I finally went ahead and ordered some stuff from thinkgeek.com. I got Aperture Science and Black Mesa "coffee" mugs, an RFID proof wallet, "credit-card sized" "survival kit", and a Retro Bit Retro Duo gaming console that plays original NES and SNES games (and outputs via those red/white/yellow audio/video cables). Note that at least the mugs and gaming console [controllers?] were made in China. No real surprise there though.

The Retro Duo uses SNES compatible controllers (so no Duck Hunt, unfortunately). It comes with two. It's been a LONG time since I've played an original NES or SNES^[1], but I think these controllers have connectivity issues. That or I've been "spoiled" by PlayStation for 11 years.

When I push the "down" button on the controller in SMB, Mario ducks momentarily, but goes back up again. I was confused by this at first because I could swear he would stay ducked as long as you held the button. I tried switching controllers and the same thing happened. I played with it a little bit and realized that I could stay ducked if I only pressed the button half-way. Further than that and it loses the connection. It seems all of the buttons have imperfections like this. The system itself so far seems to work OK (though I've only played SMB so far, using the games collection I got with the NES from eBay). I would like to play with controllers that work.

Does anybody have any tips for how I might improve the connectivity of these controllers? I opened one of them up to find a circuit board (surprise!) with "rubber" pieces between the "buttons" and circuit. I was thinking maybe adding extra conductive material (i.e., solder) "somewhere" would ensure a connection whenever a button is pressed down, but I'm not really sure if that's correct or where it should go.

Maybe I'd be better off trying to find a decent SNES controller on eBay? The problem with that is that the SNES is approximately 20 years old so finding controllers in decent shape without stains or wear is pretty unlikely...

Local flea markets might actually be as good as or better than ebay for original controllers (& systems). The trick is finding ones that aren't meant for the over 60 crowd.

Did you try contacting Thinkgeek? I would RMA the broken controllers.

What is a flea market and how do you find one? The name makes me think of there being actual fleas there, and I'm a little O/C for that.

I don't think they're really broken. I'm sure this is just how they're made. They're made in China and the whole system was only $50. I contacted ThinkGeek to ask about it^[1], but it would be a lot of trouble to send the system back. Not to mention the shipping charges would probably be half of the console's total price; both ways would probably be about the same as a new console!

I would like to know how to get into the business of selling bambam broken merchandise.

You're against piracy and you're buying and unlicensed console?

I didn't know if it was licensed or not. I assumed it was because it's being sold in the USA (persumably, through legitimate channels). Besides, the NES/SNES are 20+ year old consoles that Nintendo doesn't sell any more. I think it's long past the point of hurting them any (besides, I originally owned both consoles).

** EDIT **

It's a piece of hardware which emulates both NES and SNES. I didn't know it was legal to sell something like that if the original NES and SNES was still available. I suppose Nintendo doesn't care about it though, since they don't really sell those consoles anymore, but...

I thought for a moment it was something like the Family game^[1] console distributed several years ago.

That logic is so broken

That one appears to ship with exact copies of games from other systems. That is undoubtedly copyright infringement so I can see where that might cause problems. The Retro Duo doesn't ship with any games at all, so at least on that front there is no problem. I imagine the hardware is probably different than the original systems too. It probably comes down to patents or possibly trademarks. There are so many emulators these days that I doubt Nintendo cares. I'm certainly not going to buy a Wii just to play SMB.

You know that if you have a modern video game system like a PS3 with Linux installed you could just used an emulator and not have to pay for it?

You can even place the cartridges on top of the console so it feels like it's actually necessary.

Too bad for modern/legal systems you can't run linux on them anymore^[1].

You appear to have missed linking your reference.

As Thomas Fjellstrom said, they have removed the Other OS option from the PS3. Either you left your system software at a previous version, which would prevent you from playing PlayStation games (online and offline), or you updated and lost that functionality. There are apparently some parties that are suing Sony over the issue so I wonder if it might come back eventually.

It wasn't overly useful anyway. I had (have) Yellow Dog Linux installed on my PS3 (the closest thing to an official distribution) and the controllers weren't supported. I think I tried to find a guide to get them supported, but I had a nightmarish time even using the distribution. It had a minamalist desktop enviroment that I wasn't familiar with. I couldn't even do the simplest things. It didn't help that I had to plug in USB keyboard/mouse and use them on my lap.

In any case, PC emulators just aren't the same. It's a little bit different playing NES games with a SNES controller, but it's close enough. Plus, now I've learned that I can actually get an adapter for an actual NES controller!

I thought there were USB Nes Controllers.

That one's the difference to the actual distributed console here, mentioned in the Spanish article. It didn't come with any games AFAIK.

My guess is that when you push the buttons too hard you are warping the circuit board and causing a short. This would be due to poor design/quality of the controller if it is not a true SNES controller. You could try to modify the controller to reinforce the back of the circuit board under the buttons maybe? Other than that you should be able to find an SNES controller on e-bay just fine.

Yeah, it can't be that hard to get an NES or SNES controller. Go to Value Village or something.

Maybe you can cut out a piece of cardboard/paper and stick it behind the buttons so they can't go all the way in?

Screw it, I just ordered two SNES controllers from eBay. USD$13 + S&H (total was around USD$23), but they're allegedly brand new, never been opened.

Was the seller called Matthew Leverton?

Just messing with you, that's good news. By the way, what NES/SNES games are you planning to try out? You can get a lot of good recommendations here.

For now I have no real plans to buy any games. I already have my favorite NES games from an earlier purchase. Those are SMB, SMB3, and TLoZ (though this one I've only ever played a little bit so I suck and it will take some perserverance to get anywhere). None of them are in mint condition so I would happily get those 3 again if I could find them in perfect condition (clean, flawless, etc.). I hate things that are faded or stained, etc. As for the rest of the games, those will likely remain in my garage until they are thrown out. I can't even keep up with PlayStation and PC games so there's no way I'm going to start playing new NES/SNES games (certainly not filthy ones). I would probably enjoy getting SMW for the SNES, since I owned that as a child as well. That's actually the only SNES game I remember ever playing. I think we might have owned some JRPG as well, but that was long before I understood the gameplay. I take two steps and the screen spins and I have to fight again! How do I get anywhere?!

Play the old Final Fantasy games

I still have my SNES actually.

I have my old NES, SNES, N64, and Original GameBoy. My sister has the Gamecube, and we both have wii's, and NDSs. (mine is a lite, she has a normal nds)

If you have the FF series, any chance you can post the roms for Nesticle? I have my N64. I had to disconnect it because it was screwing up the cable signal.

I have an FF6 cart. (FF3 US) No way to rip the rom though.

There's at least one torrent on TPB with every NES ROM in it.

I'm having a tough time giving a strict definition, so here's Wikipedia:

They're kind-of like mass garage sales but with a little bit more of a store setup and slightly more store-like items.

Be aware if you try to go the Duck Hunting route that it may not work with these newfangled non-CRT TVs (some might, though, research first). If none do, I've wondered if it would be possible to build a "silencer" to adapt the Zapper to the modern TVs.

Ah yeah, and even if it's a CRT, be sure it works at 60Hz (NTSC) or 50Hz (PAL) refresh rate. "newer" CRT TV's may have a 120/100 Hz refresh rate and the pistol won't work on these. Non CRT screens won't work at all no matter what.

They are full of broken, over priced trinkets that no sane person would ever want.

Sounds perfect for bamccaig.