Enthusiasts of certain types of media can easily seem like lunatics to all but their own kind. Vinyl-loving audiophiles are a good example. Vinyl record devotees shun digital media and embrace large, expensive sound systems built around turntables for what they believe is the best, most authentic way to experience music. Gamers have their own version of this: cartridge collectors who shun digitally distributed re-releases and compilations (and illegal ROMs) in favor of playing games only in their original formats on the original game systems.

The idea is that the best way to play these old games is with the original hardware. Unfortunately, that hardware wasn't built to work with HDTVs, and putting these games on a 1080p screen through the legacy composite video input generally makes them look terrible. The Hyperkin RetroN 5 offers a very useful, relatively economical workaround by pulling ROM data directly from cartridges and emulating it at your HDTV's native resolution. The $499 Analogue Nt takes a different—and much more expensive—approach.

The Analogue Nt is an enthusiast-geared game system that can play Nintendo Entertainment System/Famicom games. That's all it does, and all it claims to do, though it claims to do it in the best, most authentic way possible: by using the original processors of the NES and building otherwise expensive aftermarket modifications directly into the system. The HDMI-equipped version we tested adds an extra $79 to the system's price, for a tough-to-swallow Neo Geo-level $578. However, the Analogue Nt delivers on what it sets out to do, and for a very specific audience, that's more than enough. It's also solid metal, which is a fascinating talking point, if not necessarily a selling point.

Design

The Analogue Nt doesn't look or feel like a retro game system. Its shape is vaguely Super NES-like, but it's clearly not built to mimic any specific console. It's a gently curved, machined aluminum slab that measures 1.7 by 9.7 by 5.7 inches (HWD). Its all-metal body is surprisingly heavy and cool to the touch, and its "natural" aluminum color is a unique sort of gray not often seen on electronics. You can get an anodized black, blue, or red finish for an additional $49.

The front of the system holds four NES controller ports flanking an Analogue logo engraved into the aluminum, with a power light just above it. The top panel contains twin cartridge slots for NES and Famicom games. The back of the system holds a red Power button, Audio Adjust Up/Down buttons, and two three-way switches. One switch puts the Analogue Nt in 2-player/4-player US/4-player Japan controller modes. The other sets the 3.5mm port on the back to serve as an auxiliary output or, for Famicom games that support it, a microphone input. There are also VGA, SCART, and HDMI video outputs, and a set of stereo RCA audio outputs. Analogue Nt systems with the HDMI upgrade, like the one we tested, only output video over HDMI; the VGA and SCART connections are disabled.

What's Inside

The Analogue Nt is, effectively, an NES/Famicom system with some very sophisticated components installed after the fact. According to Analogue, the Nt uses the same CPU and PPU chips found in the original NES, making it the only retro system currently available that uses authentic processing hardware. Analog-outputting retro systems like the RetroN 3 and the Super Retro Trio use similar circuitry, but their manufacturers don't claim to use the exact same chips as the original consoles. This is also a strong contrast to the RetroN 5, which doesn't directly process game cartridges in real-time but instead pulls the ROM data from the cartridges and runs that data through an onboard software emulator.