Power Player Super Joy 3, the Super Joystick!

Throughout the years I passed up so many Super Joy consoles, because I didn't know exactly what they were. Later on, when my interest in handheld Famiclones started to grow, I found a powder blue Super Joy 3 and I decided to take a chance on it. I had only done a little research on Power Joys, but I was told the Super Joy 3 was essentially the same type of Famiclone, meaning this thing played classic NES/Famicom games, and supposedly played Famicom cartridges. Those two facts alone were well worth the couple of dollars I paid for it.

My very first Famiclone is the one on the far left side.

When I got home I scrambled to find all the needed cables and batteries to give the thing a complete test. After powering the system on I was greeted by a little bit of music and a screen boasting 12000 games, which I now know is just a marketing ploy to move these things off the shelves. After a little bit of playing around, I started to wonder how these things could play Famicom cartridges, because mine didn't have any visible cartridge slot. Instead mine had some weird cover protruded from under the console, which caused my hands to cramp if I used it for too long, with absolutely no possible way to externally connect a Famicom game.

After carefully removing the the plastic cover, so that I could reattach it later, I found the 60 pin connector with a small board stuck inside. I grabbed a Famicom game I had bought a few months prior and tried to get it to fit, but there was no hope. I decided I should take the Super Joy 3 apart and see if this thing really would play Famicom games through that slot.

The answer was a resounding yes; yes these things really do play Famicom cartridges. But if I had to take the whole thing apart, rendering in useless, how was I suppose to actually utilize this fact? In frustration, I just put the Super Joy 3 in my closet and used it on occasion the way it was, until I happened to find another Super Joy 3, this time with an actual slot to put a cartridge in.

As you can see above, the Super Joy 3 comes in 2 external variations. The first, and most common, has an actual Famicom sized slot on the bottom, allowing for cartridge insertion, opening the library to any Famicom (or pirate) cart you own. The second design still has the cartridge slot, but it's molded so that the unit only allows for the inserted rom board, leaving no room for any actual cartridge to be plugged in.

My collection has grown quite a bit, and hopefully will continue to grow, so I've found that although the Super Joy 3 is your typical handheld Famiclone, stuffed into an N64 style controller, there are at least two different programs inside that I've found. The first being the one I previously mentioned that boots up with a little bit of music and boasts 12000 games. The second one boots up with no music, a black background and Fun Time written in green, before going to a screen of 78000 options.

The overall quality varies from unit to unit as well. Some of my Super Joys have very nice video output, while others have lines in the background, and others have fuzzy, snowy screens that are almost unplayable! While the inner workings vary from unit to unit, the outer construction tends to stay the same with cheap plastics throughout. I have noticed a slight button variation, but it really isn't a plus or minus as they are all buttons and do their required jobs, no matter what plastic they used.

The Super Joy 3 has a player 2/light gun port on the very front of the unit, outside of where the battery pack goes. I've never owned a brand new Super Joy 3, so I can't comment on the quality of the zapper, but I do happen to own three of the second player controllers. Player 2 controllers are modeled heavily off a Sega Genesis controller, with slight modifications. These controllers are ok, for what they do, and work well with almost any other Famiclone you have as controllers for either player.

After collecting my first one, it seemed that I found them all over the place. If one of them happened to cross my path that I felt the price was worth paying, I couldn't pass it up. So, needless to say, my Super Joy collection has expanded to a total of six. I can't really say the Super Joy is a great unit, because it varies from unit to unit, but I can say that if you get your hands on one that works correctly, it's a great little handheld Famiclone.

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!

Famiclone Light Guns

If there is one genre of games that Famiclones and pirated multi-carts love to adorn themselves with, it has to be light gun games. Such classics as Duck Hunt, and all its hacked variations, Gotcha!, Hogans Alley and many more are some of the most common games I find on multi-carts. That means there is one accessory almost every Famiclone has to include in some shape or form, the light gun.

Through testing nearly every light gun I own I can safely say they all work pretty much the same, so I'm not going to bother doing a proper review. But I am going to go over the different kinds I own and give a bit of an explanation about them. Many different Famiclones come with many different shaped, colored and sized light guns, so here is my collection.

