The vsMaxx MaxxPlay

When I first started to collect Famiclones, the only ones I could find were the handheld, N64 controller inspired ones. My very first being a Power Joy that I picked up, on a whim, after seeing a handful of them scattered around different thrift stores, but never having picked one up. Shortly after that I found a Super Joy 3, and after that was the vsMaxx MaxxPlay.

The console (left) and 2nd player controller look virtually identical

The MaxxPlay just isn't the same breed of Famiclone as the other handheld Famiclones, it stands out in quite a few ways. Most notably is the fact that the MaxxPlay has the best build quality out of any of my other handheld Famiclones. Although it does look like the typical Famiclone in an N64 style controller, this one feels far superior and a lot more solid when you hold it in your hands.

As soon as I first played the MaxxPlay I could immediately feel how different it was from the Super Joy and Power Joy systems I own. The plastic is substantially more rigid, the d-pad (and working joystick, might I add) is more accurate, and the buttons have a really nice springy response. Another step above is that the intro screen is a very well illustrated set of instructions on how to use the system, in case for some reason you couldn't figure it out otherwise.

 The basic design is much the same as many plug n play Famiclones: N64 controller styling, adjusted to suit the needs of the system dwelling within, with a Famicom 60 pin connector attached to the bottom and using the memory card slot as the battery pack receptacle. While also integrating a light gun, the MaxxPlay has added LEDs on either side of the barrel. And, just like the Power Joy, the plug for player 2, as well as the system's hardwired AV cables, are located on the bottom of the light gun handle.

Bottom of player 2 controller

The main system functions well with 95 built-in games, but the 60 pin connector on the bottom is plagued by the same tight, uncomfortable placement as all other plug n play Famiclones. Although this time there isn’t enough space to make a good enough connection for most of my Famicom cartridges to even work. I have found out that, by their poorly made nature, pirate carts work slightly better. Even so, if you accidentally bump the cartridge you’re going to need to reset the system and try again.

The second player controller is a feature that intrigues me as well as confuses me, all at the same time. The second player controller is completely identical to the main system, without the integrated battery pack holder, but they did leave a bit of it to become a stand for the controller. The second player controller works just as well as the main system controller, but it too has a built-in light gun, which I found a bit excessive, but whatever.

I like the second player controller so much, I actually own four of them.

Even though it's plagued with tight space issues and a 60 pin connector that only works sometimes, the vsMaxx MaxxPlay is still a system worth owning, simply for the build quality and games built-in. The 95 built-in games are hacks of their original counterparts, but you'll probably find them all fairly familiar. The solid plastic and very good controls push this, easily, above all other handheld Famiclones I own.

...and I like the console so much, I actually own three of them!

Power Joy Voyager - The Last Voyage?

If I told you that I have a portable Famiclone you would most likely assume I was talking about a Super Joy 3 or a Power Joy. What if I said it was in fact a Power Joy, but it was in the shape of a quasi Game Boy Color, played "9999" built in games on an LCD screen but also played NES games from a Game Boy style cartridge? Well its all true, and that Famiclone's name is the Power Joy Voyager.

The Power Joy Voyager does everything the original Power Joy can do, with the bonus of having 9999 different Tetris clones as well, if you can consider that a bonus. This system has the unique ability to be powered by 4 AA batteries, unlike the original Power Joy, as well as allowing you to use the Game Boy style controller layout for single player games (While in "NES" mode) or plugging in a pair of controllers, which are tied together to a single DB9 end.

 Although slightly bigger, the overall design is undoubtedly trying to resemble that of a Nintendo Game Boy Color, and at first glace thats what I originally thought it was. Even the cartridge has a slight Game Boy look to it, but more of a knock off Game Boy pirate design. Its comfortable to hold, but the built in games aren't really what will have you holding the system for too long, thats the built in NOAC.

 On the very top are the (mono) AV outs, all you have to do is plug in your cables and flip the switch on the side from LCD or Off to TV and you have a tiny Famiclone. For the Famiclone part there are no built in games, the software comes from the PJ-007 cartridge. The cartridge shares the same name, and game list, as the Famicom style cartridge that comes with the original Power Joy.

Short of it having the 9999 LCD games, the Power Joy Voyager functions exactly the same as the Power Joy. I find this one to be more unique in design and a lot easier to shove in a bag and take on the road. Although they made different cartridges for the Power Joy, I believe the PJ-007 is the only one they made for the Voyager.

An Additional (Blue) Super Joy 3

As you can see I own three blue Super Joy 3 Famiclones. No, I'm not being greedy, its the fact that two of them have different game sets inside and the third one, although looking identical from this angle, is quite different from the other two. In fact, its different from almost all of my Super Joy 3 systems, and not just by color.

