Retron 5 Coming Soon! GEN, MD, NES, FC, SNES, SFC, GB, GBC, GBA

anotherpoorgamer said:
This is one of the main reasons I kind of want this Retron 5. I have had all my old school systems in storage for more than a year now. I really don't want to mess with the systems not working properly. Another reason being able to play them on an HDTV.

It is a shame that you can't run games from the SD card slot, but that might cut into sales of Virtual Console games and other re-releases.
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Amazon sells a flash cart (no more can be said) for SNES. I'd check that out if you want to go that route. And from what I read it worked fine with the Retron 3, so I see no reason why it won't work with the Retron 5.

Be nice to be able to back up my 90 min. speed run of Super Metroid so it's not long gone when my cart battery finally dies one day.

movie_mike said:
How did everyone else do on the preorder. I snagged mine right when it was announced and before it even hit the message boards here. BUT... Amazon is still saying likely ship date won't happen till Jan 7th-10th :whistle2:s

I preordered one for me and another for my sister for Xmas. A little annoyed with that. Did anyone else have a better experience or is this normal. (I'm also a Prime member)
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That's what mine said as well.

Listening to a youtube video that RatedU4Ugly posted over in this thread http://www.cheapassgamer.com/topic/320004-retron-5-gets-a-release-date/

And I'd be shocked if they don't ship sooner, even Hyperkin is asking why the late ship date, as they say they'll have'em ready by then. So I wouldn't be too worried about that.

 
Had no idea this was in the making. I will have to get it for sure. And for only $99, that's a bargain if you ask me. I don't have all of my retro consoles anymore and this would be a nice device to take place of those missing. Of course nothing could really take their places, but it'll have to do. 

 
This is why I don't pre-order things.

While it sucks that the Retron 5 is coming later, my wallet can live with this delay. I've already spent way too much this holiday season. I need to slow down. Having the $100 Retron 5 coming out next year will give me a few months break.

 
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Wow, I didn't hear anything about this before today but it seems like an amazing product. I hope they get their manufacturing issues straightened out soon. 

Does it have any sort of network connectivity (ethernet, wifi)? Since it's rumored to be running Android, I was thinking it would be cool if they made it a well rounded mediabox for stuff like netflix, pandora, web, and casual gaming but I haven't seen any of those possible features mentioned yet.

 
SteamSanta said:
Wow, I didn't hear anything about this before today but it seems like an amazing product. I hope they get their manufacturing issues straightened out soon.

Does it have any sort of network connectivity (ethernet, wifi)? Since it's rumored to be running Android, I was thinking it would be cool if they made it a well rounded mediabox for stuff like netflix, pandora, web, and casual gaming but I haven't seen any of those possible features mentioned yet.
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It doesn't have an ethernet port or wifi. It's not a mediabox, it's a retro console clone using software emulation. :p

Although, it does have a USB port, so I guess it's possible that people might root it and give it network capabilities.

 
I just noticed that my Amazon pre-order has gone down to $76!  I've ordered two and each one went down to that price.  I know Amazon has a preorder price guarantee so hopefully they don't discontinue this "RetroN 5 package" and replace it with something else, thus canceling my order.  Was thinking of canceling and modding out my Wii, but I might continue to hang in there!  Anyone else get this price on their preorder?

 
movie_mike said:
I just noticed that my Amazon pre-order has gone down to $76! I've ordered two and each one went down to that price. I know Amazon has a preorder price guarantee so hopefully they don't discontinue this "RetroN 5 package" and replace it with something else, thus canceling my order. Was thinking of canceling and modding out my Wii, but I might continue to hang in there! Anyone else get this price on their preorder?
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Nope. $99 for me. I doubt I'll get it since it won't give me the cheaper price.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00DZIX394?cache=89fffd4cb8e09f53f8cd3ec64123e6fa&pi=SY200_QL40#ref=mp_s_a_1_1&qid=1391157201&sr=8-1&precache=1
 
Sideshow said:
Nope. $99 for me. I doubt I'll get it since it won't give me the cheaper price.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00DZIX394?cache=89fffd4cb8e09f53f8cd3ec64123e6fa&pi=SY200_QL40#ref=mp_s_a_1_1&qid=1391157201&sr=8-1&precache=1
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Bummer... I ordered the black one so maybe I lucked out that with that model dipping in price momentarily vs the grey version? I also ordered back on September 12th. Hopefully other CAGs got in on this price drop. Any word on how much a second controller will cost?

