Is it true? The messiah nex sucks

What's this Famulator you're talking about, Warakia? Or is it a contraction of 'Famicom' and 'Emulator', and I'm just dense? If so, how'd you get a Famicom pad working on your PC?

Having the temerity to take a name like 'Messiah' and have a tagline like theirs, you'd think a fairly heavy burden would fall on their shoulders to deliver a kickass product. After reading reactions here and on other pages, I'm really glad I didn't preorder one. In fact, some or the reports have me thinking my $2.99 Power Joy is a slightly better machine!

 

The famulator (in japanese actually written familator, but it says famulator on the box as well as cyber famieta) is a famiclone made by cyber gadget japan. It is my favourite model as it is considerably smaller than most other famiclones and everything is very compact, although the supplied controllers are a little poor.

It is also very reliable in my experience. Of course you can just get a Japanese AV famicom, which is probably the best solution from a collector and gamer's view.

Whilst we are on this line has anyone got a pokefami? And would you recommend it, I have been eyeing them up for a while now.

 

I happen to think the Famulator is the ugliest and cheapest-looking Famiclone so far. But, ah, to each his own... I prefer the wild MD/freaky UFO designs of the pre-Polystation past.


Fam[i/u]lator

 

Oh well apart from the pads I like look of it, it is terribly small which appeals to me. Anyway worst looking for my money goes to the nintendo official Famicom AV in my book. Just what were they thinking?

 

Sorry that you think that it is stupid, immature, and annoying that somebody blew the whistle on a company that lied and spread false advertising. If you re-read my posts, you will see that all that I did to exact revenge was post past quotes about how the system would not be NOAC based and would have improved compatibility, as well as posting quotes of people affiliated with the NEX attacking anybody who pointed out evidence that the NEX might in fact be based on a NOAC. I also posted a bunch of fake reviews and news articles that claim that the NEX can run Castlevania III, that it can run all your games, that it does not have a glitchy cart connector, etc. All of which are now definitively proven to not be true. False advertising is illegal, and somebody had to call them on this.

One could even claim that finding something like that stupid, immature, and annoying is a sign that you yourself are stupid, immature, and annoying.

 

Of course, I have been using the dreamcast to play emulated NES games for a long time now. When I use the saturn controls or a fighting pad its nearly as good as playing a real nes. But I wanted to blow the dust off my actual carts and start using my favorite controls (the old nes MAX)

 

Eeeeeww!!! You like the MAX! The one with the disc??!!! EEEEW!!

Ok, I'm just kidding, I like the Max too...but that's pretty much the cliche reaction to it. I don't normally use the disc portion of it, but I like the buttons around the outside edge...surprisingly though...I only have 1...maybe 2 of them...yet I have about six NES Adantages which I rarely ever use.

Honestly, I just have a great big stack of NES front loaders sitting around. If one gives me trouble...I can go for another. I hate the fact that as soon as a front loader blinks once, that somebody thinks it's broken. You can get pretty much any front loader to work with a little finesse...you just have to find its sweet spot. If you're really picky though, you should just spring for the top loader.

 

Oh, so THAT'S the Famu/ilator! Yakumo posted a picture of it a while back and I thought it looked pretty sexy.

That would be the best option indeed, but the A/V Famicoms seem to be fairly spendy - unless you've got some secret connections somewhere? Ideally, I'd love to get an original Famicom and try some sort of A/V mod on it, as I just love the style of the thing, but I don't think I've ever heard of someone modding one to have A/V output. :-(

I'd take offense to that except, well, it's really ridiculous cyclical 'logic' I haven't seen since the fifth grade: "You're dumb! No, you are!" etc. ad nauseam. You just keep being the Consumer Crusader, exacting revenge on companies who never delivered on their promises! I tell you, with a force like this out there, Messiah has to be pretty darned repentent right now - and I've even heard rumors of Microsoft and Sony running scared!

But in all seriousness, knock it off. You've proven a redundant point that we were all aware of, congratulations. I trust you're finished.

 

A/V famicoms are of very high quality. However they look a bit silly IMO and yes they are spendy, no choice about it. Look to spend about 12000 yen in japan, versus 3000 yen for a famiclone. Incidently you could get a HK pirate Famicom if you are looking for the design of the original Jap famicom. I do not know about compatability, or quality but there are some HK clones that look exactly like the famicom. (I saw some in den den for about 7000 boxed, with a cloned famicom box as well only with chinese lettering.) Probably something you would have to buy in Japan, as I haven't seen they anywhere else, but they do have AV function.

