RetroN5: Hands on first look

[Leo_A]

You've all but put me solidly in the Ouya camp in past weeks. I'm just waiting to see what the new version of it is going to be and decide then what to do.

But if you want to use original controllers, $15 USB adapters start to add up if you wanted to add a NES, SuperNes, and a Genesis solution to the Ouya. And if you want to set it up for multiplayer and wanted to stay faithful to original controllers for some bizarre reason, we're talking essentially the cost of the Ouya in controller adapters if one wanted a pair of each [Edit: Or is that not even possible due to only having a single USB port?]

These built in controller ports are definitely a major difference between the two (Although to me at least, going the Ouya route to a HDTV, you might as well go all the way and tie a nice wireless gamepad to it and leave the cord behind). I suspect for a few out there, it's a definite plus in favor of Hyperkin.


The N64 emulation on Ouya has improved since I last made videos on it.

That's good to hear, I'm surprised that there aren't more demonstration videos on YouTube of the N64 emulator in action (And most of what little there is that I checked out recently were a year or so out of date).

Maybe it's time for a re-review? ;)

[Eternal Champion]

Been playing a lot of Genesis games and they look and sound great. Streets of Rage sounds amazing as it should, graphics are crisp and clean like the other systems I have played.
What are the video outputs on the RetroN5?

[Drclaw411]

I'm curious as to how the Retron5 is supposed to run SNES SA-1 games (SMRPG, Kirby Super Star, DreamLand 3) and Sega Virtua processor (Virtua Racing). Those games are notoriously difficult to dump yet Hyperkin claims they work. While we are at it, anybody own VR7 Lagrange Point for Famicom? Somehow I doubt that one works either. Also I'd love to see someone cram an original NWC in there, LOL that's one beastly mapper...

IIRC they posted pics/vids of Mario RPG and Kirby running. And I know they also tested NWC. Some game store that they went to or something...the owner had a grey cart and let them test it, and it worked. They posted about it on their facebook page a while back.

[StoneAgeGamer]

What are the video outputs on the RetroN5?

HDMI only

[Eternal Champion]

HDMI only
Ah OK. Well, I like the idea of this more than straight emulation, frankly. Dunno exactly why. I like having the original carts.
Anyway, both of my Samsung TVs have only one HDMI and I have no A/V receivers. As I have the games and hardware themselves and an old CRT, I'll just hang on to the systems. Sure, there's the added visual benefit of full-on HDMI, but I can do s-video for SNES and I paid for a YPbPr mod for Genesis. So outside of doing mods I can see the benefit.
So it seems that the RetroN5 is for people who...don't have a CRT but have all their old games? Sold off the systems but kept the games? Would people really do this?

[stardust4ever]

I think people fail to realise the Retron5 was meant to complement, not replace, an entire collection of retro hardware. I wrote a long post on the last page about the benefits of owning a Retron, including reduced clutter, wear and tear on aging consoles, pristine HD resolution, additional features such as cheats (no need for Google to look up codes), save states, SRAM backup, and other goodies. Fact is, with all this talk of Ouya, you can't load carts on it, not even with Retrode since the mass storage driver broke compatability. Ouya is good for lots of things, but not physical media. Retron5 is primarily for two classes of retro gamers: those who have it all but want more, better picture, sound, features, and reliability from their consoles, and those casual gamers who are just starting out retrogaming. They are getting an all-in-one console with better display and compatability than the clones, much cheaper and more reliable than buying 5+ consoles. Also, I know people don't care, but the Retron5 plays retro games without the illegal act of downloading ROMs online, whether you own the actual game carts or not.

[Eternal Champion]

I think people fail to realise the Retron5 was meant to complement, not replace, an entire collection of retro hardware. I wrote a long post on the last page about the benefits of owning a Retron, including reduced clutter, wear and tear on aging consoles, pristine HD resolution, additional features such as cheats (no need for Google to look up codes), save states, SRAM backup, and other goodies. Fact is, with all this talk of Ouya, you can't load carts on it, not even with Retrode since the mass storage driver broke compatability. Ouya is good for lots of things, but not physical media. Retron5 is primarily for two classes of retro gamers: those who have it all but want more, better picture, sound, features, and reliability from their consoles, and those casual gamers who are just starting out retrogaming. They are getting an all-in-one console with better display and compatability than the clones, much cheaper and more reliable than buying 5+ consoles. Also, I know people don't care, but the Retron5 plays retro games without the illegal act of downloading ROMs online, whether you own the actual game carts or not.
I see. Good points (sorry if I've overlooked your previous post). The legality of ROMs is actually important to me. The ability to play all these systems on a modern TV is very enticing, I must say.

[Zap!]

Ah OK. Well, I like the idea of this more than straight emulation, frankly. Dunno exactly why. I like having the original carts.
Anyway, both of my Samsung TVs have only one HDMI and I have no A/V receivers. As I have the games and hardware themselves and an old CRT, I'll just hang on to the systems. Sure, there's the added visual benefit of full-on HDMI, but I can do s-video for SNES and I paid for a YPbPr mod for Genesis. So outside of doing mods I can see the benefit.
So it seems that the RetroN5 is for people who...don't have a CRT but have all their old games? Sold off the systems but kept the games? Would people really do this?

Or people like me, who have kept all their games and systems, but don't want to hook up several different systems at once (clutter, too much work) and like the idea of hooking them up to their modern TV's.

[chiptraxxx]

HDMI only

im going to get one just for the hdmi slot :)

some consoles look good on a newer tv but most dont so hdmi is welcomed!

[Tanooki]

I keep going back and forward on this whole thing. Personally I have no decision until I can make one after the fact.

I got out of ROMS as they're a slippery slope of illegality and a horrible case of gamer-ADHD. As such I have around 300 games, of which about 55% of them are just NES and SNES carts. I have this list of IFs on this thing, and met I'd probably put my minty sweet SNES back in the DK box I have and I'd probably just sell the RCA/led/stereo wheel modded top loader of mine as well. The whole concept of taking the old stuff that doesn't like to run so hot on the newest tech intrigues me as does the saving space and portability to other TVs in the house that will give the same quality response time over HDMI.

If...
...it can run my pirate multi-carts
...it can run my modern bootlegs from retrousb and the Starfox 2 I have
...it will run all my legit period era stuff accurately...including screwy chipped Famicom games I may want
...it won't have emulation hiccups and glitches (speed issues, graphics/audio garbage that's obvious)

I can see owning it and doing what I said above. I know the first two are possibly unlikely out of box but I'm not adverse to someone massaging the android within and hacking those goodies to work.

[stardust4ever]

Or people like me, who have kept all their games and systems, but don't want to hook up several different systems at once (clutter, too much work) and like the idea of hooking them up to their modern TV's.+1 I've got ten consoles and a diagonal corner desk I'm using as a gaming center. I've got a CRT in the monitor stand for SD consoles (modern flat panels are too wide to fit) and an ultra low latency 23" 1080p ASUS monitor on the top shelf for the HD systems. My PS3, Wii-U, and Ouya sit on the shelves and are connected to the monitor via a Monoprice HDMI switch with analog audio bypassed to a 3-piece stereo system with old Jenson speakers I picked up at a pawn shop. I've also got an analog RCA switchbox for the audio that I have hooked up to the HD switchbox, Nintendo A/V cable, Audio Technica 120 record turntable, and auxillary conector for whatever. I'm an audiophile so good sounding speakers are a must. Anyway while I've made accommodations for the HD game consoles, I simply do not have the space for 10 retro consoles on my desk, and daisy-chaining vintage auto-switches will quickly degrade signal quality. The cartridges and game discs are stored on bookcases in back of my bedroom, while consoles, controllers, and accessories are stowed in storage crates arranged by system and stacked on top of each other. I also sleep in this room and have a Queen sized bed, chest, dresser, closet, etc, so the room is cramped as it is. I don't currently own my own place, so until I move out a dedicated game room is not an option. Pulling out game consoles and putting up is a pain, so stuff piles up, cords gets tangled, and then I can't find stuff. If Retron5 helps me to better keep my retro crap organized so my fiance isn't tripping over crates and boxes when she visits, it will be well worth the money. Extra features such as HD, clean sound, cheats, savestates, SRAM backup, and the convenience of having 5 systems in 1 import friendly console is just icing on the cake.

And if you're just getting in to retro gaming, the Retron5 has great value too. To play all the systems the Retron5 supports, you'll need:

CRT TV = $30
NES = $55
SNES = $55
Genesis = $35
GBA = $25
AV Famicom = $150

Total $350, plus extra for controllers, accessories, and hookups. Also 2nd hand consoles and battery-backed games often need to be cleaned/refurbished in order to work. Add another $50 ($400 total) for a Game Cube with complete GB player if you absolutely need to play GB/GBC/GBA games on the big screen. Add hella lot of storage space to stow all the stuff, and to the cadual retro gamer who just wants a box to play their childhood Mario and Sonic games, the $100 Retron5 begins to look really tempting...

[Satoshi_Matrix]

if you want to use original controllers, $15 USB adapters start to add up if you wanted to add a NES, SuperNes, and a Genesis solution to the Ouya. And if you want to set it up for multiplayer and wanted to stay faithful to original controllers for some bizarre reason, we're talking essentially the cost of the Ouya in controller adapters if one wanted a pair of each [Edit: Or is that not even possible due to only having a single USB port?]

These built in controller ports are definitely a major difference between the two (Although to me at least, going the Ouya route to a HDTV, you might as well go all the way and tie a nice wireless gamepad to it and leave the cord behind). I suspect for a few out there, it's a definite plus in favor of Hyperkin.

