"retro freak" CYBER Gadget Corporation’s new machine lets you play 11 different classic game consoles

[buzz_n64]

http://www.seganerds.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/tips1-600x330.jpg

"It truly is a good time to be a retro gamer. CYBER Gadget Corporation has announced a console that will play just about every cartridge made in the 16-bit era.

Here is the list of cartridge types that can be played on the retro freak:

1. Famicom
2. Super Famicom
3. Super Nintendo Entertainment System
4. Game Boy
5. Game Boy Color
6. Game Boy Advance
7. Mega Drive
8. Genesis
9. PC Engine
10. TurboGrafx-16
11. PC Engine SuperGrafx

It’s quite a list, despite the Super Famicom/SNES and Mega Drive/Genesis being technically the same console. The only other consoles missing from this list are Game Gear, Neo Geo, and Wonder Swan.

In addition to playing a huge backlog of games on one console, the retro freak will upscale your games to 720p resolution.

There is currently no price announced at the moment, but the retro freak console is scheduled for a spring release date."

http://www.seganerds.com/2015/03/11/cyber-gadget-corporations-new-machine-lets-you-play-11-different-classic-game-consoles/



Great addition with the TG-16 game support, now they just need to price themselves competitively with the Retron5 and we may see a new retro all in one gaming champion if they do it right. I think they would seal the deal if they added N64 support.

[Tanooki]

Now that IS interesting, at least as a media piece. I want to know more about this as it could spell trouble for hyperkin clearly with the added systems it covers. If TG16 stuff wasnt such a ripoff I would be seriously tempted.

[Jorpho]

It’s quite a list, despite the Super Famicom/SNES and Mega Drive/Genesis being technically the same console.Also, the SuperGrafx had a grand total of seven games released for it, none of which are ever likely to be played in this thing.


The only other consoles missing from this list are Game Gear, Neo Geo, and Wonder Swan.Considering people still clamor for a means of playing Game Gear games on a TV, that might actually have been something.

Anyway, it's all just emulation again, isn't it? Meh.

[kai123]

Anyway, it's all just emulation again, isn't it? Meh.

Yea, I don't get the appeal at all. Considering that you can get emulators for almost any device...not buying it.

[Gameguy]

It truly is a good time to be a retro gamer. CYBER Gadget Corporation has announced a console that will play just about every cartridge made in the 16-bit era.
Truly a good time, finally a device is comparable to consumer grade computers that have been around for the last 12-15 years. And it's almost as versatile. I'm assuming it's all emulation, there's very little info available on this.

Weird how it's compatible with Famicom games but not NES games, most likely just because they're not including a proper pin connector for NES games to physically fit into the console. Just like those horrible Famiclone N64 controllers that were everywhere around 10 years ago.

[Guntz]

Not another one...

It is for sure emulation based, which really negates the whole point of using cartridges. The SuperGrafx inclusion is funny. They probably only listed it because it's fills another system on the list.

[The Adventurer]

Its software emulation sure, but since you must use cartridges to play it I don't see the difference between this machine and a famiclone with hardware guts that are different then the stock NES. Can hardware emulation even output to HDMI and give you all the filter options? Or even be remotely practical?

As long as I can use the official controllers its just as good as the real deal.


What I've always wondered, why not throw a CD drive on these multi-systems and get some Sega CD, Turbo CD, PS1, Saturn, 3D0, etc... etc... support in there.

[ccovell]

...you must use cartridges to play it
...
all the filter...

Exactly, it's the worst of both worlds... ;-D

[buzz_n64]

Not another one...

It is for sure emulation based, which really negates the whole point of using cartridges. The SuperGrafx inclusion is funny. They probably only listed it because it's fills another system on the list.

I'm still waiting for Hyperkin or these guys to include built in 32X cart support. The carts should fit, or at least a very slight modification of the slot would make it fit, they just need to make an emulator to run the games.

[retroguy]

It will apparently support the Power Base Converter for Master System/Mark III games so it actually supports 13 systems. I'm officially interested. I'll wait for it to be released and look at the reviews before purchasing, though, so I know what its limitations are and whether there are any serious problems with the emulation. With any luck, Game Sack will cover it. Their reviews of such things are always very well done.

EDIT: It just hit me that the Famicom slot could theoretically support hooking up an FDS to it, bringing the total to 14. Wow.

[ccovell]

These emulation systems don't actively run cartridges, just dump them to internal RAM and be done with the physical originals. Thus, I don't think FDS loading would work at all.

[Flashback2012]

Also, the SuperGrafx had a grand total of seven games released for it, none of which are ever likely to be played in this thing.

Considering people still clamor for a means of playing Game Gear games on a TV, that might actually have been something.

Anyway, it's all just emulation again, isn't it? Meh.

I remembered the official 5 + Darius Alpha but for some reason Darius Plus slipped my mind. Semantically, wouldn't it still be 5+2 Enhanced PCE? ^^;

I'm surprised no one has managed to do Game Gear on a TV yet. I guess there just wasn't enough enthusiasts.

As for the system, the more the merrier I suppose though I don't see me taking the plunge for it anymore than I would the Retron.

[Tanooki]

I really wasn't paying attention well that picture and I didn't even realize the NES was not supported. That seems like a very stupid design choice forcing people who are interested to invest in a converter or already have famicom titles, and the super graphix I did notice and it's screwy since it doesn't even have 10 games to its roster. I don't see this being a threat to the retron5 leaving out the NES. I think it could be mainly useful for those wanting the NEC support as it would be nice to ditch those creaky systems with their capacitor problems for an HDMI emulation box.

[kai123]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_v5vvh2h0A


There are people working on getting old systems to output to HDMI. I have been following this for a while now.

I just don't understand the need to have something that dumps your cart then plays the rom just like every other emulator you can download for free. You can get adapters to use your old controllers so I still see no need in something that doesn't really do anything new. I am sure it will be north of a $100 and not really worth it at that price. I doubt they are making these emulators themselves so I hope they go through the proper channels unlike Hyperkin. Oh well not my cash.

[Jorpho]

I remembered the official 5 + Darius Alpha but for some reason Darius Plus slipped my mind. Semantically, wouldn't it still be 5+2 Enhanced PCE? ^^;Yes, I went off Wikipedia. (I initially thought it was only two.)


