The Namco Polystation

[@BizK74]

I think the James method of "take it apart, laugh at it, and fix it" is a perfect complement to Wade's "plug it in, yell at it, and break it"

[@TheWaterMiners]

Who is Wade?

[@Mr.Kocialko_Kocialkowy]

@@TheWaterMinersdankpods

[@matiasaguilar2500]

you can just tell why they're friends

[@fuckoff5893]

@@matiasaguilar2500 I think they’re gay

[@tristanraine]

If James is chaotic good, Wade is chaotic evil

[@gameo7]

It's so weird seeing such a huge company like Sony make a famiclone in the shape of Namco's wonderful Polystation.

[@SauciMations112]

Yeah, anything for money I guess

[@TrazynTheKleptomanichad]

lmfao 😂

[@magnesiafrost1863]

Yeah very weird indeed, and Sony even got all the credit. Almost no one knows about the Polystation 🤷‍♀

[@jazeenharal6013]

Direct IP theft from a small Chinese startup company by Sony. Hate to see it 😭 It's the way of the world I suppose

[@LITTLE1994]

Yeah, it's crazy

[@DETHMOKIL]

James is the best, he actually fixes the junk random silly things most youtubers would only laugh at.

[@patrickcrabb6212]

Geee, I wonder who that could be *cough* WADE *cough*

[@TalkingToBirds]

​@@patrickcrabb6212 dang you beat me to it 😂

[@flaguser4196]

even fixed the number of games written

[@tttdssdff2267]

*cough cough* maybe *cough* one of his *cough* friends?? *cough cough*

[@ConsultingHumor]

A true nuggeteer

[@maeganmonster]

Opening the disc tray lid and seeing a cartridge slot instead is so funny to me

[@wesleymays1931]

it's like an elevator door that opens to reveal a staircase

[@Solar_1011]

It’s like in Portal 2 when you’re in old Aperture the big fuck-off vault door opens only to reveal a small, regular door

[@some1-1038]

​@@Solar_1011 Damn I shouldn't have opened replies

[@EmaAlvarado_iku]

This thing was such a classic in Latin America that Polystation is the word we use to call all NES clone console, it's great, love it

[@chu.u.u]

same in greece!!!

[@xlicer]

The bootleg culture all around the region is something newer generations will never get to experience. In retrospect I get amused that while I was born in 2001. And also while not a Polystation, as I don’t think it was ever sold here In Argentina (even though other Famicon type systems (shortened to just “La Family )were around) my first game console was a bootleg megadrive and that every game store sold bootleg megadrive cartridges all way up to I think 2013(?).

[@filmk]

true, here in Chile was massive

[@noodlelynoodle.]

​@@xlicernot quite in the same way but there are arcades now that have bootleg Japanese arcade games cause they aren't available outside of Japan and there are tons of bootleg emulators that people buy for their kids still cause they have tons of games and are cheap so it doesn't really matter if they destroy is

[@kevingiombelli5925]

in Brazil they were a hit, one of my first experience with consoles was playing in my cousin’s Polystation in the early 2000’s

[@VIRACYTV]

I love that Wade has like an infinite amount of “stinky names” that scroll and James has a handful. It seems more grass roots over here on this channel. I LOVE IT HERE.

[@Games_for_James]

I’m still new!

[@VIRACYTV]

@@Games_for_James No it's a good thing. I wasn't being sarcastic. Small creators are more fun to watch!

[@oxymoron02]

​@@VIRACYTV Wade is gonna send a team of elite dropbears after you now.

[@brandontechnerd]

Keep in mind that the number of Wade's scrolling names has noticeably decreased since Wade cancelled the After Show and made them all free.

[@xcaiusto]

Oh a Polystation, that's a classic, how many Christmas Dreams did that thing ruin when their parents thought they bought the console their kids asked for. lol Nice video, nice piece of history, famiclones were the first contact of a lot of people with videogames

[@vcprado]

Let me guess: Brazil

[@erzajumeidi]

@@vcprado I'm sure it's also the rest of the world outside of us, jp, and eur region

[@Furko08]

just imagining that is so sad. You're a parent who's been saving up money to buy your children gifts for christmas to make them happy. then at some random store you see that game thing they keep talking about, that polystation thing. christmas day comes, you expect them to jump across the living room from joy, but instead just disappointment. shit like this must have ruined quite a few happy holidays

[@erzajumeidi]

@@Furko08 i might add, bootlegs tend to cost like a fractions of the real one, take original ps1 is $299 and at most bootlegs only cost around $20-50, which is a steal for parents who are clueless about it.

