The Retron 5 has been announced, with a target release sometime in July and a promise of a sub-$100 price point. I do think I'll be picking one up if it works as advertised, because it does so much. Picture and features below:
(list borrowed from neoGAF)
-Supports NES, Famicon, SNES, Super Famicon, Genesis, Megadrive, GBA, GBC and GB games-Upscales to 720p with HDMI.
-New user interface which will allow you to select which system you want to play along with a plethora of options.
-Two controller ports for each system.
-Will allow you to use any controller for any system, for example using a Genesis controller to play an SNES game.
-Bluetooth wireless controller with directional D-pad, six buttons, two bumpers, two macro keys on the side, LED lights, and a home button.
-Option to render audio "at a higher output frequency" resulting in a smoother and cleaner audio output
-Button remapping supported for all controllers
-Save states supported
-Overclocking supported
-Price point to be less than $100 with a release most likely in July.
Finally, here's the announcement video that these details were culled from:
What, no Master System, Turbografx/PC Engine, nor Neo Geo support? FAIL! 
I'm tempted. Let's hope it works as advertised.
-Supports NES, Famicon, SNES, Super Famicon, Genesis, Megadrive, GBA, GBC and GB games
I know that they're technically different consoles anyway, but the way my brain works, I'm gaga over the "that many consoles AND regions?". Granted, I can't read any Japanese characters, so for me, there's limited appeal in actually scrounging up any particular Famicom or Super Famicom titles, but the length of that list still kinda blows my mind. I'm eager to find out how accurate the audio and video output will be - if the previous Retron boxes are any indication, this could be quite the device.
Also, that rendering makes this look like a place where some sort of Big Trak colony could live. Just saying.
For those that don't want to watch a 19m video, how are they dealing with availability of the games themselves? The games seem like they would be the lifeblood of something like this.
Hm? I'm not sure what "dealing with availability" is supposed to mean here. You find old cartridges where old cartridges are sold and this plays them, just like previous Retron consoles.
EDIT: Which I guess is to say, "They're around, and it hasn't seemed like cause for concern in the past." There's definitely a market for this - it's a great idea if you don't want to have a ton of vintage consoles around, don't care for the cost or potential jank of output mods, and so on.
Recently I started a project of boxing all my loose cartridges. Using universal game cases I got from Media Shelving and printing out covers from the Cover Project .
Only problem is they take up a lot more space but they look nice in those boxes.
I gotta say, that Retron 5 is looking mighty sexy...
Breander, you, sir, are a scholar and a gentleman. Nice collection.
What, no Intellivision?! PASS!
I'm going to cheat a little bit and mention a fairly recent game that features games that certainly look/play like they could have come out in the mid 1980's. If you have a DS, and love the NES era, get this game!
It has gaming magazines to read, fake game manuals to read, and a nice selection of everything from Galaga-style games to Dragon Warrior style-games.
I recently snagged a like-new used copy for $13.99 shipped from an Amazon seller, so it's still reasonably easy to find.
Only problem is they take up a lot more space but they look nice in those boxes.
I see Rampage! I loved that game.
Breander, you, sir, are a scholar and a gentleman. Nice collection.
Agreed, links bookmarked in anticipation of getting to my 'vintage' collection one day.
MilkmanDanimal wrote:Breander, you, sir, are a scholar and a gentleman. Nice collection.
Agreed, links bookmarked in anticipation of getting to my 'vintage' collection one day.
Thanks! If you ever do decide to do this I must warn you that it is not cheap. Cost me about 75ish for the case of 100 universal game cases and then there are the printer, ink and paper costs. I also had to buy a paper trimmer for about 15. The costs add up quick but luckily I was able to use my work printer, so that helped lessen the sting.
Here is a video on youtube that helped me get started.
Might see if I can grab one of those Retrons and do a special Retro Flashback episode on it. Does anyone know if it's just a cartridge player or will have other ways to purchase games for it?
Might see if I can grab one of those Retrons and do a special Retro Flashback episode on it. Does anyone know if it's just a cartridge player or will have other ways to purchase games for it?
Just Cartridges for all the Retron systems from what their descriptions say.
Here is a special cartridge for SNES that you can load ROM's on and play them in compatible SNES hardware. Might be something similar for other consoles as well.
