SNES Classic - Sold Out Everywhere, Round 2

[Roranora]

I've seen them chilling on shelves in limited quantities recently. I struggle to tell myself I don't need to buy another, as it's only a good gift to a few people I know. I bought 8 total out in the retail wild before I cut myself off.

[Guitarman]

Still mad I never got my hands on a NES classic. Would've made an amazingly perfect gift for someone on my list.

Bought myself the 8bitendo wireless controller on Sho's recommendation, along with the official carrying case. Spending way too much on this thing but I really love it.

[Anoat]

Still mad I never got my hands on a NES classic. Would've made an amazingly perfect gift for someone on my list.

Bought myself the 8bitendo wireless controller on Sho's recommendation, along with the official carrying case. Spending way too much on this thing but I really love it.

Supposedly more NES Classics will be in production in 2018 but expect more of the madness that we've already seen.

[Tomiko]

Amazon just had a lightning deal on the SNES Classic. It actually lasted longer than I would have expected (at least 10 mins). I was able to get one right before it sold out.

Edit: Waitlist is still up:

https://twitter.com/Wario64/status/944353707625406464

[Roranora]

so apparently people are now buying these randomly when going to the store to get milk or clothes or what have you

mission accomplished? Nintendo gets a little praise for not repeating the NESC shitshow

[Corrderio]

I haven't seen any when I swing by wal mart

[Roranora]

it may be time to revive the general retro games & consoles / RGB / crt gaming / framemeister discussion in this thread

i'm considering a 2200-mile round trip to San Diego to buy a few professional monitors; apparently that's where the right guy is

this listing is incredible
https://sandiego.craigslist.org/csd/...454817653.html

[Sho]

I'm down for a new Retro thread.

And holy shit that price listing is massive and amazing.

[Spider-Dan]

I have to backtrack a bit on my earlier apathy towards the Super NT. I just can't pull the trigger on the alternatives that don't do scanlines, and being able to play all the <=16-bit cartridge systems with high accuracy is pretty nice.

However, supposedly Kevtris is working on his own system after the Super NT: the Zimba 3000, which is basically an FPGA Retron 5. That product makes me a bit more uncertain about whether or not the Super NT will ever actually have cartridge adapters made for it. So now I'm torn on whether to pull the trigger on the Super NT, or wait for the Zimba 3000.

My current plan is to wait and see which cores are made available for the Super NT. If he releases a NeoGeo and/or Atari Lynx core, I'll probably buy it the same day.

[Roranora]

I'm moderately+ curious about the Super NT. I don't think it's something I really need but damn it's cool and would open up new possibilities with the setup.

[Sho]

I have to backtrack a bit on my earlier apathy towards the Super NT. I just can't pull the trigger on the alternatives that don't do scanlines, and being able to play all the <=16-bit cartridge systems with high accuracy is pretty nice.

However, supposedly Kevtris is working on his own system after the Super NT: the Zimba 3000, which is basically an FPGA Retron 5. That product makes me a bit more uncertain about whether or not the Super NT will ever actually have cartridge adapters made for it. So now I'm torn on whether to pull the trigger on the Super NT, or wait for the Zimba 3000.

My current plan is to wait and see which cores are made available for the Super NT. If he releases a NeoGeo and/or Atari Lynx core, I'll probably buy it the same day.

I'm moderately+ curious about the Super NT. I don't think it's something I really need but damn it's cool and would open up new possibilities with the setup.

I have to say, I've really been trying to be optimistic about all of the clone alternatives -- but they all just are realllllly subpar in 2017/2018. They all still fail in specific areas (sound quality, proper 240p -> 720p/1080p upscaling, input lag issues, subpar compatibility, glitches), when the reality is that these old consoles (and in particular the NES & SNES) is well documented and has been completely reverse engineered, barring a few mappers.

Ironically, the best non-FPGA SNES clone that's out there right now is the Classiq 2 that we argued over months ago. Even then it still comes with it's typical quirks known to SOAC. I'm still going to be purchasing one myself for use anyways (comparison between the original SNES, modded SNES Jr, SNES Classic, Super NT & Classiq 2 still coming, I just need to figure out how I want to document it).

---

I pre-ordered a Super NT about a month ago now, I'm and I'm pretty stoked.

An interesting story that has come from all this is that Analogue LLC pretty much kidnapped Kevtris once his work on the Nt Mini was complete to work on the Super NT -- at that point he did not have an SNES core even conceptualized at that point, only the vast number of 8-bit cores he had been working & documenting for the last 10+ years. It took him the better part of 10 months to completely reverse engineer the SNES himself (including all of it's special graphics chips & processors) and re-implement it as an FPGA solution. This also means that he does not have a Genesis core, nor a TurboGraphix 16 core ready at all (he stated as much). Even more interesting is that he stated that it would take him approximately 6 months to get a Genesis core working. He won't be doing an FGPA implementation of a Sega CD or 32X if he does do the Genesis.

When it comes to cores for the Super NT and jailbreaking, Kevtris has been remaining strictly mum on it all. What we do know however that is coming is an .SPC (Super Nintendo Music Format) Player (Kevtris wrote it himself), along with the bells and whistles that have been given to us via Analogue's marketing team (basic UI interface, scaler/scanlines options, full NTSC/PAL compatibility, 720p/1080p upscaling, etc). The system will also work with every single accessory, 1st and 3rd party, ever developed for the Super Nintendo as well. A special work around will be needed to use the Super Scope (they are working on it -- a DAC converter for CRT TVs).