The two on the center and right have an open Famicom slot, as where the one on the left has a strange blue thing that seemingly hangs underneath it. This isn't the first Super Joy 3 I've found that has one of these, but I've found them to be harder to find than the ones with open cartridge ports. If you're quite careful and push in on the bottom of the cover (oriented as shown below), after breaking loose those two clips, then gentling pulling it back down toward the long handle of the unit you can easily pop that cover off, revealing the Famicom slot and extremely small board inserted within.

The board is much smaller than any true Famicom game board, so much so that the 60 pins hardly align up correctly in the 60 pin slot. And even though I tried, you simply can not use these type of Super Joys to play Famicom games, unless you have loose game boards. And for some strange, inexplicable reason these units prefer to be powered by battery, giving an extremely poor quality video output when powered by a wallwart.

My total Super Joy 3 count is up to a total of six, half of those are blue, but I will continue to collect them as I find new colors or maybe even more like this and the light blue/gray one. Well, that previous statement isn't strictly true as I do have one that's shell was broken beyond repair, so I salvaged the guts and plan to turn it into a console... someday, but it doesn't really count as its no long in its shell. Regardless, the Super Joy 3 is fun in short bursts of time and to some, like myself, fun to collect all the different colors and variants.

This is a Famiclone?

I've acquired quite a few Famiclones of all different shapes, sizes and designs in my years of video game collecting. Famiclones range from the bizarre and ugly to an exact replica of the Nintendo Famicom, visually speaking. What I happened to find today sits somewhere between those two, yet I'm still not sure exactly where.

At first glance this thing is a bottom of the barrel scraping third party Xbox 360 controller, but if you look a little closer the telltale signs of a Famiclone are present. There is no brand name to be seen, simply a strange logo where another analog stick should be. But whoever made this was so dedicated to trying to incorporated the Xbox 360 feel that the power button is a large circle in the center of the controller, with a border that lights up, just like the controller this is trying to resemble.

There is a second player port nestled at the bottom, between the handles, but the main player controls offer the standard Famiclone fair in a confusing array. There is a standard D-pad and a pseudo analog stick, which works as a standard D-pad and is there merely for looks, and six action buttons to choose from. What are listed as A and B are backwards, X and Y are the turbo versions of the aforementioned buttons, while LB seems to work as both A and B simultaneously and RB does absolutely nothing at all.

On the very top of the controller are a pair of plastic humps, I assume to simulate shoulder buttons, that are pretty much pointless and useless. Between those are a standard set of AV output jacks as well as a power input. Unlike almost all my other handheld style Famiclones this one offers no battery power option at all, but luckily works off the same DC 9volt 300mA power supply all my other Famiclones use.

When I found this at a local Goodwill I originally didn't want to buy it, but once I saw that it was 50% off this week I quickly changed my mind. I honestly didn't know what to expect from this unit; was it a bunch of 8-bit homebrews or would it be just another 9999999999999999 in 1 pirate fest? With the uneasy feeling of whether the system would work and what I could expect from it once I got it home set aside, I plunked down the whole $1 for it and waited to get home to find out.

After plugging in the AV cables and wearily plugging in the AC adapter, hoping it wouldn't blow up, I pushed in the power button and watched as it lit up green and Fun Time flash quickly on the screen. Immediately after that a list of 76000 games appeared, which equated to approximately 50 games listed over and over again. Almost all of them were Famicom/NES pirates, but there were a few games I've never heard of.

As per normal this Famiclone is packed with games such as: Contra, 1942, Arkanoid, Super Mario Bros., Circus Charlie, Mappy, and many more. But there are also games I've never heard of such as: Nature Clan Island, Knight Hero and Ice Oceans, the gameplay of all these games isn't anything I'm familiar with, so I know its not a simple retitle. Some of them even have extremely well done title screens, leading me to believe someone took pride in making these games.

Again, as normal this system is made of extremely cheap plastic, the lower D-pad is almost completely unresponsive, the reset button takes a good hard press to work (which is better than resetting a game on accident) and overall its just another standard Famiclone from China. Its small and packs in a lot of games, but without the option to power it with batteries this system is not portable, which would have been extremely easy if they had tried to clone a wireless Xbox 360 controller. Other than being a different shape and lacking a 60 pin connector (perhaps a detail I should have pointed out earlier) this thing isn't much different than any of my Super Joy systems.

To simplify, knowing what I know now if this system wasn't $1 I wouldn't have picked it up!