If you absolutely have to have an actual hardware clone, stick with Retrobit's systems. Hyperkin's wares do have major problems. It's up to them to improve the Retron5's firmware, if they don't for the next few years, it'll be a $140 paperweight like the rest of your common electronics. Otherwise, start going to yard sales, flea markets, and thrift stores on your free time. If the OP is really getting a job, he should get familiar with his neighborhood.
Is that the pot calling the kettle black? I mean, isn't this just an emulation box that allows you to read carts? So copying the system hardware is OK in their mind but not the software?
This is what I don't get about the Retron 5. The only experience your getting from the carts is plugging them into the unit. The games aren't being run off the carts, they're running off the roms that are downloaded from the carts. Its pretty cheesy because the whole fun of playing on original carts is that its running off of the rom hardware not some software based emulation using the rom file.
I don't why people get excited over these clone multi-systems. A "Jack of all trades" will never be as good as a dedicated system. Also it isn't like any of the systems it tries to replicate are exactly rare. With a bit of searching you can get the original systems and converters for the same price of this. Maybe I could see a point if it was for hard to find systems like the PC Engine/TG-16 or Neo-Geo MVS/AES but we are talking about the Nintendo and Sega systems here.
Even if they would want to support them, they probably wouldn't be able to anyway if all their system does is 1) dump the inserted cartrige and 2) run it in an emulator. You can't dump an SD-based flash cartridge and the entirety of its SD card into a single emulator-compatible ROM file, can you? Also, on another subject, some people's cries elsewhere for Hyperkin to support the N64 in their next console - N64 emulation is still piss-poor, so half the games wouldn't work correctly anyway, if at all.
It also might be too hard for them to steal an open source N64 emulator and get it running on whatever cheap hardware they want to use. The systems supported all have plenty of options for stealing emulators. And they aren't too demanding on computing power.
I don't really get why people are so hung up on "it's only emulation". You can use your original cartridges, you can use your original controllers, it won't look like ass on a HDTV, it supports save states and game genie type codes and you don't have to bother configuring a cumbersome front end. What's not to like? I'm looking forward to picking one up when stock starts appearing in the UK, the main thing about it that's bothering me at the minute is the death grip it appears to have on some cartridges. It could just turn out to be new sockets that'll bend and give a little over time but if they don't they look like they'll do some serious damage to your edge connectors.
B-B-B-BUT MUH REAL CRT SCANLINES That aside, an issue I can perceive is that emulation mixed with real software could lead to issues like not being able to save correctly (though this seems to be addressed), and perhaps the inability to run homebrew or pirate carts due to not being "on the list" (but again, something that might be addressable* in updates). All in all, I guess the argument against the mixed emulation/real software hybrid method is reliability more than anything else. And perhaps pricing. (And yes reliability also becomes more of an issue with old authentic tech as time goes on, I get that. But at least there's an acceptable excuse for the declining reliability of older technology.) *wait holy shit that's actually a real word wow
But we already know NES, SNES, Genesis\MD, Master System, Gameboy and Gameboy advance emulation are all very compatible as is. Homebrew and Pirate carts will work fine with the Retron 5 provided they don't use things like bank switching, even if a cart isn't "on the list" in most cases it will still work it's just recognised as "unknown" instead of named correctly until whatever checksum or id they're using is added to the Retron's firmware. I know they've already added a firmware update that adds a lot of homebrew and pirate compatibility fixes, so that at least bodes well for the future. Flash carts don't work because of the way the system reads the cartridges and copies them across all at once, though I'm guessing it helps keep Nintendo and Sega off their backs so long as it won't read ROMs from it's internal memory as well. Given it's just an ARM SoC running android with a frontend, I doubt that'll be the case forever. I'm kind of surprised it hasn't been hacked already, I can't even find a photo of the internals nevermind any documentation, but that won't last once they go on general sale for a while. I know people like original hardware, and that's fine, but most people don't want to have to game on a CRT just to have something that looks right and has low latency. Provided the emulation is accurate enough, I'd rather be using cheaper, mass produced, modern chipsets than ageing, increasingly rare tech that risks dying every time it's powered up.
The reason the thinking of "it's just emulation" comes up is because it provides little to nothing new. The only thing new is the package it is rolled into. That's what they are selling really. It isn't terrible, and it's certainly destined to eventually be hacked to load ROMs from the SD card. You are right that this will appeal to certain people such as those that don't have a high quality CRT or upscaling device and only have a digital TV where the original consoles perform poorly. But you should bear in mind you are on a forum for people that are very hardcore about gaming. Lots of members here demand better than emulation when they play older games. But the general public for example doesn't care, they'll happily play things like Virtual Console. So that's why opinions here are low of the emulation console.
Pat did a good review of it. My conclusion is it's horrible at the moment, it deletes your saves from the cart as well. Very major joke at the moment, unless they update it. I wouldn't recommend it.
I was watching a review by gamestar81 (think that's his name) on YouTube and to be honest it's not for me. The filters are all horrid just like on emulators and the scan line feature is total ass. Not even close to what my real consoles look like through my Framemeister XRGB mini.
I watched Pat the NES Punk's review. It doesn't look like something I would buy at this point, since Hyperkin still has some serious kinks to work out. They should probably disable the load save onto the cart feature, since it doesn't seem to be needed if this is the only system its owners will use. Meanwhile get a Super Retro Trio + GBA Adapter. I'm really surprised it runs Master system games, when the Retron 5 doesn't like reading a cart off a cart. It must've bypassed the Power Base to read everything on the cart and card. If you really want an emulation machine for your tv, dust off that Wii!
Just watching reviews on the retron5 reminds me of playing emulators on the 360,it looks no different. Yea I have my Wii hooked up through component on my sony trinitron wega and use my club nintendo super famicom controller but I don't use it that much I as prefer actual hardware.
Vote 2 for the Wii. Cheaper, easier and oh, you can hook it up to an actual CRT without stupid adapters sold separately.
I have a Wii set up with Emulators on the Family TV in the living room. My son uses it most. As for an emulation machine just but a laptop with HDMI out and load that up with emulators. My Acer expire can run up to model 2 games and that only cost me about 20000 yen used. Plus I can use my Saturn USB pad and 360 pads on it.
I still use an original Xbox as emulator box. It does up to mid-late 90s 2d arcade stuff quite well. I might switch to a wii in the near future.
Well, the Wii doesn't handle Mark of the Wolves or Hyper Street Fighter 2 Anniversary and like huge size games, so it's handy to have that Xbox around, unless you also game on the PC or PS2.
