RetroN 5 is officially a thing, apparently

[Tanooki]

Satoshi don't feed the troll. I wish someone would get rid of that already.

I'm shocked what they're attempting to do here and I really want those questions you asked answered too. I've never touched their NES based stuff, but the 2nd revision of the Supaboy I own and it's amazing, though I had to mod the D-PAD to work like a real SNES controller to get me feeling amazed by it.

I'm really curious how they'll handle the internals on their controller. I want to know what method of driving these games they'll use as if it will be a bunch of 'system on a chip' chips in there, a beefier common ARM processor like other multi-emulator handhelds out of China use, or what exactly? I'm interested in finding out how they'll handle on a first outing GBA playback and how it will output to the screen and speakers.

I think I'd actually consider buying it as I heard it was like $80~ and I don't like clones, but it would be useful to have as a lazy carry around device I could take to my nephews place or to the back bedroom without having to unwire all my stuff. Also very very curious to see how the HDMI is handled if it's clean or a damned nightmare like past systems where RCA cables work great, but fail on another system and reversed the other way. I think they're the ones with the NES+SNES combo where if you use the wrong cable for the wrong system on a chip the output goes to crap.

[RARusk]

The Gameboy Players with the disc are around $30 last I checked, I don't have one yet though. You do need the disc, I keep finding them without the disc so I just pass on them. The discs are what makes them expensive, it's cheaper to buy a complete one than to just try buying the parts separately. I'm kicking myself now but I remember passing on a loose Gamecube system for $7.99 which included the Gameboy Player(no disc), a loose copy of Zelda Twilight Princess, and a broadband adapter. I didn't know at the time that broadband adapters were worth so much, the Gameboy Player was useless without the disc and since the Zelda was loose I didn't think it was worth much. Now I know better.

Isn't there a mod out there for it where you don't need the disc? I mean if you can put SD Cards and hard drives on the GameCube I would think that someone has figured out a way around the disc problem.

[treismac]

I like gaming on an the original NES because it's an NES and it reminds me of those times just looking at it. I don't even own a top loader because I wouldn't play on it. Yes, I'm a little strange.

That's not strange. I bought a Top Loader just to confirm its inferiority to the beloved original NES, and now my Top Loader just gets the occasional glance and halfass wiping off of dust from me.

[Polygon]

That's not strange. I bought a Top Loader just to confirm its inferiority to the beloved original NES, and now my Top Loader just gets the occasional glance and halfass wiping off of dust from me.

What amazes me is the cost of a top loader. Especially if you want one complete in the box. Initially I refused to get one simply because of how it looked. Then I saw that it was actually inferior to the original. That made me glad I didn't cave and get one, just for the simple fact of owning one. The only advantage I see to the top loader is the 72 pin connector on the board, which would be less prone to breakage. Then again, I have enough 001s to never have to worry about broken parts.

[Nionel]

I'm interested in this simply for the HDMI, the ability to play my NES and Genesis games on the big TV in the living room is very tempting. I already have the SNES and Gameboy (via GameCube) with S-Video and they look good. I'll hold off to see if compatibility is going to be an issue, and exactly how the HDMI will work, price is also a factor, but again we'll see. I'm bit getting my hopes too high, but I'm still optimistic.

[MachineGex]

I received an advanced delivery of this product for review....so let me save everyone the trouble. The Retron 4 is a piece of crap. Hyperkin has a consistent record of trashy junk products...and this one is no different.

On the bright side of things...100 poor Chinese laborers were given jobs by Hyperkin to make this thing....so in a sense...Hyperkin is leading the charge towards making the world a better place. "Hyperkin the humanitarians"...pretty catchy slogan

thank you.

P.S. Fix the Supaboy you clowns.

thanks again.

Dude, if you are only here to trash products, then you need to leave. No one here wants to hear your lies. We all understand you hate these products, but you dont need to play everyone like fools and tell us bullshit.

Mods, please kick this guy to the curb. He only trolls threads and has been caught lying to us. This community needs honest people, not guys spreading BS about a product that isnt even out.

[Satoshi_Matrix]

I'm inclined to agree.

MyTurnToPlay, it's fine with me if you want to voice your opinions on how you don't like clones. Your entitled to your opinion the same as anyone is.