What is currently being hotly debated is if Kevtris will release the NES core via jailbreaking -- if Kevtris does this, it can be seen that the Super NT would directly challenge it's Nt Mini predecessor, which was designed to play strictly NES games. Everyone more or less expects Kevtris to release all of his other 8-bit cores, as there would be no reason not to otherwise. Kevtris has also mentioned that he would like to return to his work developing various 8-bit -> NES adapters to interface with the Nt Mini jailbreak cores... no idea if this will extend to the Super NT.

Kevtris has mentioned time and time again that the Zimba 3000 will be years and years away however. Don't wait for it any time soon. I don't mind at all letting everyone know how the Super NT works out. There's no way that this system won't be the legit 3rd Party contemporary successor to the SNES, if nothing else.

[Kaisha]

It took him the better part of 10 months to completely reverse engineer the SNES himself (including all of it's special graphics chips & processors) and re-implement it as an FPGA solution.

Assuming true compatibility, the Super NT should be able to both hardware emulate the micro-processors in the case of a dumped ROM, as well as use the ones on a physical cartridge itself? It's one of the things that bothered me about a lot of SoC emulation solutions where it has to dump the cartridge before it can even play it, since it's not able to play directly off the cart.

[Sho]

Assuming true compatibility, the Super NT should be able to both hardware emulate the micro-processors in the case of a dumped ROM, as well as use the ones on a physical cartridge itself? It's one of the things that bothered me about a lot of SoC emulation solutions where it has to dump the cartridge before it can even play it, since it's not able to play directly off the cart.

Yes. He hasn't stated how he achieves this (for obvious reasons) but this is the case to the T. The console is effectively a Super Nintendo down to to micro-processors and components and is processing the data directly off of the carts. Hardware simulation instead of software emulation. This also means that various quirks will also pop up on the Super NT, due to improper care of your carts. If your SNES game(s) are dirty or have damage within it's chips and circuitry, the Super NT will replicate any problems the same as an original SNES. Conversely it will also replicate any slowdowns that games have due to poor optimization (too many sprites on screen, FX chip slowdowns, etc).

It will also play flash carts and reproduction carts as well (Kevtris reportedly used the SD2SNES in development and stated 100% compatibility).

[Sho]

Also, a reviews of the Super NT will be right around the corner as well:

https://twitter.com/gamesack/status/956691316661866496

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Finally tracked this down, for Spider-Dan:



This video is unlisted on the YouTubes. It was pretty much a sit down discussion with Kevtris, while Try messes with the various cores on the Nt Mini. If you skip to 2:22:19 Kevtris states that he'd be working on Genesis, TG16, SNES, Super A'Can, and Neo Geo, at least on the Zimba 3000. Considering no one knew that his "paid project" at the time was the Super NT, this tidbit more or less flew over everyone's heads at the time. Here we are over a year later.

[Spider-Dan]

What is currently being hotly debated is if Kevtris will release the NES core via jailbreaking -- if Kevtris does this, it can be seen that the Super NT would directly challenge it's Nt Mini predecessor, which was designed to play strictly NES games.

You know how I just said that a NeoGeo or Lynx core would make the Super NT an immediate buy for me? The idea of no NES core is similarly important, in that it immediately kills the prospect of the Super NT for me.

Without the NES core, I'd rather just use my existing SNES + Framemeister for SNES games. The NT Mini is a complete no-deal for me and the same for the AVS NES, which doesn't leave me with any scanlined HD options for the NES (outside of emulation). I'd probably just stick with my composite-out Super 8 until the Zimba 3000.

[Roranora]

SD monitor man replied. I told him I want 3 or 4. Oh man if this happens I will return home to some serious eye rolling. I bet I'll buy one of the 8" monitors cause they're super cool. (and what's $70 on top of $700+ anyway)

So I don't want any of the 16:9 monitors I think. I guess that's all about how prominent 6th gen consoles are or aren't in one's setup, right? Only have 1 out 4 6th gen consoles hooked up right now. >_>;

[Sho]

Lol XD

If only I lived in the area still! I'd totally pick up one of those monitors.

The PVM-20L5 is quite possibly one of the very best monitors for 240p CRT gaming.

[Sho]

Just to post this here -- the Transparent & Super Famicom versions of the Super NT have sold out:

https://twitter.com/analogue_co/stat...95158900146176

https://twitter.com/analogue_co/stat...24794058719232

If it matters, they have about 5,000 of each console model ready to go. Pretty sure before the 7th lands they will be sold out completely for a few months. Also I e-mailed Analogue a few days ago concerning shipping, and it will be a large batch shipping order ran on the 7th, so everyone (in the states at least) will be getting their console within a few days of the release date, if not sooner.

Seriously considering pre-ordering another one now, lol.

---

Finally, some pictures that have made the rounds:

[Sho]

Classic NT Mini now sold out too.

Only a few Black Super NTs left. All sold out.

[Roranora]

How long you think they'll remain sold out until more are available? 3-4 months?