 
Sarang01 said:
Anyone know when the time will expire and we'll get PC Engine compatibility on one of these clones?
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The patent for the Turbo Grafx 16 has probably already expired. The reason why you don't see much in the way of clones for the system is because of the limited success it saw in Western markets. Then there's also the slightly bizarre Hu-Card format that served as the primary cartridge for the system.

Who knows? Perhaps whatever clone system comes out after the Retron 5 will have a Hu-Card slot on it.

 
Looks awesome, placed it on my wishlist.  My genesis, snes and nes got fried in a lightning storm when I was a kid almost 18 years ago, but not wanting to let go of my childhood, I still kept the cartridges.  Now I can relive my youth 8 and 16-bit at a time.

 
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There's a review out for a competitor called the "Super Retro Trio." That controller looks interesting, but in the end I would like to have a system that plays Famicom games. Why the hell are Famicom to NES adapter so hard to find outside of cannibalizing a NES cart?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pqNg0Psr9k

 
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Richard Kain said:
The patent for the Turbo Grafx 16 has probably already expired. The reason why you don't see much in the way of clones for the system is because of the limited success it saw in Western markets. Then there's also the slightly bizarre Hu-Card format that served as the primary cartridge for the system.

Who knows? Perhaps whatever clone system comes out after the Retron 5 will have a Hu-Card slot on it.
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Well that's the weird thing. A friend of mine said the PC Engine was going strong in Japan for so long, even up to and possibly past the SNES. So given that one of these things has to expire worldwide the hold up could be Japan.
Jeez I wish I bought a PC Engine the last time I went to Japan. They only cost like $20-30, maybe less.

 
Sarang01 said:
Well that's the weird thing. A friend of mine said the PC Engine was going strong in Japan for so long, even up to and possibly past the SNES. So given that one of these things has to expire worldwide the hold up could be Japan.
Jeez I wish I bought a PC Engine the last time I went to Japan. They only cost like $20-30, maybe less.
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International patents weren't nearly as comprehensive back when the Turbo Grafx was being sold. There may be some truth to what you're saying, but I think demand is the more likely culprit. The demand for a Turbo Grafx clone is never going to be very large, as the system didn't do very well in western markets and didn't have that big a selection of games.

But when the Japanese patent expires, there may very well be a sizable demand for a PC-Engine clone. As you pointed out, the PC-Engine was much more popular and successful in Japan than the Turbo Grafx was in the west. So a PC-Engine clone could do well in Japan. Maybe when the Japanese patent expires we will see Turbo clones show up.

 
I'd be interested in a PC Engine CD clone, considering it is THE console to play SHMUPs. But the cards are a pain to find, much less the system. And since they're smaller and not as durable as the cartridges, I imagine it would add to the infeasibility of releasing a clone system.

 
detectiveconan16 said:
But the cards are a pain to find, much less the system. And since they're smaller and not as durable as the cartridges, I imagine it would add to the infeasibility of releasing a clone system.
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If a company like Hyperkin made a PC Engine clone, it would be primarily meant for sale in Japan, not the US. A capable PC Engine clone could sell like hotcakes in Japan, but would have much more modest sales in the states.

I was actually able to pick up a few Hu-Cards on a recent game shopping run. I got Alien's Crush and Devil's Crush. But they were a bit pricier than most cartridge games tend to be. And some of the harder-to-find Hu-Card games are extremely expensive. It's just the rarity of a less successful system.

There's also the issue of the availability of the original system in Japan. As I understand it, the PC Engine is quite easy to find in second-hand shops in Japan, and is popular not only for its selection of games, but minuscule form factor. Any clone system for the PC Engine would have to provide a nice feature for modern Japanese gamers, perhaps capable HDMI output and upscaling?

 
A clone system simply to play one system yet has HDMI output seems to be a waste of resources it seems. I thought clone systems output analog because it's really cheap to do so, but when you want even fancier outputs like HD, scaling and scanlines, that would require something different, which is why the Retron is an Android based system. Besides, who's to say Hyperkin won't release some kind of Hucard/CD addon to their system?

 
detectiveconan16 said:
There's a review out for a competitor called the "Super Retro Trio." That controller looks interesting, but in the end I would like to have a system that plays Famicom games. Why the hell are Famicom to NES adapter so hard to find outside of cannibalizing a NES cart?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pqNg0Psr9k
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Yeah, I was thinking about this system. No HDMI, only S-video and composite. Also, unable to play GB/GBC/Famicom games.

Don't really care for Famicom games since I don't have any.

I never had a TurboGrafx-16 so a clone of that and other non-Nintendo/Sega systems would be nice.

Kind of surprised none of these clones play Sega Master System games without an adapter.