That's one of the things I like about the RetroN5 over the Ouya for sure. Built in controller ports is a nice option. You're completely right - if for some reason you wanted to have independent USB adapters for NES, SNES, Genesis, even at reasonable prices like $15 that does add up, especially when multiplayer gets involved. The Ouya does only have a single USB port (which is so stupid, Ouya y u s0 stew-ped?) which is why I suggest the first thing you do when you buy an Ouya is buy a powered USB hub. The one I use has seven ports and I got it from a chinese seller on ebay for less than $5. I say buy a powered USB hub so you won't run into voltage dips if you plug in many USB devices all at once across that single 5v USB lead connecting to the console.

As far as multiplayer, if that's your thing then look for adapters that are suited for that. Mayflash makes adapters that offer two player support from one usb adapter, plus you can get USB enabled multitaps like the NES Four Score. Or, if you're friends are less picky, ANY USB and many Blutooth controllers can also be used, including but not limited to the PS3 Dual Shock 3, wired Xbox 360 controllers and basically anything made for PC.

You might have missed it, but a little while ago I did an updated look at the Ouya. Two videos, one looking at the hardware and talking about what you need to get the most out of it, plus another on software.

check out part one. part 2 is right there as well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUcC90tkN0o


IIRC they posted pics/vids of Mario RPG and Kirby running. And I know they also tested NWC. Some game store that they went to or something...the owner had a grey cart and let them test it, and it worked. They posted about it on their facebook page a while back.

I wouldn't be too worried. SA-1 and Super FX games have been running on Android emulators for years. There's no reason to expect the RetroN5 will be any different from other Android emulation devices. I predict there will be no obvous difference between the Retron5 emulation vs the way the Ouya emulates the same consoles. The only real difference will be in the UI, as it looks like Hyperkin has developed something wholly from scratch.


I think people fail to realize the Retron5 was meant to complement, not replace, an entire collection of retro hardware.

...What. are. you. talking. about.

That's the entire point of the RetroN5. It's to replace and consolidate multiple obsolete consoles of yesteryear while still clinging onto the games themselves for the collectors among us. I'm sure that some people will still hold onto their old hardware, just as some people hold on to their ginormous CRTs, but once the Retron5 hits the market, it will instantly replace an entire collection of retro hardware and also the "need" to still own a giant and oh so, so heavy CRT.

Personally I cannot wait until this comes out, because once it does, I'll be getting rid of all four of my CRTs and replacing them with HDTVs now that I'll be able to play my retro games on them without them looking awful. SD on HD no more.
(that is, if the Retron5 does not turn out to be a giant piece of shit, because if that happens, then we're back at square one and stuck with old hardware and CRTs)


I wrote a long post on the last page about the benefits of owning a Retron, including reduced clutter, wear and tear on aging consoles, pristine HD resolution, additional features such as cheats (no need for Google to look up codes), save states, SRAM backup, and other goodies. Fact is, with all this talk of Ouya, you can't load carts on it, not even with Retrode since the mass storage driver broke compatability. Ouya is good for lots of things, but not physical media.

Yeah, I read all that. But I don't understand why you think that's even remotely a problem. Complaining that the Ouya isn't able to run physical cartridges is like complaining an ipod is not able to play CDs. That's kinda the entire point of the device - the Ouya is compact and without hassle and without being bogged down by physical media. The Retron5 is the other side of the coin for people who do want to be bogged down with physical media. I don't think that you can fairly argue that the Ouya doesn't play physical carts is a disadvantage anymore than you could argue the opposite about the Retron5, and say "oh man, it's too bad the Retron5 has to play physical carts! I'd rather just digitally run my roms on it and ignore the whole point of the device!"

To me, I think the RetroN5 and Ouya are like heads and tails of the same coin. Whichever side the coin lands on, it's still the same coin. Emulation is emulation no matter if physical carts are involved or not.






If...
...it can run my pirate multi-carts
...it can run my modern bootlegs from retrousb and the Starfox 2 I have
...it will run all my legit period era stuff accurately...including screwy chipped Famicom games I may want
...it won't have emulation hiccups and glitches (speed issues, graphics/audio garbage that's obvious)


These are the same kinds of things I'm concerned about too. Rest assured, these are what I'm going to be looking into the moment I get my Retron5. The moment I get it, should I do an unboxing video?! I mean, people LOVE those, right?

...Right? *crickets*

Hmm, I might do one just to be that jerk. haha I hate unboxing videos.

[Leo_A]

That's the entire point of the RetroN5.

I imagine he's talking about people like you and me. Dedicated classic gamers with no intentions of leaving original hardware behind but are interested in devices like this for what they're able to do that the originals can't.

Retron 5 would definitely complement my original systems, not replace them. Ideally, it would allow me to easily and economically enjoy my game library on my HDTV (At least until I someday invest in something like the XRGB Mini and RGB cables). But my originals and my CRT still aren't going anywhere even if Hyperkin manages to impress everyone with an amazing product.

[Niku-Sama]

And if you're just getting in to retro gaming, the Retron5 has great value too. To play all the systems the Retron5 supports, you'll need:

CRT TV = $30
NES = $55
SNES = $55
Genesis = $35
GBA = $25
AV Famicom = $150

Total $350, plus extra for controllers, accessories, and hookups. Also 2nd hand consoles and battery-backed games often need to be cleaned/refurbished in order to work. Add another $50 ($400 total) for a Game Cube with complete GB player if you absolutely need to play GB/GBC/GBA games on the big screen. Add hella lot of storage space to stow all the stuff, and to the cadual retro gamer who just wants a box to play their childhood Mario and Sonic games, the $100 Retron5 begins to look really tempting...

where are you getting those prices?

I find NES systems all the time $5 to $15 with hook ups, same with genesis, SNES. GBA is about right for an AGS-101, Famicom seems a bit high aswell because in all honesty your buying games to play them, you don't just go straight for the hard to get on something like that.
I mean I may be spoiled when it comes to imports but I didn't even spend $150 on my twin famicom

side thought, it would have been so cool if the new retron had FDS support

[thegamezmaster]

HDMI only

Sorry if this is a dumb question but does this mean there is not composite video output or any other or just hdmi as the only signal output? Thanks!

[Tanooki]

Satoshi sounds good.

And as for your idea of an unboxing video. Unless it includes a female and her panties, you're right, lots of crickets.

[Satoshi_Matrix]

I imagine he's talking about people like you and me. Dedicated classic gamers with no intentions of leaving original hardware behind but are interested in devices like this for what they're able to do that the originals can't.

Yeah, okay, a small group of the most hardcore will retain their original consoles and CRTs, but I'm talking about the masses. This will pretty much be like when mp3 players became widely affordable and CD/tapes were forever replaced and became obsolete technology. stardust4ever's claim that the RetroN5 is meant to "compliment, not replace" original hardware is like someone saying their ipod is meant to 'compliment, not replace' their vinyl records. That kind of thing might be true for a tiny fraction of people, but make no doubt about it, most people will buy a Retron5 with the exact purpose of completely replacing their old hardware.

There might even be a mini crash in the prices of the hardware the RetroN5 runs on account that nobody will want it anymore, if the RetroN5 sales are high enough. That will be interesting to see.



Sorry if this is a dumb question but does this mean there is not composite video output or any other or just hdmi as the only signal output? Thanks!

That's exactly what it means. The RetroN5 will not work through component, VGA, RGB, S-Video, Composite or any other video connection. It's HDMI only @ 720p. This means it will only work on HDTVs and a tiny number of CRTs that have HDMI output. This is just like the Ouya.


And as for your idea of an unboxing video. Unless it includes a female and her panties, you're right, lots of crickets.

LOL *devises plan of making such a video, and making the video thumbnail a girl in her panties*

[stardust4ever]

Satoshi, for the final time, you of all people with your extensive retro reviews and collections of rare and obscure systems, I would expect to be concerned about the preservation of old hardware.

Downloading ROMs on the cheap and loading them into a flash drive and sticking it in the back of the Ouya is the way to go for some people. However, with the exception of certain homebrew ROMs like those found at PDROMS.de which all the reputable Ouya emulators link to, the vast majority of ROMs being downloaded and played online are illegal. Nintendo and a few other companies have rereleased various games for people to purchase and enjoy legally, but the bulk of emulation use is blatantly illegal. It's just like the Napster heyday when everyone was downloading MP3s for free and downloading ROMs is just as illegal. Whether the various host sites or people sharing the files are getting prosecuted for their actions or getting away with it is moot. It's like jaywalking: illegal but everybody does it and nobody cares.

Legal backup devices such as Retrode are mostly a niche product for "Geeks and Otakus", and setting one up is certainly more involved than downloading ROMs online. Technically Retrode and modern flash carts for retro systems, while they do the exact opposite function, are legally gray area since they have the capacity to be used for piracy and may not be allowed in certain markets. The guys are generally left alone because the patents are mostly expired and hardware is no longer supported.

Retron5 however allows the use of original cartridges without creating backups. Not only will the audio/video be cleaner than original hardware, but it will have other advanced features. If the Retron5 is a big enough runaway hit, it may cause a small drop in price due to decreased demand for original hardware. This will only make said hardware more accessible on the used market, not less.

And let's be perfectly honest here: while I try to take care of my game consoles, they are not getting younger. Hardware preservationists may accept the Retron5 with open arms if it means less likelihood of wearing out the original hardware. Anyone concerned about preserving the longevity of their hardware will welcome other options for playing games, provided it provides a better experience that modern clones or even original systems.

At any rate, Retron5 will yield more options for gamers, not less, and that can never be a bad thing. With the extensive options boasted by the Retron5, it is sure to satisfy both the hardcore market and the casuals. I have the Retron5 currently on preorder and am planning on getting the upcoming RetroUSB HDMI NES as well, which boasts 100% compatibility with the minor exception of lightgun games. Even if light gun games boot up properly (which they will boot fine) they won't be playable: there is no better way to play Duckhunt than on original hardware with a Zapper and CRT.

