Power Games aka Penguin Famiclone

The Power Games Famiclone, aka the Penguin Famiclone, was one that I had seen a handful of times while doing research on Famiclones in general. Possibly the most extreme, and adorable, variant of all Famiclones, the system is housed within a simple Penguin shaped shell. The Power Games "Penguin" was a Famiclone I have wanted since the time I first saw it, but I never knew where, or if, I would ever run across one.

While the local Goodwill shelves are no stranger to the likes of the Super Joy III or the Power Joy controller based Famiclones, as far as I've seen they have been devoid of anything console based. I've learned that sometimes you need to trust your gut and just walk into a store, worst case scenario you had a little exercise and didn't pay them a dime! The other day that feeling struck me as I walked into a local Goodwill, where I eventually saw a boxed Power Games system sitting on a shelf.

As per (Goodwill) usual the box was open and everything was haphazardly thrown inside, yet I could see the Penguin was there, along with a lot of wires, so I decided to plunk down the $3.99 asking price and take a chance that it was complete. Once I got the thing outside and into the car, lucky for me, everything was inside the box and seemed as if it had only been played a handful of times, if that, and tossed straight back into the box. Sadly the Penguin's foot was broken off and the included multi-cart was busted open as well, but thats nothing a quick spot of hot glue hasn't remedied.. so far!

The box art is just as bland as any other box art you'll find across any other Chinese system, but there was a gold sticker on the front proudly proclaiming "108IN 1", so I was super curious to get this thing plugged in and thoroughly checked out! Once everything was plugged up and ready to go the first thing I noticed was how ominous the system looks with its beady little red eyes giving you the cold stare down. Secondly I noticed that there actually were 108 games built into the system itself and not coming from the cartridge, as I originally thought.

Most of the 108 built in games are unique with very few repeats/variations of the same game. The pirates did quite a good job with title screens and making slight changes to original games, enough to make the pirated version fun yet different, some are actually really fun but most of the games are just complete and utter junk! Games such as Desert Storm (Contra clone) and Overspeed Racing ( Rad Racer with a dash of Spy Hunter) are fun games that were simply redone, while games such as Assart, are completely new to me, but still fun to play.

The Power Games is unique in design but it isn't very practical, strictly using wireless controllers and not even offering the option for wired controllers, but it does give the light gun its very own port on the side. Player 1 has a completely wireless (via infrared) controller, while player 2 plugs into the first controller and both signals are sent from controller 1. The finicky nature of infrared is on full display as I'll often find myself not pointing the controller correctly and end up losing a life, but the worst part of this so called wireless controller is the way its eats batteries!

The controller designs, despite being infrared, are the standard Famiclone style of Playstation ripoffs, comfortable and merely functional, sort of. One of my main complaints about Famiclone controllers has been that they simply can't seem to get the layout of B and A correct, which is the case with the Power Games controllers. I have found controllers that manage to get it right, but since the Power Games system uses proprietary controllers without the option of using other controllers you're pretty well stuck with this fact.

After all was said and done I thought the saving grace came down to the included multi-cart, boy was I wrong. I had to take the broken cartridge apart and put the board into the Power Games manually, which took me a while to figure out which way to even put the thing into the system as it doesn't have angled edges around the cartridge slot. After putting the bare board into the system the right way I heard the extremely familiar jingle of the 12000 in 1 menu of a couple of my Super Joy III units.

From the wireless controllers that are minimally problematic, yet problematic just the same, to the limited handful of built in games that are entertaining, the Power Games turns from a practical Famiclone into more of an occasional conversation piece. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I own the Power Games system, but I have other Famiclones that work better and offer the option of correctly mapped controllers. That means this poor Penguin is most likely doomed to spend most of his days in the closet.

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.

57000 Super Video Game

My deep interest in Famiclones started when I picked up my first Power Joy, and although it didn't initially work it still spurred extensive research into Famiclones and their history. That research lead me to want more Famiclones, not just handhelds like the Super Joys and Power Joys, but more console based Famiclones. That day finally came when I found a Super 57000 Video Game at the Goodwill outlet store.

The Super 57000 Super Video Game's shell and controllers are, unashamedly, based on the original Sony Playstation, although made of much cheaper plastic. The insides are pretty simplistic, running a NOAC (Nintendo on a Chip) with two built in Famicom slots, one for the built in games board (mine doesn't work so I swapped it out for a loose Hogan's Alley board I had) and the other for Famicom or pirated cartridges, which is hidden under the giant, round lid. From there you have the standard db-9 controller inputs on the front and the audio/video output board on the back, nothing fancy.

