Analogue Nt: an RGB NES and Famicom. No Emulation. [Archive]

Christoph

03-12-2014, 10:56 AM

http://i.cubeupload.com/r5zwaV.jpg

http://i.cubeupload.com/6aibDX.png

NES.
FAMICOM.
RGB: VIDEOPHILE.
HI-FI: AUDIOPHILE.
FOUR PLAYERS.
NO EMULATION.

The Analogue Nt opens a door to the highest quality way to experience the NES and Famicom.

It is designed around the heart and brain of the original NES. We've completely reengineered the original NES while remaining true to the original hardware. This means you�ll be experiencing the NES with the hardware it was designed to be played with. No emulation.

The Analogue Nt is precision fabricated from a solid block of aircraft grade aluminum. Engineered with an uncompromising attitude to quality. There has never been another video game system like it.

I know there will be a lot of questions and I cannot wait to share every single detail with everyone. There are features and details that are going to blow everyone away. I promise we won�t disappoint. I'll be unveiling all the fine details and taking orders at the end of March.

http://www.analogueinteractive.com

Scotterpop

03-12-2014, 01:43 PM

I'd be VERY interested in this. I just hope I can afford it, but looking at the prices of their NEOGEO stuff, I doubt it : (

ApolloBoy

03-12-2014, 02:50 PM

Holy shit, I'd totally be interested in this.

Tupin

03-12-2014, 03:19 PM

I would be very interested in this.

xelement5x

03-12-2014, 03:25 PM

Does this play FDS as well?

I mean there are FDS games in the promo picture so that is what it looks like they're saying.

Niku-Sama

03-12-2014, 03:43 PM

^ was wondering this aswell^

Eternal Champion

03-12-2014, 04:11 PM

Looks like it'll cost an arm and a leg. Oh well.

ApolloBoy

03-12-2014, 04:37 PM

Does this play FDS as well?

I mean there are FDS games in the promo picture so that is what it looks like they're saying.
From what I've seen on the thread for this on Neo-Geo.com, it looks like it actually will. I'd be very interested to see what Christoph did for the FDS drive though, I'm hoping it'll have a direct drive mech and not the POS belt-driven mech that the original FDS has.

Satoshi_Matrix

03-12-2014, 04:40 PM

ggallegos1

03-12-2014, 06:22 PM

christoph said on neo-geo that the system will be FDS compatible, so i guess it isnt built in.

Can't wait to see some of the final product on a bunch of review sites and in the hands of other collectors. I'm keeping my eye on it

Mangar

03-12-2014, 06:29 PM

As much as I love the idea, considering the ease of emulation options including devices like the upcoming $99 RetroN5 which plays NES/Famicom cartridges and outputs 720p, I sorta gotta question the validity of a multi-hundred dollar clone that outputs 240p.

Don't get me wrong this would be great if it was affordable, but there's no way this will be even $199, which is double the price of the RetroN5 or Ouya.

However, unlike the Retron this don't depend on emulation. It's original hardware, depicting the video as best as the original hardware can manage.

Aside from that: I agree with you. The appeal of this to me, is going to depend solely on price. As I mentioned in another thread, I'm in the process of planning a retro game room, where all of my consoles are hooked up, and displayed as best as possible. When you are entering into the price range of an X-RGB, and have even a basic understanding of modding consoles, the appeal of this goes down heavily. Unless of course, the price is right.

Gatucaman

03-12-2014, 07:31 PM

I wouldnt trust this too much, this sounds more like a Famiclone, you may say otherwise, but the way the paraphrase things on the details of this thing, doesnt sound like they are specifiying that they are using actual NES hardware, since this will be produced on a certian number of quantities.

Satoshi_Matrix

03-12-2014, 08:14 PM

However, unlike the Retron this don't depend on emulation. It's original hardware, depicting the video as best as the original hardware can manage.

As you can tell from the photo, this isn't original hardware either, its a hardware clone. I've been following this development for a while now. It's made with all newly produced parts and while true that it isn't emulation...this isn't authentic hardware either, making it no different at all. I think emulation is just a dirty word that some people think means the devil but when you're talking about clones to begin with, I don't understand why the concept makes people squeamish.

I'm in the process of planning a retro game room, where all of my consoles are hooked up, and displayed as best as possible. When you are entering into the price range of an X-RGB, and have even a basic understanding of modding consoles, the appeal of this goes down heavily. Unless of course, the price is right.

