Hyperkin SupaBoy review
Aug. 1st, 2022 03:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chuckroSo, I wasn’t going to buy this thing, because it’s a ridiculous monstrosity that I absolutely don’t need, but I was buying some comic books from Ixo anyway and it was very reasonably priced and I wanted to see it in action. The face of it labels it a “Portable Pocket SNES Console.”
This thing is absurd and would have been absurd twenty years ago, but at least then it would have been technologically-appropriate absurd. To start: This thing is as big as a Switch but more than twice as thick. (It needs to be, to have an appropriate slot for an SNES cartridge.) The screen is only a 4.3”, which looks tiny on the giant device. The controller buttons are spaced for people who thought the original Xbox controller was comfortable. Basically, this makes motions towards being a handheld, but it’s not actually good for that purpose—and you certainly can’t fit it in your pocket.
It has an AV out port that looks like it could connect to a TV via component cables if I had them; it also has two SNES controller ports at the bottom of the front. My interpretation of this is that it’s “portable” in the sense that it’s easy to bring over to your friend’s house with two controllers, your bag of games and a few cords, and you can play it together on their TV. Again, that would be awesome in 1998, if a little unnecessary. (Nintendo actively encouraged that when they designed the GameCube!)
It charges the internal battery via micro-USB; I had some trouble getting it charged and then had to try several carts to get a game to successfully load. (Apparently the older, fatter cartridges don’t work as well.) When I successfully loaded up Lufia 2, the sound was tinny and the colors were washed-out.
These things go on eBay for $90+ and the MSRP is apparently $120. (Though the newer version apparently has a brightness button and presumably works a little better.) For that price, you can get actual pocket portability and fantastic SNES emulation with an RG350 or a Retroid Pocket; or a PowKiddy X2, which is a similarly-sized device that’s more comfortable and has a much larger screen and still has reasonable SNES emulation. All of those have the ability to output to a TV and attach additional controllers, too. Oh, and in any of those cases you don’t have to carry the cartridges around!
Overall: The only advantage this carries over an emulator device is that you can play your original cartridges, presumably with your 30-year-old savegames on them. But it’s not actually portable enough to make that functionality worthwhile, and my SNES and my RetroDuo still work if I’m going to be sitting in front of my TV anyway. I’m delighted I got my hands on one to try out, though. I think I might put it on display.
This thing is absurd and would have been absurd twenty years ago, but at least then it would have been technologically-appropriate absurd. To start: This thing is as big as a Switch but more than twice as thick. (It needs to be, to have an appropriate slot for an SNES cartridge.) The screen is only a 4.3”, which looks tiny on the giant device. The controller buttons are spaced for people who thought the original Xbox controller was comfortable. Basically, this makes motions towards being a handheld, but it’s not actually good for that purpose—and you certainly can’t fit it in your pocket.
It has an AV out port that looks like it could connect to a TV via component cables if I had them; it also has two SNES controller ports at the bottom of the front. My interpretation of this is that it’s “portable” in the sense that it’s easy to bring over to your friend’s house with two controllers, your bag of games and a few cords, and you can play it together on their TV. Again, that would be awesome in 1998, if a little unnecessary. (Nintendo actively encouraged that when they designed the GameCube!)
It charges the internal battery via micro-USB; I had some trouble getting it charged and then had to try several carts to get a game to successfully load. (Apparently the older, fatter cartridges don’t work as well.) When I successfully loaded up Lufia 2, the sound was tinny and the colors were washed-out.
These things go on eBay for $90+ and the MSRP is apparently $120. (Though the newer version apparently has a brightness button and presumably works a little better.) For that price, you can get actual pocket portability and fantastic SNES emulation with an RG350 or a Retroid Pocket; or a PowKiddy X2, which is a similarly-sized device that’s more comfortable and has a much larger screen and still has reasonable SNES emulation. All of those have the ability to output to a TV and attach additional controllers, too. Oh, and in any of those cases you don’t have to carry the cartridges around!
Overall: The only advantage this carries over an emulator device is that you can play your original cartridges, presumably with your 30-year-old savegames on them. But it’s not actually portable enough to make that functionality worthwhile, and my SNES and my RetroDuo still work if I’m going to be sitting in front of my TV anyway. I’m delighted I got my hands on one to try out, though. I think I might put it on display.
no subject
Date: 2022-08-04 03:21 am (UTC)