Peripheral Vision: Super 8 by Innovation for the SNES
Is it a Famiclone? Is it a peripheral? Well, it’s actually both!
These days, it seems, at least a few times a year we read news of an upcoming video game console packing the necessary hardware, or software, to run multiple systems from a single unit. With the likes of the Retron5, among many others, gamers can now spend more time and money on video games themselves, rather than putting money into individual consoles. Though it may be a more current trend, this isn’t the first time such an idea has been marketed. I introduce to you the Super 8 by Innovation.
Innovation is, perhaps, most well known for their third party video game accessories. With products such as controllers, AV cables and many others, Innovations broke into the video game market. Where does a video game accessory company go when they are tired of only making video game accessories? To the console market, of course! Not you Mad Catz. NO! Bad Mad Catz! Bad!
With the Super 8 peripheral you can run three different consoles from the safety of your Super Nintendo, or Super Famicom. (Yes this works on the SNES-101 as well!) The Super 8 allows you to play Famicom and NES games from your SNES, which is quite odd but works very well. The Famicom and NES portions are handled by a system on a chip, but I haven’t found any incompatibility issued yet. Yes, it even plays Castlevania 3 without problems, and no I’m not kidding.
Are you someone who wants to play imported SNES/Super Famicom games without breaking the tabs in the cartridge slot? The Super 8 will facilitate that for you as well. I can’t fully test whether or not it will play PAL games for the Super Nintendo or PAL NES games, but I do know it plays Japanese NTSC games without a problem, at least the ones I have tested. I’m not completely sure, but I run on the assumption that Super Nintendo/Super Famicom games are run as pass-thru and working on the actual SNES hardware. Bone stock Super 8 units will have a rectifiable compatibility issue that I will explain later.
Simply place the Super 8 into your Super Nintendo like any other video game. Then you take the video pigtail, which looks like the normal Nintendo AV cables, and plug that into the back of your Super Nintendo console, and plug the actual AV cables into the output of the Super 8 peripheral. Be careful as the output on the Super 8 won’t fit perfectly snug, but as long as you make a good connection and don’t jostle the console or the peripheral you should be fine.
Now it’s up to you to decide which one of the systems you want to utilize. I would heavily advise against filling both the NES and Famicom slots at the same time, but putting a Super Nintendo cartridge in with either Famicom or NES catridges won’t have any affect on the Super 8. Once you’ve booted up your Super Nintendo you should be greeted by a screen showing two controllers, a Famicom for 8-bit and a Super Famicom controller for 16-bit. The on-screen instructions will guide you through the process. That’s pretty much it. Now you should be playing one of the three systems the Super 8 allows.
Now here are a few things you may need to know about the Super 8, whether you already own one or are thinking about purchasing one. The Super 8 was designed to sit atop the Super Famicom design, not the squared off Super Nintendo or even the redesigned Super Famicom/SNES-101. You may find yourself having to shim the Super 8 to keep it straight on the console.
If for any reason you are going to open your Super 8 it is highly advised not to do so in direct sunlight or under UV light as there is an exposed chip on top of the board. I carefully opened mine and covered that chip, so hopefully that’s taken care of that. Which leads us to why you may need to open your Super 8.
One thing you may notice is just how temperamental your Super 8 is. Sometimes it may work, other times it may not work at all. Mine slowly degraded into not working at all. Being familiar with Famiclones I just assumed it was rendered nothing more than a unique conversation piece. After a year or so of it not working I opened the unit and noticed some of the chips are in sockets. Ever so carefully I pressed down on each chip to see if it was well seated, which all of them seemed as if they were. However, when I checked the unit after doing so it fired right up without any glitches.
Finally the compatibility issue I spoke about earlier. The Super 8 will not natively play the Super Gameboy, and as an extension I assume it won’t play Super FX equipped games either. Someone at Innovation thought it would be a good idea to purposely cut one of the traces that is needed to play the Super Gameboy, but with a little soldering you can scrape yourself a few spots and bridge that gap. I’ve already done this on my Super 8 and can confirm it does restore the ability to use the Super Gameboy. I can not currently confirm whether it restores Super FX game compatibility though.