First up are what I like to call the System Light Guns. These are the handheld consoles, such as the Power Joy and MaxxPlay, that are a console and light gun in one unit. Even though the MaxxPlay already has a light gun in the console unit, the controller for player 2 is the exact same shape and has a light gun built in as well. A bit excessive if you ask me, but all of the System Light Guns I've used are accurate and comfortable.

Next are the daisy chained controllers for the Power Joy Voyager. For some reason mine have stopped working, which upset me greatly. These are unique little controllers. One controller is perfectly normal, but the other one is a bit elongated and has a trigger and barrel integrated for the light gun feature. Being as small as it is, this is a bit uncomfortable in my hands, personally, but isn't completely useless.

One of the most popular light guns included with Famiclones has to be what I call the Panther, because it's written across almost all of them. Molded after a real handgun (I have no clue which), this one is probably the most comfortable light gun design I've used. The only problem I have is that the orange one doesn't work properly with any of my Famiclones, all it does it reset the console. I suppose if I needed a remote reset button that would be perfect, but I would prefer a bright orange light gun. 

Next is a knew one for me, this one is molded off the Lethal Enforcers arcade gun, I believe. It's very comfortable, but I haven't fully tested this one for accuracy or even if it works! Yeah, I'm a bit lazy, but it looks cool.

Lastly we come to my personal favorite, at least in terms of looks. Up to this point all of the light guns have used the standard DB-9 style connector. This one, however, uses the Famicom style connector. Sadly this one is broken; the internal switching mechanism is poorly thought out, even for Chinese Famiclone standards. I've seen a few of these online that actually have a small, red, flip up sight in the back, which this one has the holes for. Even though this doesn't work, it's still a very cool Famiclone light gun.

Addendum:

After posting this article I sat down and played around with some of the guns I had not tested, mainly the Lethal Enforcers gun. Out of all the guns I own, the Lethal Enforcers, orange Panther style, as well as the Panther with the brown grips would not work properly. I believe the NES zapper style will work, it just needs a switch installed, which is easier said than done.

The Lethal Enforcers and brown grips version of the Panther may have a component malfunction or are wired weird, so I decided to just let them stay that way until I can investigate further. The orange Panther, however, functioned, yet it would actually glitch out the game once the trigger was pulled. After pulling it apart I immediately found the culprit, but I had to do some testing before I officially decided to do the surgery.

As you can see above, the Famiclone light gun is a very simple system. Just a small board holding the receptor LED with a few other components, wired down to the switch and into the controller cable. What happened with the orange Panther was a case of the switch having an additional wire, for what I do not know.

Normally, when the switch is wired up, only A and B are used. Pressing the switch connects B and C, disconnecting the current from A and B, which sends the signal that the trigger has been pulled and the light gun acts accordingly. But since there was an additional wire connected to C, the light gun sent the signal and created an error, causing the game and console to glitch out.

Once I disconnected the strange wire from terminal C, the proper connection was made and the orange Panther works perfectly fine! I believe it was packaged with the Dreamgear Game Station, but I have some controllers from that system, and they work perfectly fine with my Famiclones, I don't see why the light gun would need to be wired differently, but it was. Perhaps just a fluke, or perhaps this was suppose to only work with that console, either way it was an easy "mod", and it now works perfectly fine with my DB-9 input Famiclones. I just hope I can fix the other three soon. 

Family Game Famiclone

I am always on the hunt for Famiclones, and when I see one that I don't already have I tend to obsess over it. A few months back that's exactly what happened, and after persuaded someone to buy it for my birthday it finally arrived. I tore open the box to reveal a beautiful grey Family Game Famiclone, in the Famicom style housing, in great shape.

I was dying to test it out, so I wasted no time digging out my box of Famicom games, pirates and multi-carts. After hooking everything up I pulled the player 1 controller out of its slot on the console, grasped it firmly in my grubby paws and flipped the power switch. Perfect! Its working like a charm, I'm so excited to finally have a working Famiclone that looks this close to a genuine Famicom.