 

I actually have a Famicom-styled Famiclone - won it off of eBay years ago for something like $20 and didn't know it was a clone until it arrived. Should have guessed I would have never got a real Famicom for that cheap, I suppose. The thing is, I think it's busted - I've never got it to run my one Famicom cart (Final Fantasy I+II), and without any sort of power LED, I don't even know if the thing turns on - there's never been any indication on the TV, at least. I've been saving it in case I somehow am smitten with the forbidden knowledge of how to get it working again. In the meantime, I found a Power Joy at a local thrift store for $3 - you know, the ridiculous one that looks like a N64 controller, only it has a light gun built into the top? Lo and behold, IT actually works - but as the game hangs from the area where a rumble pack would sit on an authentic N64 controller, it's really impractical for anything more than occasional use. Although I am entertaining the mad-scientist idea of trying to transplant the guts of the Power Joy into the Famiclone casing...

The other issue I have with the A/V Famicom is, well, it looks just like the redesigned NES. I mean, where's the exotic allure in that, I'd like to know!

 

Yow! Where do you go in Japan to get ripped off like that? Up until they stopped selling them, Toys 'R Us in Japan were selling AV Famicoms *new* for about 6000-7000 yen. I'd never pay more than that for an AV. Twin Famicoms usually run about 12000 yen in the Japanese shops. ...and a quick search on Yahoo Japan Auctions finds Twins and AVs starting as low as 1000 yen. There are good deals if you're willing to search hard to get them.

 

I didn't buy one at those prices obviously! I was merely stating that the average price is about 12000 yen (in a non specialist retro shop). Even superpotato would probably charge that for a boxed one and probably mandarake as well. Of course they can be found cheaper, it is like saying X game cost 6800 yen, well obviosuly you can get it a lot cheaper at good shops and even less if you sacrifice quality.

Anyway when it comes to pricing I don't always spend ages looking for the best deal, if it is like 1000 yen here are there I usually just buy the first one I see and have done with it. I don't piss about, I remember good friend of mine dragged me round osaka looking for the cheapest psp she could find, she saved 2000 yen for a whole bloody day!

Well my estimate was based on two I saw in Osaka, not den den and a couple in my old hometown of nishinomiya. It is too expensive imo, but using one off specialist prices to estimate an average price gives a rather false impression. for example, It is like my radiant silvergun cost me 8000 yen, that does not mean that is the price you should look for it at!
Apologies for the misunderstanding.

 

I've got a quick question here. Why are original Famicom's so expensive? Weren't there about 10 million of these things produced?

 

Because most of us aren't in Japan, and the shitload of Famicoms that were made aren't anywhere near here. Only so many people sell them to the US, and shipping is expensive too...so...the sky is the limit.

 

Ah yeah, I didn't think about that one. Are the original Famicoms cheap in Japan though?

 

Well you know that's very easy to fix. All that's happening is the contacts have become bend outward with repeated use. I bought the part off Ebay for about $7, and it took me less than ten minutes to install. Now my NES works like a charm. Of course if you're too cheap to buy a replacement just open it up and bend the contacts together with a spoon or something, should be good for another 20 years.

Hey GSl, your famiclone problably works. You problably just have an incompatible TV. I'm pretty sure there was a thread around here on how to get Asian systems to work on American TVs, something about you need to be able to get channel 1 or have cable in or something.

 

Hmm, that could be the problem. My TV gets channel 1 though, and the system still doesn't show up on it. Of course, part of the problem could be with the output on the Famiclone as well - it has the single RCA-style jack like the NES, SNES, and Genesis, so I naturally assumed that a NES RF switch would do the trick. Is there a possibility of any other type of cable needed? The unit looks like a normal Famicom, down to the colors and stickers (and even the ©Nintendo logo on the bottom!) with two exceptions: The first being that the sticker on the front of the console merely says Family Computer and doesn't feature the Famicom logo, and the second being that the hardwired controllers both have reddish-orange D-pads and A/B buttons, as well as yellow turbo buttons on them. I'm not sure if this helps identify it for you at all...

 

GSL - You should try a "TV/Computer" box from an old 2600, or those little drums that attach to the end of RCA-like cables that have a Coaxial on the other side. They give better results than the NES RF switch, and many old famiclones used to come with the "TV/Computer" box. It's a matter of weaker signals, I think.
If it works with the box, then it'll work even better with the little drum. I have my Atari and Intellivision working like that and the signals are about as clear as RF can be.