The Super 8 is a fun little piece to own that opens your video game library up to a few different consoles you may not have been able to play before, as well as consolidates power and AV cables. Playing Famicom and NES games with an SNES controller does feel a bit weird, but if you’re familiar with Super Mario All-Stars you should be fine. If you’re interested in owning a Super 8 they might be a bit hard to find, but if you find one in good working condition I believe it’s well worth owning.
Famiclone: MaxxPlay
Out of all the Famiclones that I own, I would have to say the MaxxPlay has the best build quality, by far. It may look like the run of the mill Famiclone packed into an N64 style controller, and it is, but there is a strange sense of quality behind it that pushes it further up the ladder than the others. I will be giving the MaxxPlay a good going over and explaining the pros and cons of this system, compared to the other plug n play Famiclones that I own.
As soon as I first played the MaxxPlay, I could immediately feel how different it was from the Super Joy and Power Joy systems I own. The plastic is substantially more rigid, the d-pad (and working joystick, might I add) is more accurate and the buttons have a really nice springy response. The intro screen is even a well illustrated set of instructions on how to use the system, in case for some reason you couldn’t figure it out otherwise.
The basic design is much the same as many plug n play Famiclones, N64 controller styling, adjusted to suit the needs of the system dwelling within, with a Famicom 60 pin connector attached to the bottom and using the memory card slot as the battery pack receptacle. The integrated light gun is present as well, with added LEDs on either side (for added dramatic effect?). Player 2 plugs into the handle of player one, as well as the system has hardwired AV cables, both of which are just like the Power Joy.
The main system functions well with 95 built-in games, but the 60 pin connector on the bottom is plagued by the same tight, uncomfortable placement as all other plug n play Famiclones. Although this time there isn’t enough space to make a good enough connection for most of my Famicom cartridges even work, oddly enough I’ve found by their poorly made nature pirate carts work slightly better. Even so, if you accidentally bump the cartridge you’re going to need to reset the system and try again.
The 95 built-in games are all decent enough to keep you busy for a while, comprised mostly of shameless hacks and blatant pirates. Strewn throughout are a good mix of action games and even a selection of games to test out the integrated light gun, which is as accurate as any other. Although I don’t know what every single games was originally, I’ve done my best to compile a list to the best of my knowledge:
Fun Click — Bejewled like Game — Real Name unknown
Box World — Box/Warehouse style puzzle game — Boxxle Clone?
UFO Race — Famicom F1 hack
Obstacle Race — Zippy Race pirate
Boat Race — Road Fighter Hack
Cowboy — Wild Gunman hack
Forest Guard — Hogan’s Alley hack
Space 2050 — Duck Hunt hack
UFO SHoot — Duck Hunt hack
Snowfield Shoot — Duck Hunt hack
Aether Tiger — 1942 hack
Archery — Pooyan hack
Zero Gravity — Balloon Fight
Super Elf — Circus Charlie Hack, although the main char looks familiar
Baseball — NES Baseball hack
Future Copter — Battle City Hack
Diamond — Arkanoid hack
Matching — Card matching game, unknown if original or hack
Tennis — NES Tennis Hack
Gold Digger — Main Character resymbols Kirby, otherwise unknown.
Mars Man — Binary Land hack.
Mars —
Bomb — DOS Minesweeper
Tunny —
Spar — Urban Champion hack
Strange Pop Pop — Bubble Tetris
Soccer — NES Soccer hack
Clonk — Adventure Island hack
Egg it — Pacman Hack
High Jump — Gold Medal Challenge ’92
Long Jump — Gold Medal Challenge ’92
Triple Jump — Gold Medal Challenge ’92
Shot Put — Gold Medal Challenge ’92
Discus Put — Gold Medal Challenge ’92
Javelin Throw — Gold Medal Challenge ’92
Shooting — Gold Medal Challenge ’92
Target Practice — Gold Medal Challenge ’92
100 Meter Dash — Gold Medal Challenge ’92
100 Meter Hurdles — Gold Medal Challenge ’92
Witch Run — Aladdin 3
Ballistic Mayhem — Mach Rider
Planetary Pool — Lunar Pool hack
Helicopter Harry — Raid on Bungeling Bay hack
Fly By —
Snack Attack —
Bomb Drop — Chack n Pop hack
Cloud Fire — Twinbee hack.