Here's two things that are absolutely guaranteed:

1.
The maximum resolution of RGB - 240p - is certainly NOT the highest resolution possible. Wii NES emulation is double that at 480p, and then Xbox and the RetroN5 emulation is 720p, and then the Ouya does 1080p. Nothing against RGB, but 240p is only a high resolution if you stick strictly to RBG and refuse emulation. Unless you go with an external RGB to HDMI converter, but that doesn't turn a 240p signal into a 1080p signal, it just upscales the resolution. No matter what you do, emulation based clones like the Ouya will always and forever have the advantage over hardware clones when it comes to as you pout it , "displayed as best as possible".

2. This uses new components and is designed from the ground up. It depends on what you would define as "the right price" but you can rest assured this will not be less than $200. I would even say it might not be under $400. given what has to go into this.

Christoph

03-12-2014, 09:13 PM

Does this play FDS as well?

I mean there are FDS games in the promo picture so that is what it looks like they're saying.

^ was wondering this aswell^

Yes it is compatible with the FDS

@Gatucaman Don't worry, it's not a clone. There is no emulation. Bear with me till the end of the month and I'll have all the details then!

Satoshi_Matrix

03-12-2014, 10:26 PM

'clone' is a relative term. This won't be a NOAC, but it's not the original hardware either. I'm almost positive.

lagartija_nick

03-12-2014, 10:43 PM

This company does not seem to do anything on the cheap.

Those Neo-Geo's they sell look amazing.

I wouldn't expect this Nes/Famicon of theirs to be less than $400.

Aircraft grade aluminum?

Can't wait to see what they come up with for a controller.

Strictly for the collector who has to have the best.

Retron 5 for everybody else.

Niku-Sama

03-12-2014, 10:48 PM

FDS hmm.....

wonder how much more than a twin famicom it is then.
cause I think the most i'd pay for such a thing is $300 or so

custom annod aluminum case maybe $350

Tanooki

03-12-2014, 10:49 PM

However, unlike the Retron this don't depend on emulation. It's original hardware, depicting the video as best as the original hardware can manage.

Aside from that: I agree with you. The appeal of this to me, is going to depend solely on price. As I mentioned in another thread, I'm in the process of planning a retro game room, where all of my consoles are hooked up, and displayed as best as possible. When you are entering into the price range of an X-RGB, and have even a basic understanding of modding consoles, the appeal of this goes down heavily. Unless of course, the price is right.

It may not be emulation, but at what actual cost ($)? Also, we all are very aware that old systems have shitty input lag on a majority of the post-CRT style televisions. This isn't putting out an HDMI signal that gets around that problem to give a solid play time without lag issues which Retron5 and even retrousb.com's upcoming NES clone (there's stuff on NA about it) can do. With RGB it'll need to have the image upscaled which causes the lag problem making this an expensive new parts clone with the same problems of the old hardware unless they devised a work around.

I've got to side with Satoshi on his first and second posts. It seems nice, but problems. Not to say the Retron won't either. The only one I'm aware of that won't is bunnyboy's HDMI NES he has been working on for a long time.

Satoshi_Matrix

03-13-2014, 11:40 AM

Those Neo-Geo's they sell look amazing.
Luxury items have that effect.

I wouldn't expect this Nes/Famicon of theirs to be less than $400.
That's a pretty reasonable bet. If I had to guess, I'd say $499 for a 'basic' model.

Can't wait to see what they come up with for a controller.
I could be totally wrong, but I don't think they'll do a controller. NES-004's are still common and readily available and reliable.

Strictly for the collector who has to have the best.
Retron 5 for everybody else.

Or better yet Ouya. RetroN5 isn't for everyone, and also it still carries a lot of unknowns. It might end up being a piece of shit. Don't count your chickens before they've hatched.

lagartija_nick

03-13-2014, 12:30 PM

Luxury items have that effect.

That's a pretty reasonable bet. If I had to guess, I'd say $499 for a 'basic' model.

I could be totally wrong, but I don't think they'll do a controller. NES-004's are still common and readily available and reliable.

Or better yet Ouya. RetroN5 isn't for everyone, and also it still carries a lot of unknowns. It might end up being a piece of shit. Don't count your chickens before they've hatched.

I wasn't championing the Retron as the be all end all. Just a general statement about how much of a luxury item how the Analogue really is. Granted my statement is worded rather poorly.

Funny that we are getting a luxury console announced, just as jack of all trades console is (supposedly) set to release.

You could be right about the controller.

Even if you spend the $600 bucks to get the Neo-Geo console, that does not include a controller. I believe they run an additional 150 bucks. Probably many would opt to use their own original controllers.

Satoshi_Matrix

03-13-2014, 02:06 PM

Yeah you're right. This stuff is for high roller elitists only. This is the kind of thing I would love to own, but I would find difficult to justify buying.

