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Thread: Your experience with the Retron 5??

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    Default Your experience with the Retron 5??

    I searched for a thread about the Retron 5, but couldn't find one. Sorry, if I overlooked it.

    I'm on the edge buying a Retron 5. I saw one three weeks ago and didn't even know that this product was on the market, but immediately I was impressed by it.

    I didn't play a lot of videogames in the last couple of years partially because of my job and moreover I wasn't in the mood playing. Aditionally, I was out of the country and came back six weeks ago. Since I'm rediscovering my gameroom and looking at all my games (a smaller collection, around 1700 games from the NES on, 12 consoles), I'm truly in the game-mode again.

    I'm in the process of reorganizing my gameroom, buying lots of new stuff: Games and games and games, a new HDTV, the older CRT I'll keep of course for the older systems, and while I was making all this buying decisions I saw in a used gamestore the Retron 5. I was flabbergasted.

    Wonderful graphics, the possibility of the Retron 5 to be linked to an HDTV, even for an emulator skeptic like me is the prospect of having this system incredibly tempting. I will always keep the older systems and prefer to play the games on them, but the Retron 5 as a complementary system would just be great.

    Then the shock came: I googled and read reviews, I watched Youtube videos about the system, and now I'm really not sure anymore if I should buy it or not. On the one hand I'd love to have a system with all these possibilities and play a SNES Axelay on a 48 inch HDTV with these kind of graphics, on the other hand I don't like to buy a system which might break down in a year because it is cheaply built or still has the deathgrip problem.

    Which are your experiences with the Retron 5? Did it break down? Did it damage games? Or is it fun and you'd recommend buying it?

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    Kirby (Level 13) Leo_A's Avatar
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    Well for one, if you have 1700 games, should your priority be buying more right now? :P If you haven't been able to do it in years, they should all feel relatively new and you probably should suck enough at them to be considered so.


    Anyway there's a lot of poor info out there on the R5 and I think that would shake anyone up. There are TWO version of it. That's the issue. The original one was shoddily built with super tight pins in a majority of systems but also of cheap metals that bent or snapped off rendering the slot(s) useless. The controller ports were weak, the top frame(cart slots area) was flimsy and would compress(eventually break given time I'd think) and had some internal issues with random failures. About 6mo after the fact they scrapped the system in a way and re-issued it. The new one isn't too tight, the cart port doesn't bend and snap its pins. The top part is not flimsy, the controller ports are reinforced and come with little rubber dust caps over them too. What isn't addressed is the controller, while decently built, odds are you slam or throw it, something in there will give due to the plastics. Odds are you won't use it if you have a real controller because of wireless(minor) lag and its just not as comfortable.

    Yes it's an emulator at its core, but no it doesn't feel like one as you play. It's so well fine tuned it will be like you're playing on true hardware yet running in HDMI along with the other perks that come with it you can read up on. No one will know for sure how sturdy it is or isn't, but this far in I've not seen the complaining the original model had for falling apart so maybe they got it right. I think for the price, if you're not still using a CRT screen, it's a must.


    I sadly have a shady track record with the system and the company as far as the first model went, but the problems helped them along in the revisions both with the system but also their process in handling returns/warranty deals. I got a launch gray system, it ran nicely for a good time, eventually it decided to stop reading common NES games like Gargoyle's Quest so I RMA'd it. I had through this time made friends with the head Retron tech working on the system code. They went and got me a swap out, and that one didn't work any better. I got another and it was dead on arrival and beat to hell too. After going through 3 systems over a period of around a month and issuing personal bug issues and things to the tech as a friend he got pissed and went to the HK offices leadership. I got a personal apology and they went after the throats of the US office which was screwing around. The apology was to get a new off the line second model system air dropped from HK, but they discovered in the US office, they already had one, not boxed up yet and all but had it, but it was black (fine by me, prefer it.) So I ended up with the v2 of the R5 along with a black controller, the new box etc. I've had that going solid since, never a failure, even GQ2 never pitched a problem.

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    Holy cow! You live! Long time no see!

    I've tooled with the Retron off and on when time allowed. I have the newer version that Tanooki mentions. So far it's worked well from what I tried. I don't use the included controller except for the system menu and such. I can't find a bit of lag in the controls and the imagery looks pretty crisp on a good LCD tv. Only hiccup I ran into came in the form of playing some repros I have and even original titles like Armed for Battle. Either they don't work (Armed for Battle) or they glitch (my copy of Penguin Dreams).

    Another grand thing about it is you can also do save states, which is great for games you don't want to scribble down passwords for or want to continue playing if there isn't a save feature.

    I'd say for convenience factor I'd get one. For me I'd rather play my games on the big screen than on my Commodore monitor.