Dragon — Dragon
Top Shot — Galaga Hack
Warrior Chase — Ninja Jajamaru Kun hack
Defiance —
Thinker — Othello Hack
Down Deep — Dig Dug hack
Climbing Club — Ice Climber Hack
Ultimate Choice —
Bird Brain — Bird Week hack
Burger Build — Burger Time hack
Propeller —
Need for Speed — Spy Hunter hack
Zig Zag — Road Fighter hack
Bumpity Bop — Bump n Jump hack
In and Out Racer — Zippy Racing hack
Monster Dash — Brush Roller hack
Street Frenzy — City Connection hack
Neighborhood Smash — Karate hack
Extreme Racer — Excitebike hack
Hovercraft —
Enemy Assault —
Flip Out — Pinball hack
Championship Golf — NES Golf hack
Right Move — Othello style
Fish Fight — Clu Clu Land hack
What’s Up — Donkey Kong hack
Rescue — Donkey Kong hack
Frogland — Donkey Kong hack
Jump and Journey — Mario Bros. hack
Saucer Wars —
Make well — Dr. Mario hack
Depths of Space —
Convert Soldier — Formation Z hack
Seascape — Sqoon hack
Swirl — Millipede hack
Break Out — Mappyland hack
Soaring Warrior — Joust hack
Warrior Tales — Kung Fu hack
Championship wrestling — MUSCLE hack
Let Loose — Popeye hack
Jungle Trial — Spelunker hack
Arctic Hunt — Spelunker hack
Warship — Galaxian hack
Village Protector — Space Invaders hack
Abacus — Tetris style game
Underworld — Devil world hack
Championship Football — 10 Yard Fight hack
World Championship Badminton — Badminton hack
Even though the system feels good and performs solidly, with the aforementioned cartridge issue there is only one more shortcoming that drags the system down slightly. On both the Power Joy and Super Joy systems there is an option to use an AC adapter to power the system, when batteries fail and boy do batteries fail when they run low. The MaxxPlay, through its seemingly well planned design, does not afford the option to be powered by an AC adapter, strictly running on batteries.
Player 2’s controller is essentially the same as the main system, obviously lacking the brain and any other functions that the main system would need. The battery pack area is instead a very cleverly designed stand, for some reason. Also lacking is any sign of a connector, although Player 2 does get their own integrated gun as well.
Overall, with the 2 minor gripes that I have about the MaxxPlay, I wouldn’t suggest anyone avoiding this system. Although by definition the MaxxPlay is a Famiclone, I personally wouldn’t credit it as such since its pretty hard to get Famicom cartridges to work, more a portable system with built-in games. If you’re on the road, and have access to a TV to plug one into, I would say the MaxxPlay is a rugged enough system to play and enjoy to pass the time.
Famiclone: Power Joy Voyager
Being the Famiclone freak I am, I’m quite familiar with the Power Joy name, considering that is the name that kicked off my adoration for not only Famiclones, but the system and game piracy market as a whole. When you think of a handheld Famiclone many would think of the jet fighter/Nintendo 64 cross-breed I’ve shown here many times before, but Power Joy took the term quite literally. Power Joy created a Famiclone concealed within a package that most casual gamers would pass up without a second glance, however this Famiclone is definitely worth a second glance, and perhaps even more.
Today I will be taking a look at quite a peculiar Famiclone called the Power Joy Voyager, a Famiclone that I had only seen online and never really expected one to ever cross my path, which recently happened. I was at the Goodwill outlet store, digging through bins, when I happened to unearth what I originally thought was a Nintendo Gameboy, but upon further inspection it was the Power Joy Voyager. The screen is clearly an LCD of a cheap Chinese Tetris clone, but when I flipped the unit over it had a cartridge inside, which gave me hope that it had more games than just cheap Tetris knock-offs.
After getting everything home I pulled the Voyager out of the bag and gave it a test, sure enough it was nothing more than different variations of games made up of blocks; Tetris clones, blocky designed tank battle games and even (admittedly fun) blocky car racing games. I turned the unit over and pulled out the cartridge to see how it would function without it, which yielded absolutely no change in the game selection. I wondered to myself why the unit would have a cartridge inside of it that had no bearing on the games.
