CD rom based NES clone?

Wayne Venomous · Post by **Wayne Venomous** » Sun Jan 29, 2006 5:20 am

Sorry if this has been posted up before (I did a search and couldn't find it anywhere) but have a look at this:
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/p ... 693988.htm

The main game console allows you to insert 1 of the 3 Initiating Disks for a choice of 9 games of Intelligence Series, 20 games of Sport and Adventure Series or 30 games of Action Series.

Just plug AV cable to the TV or VCR and you can play a total of 59 games.

Accessories include 2 joypads, AV cable, scart converter and 3 Initiating Disks.

2 players available for some games.

Requires 4 x AA batteries, not included.

For ages 5 years and over.

Â£9.99!

paul4990 · Post by **paul4990** » Sun Jan 29, 2006 5:30 am

Post by **Skyone** » Sun Jan 29, 2006 5:47 am

cool

Thank you so much for your long post paul, it contributed a lot and has helped me make a few decisions.

Hmm, that's strange, I've never seen that clone before. And it's strange how small of a price it is. Nice find!

SgtBowhack · Post by **SgtBowhack** » Sun Jan 29, 2006 7:16 am

Let me just point out two things:
1) While they look like CDs, and probably are, it could be some sort of Barcode Battler crap where you'll get the discs and they'll just be some cardboard crap with an unlock code scheme.
2) It doesn't actually say it's an NES clone anywhere, but I'd say it's likely that it's an NOAC since, well, just about everything in that price range is due to availability of design and cheapness. Still, I wouldn't bet on being able to do anything NES-related on it.

Still, it does look like an interesting little toy. I'm always interested in seeing that sort of stuff. I saw some little portable game system at Fry's the other day for $29.99, and I'd not be surprised if it's an NOAC either. I think it has a little color screen on it, even, so if it is, hacking a cart port on it = cheap NES portable!

sniper_spike · Post by **sniper_spike** » Sun Jan 29, 2006 7:48 am

"Initiating disk," that sounds like, as you said, some sort of unlocking cd.

Wayne Venomous · Post by **Wayne Venomous** » Sun Jan 29, 2006 11:41 am

Our local Argos had one on display and it's definatly a NES - the game being played looked like a weird Taiwan/Chinese hack of something else. Pirate NES games have that certain look about them (can't describe what it is but you know what I mean - same feeling that dodgy multi cart games have about them)

I suppose it makes sense if it's an unlocking disk. If it was a CD rom NES, I was gonna start seeing if there was a way to burn other NES roms onto a CD. Seems a lot of work if it is though - don't understand why they couldn't have had some sort of selection switch instead.
The proof is in the pudding I suppose and at such a cheap price I have to investigate!

Have you noticed one of the disks appears to be a lot smaller than the other two (the picture in their catalogue is a lot clearer). Hmm... the plot thickens.

Post by **Gamelver** » Sun Jan 29, 2006 12:08 pm

paul, change or resize the avatar, please. and don't post one word responses, too.

I've seen some things like this before, built into DVD players. I think they are NOACs

....

paul4990 · Post by **paul4990** » Sun Jan 29, 2006 12:18 pm

my avatars fine

Wayne Venomous · Post by **Wayne Venomous** » Mon Jan 30, 2006 1:10 pm

Okay here's some more info, although I'm not sure how reliable this info is as it's from a friend who's just bought one but here goes:

"It seems to be a VCD based famicom clone and if my research is anything to go by, it might play MP3s too. Haven't had a chance to go through all the games but one of the games appears to be a duck hunt hack."

My friend is just going by stuff he's found out on Google and doesn't have a huge amount of experience in identifying NES clones (neither do I to be honest!) but it certainly sounds like an interesting machine non the less - can't wait until I have time to buy one now!

akadewboy · Post by **akadewboy** » Mon Jan 30, 2006 2:10 pm

From what I have read, the CDs are fake and only press down buttons to initiate certain game lists.

Read about it here: http://forum.retrosurvival.co.uk/index. ... wtopic=176

It doesn't suprise me, I mean for a cheap pirate console for 9.99 I don't think you'd get a VCD/MP3 player.

Wayne Venomous · Post by **Wayne Venomous** » Mon Jan 30, 2006 2:27 pm

akadewboy wrote:From what I have read, the CDs are fake and only press down buttons to initiate certain game lists.

Read about it here: http://forum.retrosurvival.co.uk/index. ... wtopic=176

It doesn't suprise me, I mean for a cheap pirate console for 9.99 I don't think you'd get a VCD/MP3 player.