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    I can explain that one, it is out there, but you have to dig, and it's exclusive to the NES alone.

    Nintendo and their mapper system, all those myriad of chips are to blame along with the fact the R5 itself has a massive CRC checklist within the system. It will look at the game, read the CRC and use the database to tell the emulator what mapper to fire up, just like the classic .NES headers do. When a game has NO header (ie: copier cart) the system can not see it at all and you get an error. If it has one, even as a multicart, it will attempt to read it. It will either pull up the menu but never get into the individual games, or it will just straight up fail. And in the case of a singular cart where it can not find a matching CRC the system will go into a fallback mode and scan the game and attempt load it using .NES mapper 0-4, the most basic stuff, which like 90% of NES games use anyway. That would work, but odds are a game that saves will have a problem I'd think since it wouldn't find the thing twice to pull the data again.

    Armed for Battle doesn't use mapper0-4, and the data on the cart isn't public info I don't believe for what the CRC is on it, so it won't work in the R5. If you had that info, and you facebook messaged the Retron Tech, they'd attempt to add it though. I did this on a few things including the Supervision 115in1 pirate cart I have and that one works 100% because of it, one of few pirate multicarts that play. Again this only applies to the NES, if you have various bootlegs for other systems that are not multi-carts, they should work fine on the system. Other than 1 game the Genesis didn't use special chips, and the SNES only used Lo and HiROM cart boards and that's all mapped out so it just works, even games with special chips as my Starfox2 works fine. The other platforms it supports doesn't have issues either for the same reason, no wonky headers/chips to worry about.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Tanooki View Post
    I can explain that one, it is out there, but you have to dig, and it's exclusive to the NES alone.

    Nintendo and their mapper system, all those myriad of chips are to blame along with the fact the R5 itself has a massive CRC checklist within the system. It will look at the game, read the CRC and use the database to tell the emulator what mapper to fire up, just like the classic .NES headers do. When a game has NO header (ie: copier cart) the system can not see it at all and you get an error. If it has one, even as a multicart, it will attempt to read it. It will either pull up the menu but never get into the individual games, or it will just straight up fail. And in the case of a singular cart where it can not find a matching CRC the system will go into a fallback mode and scan the game and attempt load it using .NES mapper 0-4, the most basic stuff, which like 90% of NES games use anyway. That would work, but odds are a game that saves will have a problem I'd think since it wouldn't find the thing twice to pull the data again.

    Armed for Battle doesn't use mapper0-4, and the data on the cart isn't public info I don't believe for what the CRC is on it, so it won't work in the R5. If you had that info, and you facebook messaged the Retron Tech, they'd attempt to add it though. I did this on a few things including the Supervision 115in1 pirate cart I have and that one works 100% because of it, one of few pirate multicarts that play. Again this only applies to the NES, if you have various bootlegs for other systems that are not multi-carts, they should work fine on the system. Other than 1 game the Genesis didn't use special chips, and the SNES only used Lo and HiROM cart boards and that's all mapped out so it just works, even games with special chips as my Starfox2 works fine. The other platforms it supports doesn't have issues either for the same reason, no wonky headers/chips to worry about.
    Thanks Tanooki, your posts helped a lot. Indeed I read also about the different Chips NES games used, and that this is a real challenge for emulators. Thanks again.

    Then I should probably buy the system, that means the improved newer version. Do you know how I can make sure that I get the newer version and not the old one?

    I'm really looking forward to play the old gems with upscaled graphics.
    Last edited by lendelin; 07-15-2015 at 05:11 PM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by YoshiM View Post
    Holy cow! You live! Long time no see!

    I've tooled with the Retron off and on when time allowed. I have the newer version that Tanooki mentions. So far it's worked well from what I tried. I don't use the included controller except for the system menu and such. I can't find a bit of lag in the controls and the imagery looks pretty crisp on a good LCD tv. Only hiccup I ran into came in the form of playing some repros I have and even original titles like Armed for Battle. Either they don't work (Armed for Battle) or they glitch (my copy of Penguin Dreams).

    Another grand thing about it is you can also do save states, which is great for games you don't want to scribble down passwords for or want to continue playing if there isn't a save feature.

    I'd say for convenience factor I'd get one. For me I'd rather play my games on the big screen than on my Commodore monitor.
    Hi there! Yes, I'm alive and well. I wasn't on Digitalpress for years, but now that I'm in America again and confronted with all the games I have, I really wanna game again like in the old days.

    I was in Germany for six years. Not that I was cut off gaming (that will probably never happen!), but my life there was different plus I just didn't play so much. I had a PS3 and a 360 there, and I bought to 95% PS3 games which I brought with me, around 170 games. I didn't buy Wii or 360 games only for special games becasue of the region lock.

