RetroN5: Hands on first look

[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.

[Satoshi_Matrix]

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.

Where's the source on that? I'd like to read that myself from them.

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.

This is kinda what I've been saying all along, that the Ouya is probably going to be the better of the two.

Even so, I'm still going to buy a RetroN5 even if there is a price increase. I want to be able to definitively compare it against the Ouya and give a verdict on it. Unlike you, I'm still very much interested in it because things like missing their projected release and a bump in the price would be water under the bridge if the Retron5 turns out to be amazing. I want to find out.

[treismac]

So, out of curiosity, at what price is the RetroN5 a bust for everyone?

$100 was low enough to make me curious, but at $130-140 I will comfortably pass.

[Satoshi_Matrix]

$150 is about my limit. I'd have to do some serious thinking if it were $199, but I wouldn't pay more than that no matter what. I'd sooner just buy a second Ouya so I can use it in two different rooms without having to always move mine around.

[PizzaKat]

100 is my ceiling. Anything more forget it. Id rather get an Ouya, I read somewhere theres a second version coming out so I gotta check that out as well.

[Cryog]

Hyperkin RetroN 5 Console Demo


Minute 34:40 ...

[Gatucaman]

Hyperkin RetroN 5 Console Demo


Minute 34:40 ...

Dear Lord, the sound Distortion on Genesis is prrrrrretty bad!

[Satoshi_Matrix]

I truly, honestly do not understand why Hyperkin promotes that audio interpolation all the time. In every situation, it makes the audio sound worse than if it were turned off. Those Genesis games sound bad with it on.

I'm really impressed by that guy's Lode Runner skills. I own Lode Runner on Famicom too, but I'm not anywhere near that good.

[Atarileaf]

I was really looking forward to the retron5 but started to get concerned with delay after delay and now if it's true that they're raising the price, I'm definitely out. I've got the Ouya which emulates more retro systems, does XBMC and has some great android games as well. Looks like Hyperkin has almost lost me as a customer. I'm still not ruling it out completely, it will depend on that price rumor, but more and more it looks like I won't bother with a retron5

[Atarileaf]

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!"

I've heard defense of the retron5 over the ouya use that exact argument but in my mind it's an inconvenience. The great thing about the ouya is that it's a rubiks cube size box that sits in my living room under my tv with my ps3 and wii and I can play it in a snap. I can switch back and forth between Atari 2600, NES, TG-16, Genesis, or Colecovision games with the press of a button. The fact that I DON'T have to drag a box of carts into the living room is the plus side of the argument IMO.

[Satoshi_Matrix]

Hyperkin has stated that they will apparently honor preorders at the original MSRP, so if you've got one preordered, you'll pay $99. I hope that will be the case, as I've preordered one but not through amazon because there's no way to do that in Canada. I'll let you guys know.


Atarileaf, as I'm sure you know, I feel the same way about the Ouya. I really, really like that thing, even though it does get flooded with a lot of crap. It's pretty amazing how many flappy bird clones have been released for it in the last little while. But while we get all that crap, we then get games like Kosmik Revenge, which is like a Pac-Man Championship Edition version of Space Invaders and man is it good. There was also the firmware update yesterday that makes the GUI a hell of a lot better, finally allowing me to put all the emulators and XBMC in a favorites section so I can quickly snap to them. The new interface still needs some improving, but it's much better to how it used to be.