Japanese company Columbus Circle is hopping on board the SNES Mini hype train by releasing its own clone of the popular 16-bit console.
The SFC Compact HDMI console launched in Japan today and plays both Super Famicom and NA/EU SNES cartridges.
It comes bundled with two controllers, an AC adapter and both HDMI and AV cables, and costs 9,936 Yen (approximately $90 / £66).
This system will be fighting for the attention of consumers alongside Hyperkin's upcoming Supa Retron HD, which also plays SNES games in high definition. Are you tempted to invest? Let us know with a comment.
[source japanesenintendo.com, via columbuscircle.co.jp]
Comments 48
Of course. Looks spiffy but I'm not a collector so I'll just wait for VC.
For a split second, I thought Nintendo were releasing this...
If only we had the same ease of access to Super Famicom cartridges...
Just looks like another crappy clone that will have subpar HD output basically making it's existance pointless and useless.
Hope it doesn't have the same emulation issues RetroN's devices have.
That's an amazing deal.
7th!
wheres my award?
If you have a big collection of SNES carts you still play, this seems like a cool idea.
I'd rather VC on the Switch though. The Switch has the potential to be THE definitive VC machine because of it's hybrid nature.
Still gotta track down dem cartridges for this to be worth anything.
Unless you're getting a flash cart of course.
@Pod Or if you already have a large collection of Super Famicom games, but no proper way of playing them on HD TV.
it looks fisher-price !
If it dont have NINTENDO on the box then sorry I don't want it.
Oh, that title got me for a second. Thought it was an actual super famicom rather than a clone.
Looks ugly as hell.
This is from the guys that make those Famicom handhelds. Those are poorly made but sell cheap and have hundreds of games so they make for a guilty pleasure for the right kind of retro gamer.
If this thing has the same build quality, but nothing built-in, I can't see it lighting the market on fire.
This looks quite cheap...
@Dayton311
Clearly they hired the designer from PlaySkool (which don't you love that they help kids learn by spelling school wrong? lol)
Controller button should have been the same colours as the logo. Or, the shouldn't have went with the multiple colours on the main console and just went red and gray, like this:
@Shiryu There are a ton of quality repro sellers. That is what I do for expensive titles.
That console is such a cool combination of the designs of the SNES and Super Famicon. And I love how the buttons are red like the original NES and the early SNES prototypes pictured above. Seems like a really cool snes clone that just celebrates the design of all iterations of the Super Nintendo.
Why get that one when you can get this one instead? Offers both Famicom (NES through converter) and Super Famicom/Super NES support out of the box and output in 720p HD, heck it's even from the same company.
Will it play ALL Region NES & SNES games ?
If yes, YAY..... !!!
And the New color looks so adorable.
Famiclone. Cheap. Will have a totally rubbish upscaler and make the whole experience bad.
@Anti-Matter It's pretty much just NTSC compatible I believe.
As an old, old, old timer that was here before video games were even invented, I can't help but laugh heartily at this and how excited everyone is about all these retro systems. It speaks volumes about the gaming industry. Games truly were more fun in the 16 bit and 8 bit era, thus the excitement for these. Not to mention all the new games starting to saturate the eShop that LOOK like retro games. You see, kiddos? It's the gameplay that wins. Not the "latest and greatest" graphics and fancy bells & whistles. That stuff never endures unless the games are truly entertaining.
Clickbait headline make me think this was official.
@retro_player_22
Oh, no PAL region compatible ?
Well....
That's okay. I can hunt for Japan and USA version only.
Oh boy another of the millions of clone consoles.
The only thing new about this one is how they managed to take the US console design and make it worse.
@retro_player_22 @Anti-Matter read the second line in the article
"The SFC Compact HDMI console launched in Japan today and plays both Super Famicom North American and European SNES cartridges".
Also retro player that fc and sfc image you posted is that also north American and European compatible if not than am out.
If it hass 100% compatability I am down.
@Sinton Or buy all the sports games and Japanese text heavy games that never got a US release for absolute peanuts. Technically you'll have a large SNES/Super Famicom collection.... XD
So you can play games from a flash/usb card? But its near same price as SNES mini and not near as cute/iconic in design.
Ooooh!
@CheezIt Exactly!! 4K, VR, those things get old pretty quick. It's the experience that matters. But sadly most companies rather make easy money with little effort.
@Malpais well said.... and often times coding these new games is much, much easier than it was in my day, where things were done manually, and thus the profit margin is significantly higher now than it was in the 16 bit and earlier eras.
Thje coolest thing about this is that they use the all red buttons like on the original prototype.
You just know the quality of its output is going to be turd
@Jokerwolf Reproduction carts are tricky business...
@CheezIt you are wrong on that part though. back then 2D was the in thing. We got graphic wise and gameplay wise same good quality. Today gaming however they don't care much about graphics that much and gives us medicore gaming. At least in the 2D gaming most games were charming and not that bad gameplay. The 3D era we are in now... gameplay is a snoozer but graphics are awesome.... so yes we need both quality in graphics and gameplay. That's what we are missing atm
@Sinton
HDtvs aren't really proper for SNES games in the first place, but you are of course right.
Wait on reviews. It could be garbage like what we've already seen already from the hyperkin crap bin of low quality. Cheapest possible shoddy upscaler taking the old signal to 720p. Sure it runs off HDMI but the quality isn't there, it's just functional with baggage.
Will this be like that or did they do it right?
@Horsemeat Didn't see anything about PAL support on the box so clearly it should be only just NTSC but then again it's from the same company so not sure. If this one had PAL support, maybe the two in one as well, it's speculation at this point. I would buy one myself but these exclusive Japanese clones are 2x more expensive than the common ones we got over here.
My Retro Duo played PAL games years ago. Don't see any reason to doubt that this one is compatible.
@Shiryu How so?
@Jokerwolf Legally speaking.
@Shiryu Not really, If they are games that are not offered for purchase anymore new I see no legal issues, demand with no suplly creates a grey area. It is not my problem if a company does not want to recreate old games.
The design of it looks like the Gamerz Tek 16 Bit HD, but with swapped colors.
It's just upscaling. Anything under 100 unless emulation isn't going to be real HD. You need an FPGA or HD mod hack. It will be a 720p signal but not 720p quality...
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