What you're NOT entitled to is simply lying just to crap over this thread. If you aren't lying then man up and post some actual information and photos.

Otherwise, yes, mods please ban this guy for doing nothing but trolling.


ANYWAY,


What intrigues me most about the retorN4 is the idea that it'll have HDMI output across the board. I'm not sure how that will work for GBA and especially NES. SNES and Genesis both have RGB encoders and there are component mods for the original hardware of both systems. HDMI is just converting that component standard.

Thing is, at most, the signal is 240p which a lot of tvs will automatically upscale to 480p which can vary the results individual gamers will get. In addition to that, certain brands of LCD tvs will not display a 240p video feed whatsoever, making them potentially entirely useless unless the RetorN4 has something built into it to automatically upscale to 480p, which itself could cause problems.


Then there's GBA.

How will THAT work? The GBA display was intended for a small custom resolution LCD screen that had an aspect ratio of 3:2, which is neither 4:3 or 16:9. Is Hyperkin going to window the 3:2 aspect ratio image as Nintendo did with the GBP or are they going to stretch it 4:3 or 16:9 or leave it up to the user to decide? Also, what kind of video output is possible from a GBA? I honestly don't know - GBP can do 480p, but that's tied in with the GameCube hardware. What about the GBA itself? Should we expect 480p from GBA, or 240p like SNES and Genesis?


And finally, the NES.

Oh boy the NES. This is where I'm honestly expecting Hyperkin to drop the bucket and not put in anything but the most barebones features. Will HDMI NES actually be something HD? Currently, every NOAC in the world contains a copy of the RP2C02, which can only output RF and composite video. Even Hyperkin's RetorN3 which features a S-Video cable feeds composite through the Luma line of S-Video to create the illusion that S-Video is possible from their NOAC.

So Hyperkin will need to:

-Engineer a new NOAC capable of outputting HD resolutions
-Ensure they do not reverse duty cycles to create typical NOAC sound distortions
-Work on compatibility

That's a real tall order Hyperkin. If you succeed, this thing will be amazing; but given the track record and difficulty of that task, I'm not holding my breath.

[MyTurnToPlay]

I stand by my statements that this is another crap Hyperkin product. When this thing is released to the general public, I will bump this thread so that all may be amazed at my perspicacious prophetic words.

thank you.

[Atarileaf]

I stand by my statements that this is another crap Hyperkin product. When this thing is released to the general public, I will bump this thread so that all may be amazed at my perspicacious prophetic words.

thank you.

You still haven't answered anyones questions or provided any proof you have one of these and actually tried it. Until you provide that proof, you're still officially a liar so man up or GTFO

[MachineGex]

Of course he is lying. Look at his past posts, almost all of them are him talking shit about clones. I have never been one to ask for a BAN, but this dude is a liar and he is spreading mis-information cuz he has a chip on his shoulder. WE are all tired of your shit.

[Satoshi_Matrix]

As I said, MyTurnToPlay is entitled to his opinions and not liking clones and anything Hyperkin makes. Even I'm not sure if that's a stretch for how I feel about it.

But claiming that he has a review unit with no proof is just bullshit.

If he somehow is using a statement like that as a guise to simply say "the RetorN4 is gonna suck" and later post something like "see I told you so I'm so smart" if it turns out that way, I have one question.

Who the hell does he think he's impressing?

Hyperkin can very easily screw this up, and no matter what they do they won't please everyone. The price will be too high, it'll letterbox or stretch images, it'll not play certain games, whatever. There's no pleasing people. The question is where the RetorN4 will fall in comparison to existing clones.

[BricatSegaFan]

Of course he is lying. Look at his past posts, almost all of them are him talking shit about clones. I have never been one to ask for a BAN, but this dude is a liar and he is spreading mis-information cuz he has a chip on his shoulder. WE are all tired of your shit.

Maybe HE is a knock off Chinese clone

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

I stand by my statements that this is another crap Hyperkin product. When this thing is released to the general public, I will bump this thread so that all may be amazed at my perspicacious prophetic words.

thank you.

You can bump the thread all you want but it's not going to make anybody give any more shits than they already do about anything you have to say about clone consoles.

[XYXZYZ]

So if Retron 1,2 and 3 were bad (I've never seen them, I don't know) were they equally bad, or did each one make improvements over the last?