Finally, Satoshi, as a gag, you should do a faux unboxing video where you put some lacey panties on the Retron5 and rebox, prior to turning on the camera. That would be funny as hell... :o

[Satoshi_Matrix]

Before I respond, please, in the future, please break up your posts into paragraphs. a wall of text is a mental block that causes people not to even bother reading your post. That's the real tl:dr thing.

Just separate your thoughts into paragraphs so it's easier to read.

To me, what's important is the games themselves, not the hardware, not the format. If something like the OUya existed that could replace all my consoles - everything - I'd gladly switch over to use only that and then sell/trade off everything else I have. I'm at a point in my life when I see 15 consoles lined up and think "why" rather than "man, I'm so awesome to have such a collection".

I know most roms are illegal. I know that those same roms are available in some cases through the various official online stores. But I just honestly don't care. It's almost always a victimless 'crime' if you can call it that.

These games made their money back when they were new. Many of the developers don't exist anymore, rights holders are different, and unlike pirating a modern game, you aren't taking money away from people who are actively making their living through retro game roms. If I buy a copy of Super Mario Bros. through the Virtual Console, the only place that money goes to is to Nintendo directly, not to anyone who worked on the game. And even if that were the case, they don't need that money, and I feel well justified in downloading the rom because over the years I've bought at least five official copies of the game through various means, the last time on the GameBoy Advance.

I take a very different stance against piracy of anything that is current, but once something is ~10 years old? Piracy doesn't hurt anyone because you aren't taking money away from anyone but third party sellers such as guys on ebay who aren't affiliated with the original developers/publishers in the first place. I've built up a massive retro game collection not because I set out to do so, but because I bought games when they were new, and over time kept them until they could be considered retro. Nearly my entire N64, PS1, GBC, GBA, GameCube, PS2 and Xbox libraries are made up of games that I bought brand new. Hundreds of games. I feel fully justified to pirate whatever I want on any of those platforms. Maybe it is wrong, but it ultimately doesn't impact anyone.

All that said, I'm not against buying games if they come out digitally, and I would even argue that piracy has the benefit of game purchases I wouldn't have made blindly if I hadn't first pirated the game. For example, this occurred with Akumajou Dracula Chi no Rondo when it came out on the Wii VC. I wasn't sure I would want to play it, so I pirated it first, and then bought it.

My problem with emulation isnt that it usually means you can't play your physicals, its emulation inaccuracies and with newer consoles, DRM. It might sound strange coming from a guy who owns around 2500 unique physical game carts/discs, but I'd be totally willing to go all digital if it meant 100% accuracy and lack of DRM. The RetroN5 for me is sort of a babystep. Find out how well it runs games, and if perfect or even good enough, get rid of the original hardware because its redundant. [also continue to acquire new Famiclones because irony].

Video:
1. Open up RetroN5 box
2. find panties.
3. ?????
4. profit

[Tupin]

You've got to invest some serious cash if you want to do an unboxing prank, man. Make it something memorable, or go with the usual one (look it up, not mentioning it here.)

Apparently there was some show in Oklahoma where they had the RetroN5, but still no date.

[Satoshi_Matrix]

Yeah, I don't think I'm going to do an unboxing video like that for real lol

Probably more so post something quick so I can let people know the review is on its way and to submit questions they want addressed in the full review. That's much more my style.

[stardust4ever]

Before I respond, please, in the future, please break up your posts into paragraphs. a wall of text is a mental block that causes people not to even bother reading your post. That's the real tl:dr thing.

Just separate your thoughts into paragraphs so it's easier to read.Adult ADHD: that shit is real, man. I'll try to break it up for you.



To me, what's important is the games themselves, not the hardware, not the format. If something like the OUya existed that could replace all my consoles - everything - I'd gladly switch over to use only that and then sell/trade off everything else I have. I'm at a point in my life when I see 15 consoles lined up and think "why" rather than "man, I'm so awesome to have such a collection". I totally need to get my own place for this exact reason.


I know most roms are illegal. I know that those same roms are available in some cases through the various official online stores. But I just honestly don't care. It's almost always a victimless 'crime' if you can call it that.

These games made their money back when they were new. Many of the developers don't exist anymore, rights holders are different, and unlike pirating a modern game, you aren't taking money away from people who are actively making their living through retro game roms. If I buy a copy of Super Mario Bros. through the Virtual Console, the only place that money goes to is to Nintendo directly, not to anyone who worked on the game. And even if that were the case, they don't need that money, and I feel well justified in downloading the rom because over the years I've bought at least five official copies of the game through various means, the last time on the GameBoy Advance.

I take a very different stance against piracy of anything that is current, but once something is ~10 years old? Piracy doesn't hurt anyone because you aren't taking money away from anyone but third party sellers such as guys on ebay who aren't affiliated with the original developers/publishers in the first place. I've built up a massive retro game collection not because I set out to do so, but because I bought games when they were new, and over time kept them until they could be considered retro. Nearly my entire N64, PS1, GBC, GBA, GameCube, PS2 and Xbox libraries are made up of games that I bought brand new. Hundreds of games. I feel fully justified to pirate whatever I want on any of those platforms. Maybe it is wrong, but it ultimately doesn't impact anyone. Rationalize it any way you want. What you're doing is still illegal, and you totally miss out on that warm fuzzy feeling of playing the authentic cart, whether the hardware is authentic or not.


All that said, I'm not against buying games if they come out digitally, and I would even argue that piracy has the benefit of game purchases I wouldn't have made blindly if I hadn't first pirated the game. For example, this occurred with Akumajou Dracula Chi no Rondo when it came out on the Wii VC. I wasn't sure I would want to play it, so I pirated it first, and then bought it. Try before you buy. I'll be the first to admit I have bought many homebrews only because a ROM was released. For example, Drag00n of NintendoAge recently released his Fix-It-Felix Genesis homebrew. I downloaded it, played the first level, and immediately requested a physical copy from him. I may not have nibbled if I hadn't tested the gameplay first. Also oftentimes I'll see an interesting looking game cart at a used game store, I'll drive home, download ROM and/or watch youtube review, and if it's good, drive back to game shop and pray the game is still there.


My problem with emulation isnt that it usually means you can't play your physicals, its emulation inaccuracies and with newer consoles, DRM. It might sound strange coming from a guy who owns around 2500 unique physical game carts/discs, but I'd be totally willing to go all digital if it meant 100% accuracy and lack of DRM. The RetroN5 for me is sort of a babystep. Find out how well it runs games, and if perfect or even good enough, get rid of the original hardware because its redundant. [also continue to acquire new Famiclones because irony].If you're picky enough, even original hardware can be inaccurate. HD Graphics, late release model 1 Genesis/MD, and a variety of Model 2s/3s don't even sound alike, and certain late models (Mejesco Model 2s for instance) have incompatabilities with 32x, CD, GG, Power Base converter, etc... So if official hardware at times can't get it correct, do you really expect clones/emu to do so? I'll admit modern emulators oftentimes get it better than clones, but nothing is absolutely perfect, not even original hardware. For instance, you get crashes or blinky screens or corrupted graphics on NES. You get distorted audio on certain Genesis revisions. Atari looks like vomit on modern HDTV. Do you really expect emulators to duplicate this and other inconsistensies?


Video:
1. Open up RetroN5 box
2. find panties.
3. ?????
4. profitDo it! :o

[ApolloBoy]

Personally I cannot wait until this comes out, because once it does, I'll be getting rid of all four of my CRTs and replacing them with HDTVs now that I'll be able to play my retro games on them without them looking awful. SD on HD no more.
I take it you've never looked into the Framemeister? Why compromise with an emulation box when you can use a Framemeister and still have the old systems look fantastic?

[Gatucaman]

Adult ADHD: that shit is real, man. I'll try to break it up for you.


I totally need to get my own place for this exact reason.

Rationalize it any way you want. What you're doing is still illegal, and you totally miss out on that warm fuzzy feeling of playing the authentic cart, whether the hardware is authentic or not.

Try before you buy. I'll be the first to admit I have bought many homebrews only because a ROM was released. For example, Drag00n of NintendoAge recently released his Fix-It-Felix Genesis homebrew. I downloaded it, played the first level, and immediately requested a physical copy from him. I may not have nibbled if I hadn't tested the gameplay first. Also oftentimes I'll see an interesting looking game cart at a used game store, I'll drive home, download ROM and/or watch youtube review, and if it's good, drive back to game shop and pray the game is still there.

If you're picky enough, even original hardware can be inaccurate. HD Graphics, late release model 1 Genesis/MD, and a variety of Model 2s/3s don't even sound alike, and certain late models (Mejesco Model 2s for instance) have incompatabilities with 32x, CD, GG, Power Base converter, etc... So if official hardware at times can't get it correct, do you really expect clones/emu to do so? I'll admit modern emulators oftentimes get it better than clones, but nothing is absolutely perfect, not even original hardware. For instance, you get crashes or blinky screens or corrupted graphics on NES. You get distorted audio on certain Genesis revisions. Atari looks like vomit on modern HDTV. Do you really expect emulators to duplicate this and other inconsistensies?

Do it! :o

Mr Stardust4Ever, do you realize that most of the games available on VC are just the same common posterboys, (do you see games like Time Zone, Parrallel World (NOT THE ZELDA LttP HACK), Sweet Home, Clock Tower, Little Nemo, Kickmaster, Vice project of Doom, Cursaders of Centy, and a gigantic etc?) and thera a shitloads of obscure good titles that might not have been ever heard of if it wasnt for emulation and ROMS, and THAT GOES ALSO, for games that got legal releases but faded into obscurity due to poor sales like Shantae?

just look at the current library of Wii U eShop, is piss poor.

They dont step out of the comfort zone bubble of lazyness.

