That thing is awesome! How does it compare to an advantage?
I have never used an NES advantage. This stick is all metal though, good and heavy, and has components made by Seimitsu, they’re kinda like mini versions of a full stick’s components but in a good way – 24mm A/B buttons and a shrunken down LS-32. I like that it doesn’t have turbo!
There’s a very good review of it from Scanline City on youtube:
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I have one of these, too! Really nice construction; more like a true arcade stick than the Advantage (though I love the Advantage). I also the ASCII Stick II, which is similar and has variable speed turbo. Love playing the early single screen arcade-style games with these.
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I love the look of this stick. 10/aesthetic.
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A beauty! Would love one just for my desk, even though I haven’t gotten a Famicom yet.
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Gorgeous. I’ll take one, too.
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Was going through some old photos at my parents house, found this one of me playing NES around '87 or '88.
Note the California Raisins figures proudly sitting on top of the NES box.
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That’s some pure nostalgia! Man that brings me back. Lots of people had their NES hooked up on the dresser back in the day.
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Had the Raisin figures too!
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Same here. Man the nostalgia that photo is triggering for me is off the charts.
We played via RF and still had fun. Had to physically turn the dial on the wood-panel CRT set to channel 2. I still can’t believe that was a thing back then.
Could you imagine explaining that concept to children today? Some of them don’t even know what “channels” are because it’s all streaming now. But that’s how the majority of people played state of the art video games back then.
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UHF or VHF? 
@GraveyardDuck love the GI Joe box too! NES, GI Joe and BMX pretty much defines my childhood.
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@GraveyardDuck It looks like a Christmas or birthday vibe. All the boxes for GIJoe, NES, and Reeboks look pretty minty.
Make me want to raid mum’s photos for some sepia goodness.
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Yeah it was probably around that time, Christmas probably.
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I remember getting something GI Joe related around '88-'89, but no console until '96.
Until then it was Lego and a Mac Classic. 
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Gave Family Circuit a go via Namcot Collection, which was designed by the Xevious creator at his new company GAME STUDIO. Pretty cool game - you build a formula one car, then take it for a spin on either endurance Grand Prix mode or the faster sprint GP (about 10 laps per course).
One of the selling points at the time, at least according to the included scan of the game’s manual, was how cars don’t bump into each other, so races can be more intense (think of slot cars). The speed of the game and variability of the handling probably pushed the designers to make the decision, since you can still collide with trackside objects and immediately lose the race.
Did anyone play the sequels?
Speaking of Endou Masanobu games, I’m still playing Kai no Bouken, which is still as entertaining as ever. I never got past the seventh bonus stage (floor 67) back in September, but I managed to clear it today. These extra floors really do seem like the designers just wanted to poke fun at players, the sole treasure chest in floor 68 dumps you back to floor 51!
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I’ve been on such an NES kick lately.
This year, I beat Dragon Warrior, Super Mario Bros, was also playing Smb lost levels for a week or two before my FDS stopped loading, Zelda 1 and 2, and am now tackling Dragon Warrior 2.
I’ve also been playing a bit of Balloon Fight and Ice Hockey here and there too.
I think it remains my favorite console of all time just for the amount of simplicity and enjoyment it offers.
The rpgs are legitimately challenging and offer a sense of freedom and danger that 16-bit games lacked. They are genuine open world games.
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There is little bloat in the games for sure. While I missed the Famicom/NES, it’s really fascinating seeing the evolution of games unfold so rapidly on the format.
The early games were often on single screens without any scrolling, then you suddenly had smooth scrolling and new genres, then you had the battery backup with Zelda, new games were redefining what games could be. I was lucky enough to experience the same sensation with handhelds, but it must have been mindblowing back in that era, especially with the arcades also redefining the possible while also turning in timeless experiences like Galaga etc.
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Famicom/NES is the greatest there is, the greatest there was, the greatest there will ever be.
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I’d forgotten they were still producing Famicom units through to 2003, that’s a two decade run! Did they ever move the production lines near the tail-end of its life?
I’m a bit disappointed Nintendo killed off 3DS manufacturing before the system was even a decade old, even the iPod Classic had a longer run (about thirteen years) for a legacy device whose production lines could have been freed up for something else.
We live in such a disposable culture today that I really think is harmful to the environment and to people’s psyche. People are constantly in an “upgrade” cycle which is genuinely wasteful - tossing away old games, hardware, and displays for the shiniest new tech. Phones are the most egregious example - a yearly upgrade path for some very mild enhancements on tech that would have melted people’s minds 20 years ago. The days of life-changing and dramatic improvements year after year are over, but the new models keep coming. And people keep buying them.
Manufacturers are just following suit by ending production runs more, and more quickly these days. I’d prefer longer cycles for all consumer-level technology between upgrades rather than everything becoming so incremental now.
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