At this point I have to admit that prior to even testing the unit I was well aware of the controller port and power input on the bottom (luckily I also found the controllers), as well as the AV output on the top. However, this is a Chinese made system, which means this unit doesn’t need to follow any sense of logic, this thing could have a Megazord built in, simply because they had one laying around that day. But when the cartridge failed to change the game selection I was stunned and decided that I needed to plug it in to see exactly what was going on.
Like that isn’t obvious!
Oddly enough there is no volume adjustment wheel, like Nintendo’s Gameboy, but while in LCD mode you simply press the yellow button to cycle through different volume levels. The switch on the side of the system has 3 options: off, TV and LCD. LCD is pretty obvious but when I tried the TV option the LCD shut off and a red light turned on, which at first seemed to do absolutely nothing until I jiggled the switch a bit, and much to my surprise the television screen flashed up just like the other Power Joy I own, with a list of NES games!
As I mentioned before the system has a controller port and power input on the bottom, as well as AV ports on the very top, none of which hinder the ability to use it as a portable system, should you want to. The controllers come paired together, much like the old Atari 2600 paddle controllers, simply two controllers with a single plug at the end. Aiding in the efforts to push the unit’s “portability” is the ability to use (4xAAA) batteries to power the system, although this doesn’t yield the best results in TV mode, I also presume this would drain the batteries quite quickly.
Two controllers, one plug. Now that is a video I can watch!
The built-in controls are pretty standard for any Famiclone, even including a reset button, but the detachable controllers are quite unique. Small, yet comfortable, player one’s controller has an integrated light gun and standard D-pad, while player two has more of an analog style stick. Both controllers have the standard and turbo A and B buttons as well as their own start and select buttons.
The shell is blatantly copied from the Gameboy Color, which makes the system comfortable to hold, sadly the portable side of the unit isn’t strong enough to make you want to hold it for too long. The Voyager’s cartridge design isn’t exactly based off the Gameboy cartridge design, it may slightly resemble it but it any gamer should easily be able to tell the difference, nor are the cartridges interchangeable between the two systems.
Close, but not really.
The cartridge (PJ-008) has 84 games comprised mostly of pirated classics with no repeats, which is the exact same line up of games in the Famicom sized PJ-008 cartridge. Being a Chinese system, yet again I must note the cheap AV outputs, but the picture quality is great compared to other handheld Famiclones. Much like other handheld Famiclones using batteries isn’t the best option, and when the batteries start running down you will notice strange reactions to pressing buttons, as well as lines in the screen.
The NES side of this strange little beast heavily out weighs the handheld block games, but that isn’t saying the handheld games are all bad. With a few good variations of Tetris, some Breakout clones and various other games thrown in, the Power Joy Voyager will keep you entertained on short car rides, work commutes or even between your favorite TV shows. I picked this thing up super cheap, or else I probably wouldn’t have bought it at all, but if you find one for a few bucks I would highly recommend it, if nothing more than just the sheer oddity of the thing.
Since I don’t have the instruction manual I did a Google search and came up empty, although I did send off an email to someone who was selling one on Craigslist from Derby, CT. That person was gracious enough to actually scan the manual and send me the photos! For that I have to send a huge thank you to Bryan!
Famiclone: Dreamstation
When I came across this Famiclone for $5 in a flea market, it was as if a dream had come true. And as hard as I may be searching to make a nightmare joke here, I simply can’t bridge that gap. Sure the Dreamstation is a Famiclone, with all the cheap, half-assed Chinese goodness you would expect, but the system has only a few minor flaws.
My only real complaint is that the cables for the controllers are way too short, other than that this system is pretty great, considering it is a Chinese Famiclone. Another thing, although it isn’t really an issue other than cosmetic, is the melting styrofoam which seems to be an issue with most Chinese Famiclones that I’ve seen. Both the styrofoam from the box and the plastic in the system seem to be fusing together for some unknown reason.
Even with the cables being considerably too short, the controllers are surprisingly and extremely comfortable. They also arranged the A and B buttons more like the NES controller than most other Famiclone controller I’ve used, and included A and B shoulder buttons. The light gun included with the set feels very comfortable in my hands and is also surprisingly very accurate, but looks too real to be swung around wildly in public.
