Phonedork on DRAKON RGB Famicom
Hello I am sure most people who have viewed this forum have seen pics of my RGB modded AV Famicom that Drakon serviced for me. I am going to give you my own personal opinion about his customer service and his actual mod work.
I was thinking about modding my AV Famicom for at least 3 years before deciding to do it. I heard mixed reviews about the procedure. Mostly about the color palate and jail bars. But I just hated the composite quality I got on my AV Famicom when everything else I owned was working with RGB. So by chance I saw a NES RGB PPU on Ebay. I purchased it for 150 dollars and asked the seller who would he would recommend for the commission. He recommended Drakon so I googled his work.
He seemed very confident in his work but also there was this ego that came along with it. I saw how he reacted to other peoples work as if they were shit and his was always better. I ignored this and saw it as he knew what the fuck he was doing and everybody else was not as good or as I thought at the time.
Everything out of the guys mouth was like “MY MOD, MY WAY, and MY AMP”…etc Either way he still seemed to know what he was talking about and I commissioned him at an extremely high price.
The first problem I had with the guy was actually asking him what I needed to run RGB with my PPU and AV Famicom. He kept referring me to his price guide. So I said I wanted the AMP without the stereo sound and RGB mod. He then recommended me to get the RGB amp with stereo, stereo / mono switch, and mod my Famicom to NES converter to run with the Retropak with stereo upgrade. By now I felt like what the hell get it all and have this ultimate Nintendo!
So now I had to send my AV Famicom to Canada which was at least 35 dollars. I put a 200 dollar insurance on it and apparently when he got it he had to pay money to get it and I had to reimburse him 50 dollars or more I cant remember. Then I sent him money but forgot to send it as a gift which I hate doing with working with people across country. Since I did not put it down as a gift I owed him another 7 dollars which I had to reimburse him. I was thinking already by now that this guy is nickel and diming me already and I have not seen no work performed.
So with the money he got from me plus the reimbursement he attempted to purchase this RGB AMP from Japan which for some reason he had issues with payment completion on there end. It seemed legit why he was not able to get it as he was showing me emails and transactions through messaging. Anyways from here out I waited almost 3 months before he received the AMP and modded my AV Famicom.
He tells me he was working like a MOFO on it and somewhere in the process he left his heater on the back end of my AV Famicom which melted it. He gave me two choices… First that I can get another AV Famicom and send it to him and he will deduct just 75 dollars off his mod. Second that he would make the melted AV Famicom work and just deduct 75 dollars. I was very disappointed in this already but just wanted it to be complete so I said just use the melted AV Famicom.
This really pissed me off but I remained quiet as I had already invested a lot of money in this shit and wanted it back. A brand new AV Famicom is at least 150 dollars or higher plus shipping. So 75 dollars is not sufficient! If he was an honest guy he would have purchased me another and modified that one since it was entirely his fault. But this guy makes every fault yours no matter what!!!
Anyways he makes this video in his dungeon on youtube showing me that everything is working. However he does not test his shit on a real RGB monitor!!!! So this means nothing to me.
He sends me the modified RGB Famicom and when I get it I was so excited and mad at the same time. I saw how bad he melted the back end of my AV Famicom! I tried not to let it get to me and plugged it to my RGB monitor. Then everything was a scrambled mess and picture looked like shit. I tried different scart cables and none worked any different.
I immediately messaged Drakon and he was immediately on the defensive saying it worked before it got to me! Then proceeds to show me his dungeon video of him playing my AV Famicom on his UN-RGB TV! I was like who cares! Its not working now and I just opened it!
So he then converses with a colleague SKIP who was nice enough to fix the AV Famicom for FREE!!! Even though Drakon fucked it up and charged the shit out of me and does not take responsibility for his shoddy work....
SKIP then opened it up and saw the shitty ass MOD work and had to redo all of his wiring because his cold soldiered joints came loose under globs of glue which he had to remove!
After fixing this he also modified my light gun to work and shielded the RGB PPU to not amplify jail bars. All this for absolutely NOTHING! If anything I made a friend out of this whole bullshit with Drakon!
SKIP also told me not to use the Retropak anymore and to get an Everdrive which does not amplify jail bars on a RGB modified AV Famicom.
So everything looked awesome thanks to SKIP and I even told Drakon thank you despite not liking what he did. I am good hearted my nature and I think it is a weakness sometimes when dealing with people like Drakon but I was just happy it was working now.
I then told Drakon that SKIP told me to get a NES Everdrive instead of the Retropak because it does not amplify the jail bars. He then told me he already knew that! I was thinking… “You motherfucker!!! You told me to modify my NES to Famicom converter to work with the stereo setup on my modified AV Famicom”! So he charged me for something I did not need!!!! He could have just told me to forget the NES to Famicom Converter MOD and get an everdrive! But instead he told me I needed it done so my stereo would work with the Retropak! But the Retropak amplifies jail bars!!! Something he knew and did not warn me about! He just wanted to make more money off of me.
Later on SKIP traded me a better RGB PPU and my AV Famicom had even clearer RGB! Holy Shit this guy really fixed me up and still did not charge me! SKIP then told me how Drakon said I did not know what I was doing and did not know how to hook up RGB. Despite having extensive videos on youtube about this particular subject!
Anyways basically Drakon charged the shit out of me and destroyed my AV Famicom! On top of it not working when I received it!!! SKIP fixed everything and hooked me up with a better RGB PPU!
I would not recommend getting any work done from Drakon! He is a smart ass and his work is SHIT!!!
Also I am missing the cap that goes on the side of my AV Famicom extension port! It was sent with my AV Famicom but I never got it back! I got a video showing me wrapping up my AV Famicom to send to Drakon and it was on it! But disappeared when I received it! The guy is basically a THIEF! He is lucky he is not within 3 states of me! I may be a nice person….but I am not the guy you would want to fuck over!
Break Down of what I paid him for his shoddy work....
Price Break Down…
Japanese Video and Audio Upgrade (Charge 150 dollars)
Building and installing the kit is 250$
Switch that allows to change from stereo to mono ( 50 dollars)
Wire up the extended audio to work with NES to Famciom Adapter for the retropak 30 dollars
Price = 480 dollars + Shipping Back 32 Dollars
Total of 512 Dollars
He ruined my AV famicom with a hot glue heater and gave me 75 dollars off…
512 - 75 = 437 dollars
However my paypal statements show I paid him a total of 562 dollars!!!
He ask we pay him in Canadian which is 579.14 Canadian Dollars!!!
I guess I am an idiot for letting this happen. But that does not mean the next person should be the same!!!