Meet a proud FC Twin owner

Includes but not limited to: SNES, Genesis, Sega CD, PlayStation 1, Nintendo 64, Dreamcast, Game Gear and I guess the Virtual Boy.

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cpd2008
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Meet a proud FC Twin owner

Post by cpd2008 » Wed Apr 16, 2008 5:15 pm

Hello. This is my first post here.

In Summer 2006, I was introduced to the world of Famiclones when I bought a Yobo FC Game Console from "Last Stop CD Shop" in Sioux Falls, SD. (yes, clones are even sold in South Dakota, mainly the big cities) The FC Game Console reintroduced me to the NES, and all the games I grew up with or remember from my childhood.

Fast forward to Christmas 2007. The same game store was selling the FC Twin video game console, and I put it on my Christmas list. And, I got it for Christmas. It was the Black/Silver console with Yobo Jewel, and it worked great until about two weeks later. For some reason, the Super NES side quit working. It would turn "on" but the TV screen remained blue even with a game inside the unit. The NES portion still worked. I unplugged it from the AC Adapter overnight, and next morning plugged it back in. Both sides were working again. A week later though, the Super NES side quit working once again with the same issue. I tried the AC adapter trick I outlined above but it didn't work. Luckily my parents still had the receipt from the game store, and I exchanged it when I moved back to college a few days later.

The exchange unit I got was the Pearl White/Purple unit, and both sides are still working great. When I first plugged it all in though, it didn't turn on. It turns out that the AC adapter that came with the unit was bad, and have since got a replacement unit. (a generic RadioShack 3v-12v AC adapter set on 9v) The audio from the NOAC can also get a bit scratchy at times (mostly with games that use PCM audio samples) but its not that big an issue for me.

The question I ask is that what probably caused the Super NES side to quit working on my first FC Twin?

newguy101
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Post by newguy101 » Wed Apr 16, 2008 5:32 pm

not sure but most people on these forums are more towards retro Duo since its a better made system than the fc twin... i also have a fc twin and seems a bit hard to find people who mod them(who keep the NES board intact without removing)

cpd2008
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Post by cpd2008 » Wed Apr 16, 2008 6:31 pm

newguy101 wrote:not sure but most people on these forums are more towards retro Duo since its a better made system than the fc twin... i also have a fc twin and seems a bit hard to find people who mod them(who keep the NES board intact without removing)
How long have you had your FC Twin? And what color/version is it? (with or without Yobo Jewel)

I may get a Retro Duo in the future, but I have high hopes for my FC Twin. Its been working great since January.

newguy101
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Post by newguy101 » Wed Apr 16, 2008 6:36 pm

mins is the black one with silver buttons and hase the jewel on it, works fine for me but ive only had it for a few months but ive heard of a lot fo them breaking. if i knew the problems the twin had before i bought it, i would have gotten a retro duo. however if mine does break ill def get a duo instead of another twin

17daysolderthannes
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Post by 17daysolderthannes » Thu Apr 17, 2008 10:55 pm

mines been working fine for a few months now. The only problems I have is that a used 3rd party controller I have gives scrambled signals in the player 1 controller port but works fine in the other one (I think it has to do with the plug on the controller though) and my copy of Tetris has pins that don't go all the way to the edge of the chip so I have to insert it at an angle to make a connection. Aside from that its all great, though I also get occasional static from the NES side. Are you sure your game wasn't just dirty? I would imagine a dirty game could cause that problem. The only negative thing I've heard about the Retro Duo is that the cartridge slot pins are a little soft so that they might be easy to permanently bend. This is based on a youtube review so I don't know how true that is. I unfortunately bought my FC Twin about 2 months before the Retro Duo came out so I'm fine with it for now and if it breaks I'll try to hack it and buy a Retro Duo since it has better overall compatibility.

cpd2008
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Post by cpd2008 » Thu Apr 17, 2008 11:02 pm

Actually I don't think its the games, but rather something with the audio output circuitry. As I said before, its not that bad, and most games sound fine. Right now, I have the audio routed through my desktop computer because the NES audio causes line interference on my DVD/VCR combo unit thanks to its RF unit. (I did test on a TV with composite video input and no interference there, and also no interference on another DVD/VCR) I am planning on getting a more modern TV set soon that has built in composite video.

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Bubbles
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Post by Bubbles » Fri Apr 18, 2008 9:45 am

Mine works fine except the SNES portion will glitch up whenever the system is slightly moved, and since it's light I do accidentally pull it with the controller cord a fair bit, but I'm careful now so it doesn't happen.

I am however never going to turn it into a portable for this reason, maybe the NES bits at some point, but the SNES bits just wouldn't work unless I can find out what's wrong with them.

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Life of Brian
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Post by Life of Brian » Fri Apr 18, 2008 12:40 pm

My guess as to why it stopped working was faulty wiring. Most clones tend to have really cheap and/or poorly soldered ribbon cables connecting the two or three boards inside the system (including the Retro Duo). I think perhaps after time something wiggled loose and that may have been the source of your problems.
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sammy
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Post by sammy » Fri Apr 18, 2008 12:53 pm

Life of Brian wrote:My guess as to why it stopped working was faulty wiring. Most clones tend to have really cheap and/or poorly soldered ribbon cables connecting the two or three boards inside the system (including the Retro Duo). I think perhaps after time something wiggled loose and that may have been the source of your problems.
I noticed that as well. a lot of the joints are really bad (like cold solder points) and the riboon cables brake off if you stress the boards a bit.

Pass
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Post by Pass » Wed Apr 23, 2008 2:56 pm

What is this yobo "jewel"?

cpd2008
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Post by cpd2008 » Wed Apr 23, 2008 3:10 pm

Pass wrote:What is this yobo "jewel"?
Its a sticker with the Yobo Gameware logo that is behind the cartridge slot on the newer FC Twins. Its raised, and it looks like a jewel.

Pass
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Post by Pass » Wed Apr 23, 2008 4:02 pm

Alright thanks, but i don't understand why some would have them and some wouldn't, and is having it or not having it better? because mine has it.

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Bubbles
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Post by Bubbles » Thu Apr 24, 2008 10:28 am

Mine had a Yobo Jewel, but it came off somehow.

I was sad.

:cry:

Ace_1
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Post by Ace_1 » Thu Apr 24, 2008 9:45 pm

cpd2008 wrote:
newguy101 wrote:not sure but most people on these forums are more towards retro Duo since its a better made system than the fc twin... i also have a fc twin and seems a bit hard to find people who mod them(who keep the NES board intact without removing)
How long have you had your FC Twin? And what color/version is it? (with or without Yobo Jewel)

I may get a Retro Duo in the future, but I have high hopes for my FC Twin. Its been working great since January.
Don't get your hopes too high for the durability of the accesories, though. My FC Twin had a controller that was broken out of the box(the A, B, X and Y buttons were working all at the same time without even touching them), and just today, my second controller took a trip to the dumpster(only the B and A buttons work and the B button also acts as DOWN, for some reason). System reliability is good, though. I've had my FC Twin for about a little over 5 months and it's still working like on day 1, except I added S-Video on my unit. This a Charcoal Black/Silver Button jeweled model.

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