Recently, the composite audio jack on my NES console broke, after soldering a RCA cable onto the audio header so I could get sound again, I decided to look into buying a NES clone, to help reduce every day wear and tear on my aging console. I picked up a Retro Duo NES clone at a local retailer and have been comparing its performance with my original NES. So far, I have come to the conclusion that this clone provides a passable NES experience for average users, but will fall short for those who have become familiar with the way their games play on official hardware.

I was able to pick up this clone on sale for $35. For that price, in addition to the console and AC adapter, it came with two SNES style controllers and a nice AV cable with three composite and one s-video cable. The first thing I noticed after removing it from the packaging was that the build quality felt very cheap. But I can't complain for $35. The controllers are no different in their build quality. The directional pad is very stiff and one of the controllers seems to have stopped working after an hour of play testing. Fortunately, this machine can use normal SNES controllers, so I plan on picking up two of those to replace the packaged controllers. While I would prefer to use the official NES controllers, the ones that come packaged with the Retro Duo are at least usable, even if they are a bit klugey.

Connecting the AV cables and power adapter was no different than any other piece of equipment. Although I could not get the s-video out to display in anything other than black and white. It may be that my receiver does not like the s-video connection that came with the console, but composite video is more than enough to play NES games. One thing that stood out to me about this console is that it splits the mono audio out of the NES to both speakers, saving the need to use a splitter.

One of the few advantages of the Retro Duo over the NES, is that when you insert a cartridge and hit the power button, you can be almost certain that the game will boot. Unlike the NES, which takes some fiddling around with at times to get games to boot. Part of this is because the Retro Duo does not bother with the copy protection checks that were in the official NES, which prevent the console from booting if the cart is not in the slot just perfect. The other part, is because the Retro Duo takes a death grip to your cart. There is no eject button, like the one you would find on an official Super Nintendo, so you will have to yank the cart out of the console to swap out the game. Not sure if this death grip is good for the cart, but it makes it so games boot nearly 100% of the time.

But even if the game boots, that does not mean that it will work correctly. Since the Retro Duo and all the other NES clones out there are basically just glorified emulators, compatibility is a problem. So far I have tested; Snake Rattle N' Roll, Super Mario Bros. 3, The Legend of Zelda 2, Base Wars and Earthbound Zero. All of which worked, with minor glitches that would only be noticed by someone who had played the same game on an official console. The biggest issue is sound, some sounds have noticeable noise in them, while others sound very quiet and some don't render at all. For example; In base wars, the music sounds staticy on very short or notes at a higher pitch. At the end of a level in Super Mario Bros.3, as the score is being tallied, rather than hear a rapid succession of beeps as the score increases, the console just renders out one single long beep. Also in Mario Bros. 3 as Raccoon Mario, when pressing the A button to hover, the sound does not play, or is barely audible. In base Wars, the voice of the umpire is more distorted than it sounds on the NES in addition to being much quieter. For the most part, the only people who would even notice these things are those who have played these games extensively on the NES and actually care about the complete audio experience.

From the selection I took to test the Retro Duo, most of the graphical glitches were also minor. The most noticeable thing was that blues look somewhat purple, especially in skies and water. Other colors like greens, yellows and whites also look muddy and unclear. Edges of some sprites and text also looked distorted on the clone. But I did not experience anything that prevented me from playing the games. From this small selection of games, the clone does a good enough job of rendering the graphics to get most players through their play sessions, but don't expect anything quite like an official NES.

Feel free to take a look at the screen shots and videos that accompany this article, to help you make the decision to buy a Retro Duo, or go hunt down a NES. Either way, they are not difficult to find and only have about a $20 price difference, depending on where you shop. It is worth mentioning that this system also plays Super Nintendo games in addition to NES games (although I have not had much opportunity to see how well it performs for SNES games, except for a brief test of Star Fox in the store where I bought the machine).

If you want a true NES experience, to play the games exactly the way they were meant to be rendered, buy an NES and take care of it. If you really don't care if you are getting a 100% accurate representation then the Retro Duo may fit your needs. Personally, I am going to continue to use my Frankensteined NES until it decides to kick the bucket. I will use the Retro Duo if I am heading over to a friend's place, or have someone coming over who has a habit of breaking things, but thats about it.