[@Furko08]

@erzajumeidi still man. The expectation vs the reality alone had to be bad enough

[@leephelipe]

oo thats a classic up here in brazil, so glad i never had to suffer with one of those

[@vcprado]

Brazil mentioned 🎉🎉🎉

[@leephelipe]

Brazil campeao numero uno 🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷

[@AmyStrikesBack]

I played a bit on a friend's house and no one knew how to run on mario, it wss great

[@dingusboi7045]

olá BR'S

[@Keezawea]

Funny enough, as a chilean guy, i have fond memories of the Polystation. My dad gave me one as a birthday gift when i was like 8 years old. At the time, he knew i liked videogames (mostly because i played them with my cousins at their home) but didnt have enough money to give me an original console and games, but i love it anyway. I remember my Polystation looked a lot like the second model of the PS1.

[@ShawnsTechRescue]

This brings me joy to see you fix bootleg junk like this. The PolyStation needed to be preserved so future generations can know true gaming.

[@ne0nkela522]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who likes bootleg stuff. I'm often laugh uncontrollably in a Sunday market!

[@JankPods0201]

You're Not alone, I like Manky bootleg junk like this!

[@bland9876]

I have a GameCube racing wheel and a Famiclone that are identical with the only real difference being that the Famiclone is obviously way shittier feeling

[@GroupNebula563]

As a collector of bootleg stuff, I’m so happy that you repaired the dingus instead of just yelling at it and then throwing it away! :)

[@radar12564]

James is truly becoming the new Ashens, I love him so much

[@whatbroicanhave50character35]

Always a joy to see you rip into electronics, thanks for the entertaining vids man

[@Games_for_James]

Thanks for watching!

[@VxW0lf]

Seems wrong seeing one of these not on a brown sofa

[@5illyM00se]

Those vids bring me back. Can't believe that series started well over a decade ago now

[@wusleezy4343]

Exactly what I was thinking. Brown sofa did it first

[@eblu_]

we have to send this guy on a wild goose chase for Chanticleer Hegemony

[@Bond101_Studios]

An excellent reference

[@robertpucovsky]

These types of systems were my childhood. After the breakup of Yugoslavia, us kids had to have the latest toys to play, so this is what we had... In 2000s... It still did great job diverting attention from the real world

[@GM_Darius]

I love how I can come here for laughs (which you provide very much of), but also incidentally learn how old consoles worked.

[@JoshWyatt-ku3yl]

I'd love to see more playstation repair/modding videos, like a CD drive replacement etc

[@davidphillips5677]

don't you mean polystation

[@JoshWyatt-ku3yl]

@@davidphillips5677 I'll take polystation too but the playstation is pretty underrepresented in modding/repair videos, a lot of the popular creators seem to make more about nintendo systems when there's a good deal of playstation mods out there and an interesting history

[@davidphillips5677]

@@JoshWyatt-ku3yl i was just joking lol

[@DJNokem]

The Namco Polystation really is one of the consoles of all time.

[@JankPods0201]

Yea.

[@casultaser]

The graphics were present and the audio was made.

[@MangUcokProductions]

"It's Namcoing time!"

[@henrydavel1440]

I agree, it’s definitely one of the things to happen in the history of gaming.

[@casultaser]

@@MangUcokProductions and just Namcoed all over the place

[@TrazynTheKleptomanichad]

love this style of video James! lot's of folks take a look at bootlegs and just come to the obvious conclusions "yeah it's a curiosity, but it's junk. don't buy it" love that you actually went the distance to not only look at it's ugly guts but also attempt to diagnose and fix it

[@squidee]

I've been going through a rough time on my way to getting an electrical engineering degree. Your channel has given those sparks to keep me going

[@illustriouschin]

Your method of determining polarity is genius!

[@GingerNingerGames]

That's a great example of how far miniaturization progressed between when that thing was built and the original NES though, that's about all it really shows.

[@BobTheMartin]

I adore that you actually bothered putting in a better voltage regulator and fixing the controller

[@Foostini]

Excellent video James, you strike a really good balance of being informative, funny, having good pacing, AND you've got a cute cat. Truly a Renaissance man.

[@Maximilian1990]

My dad actually bought me one of these back in the day when I asked for a psone (he didn't really know what a play station was but he saw this at the local flea market and bought it lol). I was disappointed initially but it did grow on me soon enough. For like 20 bucks it cost at the time the gaming experience was solid. It ran decently enough and was something the entire family enjoyed playing. Lasted us for like two years and it probably would have lasted longer if it werent for a thunderstorm power surge that took it out. It amazes me there are still examples of this thing surviving in the wild.