After playing with it for a little while I noticed that the colors weren't right, which confused me as I was under the delusion that this was a discreet Famiclone with cloned CPU and PPU chips, giving it the proper color palette and sound response. I wasn't worried too much because I was still enjoying my experience with the console. The AV output was a bit wavy as well, which wasn't a huge deal, but it still is something I'll have to take a closer look at.

Shortly after that I wanted to switch from AV and check out what the RF picture may look like, just out of curiosity, so I pulled out the AV cables and plugged in my NES RF adapter. The picture was absolutely horrible, I mean beyond playable, with bands in the background that far exceed that of the NES top loader. But what did I see between the static lines and wavy screen? The colors were absolutely perfect and 100% correct. My mind was blown, I was confused.

Maybe I could clean up the plugs and freshen up the picture, yeah that should to the trick. Nope. Well what if I did a search on my TV, to see if it could pick up the correct broadcasting for the Famiclone's RF signal. Nope, strike 2! Well that's fine, I don't need RF anyway, it looks much better through the AV outs, albeit with the incorrect color palette and wavy screen.

After playing Bases Loaded (Moero!! Pro Yakyuu) I did notice the console was tapping into the extra audio channel that my Dreamstation did, so at least I was getting the extra sounds. But in the pursuit of better knowledge on how to fix the AV output I decided to change the TV I was using and see if that made a difference in the video quality, and surprisingly it did, but in a very weird way! On the second TV I immediately noticed the RF signal was perfectly fine, with correct colors, but the AV was completely unusable. After trying a channel search on it, which changed nothing, I decided I would just have to use the console through AV on my main TV and deal with it.

To further my understanding I opened the system up to check the solder joints in the AV section, when I was greeted by something I have never seen before. Is that... is that a concealed NOAC? I have no clue what I'm looking at, but it was solitary, nothing else populating the board for miles, so this had to be the brains of the operation.

As soon as I saw this Famiclone I obsessed over it partially because I had seen another blogger (133mhz) write two articles on one that looked exactly like this one. 133mhz wrote up (Part 1 and Part 2) about cleaning and restoring a Famiclone, as well as how to swap out the cloned CPU and PPU for the original Nintendo chips, essentially making the Famiclone 100% a Famicom. My thoughts were to get my hands on a clone just like his and, sometime down the road, swap out the chips and have a Famicom with AV out, but seeing what I see now that's impossible. Even though they are identical outside they are far from the same on the inside, but that still doesn't concern me, as this is my first, properly functioning, Famiclone that looks like a Famicom.

Putting the technical issues aside, I originally had reservations about how the controller had the cable coming out of the top, instead of the sides. After playing with the console for a while, I feel this was a wise choice as this is what I'm more familiar with from the NES as well as almost all of my Famiclone controllers.

With the cable placement out of mind, I did find a few things that are slight concerns, but nothing more than slight. The Button layout is very close to one of my favorite third party NES controllers, so I'm familiar with that layout, but the edge of the buttons are much more rigid and come to an edge, instead of a smooth round off, which is just a bit weird. Also the D-pad is a complete 360 circle, which I sometimes find doesn't allow for accurate movement, instead pushing down to duck causes me to go off to the right a little.

Besides the concealed NOAC not allowing me to swap it out for real Nintendo chips, I'm perfectly ok with this system. The controllers are comfortable, the system works and offers the extra audio channel, which is all I really want in a Famiclone anyway. I feel I can sort out the video quality issue at some point, making this an extremely awesome little Famiclone, but until that I can completely enjoy it just the way it is, and I do!

NES Sized Pirated Multicart

A long while back I received a Home Computer System Famiclone. What I didn't realize was that the chip that controls the controller input was dead, but the rest of the console worked perfectly fine. When I flipped the console on I was met with a multicart list of games, among which were Mortal Kombat and Street Fight 8-bit pirates. Knowing the console may take a while to fix, I painstakingly removed both ribbon cables holding the multicart board into the system and carefully, since I didn't have any desolder wick, smoothed out the solder as much as I could on all 60 contacts.

