RetroN 5 $129.99 with free shipping @ ThinkGeek - The RetroN 5 deals thread

Drclaw411

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CURRENT DEALS:

$129.99 with free shipping at ThinkGeek


Important Information
​Warranty registration - http://www.retron5.com/warrantyregistration_/
Patch Notes / How to Update (Last update 6/10/2014) - http://retron5.in/?src=98f13708210194c475687be6106a3b84

I've included the text from the pre-order era of this OP in spoilers for reference.
UPDATE 5/27/14: It's real this time. Hyperkin's June 6 release date is happening. Many mom and pop stores that have received their units have started selling them already, and many people who have ordered from Amazon (myself included) are reporting getting emails from Amazon notifying them that their orders qualify for release day delivery and are updating estimated delivery status to June 6th, no longer showing the "we need more time" placeholder. It's worth noting that so far only people who have ordered the grey unit from Amazon are receiving order updates (which coincides with Hyperkin reporting on their facebook page that they had shipped Amazon's grey preorder units, but Amazon had yet to place an order for the black units). All consoles that have been shown off online by reviewers, people who have been able to buy them before the street date, or Hyperkin themselves have all been grey consoles to this point. No word on black consoles. Another note: Chris Gallizzi of Hyperkin responded to an inquiry about Newegg orders by saying that he is not aware of any issues with Newegg's preorders, and they should be good to go for the launch.

UPDATE 5/22/14: Just one day after IGN and Polygon reported that Hyperkin would begin shipping units to retailers on May 22 (today as of this writing), Hyperkin essentially confirmed that. They have announced that the launch date for the long overdue RetroN 5 is June 6th, 2014. In a much quieter fashion (just by responding to a random person's comment) they confirmed this would be for North America only and that the console would launch in the UK in September. There is also one more small hitch. The rumor that the first batch of units would be only for mom/pop B&M retailers and that NO units from this batch would go to Amazon or Newegg has been gaining some serious steam. While Hyperkin has been responding to a decent amount of comments on their facebook page from excited fans, they continue to ignore questions about when Amazon orders will ship. So it seems those of us who preordered on Amazon still don't have a solid release date. Fulfillment could happen any time between June 6th through September or beyond.

UPDATE 5/21/14: IGN today reported that the RetroN 5 would begin shipping out on May 22 (tomorrow, as of this writing)! This coincides with Chris Gazzilli, Hyperkin's project manager, posting a picture on his facebook page of a massive shipping container full of RetroN 5 units. Ladies and Gentlemen, it seems hell may have just frozen over.

UPDATE 5/13/14: Hyperkin has listed the RetroN 5, and it's controllers, on their company wholesale store for authorized retailers to buy. The console (both colors) and controllers (both colors) are listed as sold out. I'm not sure if they were in stock and sold out quickly, or if they haven't been made available yet. Regardless, it's good news that the system is listed for the first time ever. Additionally, reviewers such as GameSpot and several youtube reviewers have received their review units, which appear to be retail units. The RetroN 5 seems to finally be around the corner. We'll see, but things look promising right now. One thing to note: the listing for the console on Hyperkin's wholesale page indicates that each wholesale box contains six units. If this is the case, it would seem to debunk the previous report of the console being shipped in quantities of four per retailer.

UPDATE 4/25/14: While this hasn't technically been confirmed by Hyperkin, I take it as fact. It's worth remembering that NOTHING has been officially confirmed by Hyperkin. Hyperkin has remained silent until unofficially confirming almost all known info in random interviews with various youtubers and forum members. Therefor, again, I take this as fact:

I spoke to Hyperkin today.

Here are the "unofficial" details.

The "end of May" release is a "soft" release. Meaning they really are waiting for the next batch due in the summer for the official real release. Amazon is NOT getting any of the units released at the end of May. Each retailer is only getting 4 units. Retail on the unit is $139.99 and $39.99 for the additional controller. The reasons for the price increase are both cosmetic and technical but if it works as it should then it should be a great retro system.

