Is there any setup required besides having a working CRT and power cord/rca cords? I made sure the one I ordered had a new 72 pin connector so it wouldn't wear out.

Also, kind of dumb question, but are there any affordable alternatives to the powerpak/everdrive? I can't exactly afford to shell out $100+ just for the ability to use savestates.

this is probably obvious, if you were on a different console before, the difference in input delay takes about a week or two to get used to, and you may feel kind of hopeless at first, but like I said it takes like a week or two

To my knowledge those are the only two items that allow you to savestate on the actual NES - and they're both pretty pricey

Make sure you are using an original power supply, not a new repro. Most of the new ones will eventually deteriorate your picture quality and could possibly hurt your system

tbh you dont even really need savestates to get "good", you just need to be willing to put in extra effort

make sure it is a ntsc console

A game genie can give you kind of save states I believe, I think eddiecatgaming used it so he could start at the beginning of levels. Not exactly save states, and I don't know if it's any cheaper than powerpak/everdrive.

The alternative is to just sticc with emulator because save states are pretty good Keepo

@Lul_ecks_dee well i mean i got my game genie for like 10 dollars so i'd say it was worth it haha