I'm surprised no one has managed to do Game Gear on a TV yet. I guess there just wasn't enough enthusiasts.Oh, there's a mod for the system itself, to be sure. But that's the only solution so far aside from emulation or applying custom hacks to each game to make them SMS compatible.

[Gameguy]

What I've always wondered, why not throw a CD drive on these multi-systems and get some Sega CD, Turbo CD, PS1, Saturn, 3D0, etc... etc... support in there.
To play the CD games you don't just need the hardware, you need the BIOS for each system. With emulators they're never included, you have to download them elsewhere and load them into the emulator to play the CD games. Companies don't want to pay licensing fees to have these included.

I agree that allowing CD games to be playable would make these consoles way more appealing, especially with how expensive working CD systems are getting.

[Daria]

I play GameGear games on my TV all the time. A soft modded Wii is way more practical than these all-in-one famiclones. :P

[kai123]

I play GameGear games on my TV all the time. A soft modded Wii is way more practical than these all-in-one famiclones. :P

Exactly. There are so many ways to play these games that it seems like a waste of money at this point. If you don't want to get lost with having complete rom sets only put the ones for games you own on there and it is the same thing and you will have less wear on your carts.

[Leo_A]

I figured this platform would be the next addition after the Retron 5 appeared. Especially at the higher end market for clone systems, there's a lot of interest in the PC Engine line among those customers. But I don't envision ever becoming a collector there. Emulation and multicarts will have to suffice.

More useful to me would be Game Gear support. And I'd love to see 32X support only because it seems so easy from a hardware point of view to extend their Genesis compatibility to encompass that add-on as well, although I'm unaware of the state of Android 32X emulation which might be the limiting factor more so than anything else.

[Emperor Megas]

I think some of you are in too deep to understand the appeal of these types of consoles to others. Sure, you can mod an existing console, or run emulators on your computers, or build or purchase MAME type arcade cabs, etc. but most people in the market for something like this aren't trying to go through all of that and it's not worth it to them to learn how to do all of this shit or where to go to have it done. It would probably take longer to explain to my dad how to operate a Wii at all (which he doesn't even own one of) let alone mod it, than to use one of those consoles.

A lot of people who aren't as hardcore as many of us see a console like this in the store or online that's marketed as a multi-cart player and they have a bunch of old cart laying around in a box somewhere, or they see them all the time in thrift stores, yard sales, gaming stores online, etc. for cheap, and they think, "hey that's neat". Or they think, what a great gift for my husband, or girlfriend, or whoever, who 'plays a bunch of those old games'.

It's really a novelty/convenience thing. Some of you may be looking at it from a slightly elitist, veteran techie/gamer perspective. Granted, the lack of NES support renders most of what I said null, since that's probably the main thing casual consumers would want it to play.

[Tanooki]

After all that you came back to what I pointed out, no NES slot on it. It has nothing about being a collector snob, I have the R5 after all and put my systems up due to it. If you find your mass market person with old junk lying around from the 80s, it's probably going to be the NES or the SMS in a few cases. NES not being supported is a death blow to a big catch of people, and the SMS (on it and R5) needing the power base converter which some person probably won't even be aware of won't help either. The draw here on this one is going to greatly be the 16bit era and likely the Gameboy in some variety too.

[Gameguy]

A lot of people who aren't as hardcore as many of us see a console like this in the store or online that's marketed as a multi-cart player and they have a bunch of old cart laying around in a box somewhere, or they see them all the time in thrift stores, yard sales, gaming stores online, etc. for cheap, and they think, "hey that's neat". Or they think, what a great gift for my husband, or girlfriend, or whoever, who 'plays a bunch of those old games'.
If they're not "hardcore" then why would they have a need for something to play 11 different consoles from different regions? Plus these days you have to be somewhat technically inclined to play old carts as they need cleaning and maintenance, so many people sold off their old games for cheap because they thought their system was broken when the games were just dirty. It's not like emulation is all that difficult, kids can figure out how to get that running.

[mailman187666]

In response to the comment about a CD based console like this: I have a modded Xbox that I can put Sega CD games into and they all play perfectly. Is it not possible to have a machine like that, that can run multiple disc based systems? I'm not too deep on the technicalities on this kind of stuff, but if an Xbox can run Sega CD, there should be a way to get one box to run 16+32 bit console CD games.

[Leo_A]

Would you even want a clone based CD system?

I can just envision the reliability and durability of the cd drive likely to be utilized in such a thing. Design and build quality is questionable enough at times as it is, can't imagine how it would be once moving parts are thrown into the equation.

If we ever do get such a thing, they better not skimp on the drive.

[Emperor Megas]

If they're not "hardcore" then why would they have a need for something to play 11 different consoles from different regions? Plus these days you have to be somewhat technically inclined to play old carts as they need cleaning and maintenance, so many people sold off their old games for cheap because they thought their system was broken when the games were just dirty. It's not like emulation is all that difficult, kids can figure out how to get that running.

It's not about a "need," it's about the novelty. Someone walks into a store and sees or is directed to this thing and the box says that it plays like 10+ different systems, it won't matter if they ever own games of even half the supported formats. I can all but guarantee that someone will buy one of those things for me if they see it for sale, just because they know that I like old video games.

And you don't need ANY tech savvy to blow into a cartridge, which is what most casual gamers do if a cart doesn't boot. I, like many here, have hundreds of cartridges purchased in the wild, and 90% of them boot without being cleaned. You'll be hard pressed to find casual/ex gamers who think that blowing into a cart is more technically demanding than running emulators on a modern console that they don't even own.


Lastly, kids being able to get emulators running means nothing. Kids have always been more tech savvy than their parents. Are you old enough to remember when child proof caps became standard? You know how parents opened them after fighting with the bottles for 10 minutes? They asked their kids to.

[Jorpho]

In response to the comment about a CD based console like this: I have a modded Xbox that I can put Sega CD games into and they all play perfectly. Is it not possible to have a machine like that, that can run multiple disc based systems? I'm not too deep on the technicalities on this kind of stuff, but if an Xbox can run Sega CD, there should be a way to get one box to run 16+32 bit console CD games.As has been previously noted, the emulator on your modded XBox probably has a copy of the Sega CD BIOS. The BIOS is copyrighted software and you could not legally put it in a machine and sell it. Cartridge-based systems like the ones supported by this "retro freak" effectively have no BIOS, or at least have one that is sufficiently simple that its functionality can be trivially re-implemented. These systems are protected only by patents that have long since expired.