Yeah, I did have my doubts. I mentioned in one of my earlier posts that the disks appeared to be different sizes - looking in the Argos catalogue they're clearly all different sizes. As a few people on that other forum have said, it seems like a lot of hassle for something that could've been contained in a simple switch. Still, who knows where the moulding for the thing came from?...

Oh and by the way, whilst browsing Google for more info I found this:

From: http://famiclone.emucamp.com

Wayne Venomous · Post by **Wayne Venomous** » Tue Jan 31, 2006 5:36 am

Bought one on the way to work so haven't had a chance to try it out but looking at it I really do wonder how the hell my friend mistook this for a VCD player. Drugs - just say no, kids! It's got three plastic disks all different sizes (clearly not CDs!) to operate the three switches underneath the "drive".

It's a LOT smaller than I would have thought. In the picture it looks what? PSOne sized? It's about one third that size. I haven't opened it up yet but it's a pretty safe bet this thing is an NOAC. The console is cheap mobile/cellphone grade plastic, as are the chrome effect buttons. The controllers are actually pretty good quality (if a little light). Powered by 4xAA batteries so perfect if you wanted to make a portable!

And the games are all NES hacks with some amusing pirate names. Balloon Chase is called "Strange Pop Pop"

I still find it odd that such a well-known store like Argos is selling dodgy NES clones with hacked games.

Wayne Venomous · Post by **Wayne Venomous** » Tue Jan 31, 2006 4:01 pm

Okay, had a good go at most of the games. The music on some of these games is a bit scary

but it's an interesting selection. Non of the games are repeated like the usual multicart or all in one system. One of the games is a Mario Bros. hack. Mario has been replaced by a small baby with a huge head!

Inside however seems to be a bit more interesting;
There's the obvious "glop top" NES on a chip and next to it a glop top rom containing some of the games. Above and below those however is two surface mounted rom chips and this ties in with there being the 3 switches to select the genere of game as they all appear to be stored on different rom chips. The switches allow the system to play a bank of 9, 20 or 30 games depending on which is chosen.

Obviously the glop top rom won't be removable but it looks to me like the other two could certainly be removed, replaced or even the pin connections wired to a cartridge connector. They're very small (18mm x 12mm not including pins) and soldering will be a bit "challenging" (1mm contains 3 pins!). They have a total of 48 pins, 24 on each end. One chip has the sticker "FC54", the other has "50F8" - command addresses for the rom programmer perhaps?

There is one other surface mount chip made by Philips with the code HEF4066BT and according to one of my IC books is a Quadruple bilateral switch which as far as I can work out is used to switch between the 3 roms.

Sounds like it calls for a bit of further investigation/reverse engineering to me!

Wayne Venomous · Post by **Wayne Venomous** » Wed Feb 01, 2006 7:11 am

Bloody hell! It's even cheaper now! It's down to Â£7.49.

I'm now considering doing a portable with one and just use the inbuilt games. If I use the Â£5 black and white CRT TV with colour overlays (as mentioned in the Atari 2600 section) this would make a seriously cheap project!

Wayne Venomous · Post by **Wayne Venomous** » Thu Feb 02, 2006 6:22 pm

And if anyone cares, here's 19 of the 59 games I've identified so far:

Super Mario Bros. - renamed Jump & Journey. Mario seems to be French instead of Italian due to the Beret.

Donkey Kong - renamed What's Up. I'll tell you what's up, the Gorilla is now a big green alien!

Mega Man - renamed Mars Man

Pole Position - renamed UFO race and the cars have been replaced with space ships!

Breakout - renamed Diamond

Excitebike - named Extreme Racer and the bike has been replaced with a car?! Should've been a VW Baja Bug!

Baseball - still pretty much the same

Tetris - renamed "strange pop pop" and the blocks look like they've have been replaced with bubbles from bubble bobble.

Burgertime - few slight changes.

Balloon Fight - renamed Zero Gravity

Need For Speed - can't remember real name but it's the one with a car that can jump over other cars and fire bullets.

Galaga - renamed Mars

Pac Man - renamed Egg It, instead of munching dots, it's in reverse! You're a chicken and you lay eggs! The ghosts appear to be dogs in crash helmets?!

Dig Dug - renamed Down Deep

Neighbourhood Smash - Can't remember the proper name but you're a martial arts guy and you walk around er... being martial in an arty kinda way

Defender - renamed Depths of Space

Centepede - renamed Swirl

Galaxian - renamed Warship

Space Invaders - renamed Villiage Protector, the sheilds are now houses.