Looks like Earthbound is finally going to be released on the Virtual Console for Wii U. I am hoping this drives the price of the original cartridges down so I can pick it up.
So I saw this on Steam yesterday;
http://store.steampowered.com/app/23...
It's a green lit indie project that looks great. I'll probably have a chance to play it this weekend and give you guys some feedback.
Looks like Earthbound is finally going to be released on the Virtual Console for Wii U. I am hoping this drives the price of the original cartridges down so I can pick it up.
It should, to some degree... though not by much, I would think.
Rykin wrote:Looks like Earthbound is finally going to be released on the Virtual Console for Wii U. I am hoping this drives the price of the original cartridges down so I can pick it up.
It should, to some degree... though not by much, I would think.
Chrono Trigger dropped from around $100 for just the cart to around $35 when it became available on other platforms (PSone I think). Hopefully the same thing will happen here.
Here is a special cartridge for SNES that you can load ROM's on and play them in compatible SNES hardware. Might be something similar for other consoles as well.
WANT.
Looks like Earthbound is finally going to be released on the Virtual Console for Wii U.
Apparently pigs just learned to fly.
brokenclavicle wrote:Rykin wrote:Looks like Earthbound is finally going to be released on the Virtual Console for Wii U. I am hoping this drives the price of the original cartridges down so I can pick it up.
It should, to some degree... though not by much, I would think.
Chrono Trigger dropped from around $100 for just the cart to around $35 when it became available on other platforms (PSone I think). Hopefully the same thing will happen here.
If you're interested, my brother in MWC has a copy for sale. I don't do much of the retro gaming stuff, so I don't know what's a fair price for something like this.
Here is a special cartridge for SNES that you can load ROM's on and play them in compatible SNES hardware. Might be something similar for other consoles as well.
Back in the day I had a professor sf2, which did this but with a huge other console that piggybacked onto the SNES, which could load ROMs via 3.5" floppy. It was also capable of dumping ROMs to disks (how they got on the interwebs in the first place). I was the cool kid in emulation circles. 8)
I also found an original 5.25" copy of SSI's Pool of Radiance at the Goodwill the other day with all the old manuals, translation wheel, etc. Yay for closet decorations!
Rykin wrote:Looks like Earthbound is finally going to be released on the Virtual Console for Wii U.
Apparently pigs just learned to fly.
Nah, Hell just got a bit of a cold front. When Mother 3 gets some form of official release, THAT is when pigs will fly.
My roommate spotted Evoland the other day. I might have to pick that one up.
For classic games, I came across this stack in the back of a closet a month or so ago. Most of these are for the Atari 800.
I still have my Starbird and the Intruder.
I also still have my Big Trak plus the Transport.
Oh yeah, and these things...
Hell yeah, let's invade the picture thread again with classic toys.
I guess I'm going to have to go into the boxes at my parent's house to see if I can find the old sega master system.
Oh, and Parallax Abstraction has a classic gaming (video) podcast.
Was that linked upthread?
I've been trying to find the link again, but can't remember where I ran across it.
That certainly belongs in here.
Question for any of the Colecovision fans out there: ever go to restart a game via * on the keypad and get a black screen with weird music instead of an immediate restart?
I was playing Frenzy over at my buddy's place on Sunday afternoon. After we both ran out of lives, he went to hit reset on the console, and I said, "Hey, you know, you can skip the load screen and difficulty select screen if you just hit *." I then hit * and the screen went black, and some strange music started playing. I hit * again and the game reset like normal. I tested it several times and it was the same thing each time. And it definitely sounded like a deliberately programmed tune rather than random tones. I tried repeating this behavior on the other cartridges available to me at the time, but didn't find any instances of it. However, our shared Colecovision library is only somewhere around 20 games, so this wasn't a particularly comprehensive test.
It's pretty trivial and has nothing to do with gameplay, but I'm curious if any other carts do anything like this, if anyone knows any story about why the music might be there, etc. Not expecting anything conclusive, but I figured it's worth asking around.
I recently rearranged everything and have moved a lot more of the loose carts to cases. I also printed new covers for some of the dreamcast and saturn games that didn't have the original cases and stuck them in dvd cases.
I have also moved to a new system of only plugging in the systems as I use them. I tried to have everything hooked up at all times but the cabling with switch boxes was just a nightmare. So now i'm going to put each systems cables in plastic bag with a label and just pull them out as needed.
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