Originally I wanted to immediately jam the board into one of my home made Famicom to NES converters and test it out, but as I didn't do too well smoothing out all the solder on the contacts I decided I would go ahead and use one that I hadn't officially turned into a converter yet. After opening the cartridge I removed the Gyromite board and pushed in the pirated multicart board. Everything was going well until I heard a cringe worthy crunch, upon inspection I had gnarled up the inside of the converter.

With some slight adjustments I managed to get everything aligned enough so that it fit and worked perfectly. Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter are what you would expect in 8-bit, slow and kind of boring. The cartridge has many other games built in, but the most name worthy of all had to be the two demakes of well known 16-bit games.

After I pulled the cartridge from my NES I decided it would be best to just remove the Gyromite label and leave the whole thing together, there was no sense in making a converter with a board hanging out of it. Sadly since I was in a bit of a hurry to test out the cartridge, and slightly messed the converter up, I don't think I'll be able to pull them apart, even if I did it really wouldn't be worth it. Even though the cartridge was a 5 screw configuration I could only use 4, as the board covers up the one in the center, but with the 4 corners being screwed down I haven't had any issues.

It was a simple and small project, but well worth what little time it took. I'm thinking of making a label for the cartridge as well, just so it looks better than all grey. Strange to think now if I wanted to play this on a Famiclone I would need an NES to Famicom converter.

Why I Have a Passion for Famiclones.

Why do I have such a passion for Famiclones? To say that's simple to explain wouldn't be true, and to say it's complicated wouldn't be true either. But then again I understand perfectly why I have such a passion for Famiclones, so I guess its just easier if I took the time to explain it.

Famiclones were never on my video game hunting radar until about 2010, hell I wasn't even familiar with the Nintendo Famicom until about a decade earlier. I live in the United States, where it seems we selectively import what we want from other cultures and never bother to import anything that doesn't fit our current commercial needs. We already had the NES, so why would we want another system that was essentially the same but looked different? Not to mention the cartridges weren't interchangeable without an adapter.

It's not to say the US didn't have an import market, it was just that I never knew about it for most of my life; and even when I found out it seemed very niche, and must less popular than it is now. As an adult I'm now noticing that Canada seems to have imported Japanese video game culture, on a much broader scale then the US, for decades! Mexico has not only been importing Famicom games and consoles, but also the Chinese pirate versions as well. So why did it seem that the US interest in Japanese video game culture was so niche and underground? Your guess is as good as mine, perhaps even better!

Once I knew, or assumed falsely to be more accurate, Famicom games were expensive and wouldn't work in my NES, I completely removed them from my scope of collecting. About 2010 is when I started to see a large influx of portable Famiclone consoles, the Power Joy and Super Joys, in the thrift stores I frequented. It wasn't until I found an extremely cheap Power Joy that I ever really took interest in the whole Famiclone market.

Just having a non-working Power Joy gave me reason enough to do some research on the whole history of Famiclones, I'm a sucker for researching things I enjoy researching. The results were astounding; Famiclones came in all shapes, sizes, colors and where spread throughout the world, far and wide! Famiclones could take on the shape of penguins, racecars, N64 controllers, alien space ships, pseudo officially licensed consoles and even shaped exactly like a Nintendo Famicom. The more research I did, the more interested I became in the subject, causing even more research.

I found it intriguing how they could fit a fully functional (although not really 100%) Famicom clone into the many various shaped consoles and controller style portables. Not only that but the fact that some consoles, and most every portable Famiclone, had built-in Famicom/NES classics without the need for external cartridges, while still adding a 60 pin connector for just that matter in case the user desired it. All of this really appealed to my OCD for keeping things neat, tidy and confined within small spaces.

Knowing these systems were a potential way to play Famicom games, which was a far cheaper alternative to importing the Famicom console, sparked my interest in importing Famicom games. But before my interest in Famicom games could fully blossom, my interest in the dark, seedy world of piracy and its strange history firmly planted itself within the fertile soil of my brain and grew into a vine that encompassed my cerebrum and short circuited my interest in the real thing.