Our 4 are already taken with pre-orders. If you know any stores locally that are getting units, and you want one for end of May, then i suggest you contact them and put money down. Keep in mind that each store is getting 4 units only for the soft launch.
UPDATE 4/17/14: Hyperkin has increased the price of the RetroN 5, saying "north of $100, between $129.99 and $149.99". Alll pre-orders from Amazon should be honored via their pre-order price guarantee. I believe Newegg has the same guarantee, I am not sure about Stone Age Gamer or 8 Bit Classics. Think Geek still hasn't opened pre-orders on the unit, instead offering a link to be signed up for email notifications as to when it will be available. Also on the Amazon front, they have sold out or pre-orders. Furthermore, it is more likely you'll learn the ETA from Amazon, Newegg, or whoever you ordered it from. Hyperkin has gone on record of saying they will never again announce a hard release date for anything.

UPDATE 4/12/14: After Hyperkin denied the console was delayed again and vigoruosuly shoved the month of April up everyone's ass for half a year, today they delayed the vaporware console yet again. At the Midwest Gaming Classic, they did their annual presentation. They ignored the planned April 2014 release, but finally somebody in the crowd asked about it. The Hyperkin rep said it was releasing in "30 days, guaranteed". This is not the first time they used the word "guaranteed", last time was about April so this doesn't mean jack shit. So maybe it'll randomly show up at people's houses at the end of may, maybe it wont, and maybe my ass will fly out of my ass.

Retron 5 Delay History:
-Summer 2013 (which they continued to say after summer was over, claiming they meant "Indian Summer" or "California Summer"....i'm not making this up)
-December 10 2013
-Quarter 1 2014
-Quarter 2 2014
-First two weeks of April
-April 2014, guaranteed
-Gauranteed within 30-40 days of April 12, 2014
-June 6 2014

DELAYED. ANY UPDATES FROM HYPERKIN WILL COME ON THEIR FACEBOOK PAGE: https://www.facebook.com/HyperkinGames

UPDATE: In a recent interview, Hyperkin confirmed that the initial batch of units WILL NOT BE ENOUGH to meet day ome demand. Also confirmed was the ability for the system to act as a multitap. Example: in a four player SNES game, two players could use snes controlles, one player could use the retron controller, and one player could use a genesis controller. Interview can be found here.


Pre-order at Amazon (SOLD OUT)
Pre-order at Newegg: Black (SOLD OUT) or Grey (SOLD OUT)
Pre-order at Stone Age Gamer (DUE TO HIGH DEMAND, RELEASE DAY DELIVERY NOT PROMISED)
Pre-order at 8 Bit Classics (DUE TO HIGH DEMAND, RELEASE DAY DELIVERY NOT PROMISED)





UPDATE: Hyperkin claims that they opened up some packaged retail units and discovered some units had faulty pins. because of this, the Retron 5 has been delayed. No new release date has been announced, although Hyperkin has stated the unit will release in 2014 and that they are aiming for Q1. This is the Retron 5's third delay.

EDIT: Preorders are sold out at Amazon and Newegg.

Retron5 pre-orders have finally (about damn time) opened.

For those of you who have been following this console, you know it's quite highly anticipated and looks to be far better than any clone system released before.

For those unfamiliar, here's a little info:

  • It's one system that plays games for the following systems: NES, SNES, Genesis, Mega Drive, Famicom, Super Famicom, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance.
  • Two controller ports for each console will be built in with the system. It will also come with one wireless universal controller.
  • Outputs in HDMI and upscales for HDTVs. Early impressions and videos of this have been extremley postive. From the website: "The RetroN 5 will up convert the video signal to show clearer and cleaner images, with vibrant colors on an HDTV with a resolution output of up to 720p through the use of shaders. You will also be able to select the aspect ratio in our GUI, from the standard 4:3 to the HD ratio of 16:9."
  • Features a user interface (dashboard. Somewhat similar of the PS3 interface in appearance, in my opinion).
  • Features save states. From the website: "Most games did not allow for you to freely save your games. The RetroN 5 will allow you to save their games at any point during gameplay, and will feature an autosave feature upon shutdown. You will be able to load your saves at anytime during gameplay."
  • Button reassignment supported. From the website: "Users will be able to program the controller to assign buttons to their preference. In turn, the RetroN 5 will save these custom layouts, so that users will not have to constantly reconfigure the button configuration. This feature will also be available to people wanting to remap their buttons on their original controllers."
  • 100% game cartridge compatibility, without lag.
  • Sega Power Base Converter compatible, allowing Sega Master System games to be played.
More information is here. It may be a bit dated since this was from back when they first announced the console, but I figured it was the best site to link since it also featured some screenshots as well. http://hyperkin.com/blog/2013/03/retron-5-details-revealed-from-the-midwest-gaming-classic/ There is also plenty of info on Hyperkin's facebook page.