EMulation and Roms are the only way to go, and for people who want to obtain these games legally, guess what? there's a problem now, The speculator epidemic over flea markets, resellers and fricking Ebay (Ebay is just good now to get a few select japanese games on bids nowadays, thanks to the morons who turn the VINTAGE RARE tricks into a frickin fetish).

Downloading a ROM of an obscure game from a company that might not even exist anymore and the game data might have as well been lost forever in limbo like Parralle World is Illegal?

but doing crap like this is OK to you?

http://i.imgur.com/l8iE6a9.png (http://imgur.com/l8iE6a9)

http://i.imgur.com/y9dgo5y.png (http://imgur.com/y9dgo5y)

http://i.imgur.com/KdY7vBA.jpg (http://imgur.com/KdY7vBA)

http://i.imgur.com/LVYrnEx.jpg (http://imgur.com/LVYrnEx)

http://i.imgur.com/VnYXGY7.png (http://imgur.com/VnYXGY7)

http://i.imgur.com/73uSyZ3.png (http://imgur.com/73uSyZ3)

http://i.imgur.com/5M3exh3.jpg (http://imgur.com/5M3exh3)

http://i.imgur.com/ANyqsup.png (http://imgur.com/ANyqsup)

http://i.imgur.com/tdBwS3q.jpg (http://imgur.com/tdBwS3q)

http://i.imgur.com/IZnwRCH.jpg (http://imgur.com/IZnwRCH)

http://i.imgur.com/cWIipqI.jpg (http://imgur.com/cWIipqI)

http://i.imgur.com/ToQVL7b.jpg (http://imgur.com/ToQVL7b)

http://i.imgur.com/ENLhJI9.jpg (http://imgur.com/ENLhJI9)
(look particulary at this one, see something odd here?)

All am i saying is, chillax on the black and white mentality dude.

[stardust4ever]

http://i.imgur.com/LVYrnEx.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/ENLhJI9.jpgHell, at least with those ripped lables, you know it's bound to be legit (ie not have a bunch of wires bunched up and an EPROM inside)! BTW, your argument is moot since Shantea and Earthbound are both available on Virtual Console as of summer 2013. Plus, there's plenty of retro games to enjoy for around $5-$10 bucks or so.

I know I argued that downloading ROMs is illegal; that doesn't mean i don't brake the law from time to time. I also have a few repros of unreleased, translation, hacks, bootleg multicarts, etc, and I do occasionally use flash carts to play "unobtainable" games.

Can people just accept the fact that I prefer to game on actual carts if/when I have the option and my space/budget allows it?

Carts are a special part of history meant to be enjoyed but also preserved. I once lovingly restored a roach feces covered Panic Restaurant that I picked up at game-X-Change for $5. See here:
http://www.nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=10&threadid=100979

The game required a donor PCB to work in the end so I sacrificed a Home Alone 2. Was happy to get it working in the end and it's a great charming game. Eventually I sold it along with a Bucky-O-Hare for $230. Had I not picked up this dirty cart despite being only $5, it would have likely ended up in a landfill. Instead it went to a good home in Canada.

[treismac]

... you totally miss out on that warm fuzzy feeling of playing the authentic cart, whether the hardware is authentic or not.

Yeah. There is a small nagging part of me, which I wish would die half the time and the other half I celebrate, that really seems pleased knowing that I'm playing a cartridge over a rom. It's not rational; it is the nostalgic part of me as a retro gamer that is gets all warm and fuzzy when I fire up a cart from my collection, and this same side of me will probably unfortunately feel like the experience is still cheapened when I play a game on the RetroN 5 because it isn't the original hardware. And the thing is I enjoy emulation. It feels convenient and fun and "futuristic." It still feels a bit "off" sometimes, but whatever- I just go and play some rom hack, translated import, or homebrew and justify emulation to my emotional side. But with a clone, it kind of operates in a no man's land: neither fully nostalgic nor taking advantage of the newest technology (roms). I can't help by think that the fuzziness and warmth will want a bit with the R5, if popping carts is one of the big selling points for the user.

Also, for all those who bemoan the illegality of roms, buying an old cartridge of Super Mario Bros., Metroid, or Legend of Zelda from ebay or a flea market vendor takes just as much potential money out of Nintendo's bank account as downloading a rom of these games. No one who developed or published a game does a special dance when you buy the twenty plus year old original game in its original form. If you have a soft spot for following pointless laws, knock yourself out, but if you're concerned with roms hurting owners of property like in other, real physical theft, think this one through and chill out, man. To me, roms aren't theft as in stealing a CD from a store, but, rather, are more like copying a CD, taking nothing from anyone. But this is a dead horse, flogged ad nauseum to where it isn't even interesting any longer.

[Gatucaman]

Hell, at least with those ripped lables, you know it's bound to be legit (ie not have a bunch of wires bunched up and an EPROM inside)! BTW, your argument is moot since Shantea and Earthbound are both available on Virtual Console as of summer 2013. Plus, there's plenty of retro games to enjoy for around $5-$10 bucks or so.

I know I argued that downloading ROMs is illegal; that doesn't mean i don't brake the law from time to time. I also have a few repros of unreleased, translation, hacks, bootleg multicarts, etc, and I do occasionally use flash carts to play "unobtainable" games.

Can people just accept the fact that I prefer to game on actual carts if/when I have the option and my space/budget allows it?

Carts are a special part of history meant to be enjoyed but also preserved. I once lovingly restored a roach feces covered Panic Restaurant that I picked up at game-X-Change for $5. See here:
http://www.nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=10&threadid=100979

The game required a donor PCB to work in the end so I sacrificed a Home Alone 2. Was happy to get it working in the end and it's a great charming game. Eventually I sold it along with a Bucky-O-Hare for $230. Had I not picked up this dirty cart despite being only $5, it would have likely ended up in a landfill. Instead it went to a good home in Canada.

People have been selling illicit repros of Wild Guns, Hagane and of course Eathbound that even looked like that, legit.

and sorry but, the only reason why Shantae was put there on VC in teh 1st place, was because of the high demand because of the sequel and that's because of the interest in teh original game, who have been playing it via emulation, because the original sold like crap because i came out at the wrong time.

and as for the games available via legal form for 5-10 bucks, fair enough, but it doesnt change the fact that rarely they put out obscure high demand stuff (like your Uforia, Rondo of Blood, Monster World IV, Shantae and Sin and Punisment, (and where do you think interest for those titles came from?), there's at leats 25 game who hanst been released and probably never will, not just because of licensing issues, but also because of extreme obscurity, the source code non exiting anymore outside of ROMS, Companie IP selling hell, and in some cases, lazyness and even dishonet trolling, (earthbound being teh greatest example, nintendo LIED for years as for why they didnt released Earthbound on Wii VC despite the GIGANTONUMOUS DEMAND for that game, they made so many excuses as to why, the most prominent being the music having lots of sampling form pop culture music...............and then the WII U was not selling so they slapped Earybound on the pitiful Wii U Shop with only one change..........a different piece of dialogue, everything else was the same as in the original release, so they lied, that was disgusting)

As for your issue, i think you should have specified and have tried to avoid sounding close minded.

BTW i saw your work on that restoration of Panic Restaurant, but you shouldnt sold it for that :P.

[ApolloBoy]

(earthbound being teh greatest example, nintendo LIED for years as for why they didnt released Earthbound on Wii VC despite the GIGANTONUMOUS DEMAND for that game, they made so many excuses as to why, the most prominent being the music having lots of sampling form pop culture music...............and then the WII U was not selling so they slapped Earybound on the pitiful Wii U Shop with only one change..........a different piece of dialogue, everything else was the same as in the original release, so they lied, that was disgusting)
Uhh what

Oh and the fact that you type like a 12-year old on AIM doesn't help matters.

[stardust4ever]

and as for the games available via legal form for 5-10 bucks, fair enough, but it doesnt change the fact that rarely they put out obscure high demand stuff (like your Uforia, Rondo of Blood, Monster World IV, Shantae and Sin and Punisment, (and where do you think interest for those titles came from?), there's at leats 25 game who hanst been released and probably never will, not just because of licensing issues, but also because of extreme obscurity, the source code non exiting anymore outside of ROMS, Companie IP selling hell, and in some cases, lazyness and even dishonet trolling, (earthbound being teh greatest example, nintendo LIED for years as for why they didnt released Earthbound on Wii VC despite the GIGANTONUMOUS DEMAND for that game, they made so many excuses as to why, the most prominent being the music having lots of sampling form pop culture music...............and then the WII U was not selling so they slapped Earybound on the pitiful Wii U Shop with only one change..........a different piece of dialogue, everything else was the same as in the original release, so they lied, that was disgusting)I'm pretty sure the BS about music being similar or having pop culture references was left out due copyright is BS. Nintendo made some pretty drastic content edits to the game when they released it in the states on the SNES, and further edits weren't really necessary for the Wii-U release. I am curious what the different piece of dialogue was though. Honestly I wouldn't mind a direct fan translation of Mother 2 into English like how they've done with Mother 1 and mother 3. Probably a lot of nutty Japanese stuff that got left out would be pretty freaking hilarious if they'd left it in. IMO the stone octopus looked way cooler than the giant pencil, although the pencil eraser pun was really clever. Overall, Earthbound is really cool due to the fact that Earthbound is a Japanese parody of American pop culture that got rereleased in America. I guess that's what makes it so zainy.


As for your issue, i think you should have specified and have tried to avoid sounding close minded.

BTW i saw your work on that restoration of Panic Restaurant, but you shouldnt sold it for that :P.For the record, Panic Restaurant was going for $360 earlier that year when I found the turdy Game-X-change cart, and by the time Christmas season rolled around, I was out of money and Panic Restaurant had dropped to ~$300 for a pristine loose copy. Mine still had some cosmetic issues and on top of that, I fully disclosed the fact it was refurbished so several collectors who were interested didn't want it. It started at $270, then dropped the price to $240 and finally $215 before I got a bite. The shipping to Canada raised the price a bit so the buyer wanted me to sweeten the pot so I threw in bucky O hare as a bonus. Of course PR has gone back up, but a lot of collectors won't touch a refurbished cart. The fact that I had to transplant the Mask ROMs to an identical PCB in order to work likely tainted the cart in their eyes, so taking 25% off the price was fair I guess.