Gatucaman

03-13-2014, 03:07 PM

As you can tell from the photo, this isn't original hardware either, its a hardware clone..

So Famiclone then, No thanks, i like my proper sound accuracy and MMC3 onwards working (and SMB1 working with the proper sound effects and music speed), thank you very much, i told you guys the way they worded the description made it sound like it was goin to be original hardware, basically from a donor NES, but nope, just a famiclone for hipsters.

How accurate is emulation on teh Retron 5 anyways?.

ApolloBoy

03-13-2014, 04:03 PM

just a famiclone for hipsters.
Do hipsters even exist any more? Seems more like it's just become one of those lame general insults than anything else these days.

StoneAgeGamer

03-13-2014, 04:39 PM

How accurate is emulation on teh Retron 5 anyways?.

I haven't got to play a lot of games on the RetroN5 beta unit (hopefully next week I will be able to), but the games I have played look great and sound great. The RetroN5 looks and sounds better on a modern TV than my Famicom AV or my NES does by far and so far I haven't seen any issues with the emulation. That's not to say there isn't of course, just I haven't seen any issues yet.

Satoshi_Matrix

03-13-2014, 06:28 PM

So Famiclone then, No thanks, i like my proper sound accuracy and MMC3 onwards working (and SMB1 working with the proper sound effects and music speed), thank you very much, i told you guys the way they worded the description made it sound like it was goin to be original hardware, basically from a donor NES, but nope, just a famiclone for hipsters.

How accurate is emulation on teh Retron 5 anyways?.

Hold your horses, I didn't say that this would be a NOAC or anything like a NOAC. You inferred that on your own. You're basing your opinions of Famiclones on bad NOACs with reversed duty cycles. First of all there are many NOACs such as the one found in the TriStar/Super 8 or Gen-X that don't have the issues you mentioned, especially not with MMC3. That was weird to bring up.

This will not be a NOAC clone at all, but instead very likely an FPGA based clone that will drive up the cost significantly but also be a discrete 1:1 clone of everything much like Famiclones were in the early 90s before NOACs. Yes, this will be a clone, but not like any clone you have any frame of reference for.

It's possible they plan on using elements from donor NES/Famicom systems like the Ricoh 2A03, but I strongly suspect FPGA everything to condense space and use off the shelf parts where possible like Messiah did with the Generation NEX.

As for the emulation on RetroN5, I'll be sure to fully test it with a massive range of mappers, but since its Android emulation based, it's fully possible the emulation software will be compatibility with everything fully as it is on the Ouya. If that's the case or not depends solely on the diligence of Hyperkin.

StealthLurker

03-13-2014, 11:29 PM

I don't think this will be "new non-original" hardware.

The NeoGeo Analogue interactive CMVS is made from a real NeoGeo MVS arcade board. Their philosophy is to use real hardware.

If anything, cheap old NES hardware is waaaay more plentiful and easier to source than NeoGeo MV-1C boards. Also with the new NES RGB add-on boards available these days (no more need to sacrifice a playchoice PPU or famicom titler PPU) for RGB, this is possible.

This gear is not targeted for the discount crowd for sure. If you want to play this on your HDTV and buy this, then you can probably also not blink an eye and pickup an XRGB Frameister, XRGB-3 or another *quality* dedicated video processor.... just like all the other people that grab these Analogue Interactive or Omega CMVS units. But really, the real hardcore will want to play this on a real RGB CRT.

.

DeputyMoniker

03-14-2014, 12:07 AM

It looks like some beautiful work. It'll be out of my price range and I'm really into original hardware, case and all. So it isn't intended for me and that's okay. I'm just happy to see people loving on the classics.

Jorpho

03-14-2014, 01:43 AM

Also with the new NES RGB add-on boards available these days (no more need to sacrifice a playchoice PPU or famicom titler PPU) for RGB, this is possible.I was just wondering what they might be doing about that. How do these boards work if they don't use a PPU from one of those other systems? And aren't those PPUs slightly incompatible anyway?

Niku-Sama

03-14-2014, 02:35 AM

All this speculation about stuff n things.
Why don't we just wait and see in half a month's time

Edit:

Wait what did I just read about rgb add on board for nes? Links?

Satoshi_Matrix

03-14-2014, 05:26 AM

I don't think this will be "new non-original" hardware.

The NeoGeo Analogue interactive CMVS is made from a real NeoGeo MVS arcade board. Their philosophy is to use real hardware.

If anything, cheap old NES hardware is waaaay more plentiful and easier to source than NeoGeo MV-1C boards. Also with the new NES RGB add-on boards available these days (no more need to sacrifice a playchoice PPU or famicom titler PPU) for RGB, this is possible.