I've been looking forward to this for a long time, and i'm extremley excited that pre-orders are finally open. For one console that not only plays all of these console's games, but upscales them and features save states (either to the cartridge (if supported) or the console itself)...this seems like a great deal. And if you've been following the hype for the console, there is a good chance it could end up selling out. Hyperkin isn't a huge company and this thing has a TON of pre-release demand (just check out the comments on the facebook page). I like the look of the black one a bit better, because it seems to be the traditional console color nowadays. But I opted for the grey model because the black console and controller seem like they'd be fingerprint magnets.

Preorder either color here at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Hyperkin-RetroN-Gaming-Not-Machine-Specific/dp/B00DZIX3CQ/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1378958043&sr=8-13&keywords=retron+5 or here at Newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=retron%205&N=-1&isNodeId=1&RandomID=65244712392254220130925161655

Here are pictures of the two consoles, since the pictures on Amazon aren't that great:

Grey:
Retron-5.jpg


Black:
e3_retron5_03550.jpg

 
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Of all the times, I'm expecting UPS to deliver between Noon-1pm, but got some damn pre-arranged event. Otherwise, it's no play weekend and gotta wait till Monday. #evade #operationBSexcuse

 
My wife just said a package came from ups but I'm at work. Can't wait to try it.

My wife took a pic after I told her to double check the item.
 
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Mine got to my work about an hour ago
Only game I've tried so far is castlevania 3 but so far it seems really nice.

What are the known issues so far? Would someone be so kind as to recap? I remember someone said something about the gameboy and genesis games?
 
Best buy has PNY 16gb and 32gb micro sd cards w/adapters on sale for the deal of the day for $13 and $20. These would be ok for loading up saves and cheats for the Retron, right?

 
Thats a box in a plastic bag.
Correction, a box in a plastic bag in a box.

Boxception.

Called a local store that currently carries Retron 3's among other Hyperkin stuff .. "we haven't gotten one of those in awhile, and when we do, they sell fast" .. uhh, what?

 
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I had a local disc reply have a grand opening today. They had 3 systems in stock so I figured why the hell not. I played with it a little bit and so far it's pretty awesome.
 
Pretty sure my unit is DoA.....it's not turning on at all no matter how long I hold the button and the HDMI source I have it on just keeps alternating from on to off, not sure if its the power cord or the unit itself but I'm not 100% sure what else I could try...should I contact Amazon/Hyperkin or both? I'll keep trying for a little bit but this isn't looking good.

 
Pretty sure my unit is DoA.....it's not turning on at all no matter how long I hold the button and the HDMI source I have it on just keeps alternating from on to off, not sure if its the power cord or the unit itself but I'm not 100% sure what else I could try...should I contact Amazon/Hyperkin or both? I'll keep trying for a little bit but this isn't looking good.
Probably Hyperkin support for now. At least they could troubleshoot with you before deciding it's dead. Amazon would just take the return and you'd likely be waiting a while for your replacement. (Unless they held some back for DOA's.)

 
Just got done playing some SNES and NES classics on the projector at my work. Does a great job on the upscaling judging from the handful of carts I brought to the office today. Only have a few initial complaints.

1) The Controller - Holy hell this is the jankiest microswitch POS I've ever put my hands on. Gets the job done and lets you be lazy by not swapping controllers, but just feels cheap as all hell. Thank goodness for the controller ports on either side. System had no problems recognizing and automatically assigning P2 to controllers plugged into the ports.

2) Emulator Commands Default Mapping - As mentioned before, commands like Fast Forward are automatically assigned to specific button combos. The cannot be turned off, only remapped. Really messed things up a few times when playing fighting games like TMNT Tournament Fighters (NES) and SF2:T (SNES). 

3) One of the six carts I brought wasn't recognized - Street Fighter 2 Turbo - but it still played the game just fine.

I'm sure most of the software related stuff will be fixed in future firmware updates. Preordered this for upscaling and ease of use on my HDTV, so it serve just fine for my purposes. Excited to get it home and dive deeper into its features tonight!

 
Probably Hyperkin support for now. At least they could troubleshoot with you before deciding it's dead. Amazon would just take the return and you'd likely be waiting a while for your replacement. (Unless they held some back for DOA's.)
Alright....I guess I'll just fill out a contact us form on their website I suppose as that appears to be the best way to contact them.

