter. My copy of all three games works fine with the Supaboy. it's possible you have a later revision, but I still haven't heard of any such issues. Do you own any other Super Famiclones? If your copy of DKC2 doesn't work on your Supaboy it shouldn't work on any other clones either.

I don't have a Snes clone other than the Supaboy. My DKC2 cart does have a bit of difficulty even playing on my Mini Snes sometimes. I bought my DKC2 off of some guy on Amazon. The cart was cleaned by them. I have to get it in that sweet spot for the pins I guess?

[Coreykun667]

I finally got around to trying it again and DKC2 works.

[Satoshi_Matrix]

glad to hear it. DKC2 should work as long as its clean. The only games that will refuse to boot are 1.1+ revisions of SA-1 games like Super Mario RPG and Kirby Super Star.

[horn]

change 8 pin sound amplifier TDA2822M by Njm2073d

[Tempy]

change 8 pin sound amplifier TDA2822M by Njm2073d

???

Tell us more....

[nusilver]

change 8 pin sound amplifier TDA2822M by Njm2073d

he's suggesting one of us take it upon ourselves to find a suitable replacement for the TDA2822M that Hyperkin uses to pump out the audio in the Supaboy. Any takers? :)

[Tempy]

he's suggesting one of us take it upon ourselves to find a suitable replacement for the TDA2822M that Hyperkin uses to pump out the audio in the Supaboy. Any takers? :)

I *could* try that - I just don't have the part. I wonder if he's done it himself. I'm also waiting for a reply from Hyperkin before I do anything to my unit, but they're taking their time.

[Zombisaurus]

Just last week received my Supaboy! Ordered from a seller on Amazon.

Happy with:
+ + + Yay.. Portable SNES! Very rad that companies are doing this.
+ Looks like a large SNES controller! Cool.
+Seems to work when plugged into an external TV and used with original SNES controllers, cool!
+Not very heavy at all


Neutral:
=Fairly tight cartridge slot can be scary to push a cart into because of how tight it is. I guess it's better than a loose one, but I fear for my cart's life some times.
=The LCD screen acceptable. Decent color, brightness, about as nice as an early DS screen. Still has blur and some motion issues, but not as bad as I was expecting.
= I've heard complaints about the position of Start/Select, and I'm fine with it. Quickly adapted.


Disappointed with:
- - - - Many of my games will randomly freeze and then loose their saves. Yoshi Island, Zelda LTTP, Super Metroid, and a few others do it often. Even Super Mario All Stars + World froze randomly and lost my saves! These games work fine on my SNES, are super clean, and don't have battery issues.
- Tried to be sure I wasn't bumping the system or anything by playing through a TV with the supaboy on a table, and yoshi would still randomly crash and loose saves. In he last 2 days, went through most of the game twice on my SNES just to test the cart, and it's fine.

- - Straight out of the box the screen had many fine scratches on the top of the screen, and a few stains on the underside of the screen. While these are generally unnoticeable while playing, it's still not indicative of a quality product when you open a box to find that.

- - The sound really is pretty bad. Quiet volume would be fine if they couldn't fit larger speakers into the system, but there is a distracting buzzing that worsens already poor sound. It goes away if you plug it into the tv, but I want to use my portable system AS a portable.

- - As the battery runs down from fullly charged, more and more problems occur. More screen flicker, more freezing, etc. And this starts after only 30 min or so, and the quality degrades as battery level approaches zero. Of which there is no indicator (even though there is an LED on the front of the system), so the system just glitches and turns off when it runs out.

- - I'm not really going to discuss the average-poor quality of materials, buttons, dpad, etc. Those don't seem to matter if I can't really play games properly on the thing.

[ShakeyOwnz]

It sucks to say the Super Mario RPG barely works with my supaboy. It started up the first time I put it in, but froze shortly after. And now it starts about 1/20 times, but not without erasing all my saves.... again. *Sigh* Maybe a Japanese copy will work better?