I'm not a good negotiator when it comes to haggling. In 2012, I traded a Bonk's Adventure for a Shantea Game Boy Color. I decided I wanted either Earthbound or Shantea for it. At the time both were worth $160. Earthbound was going for $200 at the time but in reality it's way too common to be that high. Now the value of Bonk's has ballooned to $250 and Shantea dropped to $125. I should have looked at the pricing trends. I purchased Bonk's at DK-Oldies for $60several years ago, I thought was outrageous at the time. Shantae was $200 even back then, so looking at the trends Game Boy Color went down while NES went up. Who could have guess the obvious would happen? I failed to read market trends, but the guy who I traded with did.

Either way it is moot now. I collect games to play them, and I don't believe any game cart is worth spending more than $100. I imported the Famicom versions of both FC Genjin and Wanpaku Kokkun no Gourmet World so I'm happy now to own and play the much cheaper Japanese variants.

[Niku-Sama]

i'm an excellent negotiator
I just walk up and say something like:

"how much for this funky little TV thing?" (vectrex)
"Five dolla"
"OK!"

or
"what do you want for Megaman X3"
"twenty bucks"
"eh I guess i'll but it then too"

it usually happens like that

[stardust4ever]

Try negotiating with serious collectors attempting to sell a less than pristine game. You're gonna take a chunk off the going price. I made a fat profit off that $5 cart once I was done restoring it.

[Drclaw411]

Hyperkin's facebook page is a shitshow today. The entire world went there today looking for a release date because it is now April. All Hyperkin has posted is their April Fool's joke about a RetroN Arcade console. Nobody is having fun with it and everybody is just shitting on them in the comments. One guy is calling the R5 the "RetroNever 5". Another guy simply commented "Hyperkin you are an ass.", and that one wasn't even in response to the joke...it was just a stand alone comment. It's honestly kind of funny, but at the same time I kind of feel bad for Hyperkin, everybody crapping down their eye sockets. They continue to say "April 2014" is the release date, but haven't given an exact date. Amazon hasn't updated their page or given ETA ship dates. Newegg customers are saying their orders are showing an April 30th release, which Hyperkin hasn't commented on and has ignored all inquiries about.

One guy said he was emailing with a Hyperkin tech who told him that they are just waiting for their big ass shipment to get here from China, and that they already had one shipment but the "boards were screwed up"...the guy didn't know if the tech was referring to the issue with faulty pins from last December or if this was something new. Hyperkin did post that they received the boxes and posted a picture...these weren't boxed units, they were actual empty boxed. Sooo...is the small tiny staff at Hyperkin just boxing the consoles up themselves and then sending them out to Amazon, Newegg and the like? Could that be why they won't give an actual date? They have no idea when they'll be done boxing and sealing these up?

[Tanooki]

Wow PIC bomb! Hah. No it's not alright for people to ask that much, but right or wrong the bastards do it. And what's more sickening is that if you want to get rid of a game you have four primary choices. Trash it, give it away, stand on principle and sell a $50 game for $10 so some fuckstick can resell it, or ask at or somewhat below the asking price so that you can make a buck but enough someone won't resell it.


As for that one dude charging money for like for like labels -- I wish MORE did it and the quality would continue to increase to being just right. Ripped up labels suck as an OCD eyesore, but paying $100-300 to replace a game over a fuzzy fucked label is even worse.


The story about Earthbound beind held back so long is a lie. The game was vetted in the 90s for any such issues and even their over the top stuff with religious icons and other simple things like bottles. The translator of the game in the 90s was interviewed in the last year, someone on NA tied a link to it and the guy said as much so I'd take his word on it.


Hey stardust what did you do to restore a cart to sell it for more as I'm curious what your practices are.

[Atarileaf]

With regards to the rom issue, personally I've only downloaded roms of games I own on cart. Perhaps still not completely legit but I'm fine with it.

[Zap!]

With regards to the rom issue, personally I've only downloaded roms of games I own on cart. Perhaps still not completely legit but I'm fine with it.

How about .mp3 tracks back in the Napster days?

[Tupin]

Seriously, I'm sick of all of this April Fool's Day shit. Who the hell falls for it? Like, with literally everyone having some sort of massive "change" all at the same time? Goddamn.

[StoneAgeGamer]

Seriously, I'm sick of all of this April Fool's Day shit. Who the hell falls for it? Like, with literally everyone having some sort of massive "change" all at the same time? Goddamn.

I think most companies do it for fun, not to actually trick people. We did a joke today about a new Sega Pico flash cart called the PicoDrive.

[Atarileaf]

How about .mp3 tracks back in the Napster days?What about them? The issue is no different whether it's music, movies, roms or software.When we were kids we made copies of friends records on cassette and handed them out like candy. We had a local coco user group that was basically a software trading depot.The point is NOW, this is how I feel, not back in the 90's with Napster or the 70's and 80's with records and software.

[stardust4ever]

Hyperkin's facebook page is a shitshow today. The entire world went there today looking for a release date because it is now April. All Hyperkin has posted is their April Fool's joke about a RetroN Arcade console. https://scontent-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/t1.0-9/1463970_661197527248680_1476452887_n.jpgDon't care if it's fake; Dat shit is sweet! It would look nice next to my retro joysticks, which I do plan on using with Retron5 in the future:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/30203515@N04/sets/72157629736738048/
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5327/7201696706_60759742ff_z.jpg



Hey stardust what did you do to restore a cart to sell it for more as I'm curious what your practices are.It was possibly the most disgusting cart I've ever seen. I even sealed it in a ziplock baggie because I didn't want my other games contaminated by it's filth. Read this thread:
http://www.nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=10&threadid=100979
http://nintendoagemedia.com/_usermedia/attachments/39B7A1DD-0A5B-490B-469D3DDFE58E0A78.png
Cleaning up the cartridge itself was the easy part. Due to heavy corrosion on the cartridge connectors that even heavy sanding couldn't fully remove, I finally came to the conclusion that the PCB was a lost cause. I meticulously transplanted the mask ROMs to a donor cart (Home Alone 2) which had an identical board and MMC3 revision. The home Alone 2 was meticulous and looked like it had only been played once or twice in it's lifetime. I gotta feel sorry for the kid who opened it up on Christmas morning. That game sucked balls. anyway with the skill, precision, and care of a surgeon, I desoldered the old PR Mask ROMs and planted them on the new board. The job was almost undetectable and the biggest noticeable difference in the boards was a blue instead of black electrolytic capacitor.

Despite this, when I decided to sell the cart six months later, I fully disclosed that the cart was refurbished and the methods used. I likely took a pay hit due to my honesty as there were several interested buyers who changed their mind after reading the "Unminty PR" thread. I wasn't gonna have somebody buy it and then examine the board with a magnifying glass and notice some bull shit discrepancy like tiny inconsistencies with the solder/flux, simply because the mask ROMs, while 100% authentic, had to be hand soldered.

[Satoshi_Matrix]

...and you totally miss out on that warm fuzzy feeling of playing the authentic cart, whether the hardware is authentic or not.

Don't get me wrong, I suffer from this particular mental disease that afflicts retro gamers too, hence why I own about 2500 physical games. A lot of times I get a new game for a retro system I could easily emulate it, I justify it by thinking something like "well, I already have a huge collection already, what's one more gonna hurt?" or "oh well, it was cheap anyway". Later on when I think more clearly I think "I shouldn't have wasted that money".

Rationally, there can be no doubt about it - the "feeling" you talk about is nostalgia driven nonsense that's entirely in your head. The difference between loading a game up via a cartridge vs an emulator is distinguishable only as far as its the process you repeated tens of thousands of times in the past vs something that's new and achieves the same effect.

It would be like if you were given the opportunity to drive a new future car that ran on electricity and didn't have petals and a steering wheel, but instead a Star Trek like control panel. Totally different process, but the end result would be a car that you can drive around. That "warm fuzzy feeling of playing the authentic cart" would be exactly the same as longing for the gasoline driven, pedal and steering wheel cars of today.

Nostalgia is something to be examined, and those kinds of metal blocks that lead you to prefer the way things used to be simply because you aren't used to using the new methoids shouldn't be embraced. The only legitimate reasons to have a physical collection of anything that can be perfectly emulated is for resale value and not to worry about DRM. You can't sell a digital game short of selling an entire account associated with it.




Yeah. There is a small nagging part of me, which I wish would die half the time and the other half I celebrate, that really seems pleased knowing that I'm playing a cartridge over a rom. It's not rational; it is the nostalgic part of me as a retro gamer that is gets all warm and fuzzy when I fire up a cart from my collection, and this same side of me will probably unfortunately feel like the experience is still cheapened when I play a game on the RetroN 5 because it isn't the original hardware. And the thing is I enjoy emulation. It feels convenient and fun and "futuristic."

First, see my response to stardust, secondly, and this is important, I really don't want to offend anyone here. So If I inadvertently do, I deeply apologize. Everyone is free to their own thoughts.

What you said right there got me thinking about science and religion, and the The Bill Nye/Ken Ham debate. One side is rational based, interested in seeking answers to questions and building knowledge, the other side is irrational based, not particularly interested in knowing answers and instead comfortable with the way things are, what is already known, and what will forever be.

So too I think there might just be a correlation to the schools of thought that are behind those who state that something is lost when you emulate vs those who feel like there is only gains.

