New plug & play Retro-Bit Generations console by Retro-Bit

[Az]

I hadn't seen anyone mention this here yet and figured I'd point it out. Although all the details aren't announced yet, Retro-Bit has shown off their latest console creation at E3. It's called Retro-Bit Generations; a small plug & play style console that has both composite and HDMI out, 2 Genesis-style six button controllers, and has a bunch of emulated arcade games installed. From what I've read they've licensed both Capcom and Data East titles (maybe more?) and it's going to include around 60 games. Does not have a cart slot and no word on any SD card slot or any other hardware details. You can see pictures of the system along with the so far announced game list on Retro-Bit's Facebook page or website.

No price point announced yet and obviously this isn't going to contain anything you couldn't pirate for free right now, but it's got my attention (especially if the controllers are good). Even if it's just a bunch of CPS1/2 games with some Data East oddities thrown in I could see myself picking it up. Being the soured old man I am this thing has my interest peaked more than anything else announced at E3.

[calgon]

Hmmm. I had just assumed the most logical step for them would be another clone console that introduced n64 support.

[Az]

Looks like a few more details on this have come to light and this has gotten a little more interesting. It is going to have an SD card slot but currently its only function is to import/export save states. Game list is now 100 titles; Irem and Jaleco are now on board. Interesting thing is that some SNES titles from them have been mentioned (Super R-Type, Super Bases Loaded series, Brawl Brothers). Price point still listed at $59.99 USD.

Looks to be an interesting addition to go along with the Classic NES plug & play system. If only Sega wasn't hampered with dogshit AT Games licensing agreement and could participate in this system...

[Az]

This arrived yesterday and I got a chance to check it out. My goodness what utter rubbish it ended up being.

In all fairness it has some good points. The controller cords are extremely adequate at probably 8-10 feet long each. The controllers feel alright but the d-pad has a delayed response in both the GUI and games. I don't know if it's due to a shitty d-pad hardware needing a hard mash to register or if it's lag on the software side. There are no arcade games that require a 2x3 six-button layout yet plenty of SNES games, so I really don't understand why they just didn't use the Super Retro Trio SNES style controller. The only games that require six buttons are now shoehorned into a layout they weren't designed for. They did have the foresight and good taste to include the original Japanese version of Rushing Beat Shura instead of the castrated US version of Peace Keepers. That's about it for the positives.

First thing to notice is the box itself is covered in piecemeal stickers where last minute removals and additions were done to the game list. There's a few screenshots of games and a newly applied sticker listing nearly all the titles in a tiny font. There's ZERO info provided about what system/version of the game is. It's important to note that a few games still listed on Retro-Bit's website and Facebook page are not included at all.

Games list is the most bizarre, out of left field, mish-mash crock of shit you've ever seen. Capcom as a prime example; you've got the arcade versions of Forgotten Worlds and Captain Commando, the Genesis verison of Mercs, and the NES (!) versions of Bionic Commando and Gun.Smoke. Yes, I was dumb enough to assume these would all be arcade versions.

The emulation is horrid with at (or below) AT Games quality in most instances. My first reaction was to honestly assume the console arrived defective. No video/filter options other than choosing a 4:3 or stretched 16:9 image. No emulator options for arcade dipswitches or console region setup. Every system I've tried was emulated poorly. The sound isn't too bad but every system either had slowdown or very obvious frameskipping. The Genesis in particular was extremely bad with both frameskipping cranked to the max and the sound playback strangely running at 2x normal speed. The Genesis is one of the most well documented platforms to emulate, can be ran well with very low hardware requirements, yet runs much worse than the SNES emulator.

Early impressions had some people calling this a better alternative to the mini NES. If Retro-Bit doesn't supply a software update to fix these issues you won't hear that comparison made again.

[Tanooki]

Reads like every complaint list I've seen. The highpoint is the controller cord, which had not been for Nintendo being Wii-centric putting a 2.5ft cord on the NES Classic Edition it wouldn't be mentioned. Bad emulation, input lag (and it's the controller, not button issues from the looks of it) and your other points. It supposedly can get updates, so a few I've seen say they'd keep it and see if they bother to fix it, a lot are just angry they wasted money considering so much badly emulated stuff and questionable versions of titles included when so many more arcade releases could have been chosen for it. Some people are looking to take the wasted money and see if it can be hacked to make it like it was kind of advertised (not crappy with bad ports and/or of lesser versions of games.) It's a shame I was interested but stuff like this I do a wait n' see on. After what I've read I think a better shot would be to track down an Ouya, sideload all sorts of goodies and be done with it. (Or see if those NES hackers bust that one open as it appears to have New3DS level hardware inside meaning it probably is better off than that retrobit box.)

[FieryReign]

Blame yourself for even bothering with these junky things. Do you have a smartphone? A tablet? Then go discover what you can do with them. No whining.