Now, a company could in theory make their own clone of the Sega CD BIOS and others. That's effectively what Bleem and Virtual Game Station did with the Playstation many years ago, and they mostly got away with it, except Sony sued Bleem into oblivion and bought out the makers of Virtual Game Station. The problem is that it's not particularly easy to do, especially if you want to achieve 100% compatibility.

[PreZZ]

I just dont get it with this and retron5, who wants a 200$ hardware emulator that you also need to dump all the cartridges into rom format to play them, its time consuming and costly its the same emulator and roms we ve been playing for years. Just plug your laptop, tablet or phone to your tv get a controller and a 2 minute download for the entire nes romset...

[davidbrit2]

I just dont get it with this and retron5, who wants a 200$ hardware emulator that you also need to dump all the cartridges into rom format to play them, its time consuming and costly its the same emulator and roms we ve been playing for years. Just plug your laptop, tablet or phone to your tv get a controller and a 2 minute download for the entire nes romset...

Because stupid people will buy it thinking it's somehow more authentic to use original cartridges with the same old emulators.

[YoshiM]

Because stupid people will buy it thinking it's somehow more authentic to use original cartridges with the same old emulators.

Or NORMAL people who don't want to hit up shady sites to get teh ROMz.

Sheesh...ever think there are people out there that have games/see games at a sale from their youth and want to play them only to find out their system looks like creamed ass on their modern TV? Or maybe their system is dead?

[Akito01]

Forgive me if this is slightly parenthetical, but it seems relevant to the current conversation. At this most recent PAX East, there was a video production panel with producers from GameSpot and Giant Bomb. When they got to talking about capturing video for classic games, pretty much everyone mentioned using the Retron 5. The way they talked about it was both quite positive, and also offhand in a way that suggested it's use was now quite common in that particular industry. Of course, it's all about the HDMI, but I also get the sense that the ease of use is part of what might be putting it above the other emulation suggestions mentioned.

I'd put off getting an R5 myself since I'm quite happy with my Ouya and original hardware, but I definitely wouldn't discount the use case for the R5 and similar devices that can both output to HDMI and let the user show off their cool old cartridges.

[Emperor Megas]

A lot of people can't get over themselves is the thing. Those who do things differently have to be "stupid", and things that they don't want or that they don't see a practical use for have to be "pointless" despite there being a market for it. Sometimes we need to just take a step back, a big one, and just breath a little and try to understand where other people are coming from. You might discover that not everyone who feels different about something is stupid, and there's possibly merit in some things that you don't desire or have a want for.

[celerystalker]

I could see myself buying something like this or the Retron family one day mainly as something to have hooked up in my living room where the fireplace is and my wife prefers to hang out. Sure, in my basement I have all my originals hooked up, but an HDMI output device with wireless controllers would allow me a way to enjoy games by the fire in a format my wife would prefer (Culdcept Saga made her love wireless controllers) without taking up much space. I'm a bit of a purist when playing just for myself, but I can compromise that for a more accessible social experience. I really like the Turbografx option on this one. I have a pretty good collection of TG16 and PCE games, and my wife hates the short cords on the legit controllers that make her sit on the edge of her seat to play games she didn't grow up with. That, and I think a lot of people might see it as a lower cost entry point to start buying turbo chips than the ever-increasing US hardware cost until they want to save up for it later.

[kai123]

Lastly, kids being able to get emulators running means nothing. Kids have always been more tech savvy than their parents. Are you old enough to remember when child proof caps became standard? You know how parents opened them after fighting with the bottles for 10 minutes? They asked their kids to.




A lot of people can't get over themselves is the thing. Those who do things differently have to be "stupid", and things that they don't want or that they don't see a practical use for have to be "pointless" despite there being a market for it. Sometimes we need to just take a step back, a big one, and just breath a little and try to understand where other people are coming from. You might discover that not everyone who feels different about something is stupid, and there's possibly merit in some things that you don't desire or have a want for.

So parents are stupid and kids are smart got it. I would like to think my generation that grew up with technology for the most part are pretty good at using our brains to figure stuff out. Most kids today are not even exposed to any real programs just apps on their ipads and iphones. None of my nieces and nephews even have a computer.

The real problem with these emulation machines is that they are not representing what the game is actually like. That is why there are separate categories for speed runners. Emulation is usually faster because they had to use hacks to get the game running at full speed. If this was using a BSNES or something then I would be interested.

Either way not my cash and I hope whoever gets one enjoys it. I just hope they are properly licencing the emulators they use and give credit where it is due. Also don't make the cart slots too tight!

[davidbrit2]

A lot of people can't get over themselves is the thing. Those who do things differently have to be "stupid", and things that they don't want or that they don't see a practical use for have to be "pointless" despite there being a market for it. Sometimes we need to just take a step back, a big one, and just breath a little and try to understand where other people are coming from. You might discover that not everyone who feels different about something is stupid, and there's possibly merit in some things that you don't desire or have a want for.

Except that it is stupid.

The whole point of emulators is to have easy access to a whole library of games, without being fettered to the original media, though at the possible expense of some faithfulness to the original hardware.

The point of using the original cartridges is to be able to play the games on the original hardware, in order to achieve perfect accuracy.

At no point does it make any sense to combine the two. If you want to emulate, just get a modded Wii or a cheap PC or something, and grab a complete ROM set. These emulation consoles are like exclusively buying vinyl LPs, then just digitizing them all to your iPod. I don't care if you'd rather emulate than run on original hardware, but doing it like this is an impractical waste of money.

[Tanooki]

As Now, a company could in theory make their own clone of the Sega CD BIOS and others. That's effectively what Bleem and Virtual Game Station did with the Playstation many years ago, and they mostly got away with it, except Sony sued Bleem into oblivion and bought out the makers of Virtual Game Station. The problem is that it's not particularly easy to do, especially if you want to achieve 100% compatibility.

Magic Engine the original TG16/PCE HuCard and CD emulator, that one used originally the bios made by NEC but they learned how it polled all the discs and made their own clone bios that'll run anything thrown at it. if a few amateur frenchmen in the 90s with limited documentation compared to what's out there now could do it on their own, I think it's pretty fair game someone could figure it out if the demand was high enough. Demand I think is what would stop it.


