Analogue Interactive's Analog NT - $500 NES/Famicom Console

[Axelay]

I feel so silly I thought this was a Super Nintendo as well as a nes !
I wonder what the console will look like in other colours .

[Ed Oscuro]

I wonder what the console will look like in other colours .

Shine a colored light on some aluminum.

Bonus when you realize that is actually how you will get those other colors

[broken harbour]

I'd love to see an anodized black one.

Did AI stop making the CMVS? All trace of it has been removed from their store, website....

[Pasky]

Making room for the wooden NES.

[ms06fz]

It makes me a bit sad every time I see people ragging on this thing, saying it's "for hipsters" or that it's a fraud, rip-off, scam, that only a fool would spend $500 on something like this, etc... Usually goes into "my phone can run all these games" territory, too...

It's like, either you enjoy how this system looks and appreciate the experience of playing with the original carts, or not... And if you do, where else are you gonna get a Famicom in an aluminium unibody case? You don't get to have pretty things without either making them yourself, or paying someone else to make 'em for you. If you can't make 'em yourself, you're not in a position to say how much a system like this "should" cost...

That said, for a machine that's supposed to look pretty... I don't think it's pretty. Maybe in one of the other anodize colors... But I also don't like systems with multiple cartridge slots. It's convenient, but it looks cheap. Though if they did one of these with just one slot, I'm sure it would be the wrong one...

[Sixfortyfive]

If you can't make 'em yourself, you're not in a position to say how much a system like this "should" cost...

This forum is more likely than most to be populated by people who can make or find something functionally equivalent for considerably less.

I respect this product a lot more than your run of the mill Chinese emulator box, but it's impossible for me to justify a purchase when I'm already in the process of obtaining an RGB top loader for less.

Maybe if it did FDS out of the box...

[ms06fz]

If you can't make 'em yourself, you're not in a position to say how much a system like this "should" cost...

This forum is more likely than most to be populated by people who can make or find something functionally equivalent for considerably less.

That's the thing, though: "functionally equivalent" is not "equivalent"

This is, for instance, why I own an imported SFC with relatively little yellowing, rather than a ratty old SNES picked up at a local flea market. There is no "functional" advantage to the SFC over the SNES, it's just prettier IMO, therefore I paid a lot more for it. And if anything, I wish I'd paid a bit more to get an even prettier SFC.

When I talk about "if you can't make 'em yourself" I was talking more about the case. Most people here probably can't make an aluminium unibody case for their Famicom. Those who want one anyway have to find someone else to do it.

[Ed Oscuro]

Nobody has any obligation to type out polite lies about this, and in fact that would be a bad idea. It's more useful for Analogue Interactive, and us, to be honest about this thing's value proposition, which right now is not very good.

People here have a better idea what's going on than you think, and your own criticism of the unit is off-base. The reason there are two cartridge slots on the thing is that the Famicom and NES connectors are physically incompatible. There's no way around it; two cartridge ports provide the easiest and safest solution.

Another real issue would be in the placement of the Famicom expansion port, used by custom controllers like lightguns. People will have extra hassles using custom controllers with this thing having that port on the back, rather than on the front or sides.

[darcagn]

It makes me a bit sad every time I see people ragging on this thing, saying it's "for hipsters" or that it's a fraud, rip-off, scam, that only a fool would spend $500 on something like this, etc... Usually goes into "my phone can run all these games" territory, too...

As a self-admitted Apple fanboy, I totally get what you're saying--I constantly get in debates with Android fanboys who say "Apple sux, my phone can be rooted and do 2349240 different things that yours can't do" and it bugs me. Not many geeks like us on this site don't put a proper price on style, good design, and usability. It's why open source software is usually highly functional but looks like shit.

That having been said, this has nothing to do with proper usability and style. I love solid aluminum stuff (like I said, I'm an Apple fanboy), but the controllers and the cartridges don't match the console. It's an expensive case simply for the sake of having an expensive case. Analogue's previous product, the wooden Neo Geo, was the same way. Sure, it looked nice, the wood sourced was high quality and premium, but what exactly about Neo Geo screams "wood"?

