I finally got fed up last week. My toaster oven of an NES, which wasn’t working in pristine condition already, got gravity-tested by a cat desperate for attention. She had gotten fed up with my current fascination with Mega Man 2 and decided I would never need to play it again. Alas, the toaster died. Not a single game could get pass the flashing gray screen. I knew I would soon have to buy a new one, but after purchasing 2 previous systems and installing new 72-pin connectors, I began to doubt their efficiency. I never noticed a game working better with one of these connectors. Actually, games that worked fine before no longer worked at all, and previous games started up fine. Frustrating times.
Not wanting to put up with this crap, I considered buying a mythical toploader. Supposedly devoid of the start up problems of the toaster, I wondered if it would be worth the $50+ I would have to pay to get it. I read some articles, found out about some different problems like a lack of A/V hookups (a real biggie for me) and lower picture quality. I still checked E-bay anyways, just to see if the price was still as high as I thought.
I was surpised to see a large number of results on the search engine. I clicked on the first and found my spirits drop. A knock-off had flooded the market. Fearing the worst form of those mall crapulations, I thought people were out to make a quick buck off of the past. I finally found a listing for a real top loader going for $80. The knock-offs were averaging around $30. Figuring I could get burned for $80 just as easily as $30, I searched for more information.
I found that Yobo had in fact been in the replacement NES business for a while. Numerous versions of the Famicom had been made, but criticisms were abundant. Some required converters. Some wouldn’t play US games. The controllers were awful and real NES controllers were not supported.
Finally, on nesplayer.com, I found the review of the player flooding E-Bay. The current player fixed all the problems of the previous ones, save for extremely crappy controllers. Anticipating this, Yobo made the system completely compatible with official NES controllers. All US games were now supported and even PAL and Famicom games were ready to party. Final verdict? Worth it.
So I did some careful E-baying, looking at feedback and seeing that of the thousands of units sold, no complaints were made of it being a crappy system. I spotted the cheapest auction I could find from a reputable seller and found one for $24.
I got the package today, and it plays almost everyone one of my hundred games perfectly. Some just need more cleaning. Really, this thing is awesome. I feel bad saying that after having it one day, but I’m really excited. I’m no longer afraid that a game will fail to boot or freeze up during play. Not only that, the thing is small. It takes up way less space, and reminds me of the difference between a PS2 and a PStwo.
What really had me worried about the gaming industry was that the systems of past generations were really breaking down, leaving games without platforms. I saw a guy pay $100 to fix his X-Box that had died after a paltry three years. What Yobo has shown me is that the community cares enough to support these systems, even if the original manufacturer has long since lost interest.
-mlbradley
durden26@comcast.net