Davidbrit you have one hole in that argument just above -- "achieve perfect emulation" You're assuming people other than uptight perfectionists who want it as real as real can be would give a shit at all about that. Facts are that's not the case or stuff like the Retron 1-3, Retrobit anything, Yobo and the rest wouldn't sell so well at various locations. They don't look or sound all that good, various games won't even run at all, yet people buy them to use real games because if it's good enough and runs more than one thing they're happy. There is no POINT to being one who must have a real system and a real game for a person to be happy, just an uptight collector or OCD perfectionist would be so anal about that. Again Megas may not be making the best words of it in his argument but he's right. Step back, take a chill pill, and realize if you get beyond gaming based web forum members who are all about the purity and accuracy of it and look how many out there who vastly outnumber them that don't give two shits about that if some old Mario game in their attic will work fine on a clone (emulated or hardware.) If it works, it works. They're happy, end of story.

[Emperor Megas]

I've reached the point where I just stop reading posts when I run into angsty replies, straw man arguments and elitist shit. I know I'm not one of the oldest people here or anything, but at 40 I just don't have the patience and/or inclination to go back and forth over something that stands on it's own merits.

The bottom line is a lot of people enjoy these devices, that's why they sell so well. Others don't, which is why they don't buy them. It doesn't make anyone "stupid" to appreciate or to dismiss an electronic toy. It doesn't make said toys "pointless" if it doesn't provide you with an experience you're interested in but provides others with one that they are.

With that said, can we just cut all of the edgy insult hurling stuff out already? Honestly.

[Gameguy]

It's not about a "need," it's about the novelty. Someone walks into a store and sees or is directed to this thing and the box says that it plays like 10+ different systems, it won't matter if they ever own games of even half the supported formats. I can all but guarantee that someone will buy one of those things for me if they see it for sale, just because they know that I like old video games.

And you don't need ANY tech savvy to blow into a cartridge, which is what most casual gamers do if a cart doesn't boot. I, like many here, have hundreds of cartridges purchased in the wild, and 90% of them boot without being cleaned. You'll be hard pressed to find casual/ex gamers who think that blowing into a cart is more technically demanding than running emulators on a modern console that they don't even own.


Lastly, kids being able to get emulators running means nothing. Kids have always been more tech savvy than their parents. Are you old enough to remember when child proof caps became standard? You know how parents opened them after fighting with the bottles for 10 minutes? They asked their kids to.
Novelty will only get me to buy something if it's cheap, I won't spend over $100 on impulse. Novelty is why DVD Rewinders exist.

Whenever I buy a used game or system I make sure to clean them. They don't just boot up fine like you describe, that's why I clean them.

Child proof caps being hard for adults have more to do with painful joints than kids being smarter with tech.


Or NORMAL people who don't want to hit up shady sites to get teh ROMz.

Sheesh...ever think there are people out there that have games/see games at a sale from their youth and want to play them only to find out their system looks like creamed ass on their modern TV? Or maybe their system is dead?
It's mostly people who are ignorant then, or too afraid to use technology. The same people who would pay a computer store to install RAM chips or go to a car dealership to have their windshield fluid topped up. Downloading anything from the internet is pretty basic, downloading ROMS isn't that difficult.

If someone was only casualy into their old games would they really spend over $100 on a new system to just play them occasionally? It's not like picking up a spare console for $30 at a game store, not anymore.


Magic Engine the original TG16/PCE HuCard and CD emulator, that one used originally the bios made by NEC but they learned how it polled all the discs and made their own clone bios that'll run anything thrown at it. if a few amateur frenchmen in the 90s with limited documentation compared to what's out there now could do it on their own, I think it's pretty fair game someone could figure it out if the demand was high enough. Demand I think is what would stop it.
The people of Retron 5 just stole the emulators because they were too lazy to make their own, why would they put effort into programming a CD BIOS?


Davidbrit you have one hole in that argument just above -- "achieve perfect emulation" You're assuming people other than uptight perfectionists who want it as real as real can be would give a shit at all about that. Facts are that's not the case or stuff like the Retron 1-3, Retrobit anything, Yobo and the rest wouldn't sell so well at various locations. They don't look or sound all that good, various games won't even run at all, yet people buy them to use real games because if it's good enough and runs more than one thing they're happy. There is no POINT to being one who must have a real system and a real game for a person to be happy, just an uptight collector or OCD perfectionist would be so anal about that. Again Megas may not be making the best words of it in his argument but he's right. Step back, take a chill pill, and realize if you get beyond gaming based web forum members who are all about the purity and accuracy of it and look how many out there who vastly outnumber them that don't give two shits about that if some old Mario game in their attic will work fine on a clone (emulated or hardware.) If it works, it works. They're happy, end of story.
If you don't care about an authentic experience then there's no point to having actual cartridges. You can fit entire libraries of games all on a single USB stick, if convenience is the main goal then this isn't the best solution. Clone systems from 10-15 years ago sold well in game stores because actual consoles were usually sold out and most people assumed that a new console would be more reliable than an old used one. Now there's plenty more alternatives available for playing old games, a clone system isn't as good of an option as it was back then. Personally I would be nervous about using a clone in that it could damage my games if the quality is poor, shorting out the game or damaging the connectors.

It really is as mentioned with vinyl records, people buy them because they hear they have better sound quality but they play them on low end players and low end components. You have a high maintenance/difficult to store medium and you lose any benefits to sound quality that using vinyl would have provided. To me this is more of an elitist attitude, to say your collection is better because it's vintage, like a hipster attitude.

[Tanooki]

I know what Hyperkin did, the coder told me himself so that's no surprise. I wasn't speaking of them in particular about making up a copy of a CD BIOS, it was a general comment since this is now a second emulation box from the look of it.

And that's a big fallacy there saying if you don't care about authentic you don't need carts, it's really bullshit. Everyone has there own limits of what they will accept. The R5 for instance is so accurate on the games that I do own I put my real systems back in the box. I care about things working right because I'm somewhat sensitive to it and irregularities will screw up how I play (like the NES Remix thread where I point out the WiiU version is crap because the timing is off but the 3DS one is fine.) I don't want to sell my games off and just use an Ouya or a PC with a rom hoard on it or some usb stick. I want to use my legit games like I did in the 80s and 90s, but what the system gives me in the lack of lag or other display problems old systems have on new hardware and the other perks with the hot saves, patching and the rest it's totally worth it not using my real systems. The fact I can freely go between the two and not suffer for it with my timing being hosed up or seeing something more flickery or some audio being a little off says the system hit a level where it's acceptable to use. I would never throw that term around for any clone before it, they're crap and I've tested most of them.