 
Just got done playing some SNES and NES classics on the projector at my work. Does a great job on the upscaling judging from the handful of carts I brought to the office today. Only have a few initial complaints.

1) The Controller - Holy hell this is the jankiest microswitch POS I've ever put my hands on. Gets the job done and lets you be lazy by not swapping controllers, but just feels cheap as all hell. Thank goodness for the controller ports on either side. System had no problems recognizing and automatically assigning P2 to controllers plugged into the ports.

2) Emulator Commands Default Mapping - As mentioned before, commands like Fast Forward are automatically assigned to specific button combos. The cannot be turned off, only remapped. Really messed things up a few times when playing fighting games like TMNT Tournament Fighters (NES) and SF2:T (SNES).

3) One of the six carts I brought wasn't recognized - Street Fighter 2 Turbo - but it still played the game just fine.

I'm sure most of the software related stuff will be fixed in future firmware updates. Preordered this for upscaling and ease of use on my HDTV, so it serve just fine for my purposes. Excited to get it home and dive deeper into its features tonight!
On number 2 you should update the console. The patch fixed the fast forward issue.

Edit: Guess I should put this here as well http://www.retron5.com/warrantyregistration_/

Edit 2: Patch notes and instructions here http://retron5.in/documents/retron5-update-instructions.html

this should probably be edited in the OP

Edit 3: Change log http://retron5.in/documents/ChangeLog.txt

Edit 4: What kind of SD card does it take? Can I get away with a 32GB micro SDHC card?

 
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Mine that I hot last week didn't recognize at least 90% of the games I tried and the Genesis slot didn't work at all. I got another one but I haven't been motivated to try it again. I need to do it tonight and hopefully it works.
 
Amazon just dropped off my (Grey) $80 pre-order, will get it set up this weekend and see what I think.   Been picking up games from my childhood for a few months now in anticipation, rather excited!

 
This should be a good starter set for anyone looking to build a retro collection:

http://www.gamegavel.com/item.cgi?show_item=958029

Actually, for the world's biggest video game collection, it's a bigger disappointment. No Super Metroid, Super Mario 2 or 3, or Link to the Past? But, hey, 3 Lizzie McGuire GBA games. FAIL.
 
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Mine (grey) arrived at my office today. I'll hook it up when I get home. Looking forward to updating the firmware and going back in time!

Quick question, if I may: What is the process for removing carts? Do I need to turn off the system, or just go to the main menu, 3DS style?
 
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Mine (grey) arrived at my office today. I'll hook it up when I get home. Looking forward to updating the firmware and going back in time! Quick question, if I may: What is the process for removing carts? Do I need to turn off the system, or just go to the main menu, 3DS style?
I've been going to the main menu. Seems to be working fine.

 
I emailed amazon about my 9/13 black order.. basically said still not sure when will receive but upgraded me to free 1 day shipping
 
This should be a good starter set for anyone looking to build a retro collection:

http://www.gamegavel.com/item.cgi?show_item=958029

Actually, for the world's biggest video game collection, it's a bigger disappointment. No Super Metroid, Super Mario 2 or 3, or Link to the Past? But, hey, 3 Lizzie McGuire GBA games. FAIL.
I just noticed that... All of the best games for each system have been taken out. No SNES RPGS, no good Neo Geo; it's basically all the very common games for each system. At a glance the only rare game I saw was Panzer Dragoon Saga. I'd rather have a collection of all good games than the worlds largest filled with 90% crap.

 
I'll post better impressions later, but after turning on the system I was able to pair the controller quickly and easily. Mega Man on my HDTV looks incredible.
 
Yea, I am blown away by how some of these games look on the Retron and I'm not using any filters either. SNES and GBA are really impressive in particular.
 
Tested mine out tonight and it runs everything I threw at it just fine. Holy crap is that controller bad. I mean, I wasn't expecting much in the first place but this is some hot garbage. The control pad will stick in any direction I push it in unless I manually move it back to the neutral position and it's way over sensitive. On top of that the face buttons feel bad to me, very tiny clicks. Doesn't feel like any console buttons that I'm used to.

 
Just wanted to update with my not working unit, Amazon does not currently have any units they held back for people who may have got broken ones, so now I just have to wait to see what Hyperkin says.

 
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