To compare the Dreamstation to my 57000 Video Game System, functionality wise I have to hand it to the Dreamstation hands down. The cartridge slot has a nice, broken in feeling where the carts pop in and come out without issue, as where the 57000 seems as if it just doesn’t want to let go of the game. Both pirated games and my Famicom games fit perfectly, with the real Famicom games fitting like a glove, I assume due to their significantly more rigid cartridge plastic.
It seems as if they used a Sega Genesis 2 for the base of the Dreamstation and just rounded it off to fit their needs. The Dreamstation comes with the standard 9 pin controller inputs for 2 players, uses the standard 9v DC power supply and much like the 57000 Video Game system, has AV and RF outs on the back. But unlike the 57000 the Dreamstation’s RF out works, and for some reason broadcasts to channel 23.
The reason I even found the system was because of the pirate cartridge sitting on top of the box, which looked like a black N64 cart, I had bent over to pick it up and read the box it was sitting on. I checked inside and found another cartridge so I figured if nothing more than for the 2 pirate games the price was well worth it, the fact that everything works is just a plus. The black cartridge boasts 9,999,999 games and the yellow cartridge claims 20 in 1, which we can already tell are both lies! Here is a list of games within both cartridges:
1)Pokemon – Hack of Nuts & Milk.
2)Super Mario Bros. – Pretty much what is stated.
3)Soccer – Normal Soccer.
4)Duck Hunt – Normal Duck Hunt.
5)Galaxian – Normal Galaxian.
6)Road Fighter – Normal Road Fighter.
7)Long Live Mario – Starts on World 2-1
8)Fancy Mario – (aka Dream Mary) Incorrectly mirrored Super Mario Bros.
9)Clay Shooting – Normal Clay Shooting.
10)Moon Mario – Starts on World 3-1
11+) Repeats of above.
Yellow 20 in 1
1)Bomber Man(2002) – Looks great, plays like Bomber Man. No clue where this came from.
2)Twinbee – Normal Twinbee.
3)Road Fighter – Normal Road Fighter.
4)Baseball – Completely messed up, as always, pirated Nintendo Baseball.
5)Circus Charlie – Normal Circus Charlie.
6)Lode Runner – Normal Lode Runner.
7)Duck Hunt – Actually “Snowfield Shoot”, a hacked version of Duck Hunt.
8-20) Repeats of the above.
Overall the system feels plastic and cheap, but the cartridges go in and perform solidly. The controllers are extremely comfortable, surprisingly solid and the buttons are in a more familiar layout than most Famiclones. Although I paid $5 for the two pirate cartridges I saw, I ended up with a pretty solid Famiclone to add to my ever growing collection.
Attack of the Clones: New wave!
It is no secret, especially here on TVG, that I have a certain affinity for Famiclones. I currently own six handheld Famiclones which seem to be bountiful in thrift stores, yet I had never seen a console Famiclone and I’ve been eager to own one. Luckily I managed to find one hidden within a bin at the Goodwill Outlet store, although its a pretty nasty brownish/yellow it still works! They called it the Super 57000 Video Game.
There are many variations of console Famiclones, anywhere from nearly identical to a Famicom to the anything will do, just shove the clone workings inside and get it shipped. Mine is more of the latter as the outward appearance is that of an original Sony Playstation complete with a lid, eject button for the lid, power button and light as well as a reset button, which seems to be the only thing of real quality throughout the whole system. The console housing doesn’t close flush, nor does the lid, which covers the 60 pin connector. Even though it isn’t an optical lens it should still close properly to keep dust out of the game input slot.
After doing some research I found that the system came with built in games, which the source noted theirs no longer worked, that worried me slightly as I love the built in games in my Famiclones. Using the power supply from a Super Joy I powered the system on and was presented with a white screen of emptiness, so I tried to put in a game which yielded the same results. After popping the system open and pulling out the failed game board I tried again and this time the system roared to life with the bleep of the pirate multicart I had stuffed into the slot.
Like many, if not all, other Famiclones this one has the infamous 9 pin controller inputs. Luckily I happen to find the controllers to the system in another bin, but since they’re both missing the D-pads I’ve been using one of the player 2 controllers from my handheld systems. Unlike my handhelds this one has an RF output, which didn’t work so I rely heavily on the AV outs.. pretty much like my handhelds.