Does anybody know of any issues with Earthbound? I don't want to pay the $100-150 unless it works like a game should.

[JSnake]

It sucks to say the Super Mario RPG barely works with my supaboy. It started up the first time I put it in, but froze shortly after. And now it starts about 1/20 times, but not without erasing all my saves.... again. *Sigh* Maybe a Japanese copy will work better?

Does anybody know of any issues with Earthbound? I don't want to pay the $100-150 unless it works like a game should.

EarthBound works perfectly fine in my experience. No increased enemies or anything.

[Satoshi_Matrix]

Does anybody know of any issues with Earthbound? I don't want to pay the $100-150 unless it works like a game should.

I don't want to say JSnake is lying, but he's definitely not correct in saying that EarthBound plays fine on the Supaboy. EarthBound employs all of its anti-piracy measures when played on a Supaboy. Expect enemy encounters to be increased by a factor of four, making the entire game an absolute grind. Just go to the part in the beginning of the game with the town gang thugs. There will be so many of them onscreen it will cause slowdown! And of course, the horrible delete your SRAM final boss.

If you want to play EarthBound, the only system that's suited for it is a real SNES or Super Famicom.

For more on the Supaboy, check out my video review. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAxAu6kx7Zg

[TKO]

Maybe he plat EB on Flashcart? There's a rom that has disabled anti-piratcy measures.

[JSnake]

I don't want to say JSnake is lying, but he's definitely not correct in saying that EarthBound plays fine on the Supaboy. EarthBound employs all of its anti-piracy measures when played on a Supaboy. Expect enemy encounters to be increased by a factor of four, making the entire game an absolute grind. Just go to the part in the beginning of the game with the town gang thugs. There will be so many of them onscreen it will cause slowdown! And of course, the horrible delete your SRAM final boss.

If you want to play EarthBound, the only system that's suited for it is a real SNES or Super Famicom.

For more on the Supaboy, check out my video review. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAxAu6kx7Zg

I'm not sure then. But I do know my EB cart works fine on my Supaboy. If your game is affected by the anti-piracy measures, you should see Spiteful Crows outside of the arcade after defeating the sharks. There are plenty of other examples where enemies appear in areas where they shouldn't. And also I was able to walk all the way from Twoson to the pencil statue in Peaceful Rest Valley without seeing a single enemy. Considering the encounter rate in Peaceful Rest Valley is typically very high in normal circumstances, I should have been seeing a shitload of enemies if the anti-piracy was engaged.

I also was not playing on a flash cart.

[Satoshi_Matrix]

does your supaboy have the horrible audio screech? You might have a different revision than the one I do. Doubtful, but possible.

[kedawa]

Why would any developer code their game to not function on clone hardware?
Clones didn't even exist when the game was programmed, and even if they did, why would they care what sort of hardware it was used on?

[Satoshi_Matrix]

Clones didn't exist, but copying devices did. At the time, there were many third party copying devices that would dump any SNES or Super Famicom game that didn't require special chips to a floppy disk and therefore allow for illegal copies, sort of the predecessor to burning CD based games.

To get around this, many later SNES games began to include anti-piracy measures into their games if they detected any latency from the lockout chip to the system. For example, this happens with Killer Instinct, Donkey Kong Country 2, Megaman 7 and many others.

In the case of EarthBound, Nintendo was heavily promoting the game, and since Final Fantasy II and III were common targets of copying devices, they wanted to ensure EarthBound wouldn't be in the similar position. So rather than refusing to boot, EarthBound would place 2-4x more enemies in EVERY AREA making the game no fun to play, and if you did manage to get your way through the whole game, you'd have your game save erased by the final boss. Nintendo: the original trollface.

[kedawa]

I see. So it does some kind of timing check, and if the result is anything other than the expected value, it sets off the anti-piracy measures. Is that about right?
I guess none of these clone systems are cycle exact.