[@FeintMotion]

PolyStation is what they called my dorm room

[@stephenrocks8481]

i dont get it explain pls

[@BirchPig]

​@stephenrocks8481 he's implying his dorm mates... mated... a lot... randomly amoungst eachother Or everybody was unrelatedly polyamorus

[@luheartswarm4573]

The polystation was all over bootleg grey markets down here in Brazil (and around the rest of south america If I where to guess), they usually had the shittiest lightgun ever, and would break in a matter of weeks. Seeing it branded as "namco" is hilarious tho

[@schwagz124]

Man, I've always heard of the Polystation... and also saw the kinda design in a video on the "Polystation 2" Shocked to finally see a real Polystation, thanks James!

[@pepinopenguim]

Apparently the Polystation's main market was in Brazil. I've heard a lot of people from the 90s have nostalgia for NES games not because of the NES, but the Polystation. Kinda wish to have one, one day, love me some terrible NES clone I'll play once and never touch again

[@Tebbylous]

Heard this as well and honestly in that sense I'm glad these things exist. It's not exactly like Nintendo lost out on that lucrative South-American market at the time; they weren't selling there to begin with!

[@Keezawea]

mostly south america, because it was a cheaper option than buying an original console plus games.

[@Metal_Maxine]

Brazil had high tariffs on imported electronics. It's why TecToy's licenced Master System clone lived as long as it did (when they stopped being able to find Master System games, they just 'converted' Game Gear games).

[@faustinuskaryadi6610]

​@@KeezaweaNot just Latin America but also South East Asia countries like Indonesia and Philippines, and probably Mainland China too. I am Indonesian and saw PolyStation was being sold in Summarecon Mall Kelapa Gading in North Jakarta in 2000-2001.

[@Bomberman66Hell]

​@@Metal_MaxineWhat do you mean HAD? We still do!

[@450AHX]

I'm a software engineer and do a bit of reverse engineering from time to time, but I know basically nothing about electronics. I love how easy and similar (on some level) to what I do you make it look.

[@tailoreyes]

when i was a kid my dad meaning to buy me a playstation 3 got me a polystation 3 instead and i still remember how funny and sad it felt as he so happily pulled the box out of the bag and in big ugly spiderman font it screamed Polystation 3. it literally played the exact same games as this one. truly a humbling experience thank you james

[@NipplesOfDestiny]

2 minutes in and I’ve learned like 5 new things, great video!

[@Games_for_James]

These are my favourite comments

[@robertleveque7771]

James channel is great. Can't wait to see what the secret message his cat has been to telling us all along, turns out to be.

[@felio_]

James be like "come on kitty meow, daddy needs an outro"

[@Games_for_James]

Accurate!

[@sveltercube4070]

“Why stop at a million games, a billion, infinity! sky’s the limit when you don’t give a shit!” - Jontron

[@sammycooly1709]

Thank you James, I’m going to be a computer engineer one day, and I’m learning a lot with you! I’ll know how to take crap and make it okay.

[@chimrichalds81]

Thank you for the education . I love this channel

[@kraja15]

I love how James' red desk is like a Yin to Dank's green Yang.

[@nalds26]

I remembered that my parents would buy this one for us. This might be one of my first exposures to gaming. Good times (even the bootleg feel of this "console")

[@kajin807]

Oh shit, that's how you read the ac-dc converters

[@DavidTorpid]

Legitimately one of my favorite channels at the moment.

[@shermannbruce]

I use to have one of these when I was a kid with a few "100 in 1" cartridges. This bring back some memories alright 😂

[@flmalegre]

I cheer everytime I see a 7805. What a true blue legend that reg is.

[@umbrellacorp.]

This poly thing is so old I remember seeing one when I was going to school back in the early 2000s with my childhood girlfriend. They've been around for a really long time, I never expected to see one again. 😃😄

[@TrimeshSZ]

This is actually kind of interesting - I can remember seeing the "PolyStation" in Hong Kong, but it was significantly different from this. The most obvious difference was that it had a 60 pin Famicom cartridge connector. It also had a 50/60Hz switch and was doing the same sort of dubious trickery that the HK version Famicom did to allow 60Hz games to display on a 50Hz TV when set to 50Hz mode. The built in games were different - I think the one I saw was "22 in 1" - but amazingly they were all actually different games.

