Retro Duo Console

[FilmNerdJamie]

CES 2009: Retro Duo Console
Dust off your classic NES and SNES carts.

January 8, 2009 - Many gamers now have personal war stories of consoles that died on them, but the strange surprise is that most of these machines were still fairly new went they gave up the ghost. The dreaded "three red lights" of the Xbox 360 are legendary, but no shortage of gamers went through multiple PlayStation 2 consoles or was turning their PSones upside-down in order to play a game. The old hardware? The NES? It died hard. But if your 8-bit machine has failed you or you are eager to get into retrogaming without scouring thriftshops or eBay for an old system, Innex might have the perfect solution for you. Here at CES in Las Vegas, Innex is showing off the Retro Duo, a combo NES/SNES remake.

The Retro Duo plays both NES and SNES game in its dual cartridge slots. It's a top-loader, so no nostalgic penny shoving to get Super Mario Bros. 2 to work. The Retro Duo ships with two controller that are spitting images of the SNES pad, save for the new color schemes of the different Retro Duo consoles. Right now, Innex is promoting a limited edition red-and-gold system that looks like Iron Man's custom SNES. However, there are other color combos, like blue-and-white and red-and-black. And, if you still have your old SNES controllers in your closet, those will work in the Retro Duo.

According to Innex, the Retro Duo is compatible with not only North American games, but also the majority of Japanese titles. While the Virtual Console on the Wii has been pretty good about introducing some import fare that never made the tip during the actual 8- and 16-bit era, there are still plenty of games that remain playable only on distant shores. The Retro Duo could solve that. I checked out the Retro Duo at the Innex booth. It was hosting Super Mario Bros. (what else?) and the game not only seemed to run perfectly, but the controller felt good. Not too mushy.

The Retro Duo presents itself not just as some sort of nostalgia trip, although I suspect the majority of users will be thirtysomethings relived childhood favorites via the machine. In this current economy, value matters. You can score a lot of classic game carts on the cheap. Maybe not the rarest of the rare, like Chrono Trigger for the SNES, but there are plenty of totally affordable retro games that provide dozens and dozens of hours of entertainment.

http://gear.ign.com/articles/943/943384p1.html

I want.one.now! t:

 

[Timstuff]

I will always prefer using the actual game consoles over clones. There was a highly praised NES clone called "Generation NEX," but unfortunately it's out of production since the manufacture appears to have folded. The NEX is still around, but it's a bit harder to find at a reasonable price.

However, the Yobo FC3 seems interesting if for no other reason than that it is so crazy.



It plays NES, SNES, and Genesis games all on one system.

Although I feel like retro systems are a solid investment, the fact that the Super Nintendo tends to run up a bit of money on eBay means that clones are not a bad alternative for the price-minded gamer. I also suppose that since I also already have a set of perfectly working retro consoles, it makes it a bit easier for me to be snobby about them.

 

[FilmNerdJamie]

It plays NES, SNES, and Genesis games all on one system.

Damn, really?

 

[BeserkerHilf]

this gets my purchase thanks to a new found interest in angry video game nerd

 

[Timstuff]

I owe the AVGN a lot of kudos, because he was most directly responsible for reigniting my love for retro gaming. I doubt I would have dusted off my old consoles and doubled the size of my collection if I hadn't become obsessed with his videos.

 

[FilmNerdJamie]

I'll agree with the AVGN love. But the guys over at Screw Attack in general are great too.