Question on multi-game dedicated systems

[AAA177]

I see ads for mutli-title dedicated systems for NES, the ones that say "600 games in 1 console" and the like. I have been curious about trying one of them (or several, such as ones for Game Boy, etc.). I know they may not be too technically sound, but I had a bigger concern - just from a technical, dotting-i's/crossing-t's perspective, is one allowed to buy them? They seem to be sold in some cases literally by Amazon and Wal-Mart (I just checked out an ad that said "shipped and sold from Wal-Mart") so my presumption is I wouldn't be doing anything wrong by buying it, but it just seems weird to be buying something that has to have copyright issues. Are they somehow legitimately licensed? Doubtful, but asking anyway...

[Tanooki]

21 hours ago, AAA177 said:

I see ads for mutli-title dedicated systems for NES, the ones that say "600 games in 1 console" and the like. I have been curious about trying one of them (or several, such as ones for Game Boy, etc.). I know they may not be too technically sound, but I had a bigger concern - just from a technical, dotting-i's/crossing-t's perspective, is one allowed to buy them? They seem to be sold in some cases literally by Amazon and Wal-Mart (I just checked out an ad that said "shipped and sold from Wal-Mart") so my presumption is I wouldn't be doing anything wrong by buying it, but it just seems weird to be buying something that has to have copyright issues. Are they somehow legitimately licensed? Doubtful, but asking anyway...

Most of them are pretty bad, at least if they're not running some kind of an emulator.  The exception would be the mini gameboy looking thing that has like 128 and up to like 600in1, has usually a second wired pad to use, an a/v cable to tv, and runs off like a generic nokia style battery.  It's amazingly solid for what it is, but if you really want to get the 'in 1 console' probably the most obvious and rational choice would be the official Nintendo mini console, run Hakchiv2 on that thing, and load the NES library to it.  The emulator is quite sound, and throwing all that on there would serve you better still using the official hardware that runs and feels right.

[+LS650]

I'd recommend that you find the name brand for the model you're looking at, and search for reviews on Youtube and the like.

Personally I'd recommend you get either an old NES in really nice shape or one of the better NES clones, and then one of the XXX-in-1 multicarts.  Some of the clones are decent, and with a multicart, you have essentially the same thing but can also play 'real' carts, use other controllers, etc.

[DavidD]

On 12/2/2021 at 7:28 PM, AAA177 said:

I see ads for mutli-title dedicated systems for NES, the ones that say "600 games in 1 console" and the like. I have been curious about trying one of them (or several, such as ones for Game Boy, etc.). I know they may not be too technically sound, but I had a bigger concern - just from a technical, dotting-i's/crossing-t's perspective, is one allowed to buy them? They seem to be sold in some cases literally by Amazon and Wal-Mart (I just checked out an ad that said "shipped and sold from Wal-Mart") so my presumption is I wouldn't be doing anything wrong by buying it, but it just seems weird to be buying something that has to have copyright issues. Are they somehow legitimately licensed? Doubtful, but asking anyway...

There are highly illegal -- in as much as they contain hundreds (or dozens) of illegal copies of copywritten games.

 

While there WERE a few weird NES-on-a-chip multigame systems with all non-commercial roms, those were the weird exception rather than the rule... as as everyone wants to play the Super Mario Bros. titles, Mega Man, and Pac-Man....

[rubeon]

On 12/3/2021 at 3:28 AM, AAA177 said:

I see ads for mutli-title dedicated systems for NES, the ones that say "600 games in 1 console" and the like. I have been curious about trying one of them (or several, such as ones for Game Boy, etc.). I know they may not be too technically sound, but I had a bigger concern - just from a technical, dotting-i's/crossing-t's perspective, is one allowed to buy them? They seem to be sold in some cases literally by Amazon and Wal-Mart (I just checked out an ad that said "shipped and sold from Wal-Mart") so my presumption is I wouldn't be doing anything wrong by buying it, but it just seems weird to be buying something that has to have copyright issues. Are they somehow legitimately licensed? Doubtful, but asking anyway...

These are grey market trash.  They are not legal, but aren't illegal enough usually that anything is enforced. If you're concerned in any way about funding large-scale gangster piracy, steer clear.

 

On the other hand, everything about them is terrible and will leave you disappointed. Crappy controllers, dodgy video, and tons of fake game ROM hacks to boost the numbers.

 

I was gifted one of these from my brother-in-law, and I hooked it up long enough to be disgusted by the game menu system, crappy controllers, and awful composite output (and sound!) that it had.  It hasn't been out of the box since.

 

Get a NES or SNES mini. They're reasonably priced and well-made, especially the controllers, and have excellent emulation.

[Lord Mushroom]

I would imagine that the NES Classic Mini is the only legal system with preloaded NES games only.

 

Retro-bit Super Retro-Cade has a total of 98 games (some games are different ports of the same game). 24 of them are (mostly lesser known) NES games, if I counted correctly. If you want a legal console with 8-bit and 16-bit games, that is the one I would choose.