Maybe this will use recycled NES components, but this looks WAY too similar to the beta prototype HDMI NES Retrozone made a while back. The proto they designed was FPGA based, had four controller ports with two on each side, was roughly rectagular, and plays both NES and Famicom games.

Too similar to this for this to come out of left field and be completely unconnected. I believe this will be either the HDMI NES under another name, or be an offshoot of that retrozone beta.

heres two photos to refresh your memory

http://i.imgur.com/0kVpWe1.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/quowbCY.jpg

StoneAgeGamer

03-14-2014, 05:59 AM

Maybe this will use recycled NES components, but this looks WAY too similar to the beta prototype HDMI NES Retrozone made a while back. The proto they designed was FPGA based, had four controller ports with two on each side, was roughly rectagular, and plays both NES and Famicom games.

Too similar to this for this to come out of left field and be completely unconnected. I believe this will be either the HDMI NES under another name, or be an offshoot of that retrozone beta.

heres two photos to refresh your memory

Interesting. I have never even heard of that before. If its FPGA-based than I would assume that is some type of emulation then, where as from the original description of this Nt product its not really clear what it is. They say that they take "the heart and brain" of the original NES. I am unsure if that means they some how re-use NES components or what. That's what I originally took it as. Either that or somehow NES mobo fit int here. The designs do look similar though, so I don't know.

Its like with have another RetroN5 "how does it work" speculation-fest all over again.

Tanooki

03-14-2014, 08:47 AM

There's a companion thread of this over at NintendoAge where bunnyboy (retrousb.com/retrozone) has posted on the matter and has also had a long running thread on that HDMI NES. He had nothing to do with this and the comments made so far lead me to believe this project is ripping off his structural designs since they couldn't think of something of their own given the shape, controller ports (total/each side) and slots on it. I don't think he's amused about it but not at least in the thread making a big squack about it either but there are various comments.

It IS unconnected to the HDMI NES project.

StealthLurker

03-14-2014, 08:57 AM

All this speculation about stuff n things.
Why don't we just wait and see in half a month's time

Edit:

Wait what did I just read about rgb add on board for nes? Links?

http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=47617

http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=22&threadid=113592

Niku-Sama

03-14-2014, 03:17 PM

yeesh, 80 bucks

Satoshi_Matrix

03-14-2014, 03:54 PM

Yeah $80 is asking WAY TOO MUCH considering the alternative is to spend at least $250 for a RP2C03B pulled from a Playchoice 10 or Nintendo VS motherboard.

ApolloBoy

03-14-2014, 04:39 PM

Not to mention the NESRGB has none of the drawbacks you get from doing the old RGB PPU mod.

BlastProcessing402

03-14-2014, 06:33 PM

Aluminum? That's cool and all, but anyone else wish it was wood like their Neo Geos?

Ah, who'm I kiddin, I'd never have the money for it either way.

treismac

03-14-2014, 08:40 PM

Do hipsters even exist any more? Seems more like it's just become one of those lame general insults than anything else these days.

My hometown hosts a prestige art school, and as a patron of coffee shops I can attest to the fact that hipsters* are alive and well. With that said, yeah. The term "hipster" is slung around as a catchall insult in way too many situations that don't come close to meriting its use.

*Apart from musical tastes, I've never been able to meaningfully pin down the hipster subculture beyond a fashion style, but then I theorize that 80% or so of any given subculture's adherents are in it for the outward image and a need to belong and/or rebel. Ideology is an afterthought at best.

wiggyx

03-15-2014, 08:36 PM

Niku-Sama

03-31-2014, 06:21 AM

any news?

Kitsune Sniper

03-31-2014, 03:22 PM

They say that it'll play FDS games. Win.

Too bad it's not terribly attractive and will be very expensive.

Wait, it has the Famicom's extension port?

Niku-Sama

03-31-2014, 04:25 PM

that's what It seems like

Christoph

03-31-2014, 06:00 PM

Analogue Nt: Anodized Color Options

We've been working hard to make anodized colors available with our planned release at the end of March. We wanted to keep this a surprise for launch, but our unrelenting quest for perfection has created a short setback.

We'll be fully unveiling the Analogue Nt in April with a selection of beautiful anodized color options. It's important to us that all of our wonderful options are available to you upon release. We're thrilled with everyone's excitement and we can't wait to bring something great to you.

As always: delays are temporary; mediocrity is forever.

P.S. Here are a few small details to hold you over:

- compatible with all region titles (NTSC / PAL / Famicom)
- compatible with the Famicom Disk System
- switchable between stereo and mono