Expert: Octane - 12/29/2009

Question
Hello,

hope u had a good xmas, and the boxing day test match is great   :-) you said in your last answer that

Tristar 64 are fairly rare.  You might pay anywhere between $80-$200 USD for one.  There do appear on Ebay a bit but go for a fairly high price ($100+).  The PAL version is much harder to find then the NTSC model.  The also don't work all that well and it looks like you are strapping a unit the size of a SNES on top of the N64 so space wise you arn't really saving any space and they have several compatability issues.  

What are the compatibility issues ???

with that being said would you say that it would be better to just get the individual consoles themselves (n64, snes, nes) and play them that way or buy the n64 and go to the trouble of getting the tristar 64 and do it all in one unit ????

thanks once again, talk soon

Answer
Hey Jason,

Because the Tristar is basically 2 NOC (Nintendo on a Chip) one being a NES and one being a SNES and it has several compatibility problems with both NES and SNES Games that the original hardware does not have.  It not a huge amount of games but if you plan to want any on the list then it becomes a huge problem.  There are several, particular SNES games, that quite a lot of collectors may wish to have.  It also lacks the compatibility of various controllers (Like Zapper Gun, Super Scope, Multitaps etc)  Plus playing several games on the N64 controller does not feel right lite playing on a SNES or NES controller.

I'd have a read here.

http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/n64/file/916387/18898

Most of your SNES games that have the SA1 chip in them. (Which is a Standard problem most clone systems have)

I believe it also has problems with the Super Gameboy and that you have to physically solder a jumper for it to work.

Also the video quality is not great.  It's close but not spot on.

On the plus side it does have a built in cheating device.

(I personally own all the nintendo hardware and both Tristars.  I hardly ever play and anything on the N64 because I don't like the controller that much.  Although I have to admit that recently I've been playing my Super Nintendo games on a FC16Go, portable SNES with Wireless controllers.)

If it was up to me I would get all original hardware with probably the exception of the NES simply because the design of the stupid pinset that fails to work over time.  And I'd probably be tempted to get a FC twin or Duo Twin (Clone system that plays NES and Super NES games.  Can Use SNES controllers.  Compatible with most games and you can get a Zapper Gun for it.)

Octane