If Analogue simply wanted to give new life to old, yellowed, unwanted Famicoms, they could have done so with a case better designed.

You don't get to have pretty things without either making them yourself, or paying someone else to make 'em for you. If you can't make 'em yourself, you're not in a position to say how much a system like this "should" cost...

Uh, yeah, as potential customers here, I'm pretty sure we are in a position to say how much a system like this should cost. Because, you know, if customers don't buy it, the company isn't successful and they go under. Which means the system shouldn't have cost that much. Just because you can make a unique object doesn't mean that everyone has to respect the sale value you place upon that object and can't criticize it.

Anyway, let's compare. Let's say I have absolutely no gaming stuff and I want a full blown awesome NES experience via HDMI.

NES in good condition with 2 controllers - $75
NESRGB from viletim to do upgrade A/V - $85
3D-printed multi-out connector - $20
Multiout SCART or JP21 cable from retro_console_accessories - $20
Paying a modder to install NESRGB, multiout connector, hooking up expansion audio, dual audio, etc. - $100
XRGB-mini Framemeister - $350
HDMI cable - $20

Total: $670

Analogue Nt - $500
Two controllers - $60
HDMI adapter - $50
HDMI cable - $20

Total: $630

Now, I didn't include the shipping charges for all that stuff in the first (including sending to/from a modder), but let's just say $50. That's $720 vs. $630. The latter gets you a really shiny box, the former gets you a fucking awesome $350 upscaler that does amazing things for all retro consoles. The fact that these options are in the same ballpark in pricing doesn't say something to you about how super expensive this thing is?

IMO, this console either 1) should cost around $300-$350, or 2) have the ability to play games off of an SD card (as well as NES/Famicom cartridges) via an integrated SD slot. And honestly, if the cost of the aluminum case makes that $300-$350 price point unprofitable, then the product should never have been brought to market.

[Pasky]

You're comparing a RGB Framemeister to probably a low quality (remains to be seen) upscaler. That's a big jump in cost.

[darcagn]

You're comparing a RGB Framemeister to probably a low quality (remains to be seen) upscaler. That's a big jump in cost.

That's my point, though--you can get so much more out of (practically speaking) the same price. If you have that kind of coin to drop on an NES setup, there's so many better ways you can spend it.

[Pasky]

You're comparing a RGB Framemeister to probably a low quality (remains to be seen) upscaler. That's a big jump in cost.

That's my point, though--you can get so much more out of (practically speaking) the same price. If you have that kind of coin to drop on an NES setup, there's so many better ways you can spend it.

Oh, I thought you were on the opposite side of the coin.

[Pasky]

https://twitter.com/Analinteractive

I thought that was pretty funny, haha.

[broken harbour]

people bitching about the price, don't really 'get' this product. It's a high end NES, for people who want a great looking, plug and play, high end, NES. Sure, for less money you can get something that 'does more', but it'll never look this nice, and you'd have to either mod an NES yourself, or send it out to a modder.

Or, for $500, you can just buy this and plug it in, what's so wrong with that?

[McCracAttack]

https://twitter.com/Analinteractive

I thought that was pretty funny, haha.

Heh. But I don't think too many people are gonna miss a bunch of crusty old yellow Famicoms that were rotting in a warehouse. This way they stand a better chance of getting played.

Also, I'm in the camp that thinks $500 is a big ask for this product but I can see where most of the money is going. They do seems like they're trying to make a good product here.

[beatsgo]

people bitching about the price, don't really 'get' this product. It's a high end NES, for people who want a great looking, plug and play, high end, NES. Sure, for less money you can get something that 'does more', but it'll never look this nice, and you'd have to either mod an NES yourself, or send it out to a modder.

Or, for $500, you can just buy this and plug it in, what's so wrong with that?

