$99 MiSTer FPGA Clone Finally Has A Name, And It Hasn't Gone Down Well With Everyone 1
Image: @TakiUdon_

Update [Thu 13th Jun, 2024 13:20 BST]: Following the minor backlash against the 'Mr. Pi' name, Taki Udon created a poll on Twitter (sorry, Elon) asking people which name they would prefer.

It's worth noting that any option other than 'Mr. Pi' would incur a month's delay on production.

RetroFPGA won the vote, with 'no change' coming second.

Are you happy with the 'RetroFPGA' name? (1,183 votes)

  1. Yes45%
  2. No6%
  3. I like it, but would have stuck with Mr. Pi to avoid a delay20%
  4. I don't really care29%

Original Story [Wed 12th Jun, 2024 11:00 BST]: Taki Udon's $99 MiSTer FPGA clone has certainly generated a lot of interest since it was first announced. The world of MiSTer is an expensive one to enter, due to the high cost of the hardware – so the impending arrival of a cheaper alternative has rightly excited a lot of retro gamers.

Taki Udon has now revealed the final name of the board – Mr. Pi – and it's a decision that hasn't gone down all that well with some people, one of which is Retro Frog 3D owner Todd Gill.

For full transparency, it's perhaps worth noting that Gill is involved with the MARS FPGA project.

This prompted an exchange between the two individuals:

$99 MiSTer FPGA Clone Finally Has A Name, And It Hasn't Gone Down Well With Everyone 2

However, he's far from being alone when it comes to resistance to the new name. "He has to be trolling," says @ctrl_alt_rees. "It would be insane to come this far just to end up making it look like yet another dodgy Raspberry Pi clone."

Another Twitter user, @socksfelloff, added, "Todd makes a very good point. At a glance I would assume this is one of the million Pi clones and pass right by it. Something like 'Mr. FPGA' makes more sense."

"Chinese knockoff feeling complete," says @mrjack8969. "Had the pricing now just needed the most unrelated naming convention to avoid trademark lawsuits. We got it boys," to which Gill replies: "lol exactly. did all the work to clone a product and drive the price down, then fucks it up with a stupid name that has fuck all to do with the intended market."

There's still a chance that Taki Udon might reconsider the naming, but it seems that he's already pretty far down the path now:

What do you make of the name? Do you think it could potentially confuse people? Or perhaps you feel it's a total non-issue? Let us know with a comment.