Old Skool Classiq III HD Unboxing - NES, SNES & Genesis in 720P HD

In this episode, we unbox and check out the hardware of the Old Skool Games Classiq III HD clone system, designed to play NES, Super Nintendo, and Sega Genesis games in 720p HD

Over the years, I have had a mixed relationship with products from Old School Games. Their controllers, such as the one for the TurboGrafx 16 and the GameCube gamepad designed to look like the Horipad, really good. Their HDMI cone systems, well, they've always left me wanting more. When I saw them post about the New Classiq III HD system, it definitely caught my eye. Expanding upon the Classiq 2 which plays both NES and Super Nintendo games, the Classiq III adds a third port for Sega Genesis games. Will this be more of the same from them or a redemption story? Let's find out

Out of the box, the Classiq III HD is actually very well equipped. It includes the system itself, HDMI cable, AV cables, micro USB cable for power, a USB power brick which many other manufacturers omit, and two, shall we say, unique controllers. Overall, a pretty well-put-together package for around $90

We have to talk about the controllers because it's one of those things, at least at an initial glance, I didn't think I was going to like. What they have done is essentially taken the Sega Genesis six-button controller, added the grips off of a PlayStation controller, and added the triggers from a Super NES controller along with a SNES controller connector. I thought this was going to be terrible in photos, but it's actually quite usable. The grips are molded in such a way that your hands just fall right into place, and the ergonomics are very good. The buttons definitely feel plasticky, but clicky, and the D-Pad feels more like something off of a Super Nintendo than a Sega Genesis. On the back, there is an N and S switch which changes the controller functionality. The end mode means the X and A buttons are your functions in Nintendo games, while in the S position the buttons are as you would expect and as they are labeled for Sega Genesis games. That means for Nintendo games the A and the B buttons are backward.

While Nintendo has the Switch, Old Skool has outfitted the Classiq III HD with a ton of switches. On the front, there is a switch to go back and forth between the stock-included controller and using OEM controllers. It must have something to do with the way those controllers are wired. On the back you have a switch to turn the system LED on or off, change from NTSC to PAL games, and alter the aspect ratio from 4:3 to 16:9. On the left-hand side of the system, you have all of the ports. A micro USB port is included for power, something that would lead to disaster which I will cover in our full-blown review. You also have your HDMI output and your composite video output.

At the bottom of the system, you have another NTSC power switch. This is actually for the Super Nintendo. Out of the box, mine was set to PAL, not NTSC. This was no big deal for someone like me who will give the system a once over before hooking it up. But for less informed customers who may just take the system out of the box, connect it, and then have their North American games unplayable, this could be a source of frustration. I will say the second Classiq III that I purchased had this switch in the correct position.

The LED lighting system on the Classiq III is actually really sharp looking. One LED light goes around the entire perimeter of the console, basically sandwiched between the top and bottom halves. The Classiq III HD logo is also lit on the front of the console. One of the things I'm not a fan of is the main power switch does not turn the LED on or off, you can only do so by flipping the switch on the back of the system. If you have it tucked in a shelving unit, that's pretty inconvenient.

Finally, I tested out all the cartridge slots to see how the pins grabbed my cartridges. Starting with the Sega Genesis side I was floored at how hard it was to remove cartridges. It wasn't quite a death grip, but I will tell you last rights had been administered and people were planning for the probate hearing. These were way too tight in my estimation. The Super Nintendo ports were not nearly as tight as the Genesis ones, either on insertion or removal, and the NES pins felt the best out of all three. I'm hoping the Genesis pins loosen up over time, but hearing that crunch as the cartridge was inserted was crunch-inducing.

We will be looking at gameplay footage in a separate review video coming later this week. Make sure you are subscribed to the channel as we will be playing games from the Famicom, NES, Game Boy, Super Famicom, Super NES, Master System, and Sega Genesis.

#OldSkool #Classiq3 #CloneSystem #Sega #Nintendo #SuperNintendo