Ding, ding, ding! Winner winner chicken dinner!
This is probably the reason why this is being made: to create a hi-res NES product that looks great and works right out of the box. We can only speculate about the upscaler and pray it delivers after it's release.

[robivy64]

I don't have a problem if someone wants to take a page out of the Steve Jobs marketing playbook and attempt to separate an exorbitant amount of money from it's affluent and uninformed owner. The destruction of original Famicoms is what really bothers me. It's one reason I never liked the Neo Geo conversion scene. Many rare MVS cartridges have been lost to that cash cow.

I find it difficult to believe that EVERY FAMICOM he culls will be "brittle" and "unsellable". Most Famicoms are discolored to some extent, and this condition may qualify for his open-ended description of Famicoms that are sent to the incinerator.

Keep in mind, the guy is a salesman.

[Ed Oscuro]

It's a high end NES, for people who want a great looking, plug and play, high end, NES.

What's high end about a $50 scaler and a collection of mostly standard mods? They promised mind-blowing features - well, alright, we can discount that. But the only thing here that I think is likely to be interesting is the quality of the (mono) sound output.

I find it difficult to believe that EVERY FAMICOM he culls will be "brittle" and "unsellable".

Well, I am telling myself that possibly there aren't very many of these that will be sold, so it may well be that they are unusable.

That said, I can't remember ever seeing a NES I'd consider unsellable. FCs might have a bit more that can go wrong with the hard-wired controllers, but probably there's not much that some work won't fix.

It does seem really odd that in the time period when 3D printing is taking off that we're talking about machining a new case out of Al instead of making replacement parts.

[robivy64]

Let's just hope the quality of work is a little cleaner than his MVS systems.

Check out the hi-fi cabling and hot glued battery holder.

[Christoph]

Hey guys - appreciate all the thoughts and feedback so far. In regards to the picture above - that is a unit that has been opened and modified by a user, moving the battery, adding hot glue, writing inside, that piece of paper etc. It's not how we shipped the unit.

Here is the original context of the forum post in which that image was removed from: http://i.cubeupload.com/2nD4Iw.png

I'll post up pictures of the internals of our CMVS so you can see how they look when we ship them.

Also, the Nt is entirely manufactured (other than the CPU and PPU). There are no hand built harnesses like the CMVS units in the Nt. Either way, I fully stand by the hand built JAMMA harness reliability based on 3 years of selling CMVS systems and never having a single issue with a harness. And for the record - every single piece of our CMVS and arcade sticks is hand made and soldered. All the PCBs, components, everything. That's how they've always been. The Nt on the other hand, is entirely manufactured.

[Mendeli]

Hitler recently also found out about this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teuYH8-0ZL0


Other than that... Wired controllers don´t belong in a modern "hi-fi" retro console. At the very least this should have included a couple wireless nes controllers.

[ms06fz]

I find it difficult to believe that EVERY FAMICOM he culls will be "brittle" and "unsellable".

If nothing else, they'll be close enough to unsellable to be sold in stacks for cheap money. After all, Analogue doesn't want to pay more for the donor systems than necessary... If someone had wanted one of those Famicoms, it probably wouldn't be in the stack to begin with.

[Ed Oscuro]

Other than that... Wired controllers don´t belong in a modern "hi-fi" retro console. At the very least this should have included a couple wireless nes controllers.

So we could pay another $50 (more like $100...I don't even know if Messiah hit the $50 price point on their wireless controllers), not have ports for lightguns, and additional lag and other gremlins to deal with? That's hi-fi for sure.

[Mendeli]

It is possible to have wireless controllers and still have ports for classic controllers.

I have used wireless console controllers since wavebird. Never have I noticed them causing any lag. I have also both wired and wireless 360 controllers and I dont notice any difference in playability other than obvious cable hinderance of wired controller and battery life concerns of wireless one. To me they play exactly the same. I suppose some people may notice a difference though.

