to run NES cartridges in high-definition
on your modern TV can be a very
expensive proposition the concept of
taking NES and modifying it to get HD
out it's not really the cheapest
solution in the world and when you want
to go out and find a system that runs
off of an FPGA chip that's basically a
clone system that runs the games in high
definition well that can also be
expensive too so the folks at old-school
told us that they had a new solution
that was going to be a lot more
affordable and that is the classic NHD
this system got sent in to us for review
and we're pretty excited to look at it
because it is by far the cheapest
solution we've ever seen to running
original NES cartridges in HD a little
while ago we covered the classic 2 HD
from old-school the system was capable
of playing NES and SNES games in 720p HD
but since we've looked at that one we've
seen a lot of other consoles that have
taken older video game cartridges and
brought them into high definition this
includes consoles like the analog Super
NT which specifically focused on Super
Nintendo games and we've also featured
footage in the past from retro USBs ABS
while these systems are great in their
own right the biggest problem is that
the method they use to get video games
to run on them is a pretty expensive one
they primarily focus on fpga technology
that basically takes the idea of what
the console was and recreates it in a
sort of mix between hardware and
software but this can be a pretty pricey
endeavor usually getting the consoles to
cost a lot more on store shelves but
that was one of the strengths of the
Classique 2 HD the idea was that the
system itself could not only play NES
and Super Nintendo games in high
definition but it also came with two
controllers and the cost was
considerably less at the time that I
recorded this video I took a look and
found that the Avs and analog systems
had costs around a hundred and eighty
dollars USD and depending where you get
it from that doesn't include a
controller but right now the classic two
HD can be purchased for around 70 to 80
dollars and it includes two controllers
plus the ability to play both NES and
Super Nintendo games in high definition
at 720p the cost is a huge advantage
over its competitors in the marketplace
you get a lot of value considering how
much you can actually do with the system
so when the folks at old school
contacted me to let me know that the
or making another system that focused
specifically on the NES and brought the
price down even lower to about 40 bucks
it made me pretty skeptical is the
classic NHD better than the classic to
HD and how does it compare to the AVS
from retro USB well let's take a look in
the box you get the console and two
controllers but the controllers they
include with this console are really
cool last time when I was taking a look
at the classic 2 HD I showed one of
these off and it's because old-school
actually makes them and there's some of
the best third-party NES controllers
I've ever seen in combination with the
rounded corners to the top left and
right it also has a wedge design that
kind of gets thicker to the top of the
controller the buttons are nice and
responsive and although the d-pad is a
little bit squishy for my preference it
does have a good central pivot that
makes it work well these controllers are
so good I would recommend using them on
the original NES system which you
totally can do because it's not using
any proprietary input into this console
old-school sells these controllers
individually and if you're to buy them
like that you would actually be paying
for half the cost of the classic NHD so
it's pretty nice to see these included
with a console and speaking of the
console well this is what it looks like
the system itself picks a lot of
inspiration cues from the design of the
original NES although this one is a top
loader which I actually prefer a lot
more on the front you've got a power
button and a reset button and two
controller inputs that were originally
used on the NES that means any of the
controllers you would have used on that
system in the past will work on here
besides of course an NES zapper because
that really won't work on modern
televisions on the back you'll find HDMI
output for your 720p signal and you'll
also get composite video out if you're
planning on using this on an older TV
the power is provided by USB micro with
an included USB adapter but if you have
a modern TV that has a USB port on it
you might be able to power the console
straight from the TV without a USB
adapter but something else you'll find
on the back of the classic NHD is a
sixteen by nine or four by three button
this button is incredibly important
because it gives you the ability to
choose what aspect ratio you want the
image to look like on your TV and if
you're like any other gamer out there
that wants the original traditional
image you're getting from the games
you're probably going to be wanting to
use that four by three option and the
last thing to make note of is that on
top of the system when you turn it on
the N on the logo will go through a
color spectrum and it is really bright
and pretty cool looking I personally
liked it but if you wanted to turn it
off I couldn't find a way to make that
happen so the console looks good and the
controllers feel good but how does it
play games well upon every little bit of
testing I could put it through it
basically felt exactly like the classic
2 HD you get the exact same image
representation and the game support is
near identical we tested a ton of
different games and just like the last
time with the classic 2 HD we saw a
couple of visual glitches when we had a
dirty cartridge but once we cleaned it
out it just ran exactly like you would
imagine it would but it's still really
cool to see that games that typically
wouldn't even work on a regular NES will
still work on the system even though
they'll have little weird visual
artifacts and stuff like that while the
original NES cartridge library should
run fine on the system we did find that
certain cartridges didn't work and most
notably that was basically the everdrive
cartridge that we use for almost every
single console that we review
unfortunately with this system it just
doesn't power on we're not a hundred
percent certain why but upon asking old
school they did confirm that this
cartridge will never work on the system
and that's unlikely to ever change
because this system does not have the
ability to update it from where or to
have any individual settings that you
can modify the only option that you have
is the back option to change the aspect
ratio and that's basically it but that
doesn't mean that every third-party
cartridge won't work on the system we
ran through a bunch that were sent in
recently from retrofit and we found that
every single cartridge worked flawlessly
including the brand-new North American
release of Holy Diver now the footage
you're seeing here is running directly
off the classic NHD and here's direct
comparison footage of the game running
on the Avs from retro USB while the AVS
is image is a lot sharper what you're
getting off the classic NHD is really
not that bad considering the huge drop
and reduction in price because
essentially you could PI almost five
classic n HDS
for one of the ABS systems both of these
systems are fine options in their own
right but
when it comes to the money you save of
the classic NHD a lot of gamers out
there might really prefer this console
but you do need to keep in mind that
while we had a pretty good experience
with getting a lot of our games to work
there might be a cartridge out there in
your collection that won't work with the
classic NHD and likely if any of them
are not going to work it's gonna be the
third-party ones that weren't officially
produced by Nintendo themselves what the
classic NHD offers is a one-stop
solution for anyone out there wanting to
play their original NES cartridges in
high-definition at the cheapest price
possible combined with the two
controllers that are included in the box
you're getting a huge value for what
essentially is a high-definition NES and
realistically folks if you're excited
about playing NES games on your modern
TV this is one of the best ways to do it
currently I've personally spent tons of
money to get the best image possible out
of my original NES cartridges and you
know what I don't think people need to
do that yes for the hardcore of us out
there that really want that best
accurate response with an FPGA chip or
maybe some kind of modified NES that
definitely is a way to go about it but a
console like this exists for people out
there that just want the image and they
don't want to drop hundreds and hundreds
of dollars