17 September 2019

Reviews: FC-POCKETGAME

Hello everyone!
Today it's going to be a pretty quick review of one Famiclone that I have in my collection.

And that is... this.
This Famiclone doesn't have any brand name on it, but it can be found under the title "FC-POCKETGAME" on websites, like TaoBao, eBay or Aliexpress, so we'll go with this name for the console. And it says that thing on the manual.

The main idea for this console is being able to play Famicom games on the go, which sounds like a pretty cool thing to do.
And in fact, it's good, especially, if you need to do a quick test of certain cartridges that you have in collection.

This console came with an AV cable and a little sheet of paper.

AV cable for FC-POCKETGAME


Unfortunately that AV cable stopped working (or the slot of AV out), so one reason I can't make this review as interesting as the TriStar one - no way to connect it to TV at the moment of writing this post.


We'll go over the front part.
It has the D-pad, which was separated into 4 buttons, so you can perform some movements that you wouldn't be able to do on official controllers, like UP+DOWN or LEFT+RIGHT, which causes random effects depending on games.
There is a little screen in the center, where all the gaming process would show up. And then you have B and A buttons, along with Turbo B and Turbo A.
On the top left, you get the Reset button and Select. And on the top right you have Start and LED that tells you if the console is powered on.
There is also a little speaker on the bottom right, where the sounds would come off.

The back part looks nothing too special, it's got five screw places in order to get this whole thing apart. And also at the bottom, there is a place for...
...4 xAAA batteries. Yes.
With that, you don't need to use a power adapter in order to get this thing running. In fact, my package didn't even come with it, so the choice for powering FC-POCKETGAME on was quite obvious.

You can use the power adapter, but it's 5V and Center Pin Positive, and the slot for power adapter is much smaller, than the regular ones, used on official Nintendo Famicom, for example.
On the right, you get the port for AV out. It uses 1,5mm jack, and not your standard 3,5mm. So keep that in mind, if needed to find the AV cable for this thing.

In the middle, you have the cartridge slot. It takes 60-pin Famicom cartridges by default, but if so desired, you can use a converter for playing NES games here too.

Now, the bottom part.
On the left, you get the volume adjustment control, and on the right, you have the 3,5mm jack for headphones and the power switch.
There is nothing too interesting on both sides.

You can't plug in the second controller or use any accesories with it either for NES or Famicom, since this Famiclone system wasn't intended for such use. The main intention on it is for 1-player only game on the go.


I kind of like this console version for the fact that it uses the color scheme, similar to original Famicom console from 1983. This is a really nice touch.
But there exists FC-POCKETGAME consoles with other colors. ;)

It has the multicart, built into it. But the games on it aren't quite as interesting, as these are modern Chinese knock-offs by NiceCode, that possibly wouldn't really worth your time... At least for this review, so we'll skip them for now.

So, plugging in the cartridges and getting them off is really simple, and there's no need to put a lot of force on them, unless it's the cartridge for Famicom of a certain type.
But the TV GAME CARTRIDGE carts are really easy to insert and take out.
As an example of such text - 21-in-1.
I can't really make a video, due to the technical difficulties, as I mentioned earlier.
But the console plays games at NTSC speed. The picture looks okay, even considering that on the small screen, it might not look too hot.

The sound doesn't have reversed duty cycles problem, like on many other Famiclones, but unfortunately it's distorted, and certain audio channels, depending on the game, will work very badly and will glitch out.
For example, games like Kyatto Ninden Teyandee, will sound awful.
Here's the video of another Famiclone that has the problem that I described here.

Keep in mind that it's a PAL system, but the same sound issue is presented on FC-POCKETGAME too.
Same problem with Felix the Cat as well, which is unfortunate.

Another cartridge to test out - Rockman, Whirlwind Manu copy with LF57. It works perfectly fine here. Obviously, no copyrights to expect here, since it's a pirate version.



But besides the pirate singlecarts and early multicarts, like 21-in-1, this console also plays modern multicarts, like 150-in-1 Real Game or 400-in-1 Real Game just fine.
I tested 150-in-1 Real Game, and there were no graphical glitches on the menu or in games.
400-in-1 Real Game also worked well here.
All games started up fine.

And so, how about official Famicom cartridges?
Here's Paaman - Enban wo Torikaese, running on this thing. It works perfectly fine here, no glitches or anything like that.
I tested other Famicom cartridges that I have in my collection, and most of them worked here.

However, if you want to try out games that use expansion audio...

...you might be pretty much out of luck. Akumajou Densetsu didn't even boot on my FC-POCKETGAME, so trying out to play it here and listen to the music is out of question.


Same thing for my Gimmick reproduction cartridge. It won't boot up here too, or do anything interesting to look at.
And in case you are wondering, EverDrive N8 doesn't boot here too. I already tested it, and this Famiclone doesn't play it.

Trying out some really good multicarts from 1990s... Like "Gold Cassette Series 8-in-1, A010"
It works perfectly fine, which is kind of to be expected. 8 good games, like Rush'n Attack, Rainbow Islands, 1944 (1943), Nekketsu Kouha Kunio Kun, Legendary Wings, Castlevania, Makaimura and Terra Cresta.

And let's see how it looks on TV, when plugged in with AV cable...

I probably should have tried this not only on TV, but also on capture device... Too bad I didn't have one nearby me, so this is the best you are going to see today.

Overall, this is a pretty basic modern Famiclone with the Nintendo-on-a-chip technology.

For what it was intented for, it does a pretty decent job.
However, the problem with certain games, where the sound starts screwing up badly, really occures here, and depending on the games which you want to play, this can be good or bad thing.
For me personally, it's a bad thing, because Felix the Cat has the music problem running on FC-POCKETGAME, and it's one of my favourite games of all time for NES.



So, instead of reversed duty cycles sound problem that's presented on some other Famiclones, we have a distorted music, depending on different games you want to play.

At least, with this Famiclone running on NTSC, you don't get problems like you had with TriStar, such as the darker picture in Eurocom Entertainment Software games, green tilt on SuperGame pirate backports, or Prince of Persia glitching up during gameplay (but its one of those games, that won't play nicely here in terms of music).

As you can see here, Lion King works perfectly fine here. On certain PAL Famiclones, due to color code specifics, the red color would turn into green, and it would look pretty ugly here.



 Further on, I tested out some PCBs, which were earlier for sale, and they get inserted into cartridge slot just fine, and get taken out easily too.
Unless, these are those tiny PCBs, where you need a "sloppy system" to get working, in order to take them out - either use another PCB and grab the edges, or use an empty cartridge case and insert that PCB there first.
These four game screenshots shown off together - this is actually a reset-based 4-in-1 multicart.
Earlier I only had a bare PCB of it before in a wrong cartridge case, but then I purchased it with its original label and everything, and sold the PCB later on.

These 4-in-1 reset based multicarts with early games are pretty interesting to take a look at, especially when you get them for cheap :D



So, this is a decent Famicom clone for a quick test of cartridges that you recently purchased or you are going to sell/trade...
But for gaming, it really depends on the game.
Certain NES/Famicom titles might have a really huge problem with sound. And others, like you've seen earlier, just won't start up.


Choose wisely, if you really want to get a portable Famiclone, and give it a second thought if this thing would be good enough to you. ;)
Stay tuned for more "Reviews" and hopefully better and longer ones, with videos and everything.
See you soon!

(C) AlexSRMD Productions (2019)

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