Although this thing is extremely cheap in terms of build quality, almost unabashedly, it does it’s job to a great extent. I wish the system’s built in games worked so I could give more information on them, even when I put the board in a handheld Famiclone it still didn’t work, so I’m pretty sure that part of the system is beyond repair. A feature that I found amusing was the use of two 60 pin connectors inside, one is for the built in board and the other is for the game cartridges. Having spare Famicom boards from the converters I’ve been building, I decided to use Hogan’s Alley as the built in game and it works perfectly.
I’m sure if I wanted to I could modify the system to work with NES controllers, fix the RF out and generally make the system more reliable than it is currently, but I’m not looking for anything more than a Famiclone console that is just that. Given the utter lack of components to go wrong, if something were to go wrong I could replace the part and get it back up and running with minimal trouble, such as the RF output which I do plan to fix. Again, this system is without a doubt just thrown together to get yet another Famiclone out on the market, but it is a working Famiclone and in the end that was all I was looking for.
The Super 57000 Video Game has once again fueled my interest in Famiclones, much like the Power Joy sparked my interest in them to begin with. I’m naturally looking to get my hands on a few more, including one that looks identical to the Famicom, but to at least own the first Famiclone console I’ve seen out in the wild is good enough for now. I can play my Famicom/pirate games in my NES, sure, but there is just a strange, simple joy of using a system that was designed to play these games specifically and nothing more, short of owning a real Famicom.
Attack of the Clones: Send in the Clones!
I will admit that I’m pretty fond of my Super Joy 3, but lately it has been giving me problems. I think the batteries are going dead, but with anything made in China, it may also just be dying for good. Recently I found a functional Power Joy that may take it’s place, so I figured what better to do than to give the Power Joy it’s own review!
New (Left) and the old one (Right).
The Power Joy also has the N64 controller resemblance, but takes it a few steps further from the Super Joy, for the integrated light gun. The first thing you’ll notice is the toy jet design on the front, as well as the toy gun like handle, with trigger, underneath. The toy jet design may have been added to throw off the N64 controller shape, but the handle and trigger are essential and feel quite comfortable when you’re playing one of the many shooting games packed into this unit. Also, the light gun’s accuracy is surprisingly good!
Black is the new one and blue is the old one.
At the bottom of the handle is the second controller port, as well as the hardwired AV cables, with optional power input. The cables are decent in length and don’t get in the way, despite their placement. Underneath the unit you’ll also find a 60 pin connector and the battery storage, which has an extremely weak feeling cover. The Power Joy does play Famicom cartridges, but the unit isn’t quite big enough to play them comfortably, so your fingers might be cramped until you find a comfortable playing position.
On top of the Power Joy are the controls, which are setup much like the Super Joy’s, but with a few exceptions. Here the D pad is still inaccurate, the reset button is much smaller but still too easy to hit in a hurry, the power switch is right above the reset button and start and select are the same. One feature the Super Joy lacks, but I enjoy on the Power Joy, is a fully functional joystick, which is more accurate (just slightly) than the D pad. A minor drawback is that the A and B buttons (including their turbo counterparts) are backwards, which takes a little time to adjust to.
My new Power Joy came with the cartridge, so I had a chance to see what it could offer. I honestly think the cartridge alone was worth the $3 I paid for the whole unit! The PJ-008 is packed with playable games, and it even works on the NES, with a Famicom to NES converter. Out of the 84 games on the cartridge, there are only a handful of failures. That isn’t to say they’re not functional, they’re just not games I enjoyed. It is noteworthy to say that most of the games packed on the PJ-008 are simply pirated, very few are hacks.
I like it, just not that label!
Overall, again, I am impressed with this cheap, Chinese toy. I enjoy sitting in front of my TV and having many choices right at my finger tips, which the Super Joy and Power Joy units provide in abundance. The controls are whacky, the games are mostly pirates or hacks of games we already know and love, but this system is a pretty cool little device. Thanks to my new Power Joy, I now know that my other Power Joy works as well, it just needed the battery cover to power up properly. I don’t expect them to live long, but for what they are, I will enjoy them as long as I can.
