FC Twin: The Ultimate Retro Console of This Generation

Gamers these days often run out to retail store standing in long lines waiting to get their hands on the new Sony PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii and other are at home playing Microsoft's X-Box 360 console with games like Gears of War or Call of Duty 3 or with downloaded arcade classic games from X-Box Live Arcade like "Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting" or "Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3," will one thing you can tell us that these kinds of gamers are not retro gamers by heart simply because they want more in multimedia than true videogaming. I know the Nintendo Wii had a Virtual Console Store that let you download classic games from every consoles of their past as well as others too and Sony's PlayStation 3 had an online store that let gamers download cheap classic PSOne games for playing either on their new system or via their portable PSP handheld, to me that is just not retro gaming. For one thing retro gaming is about true classic gaming, and I do mean true as in real gaming in a real way, not something you would download from a source for a small price and call it a classic and playing it on a console that for one thing doesn't feel the same, that's why in this new generation there is the FC Twin.

Unlike the new Microsoft X-Box 360, Sony PlayStation 3, and Nintendo Wii, the FC Twin is an alternative videogame console made for the retro gaming lover of this era, as to where the other competitors bring new features to their consoles like new innovative controllers, ground breaking graphics and sounds, and full online support for its games, this system introduced what the other systems failed to delivered, true retro gaming. Just by looking at the console itself, you will see that it doesn't seem to fit in this generation at all because of its classic look, for me it just look like a small black hardware similiar to a Sega Genesis design but don't mistake this as a Sega product because it's not. The FC Twin had two cartridge slots and two round edge buttons on the left side of its edges. The upper button is the RESET button which for some retro gamers who once own a NES, Super NES, or any of the Sega Genesis consoles will be familiar with, under that is a pushable toggle button which toggle between 8-Bit, 16-Bit, and Off Mode. On the back of the FC Twin hardware, you'll notice the three AV cable plug-ins which can be used for playing the hardware on any televisions that requires these cable. On the front side of the FC Twin, you'll notice two familiar controller slots, just by looking at them on how they are shown, you could probably guess which controllers are actually used for this hardware. If you had guess that the controller ports look similiar to Nintendo's Super NES controller ports, you are damn right and if the controller ports are Super NES compatible, you might realize that one of the top loading slot is actually for inserting Super NES cartridges. Yes, a console that can play my classic library of Super NES games but wait, what's up with that other top loading slot, the second one locate beside it, could it be for something else? For one thing I noticed, the inserted slot is much shorter than the Super NES slot, to find out which game can be use for it, I have tried different cartridges from the Sega Genesis, Sega Master, Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 7800, Nintendo 64, and NES and finally for the love of retroriffic, it fits perfectly well for the NES cartridge. That means this console is not just a 16-Bit Super NES, but it is also an 8-Bit NES which means it's a combo system of Nintendo's two greatest classic consoles ever made.

Knowing I had an NES and Super NES in one hardware here, I decided to test this hardware with any of the classic games I have. These are the games that I have tested for the NES, they are Metroid, Battletoads, Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt(damn, the Nintendo Zapper is not compatible with this hardware, that means no more duck shooting), Legend of Zelda, and Super Mario Bros. 3. All of them seems to be working just as they did on an original NES console and plays very much the same except this time you control them with a Super NES style controller instead of the classic NES one, the Super NES games that I have tested are Super Mario World, Chrono Trigger, Mortal Kombat II, Super Metroid, and Legend of Zelda: A Link To the Past. All Super NES games work perfectly with no loading problem at all and the graphics and sounds were perfectly intact as if they are on a real Super NES. A downside to this console though is that even if it is fully compatible with all Super NES games and accessories, NES accessories are not supported that means the classic NES zapper, classic NES controllers, and third party NES accessories aren't compatible for use with this hardware.

Although the FC Twin console might not had sources for downloading classic games, doesn't feature cutting edge graphics and sounds, doesn't had online play, doesn't let you watch HD DVD or Blu-Ray and doesn't had memory card for storing downloaded MP3s, movies or images, what it does in the retro category will surely please retro gamers as the better classic alternative than any of the next generation three of today. If you are a retro gamer and still had any of your classic NES and Super NES cartridges lying around somewhere in your basement or garage and wanted a new console to test those classics in this new generation, come and give the FC Twin a try and I can assure you it will definitely give you better game play value than those emulation download games that many new generation gamers are playing these days. The FC Twin is not an offiicial hardware(due to this hardware not being officially made by Nintendo) so searching for one at EBGames or GameStop will get you nowhere, I prefer you check out this online store www.baysoftgames.com for availability, but you better act quick because demands for this console are very high and it will only be a matter of time before it runs out of stock.