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Nintendo Classic Mini - review of the console that disappeared from the shelves and its modification

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Prefix Nintendo Classic Mini can not be called a novelty. Last year, on Geektimes, I wrote first about the fact that something like this could appear in stores, and then that “something” had already appeared . Despite the fact that this is a modern incarnation of an old and familiar game console for many of us, the system has fans not only from among older gamers. The prefix suddenly started to buy and those who had never played Mario before, did not shoot a duck with a light gun under the laughter of a dog and did not protect the world in Battletoads.

Lots of consoles dismantled almost immediately after entering the stores. Some buyers, anticipating its imminent disappearance from the shelves, bought 2-5-10 items each. After some time, Nintendo announced that all manufactured devices were delivered to stores, and new ones will not be made . This statement seemed strange to many, because who in their right mind would refuse the money that they themselves are floating in their hands? Nevertheless, Nintendo decided to focus its efforts on the production of the Nintendo Switch and other consoles. Well, Nintendo Classic has become very difficult to get. I wanted to get one such prefix in order to try it out at work.

And then, as a special, I read an article on Habré that the domestic developer created a special software that allows you to add games to the memory of the console. This was the last straw - I decided to try the device personally, play, ponostalgate, plus try to record a few dozen games, which is impossible to accomplish using standard means.
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Buying process


When the console entered the stores in Europe, something about 60 euros was drawn on the price tag. But as the level of scarcity increased, the price rose significantly - they began to sell them on all sorts of online auctions and second-hand websites. At first, I wanted to find a not too expensive option on Wallapop - this is an international site where you can sell anything from household utensils to professional equipment for data centers, there would be a buyer. The problem here is that the purchase has to be negotiated with each seller personally - this is not eBay or Amazon. Even if the seller has indicated a fixed price for the goods, he has to write to him and ask whether the goods are in stock, whether the seller can send the goods to another city, find out about the form of payment, etc. And if we take into account the fact that many people do not mark the goods as sold and answer, as God will put it in their souls - from a day or more, then all this becomes not too simple and pleasant.

In Wallapop, I tried to buy a console for more than a week. The prices were interesting - from 80 euros and more, but then the seller disappeared after the final agreement, he could not send the goods, then something else. In the end, I decided to buy a console on eBay. That was done. Here prices are slightly higher than at Wallapop, an average of 120 euros, so I had to pay just that much. The seller stated that he had played 1-2 times, but the bundle included a non-original joystick, which was given to the store to replace the original one, but it was defective. A few days after payment, the goods arrived, and I began to deal with the prefix.


A page on eBay with a description of the product and price, this is exactly the prefix that I bought

Connection problems did not cause from the word at all. The only surprise was that instead of the standard power supply comes a micro-USB cable. The charger was not included, so I used a regular charger for my 5 V phone (1 A). By the way, there is an HDMI cable also included, which is nice. And the fact that the console is powered by a telephone cable is also good. You can take the usual powerbank and connect the console to anywhere in the apartment or house without a power outlet. Trifle, but nice.

What's in the box


Below I posted a video, which shows, including, and unpacking. In the meantime, here are the photos. The bundle that I purchased on eBay included the console itself, a wired controller, an HDMI cable, a micro USB cable, a manual, a warranty, and a receipt, which the seller attached, as proof of purchase at some store, so that in case of problems there could be addressed under warranty.

As already reported on Geektimes, in this console - only 30 classic games. Here is a list:

By the way, the Nintendo Classic Mini itself turned out to be extremely small. I, of course, saw her photos and sizes. But one thing is to read the specifications and look at the photo, and the other is to hold the console in your hands.

Interface and game process


Here, the Nintendo developers did their best - the interface is simple, everything is clear right away. Choose a game and start playing. Everything looks great on the big screen.


Television

By the way, I didn’t have a TV before I bought the game, but I had to buy it on that occasion. Already at Wallapop, we managed to acquire the problematic 42-inch “plasma” from LG, model LG 42px3rv. The problem is that when you turn on the first few seconds there is no image, then it appears, starting to flash with terrible force, and after a couple of minutes everything returns to normal. Another image was with a large number of points, but I twirled the tuning resistors on the TV board and removed most of the problems. Why bought such a problematic TV? Well, they gave him for 20 euros, so for playing on the console, I didn’t want to spend big money on buying a TV, which no one would watch. There is an option to fix it - several bloated capacitors are noticeable. I think after their replacement everything will be fine. Well, if not, then 20 euros - this is not the amount to grieve.