[Satoshi_Matrix]

They're not incremental.

The RetorN1 is just a renamed version of the Yobo FC Game Console. It's also sold by RetroBit under the name Retro Entertainment System. It's simply a NES NOAC.

The RetorN2 was recently released> it's essentially a RetorN3 without the Genesis. SNES and NES only, and like RetroBit's RetroDuo it only uses SNES controllers for both SNES and NES.

The RetorN3 has several revisions. No matter how you slice it the thing has problems.

The RetorN4 will likely be another revision of the RetorN3 that *hopefully* fixes problems and also adds new stuff.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

So if Retron 1,2 and 3 were bad (I've never seen them, I don't know) were they equally bad, or did each one make improvements over the last?

DP user Ace has done some really great writeups on the Retron 2 if you search for them.

Retron 1 is the Hyperkin branded Yobo "tissue-box" style NES/Famicom clone. It uses the most rudimentary NOAC hardware, has mono composite output and is not compatible with Castlevania 3. Personally I love the form factor and aesthetics of the little square box. It has actual NES controller inputs, the controllers it comes with are pretty decent and it will power a Famicom Disk System if you use a Famicom to NES adapter, which is a neat feature. Audio and color display can be spotty on these, but for the price and size, they are what they are.



The Retron 2 is a NES/SNES duo system. As far as I'm aware, the NES side is about the same as the Retron 1, no Castlevania III. It comes with a clone NES style controller and a clone SNES style controller. Also takes real NES and SNES controllers. Unlike the retron 1 it has S-Video output for SNES. Like most SNES clones there are compatibility issues with any game that has lockout security chips. Again, audio and video can be spotty in general.



The Retron 3 has NES, Genesis and Super NES slots. Real controller inputs for all three systems, and composite and S-video output. I believe that there are at least 3 revisions of the Retron 3, the earliest is not compatible with Castlevania III, the revisions however I believe are. Same issues as the other systems with color and audio, like most Genesis clones audio can be wonky or an octave "off". Again, form factor is the benefit here, having all three systems in one console is cool and convenient for those who aren't sticklers for 100% accuracy and just want to play some games. The Retron 3 comes with IR controllers that are fucking LAUGHABLY bad. I've actually played some systems with decent IR controllers, but HOLY CRAP the Retron 3 controllers are a fucking JOKE. If there's one place where I will unabashedly rail on Hyperkin it's the inclusion of those controllers.



AS WITH ALL CLONES - and people who are REASONABLE with the expectations. They're a novelty, something to collect, or a substitute for real hardware, they are NEVER a replacement for the real thing.

The Retron 4 sounds pretty decent. I assume the GBA clone hardware is stuff that has been used in the knock-off GBA systems, which, while not 100% compatible are pretty good. I expect games that require more processing power to run a bit slow. HDMI output is probably going to just run at 240p, but if that at least means a nice clean signal I can deal with it.

The BLUETOOTH controllers are the thing that I'm most excited about the prospect of. HOPEFULLY they don't scrap that at the last minute.

*shrug* time will tell, we'll see.

[InsaneDavid]

The Retron 3 comes with IR controllers that are fucking LAUGHABLY bad. I've actually played some systems with decent IR controllers, but HOLY CRAP the Retron 3 controllers are a fucking JOKE. If there's one place where I will unabashedly rail on Hyperkin it's the inclusion of those controllers.

Every time I think of how bad the IR controllers on the Retron 3 are I'm reminded of that little AtGames Genesis clone with the SD card slot on the back, the one that had the fake Wii-esque controllers. That thing (the AtGames clone with no cartridge slot) has the best IR controllers of all time. At pretty much any position within 30 feet the controllers will respond without issue. I suppose the secret to good cheap IR is to coat the controller with IR emitters.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Every time I think of how bad the IR controllers on the Retron 3 are I'm reminded of that little AtGames Genesis clone with the SD card slot on the back, the one that had the fake Wii-esque controllers. That thing (the AtGames clone with no cartridge slot) has the best IR controllers of all time. At pretty much any position within 30 feet the controllers will respond without issue. I suppose the secret to good cheap IR is to coat the controller with IR emitters.