[stardust4ever]

I did the whole ROMs thing in 1999/2000. I got bored with it real quick, especially with crappy keyboards and stiff Logitech PC gamepads. It wasn't until after my dad passed away I found a CIB NES while cleaning out the garage in 2002, and spent hours fumbling with it and "blowing" in the carts to finally get it to work, then drove to Game-X-Change and practically bought out the store (prices in 2002/2003 were so much more reasonable back then), that I truly got addicted to retro console gaming.

ROMs on a PC didn't do it for me, and they still don't. The most time I ever spend in an emulator is to playtest a game to see if it's worth purchasing as a cart. It doesn't matter that I now have USB adapters to use real controllers, cart dumpers, flash carts, and the whole kit-and-kaboodle. It there isn't a 72-pin connector (or however many pins a given system uses) and a real controller port somewhere in the chain, it doesn't feel right. Playing real carts on the Retron5 is just as authentic as playing ROMs on a flash cart on a real NES system. Fact is both use an interface that requires plugging in a cartridge. Technically, the Retrode doesn't quite cut the mustard even though it has a cart interface, because once the ROM is dumped to my PC I'm back to using emulators. True the Retron5 also uses an emulator, however it doesn't feel like one.

Bottom line, sans official console emulators such as Wii/Wii-U VC, plugging in a cart is the only way for me to appreciate the games. It's gotta have that magical cart connector somewhere in the chain. Doesn't matter how the game data gets displayed on the TV screen or what kind of bizarre controller setup I have; it's gotta be on real carts. Sure I may be a nostalgic old kook that had to get his fix as an adult because he was deprived of video games as a child, but I'm sure others on this forum agree with me that it's all about the cartridges. Retron5 just seems like the perfect marriage of 20+ years old and brand new technology. So are modern flash carts, even if Retron5 and flash carts are mutually exclusive.

Retron5 exists for the exact same reasons why vinyl records are making a comeback. Sure they're big and fugly, but there's something about watching a 12" LP spin around and around on a turntable, just like there's something about the whole "insert cartridge into system and play" vibe.

[Atarileaf]

Interesting, so a virtual console game via the online store and emulated on the Wii is fine but modding a wii for emulation and playing that exact same game is different?

[treismac]

So too I think there might just be a correlation to the schools of thought that are behind those who state that something is lost when you emulate vs those who feel like there is only gains.

I think the Myers & Briggs' Thinker/Feeler dichotomy works well with emulation/hardware line of thinking (or feeling) and is going in a very similar direction to where you were heading, Satoshi.

http://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/mbti-basics/thinking-or-feeling.asp

Mind you, the categories aren't absolutes- they're more like degrees or a spectrum, so it is more of a matter of how much of a thinker or feeler are you rather than someone being 100% a thinker or feeler.

The cold, hard math (thinker) of the matter points to the superfluous of physical media. Once I start playing a game, does it really matter if I popped in a cartridge or selected a rom? However, humans are not 100% rational or objective observers or partakers of experiences. We are no where close. I believe that wine tasting has a great deal in common with retro gaming with it's rituals, labels, accoutrements, levels of expertise, etc., which all effect one's perception of the experience of wine tasting. If someone thinks a bottle of wine costs $750, they are going to experience the exact SAME wine radically differently than if they think it's a $5 bottle of cheap piss. Repeated tests have born this truth out. Perception is key. Likewise, I think the intangible nature and free cost of roms contributes to the perception of their undesirability to many retro gaming purists. Just as a wine purist truly does enjoy the $24 glass of wine more than the $4 one (regardless of if they are the SAME wine), the purist, also, enjoys the cartridge game more. I think our subjectivity is thrown way further out of wack than wine snobs because we have nostalgia thrown into the equation, as well, which affects our perception even greater.

Here is an article (there are many on the interwebs) about wine and perception:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/katiebell/2012/07/09/is-there-really-a-taste-difference-between-cheap-and-expensive-wines/



Interesting, so a virtual console game via the online store and emulated on the Wii is fine but modding a wii for emulation and playing that exact same game is different?

Not to be a bastard by jumping on the "that's inconsistent bandwagon," but yeah... Apart from clicking a video game's channel/square/whatever on the Wii home screen rather than scrolling through a list of game names on a Wiibrew emulator, how is there any difference? I actually prefer Wiibrew as it affords me more options with most emulators than is available with the official Wii emulation: multiple save states, filters, remapping buttons, etc.


Retron5 exists for the exact same reasons why vinyl records are making a comeback. Sure they're big and fugly, but there's something about watching a 12" LP spin around and around on a turntable, just like there's something about the whole "insert cartridge into system and play" vibe.

I agree. All of the superfluous ruffles and lace heighten the perception of the experience but don't change the actual experience. Regardless, we're tactile, sensory creatures (for now. Hurry up, Singularity :P ), so if watching a record spin makes Johnny Be Good sound better than when you listen to it on your mp3 player, relish it, but don't look too far down your nose at those who don't share your enthusiasm for the "authentic" experience, okay? ;)

[Satoshi_Matrix]

All I can say is that I hope there will always be people who think like stardust does, so when comes time to shed my collection of hundreds and hundreds of physical games, I can at least break even if not make a small profit.

[Gameguy]

Despite this, when I decided to sell the cart six months later, I fully disclosed that the cart was refurbished and the methods used. I likely took a pay hit due to my honesty as there were several interested buyers who changed their mind after reading the "Unminty PR" thread. I wasn't gonna have somebody buy it and then examine the board with a magnifying glass and notice some bull shit discrepancy like tiny inconsistencies with the solder/flux, simply because the mask ROMs, while 100% authentic, had to be hand soldered.
I'm not sure if there's anything wrong with not mentioning the repair, as long as the cart is working properly. You used a proper original Nintendo board to repair it, the same version as the original board. It's not like there's serial numbers which are meant to match. Unless it's some really rare cart like a Nintendo World Championships or something similar, then I can understand mentioning it. Even carts produced on the same manufacturing lines would have slight differences to them with how the solder flows. Nobody hates it when batteries are replaced in carts with battery holders, it's kind of the same thing with this type of repair.

It's different with replacement labels(I don't think you replaced the label from what I read). It's not like the new labels are old spares made by Nintendo, they're just made by some guy like any bootlegs. If they're not made by original manufacturer, they're fake.


Retron5 exists for the exact same reasons why vinyl records are making a comeback. Sure they're big and fugly, but there's something about watching a 12" LP spin around and around on a turntable, just like there's something about the whole "insert cartridge into system and play" vibe.
It depends on the type of vinyl collector. The collectors spending hundreds or thousands on individual records are doing so for better sound quality, they won't be using them for looks. They'll be using high quality players and styluses, not cheap players for convenience. There are plenty of all-in-one turntables which are more convenient to use and save space, these aren't the ones serious collectors would use.

The collectors you're talking about are mostly hipsters, or just casual collectors. They want the popular music and would be happy playing them on any cheap player that's still working. They won't be spending much on each album. This is the same type of collector who would go for the Retron5, just someone interested in convenience but still liking the feel of using older technology.


Using emulation has it's place. I remember emulating games while at school and having free time, it's not like I could bring a console to school to play with. Plus there's the odd translation, prototype, or import that's easiest to play using emulation. It's been ages since I've done any of this. I get using flashcarts on real consoles, the games all play the same as they should on real hardware. Playing real carts on a 3rd party system doesn't make much sense to me outside of for kicks or just trying to save money compared to buying real systems at retail pricing. You've got the right games but they're not running 100% like on authentic hardware, this isn't even a portable clone so it's not that much more convenient than real systems. It's not as convenient as pure emulation on a computer or laptop. This isn't something I'd ever be interested in owning.

[Atarileaf]

Comparing the retron 5 to playing a record player isn't an entirely accurate analogy. The retron 5 is not original hardware any more than those fake mp3 turntables are record players. Both try to mimic the real experience but are pretending. If you want a real game experience, play on actual hardware. The Ouya and Retron 5 are two sides of the exact same coin. The only real difference - the retron 5 dumps the cart the moment you plug it in, the rom on the ouya has already been dumped for you. Any argument beyond that is merely semantics.

[thegamezmaster]

Yeah, okay, a small group of the most hardcore will retain their original consoles and CRTs, but I'm talking about the masses. This will pretty much be like when mp3 players became widely affordable and CD/tapes were forever replaced and became obsolete technology. stardust4ever's claim that the RetroN5 is meant to "compliment, not replace" original hardware is like someone saying their ipod is meant to 'compliment, not replace' their vinyl records. That kind of thing might be true for a tiny fraction of people, but make no doubt about it, most people will buy a Retron5 with the exact purpose of completely replacing their old hardware.

There might even be a mini crash in the prices of the hardware the RetroN5 runs on account that nobody will want it anymore, if the RetroN5 sales are high enough. That will be interesting to see.




That's exactly what it means. The RetroN5 will not work through component, VGA, RGB, S-Video, Composite or any other video connection. It's HDMI only @ 720p. This means it will only work on HDTVs and a tiny number of CRTs that have HDMI output. This is just like the Ouya.



LOL *devises plan of making such a video, and making the video thumbnail a girl in her panties*

Thanks for clearing that up for me. Couldn't find any info on the web. But to me it seems like their cutting off a lot of potential customers who don't have HD TV's. Any way around it? My guess is no there isn't. Too bad IMHO.

[StoneAgeGamer]

Thanks for clearing that up for me. Couldn't find any info on the web. But to me it seems like their cutting off a lot of potential customers who don't have HD TV's. Any way around it? My guess is no there isn't. Too bad IMHO.

A lot of potential customers? My guess is most people who don't have at least one HDTV are probably not looking to spend $100 on a RetroN5 either. Personally I would rather them make sure the system works perfectly on HDTVs then bothering with supporting TVs from the 1990s and earlier. If you are just one of those people who refuse to play classic games on modern TVs because they look better on your CRT, well that's kind of one of the big selling points of the RetroN5. It makes classic games actually look good on modern TVs.

