Hyperkin Retron 5 Announced, Plays Cartridges of Nine Systems.

[Hadrian]

Today at MGC 2013, Hyperkin announced the next in the line of their consoles dedicated to playing older systems cartridges, the Retron 5.

The Retron 5 will allow players to put in the cartridges of NES, SNES, Genesis, Gameboy, Gameboy Colour and Gameboy Advanced. As well as those, you can also use the different regions of those consoles such as Famicom, Super Famicom & Mega Drive.

It does come with this horrible looking bluetooth controller but you can use your original controls for those systems as well with six controller ports available. Any controller can be used for any controller, so you can play Mega Drive/Genesis games with a GOOD controller if you want to. *trollface* You can also remap the buttons if you so wish. As well as that you can also sync up to four wireless controllers and use those if you like.

The controller that comes with it is a rechargeable Lithium ION battery and can be played within 15ft, has a "microswitch" direction pad, six face buttons & two shoulder buttons. There'll also be four LED lights to denote which player you are.

As well as that there is upscaling for both video (up to 720p through to HDMI) and audio. Apparently there will be no need to do anything to get the games looking like good unlike say plugging in your old NES. You can use save states at any point of the game if you are either someone with kids and you need to tend to them during playing or you're just a big pussy. Furthermore SNES carts with CIC or SuperFX will be fully playable.

They're aiming for a July 2013 release and they hope for it to cost less than $100. If it all works out well it does sound quite a nice alternative to owning those consoles or emulation.

See this announcement video for all the details:


http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/24/hyperkin-retron-5-plays-cartridges-of-nine-classic-consoles/

 

[the_randomizer]

Overkill much? Would the games look horribly unfiltered or will they look normal on an LCD?

Spoiler

Looks cool, though! Hopefully the emulation doesn't suck

 

[Arras]

I don't really get the target audience of this thing. You need the original cartridges to use it, so you need to have the old stuff. But in that case, you'd probably have the old console lying around as well, and I don't see anyone buying this to buy legit games for if you can just use emulators. It's a neat device though, and not bad for that price.

 

[Bladexdsl]

it's an emulator to emulate games using real carts NO THANKS

 

[retKHAAAN]

I don't really get the target audience of this thing. You need the original cartridges to use it, so you need to have the old stuff. But in that case, you'd probably have the old console lying around as well, and I don't see anyone buying this to buy legit games for if you can just use emulators. It's a neat device though, and not bad for that price.

unless they maybe have the games but their nearly 30 year old (jesus I'm old) hardware is no longer in working condition. I have quite a few local game stores in my area too that have large selections of cartridges at decent prices. I also have a 2 year who is getting interested in games. This looks right up my alley.

 

[Foxi4]

Most of the people around here won't appreciate the pure genius of this design, mainy because they've never seen an actual retro cartridge in their life and are just little whining ROM kids.

Seriously though, all the awesome aside, this is something that's good for travel. At home I'd prefere the original experience on original machines but when traveling, it's a cool thing to hook up, uh-huh.

 

[2ndApex]

Does it support Wii Remotes/Wii Peripherals with bluetooth?

 

[Foxi4]

Does it support Wii Remotes/Wii Peripherals with bluetooth?

...why would you want to do that, the Wii Remote sucks ass for retro gaming. Even from the render alone you can tell that the pad that comes with the unit is better and its stick is based on microswitches (Neo Geo Pocket, Arcade machines, really posh joysticks back in the day) so it's going to be brilliant by definition.

 

[PolloDiablo]

does it play 32X?
I'm sure it doesn't have filters support (hqx4)

looks cool for dinosaurs that still uses cartridges

 

[chyyran]

That looks much nicer than the Retron 3.

 

[the_randomizer]

How do save states work? Surely, you need to store the RAM state into something.

 

[2ndApex]

...why would you want to do that, the Wii Remote sucks ass for retro gaming. Even from the render alone you can tell that the pad that comes with the unit is better and its stick is based on microswitches (Neo Geo Pocket, Arcade machines, really posh joysticks back in the day) so it's going to be brilliant by definition.

Classic Controller Pro and TvC Fightstick.

 

[Foxi4]

Classic Controller Pro and TvC Fightstick.

Microswitches > Analog Stick for retro games which only understand 4 directions, 8 on some systems. Analog output is very, very vague.

 

[FAST6191]

This certainly caught my attention. Though I probably would still opt for emulation this is certainly an interesting idea and one I can get behind, especially if it adds nice filters, cheat support and other such things.

 

[Hadrian]

I don't really get the target audience of this thing. You need the original cartridges to use it, so you need to have the old stuff. But in that case, you'd probably have the old console lying around as well, and I don't see anyone buying this to buy legit games for if you can just use emulators. It's a neat device though, and not bad for that price.

Clearly their previous machines have done well enough to show that there is a market for this.

There are a lot of collectors out there who may not have room to have a NES, SNES or a Mega Drive all hooked up at once. Also emulators...you just don't get the same feeling with hardware and playing with an ACTUAL cartridge. It's something else and it's why a lot of us will pay for cartridges. Had I had the spare cash I would happily shell out for a proper copy of EVO: Search for Eden just because playing a ROM on a emulator doesn't quite feel the same.

I've never had one of these machines so I don't know if it's the exact same as playing on an official console but I'll admit at it's price it's very attractive to me with it's extra features (the fath alone of getting older machines to look good on HD TVs is a pain and this is suppose to solve that) plus the ability of playing import cartridges without an adaptor is nice too.

It's a neat way for beginners to get started too and there will always be beginners, my five year old daughter for a start would enjoy something like this and if it all works properly I'd buy her one for her birthday and she can happily borrow my carts without having to borrow my consoles.

Classic Controller Pro.

 

[PolloDiablo]

...why would you want to do that, the Wii Remote sucks ass for retro gaming. Even from the render alone you can tell that the pad that comes with the unit is better and its stick is based on microswitches (Neo Geo Pocket, Arcade machines, really posh joysticks back in the day) so it's going to be brilliant by definition.

because playing a NES game with a thumbstick is just retarded
also... some people found the clicking noises of microswitches thumbsticks kind of annoying

 

[Gahars]

The Hype-per-kin is out of control!

 

[Hadrian]

because playing a NES game with a thumbstick is just retarded
also... some people found the clicking noises of microswitches thumbsticks kind of annoying

Playing a NES game with a analogue stick, modern day d-pads or a Wiimote is more retarded than anything. You clearly haven't used a microswitch d-pad otherwise you wouldn't say such things and if you say you have you are a liar.

The NGPC one is so damn sweet it made me want Nintendo to implement it in their line of handhelds.

 

[Foxi4]

because playing a NES game with a thumbstick is just retarded
also... some people found the clicking noises of microswitches thumbsticks kind of annoying

...do you know why most retro systems used D-Pads rather than microswitch thumbsticks like the Neo Geo?
...because it was a shittier, inferior in every way and cheaper alternative!

Microswitches were reserved to the posh kids whose parents could afford the Neo Geo or the Neo Geo Pocket. They're especially good for fighting games where analog input is too vague and really hit-and-miss most of the time and D-Pad input is quite clunky (no wonder why so many fighting games were released on SNK systems - they were perfect for the job!).

 

[Eerpow]

Microswitches > Analog Stick for retro games which only understand 4 directions, 8 on some systems. Analog output is very, very vague.

Who in their right mind would use the analog stick for retro games?! He's asking about CC support because of the standard d-pad, something I admittedly also would prefer for many of these older games. Sure micro switches are great for fighters, but then again he also mentions the TVC fighting stick...