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The Elite is located
on the left which is the obvious successor to the Onestation on the
right.
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The OneStation becomes Elite!
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Released in China by
Kensington 2007? |
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Elite FC3000
Review
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Just how many times can you refit and redesign a portable and throw it
into the market? Apparently, with Jungle Tac at the wheel, as many
times as it produces sales. Even as I write this there is another one
being marketed called the “Cool Boy.” If one does not purchase these
little systems when they first hit the market, the games and systems
become very hard to find. They seem to be only a one-batch production
run. At least that is the impression I get.
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On the Onestation Elite, dubbed the FC
3000, there has been some smarter design concepts that have been
implemented. And they are very welcomed. No longer does the game cart
protrude way beyond the units housing like an unsightly wart, but it is
well integrated. It blends into the housing design just as the game
carts do with the GBA. The unit's overall appearance, when you are
holding it in your hands, gives you the feel of holding a gamepad.
Really, the size and quality build of the system seems to be the same
as the previous Onestation, just a difference in the shape with an
extra button added.
Onestation Elite is also being marketed by
Kensington Technologies, same as the previous model. Still no Headphone
jack, and no provision for high score or game saves of any kind. The
system comes in what has now become the usual Chinese hype packaging
for these things, a nice shiny heavy card board box.
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Pros:
More NES games
Better TV out
Smarter design concepts used on the system
Comes with screen protector
Cons:
Still no High score or game saves
Game carts can be hard to find
No headphone jack
Repeated games on all the carts waste cart space
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The Elite cart
bottom left with the original Onestation cart at the right and the MD
Max on top.
There is no, as can be seen, NOAC inside the
Elite cart, as was the case with the Onestation game carts. Meaning
that the NOAC is located inside the Elite portable.
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Games:
The game carts are
much smaller than the original Onestation. Each system that the
manufacturers produce has their own proprietary carts. The shape
of the cart is of their own design this time and no longer looks like
an imitation Game Boy cart. The unit comes packed with a game cart
containing 10 of Jungle Tac's own games. Yuk is sort-of what comes to
mind when compared to NES games. The Tetris, Columns, Penguin Wars, and
Block Out clones are the best on the cart. They are mostly a collection
of puzzle type games. The carts that are available for purchase are
multi-carts containing up to 99 NES games on each one. Interestingly
the copy right notice on the start screen of the games on a few of the
carts have been removed. Most of the games are the same as the ones
that are available for the original Onestation. They are the early NES
games. Most of the carts have the same games repeated, different mixes,
with only a hand full of game titles used as “feature game titles,”
which tempt you to purchase that particular cart. Some carts have a
better combination of game mix than others. The difference between the
Onestation and the Elite version is the “featured game titles” of each
cart are different latter NES games thrown into the mix. Whether this
warrants the purchase of the unit depends on the buyer. If you have the
older unit you already have most of the games, but not the “featured
titles” of this system. If you have a love of NES games and don't
mind having an extra system of this design, and want a better TV out,
its really a no-brainer. Buy it.
The TV out is superb on this system. I have found that it has always
been problematic on all of the previous attempts. I guess they worked
out the bugs?
Here are the “Featured Games” per cart that I have;
99 in 1 # 32M-99E
Dragon Spirit
Shadow of the Ninja
Wacky Races
99 in 1 #32M-99B
Sonic (The hedgehog, is this for real? Maybe some “slow” hack)
Tiny Toon 2
Mighty Final Fight
Lolo2
99 in 1 #32M-99A
Adventure Island 2
Adventure Island 3
Lolo 2
81 in 1 32M-81
Pocket Amethyst (Pikachu game)
Super Contra
FIFA 2006 Soccer by Tecmo
Totally Rad
Batman 2
Chase H. Q.
99 in 1 #32M-99D
Ninja Gaiden 2
Ninja Gaiden 3
Tiny Toon Adventures
Contra 1
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Controls:
Really the
location of buttons are generally in the same exact position as they
are on the original Onestation. The basic differences are, the volume
control is now on the left side and the cart slot is on the right side
of the unit. The relocation of the cart slot allows for the TV out to
be at the top center. There is that extra button too, for your right
thumb.
Power:
The unit is powered by 3
AAA batteries. I have yet to be disappointed by the battery life in
these units. You get plenty of gaming time and I am using rechargeable
1000 mAh NiMH batteries.
Hardware:
Upon opening up one of the game carts, I found that there
was no “NES on a chip” located inside as there was in the previous
system's carts. Which means that this system is a fully dedicated NES
unit with the “NES on a chip” contained in the unit. No Mega Drive
adapter expected to be seen for this system like the Onestation.
The system comes in a variety of colors with the faceplate having a
different background appearance for each system color. There is an
extra button, giving you four buttons, for that right gaming thumb. One
of the buttons is used for the NES select button and the other is a
sort-of enter or confirm button when choosing a game from the menu
listing. I have no idea as to why, the Original Onestation did without
it and accomplished the same end result. The games are two button NES,
a turbo for some games maybe? I really haven't really needed that yet.
And the audio is mono as before, but the NES was mono, so no big deal.
That is the cart fully inserted on the end of the system. It totally
blends in with the smooth surface. The cart has an edge so that you can
remove it with your thumbnail.
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On the back of the box it reads:
IMPORTANT! Read the Instruction Separate Heand Safety Precautions
Booklets Betup Or Use Of Your System.
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The
screen is clear, colorful, and sharp. Mighty Final Fight is the game
that is shown.
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Screen:
The
screen is the same size as the original, but there seems to be a slight
difference in the contrast. We still have the very bright backlit high
resolution TFT LCD. And there is no ghosting or blurring, I am finding
that to be a thing of the past. One added plus is that it has a screen
protector already on the unit, which is good being that the screen is
not recessed.
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The MD Max convertor used on the first
OneStation is totally incompatible to the Elite. The pinouts as well as
the PCB on the cart are different on both in their respective
configurations. Even
if it did fit, it wouldn't work because of the NOAC located inside the
Elite.
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Final
Thoughts: I'm thinking that anyone who likes NES gaming would
want to hunt down both the Onestation and the Onestation Elite. Both
have their own “featured titles” that distinguishes each from the
other. When it comes to the other games that seem to be repeated over
the number of carts available, meaning that you will have more than one
copy of the game if you purchase all of the carts, I would say that
there are maybe a total of almost 300 games. Maybe less, a whole lot
less. It is hard to say unless there is a cart by cart assessment.
Being that the game cart usually fall within the 5 or 6 dollar price
range, it doesn't hurt the pocket to have them all, if you can find
them. This, in my opinion, is the best Onestation that they have put
out yet. Here is a “thumbs up” for a great overall improvement on what
is now a dedicated NES gaming machine.
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