When I found mine it was quite yellow, one controller was pretty beat up and neither controller had D-pads; I later found a D-pad that fits, while it works it doesn't really fit the controller. As for it being a console, I didn't know what I expected because honestly, it works like a console. Even though this thing is quite ugly its still functional!

As such the Super 57000 uses the same DC 9v adapter as all of my other Famiclones, as well as offering not only AV out, but a pseudo-RF output as well. Sadly I could never get any of my TVs to find the RF channel this system sends the signal to, perhaps it doesn't and its just on there for looks. The back of this thing really shows Chinese ingenuity, a simple output mix up was "corrected" when they sharpied the white jack black, to use for RF, and painted the black output red, for audio, instead of just resoldering them into the right place.

The front of the console isn't much better either, the plastic shows gaps all over the place. The lid doesn't always shut properly, half the time due to the sticky release button. But since its only covering a 60 pin port, instead of a CD drive unit, the gap is forgivable.

Again, I honestly don't know what I expected from the Super 57000 Video Game, other than the excitement of finally having my own console style Famiclone. Which its just that, a Famiclone in a console shell. The console does what its asked and nothing less, nothing more, it just works!

The controllers are comfortable, the video quality is what you would expect from a Famiclone and the audio is what you would expect from a NOAC. This was my favorite (I mean only) Famiclone console until I found my Dreamstation. Sadly, it took a slightly better Famiclone to make me realize how abysmal this system was, but that still doesn't mean this system is complete junk.

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.

Famiclone Power Supplies

When it comes to powering video game consoles I've always had one adapter that was labeled for each given system and I never questioned it. On some rare occasions I have needed to know what adapter I could use on what (my Atari Jaguar, and 2600), and the internet was a quick reference in power supply interchangeability. But when it comes to Famiclones there aren't a lot of sites out there asking or answering the questions to what power supply will run a Famiclone without burning it up.

When I picked up my very first Famiclone, a Power Joy without the battery door, I was completely ignorant of what power supply to use. The only thing I had around at the time was an NES AC adapter (NES-002), and instead of seeing anything light up on the screen I quickly smelled the melting of internal components. For years I thought I had burnt the thing to a crisp and it would never work again, later I found out I didn't do it any harm, luckily!

During the years that followed all I found were Super Joy 3 systems, which use a much easier to understand and more readily available battery power source, so it wasn't until I acquired a complete Super Joy 3 system that I ever really worried about a wall wart slowing me down. Having this one power supply subsequently helped me save tons on batteries and it also helped me test out my Super 57000 Video Game, as it was just the console and controllers, no power supply. But most importantly this one power supply ran all of my Famicom clones without any issues, but I needed more than just this one for my entire collection.

I now own 2 different Famiclone power supplies which show me the needs of a Chinese Famicom clone are quite simple to sustain. And although these power supplies are for 2 different styles of Famiclones, they work across the board on all of my consoles and handheld systems that offer the option of being powered by a wall wart. But as with anything from China these things are super cheap plastic and I wouldn't trust running my systems on them for both my own and the Famiclone's safety, but I'll get into that later.

There are a handful of components that you'll need to pay attention to when it comes to the safety of your Famiclone: Input allowance of the power supply, DC output, amperage output and the polarity of the barrel plug going into your system. Most importantly you need to make sure the input is standard for where you live, so you don't overheat the power supply and cause a fire hazard. Next you'll need to make sure the output is what the Famiclone needs, which for all mine has been 9 volts DC, 350 to 500 milliamps, with a outer positive polarity on the output end.

Do not feed your system too much voltage, and do not mix AC with DC, all mine work on strictly DC voltage. You can run slightly higher amperage without worry as the system only takes what it needs, but do not starve it by using a power supply that offers less amperage (about 500mA is ideal). Last make sure you have the correct plug polarity, positive outside and negative inside, most power supplies have a diagram on them showing which polarity the output plug will give your device.

Since the supplied DC adapters for Famiclones are pretty standard Chinese junk, I've found a handful of alternatives that are substantially better quality but offer the needed power for my systems. I haven't tested them personally but I also believe a Sega MK-3025 or MK-1602 should work perfectly fine as well. In short make sure the power supply works with your wall outlets, provides 9 volts DC and has as much amperage as your Famiclone needs, and finally make sure what you plug into your console has outside positive and center negative polarity.

There are the simple rules I've learned and currently follow. My Famiclone collection is always growing and I'm not the type of person to turn down a good Famiclone simply because it doesn't have all the hookups needed. Now that I know what most Famiclones run on, I've got the most important part covered!

The long and short of Famiclone controllers.

More often than not Famiclone controllers have exceedingly short leads, forcing users to sit close to the system. This hearkens back to the days of the Nintendo Famicom and its own short controller leads. But luckily, since most Famiclones use a standard DB9 connection for controller input, there is a cheap and easy way to quickly add length to any Famiclone controller.

