This is retro gaming on the go!
Jungle Tac's neat little retro portable!




I Marketed by Kensington Technologies in China, 2006?
OneStation Review
      JungleTac, a Chinese Company, manufactures this system. They are the same people that manufactured the VG Pocket series of Handhelds that contain the NOAC technology. The NOAC technology is a cloned NES hardware on a single chip. JungleTac's most recent offerings to the world of handheld gaming have been the VG Pocket Capsule and Caplet. I don't think that they market any of these products themselves, they simply manufacture them for other companies. The outside package of the OneStation has KST, which is Kensington Technologies, as the ones marketing the unit.


        The packaging seems to be very nice and professional. I like the fact that the bubble pack opens and closes giving you the option to store the system back into the original packaging. Everything is in Chinese, with a few "Engrish" words, but this is to be expected. I don't think that there is any intent on marketing this product in the US. Forget about trying to read the instructions unless you do understand Chinese. The package, reveals on the back, that the system is available in six colors.

     Upon opening, the first thing that I noticed, there is no headphone jack! It only has an Audio and Video output for TV hookup. The overall feel of the unit seems to be well built and constructed, but it does not have that solid feel to it like the GB Advance SP and GB Micro does. Thin Plastic? I like the fact that they chose to go with the white buttons rather than the silver cheap looking ones that JungleTac normally put on their systems. (They changed the button colors with the Caplet and Tablet). It has analog volume control. The volume can be turned up to a surprising level for such a tiny speaker. The screen is not recessed, which means that it can be easily scratched. Overall things are better than expected. The cartridges are a bit on the flimsy side with very thin plastic housing. The unit fits my hands as well as can be expected for medium adult hands. I am comfortable with it. It has a very nice sharp bright backlit screen. The NES "A" and "B: buttons are reversed!!? I have yet to be able to get used to this when playing Super mario. The "jump and run" are very awkward to use like this. Is this only a matter of habit of playing on the original controller?









Pros:
Traditional cross-shaped D-button. Yes!
Sharp bright backlit TFT Screen.
TV-Out
NES and SEGA games to go.
Very good value for the price, (I paid $30.00 USD and it came with a free 99 in 1 NES game cart. That is the total price which includes shipping and it was imported!)
Multi-carts

Cons:
With some people, if they are, Pirated Games would be an issue.
NO SAVE STATES!!!
The MD carts are fragile and tedious to fiddle with to make them working..
Needs a screen protector.
Game carts extend past the system housing.
TV-out very problematic.


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     The OneStation games come in a nice plastic case while MD games are in a simple bubble pack.


     This is the inside of a OneStation game cart. The round glob is the NOAC.

TV-Out Feature:
    
At the right side of the cartridge port is the TV-Out jack. This is something that you will not find on any of the popular handheld systems. I have only the NTSC available to test this, no PAL. It is supposed to support both, but I have read that there is some problems with PAL sometimes. It worked great on both of my TV sets that I tried it on. One is an old Sanyo that needed a box for hook up. The unit requires Audio Video RCA jacks. The other set is a Panasonic that has a much higher resolution and sharper screen. It had the jacks that are required. One has a 19" screen and the other is 27." One must remember that the NOAC technology does not mimic the NES system perfectly. On the older TV the games looked better though some of the colors were off and some did bleed a little at times. The biggest problem that I had was, some of the game carts would only show up in "black and white." Going to a smaller TV screen solved this. I would suggest 13" or smaller. I had only one game cart where screen size did not matter. I never got any of the Sega carts to show up in color. The games look their best and shine on the OneStation's screen, in my opinion. All of the NES game carts worked in color on my small 5" LCD screen that I have attached to my PS1.

Games:
     The carts, that contain the games, are multi-carts. Meaning that there are more than one game included on each cart. I have seen carts available with as little as 2 and some with as much as 101 games included on a single cart. The MD carts being the carts with the fewer games. There seems to be four categories of games; NES, SEGA Genesis, Gameboy, and JungleTac's own original games. An NES cart contains a miniature NES on a chip and a specific number of games. Among the NES sometimes you may find a  Gameboy game mixed in, like Donkey Kong Country 2. Try playing that through without a save feature.
     The SEGA Genesis games need the MD Converter to enable you to play them on the OneStation. The converter contains the SEGA Genesis on a chip and the individual carts contain only the games. My guess, as a reason for this, is that maybe it is a bit more expensive to produce the "SEGA on a chip." They seem to be trying to keep within a certain price point. The design, for the SEGA carts, causes the games carts to be very tiny and fragile. The thin PC board connectors, unlike the NES carts, stick out past the plastic housing leaving them unprotected and maybe easily damaged. Ironically the NES game carts come in a nice little protective plastic storage case and the MD carts, that I have found, only have a flimsy soft plastic sleeve for storage. One could store them in the original packaging, which is an open and closeable bubble pack
     The NES games seem to be mostly from early in the system's lifespan and they are the "original" NES games. A lot of the games are arcade type games, along with games like the first Super Mario, Super Contra, Jetsons, etc. The SEGA games are the "original" games but, not as many
titles are available  compared to the NES. Outrun, Sonic, Tinytoon Adventures, Batman & Robin, Steel Empire, to name a few. The biggest problem with purchasing more than one cart is repeats of games. You may end up with repeats of some games that are on the previous cart that you have. Some carts have a better mix than others. This might be just personal preference though. One would be wise to study the contents of the game list on the carts before purchasing.
     The biggest thing to consider about the games is that it is retro gaming. Nothing new, just old fashion dated games. If you like the old stuff, NES, SEGA, then you are going to have fun.
     Another thing to think about is that there does not seem to be any permission from or credit given to Nintendo, or SEGA, to use or market their stuff. But then again I do not read Chinese. If not, then this would lead one to assume, or automatically brings you to the conclusion, that maybe the games are pirated? I have no idea.
     The MD Converter is sort-of iffy at best. Meaning that you have to have the Converter in the cartridge slot "just right" and the Game Cart in the Converter "just right" for everything to work correctly. Find the sweet spot. If you don't, you may loose sound or some graphics, or some control like "up" will not work or "A" button will not work. Or one of the games may not load. This makes the MD Converter very tedious to use. The NES game carts stick up beyond the Game System's housing. The Converter does as well with the Game Cart stuck in the back in the opposite direction overlapping the unit's backside. This puts the game cart at an angle. Nothing fits inside of anything on this system. The Converter sticks past the system with the game extending beyond the Converter. I have, presently, three MD (SEGA) game carts. All of the games work perfectly, only if, everything is inserted just right. Wiggle here, wiggle there, take out reinsert, and take out reinsert. Finally, whew! It gets easier as you fiddle with it.
     And NO HIGH SCORE OR GAME SAVES!! To some this would be a big issue. But this is to be expected. JungleTac, for some reason, could it be cost, have never included this feature on any of their systems. This might become a problem, if you wish to finish a game and it becomes a race to the finish against "how long before your batteries give out." Stressed? You bet. I have read that battery life is around 5 to 8 hours. I really don't know. I have yet to check this out. I would assume that it would depend on whether you are playng 8 bit NES or 16 bit SEGA games.

