FC Mobile 88 by Tokone

This is my first famiclone console, so I really didn't know what to expect. I've been aware of them for years and while building my retro collection, they have really sparked my interest. Like all the dozens of consoles we saw flood the American video game market prior the crash of 1983, many seem cheap and unreliable. My best friend picked up a Supaboy (SFC/SNES portable) the other year, but I was unimpressed. It was bulky, heavy, the buttons were rigid and tacky and all in all I wasn't too interested.The current dilemma was that I had too many consoles to hook up. And while emulators are just fine for me in a bind, when I stumbled across the FC-MOBILE 88 from an unknown youtuber, retr0rob, and I was immediately intrigued. Sure, I knew these had existed for ages but this one... this one caught my attention for some reason. I tweeted retr0rob about it and he said "FCMobile 88 is my favorite! They are kind of ugly but they are pretty durable and have worked with everything I have tried." I looked it up and... $45 + $5 shipping. Sold.It arrived Friday. The FC-Mobile 88 was released August 2013, so it's a fairly recent new product. It was made by To-Conne, who also released the FC-HOME 88 and the Game Combo 88 (which plays SFC and FC games).Lets look at the box. Wow, looks really good! Bright colors, good construction, boasts about the console having a bunch of built in games.http://i.imgur.com/ft2Wygn.jpg?1http://i.imgur.com/4UbYetJ.jpg?1Inside was the console, a handbook and a cable - it does AV out! Cool!http://i.imgur.com/aTmI4wK.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/HpZHet2.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/3qS48mP.jpg Now I need a Famicom Lanyard ...http://i.imgur.com/2UoDQ8M.jpg Bottom - headphone jack and volumehttp://i.imgur.com/C1FmZtp.jpgList of features *88 built in games (ha) *headphone jack *audio with volume pot *wall adapter port (adapter not included) *requires 4AAAs, 5-8h battery life *full color backlit (!!) 1.5" x 2" screen *AV out (comes with cable) *attachment point for cell phone charm or lanyard *power lightSo I grabbed a bunch of AAs (it takes 4) and... found out it takes AAAs. Welp, that was disappointing. Had to wait for Saturday to go out and buy some batteries, because I don't have AAAs because nothing really uses AAAs. Anyways, finally got them and very enthusiastically popped them in.In a moment, I was charging through Snakeman's stage and polished him off fairly easily :) I played for a while, what did I think?http://i.imgur.com/8aNyauR.jpg?1The Console DesignI disagree with retr0rob, I think the console is quite nice! The plastic is a good quality and I love how the chose to stick to the Famicom color scheme. It's light, which was a nice surprise. It's comfortable to hold. A lot more comfortable than the small 3DS, which surprised me. The buttons are placed in great positions and had a power light. Yes I put this on the list of features because the Famicom and many famiclones both don't have this! They color the panel power switch orange to indicate it's in the 'on' position.My only gripe is the slot is tight.Design: 9.5/10The ControlsYou may have noticed this famiclone has 10 buttons as oppose to 8. They're labeled A, B, AA, BB. Yes, they're built in turbo buttons!! A welcome addition to those who may want to play some of the more mash-heavy games like Contra.I must say this. I hate 3rd party controllers. I have yet to find a non-Nintendo brand or replica brand I like for NES or SNES controllers. I am very picky about how my buttons feel and I've tried dozens of brands. And... I love these buttons. They're comfortable and responsive. Sure, they're not round but the fact is that being someone who is usually very picky about this kind of thing... I simply don't care. They work and feel amazing.Controls: 10/10I love the addition of turbo buttons!The ScreenMy primary concern was ghosting issues. The original gameboy was notorious for this. This is from low grade LCD's that have low response times. The pixels have a lag for the color to "drain" from them and I was so sure, for a $50 handheld, this would be an issue. It's not at all! On the flipside, it does have a pretty noticeable screen door effect but, still, ghosting issues would have impacted gameplay experience whereas the screen-door effect doesn't. It just doesn't look as pretty, still reasonably good though. Also the backlit screen is a welcome addition. I would have loved to have a dimmer dial or off switch but thats okay. The backlight is perfect and doesn't seem overly bright, obnoxious or cheap. It even keeps the blacks black.Screen:7/10 Has a pretty noticeable screen-door effect but makes up for it.CompatibilityAll my Famicom games so far work perfect. I am curious about Akumajou Densetsu (Castlevania 3) but I have yet to pick up a copy to try it out.Final ThoughtsThis is a fantastic little device. For $50 I would highly recommend if you want some famicom on the go! It has it's flaws, but it's got charm :) Would buy again. Would definitely buy as a gift for a retro lover.

I bought this item a few years ago, and yes I can confirm this is a good purchase. 5 years ago I really and still am got into Megaman and just had to have the famicom addition of the game. However the famicom is almost impossible to pay in America, due to voltage problems. You see the old famicom console isn't compatable with the American tv system, so I bought a SNES portable with a famicom converter, however the converter didn't work with the SNES portable so I went ahead and bought the famicom portable. It was a whole lot cheaper and a way better purchase. Now I really loved the design of this item and I can confirm it works. Thank you for reading my review.

Great little unit! Hard to beat for the price, quality is fantastic, games are all fun. Cartridges work flawlessly.

its awesome it plays famicom games