[Tanooki]

I think there are some of those lousy convertors to take HDMI down to something less attractive, but that kind of defeats the purpose.

Stardust I remember now that cart, didn't put it together it was you with the roach shit and wreck Panic Restaurant cart as that was an epic cleaning and repair job. Personally I'm uncertain what I would have done on it, potentially given to the extent you went to repair it I'd almost say it wasn't worth mentioning. You used a 100% identical board and as noted by another each cart could be assembled (flux and all) just a little different and if you did it so pro you'd have to tell someone and that they might not be able to figure it out without a microscope and chemical analysis of the age of your flux, it's pretty pointless -- it's all original parts. Hell if you had replaced the label but unlocked the last bit of the mystery of copying NES labels right, I'd have been happy just fine with that too being like for like. As noted in this thread about being part of the car part community and them dealing with it in the 90s, it's something you just have to accept, learn to deal with, and move along. It's not the end of the world, it has a place in the sliding scale of quality versus what someone will pay.

I'm in the same boat on emulation and emulators too. I got into it in 1996 and moved deep into it ranging from an op on efnet #emu, assisting in ROM releases (I'm sure anyone here has touched some of the stuff I made those .NES headers for), working for Dave's Video Gaming Classics as a silent admin, and having a shit ton (thousands) of ROMS. It wore my ass out after a few years and as fun as it was learning about the hardware, seeing advancements, testing and improving (I helped a few authors out, last was zsnes before it went open) in the end it still felt fake. I never could really reproduce the right feeling even with a USB dongle as computers, emulators on the whole, will always get a dip in response or respond oddly different as it's not the real hardware and game makers then used screwy tricks an emulator may skip. I went from having a powerpak and not enjoying it much due to ROM overload, to removing that and just using what I have. I don't think it's religious irrational to choose real over real rom on other hardware, the response even if minute is different. There's also just the whole muscle memory factor too, the 'feel' of things as well that years or decades hammer into you. I can totally accept the Retron5 because if it does as promised, it's like those faux modern record players that run the things but screw with the audio, it uses original and input/output sources but has tweaks involved.

[Satoshi_Matrix]

Thanks for clearing that up for me. Couldn't find any info on the web. But to me it seems like their cutting off a lot of potential customers who don't have HD TV's. Any way around it? My guess is no there isn't. Too bad IMHO.

If you want an SDTV solution to the RetroN5, buy Retro-Bit's upcoming Super Retro Trio. It'll support Composite and S-Video, and play NES, SNES, Genesis and through the Super Retro Advance Adapter, GBA games. It too will have original controller ports, and through reverse engineered hardware, will run almost everything the Retron5 will.

It should be available in May according to my Retro-Bit contact.

Expect a full hardware review as soon as I receive my review unit.

http://sheattack.com/myblog/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/super_retro_trio_gamingtrend.jpg

[stardust4ever]

Not to be a bastard by jumping on the "that's inconsistent bandwagon," but yeah... Apart from clicking a video game's channel/square/whatever on the Wii home screen rather than scrolling through a list of game names on a Wiibrew emulator, how is there any difference? I actually prefer Wiibrew as it affords me more options with most emulators than is available with the official Wii emulation: multiple save states, filters, remapping buttons, etc.My reason for supporting the Virtual Console is a simple one. It let's Nintendo know that there is a market for classic games. If nobody bought VC titles, nobody bought the classic remakes, etc, then it would tell Nintendo that revisits to old games are not viable. By installing Wiibrew on the Wii and running pirated ROMs, you are undermining the very service that Nitnendo is trying to provide. I happy to rebuy VC games that I already own and very often I do play them using the service. Are there some elements that need improvement? Yes. But circumventing the eShop and pirating the games instead of purchasing them through appropriate channels only shows Nintendo that people are not interested in playing old games. Piracy is not a victimless crime!!!


Stardust I remember now that cart, didn't put it together it was you with the roach shit and wreck Panic Restaurant cart as that was an epic cleaning and repair job. Personally I'm uncertain what I would have done on it, potentially given to the extent you went to repair it I'd almost say it wasn't worth mentioning. You used a 100% identical board and as noted by another each cart could be assembled (flux and all) just a little different and if you did it so pro you'd have to tell someone and that they might not be able to figure it out without a microscope and chemical analysis of the age of your flux, it's pretty pointless -- it's all original parts. Hell if you had replaced the label but unlocked the last bit of the mystery of copying NES labels right, I'd have been happy just fine with that too being like for like. As noted in this thread about being part of the car part community and them dealing with it in the 90s, it's something you just have to accept, learn to deal with, and move along. It's not the end of the world, it has a place in the sliding scale of quality versus what someone will pay.The label was 100% legit. There was a bit of gum left behind by the rental sticker but other than that the roach shit and the "PVT" marks cleaned off fairly well. Truth is, I didn't want to sell it to someone at retail price, then at some point later have them read the old "Unminty Panic Restaurant" thread, and been like "ew, gross," or "it's been tampered with so it's not 100% legit," and then demand their money back. Some collectors are totally anal about the condition of their carts so I wanted full disclosure, even it meant accepting a small cut in price. It still sold for 75% of the going retail price so all-in-all I felt I did good sending it to a good home. And we all know that cart would have found it's way to the landfill had I not rescued it.


If you want an SDTV solution to the RetroN5, buy Retro-Bit's upcoming Super Retro Trio. It'll support Composite and S-Video, and play NES, SNES, Genesis and through the Super Retro Advance Adapter, GBA games. It too will have original controller ports, and through reverse engineered hardware, will run almost everything the Retron5 will.

It should be available in May according to my Retro-Bit contact.

Expect a full hardware review as soon as I receive my review unit.

http://sheattack.com/myblog/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/super_retro_trio_gamingtrend.jpgI'll be looking forward to your Super Trio review. If the SOACs in this console indeed have better compatability and less artifacts than previous clones (no swapped duty cycles in NES rectangle, ability to play funky chipped games) I may consider picking this up as well since it will likely work with homebrew mappers and other stuff the Retron5 has difficulty with. If it's the same old chinese engineering that the Retron3 used, I'll probably pass.


All I can say is that I hope there will always be people who think like stardust does, so when comes time to shed my collection of hundreds and hundreds of physical games, I can at least break even if not make a small profit.Satoshi, you don't want more people like me in the hobby, you want collectors/hoarders whose #1 mission in life is to "collect one of everything." These people will stop at nothing to make sure they own every single game, no matter how rare, obscure, even if the gameplay is a turd. I let go of games I have no interest in playing. If it's worth more to someone else than it is to me, even if the gameplay is good (Panic Restaurant, Bonk's) I'll let it go for a price. No single game cart or disc is worth more than $100 to me, flash carts excluded. If it's worth that much to someone else, I'll let go of it. The retro gaming hobby used to be for for people who wanted a cheap game system who couldn't afford nicer more current stuff. Now it's become a hoarding situation for many with deeper pocketbooks than I'll ever see.

And for the vinyl record analogy, no, you don't need a $1000+ turntable for the music to sound good, and you don't need to spend $100/ft on speaker cable either. Cheap heavy duty 14-guage wire from a hardware store for speaker hookups, and shielded RCA for the inputs is plenty good enough for most installations. Save your money on hookups and spend it on a good amp and good speakers. I've got a $200 Audio Technica turntable LP-120 with direct drive and a tonearm with adjustable tracking force, anti-skate control, and built-in preamp with optional bypass. That's plenty good enough and properly adjusted it sounds great. However I would definitely recommend staying away from those cheepo USB turntables the big box stores sell. The frequency response is typically horrid, and they have bad, scratchy needles which will slowly ruin otherwise pristine records.

As for the wine tasting bit, I've tasted some expensive and cheap wines. Rex Goliath at $5.95 a bottle tasted great, while some other "premium" wines tasted nasty IMO. Unless you've got deep pockets, you're not going to waste your money on the expensive stuff. Oftentimes fine vinyards can't sell all their product and would rather let it go to waste than lower the price (which would in turn hurt their reputation among elite wine connoisseurs). So instead of throwing it out, they sell it to other companies who repackage it under a different label. Lost Vinyards, Lucky Duck, and a few others come to mind, typically around $4 per bottle. Some of them taste fabulous, others not so much. My 2cent.

[ApolloBoy]

The retro gaming hobby used to be for for people who wanted a cheap game system who couldn't afford nicer more current stuff. Now it's become a hoarding situation for many with deeper pocketbooks than I'll ever see.

Uhh, I've been collecting for quite some time now and I don't remember a time when the hobby wasn't like that.

[stardust4ever]

Uhh, I've been collecting for quite some time now and I don't remember a time when the hobby wasn't like that.You mean cheap hobby, or expensive hobby? Depends on what you collect.

[Tanooki]

I've been collecting since 95, and it has been a hobby to buy up cheap games to enjoy since the newer stuff is more spendy for most of that period to date. It's only in the last 3 years that it got really out of control starting with the NES and then trickling up the line through the generations. At first it was the age appropriate period of the NES and somewhat SNES with disposable income and what not. But the N64 and GC have started early and reading anywhere the comments on fears of what will go up, speculating on things and the rest what's going on there. Prices overall on Nintendo branded stuff went up under the expected levels of inflation, mostly just downright ignored up until it took off just a few years ago. Perhaps Nintendo's Virtual Console is partly to blame, or the general (then) new interest in 8/16bit art and audio that shows up all over stuff now, can't say. Whatever it is though I pity anyone who got into buying up old games in the last 3-4 years.

