Unboxing & Review: Hyperkin SupaBoy Black Gold Edition Clone Super Nintendo & Super Famicom Handheld

In this video, we unbox, test out, and evaluate the Hyperkin SupaBoy Black Gold Edition.

I've said it before, but my favorite video game system of all time is the Super Nintendo. It's where I reached the peak of my game playing abilities I feel, the system had the best games, and that controller, dear Lord that controller was so good! As such, when I see new items coming related to the Super NES, it definitely piques my interest. When I first saw the SupaBoy, I was definitely intrigued. A portable Super NES? Sign me up! Now Hyperkin has taken it to a new level with the Black Gold edition, the third variant of the SupaBoy.

The SupaBoy Black Gold is designed to play your NTSC, NTSC-J, and PAL Super Nintendo and Super Famicom games. In addition, it is also compatible with the Super Game Boy. This gives the system a huge library that it can play.

The front of the SupaBoy features a 4.3 inch LCD display, front-firing stereo speakers, twin ports to connect external Super NES controllers to as well. All of the traditional Super NES style buttons and d-pad layouts are here. The A/B/X/Y buttons are all gold and all have the same shape. Since they are the same color I would have preferred if they would have gone with a concave/convex configuration here. The d-pad feels okay, but not great. Compared to the d-pad on the Hyperkin Scout and Cadet controllers, the SupaBoy's d-pad actually leaves a little bit to be desired.

But how does it play games? Well, decently. I found with action platformers the controls felt adequate, there didn't seem to be much if any sort of lag or delay on the display itself. Now you can hook the SupaBoy up to a TV using composite inputs, and that's where the SupaBoy shows a few chinks in his armor.

When playing fighting games or games that required quick movements of the d-pad, it just didn't seem to be up to the task. I had trouble pulling off moves in Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat using the on-system d-pad and controls. These issues disappeared however when I use an external controller pad. That tells me that the issue lies not in any lag or latency in the display but in the d-pad itself.

Why it RoX:
- Super NES & Super Famicom on the go
- High games compatibility
- Can be hooked up to a television
- 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratio options
- Front-firing stereo speakers that actually sound decent
- Quite good battery life
- Under a hundred bucks

What could be improved?
- Dhe d-pad is really starting to show its age and not up to recent Hyperkin quality
- Composite video output instead of HDMI
- Buttons should be concave and convex
- Some visibility issues at some angles
- Larger and less portable than the switch or switch light

Should you buy one?
If you are a fan of Super NES or Super Famicom and want to be able to play your library on the go, this is a really neat system. The high compatibility with games is a definite strength of this system. I am left wondering, however, with the Nintendo Switch Online service and access to top Super NES games, has the SupaBoy Black Gold come out in a time when it's no longer needed? At around $100 it's a decent value, however, I would really like to see them update the d-pad and integrate HDMI output in a future revision. I had fun playing the system, more fun when I hook up an external controller. It definitely feels like Hyperkin was trying to bring their past into their future with the SupaBoy Black Gold, and if anything, it shows how far they've come with their more recent releases.

#Hyperkin #SupaBoy #Review #Unboxing #BlackGold

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