Played only in Super Mario Bros. - it was his desire to try first. It turned out the very tube Mario, without any changes. Exactly what is needed. The rest of the games from the kit have not touched yet. Included, by the way, are such games:


Add assortment


Last year I wrote that the craftsmen learned to flash the console by adding new games. Therefore, I decided to see what tools there are to add games. On Habré found a great article from the developer of a special utility for adding resources to the NMC (Nintendo Classic Mini). His nickname is on Habré @ClusterM .

He wrote a utility that allows you to add games without dancing with a tambourine. We connect the cable to the laptop and fill the games (you can also change the background music and something else). The device itself is based on the processor from Allwinner, which opens up all these possibilities.

By the way, Nintendo itself uses the pirated iNES format, the games on the console are no different from those ROMs that can be found on the net in a multitude. It turns out that Nintendo delivers pirated copies of its own games. So if you want to add titles, we download ROMs on the network and load consoles into memory.





What games to flood? On one of the sites I found a pack that includes the most popular games (according to the authors of this collection, of course). But, in general, there really turned out to be good and familiar titles, which it was decided to pour onto the console.

By the way, the program from ClusterM allows you to flood hundreds of games; in this case, they are broken down into daddies. But hundreds - what to do with them? Therefore, it was decided to add an additional about 30 games, leaving those that already exist.

The program is not just functional, but very functional. When a ROM is loaded, information about them (which will be displayed in the NES interface) can be changed. For example, add / edit the name, number of players, release date, publisher, command line parameters, Game Genie codes, change the cover picture and synchronize the list of games with the NES Mini.



Moreover, to facilitate the work of the user, the author has provided the ability to download the cover from Google images, right in the program interface. Perfect.



We connect the console to the laptop. In this case, you need to perform a certain algorithm, which, again, is indicated by the author of the program.





As long as everything goes according to plan. I had to repeat the NES initialization procedure a couple of times, but in the end everything went as it should.



It is unclear why, but on my Sony Vaio laptop, the console did not want to flash. Despite the simplicity of the instructions, something did not work, and after installing the driver, the program still did not see the prefix.

I decided to try it on another laptop, the Acer Switch One, and everything came out here the first time.

The program flashed the console core, the old core was stored in the dump folder, and the new one was loaded into the device’s memory. After everything was done, such an inscription appeared.



It's nice! Now I try to load new games into the memory of the console. Click "OK" and-and-and-and ...

Everything goes on as usual, as far as you can understand, the work is being done.



Hmmm, no, something goes wrong. I'll try to remove the problematic ROM and try it from the very beginning.



Perhaps the problem arose because the console and flash drive with the games and the program itself are connected to the same USB hub. I will try to transfer the games and the program to the disk of the laptop and again try to add new games.

After this attempt, it turned out that now Windows does not see the contents of the flash drive and wants to format it. Well, I format it, download the folder with the games again and transfer it to the laptop. I launch Hakchi 2 and try to work with the prefix.

The process goes on ... But will it complete successfully this time?



It seems to be all over, but there appeared such a frightening inscription.



Well, we try to click “Yes” at your own risk.

Now there is a new window.



Click "Yes" again. Try to still flash the core of your console. The kernel is updated.



Again, something is sewn, executed, activity is on.



Now comes the test of the console prefix.



Well, this time, it seems, everything went well. The system writes that you can try to download games on the console. We try.



Something is poured somewhere.



Yes! Now everything turned out. Perhaps you can try to play? I'm going to connect the console to the TV.



There are additional games. Most of them are located in the directory created by the program. The more games - the more such directories are created. If you wish, you can upload a few hundred titles and play everything.



Photos of the TV screen did not work out very well, apparently, the camera somehow interferes with the frame rate on TV. But to understand what is there and how, it is quite possible.



I myself have changed this icon in the program, all changes have been preserved. Of the games I downloaded in the network, several turned out to be modern. For example, Flappy Bird is the port of the 2014 game on the Nintendo Classic Mini. Playing it is still as difficult as before. I think if this game were invented at the heyday of the popularity of consoles, it would become a hit.



And I would single out “Duck stories” - I once spent more than one day behind them, sitting in front of the TV screen. I remember having bypassed all levels, but did not find the remaining piece of the map. The devil knows where he was hiding. If I find the time, I'll try to correct this omission now.



In general, this is all, the review of the console and the program for adding games is completed. If there are any questions, ask them in the comments, I promise to answer all.

My opinion after the game on the console - just perfect for both oldfags, who played all this on the original eight-bit. In addition, the console like and children, even those of them who already know what a PS3, PS4, mobile games, and more. My daughter, as you can see in the video, with interest selects games that are several times older and tries to figure out how to go through them. So the Nintendo Classic Mini is two in one - bought one, made a gift for children. And many thanks to ClusterM for the work done and the application - it increases the value (game, of course) of the console many times.

Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/370565/

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