Analogue Nt Revives Classic Nintendo Entertainment System with a Modern Twist
By: Dennis Burger, Editor-in-Chief, HDLiving.com
Original Link: http://www.hdliving.com/2014/05/06/analogue-nt-revives-classic-nintendo-entertainment-system-modern-twist/
Gaming has always been a huge part of my home theater experience. So much so that if I sat down and tallied the time spent cranking my surround sound system, I imagine it would break down to something like forty percent gaming, forty percent music, and maybe twenty percent movies and TV.
Of course, the total time I spend parked in front of my TV these days absolutely pales in comparison to the time I spent basking in the radioactive glow of my family’s old 27-inch CRT TV during the classic Nintendo NES video game era. And like many an old gamer, I long for those days sometimes.
But if you’ve ever tried to hook an old NES up to a new AV system, you probably quickly discovered that it isn’t an easy trick. Thankfully, a company called Analogue—whose hand-crafted walnut Neo Geo CMVS rocked the retro gaming world a few years back—is back with a fully modernized take on Nintendo’s classic NES (or Famicom, as it was known in Japan), complete with modern video outputs.
Inside the gorgeous solid block of extruded aluminum you’ll find the exact same computing hardware that drove the original Nintendo Entertainment System—the Ricoh 20A3 and 2C02 CPU and PPU—which means that the Analogue Nt isn’t just recreating the original NES experience; it actually is a newly manufactured NES. Granted, the hardware has changed a little bit. In addition to a complete lack of region locking, it includes upgraded audio hardware to deliver every ounce of 8-bit goodness from the original sound chip (in mono or stereo), along with an RGB video output and an optional HDMI adapter that properly scales the video to 720p or 1080p without stretching the image. The HDMI adapter can also add scan lines to the video to recreate that classic CRT look. You can also adjust the color output between three palette settings: Classic, Modern, and Arcade.
Other than that, though, the Analogue Nt is NES/Famicom to the core, which means that it’s fully compatible with all of those old accessories you may have collecting dust in the attic (and some you’ve probably never heard of if you didn’t live in Japan in the ’80s), including of course the original controllers (or newly refurbished ones available on Analogue’s website), the light gun, the Power Glove, R.O.B., and even the Famicom Disk System.
The Analogue Nt is available for preorder now for $499 in a standard anodized aluminum finish, or in anodized black, pink, blue, or red for an extra $49. The HDMI adapter also costs an extra $49, and you can order brand new NES controllers for $49, or refurbished NES or Famicom controllers for $29 each. (The console supports up to four controllers at a time.)
Other add-ons include component cables, composite/S-video cables, European and Japanese SCART cables, BNC cables, and extension cables for both the Famicom and NES controllers.
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