[kai123]

Of course the Retron 5 is better than clone systems. They didn't have to write any software besides the front end. They are using emulators that have been worked on for years. You are praising the wrong people. Hyperkin will get none my money. Fuck them.

[Emperor Megas]

To me this is more of an elitist attitude, to say your collection is better because it's vintage, like a hipster attitude.I agree if people are actually claiming that. However if they're just stating they have a preference (either vintage or modern), then it isn't elitist. "It's just like, their opinion, man."

[celerystalker]

I'm not sure why anyone would feel the need to call people stupid and get so aggressive over personal preferences. It's a hobby and it's not hurting anyone to like cartridges, emulators, or real hardware. It's just stuff. It's some of my favorite stuff, but just stuff. Not everyone wants to use their computers to house ROMs, and however they want to enjoy their hobby is fine. Aside from trolling, I'm just not seeing why people have to be stupid to want a recreational device. Not everyone cares as much as forum posters about the ins and outs of any of this. They just want to have some fun, and these things bring out that desire. Remember playing games just for fun? It happens still. Not everyone wakes up thinking "fuck EA" or "fuck ebay gougers." Sometimes they just want to play a game, because it's a more fun way to spend time than most of what's out there.

[davidbrit2]

Davidbrit you have one hole in that argument just above -- "achieve perfect emulation" You're assuming people other than uptight perfectionists who want it as real as real can be would give a shit at all about that. Facts are that's not the case or stuff like the Retron 1-3, Retrobit anything, Yobo and the rest wouldn't sell so well at various locations. They don't look or sound all that good, various games won't even run at all, yet people buy them to use real games because if it's good enough and runs more than one thing they're happy. There is no POINT to being one who must have a real system and a real game for a person to be happy, just an uptight collector or OCD perfectionist would be so anal about that. Again Megas may not be making the best words of it in his argument but he's right. Step back, take a chill pill, and realize if you get beyond gaming based web forum members who are all about the purity and accuracy of it and look how many out there who vastly outnumber them that don't give two shits about that if some old Mario game in their attic will work fine on a clone (emulated or hardware.) If it works, it works. They're happy, end of story.

I know that people using emulators aren't concerned about 100% accuracy, and that's fine. I'd rather play on the original hardware, but I'm not bothered if somebody wants to use an emulator, because frankly there are plenty of benefits to emulating a console on modern hardware. One of those benefits happens to be having the entire library available on a single piece of storage, and not needing to bother with original cartridges.

There's a good reason Apple never made an iPod that included a CD or cassette player.

[Emperor Megas]

There's a good reason Apple never made an iPod that included a CD or cassette player.Okay, I'll admit, this actually made me laugh out loud. LOL

[kai123]

I personally don't mind these devices. There has been clone hardware for years and it is always hit or miss. It is when they take other people's hard work and sell it when there is nothing in the license that says they can. The guys who make these emulators are not getting rich unless they port it to android and throw it on the market. It is shady and lazy on the part of the hardware makers. I guess I should just wait for the Dolphin emulator to be full speed on android and we will see Wii and Gamecube "clone" systems.

I think the thing is if you tell people you can do what this does for free with devices they may already have you can save some people some money. I think most of these devices get a little casual use and end up right where the old ones did in the closet or thrown out.

[Tanooki]

There's a good reason Apple never made an iPod that included a CD or cassette player.

Yeah iTunes and every little thing they can charge extra for. :) (I know what you meant though.)

[Gameguy]

I know what Hyperkin did, the coder told me himself so that's no surprise. I wasn't speaking of them in particular about making up a copy of a CD BIOS, it was a general comment since this is now a second emulation box from the look of it.
My main point was that these companies making modern clones or emulation machines are making them as cheap and fast as possible just to profit off the current classic gaming craze. They're not focussing on making the best possible product for fans of games, it's just about making a profit.


And that's a big fallacy there saying if you don't care about authentic you don't need carts, it's really bullshit. Everyone has there own limits of what they will accept. The R5 for instance is so accurate on the games that I do own I put my real systems back in the box.
The thing is you don't really need physical carts to play games on these systems, you may prefer to use carts but they're not needed anymore. If the console just dumps the carts into ROM files to play them, you don't need the physical carts after dumping them once. Would using ROM files instead of carts make games run worse on the R5? No, they'll run exactly the same.

These consoles could be made much more useful if they allowed you to dump games to an SD card or USB key, you could dump your games once and then just play them anytime you want without having to get the cart out again. It would be great for people with prototypes, as far as I know people still need to use old cart copiers with floppy drives and parallel ports to preserve prototypes. Even if these consoles just had internal storage they'd be more convenient to use, dump games yourself once and play them anytime you wanted, bring the whole console with you while travelling to friends houses or on vacation, etc. Dumping from actual carts should be faster than downloading ROMs from sites and transferring them to SD cards so it would be slightly more convenient than just downloading ROMs to play, otherwise I'd just say to use existing ROMs.

Imagine if computers went back this way, it's like going back to before hard drives were standard. Every time you booted you needed the OS on a floppy, then swap it out with whatever software you needed with other floppies. Or booting software from cassette drives. Doing this every single time you wanted to use the computer or switch between programs. It just seems archaic by todays standards, even when considering extremely cheap options.


These emulation consoles are like exclusively buying vinyl LPs, then just digitizing them all to your iPod.
Actually it's more like digitizing vinyl albums to MP3s for your iPod, only for it to delete them whenever you turn the unit off. Actually forcing you to transfer the vinyl each time you want to use the iPod, every single time. Completely ignoring the loss in quality during the process, there's a lack of convenience doing this which makes it all inferior compared to other existing alternatives.


I think the thing is if you tell people you can do what this does for free with devices they may already have you can save some people some money. I think most of these devices get a little casual use and end up right where the old ones did in the closet or thrown out.
This is the main issue I have. There is the whole preference thing, but I actually know somebody who copies their DVDs by hooking up a DVD player to a separate DVD recorder that ignores copy protection. They have a modern computer with a DVD writer so there's no point to it, it's better to back up a digital DVD with a computer and make a perfect copy. Some methods or products have a clear benefit over others, it's not just personal preference like choosing ice cream flavours.

