SupaBoy Announced

[SamAsh07]

Third party gaming accessory manufacturer Hyperkin has just announced the upcoming SupaBoy, a handheld console that plays original SNES cartidges. Due for a release this summer, the SupaBoy will currently only play US cartridges, with a UK PAL release yet to be confirmed. The handheld device is currently only a prototype, but we do know that it will come in at 318g, have a 3.5 inch LCD screen, and a claimed battery life of around five and a half hours. [/p]

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As you can see from the prototype images, the SupaBoy has an A/V stereo output to plug into your TV, and capacity to plug two original SNES controllers to play on the bigger screen with. [/p]

Source

 

[TheDarkSeed]

I must have this!

 

[nutella]

How are they allowed to do that?

 

[SamAsh07]

Same here, but I was wondering why the battery life is THAT poor??
It should be around 10+ hours considering it's just SNES, but then again I've barely heard of Hyperkin..so no comment on the battery life.

Let's see how it stands up against 3DS and PSP in the hand-held market

 

[Devin]

*Waits for N64 SupaBoy*

Looks pretty good.

 

[Zorua]

"and a claimed battery life of around five and a half hours."

Wow, that's it?! It's too less for a 16 bit handheld!

How are they allowed to do that?

Dunno but it must be legal since those pics are from IGN.

 

[machomuu]

*Waits for N64 SupaBoy*

Looks pretty good.

Wouldn't that be called 64Boy?

 

[drewmerc]

got to admit that it looks alot better than there old portable snes

http://hyperkin.com/index.php/retro-gaming...em-fc16-go.html

 

[spinal_cord]

How are they allowed to do that?

Hardware patent might have ran out. I'm fairly sure that's why there are so many NES clones around now. It would also mean that ANYONE is allowed to legally make a SNES console.

-- Might be wrong though --

 

[CannonFoddr]

"and a claimed battery life of around five and a half hours."

Perhaps that's in 'portable mode' - as in when you're out & about & using the built in LCD screen - battery life could actually be more when 'plugged into TV'

We all know (don't we ?!?) that using a LED screen causes huge battery drain
- don't forget (those of us that remember) that when the original Gameboy & GameGear came out - the Gameboy had a [lot] longer battery life compared to the Gamegear & the reason was because the Gamegear had a colour screen while the gameboy only had that 2-tone screen to worry about

 

[Deleted-273695]

Guys stop complaining about the battery.
It's usually two 1400 mah batterys and it has to run the screen and console and also Nutella, These are not real SNESs, they are called NOACs which stands for S/NesOnAChip and doesn't need to be bulky.
Go to forums.benheck.com for more info on portables.
Also Devin, you can buy N64 portables from people on forums.benheck and they make really nice ones.

 

[chartube12]

"and a claimed battery life of around five and a half hours."

Wow, that's it?! It's too less for a 16 bit handheld!

How are they allowed to do that?

Dunno but it must be legal since those pics are from IGN.

Same way they can got away with the retroN3. The rights to most video game console patents expire after 20 years. In 6 more years if Hyperkin is still around we'll see a gb/gbc/gba machine from them.

The retroN3 actually uses the official processors from the nes2, snes and sega nomad. The retroN3 was shown at E3, I wonder if the supaboy will be too?

 

[shakirmoledina]

considering the worthiness, i think buying a gemei or dingoo would be more better though the design for this is quite awesome

 

[RupeeClock]

I have a Caanoo for this sort of thing actually, much more compact, lightweight and no enormous cartridge sticking out.

Plus it does a lot more than just SNES games.

 

[nutella]

Same way they can got away with the retroN3. The rights to most video game console patents expire after 20 years. In 6 more years if Hyperkin is still around we'll see a gb/gbc/gba machine from them.

Yeah, sorry, kinda blanked out for a bit. I thought it was 75 years, but that's for software patents.

 

[indask8]

How are they allowed to do that?

Hardware patent might have ran out. I'm fairly sure that's why there are so many NES clones around now. It would also mean that ANYONE is allowed to legally make a SNES console.

-- Might be wrong though --

Indeed, Famicom hardware was actually never patented (correct me if I'm wrong), So famiclones came fast in the market, Nintendo tried to sue them but they failed, this is why Famicom hardware clones are everywhere... and also those patents have certainly run out, and they have certainly done reverse engineering for the snes.

About that handheld I'll certainly buy it as soon as it's released, it's a shame they've put those "U" "U" shaped plastic tabs inside the cartridge slot to only let US games running... but you can remove them, I've done that on my yobo FC 16 GO, and it runs perfectly every US/jap games and also 80% of the euro games (20% remaining are software region locked or are intensive glitch because they are made for 50hz TV).

I hope the SupaBoy uses same hardware as FC16GO because compatibility is perfect (or near perfect), every games, even those with enhancement chip I tried work (Yes, DSP-1/2/3/4, SFX1/2, SA-1, OBC-1 etc none refused to run).

 

[coolness]

very nice, I want this

(L)

 

[stinkoman]

How are they allowed to do that?

Questionably.
It's kind of a grayish area type deal.

 

[Rydian]

How are they allowed to do that?This plays real carts, not ROMs (and that's a big part of it).

Same here, but I was wondering why the battery life is THAT poor??
It should be around 10+ hours considering it's just SNESPower and efficiency tend to go hand-in-hand. While older processors were weaker, they were also less efficient. They've either used an old processor that can actually run the SNES stuff natively, or (more likely) a new processor that's emulating it (in which case it'd be like emulation on a PSP... when emulating the gameboy you can run at a low clock speed, but for SNES you need a high one).

QUOTE(Devin @ Apr 13 2011, 06:19 AM)

*Waits for N64 SupaBoy*

Looks pretty good.

http://www.google.com/search?q=portable+n64
People sometimes make handheld retro systems individually, but the cost is huge.

 

[Searinox]

Still waiting for the N64Boy.