Yeah man, I have that thing and the IR sensors are the best I've ever used. IF ONLY it had all three standard Genesis buttons on the god damned thing instead of mapping C to the "waggle".

[Leo_A]

Too bad they didn't reuse the same thing for their wireless Atari Flashback 4 joysticks. Those have a much smaller sweet zone than that earlier Genesis clone did.

Thankfully with original joystick ports (Something that Genesis clone would've greatly benefited from), it's not much of a problem.

[Ace]

I'm going to add on to Frankie's post:

Retron 1 is the Hyperkin branded Yobo "tissue-box" style NES/Famicom clone. It uses the most rudimentary NOAC hardware, has mono composite output and is not compatible with Castlevania 3. Personally I love the form factor and aesthetics of the little square box. It has actual NES controller inputs, the controllers it comes with are pretty decent and it will power a Famicom Disk System if you use a Famicom to NES adapter, which is a neat feature. Audio and color display can be spotty on these, but for the price and size, they are what they are.

If you're thinking of the earliest FC Game Consoles released in 2005, those are completely different from the latest FC Game Consoles available since about 2009 or so. Those have much more accurate NOACs in them as does the RetroN1, but the RetroN1 has audio distortion issues due to a missing pull-down resistor on the audio output (there's no amp on this; just a single 10uF capacitor before the RCA jack).

The Retron 2 is a NES/SNES duo system. As far as I'm aware, the NES side is about the same as the Retron 1, no Castlevania III. It comes with a clone NES style controller and a clone SNES style controller. Also takes real NES and SNES controllers. Unlike the retron 1 it has S-Video output for SNES. Like most SNES clones there are compatibility issues with any game that has lockout security chips. Again, audio and video can be spotty in general.

From what I can with the little experience I had with the RetroN2, it really doesn't seem any different than the RetroN1 as an NES, but it does pass NES Composite through S-Video (much better than the RetroDuo does, if I may add). The Super NES side, though, is the worst of all the 2-in-1 clones as its S-Video, at least on my particular RetroN2 (I'm gonna get one of the newer ones as those now come with S-Video cables, so I'd be curious to see if anything's changed in that regard), was VERY highly prone to sync issues. No such problems with Composite, though the colors were a little dull. The audio is really where Hyperkin cheapened out as it's lacking a bit of bass, is garbled in certain games and is not in Stereo. It's dual Mono, and that is total crap.

The Retron 3 has NES, Genesis and Super NES slots. Real controller inputs for all three systems, and composite and S-video output. I believe that there are at least 3 revisions of the Retron 3, the earliest is not compatible with Castlevania III, the revisions however I believe are. Same issues as the other systems with color and audio, like most Genesis clones audio can be wonky or an octave "off". Again, form factor is the benefit here, having all three systems in one console is cool and convenient for those who aren't sticklers for 100% accuracy and just want to play some games. The Retron 3 comes with IR controllers that are fucking LAUGHABLY bad. I've actually played some systems with decent IR controllers, but HOLY CRAP the Retron 3 controllers are a fucking JOKE. If there's one place where I will unabashedly rail on Hyperkin it's the inclusion of those controllers.

DO NOT think the RetroN3 Version 3 plays Castlevania III because it does not. I have one and all the boards were changed in it. The Super NES/Genesis board was updated for the reduced-size TCT-970 clone Super NES chipset, but the audio is still the same excessively loud, bassless and distorted mess as it was on the Version 2. The Version 1 had low audio output for everything, but the Super NES audio was good despite less evident Stereo separation due to the NES single Mono to dual Mono split. The Version 1 also had a wiring error on the cartridge slot which caused Rad Racer II to short-circuit the console.

The NOAC is also worse than either the RetroN1 or RetroN2 as it suffers from the oh-so-common reversed duty cycles. All 3 hardware revisions also have problems with the Zapper and certain other NES controllers. The RetroN3 Version 1 was decent, the RetroN3 Version 2 was meh due to the Super NES audio having gone to shit, and the RetroN3 Version 3 is a total disaster (Hyperkin never even corrected the audio balance issues and reversed Stereo sound of the Genesis side in any of the hardware revisions).

And yeah, those wirless controllers are crap, particularly when your batteries aren't fresh. It will lag and miss button inputs like crazy.