[Tanooki]

Look at a base level I agree with you, they could be more useful if they dumped games. But let's be realistic, if they want to sell in the first world countries, they'd have at the least Nintendo up their ass for selling what would be basically the R4 and every other device they've worked in shady ways to shut down in the US. You open the door to free rom dumping/copying it's a pirate box to them. That's at least how I had it explained last year from the hyperkin guy which is why they went the way they did, threats. They can't afford to fight Nintendo in court. Personally I'd rather it be how it is now, but if they had 'oops' like Ouya left a back door open for side loading, I would have liked that, and they wouldn't have been liable if someone else injected some devious android app on there to play roms or dump carts to make copies due to the 1.5GB storage it has internally being more than enough.

You are right about the old carts, you do need to use old school copier devices in whatever form they come or you make on your own. I think the exception probably is that kazoo reader/writer that infiniteneslives has if it has that and isn't just only for its own boards. It would have just been nice with the storage on the R5 if I could just toss the cart in once and have it store in that over 1GB of space it has. It would also be nice if I could throw IPS translation/hacks in there as well and not keep swapping a SD card out which blows. That part maybe fixed later. I know they're working on it still, but stuff came up having to work on another hardware revision and some other side junk but the intent is to come back and add more functionality to the system this year.

[buzz_n64]

New update! You can pre-order the system now!

http://www.play-asia.com/install-and-play-retro-games-from-9-different-old-school-consoles/5f/746ed?ref=twitter%3Faffiliate_id%3D16202

Retro Freak Standard JPN US$ 169.99
Retro Freak Premium JPN US$ 224.99
Retro Freak Controller Adapter SNES, FC, PCE, MD JPN US$ 54.99

"Time to play all the games! This incredible device from Cyber Gadget claims to to support original games from the Famicom, SNES, Mega Drive/Genesis, PC Engine, TurboGrafx-16, Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, Game Boy Color, and Supergrafx!

Here is the real kicker: the Retro Freak will also allow you rip and install all these games from the cartridge onto the console with the use of an SD card! The device also has an HDMI output and supports 720p upscaling, instant saving, and cheat codes for certain games.

The actual console comes in two main parts: the largest piece is actually the cartridge adaptor while the smaller workhorse hides underneath emulating all your favorite old school titles.

Both versions also ship with a SNES-style controller, but it will also work with both modern gamepads such as the DualShock 3 and DualShock 4. The Premium version also ships with the controller adaptor that supports Famicom, Super Famicom, Sega Genesis, and TurboGrafx controllers."

[retroguy]

Cool. A bit pricey, but for an all-in-one import machine, it would be worth the cash for me.

[Tanooki]

Interesting, it's already like $40 more than the Retron 5 without the ability to use a real controller meant for a system, and then it's nearly $100 more to get the right to do that. That may fly in the Famicom world of asia, but in the US market that's not going to go over well with all the NES cart owners. It's too much money and limits itself without that slot. Sure we know you could get an adapter, but your average shelf grabbing consumer won't know what to do.

[MetalFRO]

Interesting, it's already like $40 more than the Retron 5 without the ability to use a real controller meant for a system, and then it's nearly $100 more to get the right to do that. That may fly in the Famicom world of asia, but in the US market that's not going to go over well with all the NES cart owners. It's too much money and limits itself without that slot. Sure we know you could get an adapter, but your average shelf grabbing consumer won't know what to do.

For sure it's a niche market, but for those of us who want to have a cleaner signal for TG16/PCE games, this is the way to go. I have a TG16, and even via a standard composite cable, it looks pretty good on my 720p TV, but having the ability to play PCE games and import, without having to spend a boatload on a HuCard converter, AND getting the added benefit of HDMI, offloading the ROMs to the system, save states, etc. makes it look very attractive to a contingent of retrogamers like myself who want that experience on a more modern TV, and don't have room in the house for 2 or 3 CRTs to dedicate to retro consoles. I would totally ask my wife to put this at the top of my Christmas list for this year.

[BlastProcessing402]

Would you even want a clone based CD system?

I can just envision the reliability and durability of the cd drive likely to be utilized in such a thing. Design and build quality is questionable enough at times as it is, can't imagine how it would be once moving parts are thrown into the equation.

If we ever do get such a thing, they better not skimp on the drive.

The thing could just use a stock PC drive. They're cheap and plentiful so easier than designing a drive from scratch, benefit for the clone maker. If it breaks you just pop a new one in, benefit for the customer.

[Tanooki]

Metal I get it is choice for you, you've got the TG library that makes that device all the more worth it, but I was speaking from a mass US market appeal and throwing out the NES in a stock device is a bad idea. Sure someone knowing their stuff could get a FAMI to NES converter and be fine, but it's assuming a bit much to think most people would even think of that. Talking about just a random store or web crawler looking at stuff and impulse buying it like a Retron 5 or even a crappy Yobo would see no NES slot and be turned off.

[MetalFRO]

Metal I get it is choice for you, you've got the TG library that makes that device all the more worth it, but I was speaking from a mass US market appeal and throwing out the NES in a stock device is a bad idea. Sure someone knowing their stuff could get a FAMI to NES converter and be fine, but it's assuming a bit much to think most people would even think of that. Talking about just a random store or web crawler looking at stuff and impulse buying it like a Retron 5 or even a crappy Yobo would see no NES slot and be turned off.

I understand what you're saying, but being that the device is being manufactured by a Japanese company, and is generally for a niche market anyway, I don't think they would view a missing NES slot as an oversight. Is it inconvenient for some buyers who might have already been looking at a Retron 5? Sure. But this appears to be intended for the Japanese market first, and I honestly can't say what kind of NES collecting "scene" there is in Japan, as opposed to Famicom collectors in the West.

[Leo_A]

So has anyone tried this yet? I stumbled across a review tonight that seemed intriguing.

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2015/12/hardware_review_cyber_gadget_retro_freak

Curious about 1st hand impressions since it sounds like it's largely superior to the Retron 5 to me, although the need to purchase a separate controller adapter is disappointing as is the lack of built-in NES support (Which I presume also applies to the controller adapter that the deluxe model includes)

I'd also like to hear about BlueTooth controller support via USB adapter, as alluded to in that review. I want the best of both worlds in such a device. So high quality wireless controller support and the ability to utilize original controllers as I see fit is a necessity for a high-end emulation based clone such as this. And that's something that the Retron 5 with its awful proprietary wireless controller, just doesn't currently provide.