 
I hear ya, at least you can find a Power Base Converter, and the price is worth it considering it has the hardware. The Famicom to NES converters, those are scarce . You'd think they make more but the value in those pin coverters are in its scarcity.

 
detectiveconan16 said:
I hear ya, at least you can find a Power Base Converter, and the price is worth it considering it has the hardware. The Famicom to NES converters, those are scarce . You'd think they make more but the value in those pin coverters are in its scarcity.
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I've seen clones of the Power Base Converter. Kind of surprised that I haven't really seen recently any Famicom to NES converters.

 
Gamnasia's Article on the RetroN5

A new article on the RetroN5 from the recent SXSW event. (where Hyperkin was showing) Some tidbits and teases came out in this interview. Most notable for retro gaming fans is a little tease for this year's E3. Apparently Hyperkin is keenly aware that there is interest in the N64, and are planning on making some manner of N64-related announcement at E3. There's no telling what this may be. It could be that they have plans for an N64 clone system, that's the obvious conclusion. But it could just be a new version of the N64 controller. (which hyperkin is known for producing clones of) I for one would welcome a revised clone N64 controller, I always hated the original analog stick and clones for it have always had issues.

There is also an intriguing mention of a DOS-Box product that they are kicking around in development. The proposal is for an all-in-one keyboard that would have HDMI out built in and would play DOS games. (and possibly Commodore and other classic PC games) This appeals to me, as someone who has always loved classic PC gaming. I'm not sure how many other people might be interested, but sites like Good Old Games are making it much easier to acquire collections of classic DOS games.

 
It has a box! Maybe it will see a release as well?

1622332_658489147519518_474542589_o.jpg


 
Anyone have one of these? My broth-in-law has a RetroN 3 and loves it. Except for the controllers which came with it. He said those do not work well. I'm interested in seeing how well this works and how well the controller works. Could be a fun addition.

 
Vinny said:
Are these newer retro consoles better than they have been in the past? Some of that stuff sounds real nice but given how most of these are cheaply made in China, they always seem to have a lot of problems.

I have a Retro Dou but the shitty audio in NES games and compatibility issues with some very common games makes makes it kinda pointless. I'd much rather have a NES and SNES around so I don't have to deal with those issues.
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They have confirmed 100% compatibility

[youtube]http://youtu.be/nG79a0L9CUY[/youtube]

 
Looks like this thing is coming in at a little higher price point - around $129.99-$139.99.  They said it'll be shipping in the next 30 days so hopefully it drops soon.  For those of you that preorded at amazon and had your orders dropped to $76.xx - :D/ :applause: - let's hope the orders aren't canceled with a new "package" put in its place...

 
Curse my frugal ways!  I should have pre-ordered this thing and got it for less than $80.  $80 is a lot of money to me and HDMI would be barely worth it at that price.  I would consider a component output 480P version of this thing for like $60 tops.

There's no way I'm dropping a $140 for this when I still have my original NES/SNES/GEN/Gameboy Player. Unless it has built-in flash media that lets me run homebrew, let's you play N64, Turbo-Grafx, and GameGear cartridge games out of the box.

 
Looks like we have a release date of June 6th. Final price is $140 and another $40 for a second controller. Hopefully that's when Amazon will start shipping as well but I'm not holding my breath after all the delays. Fingers crossed though!
 
I decided to cancel mine a few weeks ago. Got tired of waiting, and I think I'd rather wait a while to see some reviews and get some other user feedback. 

 
movie_mike said:
For those of you that are interested, the grey system is currently in stock at Think Geek for $139.99.
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I was able to pick up one from ThinkGeek while they were in stock.

Overall my experience so far has been fairly positive. There was a few cartridge detection issues before I upgraded the firmware. Once I had brought it up to the latest release, though, cartridge detection worked great. I've tested all of the cartridge slots other than the Master System. My Power Base Converter is boxed up, so I have to dig it out for testing. I also still need to test the controller ports. I've adapted to the included controller quickly, so there's less urgency on the native controllers.

My biggest challenge is finding time.

 
Power base converter master system games work on mine. Although it is more difficult to seat into the console than a standard cart.
Put the MS game into the PBC first then insert the PBC into the R5 for best results.
The latest firmware update allows use of MS controllers now.
Overall I love the console, though it's flaws are plentiful.
 
The RetroN 5 v1.5 software update has been released. Changes include:

- Writing GBA EEPROM saves back to the cartridge is now supported
- Fixed corrupt text in GBA Phantasy Star Collection
- Added NES mappers 47, 159
- Fixed NES Action 52
- Fixed SNES Megaman X/Rockman X
- Fixed Genesis American Gladiators
- The MODE button on Genesis 6-button controllers is now supported
- START/SELECT may now be configured via the button mapping
- SMS controller support was causing problems with some units, so this feature has been disabled for now
- Miscellaneous other compatibility fixes


I was told this was the patch that would have a fix for some peoples NES controller slots not reading the controller.