[Gameguy]

And for the vinyl record analogy, no, you don't need a $1000+ turntable for the music to sound good, and you don't need to spend $100/ft on speaker cable either. Cheap heavy duty 14-guage wire from a hardware store for speaker hookups, and shielded RCA for the inputs is plenty good enough for most installations. Save your money on hookups and spend it on a good amp and good speakers. I've got a $200 Audio Technica turntable LP-120 with direct drive and a tonearm with adjustable tracking force, anti-skate control, and built-in preamp with optional bypass. That's plenty good enough and properly adjusted it sounds great. However I would definitely recommend staying away from those cheepo USB turntables the big box stores sell. The frequency response is typically horrid, and they have bad, scratchy needles which will slowly ruin otherwise pristine records.
I was mostly refering to those cheap USB type of turntables, as plenty of people are buying those. But also older units from the 70's or 80's made of plastic and worth around $30 used today, your player is actually pretty good. Main reason why I'm taking notice now is because I know someone who's into audio so I try to keep an eye out for vintage equipment for him, he often restores pieces if they're good quality. He seems to notice a difference in quality between them even slight differences, so I pay attention to what he says. Everything from amps, speakers, receivers, turntables, reel-to-reel, cassette decks, tube equipment, etc.


As for the wine tasting bit, I've tasted some expensive and cheap wines. Rex Goliath at $5.95 a bottle tasted great, while some other "premium" wines tasted nasty IMO. Unless you've got deep pockets, you're not going to waste your money on the expensive stuff. Oftentimes fine vinyards can't sell all their product and would rather let it go to waste than lower the price (which would in turn hurt their reputation among elite wine connoisseurs). So instead of throwing it out, they sell it to other companies who repackage it under a different label. Lost Vinyards, Lucky Duck, and a few others come to mind, typically around $4 per bottle. Some of them taste fabulous, others not so much. My 2cent.
If you go to any place serving only expensive options just start calling it all "grape drink". See how people react.

[thegamezmaster]

A lot of potential customers? My guess is most people who don't have at least one HDTV are probably not looking to spend $100 on a RetroN5 either. Personally I would rather them make sure the system works perfectly on HDTVs then bothering with supporting TVs from the 1990s and earlier. If you are just one of those people who refuse to play classic games on modern TVs because they look better on your CRT, well that's kind of one of the big selling points of the RetroN5. It makes classic games actually look good on modern TVs.

It's not a matter of refusing to play on a modern TV, but due to other circumstances I can't afford one or I would have one. And I would like a RetroN5 if it had more than HDMI output. Not complaining just the way it is I guess.

[stardust4ever]

@Tanooki: Weird how anything Nintendo is instantly collectable yet there seems to be zero interest in Nintendo's latest and greatest, the Wii-U. Well "greatest" is debatable but I've gotten pleanty of enjoyment out of it.

[Tanooki]

It's greater than the Wii ever will be from a non-casual game players standpoint already but yeah it makes little sense other than the cooperative effort of the gaming media and developers to discredit it along with NOA's brainless non-advertising strategy that is working well for them.

[stardust4ever]

Nintendo advertised the crap out of Wii and it sold out for over a year. Wii-U is released, Nintendo never advertised at all, and it lands a distant 3rd. Coincidence? I think not.

Overall I'm worried. I don't want the Wii-U to become the next dreamcast...

[Tanooki]

Ehh it can't. It could be the next N64 though. It will eek out like 4 years of core Nintendo fan relevancy and then the last year of its life a gem or two aside will be total widely spread out shit and misery. And then also like N64 the margin of sales will look more like PS1 to n64 than the PS2 to the GC/XB in comparison, plus like N64 end up with only a select few big name developers doing projects and other random crap but mostly just first and second party things to keep people interested who have one around. I don't like writing it, but well that's their fault and third parties throwing them under the bus with the (systems first then games bullshit which is unheard of in system releases.)

This is off topic you know, again. Make another thread maybe?

[stardust4ever]

BUMP. Just heard through the grapevine, Retron5 got delayed, AGAIN! Why am I not surprized... :p

[Zap!]

BUMP. Just heard through the grapevine, Retron5 got delayed, AGAIN! Why am I not surprized... :p

Barely delayed. Yesterday, they guaranteed it will be released in one month or less, so instead of April, we get May 13th, at the latest. I hope.

[Cryog]

MGC 2014 - Hyperkin presentation and Retron x86 Announcement

http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=UUg-XHI2L8NVHR16xrZtH_dg&v=zLgqsDNwaUg

[Cryog]

MGC 2014 - Hyperkin Interview

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTWfprTiO7o

[Tupin]

They can barely get the RetroN5 out, how is this Retron x86 thing going to happen as cool as it sounds?

[Zap!]

They can barely get the RetroN5 out, how is this Retron x86 thing going to happen as cool as it sounds?

I hope the Retron x86 has floppy drives (both types) and CD-ROM. I'd pay more for these features, even $200.

[JSoup]

I hope the Retron x86 has floppy drives (both types) and CD-ROM. I'd pay more for these features, even $200.

For $200 you could probably just get the drives yourself and jury rig them to a PC.

[Tanooki]

Or they could charge extra for a specific USB floppy drive that needs a firmware handshake to work only adding another $50 to the total. :)

[Tupin]

Kind of weird that they're basing it off of the VIC-20, but I guess the C64 has too many modern interpretations.

[Drclaw411]

At the same convention, the same rep who used the word "guaranteed" when saying it'll be out within thirty days decided to say "30-45 days" when asked the same question again. Also, their Retron 5 unit that they brought to the convention damn broke.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xNwGeIVhvc#t=47

I'm starting to think this thing was too good to be true.

[fairyland]

I'm pretty excited for the "Retron x86." It would be nice to have something where I could just pop in a floppy or a cd-rom and type in run and it'll actually work without any additional effort. I am a huge fan of point and click games and they always seem to require more effort than it's worth. For example, Douglas Adams's "Starship Titanic" took me about an hour to get running last month. I had to go to various websites to see what I had to do and then attempt get files to install in my PC which were not always on the sites because they were obviously abandoned years ago. I have no clue as to what those files done other than they got my game going, I may have installed spyware for all I know. A couple weeks ago I found a game that I've been wanting for nearly 30 years, "Leather Goddesses of Phobos" but I just couldn't manage to get that to work at all. Dosbox just wouldn't do it and I couldn't find anything online to assist me. It's really annoying as back in the 90s everything worked rather well, but all these new windows versions made them just about useless for someone like me who has next to no knowledge on how to get old these PC games to work. I'm hoping this new system will actually be as I'm expecting and it'll play anything without all the extra crap that usually comes with being a fan of these sort of old school games.

[Satoshi_Matrix]

I was trying to figure out what was going on, but looks like a few of my posts were deleted. Weird.

So here's some thoughts:

RetroN5 - If it's gonna be released in the next 30 days, then you'd think Hyperkin wouldn't need to tell people it in a Q&A at a convention rather than make a proper formal announcement. I believe them when they say it will be released soon, but "soon" doesn't necessarily mean any specific period of time.

x86 - Well, that's a surprise. A self contained console-computer like computers from the early 80s? Cool idea, but I'm only vaguely interested. There are only a handful of DOS based retro gamers that I would want to play again, and a computer isn't something very suited for the living room and a sofa. Maybe if they add full controller support for any USB controller or blutooth controller? I could see myself using a PS3 controller to play some classic games on perhaps. I'll have to wait for more details before I decide on that.



I hope the Retron x86 has floppy drives (both types) and CD-ROM. I'd pay more for these features, even $200.

It will not. Hyperkin said it will have a SDHC card slot, meaning you'll need diskette and disc imagines. Original floppy disks and CDs are probably gonna be useless, unless there's drives for those formats that can run through USB and Hyperkin supports them. Either way, I doubt that will happen.



I'm pretty excited for the "Retron x86." It would be nice to have something where I could just pop in a floppy or a cd-rom and type in run and it'll actually work without any additional effort.

According to what Hyperkin said, that's not going to happen. It will have an SD card slot for disk images only. Your original floppies and CDs will probably be useless for this.

[lagartija_nick]

I find it rather strange that Hyperkin took a hard stance against roms with the Retron 5, but with the X86 it seems they have no problem with people finding disk images and loading them to an sd card.

I assume for 99 bucks the X86 will not have a cd drive, and implementing a floppy drive is just to impractical.

Are Hyperkin shoving a linux version of Dos-Box into a box with a keyboard?

[Satoshi_Matrix]

I find it rather strange that Hyperkin took a hard stance against roms with the Retron 5, but with the X86 it seems they have no problem with people finding disk images and loading them to an sd card.

I don't think its quite correct to say that hyperkin is taking a "hard stance against roms", just that it isn't their focus. I'm certain that it's a marketing decision that Hyperkin is making to stand out form the competition.

If you compare it to other clones that run carts, then Hyperkin can just say "but ours runs them better and has a bunch of extra features as well!"
If you compare it to other emulator machines like the Ouya, Hyperkin can say "but ours runs the original carts!"

If the RetroN5 just ran roms, it would be exactly like the Ouya, but missing a good number of the features that the Ouya has which would automatically make the RetroN5 inferior. It needs that cartridge support in order to be unique.


Are Hyperkin shoving a linux version of Dos-Box into a box with a keyboard?

That's precisely what they're doing.

[Tanooki]

New bad news on the Retron5 front.

We're up to a trifecta of garbage now. Lies, missed dates, and now the price.

It will not retail for $100, it's at $130-140 at this point supposedly due to part cost increases and their extra time adding more frills to the OS on it.

It will be out mid-May looking at things for $30-40 more than promised if this promise means anything this time.


As I see it, now the Ouya is the better deal. Both are emulators, both use ROMS, both can use original controllers (with USB dongle on Ouya), and now the Ouya costs around a 1/3 less money and offers more than just ROMs to play. I can't say I'm not interested anymore, but I won't pay that much for what it does so I guess I'll wait for someone to be unsatisfied with it or it takes a price hit because no one will pay that much for an emulator box.