And the mention about homebrewers already being able to install Android compatible emulators to this for systems like the Sega CD also has caught my eye and is something I'd like to hear more about. Not only does that provide the possibility to fill holes in the system coverage that the hardware manufacturer has neglected like Sega CD support, it's also an avenue to fix possible issues like the NES audio issue in certain titles that was cited.

Will be nice if you're not satisfied with the pre-installed NES emulator, to have the option to rectify the solution yourself via installing your favorite Android compatible NES emulator in its place.

[Tupin]

It seems like it's just plain hard to find at this point.

[MadaoBob]

It seems like it's just plain hard to find at this point.

Really?
I went to Tokyo about a week ago and it was on sale. Bic Camera was selling it, Super Potato, etc.

Maybe there isn't a way to efficiently purchase one from outside Japan aside from forwarding from Amazon.jp

[Tupin]

Yes, I meant in the US.

[MadaoBob]

Yes, I meant in the US.

Ahh.... I see.
Welp, the only way to buy one for now is amazon.jp
And the American equivalent being the Retron 5, though the R5 lacks the PCE input...

[calgon]

Looking forward to picking up the deluxe unit. I see play Asia has this back ordered

[stardust4ever]

I bought one as a Christmas gift to myself. You can read my first impressions here:
http://atariage.com/forums/topic/247050-retro-freak-firmware-update/?p=3400174

The thing is built far more solid than the Retron5, although it tends to overheat when docked. I may need to invest in a small cooling pad. Do they make cooler pads for tablets?

And yes, you need an adapter for NES or SMS games. That isn't a deal breaker to me. I use my AV Famicom almost as frequently as NES and I have adapters that let you swap regions on either.

Biggest caveat is NES repros or homebrew largely do not work. However I was pleasantly surprised that many Genesis and SNES repro/homebrew seem to work just fine.

Before I forget, TG-16 support rocks! :cheers:

[Tanooki]

Seems to me it's inferior in build quality over the redesigned Retron5 given that thing overheats under standard usage or just leaving a game parked running in demo mode for awhile as your atariage write up said. Seems a bit premature saying it's more solid given that and only using it for 2 days so far. It seems poorly designed having the needed modules lock over where the cooling vents are causing it to overheat. I'd agree entirely on the original model of the R5 as it was a disaster waiting to happen.

Cooling pads for tablets probably happen, but I know they do make them for small notebooks of the 10" type size so I don't see why you couldn't go with that. They tend to come with 1 or 2 fans you can blow cool air up from the bottom onto the unit itself.

[stardust4ever]

Seems to me it's inferior in build quality over the redesigned Retron5 given that thing overheats under standard usage or just leaving a game parked running in demo mode for awhile as your atariage write up said. Seems a bit premature saying it's more solid given that and only using it for 2 days so far. It seems poorly designed having the needed modules lock over where the cooling vents are causing it to overheat. I'd agree entirely on the original model of the R5 as it was a disaster waiting to happen.

Cooling pads for tablets probably happen, but I know they do make them for small notebooks of the 10" type size so I don't see why you couldn't go with that. They tend to come with 1 or 2 fans you can blow cool air up from the bottom onto the unit itself.I just ordered this one:
http://www.dx.com/p/usb-powered-dual-fan-laptop-computer-cooling-gear-stand-black-fuschia-302882
It's 7.5 inches long and 3.5 inches wide folded, and would make a nice stand for the Retro Freak with the arms partially extended.

Also today I added a MicroSD card and did a firmware update. This time I set the Retro Freak on a firmer surface and I didn't notice it getting hot at all. It does lock up occasionally when it initially reads the game cart; not really sure why, but it rescans the cart and I'm gaming in like ten seconds. Since the firmware update more repro games seem to work. It successfully scanned and dumped my RetroUSB DK "Pie" Foundry cart (CNROM). So noticeable improvement all around. You still need an adapter for NES though... *_*

Oh and unlike the retron5, it stores dumped games on the MicroSD card!:devilish:

[Tanooki]

It seems to me with some firmware fixes it should level the playing field more or less. Shame about no nes slot but it does do the pce. Shame the r5 doesn't keep its downloads to save time later though hackers have done their own on it I'm sure as it's hardly secure.

[stardust4ever]

It seems to me with some firmware fixes it should level the playing field more or less. Shame about no nes slot but it does do the pce. Shame the r5 doesn't keep its downloads to save time later though hackers have done their own on it I'm sure as it's hardly secure.
Nothing is truly unhackable. If it's possible to read the data, it is possible to decrypt/hack it.:evil laugh:

[Leo_A]

You still need an adapter for NES though... *_*

You did import it from Japan, after all...

It will be much more of an issue if they end up distributing it in North America and don't make an appropriate change there.

[stardust4ever]

You did import it from Japan, after all...

It will be much more of an issue if they end up distributing it in North America and don't make an appropriate change there.

Look, you are preaching to the choir. I have Famicom carts I sometimes play on my NES, with an adapter, and NES carts I often play on the AV Famicom, with a similar but opposite adapter. I have even plugged a pin adapter into the Famicom, with a US Game Genie into the pin adapter, and a second pin adapter on top of said Genie, to use cheat codes on a Famicom cart. It was a veritable Tower of Babble with which I had to use book ends to stabilize, and actually got to work after blowing through a half a box of Q-tips + 91% isopropanol. Almost as impressive but slightly shorter was using a Genesis Game Genie with Sonic 3 + Knuckles. Too bad the Genie doesn't work on top of a 32X. That would be an impressive tower.
http://content.ytmnd.com/content/2/9/e/29eef8d6c51ae974c33ed8f17e021247.jpg

Unrelated, I don't have an SMS but do have a Power Base Mini and a few games. It works on my Genesis Model 1 and ironically enough Super Retro Trio. And of course the Retro Freak. But at least I don't need an expensive adapter to play Turbografx games on it. Works out of the box! :cheers:

[kai123]

Enjoy your emu boxes. I wonder if they wrote their own emulators for this thing. I just can't get behind something like this when there are vastly superior options available. I get that having your carts is cool and all but you are still just emulating them. There is no difference between this and a android box or Raspberry Pi. I mean you even have to buy adapters to use your controllers. So very strange that this thing even has a market at all. Plus that console design is the very definition of function over design.

