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

[buzz_n64]

"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/...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.