Here is the list of games that the Power Joy offers, as well as the PJ-008 cartridge. I know they released a few different versions, so I would imagine the games differ from cartridge to cartridge, so this is a list of what I’ve got on my system.
Games in the Power Joy
| Power Joy Title | Extra Info |
| Shoot Copter | Hacked Duck Hunt |
| Falling Bricks | Fairly decent Tengen Tetris Hack |
| Shoot Copters | Hacked Duck Hunt |
| Panzer Fly Car | Road Fighter Hack |
| Debar Bomb 1 | Hogan’s Alley Hack |
| Shooting | Hacked Hogan’s Alley – Can shoot |
| Debar Bomb 2 | Hogan’s Alley Hack |
| Future Tank | Battle City Hack |
| Space War | Exerion Hack |
| Shoot Glass | Hacked Duck Hunt – Clay Shooting |
Games in the Cartridge
| Power Joy Title | Extra Info |
| 80 Days | Puss ‘n Boots: Around the World in 80 Days |
| 1942 | 1942 |
| Arkanoid | Arkanoid |
| Aladdin III | Magic Carpet 1001 (Infamous Pirate) |
| Argus | Famicom Argus |
| Adisland | Famicom Adventure Island |
| ASCII | Famicom Penguin-Kun Wars |
| Arabian | Famicom Super Arabian |
| Badminton | Famicom Super Dynamix Badminton |
| Baltron | Famicom Baltron |
| B-Wings | Battle Wings/Famicom B-Wings |
| Bird Week | Famicom Bird Week |
| Boat Race | Seizure inducing F1 Race Hack |
| Boom Man | Bomber Man |
| Brush Roller | Hack of a Pirate called Bookyman |
| Clay Shoot | Hacked Duck Hunt |
| Chack and Pop | Famicom Chack’n Pop |
| Circus Chablie | Circus Charlie – Menu is spelled wrong |
| City Connection | City Connection |
| Challenger | Famicom Challenger |
| Dig Dug | Dig Dug |
| Dough Boy | Famicom Dough Boy |
| Druaga | Famicom Tower of Druaga |
| Devil World | Famicom Devil World |
| Ding Dong | Famicom Binary Land |
| Door Door | Famicom Door Door |
| Dynamite Bowl | Famicom Dynamite Bowl |
| Elevator Action | Elevator Action |
| Exerion | Famicom Exerion |
| Formation Z | Famicom Formation Z |
| Front Line | Famicom Front Line |
| Fire Dragon | Interesting clone of the Atari game Surround |
| Flappy | Famicom Flappy |
| Flipull | Famicom Flipull |
| Filed Combat | Field Combat – Menu is spelled wrong |
| Galaga | Galaga |
| Galg | Famicom Zunou Senkan Galg |
| Geimos | Famicom Geimos |
| Gyrodine | Famicom Gyrodine |
| Goonies | Famicom Goonies |
| Gotcha | LJN’s Gotcha! I like this one, since the Power Joy is also the light zapper! |
| Galaxians | Galaxian |
| Gradius | Gradius |
| Hyper Olympic | Track and Field |
| Joust | Joust |
| Karateka | Famicom Karateka |
| Kage | The Legend of Kage |
| Lode Runner 1 | Lode Runner |
| Lode Runner 2 | Championship Lode Runner |
| Lunar Ball | Lunar Pool |
| Macross | Choujikuu Yousai Macross |
| Magic Jewellery | Pirate of Magic Jewelry |
| MagMax | MagMax |
| Mappy | Mappy |
| Millipede | Millipede |
| Othello | Pirate of HES’s Othello |
| Pooyan | Famicom Pooyan |
| Pac Land | Famicom Pac-Land |
| Paper Boy | Paperboy |
| Pandamar | Hacked Super Mario with a Panda |
| Penguin | Famicom Obake no Q Tarou: Wan Wan Panic/ NES Chubby Cherub (w/ drastic changes!) |
| Route 16 | Famicom Route 16 Turbo |
| Raid on Bay | Raid on Bungeling Bay |
| Road Fighter | Famicom Road Fighter |
| Sky Destroyer | Sky Destroyer |
| Space ET | Space Invaders |
| Star Gate | Famicom Stargate/Defender II |
| Star Force | Star Force |
| Son Son | Famicom Son Son |
| Spartan | Famicom Spartan X/NES Kung Fu |
| Spelunker | Spelunker |
| Spy vs Spy | Spy vs Spy |
| Squoon | Famicom Squoon |
| Starslider | Star Soldier |
| Star Luster | Famicom Star Luster |
| Tag Team | Tag Team [Pro] Wrestling |
| Tank | Battle City |
| Twin Bee | Famicom Twin Bee |
| Wrestling | M.U.S.C.L.E. |
| Wisdom | Wisdom Boy – Puzzle game of unknown Origins |
| Warp Man | Famicom Warpman |
| World Cup | World Cup 2002 Chinese hack of Soccer |
| Xevious | Xevious |
| Zippy Race | MotoRace USA/Zippy Race |
Super Joy 3: The Review!