[Leo_A]

I think it's strange that some classic gamers are so particular as to fail to see the point of an entertainment machine produced to play videogames just because of the inner workings of it that hold no significance for most.

Beyond being a point of interest for forum discussions, it doesn't really matter even for a sizable number of people at communities dedicated to the hobby like here and AA. The accuracy and quality of the product displayed on your tv screen and through your speakers is what matters to most of us.

Just how it's accomplished is only a means to an end.

[stardust4ever]

Unlike my multitude of flash carts, I'm gonna keep my Retro Freak piracy free. No backdoor loading of ROMs I don't own. Save for possibly a few homebrew ROMs it refuses to dump. :moon:

[stardust4ever]

Rather than retype the same stuff multiple times, I'll quote a post I made on nintendage:

Firmware 1.4

Piko recognised and working: Super 4-in-1 multicart

Unrecognised but working: Classic Kong, Creepy Bird, Astrohawk

No cart inserted: 3D Noah's Ark, Rockfall

Untested: Thor Quest

I was disappointed that Rockfall didnt dump. It has known incompatability with SNES9x and it would be interesting to have seen how it would behave on this build.

NES repros tested working:

RetroUSB DK "Pie" Foundry: Unrecognised, works!

Earthbound Proto: Recognised and works.

Flashback Entertainment Gimmick with extra sound (INL board, Japan version): Recognised and works. Sound effects glitch when Gimmick dies. Otherwise it's flawless.

Most original NES games I've tested so far worked, with the exception of a couple Famicom Sachen porno games (no cart inserted)

Mario/DuckHunt/WCTM: recognised and works

Mario/Tetris/WC (PAL): this one is a bit weird. Recognised and dumps as World Cup. It's like Super Mario Bros and Tetris don't even exist at all.

Fix It Felix homebrew by Dra600n (Genesis): unrecognised but works.

Sonic 2xL (Hilareous gag hack of Sonic 2 where gold rings are replaced by onion rings. Sonic gets fat if he eats too much and eventually dies from his obesity): unrecognised but works
http://www.lostclassicvgs.com/col...

I also tested a couple Camerica Genesis carts.

Psycho Pinball (PAL): No cart inserted.

Micro Machines (NTSC): game recognised and dumps but game will not run due to an emulation bug. This one is pretty nutty. The home menu is called up the instant the game loads. Closing the home menu to resume the game immediately pulls the home menu back up, makng the game impossible to play. Accessing the ROM off internal storage has the same effect, so it's an emulation bug, not a cart dumping bug.

Game Boy: This was interesting. Warioland II (black GBC version). Game displays Super Game Boy borders and reduced color pallet. This means if you play a Game Boy Color game with Super game Boy enhancements, you get the Super Game Boy version with inferior colors. I really need to get a copy of Space Invaders to test SNES code emulation.

Lag from best to worst (played on extra low latency 9ms 1080p ASUS monitor):

Game Boy (none detectable)
NES/FC (low)
SNES and Turbo/PCe (med)
Genesis/MD (high)

I played some Crueball (Motley Crue themed Pinball) on Genesis and the lag made my game noticeably sloppier than usual.

[R9delta]

Yeah all black gb cartridges that have sgb enhancements will default to that. Not a big deal honestly since you can change it to gbc hardware instead in the game settings on a per game basis to correct that.

[Tanooki]

Eh better than nothing, but would be cool since they're emulators if it just would fire up the SGB border but use the GBC colors if at all possible. That would be a cool mix.

[stardust4ever]

Eh better than nothing, but would be cool since they're emulators if it just would fire up the SGB border but use the GBC colors if at all possible. That would be a cool mix.Nice that there's an option to toggle SGB. I haven't explored that yet.

I actually saw the borders of Tetris DX last night for the first time. I got a DMG Gameboy and installed a backlight mod earlier this past year and for the first time, I got to play a number of games without the colors. The rocket animations are pants in monochome though. Showing the borders and using the GBC colors may not be possible however as the coding is different and can change the screen backgrounds. You can actually program two completely different games onto a DX cart depending on the hardware it's played on. GBC Chunkout homebrew has an easter egg ball and paddle game when played on a monochrome GB or SGB.

I need to see if I can track down Space Invaders, or I may backdoor it. It injects an entire SNES game into the Game Boy code and launches it from SNES RAM. It would be interesting to see what that game does if the Game Boy EMU can handle injected SNES code. Space Invaders is the only game that does this.

I got some more bad news as I found another game in my collection that misbehaves on the EMU. Mario Bros Classic Serie, or Classic, is a PAL exclusive NES port of Mario Bros Arcade with updated animations and physics. Like DK Complete edition, once you play the enhanced version, you can't go back. It exhibits the home menu bug similar to the Genesis Micro Machines. The instant you load the ROM it displays the home screen and it is impossible to exit the menu to play the game. So this bug affects multiple emulators.

Oh, and Tengen Ms Pacman NES glitches the graphics in a fantastical way on the Retro Freak that has to be seen to be believed. I'll admit I did not clean the game before I tested it, so I'll need to verify the dump by removing the memory card and testing it in a PC emulator. The sprites themselves show no signs of corruption, just the display is entirely wrong. I'd set up my tripod and do a video right now but my fiance is sleeping.

Also my copy of Earthbound uncut (unrecognised but dumped fine) appears to be completely corrupted on the Freak. I'll need to verify that ROM as well to see if it's a bad dump or just crapulation.

Genesis Six Pack is also DOA. No cart inserted.

Other thoughts, if you extrapolate the audio from the Retro freak using an HDMI audio splitter and apply the bass enhancement, the bass boost is entirely overpowering if played through hifi speakers. I have a pair of Jensen JP500 hooked up to my stereo. They sound amazing playing my vinyl collection but they're not exactly earthshakers. My Retro Freak begs to differ. They're rated 200 watts so it would be pretty hard to tear them up, Just an observation. I imagine the purpose of the filter is to overcompensate the tinny shit speakers normally embedded in HDTVs, however you also can shred small drivers by forcing them to go lower than designed.

[tom]

So another piece of shit not including the classic consoles, Atari 2600, 5200, 7800, Intellivision, Colecovision, just the Japanese crap.