The story of how Famiclones and pirated games came from the desire to have the nice things every other country had, but most countries couldn't afford, also appealed to me, the sheer ingenuity! Call them demakes, pirated or even cheap junk, but these were all the exposure some countries had to the classics we have so readily available. Faced with a desire for the finer things in life, a choice needed to be made. The birth of that choice was an extremely interesting line of consoles and video games that simulate/emulate something most people take for granted.

I take great interest in the way they take consoles that most gamers already know and modify them in drastic ways, while making the internals as simple, yet functional as possible. Although functionality of Famiclones run the gambit from very good to only lasting a few months, I'm certain a lot of engineering goes into the planning and manufacturing of these systems, and engineering is exactly what makes my heart race when I see a new Famiclone I've never seen before.

Necessity is the mother of invention. The need to fill a market left empty in many countries by financial hardships or trading limitations has created something fascinating, a whole sub-market of video games and video game consoles that gave many people the pleasures they couldn't otherwise have. Whether you hate them or love them, the fact is they always will be a part of video gaming history. Even if nothing more than a footnote.

Famiclone Controllers

Over the last few years I have collected a plethora of Famiclone controllers, out of habit and for variety. Some of these controllers didn't come with their respective consoles, but I knew they were Famiclone controllers and picked them up anyway. I won't be giving any extremely in-depth information about the controllers in this article, but I figured this article may help out someone who is faced with a wild Famiclone controller on whether they should take it home or not.

I don't know what to call these (I found 2) controllers other than "the silvers". Blatantly modeled after a Playstation controller, with a few liberties in design thrown in, these controllers are fairly comfortable. The A and B buttons are set to X and O, respectively, meaning that like the other 80% (or more) of Famiclone controllers these too have a backwards A and B scheme, often throwing off the ability to play simple games. I'm not sure which Famiclone these came from, but they seem compatible with all Famiclones, at least the ones I've tested them on.

The Power Player controllers come packed in with the Super Joy Famiclone systems. Over the years I have found plenty of these laying around thrift stores and I would dare say they are the most common Famiclone controllers out there. With a pseudo Genesis shape they are as comfortable as any Genesis controller, although significantly lighter and more bulky. Again the A and B are backwards, as the C button functions as Select, since there is only a stand alone start button. Again these seem universally compatible, so if you need Famiclone controllers in a pinch, these are most likely to be easier to find and ready to go.

The Powerstation controllers are, again, based on the Playstation, even Powerstation is kind of a play on the former's console name. If you're familiar with the Playstation controller, you're pretty much familiar with this one too! Comfortable, A and B are in correct alignment with turbo buttons just above them, diagonally left. This controller even features shoulder buttons being: L1 is B, R1 is A and pressing both L2 and R2 is the equivalent of start. The plastic, although still the cheap melty kind, feels good and solid in your hands, topped of with a good cable length. Seemingly universal as well.

I picked up the Super Video Game controllers with my 57000 Super Video Game, which displays a Playstation feel throughout. Sadly I had to add the D-pad myself, but even so these are very comfortable, albeit maybe a tiny bit smaller than a normal PS controller. The A and B backwards, unsurprisingly, but Z functions as an additional turbo B and C an additional turbo A. Seemingly universal!

Obviously if you're going to try and pass off a discreet Famiclone console as the genuine you'll need to clone the controllers as well! Very familiar Famicom style and comfort with buttons in the correct places and familiar turbo buttons within easy reach. There isn't really much else to say about this controller, other than I do have some third party NES controllers in this design and they are among my favorite NES controllers. Assumed universal.

Some Famiclones tried to mimic the Super Famicom, while having either a 60 (Famicom) or 72 (NES) pin connector built in. I've seen these controllers in both a DB-9 (Atari, Sega, Famiclone) end and even an NES controller end. The SNES style is very comfortable and familiar, A and B are where they should be, with turbo buttons clearly marked. The plastic is a bit chip, as per usual, but the cable seems like a quality thick cable. Again, assumed universal.