The other day I was rummaging through a box of old video game controllers when I came across a Sega Genesis controller extension. At first I didn't think much of the simple wire, but later that afternoon I had pulled out one of my Famiclones and remembered just how short the controller leads are! It took me a few seconds to mentally fit everything together but soon after I was heading back to that box to dig out that extension cable.

The extension cable is a simple point-to-point pass through, so it can be used interchangeably with any system or controller using the DB9 connection. You simply plug your Famiclone, Sega Genesis, Master System or even Atari controllers into the one end of the cable and the other end goes into the system, its as simple as that. This particular cable adds an additional 10 feet to any given controller I use it with; while 10 feet may sound excessive its much better than the 12 inches most Famiclone controllers give you.

Shortly before publishing this article I checked to make sure I was being factual with everything said herein, and I didn't make a complete ass of myself merely running on assumption. I tested the extension cable on almost every Famiclone I own and only had issues when a cartridge was plugged into a handheld, such as my Super Joy, Power Joy and Vs. Maxx systems, player 2 functions seemed to work for built-in games on these units though. But the same issues did not occur when I used the extension cable on the exact same cartridge in an actual system with 2 controller ports, as opposed to built-in controller 1 and a single port for player 2.

Innovation Super 8 "Famiclone"

When I saw the item above sitting in a Goodwill outlet bin exactly as you see it pictured I ignorantly -- and overzealously -- assumed I had struck gold. I originally hoped it was an excessively rare Nintendo Powerfest or Campus Challenge ROM cartridge, but recessed deep in the back of my mind I knew what it was. I had wanted a Super 8 for a couple of years but never thought I would run across one, but the Goodwill outlet store never ceases to amaze me.

If you're not familiar with what an Innovation Super 8 is, its an attachment that goes on the top of your Super Nintendo/Super Famicom and allows you to play four different types of video games: Super Famicom and Super Nintendo (simply used as a pass-through) as well as NES and Famicom games. Some call these a Famiclone, but I tend to think of Famiclones as a standalone system that is self-sufficient and plays Famicom games, either built in, through a 60 pin cartridge slot or both. That is why I classify the Super 8 as an attachment, more so than a Famiclone, although I can't really argue against it being a Famiclone, because it does play Famicom/NES games via an internal NOAC.

When you boot the Super Nintendo/Famicom with the Super 8 attached you are presented with a pretty awesome screen, giving you the choice of either 8-bit (Famicom Controller) or 16-bit (Super Famicom Controller) games. The first of which is obviously going to boot either your Famicom or NES game which is plugged in, but the system will only boot one or the other; I'm not sure what happens if you try both at the same time, but I'm not willing to chance it. And the second is the single Super Famicom/Super Nintendo slot, luckily there are no plastic stoppers built in preventing you from playing Super Famicom or Super Nintendo games making the Super 8 completely region free, as long as its NTSC.

One issue with the Super 8 is the means in which you run the video through it. The Super 8 runs straight off the power of the Super Famicom/Nintendo, but the Super 8 has its own built in AV cable that needs to be plugged into the back of the SNES and the AV cables, the normally go where the Super 8 is now plugged into, go into the back of the Super 8. The jack that goes into the SNES is really nice and fits well, but the jack coming out of the Super 8 is weak and often times you'll need to completely reset the connection from minor bumps and moving.

Another issue that is common with NOAC Famiclones are verticle lines on the screen, which I've only noticed while using the standard SNES/N64 AV cables. I managed to remove those lines entirely using a Nintendo RF modulator (NUS-003), yet the colors were muted and the volume seemed to drop dramatically. There is a mod to remove them for good, but the lines aren't really that big of an issue to myself, but they are noticeable and problematic to some people.

The final issue with the Innovation Super 8 seems to be an intentional break in the traces that prevent any Super Famicom/Nintendo games using the Super FX chip from working through the Super 8 attachment. Again I've read there is a super simple mod to repair this, but I currently don't have any games that use this chip to test whether or not my unit needs this mod or not. Even though the mod is simply bridging a gap with some solder, I'll wait until this problem arises before I'll take personal offense and fix the issue.

Sure I own a Super Nintendo, an NES and a plethora of Famiclones and I don't currently own any Super Famicom games that need special means to be played, as of yet, but having the Super 8 opens up the doors to so many possibilities. I am a sucker for systems or attachments that allow me to save room on my entertainment center and the Super 8 allows me to play 4 different type of games through one system, with impeccable compatibility. If nothing else the Innovation Super 8 shows the modern Famiclone consoles just how much better an NOAC was back in 1995 and its simply a cool piece to own!