Power Joy Voyager

Power Joy Voyager
By: The Collector

If there’s one thing that Nintendo Player has established, it’s that Nintendo’s 8-bit system is bigger than anything in the world. No other system has had quite the variety of games and accessories for it. On the same note, no other system has had so many pirates and imitators. The Power Joy Voyager is clear proof of the matter.

Released only recently (2003 is a solid guess), the Power Joy Voyager, released by Power Joy, is one of the strangest NES pirate ever. Fortunately, it is also one of the most fun.

One look at the system is all one would need to guess where the design came from. The Voyager’s case is copied from Nintendo’s own Game Boy. The face features four (colorful) buttons, a purple directional pad, and standard start/select buttons, with a reset button tossed on. In fact, the case looks like a combination of the Super Nintendo and the Game Boy. An external controller port, RCA connections for television use, A/C adapter port (of course, four AA batteries will do), speaker and a power/game type switch (more on that later) are all featured.

The oddest thing about this system (and there are various odd nuances) is that it’s actually two systems in one. It also may be the world’s only portable system that can’t be fully utilized when not connected to a television. By flipping the game switch to “LCD”, the Voyager will allow you to play “brick games”, which are very simple games that can be found in many cheap hand-held systems (the kind that credit card companies give out as a “free gift”).

The box claims that there are “thousands of additional games in Portable PlayPad”, and this may well be true (well, counting all of the variants). The LCD games are undeniably trite and only worth a look if you’re exceptionally bored. They were not reviewed for the sake of this article.

However, by slapping in the included “Power Joy” cartridge, connecting the system to the television, and flipping the game switch to “TV”, the real magic will begin. Included in this cartridge are 84 NES games, with no repeats. The undeniable coolness of this alone not withstanding, the game selection is somewhat unique.

Standard pirate multi-cart standbys like Galaga, Devil World, and other pirate fodder are available. There are some, however, that are more obscure, such as Son Son. There are a few surprises in the cart, too, such as Spy vs. Spy, ASCII (a prequel of sorts to a Game Boy game called Penguin Wars in the states), Adventure Island, and Goonies (the original!). Besides the usual title misspellings/hacks and removal of copyright information, there’s even a very odd Super Mario Bros. hack starring a panda called Pandadmar, which is so bizarre that it has to be seen to believe. The Power Joy Voyager definitely has a quality line-up, all featured with great RCA picture and sound.

The last peculiar feature is the controllers, which are rank as some of the best pirate controllers ever made. They are both connected to each other, so the single control port will support two players, and are solidly build, even though the cords are too short. Both feature the usual start/select/action buttons, with turbo thrown in for good measure. The buttons are all responsive, but the circular pattern in which the action buttons make them hard to reach in tight situations.

Player one’s controller is a borderline genius. The layout features a standard cross pattern; nothing too unusual. The most outlandish aspect of the controller, however, is the light gun built right in, which is very cool and surprisingly accurate. Controller two features all of same, minus the gun, but plus an analog-like control stick in place of normal cross pad. The stick performs well, but it takes some getting used to. Both pads are shaped comfortably, but are too small. The controllers are effective, but could be more so.

The instruction sheet also deserves attention. Besides such literary gems as “Due to high levels of concentration required for some games, we recommend you do not play for long periods without resting”, the sheet also includes not only a complete game list, but an explanation of control functions. The game list is an excellent way to tell what you got for your buck, not to mention a great help for lazy reviewers.

We’ll take a moment to cover the packaging. The packaging explains everything that is included, and the propaganda on the front is, for a change, not wildly exaggerated (with the exception of the thousands of portable games, which no sane person would dare test). Inside, the Power Joy Voyager itself practically screams pirate, with misaligned FCC regulations on the fact and a crooked label on the cartridge.

The Power Joy Voyager was acquired through American NES Piracy Network QVC, which has been for years a haven for obscure NES products. The price was just over thirty dollars with shipping (which, for the record, took less than a week). On a side note, the instructions list a site for the Power Joy at www.power-joy.com. While there didn’t seem to be any models of this Power Joy Voyager available as of this writing, there were two other Power Joy models available at the time.

Is the Power Joy Voyager worth the price? Absolutely. The selection of games may not be the most enthralling, as they are of the simpler kind, mostly, the Voyager does have strength in numbers, and a few quality titles in those numbers that don’t hurt. Couple that with the respectable controllers, great audio/visual capabilities, and bonus portable games, and that leaves the mix with a very novel and fun collector’s item. Score one now.