[@Chlorate299]

Excellent James content!

[@MichaelM28]

The humming is likely coming from the unshielded composite cable, not the console

[@Games_for_James]

Nah, used the same one to get the gameplay on the real nes with smb1. It’s a decent cable. The polystation is just bad.

[@ItsmeFerox]

ohhh! i had a polystation when i was a kid, and for a 4 year old kid it was pretty cool

[@EATABAGOFHELL]

2:36 oh dang I recognize that "some weird guy in an Armenian hat" Mario; that's the version of the game Russian kids got on their sketchy unlabeled Dendy cartridges back in the early 90s. that is one old-ass bootleg.

[@Arum638]

"I needed the female end for another project." Sentences you don't want to hear out of context.

[@stewartdahamman]

Seeing this today made my lunchtime dump scrolling really worthwhile. Thank you !

[@Monhamd1000]

Honestly, seeing you fixing this Famiclone was the best part.

[@iana6713]

"It's got a horrific hum..." We had a dog who was like that on occasion - it usually depended on what she'd eaten that day! Seriously, though, that PolyStation™ is something else...

[@lalo4642]

This brings me back to way better times, what a nostalgia trip!

[@stevencarlson5422]

Man this channel gets better and better every time love it 😍

[@waycic]

used to have a weird obsession with this when i was like 6 cuz it was hilarious to me when i saw the cartridge port under the cd lid. thanks for the epic videos !!

[@orangejjay]

I am so glad your channel finally got recommended to me. Been binging your videos which has been a blast ❤❤

[@JamieBainbridge]

That's the smartest way to find center-negative or positive. Thanks.

[@_gherry]

it's always a gr- awesome day when james uploads.

[@stone_sentinel]

I had no idea what that diagram on the back of a power adapter is! Great to know its for the barrel jack's polarity

[@jackieburkhart3268]

love how you fix everything you have a problem with instead of just living with it😭😭

[@uroboloss]

Famiclones were super popular here in Brazil back in the day and a remember a friend of mine had the Polystation, really cool seeing somene talk about it in a video.

[@moontrees10]

When I was at school, everyone had one of these consoles and we used to share cartridges with each other.

[@valentinautei]

Very famous in Romania around 2000's. The polystation is still close to a nes console. We had a console called Terminator 2 and besides the nes games, nothing was compatible with NES console. Still,we had a lot of fun with it

[@bland9876]

This is very odd because it has an NES controller plug and cartridge slot instead of a Famicom controller and cartridge plug.

[@vaclavzachodil6562]

Wow this still exists?! I had This exact Polystation Nes back in 1998 when I was 7 years old.

[@LdeinerProductions]

Honestly for a cheap NOAC, it works suprisingly well. Got the duty cycles correct. Basically like a slightly better Dendy. Also pretty surprising it uses the 72 pin connector. Usually it’s 60.

[@Bruddermane]

Oh wow! I learn so much from watching these videos. I really enjoy your content man. Thanks!

[@ImInGoodNick]

easily one of my favourite channels despite everything going over my head

[@Rihcterwilker]

I had this exact model. I'm nostalgic for it, simpler times.

[@TheMostKip]

I remember seeing a boxed PolyStation in a charity shop and having a chuckle. I sort of wish I'd bought it

[@Vanchelot]

Oh I had one. The moon Mario had the physics tweaked so you could do hilariously high jumps if you don't run if I remember correctly. You could pass almost all the levels just jumping and staying outside the screen for some seconds. For the time, it was fun. The fancy one if it's the same, had a bug that made some of the previous/next blocks to draw again on a "fancy" way, they were fake and silverish.

[@NamelessMoreOne]

The polystation was the only console I ever owned. Directly to PC gaming after that, since it was "more affordable".

[@gammaboost]

Affordable, meaning easier to pirate for lmao

[@Controllerhead]

In the US they used to distribute such things in shady mall kiosks, in a million different form factors like joysticks and knockoff consoles, but always the same NES crap. Yours actually has a cart slot though!

[@Playvoodoo]

PolyStatIon were sold all over in the Gulf. I’ve seen it in the late 90s and early 00s.

[@andrealmeida_]

So that's what a working PolyStation looks like! Those things used to ruin Christmas not only by not being a Play Station, but also for not working straight from a sealed box, brand new!

