http://youtu.be/W78IUsRBvEw I stumbled across this video moments ago, has anyone here ever seen or used a Gamestation before? It looks somewhat interesting and is the first standalone CD-ROM based SNES clone I've seen.
Nope, it was made by the same people who made the Game Doctor SF copiers. You could also buy a floppy addon for it.
Whats the difference? It's not made by Nintendo, so it's always going to be a clone or custom built. (^_^); But ya, these have clone SNES parts in them. If I recal, Xinga use to produce them but they ran out of particular components for it. Interesting, but thats about it. You would do far better just to get a legit Super Famicom + Copier + CD-ROM / Floppy / Laptop.
Are they cloned SNES parts or actual SNES parts from Nintendo? But I agree, a Super Famicom + GDSF7 + CDROM (clone or Bung) is a better setup. For one you can't get RGB out of that GameStation without modding. Plus only 32M isn't so nice for a few games plus many games if you want to use realtime saving.
Yeah I know but to me what makes the difference is if the SNES part is from an original unit or is a clone part. You wouldn't call ben heck's PS3 laptop a clone now would you? =P Anyways I though I saw someone mention it was using snes jr parts but maybe it is using clone snes parts. :shrug:
I have one. They are clones. They contain cloned ASIC in the same packaging as Nintendo's, the same chips used in the Tristar 64. The Gamestation also uses Bung's GDSF7 ASIC (not a clone), but the product is not produced or possibly even endorsed by Bung, I think Xinga bought the ASIC surplus since it came out late and Bung had a history of licensing their chips for 3rd parties to produce devices for non-HK markets. Gamestation come with one of two types of SF7 sub board; one supporting the standard Matsushita CDROM, and a more interesting one with IDE support (hacked BIOS and supplemental interface circuit). There never was a floppy add-on, you just plug a bare floppy into pin headers sticking out of the back of the thing, pretty ghetto but necessary for saving. There are also pin headers for the cartridge port, but they were never utilized. The actual construction of the unit is very poor, the plastic is cheap and thin, cheap parts and cheap solutions, the boards are poorly routed and hand soldered (my unit had factory broken sound which led the prior owner thinking the audio was poorly cloned). That's about all there is to it.
The last time I heard about a CD-based snes clone the big issue with it was that you couldn't save your progress in games as there was no built in memory. Flash memory is so cheap these days it shouldn't be a problem anymore, but back then I guess it increased production cost so much that the company just let it slide.
The GameStation doesn't have a built-in Floppy Disk Drive but it has the connectors for it which does allow you to save your progress long term. You could also hookup a Flash based floppy drive emulator if you desired. But with great flash carts like the Super EverDrive that are much newer and cheaper there is no reason to use a GameStation or Bung CD-ROM.