Quote of the email Hyperkin sent me on the issue


Hello Sean,

Does the other NES port work? If only one does not work it is more likely a software issue. We have just been informed that the latest update that was released on Friday 6/27/2014 has a minor bug. We have received several complaints today about the controller issue with the 1.4 system update and looking to resolve this as soon as possible. Our product development team is currently working on version 1.5 software update that will eliminate this controller bug, and we'll announce that over facebook (www.facebook.com/hyperkingames) as soon as it's out. Thank you for taking the time to inform us of this issue, we deeply appreciate your support and patience during this time.
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[quote name="deathfromace" post="11927144" timestamp="1405459826"]The RetroN 5 v1.5 software update has been released. Changes include:
 
- Writing GBA EEPROM saves back to the cartridge is now supported
- Fixed corrupt text in GBA Phantasy Star Collection
- Added NES mappers 47, 159
- Fixed NES Action 52
- Fixed SNES Megaman X/Rockman X
- Fixed Genesis American Gladiators
- The MODE button on Genesis 6-button controllers is now supported
- START/SELECT may now be configured via the button mapping
- SMS controller support was causing problems with some units, so this feature has been disabled for now
- Miscellaneous other compatibility fixes
 
 
Glad you guys post when they put up patches. I never know when it happens. They don't put anything on twitter about it. Do they on there Facebook?
 
jcmeadows said:
[quote name="deathfromace" post="11927144" timestamp="1405459826"]The RetroN 5 v1.5 software update has been released. Changes include:

- Writing GBA EEPROM saves back to the cartridge is now supported
- Fixed corrupt text in GBA Phantasy Star Collection
- Added NES mappers 47, 159
- Fixed NES Action 52
- Fixed SNES Megaman X/Rockman X
- Fixed Genesis American Gladiators
- The MODE button on Genesis 6-button controllers is now supported
- START/SELECT may now be configured via the button mapping
- SMS controller support was causing problems with some units, so this feature has been disabled for now
- Miscellaneous other compatibility fixes


Glad you guys post when they put up patches. I never know when it happens. They don't put anything on twitter about it. Do they on there Facebook?
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Yes they post it on facebook the link is in my above post.

Sadly the 1.5 update did not fix my controller slot 1 for the NES so it's a hardware problem. I'm talking to Hyperkin about getting a replacement.

 
Anyone else have major issues with the newest update?

I tried playing Altered Beast, 6-pac, and Bonanza Bros but every time the console would go all crazy pausing the game and doing random button presses. I had the feeling maybe another Retron 5 controller was connecting to my console but it was happening so often after I would just push disconnect Retron 5 controller.

This only happened after the 1.5 update and I'm already in talks with Hyperkin about getting another one.

 
For those with the console, I have some questions.

Does anyone have a side by side comparison of the visuals on a HD monitor, no filters, vs. a CRT?

I could be wrong, but this dumps the rom and plays through an emulator correct? If that is the case, do certain games not get the ol' slow down from processing power hiccups like the original systems? Say like in a Shmup or something with a ton of action on screen. Star Fox, so on? I've been wondering this and haven't seen anything about it in videos.

 
elbarto1 said:
Yes it dumps the Rom then plays it via emulation.

I think slowdown is present in some games but I haven't encountered any personally.

No comparisons between HD monitors and CRT exist that I've seen since R5 can't output composite/component/av signals. Unless you mean compared to original hardware.

I did see this set of images comparing the R5s filters:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2014-hyperkin-retron5-review
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That comparison of the filters is fantastic (although I still can't tell which one I like the best)!

I have experienced some brief bouts of slowdown in Sonic 2. Also, my Super Famicom copy of Starfox really chugs for me.

 
deathfromace said:
Anyone else have major issues with the newest update?

I tried playing Altered Beast, 6-pac, and Bonanza Bros but every time the console would go all crazy pausing the game and doing random button presses. I had the feeling maybe another Retron 5 controller was connecting to my console but it was happening so often after I would just push disconnect Retron 5 controller.

This only happened after the 1.5 update and I'm already in talks with Hyperkin about getting another one.
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Doesn't the little factory reset button on the back clear the updates? I'm not sure but might be worth looking into to rollback to a more stable firmware rather than doing a exchange.

Might be impossible though due to having to connect to hyperkin servers for a specific file for updates. Dunno.
 
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