Earlier I did a quick once over for the Super Joy 3 that I own, and I didn’t quite go into too much detail. Today we are going to delve as deep into this thing as we possibly can without getting lead poisoning. The very first thing you are going to notice when you pick up one of the Super Joy units is the fact that the housing looks a lot like a Nintendo 64 controller, so I will be comparing the two quite a bit. The second thing you’re going to notice is just how cheap and plasticky this thing feels, and that is pretty much the theme throughout.
To start off, the controls are shoved quite a bit more to the center than they are on the N64 controller. The D-pad is essentially the same, but its way off to the right of where it should be. Instead of the C buttons, here you have 2 pairs of A and B buttons, one set being standard and the other set for turbo. More toward the center you have the Reset button next to a slant aligned Start and Select buttons, and a functionless joystick simply screwed on from the inside.
The Super Joy design has done away with the N64’s trigger and they’ve turned the memory card port into the battery pack holder. On the very top left you have the AV outputs, in the middle there is the typical and super cheap looking 9 pin controller port (much cheaper looking than Atari and Sega used) and to the right is the power adapter input and On/Off switch. Since I don’t own the right power adapter, I run mine off 4 AA batteries. Performance seems to be ok, although I can’t compare between the batteries and power adapter. Underneath all Super Joy units, that I’ve seen, there is a 60 pin connector for running ROM boards (mine had a cover on it) which means your unit is either run off a ROM board or you can use Famicom cartridges with it.
As you would expect from anything built in China, this thing is cheap and functions as such. Often times I will find myself hitting the A or B button and getting random reactions or none at all. The D-pad seems to be only slightly inaccurate, but watch out for the extremely willing to work Reset button, which can often be confused for the start button when you need to pause a game in a hurry. The games within my Super Joy 3 (listed in a previous article) are obvious classics, as if they didn’t even really care about copyrights and didn’t try to hide what these games were. The games all function properly with the exception of Super Mario Bros., which is sped up quite a bit.
Within the unit is a mess of wires and three different printed boards, one strictly to handle the controls, another is attached to the 60 pin connector and the other is the main brain of the clone. The wires look cheaply soldered into place and although I’m not a master at soldering either, it just looks like a mess. The extreme bare essentials are thrown in, the components are cheap and that causes a loud buzz in the audio and there are lines running vertically across the screen.
The slot around the 60 pin connector on the bottom of mine is way to small for me to properly insert Famicom cartridges, but I did take the unit apart and they do work! Like wise, after I built my first Famicom to NES converter, I took the ROM board out of my Super Joy and played it on the NES, that works too! Some Super Joys have a bigger cartridge slot than mine, I believe mine was built strictly to be run off the ROM board in the hopes it would never be removed, they sure didn’t see me ever getting my hands on this thing!
I bought my Super Joy 3 at a thrift store for around $4, and if I found another I would more than likely pay $4 for it too. Since this has the option to run off batteries, which have lasted longer than I thought, these units are ideal for packing with you for a trip. The games are fun and the unit is, for the most part, functional. I love playing the original games on the original hardware, but this thing just gives you so many choices that its hard to put it down sometimes. The issues with the audio buzz and lines on the screen tend to fade away, once you’re focused in on playing a game. It does lie and say it gives you 12000 choices while in reality it is only 120-ish, but even so I’ve found this thing to be a lot of fun.