Overall, going from wired to wireless controllers has been hugely an improvement imo:

My tv isn´t exactly right next to my sofa so when I play my cmvs in the living room, I need 3 controller extension cables for each of my neo geo joysticks... not exactly convenient.

When I was a kid, I used to play nes on a floor, kneeling next to the console cause the wire wasn´t long enough to reach the sofa

I like to play pc/xbox games under a blanket sometimes in my bed. It´s very inconvenient to do that with a wired controller but very easy with a wireless one. It´s also quite relaxing.

Not sure about the gremlins though, I´d hate to have them. at 500$ you should have controller(s) included, not to ask extra for them.

[darcagn]

I wouldn't say it's $500. You need to buy a cable from them, or make your own. It doesn't use any cables that you can purchase elsewhere, so $530 is the real minimum price of entry. I have never heard of purchasing a new console with absolutely no AV cable included, much less one that requires a custom cable.

(edit: I've been corrected by Cristoph below--you get a composite/s-video cable in the box)

[beatsgo]

I wouldn't say it's $500. You need to buy a cable from them, or make your own. It doesn't use any cables that you can purchase elsewhere, so $530 is the real minimum price of entry. I have never heard of purchasing a new console with absolutely no AV cable included, much less one that requires a custom cable.

I concur with this. If the system did include the controls, AV cables and such, the $500 price tag would be justifiable.

[rugdoctor]

...plus postage and its a bitch when you live at the end of the world like New Zealand...Plus tax of 15%...gawd damnit...

[Christoph]

@Mendeli we actually have had NES controllers designed and ready for months now. It's just too expensive to produce them at the right quality. Yes, out of plastic.

I realllly wanted to include a controller, but it would have had to have been a 3rd part one, which I'm not a fan of. Would you guys want a 3rd party NES controller?

@darcagn @beatsgo It does include an av cable. $499 includes: Nt system, AC Adapter (region of your choice), AV cable. Also: I mentioned this on another forum - if you would like a different AV cable than what is included - mark it in the notes section at checkout. We'll swap it with the cable you'd prefer for free. No problem.

@rugdoctor yeah, I wish international shipping wasn't so damn expensive...taxes too!!

[darcagn]

@darcagn @beatsgo It does include an av cable. $499 includes: Nt system, AC Adapter (region of your choice), AV cable. Also: I mentioned this on another forum - if you would like a different AV cable than what is included - mark it in the notes section at checkout. We'll swap it with the cable you'd prefer for free. No problem.

If you can include any cable you want with the system, why does the pre-order form have a selection form to pick a set of cables, each with prices (including composite/svideo cable as an option for $29)? So you're you saying that this form is just for if you want a second spare set of AV cables? If that's the case, why do we get to select an option of spare cables but have to specially request the included pack-in cable?

Not trying to be critical, but it kind of doesn't make any sense. The order form should be changed so you can just straight up select which cables you want to be included free with the system. Else, it just seems like money milking, sorry.



Also, why are you guys being so tight-lipped about the method for RGB output? There are two publicly released methods of getting RGB output and they both have compatibility issues, although minor. I know you're obviously not using the PC10 mod, so are you using the NESRGB or your own custom solution? Does it have any compatibility issues that you know of? How many games did you guys test on this?

[Sixfortyfive]

Also, why are you guys being so tight-lipped about the method for RGB output? There are two publicly released methods of getting RGB output and they both have compatibility issues, although minor. I know you're obviously not using the PC10 mod, so are you using the NESRGB or your own custom solution? Does it have any compatibility issues that you know of? How many games did you guys test on this?

I think the choice of palette is kind of a giveaway that it's an NESRGB, but on that point, what kind of video signal is coming out of that DSUB port? RGBHV? RGBs? Other? Are component, composite video, and s-video signals also being routed through that? (I didn't see any other video out ports on the other pics.) Could you add a pin-out to the website?

There's language on the website that the HDMI adapter is "specifically designed" for this console. What's special about the video output and the adapter, considering that the FAQ states that an XRGB can be used instead?