    I just hadn't enough space in my gameroom, so I'm reorganizing everything. All the guides (around 700) go to the hallway, and only games will be in the gameroom plus a new HDTV, a new 360 and a new PS3 (have the old 20GB with the PS2 chip) and a Wii which I never had. (Uhoh) I can't wait to Play Puppeteer, Donkey Kong Returns and a Gran Turismo 6 on a 48inch HDTV. I may even Play Ni No Kuni again.

    ...AND the Retron 5 would be just great! I waited a long time for such a system (use of the old controllers, save functions), and the perspective to play a Zelda, Crystalis or Space Megaforce with these upscaled graphics on a big TV is incredibly tempting. That's why the opinion of experienced gamers like you is so important to me.

    Then it is settled. I'll buy one.

    But here is another question: How can I make sure, that I get the newer improved model? Are there telltale signs or model numbers or something like that?

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    Quote Originally Posted by Leo_A View Post
    Sorry, I couldn't find These threads. On the other Hand, it might be good to hear the experiences with the Retron 5 after all this time after its release. How long such a system lasts is the most important question.

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    No way to know how long it will last. As with anything you can get a lemon or an awesome one that just keeps on truckin. As far as the how to, from the box, I'm not entirely sure, but inside the stiff top and rubber caps on the controller ports are a dead give away. If you said you saw a store with them, ask to see inside so you know if it's a good one or a junk old one.

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    I'd had mine since it was released. It still works perfectly fine.
    check out my classic gaming review site: http://satoshimatrix.wordpress.com/

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    Quote Originally Posted by lendelin View Post
    Sorry, I couldn't find These threads. On the other Hand, it might be good to hear the experiences with the Retron 5 after all this time after its release. How long such a system lasts is the most important question.
    No need to apologize, since you said you did try to find an existing thread. The search engine here is pretty much useless though.

    I linked you to those to be helpful since there's a ton of information there that may be of some assistance. I didn't do it to shame you by showing you that you didn't look quite hard enough, or some such nonsense.

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    Happy with my launch model. Only complaints are what has been discussed before, mainly the death grip on carts, and to a lesser extent the option to write save data back to a cart has been 50/50 for me.

    Thread has reminded me I need to pick up some gameboy games

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    I find the only good search engine for this site is google doing a site:forum.digitpress.com followed with a space and what you're searching works best as in-house as stated is useless.

    Yes we should all get Gameboy games, they're fun, small, mostly cheap if loose or even in many cases with the book, just avoid the box. It's the one thing with Nintendo that has remained steady and not been abused and I'm hoping its status as a kids handheld with small games keeps it relegated to the garbage bin as far as the vultures are concerned. I should have MGS GBC in the mail today which is very nice.

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    Lendelin: just make sure you have a small SD card handy to update the machine. The stock unit you get is unlikely up to date.

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    That's for certain, a safe bet is a 1GB card so you can store those upgrades but also enough for various save/load states, pictures if you take them, hacks, translations, and other patches. It's still overkill a bit, but I doubt you'll find smaller at retail anymore.

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    I sometimes think about getting one, but then I realize if I really need to play emulated games on my HDTV I can connect my laptop to it via HDMI and it'll do a better job and give me more options. And for a lot of stuff I wouldn't even need to do that and could just use Wii emulators on my Wii U.

    If for some reason you're dead set on dumping roms off your carts every time you play, well, then yeah. R5 all the way.

    I simplify, I know, there may be other valid reasons for an R5, but to me, they just don't justify the cost. Maybe if it was like $50 or less.

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    To each their own. I justify it because it hot saves games without doing load/save state procedures, the HDMI, it uses my games not just downloading roms online and firing them up, it uses my controllers without buying adapters, and I don't have to as you put it, carry the laptop around to get it going on the TV. I mean you have other stuff like the instant patching/loading of an IPS file which is cool too. I know enough of this can be emulated, but the risk isn't worth the reward to me and I could even with an adapter plug my carts into the laptop too, but the amount I paid for it, it almost never has left my desk.

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    I'm buying a Retron5 as soon as the Game Gear adapter gets released.

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    The Game Gear adapter is intriguing.

    http://thepunkeffect.com/retron-5-ge...-gear-adaptor/

    Too bad that I can't pair it with a Game Gear Everdrive. I might just have to break down and actually collect a few original Game Gear exclusives (i.e., those that weren't just SMS ports) that intrigue me, like the fine looking Ristar release.
    Last edited by Leo_A; 07-17-2015 at 06:33 AM.

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    I'd like to see them release an Atari 2600 adapter for the R5, as I'd like to be able to use all of my carts on one console.

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