Well, yesterday I was at a local used game store and noticed this "thing". It's called a Retro-Bit NES console, but from what I see on the 'net, it's really a Yobo. It was $25, so I bought it out of sheer curiosity.
I got it home, hooked it up, and, while I'm appalled at the incredibly cheap construction and thin wires, and amazed at the tiny size, I'm actually rather impressed with it. It does work fairly well for what it is. It worked just fine with the couple NES games I tried, and the controllers, while cheap, work well. The sound is weird though - everything sounds a bit off, poorly defined, and scratchy. This gets annoying, especially when you complete a level in Super Mario Bros. - the 'dinging' you get when it counts down the time left on the clock has turned into an annoying tone. Occasionally, the tiles on the right side of the screen don't fully update.
But, beyond that, it actually works OK. I bought it because I was curious how well it would work, and because I thought it would be good for testing EPROM cart boards, so I don't have to fit them into a catridge shell to get them into a toaster NES.
But, when I tried an EPROM cart, it didn't work - displaying only a white screen with junk characters on it. This cartridge is a CNROM board with sockets added and a hole cut in the case, and currently has a romhack of Super Mario Bros. loaded in it. It plays perfectly on the toaster NES, but not on the Yobo.
The only theory I have is that perhaps the cartridge isn't getting enough power. The power adapter on this little console is only a 200ma 6vdc wall wart. I looked up the datasheet on a 27512, and supposedly they draw 30ma each.
I have yet to dig up a beefier power adapter or measure the voltage at the EPROM, but I'll try tinkering with it tonight. I just figured I'd see if anyone else had much experience with these things.
Yeah, it's cheap junk, the sounds are off, and the color pallette even looks slightly different IMHO, but hey - it is cheap. It's also pretty hard to get carts back out of, the connector is pretty tight. I wonder if it could damage the board in the cart. I will probably just stick to a coverless toaster for testing, but still, it's an interesting little device.
-Ian
I got it home, hooked it up, and, while I'm appalled at the incredibly cheap construction and thin wires, and amazed at the tiny size, I'm actually rather impressed with it. It does work fairly well for what it is. It worked just fine with the couple NES games I tried, and the controllers, while cheap, work well. The sound is weird though - everything sounds a bit off, poorly defined, and scratchy. This gets annoying, especially when you complete a level in Super Mario Bros. - the 'dinging' you get when it counts down the time left on the clock has turned into an annoying tone. Occasionally, the tiles on the right side of the screen don't fully update.
But, beyond that, it actually works OK. I bought it because I was curious how well it would work, and because I thought it would be good for testing EPROM cart boards, so I don't have to fit them into a catridge shell to get them into a toaster NES.
But, when I tried an EPROM cart, it didn't work - displaying only a white screen with junk characters on it. This cartridge is a CNROM board with sockets added and a hole cut in the case, and currently has a romhack of Super Mario Bros. loaded in it. It plays perfectly on the toaster NES, but not on the Yobo.
The only theory I have is that perhaps the cartridge isn't getting enough power. The power adapter on this little console is only a 200ma 6vdc wall wart. I looked up the datasheet on a 27512, and supposedly they draw 30ma each.
I have yet to dig up a beefier power adapter or measure the voltage at the EPROM, but I'll try tinkering with it tonight. I just figured I'd see if anyone else had much experience with these things.
Yeah, it's cheap junk, the sounds are off, and the color pallette even looks slightly different IMHO, but hey - it is cheap. It's also pretty hard to get carts back out of, the connector is pretty tight. I wonder if it could damage the board in the cart. I will probably just stick to a coverless toaster for testing, but still, it's an interesting little device.
-Ian