Ultimate NES replacement?

[graffix_13]

The price is just too much. At $200 I'd think about it.

[Jmustang1968]

The price is just too much. At $200 I'd think about it.

The problem is, at $200 he would be losing a chunk of money on each one.

[Ziggy]

The price is just too much. At $200 I'd think about it.

Ditto. $500 is too much for me, and many of us.

Also, the HDMI adapter is an extra $50. I understand that adapter is what does the scaling and even has scanline options, and $50 for such a device is not a bad price at all, but to have to add $50 to a $500 console seems crazy to me. For $500, that device should either be included if not built into the console! Also, do you have to pay an extra $30 for the AV cables on top of the $500? That's even crazier! This console isn't $500, it's $530 with analog output or $550 with HDMI. And for those that would want the option to play on a CRT or HDTV, it's $580.

The problem is, at $200 he would be losing a chunk of money on each one.

You know that for a fact? I understand having to make up for R&D and other production costs, but I really doubt that each one of these costs more than $200 to produce. And if they some how do, then I say they could have made them cheaper without sacrificing any quality.

[Jmustang1968]

The problem is, at $200 he would be losing a chunk of money on each one.

You know that for a fact? I understand having to make up for R&D and other production costs, but I really doubt that each one of these costs more than $200 to produce. And if they some how do, then I say they could have made them cheaper without sacrificing any quality.

From the components needed to do this, the manufacturing of the case, and assembly I am confident he would be losing money.
Then we get into economic viability of doing it which is actually making money per time spent in production. So even if production cost was slightly under or near $200, it most definitely wont be worth the effort to do so. The market would be niche as it is, so he may as well make it a luxury type high quality item for that market that would actually be interested.

[ninjainspandex]

He said you could play Famicom Disc System games, one would assume at $500 it would be built into it, and not have to provide your own Famicom Disk System >.>. This whole thing is an insult, he only includes composite cables??? at $500 you can't include an RGB cable? Oh no included controller but you will sell us a regular NES controller that you can buy for $5 for $30? oh I see you opened the controller and scrubbed it up, clearly that is worth the extra $25 . Also insulting that he didn't put a regular nintendo AV input so instead we are forced to buy his overpriced cables.

I hope Viletim makes more RGB PPU's so Apolloboy can mod my toploader

[Jmustang1968]

He said you could play Famicom Disc System games, one would assume at $500 it would be built into it, and not have to provide your own Famicom Disk System >.>. This whole thing is an insult, he only includes composite cables??? at $500 you can't include an RGB cable? Oh no included controller but you will sell us a regular NES controller that you can buy for $5 for $30? oh I see you opened the controller and scrubbed it up, clearly that is worth the extra $25 . Also insulting that he didn't put a regular nintendo AV input so instead we are forced to buy his overpriced cables.

I hope Viletim makes more RGB PPU's so Apolloboy can mod my toploader

The controller prices are outrageous. But why is everything else insulting? Either it is worth it or it isn't. The seller sets a price and the buyer decides if that price is worth the purchase for them or not. Not sure where this insult or offense stems from.

[bmoc]

The price seems justified for what you are getting. Let's break it down based on what is currently available and needed to accomplish the same thing as the Analogue Nt.

RGB Modded NES - $300-400
Four Score adapter - $15
Famicom-NES adapter - $25

Let's split the difference on the RGB Modded NES and say that costs $350. So the whole package costs $390.

Essentially you are spending $110 on the aluminum case and the convenience of having a built-in Famicom slot and Four Score. And as a bonus you get the option of adding on a Famicom Disk System. That doesn't seem outrageous to me.

The cables are a little pricey. New well-made RGB Scart cables will run you about $20 on ebay. If I really wanted to save $9, I could figure out which pins are on the DSUB15 port are outputting RGB + Sync and make my own. But that's a huge hassle so I'd cough up the extra $9.

The HDMI adapter is the really interesting piece. A good upscaler/scanline generator like the XRGB-mini will cost nearly $500 on its own while a mid-range unit like the SLG-in-a-Box will run about $235. Assuming their HDMI adapter works reasonably well, that is a steal for $49. Keeping it separate in order to keep the overall cost of the unit down is a smart move. I'm sure there are plenty of folks that will solely use this on CRTs.

However I am with you all on the price of the controllers. That is laughable. I can't imagine very many people buying those given the already niche market of the Analogue Nt.

I certainly wish it were cheaper so I could afford one but I realize they have to make a profit and I can't fault them for that.

[Opa Opa]

I sincerely wish them luck in this endeavor and I hope all goes well for them. But I'd probably buy one of their wooden CMVS's before I spent five hundred to get a pimped out NES.

[Hobie-wan]

Overstock MVS motherboards are exactly that - they are overstock pieces of equipment. They were produced in significantly higher numbers than Neo Geo cabinets. PPU's and CPU's were never overstocked and sitting in warehouses awaiting being put to use. That is the difference. As it stands, I don't know exact numbers, but i'd guess they are at a ratio of greater than 10 to 1 available motherboards to available original cabinets. If this difference isn't clear then it's an agree to disagree impasse.

I find 10 to 1 a very hard to believe number. That would seem to be some pretty poor business planning on SNKs part along the lines of Atari's overmanufacture of carts in the 80s that led to the whole market crash and landfill situation. Let's go with a car analogy though on parts because those always work.

If we think of the motherboard and included bits as the 'engine' of an arcade machine or a console, then any spare MVS mobos are like crate engines. If there aren't factory cars to put them in, then sure, put them in people's hot rod projects. Likewise a bunch of yellowed and cracked Famicoms is like a bunch of rusty fender bendered cars. Still perfectly drivable but ugly though there seem to be plenty of nicer looking ones still on the road. Taking the engine (mobo) or at least the working engine block (those chips) and putting them in a kit car gives them new life as opposed to having them sit on someone's driveway (on a shelf) unused.

I think opinion on the pricepoint of the NES / Famicom controllers is a valid one as well.

No disagreement there, one would really just want to click buy all in one place to get them. I suppose someone who was not into gaming that was just buying a gift for someone else might buy them so they have one stop shopping.

[mjmjr25]

@bmoc - your RGB nes number is a couple years old. A guy on AA does them for $270 and that's w/him doing the work and advertising a service. There are guys on neo that do them closer to $225-250. If you are able to do it yourself you're looking at $85 and a working console - so about $110. Not sure where the $300-400 is coming from.

Chris and his team do the work and he said they got "unsellable" consoles, so let's be generous and say they paid $15 apiece for the unsellable consoles (we won't factor in if they came with controllers or not, which at $30 a pop, would mean they made money in buying them, but we'll leave that out).

So $15 for the 2 chips, $85 for the RGB piece (assuming they didn't get a discount, which normally you would if you buy bulk). So, that's $100, the four score which they produce at less than an original (i'd think). Were at $115. So, unless that aluminum and few cheaper bits is $385, there is profit.

Now, I don't care what they charge and yes, they need to make profit, they need to pay their staff, they need to be compensated for their work. I don't argue that, I don't think anyone would. But don't pretend there isn't significant profit with each sale.

What I have issue with, on a personal level, is there are dozens of people who have had this, or very similar idea, for quite a long time but it has been frowned upon and before this, no one has been willing to gut original systems to make this happen. I really was hopeful in the way Chris was originally talking about this product that it had been done by other means. If this is considered "ok" by the community at large (forums and communities are divided) then it is only the beginning - because the reality is, it can be done for considerably less and we will see more people finding it acceptable and offering up their own product.