Hardware:
    
I read as much as I could on the system before purchasing. (What little there is on the net.)  I read some things concerning the size being the same as the Gameboy Micro. I was very skeptical of this and with good reason. Every handheld system is plagued with the same problem, being that, it has to be at least big enough to accommodate its screen size. The OneStation is a lot bigger than the Micro. The 2.5 TFT is very comfortable on the eyes. One can tell very easily, though, that the Micro influenced the aesthetic design of the unit along with its game cartridges.

Size:
*Length: 4.13"
*Height: 0.91"
*Width: 2.36"
*Weight: 5.08 oz (with game and batteries installed)

*Length: 10.5 cm
*Height: 2.3 cm
*Width: 6.0 cm
Weight: 144 gram

Powered by 3 x AAA batteries (included). Said to last 5 to 8 hours under typical use.
TV out cord included
Control buttons: D-pad, A, B, Start, Reset, Turbo, Volume, on and off switch.
      The system is not 8-bit, nor is it 16-bit. The handheld unit, itself, is nothing more than control switches, a screen, a speaker and the amps required to run them, everything else is passed to the cart slot. There is no CPU in the unit. The CPU for whatever system that is needed comes built into the cartridge with the games. Presently the carts use the "SEGA on a chip" and "NOAC technology." The main unit is just a shell with controls, a screen and battery compartment, all of which are accessed directly through the cartridge port by the different carts. The design is not unique to this system. Milton Bradley introduced the Microvision in the US in 1979. The console itself was nothing more than controls, LCD panel and a controller chip for the LCD panel. Each cartridge contained the microprocessor, which happened to have a small amount of ROM space on it that MB loaded the game code onto. Really this makes the OneStation an extremely flexible gaming system. One would only have to produce the system on a chip technology for any retro gaming system and put it on a cartridge along with some games. The systems that are available at the moment is the NES and SEGA Genesis (Mega Drive). One begins to wonder "What if" N64, SNES, Atari Jaguar, etc, etc, etc, were on a chip for this little gadget. Oops, then you are brought back to reality when you look at the manufacturer's lack of foresight in design. "Button configuration." Not enough buttons for some games on a lot of those systems. In reality, the unit is limited to retro systems like Commodore 64, Atari 2600, PC Engine, etc.


    The MD Converter on the OneStation with game inserted. Back view. A terrible way to design a converter, but it does work,...sort-of.



Disclaimer: This Web Site does not endorse nor does it encourage the use of pirated materials.

    Size comparison using the GBA cart on the far left as reference. The One Station NES multi-cart in the middle and the MD cart on the right





Mario on the OneStation is a bit of a pain to play with the confusion in the "A" and "B" buttons.
Screen:
     
The backlit TFT panel is sized at 2.5 inch diagonally with, 320 px (960 sub-px) x 240 px, 26,000 colors per pixel, high-resolution color images, no blurring or ghosting, with a very good refresh rate. The colors look rich and bright. And as you can see Mario looks great on the small screen. All of those old retro goodies play excellent on this wonderfull little screen. I am very thankful that screens like this have become a standard on all of these cheap little portables.



      This is Konami's "Super C" on my TV screen. The OneStation system becomes a controller when using the TV-out. The screen shuts off. I am just glad that this is one of the carts that runs in full color on my 19" screen gaming TV. The bad is, only one player.
Final Thoughts: I hope my review doesn't sound a bit negative. I really had a very positive experience. I am only trying to give an honest and straightforward review of my experience with the OneStation. I am a retro gamer. I like playing the older games of yesterday. I like the OneStation. It is a nice little portable NES. And if you want to fiddle with the converter, it is a nice little portable SEGA Genesis. For those who desire the Gameboy Advance, Nintendo DS, or PSP graphics and gaming, this type of system is not for them. They would be very disappointed. Systems like these are for retro gamers, like me, who enjoy those types of older outdated games. For me those games never get old. And I know that some people just don't get it, but for me those games remain fun. The OneStation may have a few idiosyncrasies, but I can deal with them. This system is really for those moments when you just need to pick up something and play for a few minutes or more. Setting and waiting somewhere for something? Here is the perfect time waster. If I was rating this little system I would give it a thumbs up. Which reminds me, if only I can master that reversed "A" and "B" button now.........hmm.....

 


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