[@internetvideoenjoyer]

This was a good video, interesting to see inside one of those and glad to see you got it working

[@jeremylittle1581]

I appreciate the end meow in every episode. Frank doesn't say much

[@lucascouto166]

The Polystation played a big role in Brazil by spreading the word of NES for us that had to skip it straight into the SNES due to import issues Sure, it broke the hearts of many kids that just wanted a PS1, but it had its fun moments Oh, and I love the humming sound it exhales, I believe it's color interference (?), because I'd notice it while playing Mario, at black screens, the humming would be more noticeable

[@ChaosPootato]

The Polystation is a legendary system !

[@JarekLupinski]

"negative goes to the center of the connector... positive goes to the outside of the connector.... that's what we want🙄"

[@rafindeed]

polystation is probably the most sold bootleg video game in brasil. growing up id see those in every cousins house and friends

[@RyandracusChapman]

Upon first glance, I was fairly confused as to why the conterfeit manufacturer decided to use Namco as their branding for the console until I remebered that the Namco System 11 arcade board that was a joint venture by Sony and Namco to develop an arcade system based pretty much on the PS1's prototype hardware specs. Pretty clever of them if that was their true aim.

[@gloryxkid]

My aunt got me this for Christmas when I was small, box had all kinds of characters on it including pikachu lmao came with a cart that had thousands of games and had even more when it was booted without a cart. Good times lol

[@JayDeeIsMyName]

That moment he opens up the disc drive, and it showed a cartridge slot, I fricking died.

[@Goofy_doggy13]

James and wade are like the Australian version of beavis and butthead, but also tech wizards

[@LevinoControle]

Nice video James. This was my first ever console when i was a kid. Mine was shaped like the smaller, slim version of the PlayStation. It had only 10 actual games, a white background with some trees and a short music loop on the menu. At that time my family coudn't afford the real console, but a few years later i got my PlayStation 2. For some reason (i can't remember why) i also got a version of the Sega Master System made by a brand called TecToy - it had around 130 classic games from the console, and was a licensed product by Sega. Even though i already had my ps2 i still enjoyed playing on it a lot too xD Aerial Assault, Gain Ground, the original Sonic and a few other games where my favourites on it.

[@Games_for_James]

Are you in Brazil? TecToy made heaps of Brazil exclusive Sega systems

[@argreenboo]

I do love fixing bootleg stuff because I learn a lot about how cheap people make things and what separates them from the higher end stuff. For example I was at a pawn shop and noticed that they had a lot of as is pro controller for the Nintendo switch and could tell immediately that they were knockoffs but still picked them up thinking I could reprogram and replace the cheap parts for the better ones so the rumble motor the battery etc.. and it’s better but you would still think something is off about it because maybe the weight Or spring tension in the lz and rz so I do appreciate nicer things more. It’s pretty funny because I found a similar Easter egg that was in pro controller in the knockoff

[@EnderArlo]

The SMB that I used to play has that same title screen meaning that my Bootleg NES probably has the same game list just in a different order

[@LobbyDaLobster]

"Thanks Grandma. This is exactly what I wanted for my birthday...."

[@BestTheIsDualusional]

I have been loyal to this username and I will continue to be.

[@Games_for_James]

Ahahahahah

[@daviddavidson2357]

They got the million in one back to front. What they mean is you have a one in a million chance of the thing actually working.

[@bunve]

A guitar pedal power brick (Boss and Dunlop are the best) would be a PERFECT fit for stuff like this! 9v, center negative and enough amps usually!

[@fruitsnackia2012]

i remember going to europe in the 90s and visiting some cousins that had one of these peices of crap. i was so confused why it played nes games but looked like a ps1 lol

[@garydobis6395]

0:32 wtf is number 5? Rescue Kuck??

[@gir489returns2]

Thanks, James.

[@zeliardforty-two4692]

Love seeing these bootleg systems in action! Obviously they tried to target people who heard of a system but don’t know anything about it. They get it home and wrap it up for little Billie, but when it gets opened they get confused why little Billie is upset!

[@Tebbylous]

Like, sure some of that was the case but honestly I do think the majority of the sales market for these was in places with less access. Like for example Brazil wasn't really a consideration as a market for Nintendo (to begin with at least) with the NES getting 1993 release there; much less the rest of South-America.

[@zeliardforty-two4692]

@@Tebbylous actually not a bad point. I could only imagine if this sort of thing was my only option. Still kind of underhanded to claim that many games when their isn’t nearly that many! I have a Korean multi cart with more choices

[@KevinStriker]

I love that Super Mario title screen every time I see it. It's known as "Mary 2" on my 31 in 1 multicart.

[@yvendous]

I actually reaaaaally enjoyed seeing you fix that trash!