The Power Joy!

Ahhh, the Power Joy! The very first Famiclone I ever owned, as well as the one that kicked off my whole adoration for the Famiclone species in general. I had seen them before, strewn about the shelves of various thrift stores, but it wasn't until someone went a bit cheap with the pricing gun that I dared to take a chance and pick up one of these fabled "console in a controller".

The very first one I picked up was just the controller; no cartridge, no second player controller and no battery door. Ignorantly I used an NES power adapter to try and boot the thing and within seconds the pungent aroma of heavily leaded solder filled the air around the system, with no signs of life I quickly unplugged it and packed it away. I had seen a lot of people online showing off that the system would play Famicom games, a console I had yet to tap into, but with no way of powering mine up properly, or even know if it would ever work again at this point, I had to keep on searching for another.

It took a while but finally I had found myself another Power Joy that came complete, with the battery door and the PJ-008 cartridge, so I pulled my original one from its thrift store bag casket in my closet and give it a good play through. Without a cartridge plugged into the system there are 10 built in games, most of them taking advantage of the built-in light gun, which is quite accurate! Almost all of these games are based on different hacked versions of Duck Hunt, replacing the ducks with helicopters, alien ships, etc.

The PJ-00X cartridges are probably one of the best features of the Power Joy line, as they offered the choice of many great Famicom/NES titles. Mine came with the PJ-008 and I've seen different lists of games given to the same # cartridge, Chinese quality control there, huh? But the great thing about the cartridges is the simple fact that they work in an NES (w/ converter) or a Famicom, obviously as the Power Joy is a NOAC.

One of the main reasons I enjoy the Power Joy is due to its all-in-one design, so I don't need to hunt down accessories and parts if I want to play the thing. The Power Joy is strictly utilitarian but quite comfortable, as well as painfully obvious that this was spawned from the breeding of a Nintendo 64 controller with a fighter jet model kit. One of the major features, at least to me, is that unlike the Super Joy units the joystick on the Power Joy is fully functional, yet only a digital pad and not analog.

Another utilitarian feature that I quite like is the hardwired AV and power cables, although I think the power input could have easily been put about the same spot as it was in the Super Joy systems, but thats just splitting hairs. This means I don't need to hunt down a set of AV cables when I want to play the system, making the Power Joy completely portable. Powered by 4 AAA batteries, you're good to take this thing almost anywhere you need to go, as long as there is power for a television.

And finally we reach something that Super Mario Bros. taught us all those years ago, other people want to play too, and they have as much right as we do, us controller hogs! It took me a while to actually track down a Power Joy second player controller, but I did and its fairly standard, yet pretty good. My only complaint would be that the spacing on the grips is a bit strange, which I personally can't use it for too long, but then again that could be a ploy to keep people from wanting to become player 2.

I currently own the Power Joy and Power Joy Voyager, but I hope in the future I will find more Power Joy systems and even more of the cartridges. I'll never forget the first time I passed up an absolutely complete Power Joy for $10 at a thrift store, but through time and patience I've pieced one together, with a spare one for parts if needed. The Power Joy is nothing more than pure Chinese piracy and I don't really favor it over any of my other consoles, or even Famiclones, but it was my first and thus I will forever remember the joy and excitement of exploring a world that was completely new to me.

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.