The RetroN 5 gaming console from Hyperkin. Want. This thing plays all your classic games on one console, with an HD upgrade and brilliant user interface for managing games, including cheats and save states for each game. One of these babies would mean I don’t have to have separate consoles with a mess of cables hooked up to play the old games I have/want, plus I can play them via HDMI on my big TV with a bunch of handy extra features.
The RetroN 5 comes with its own wireless bluetooth controller, however you also have the ability to use your old classic controllers if you wish. This is super cool!! There’s something about the feel of the specific console’s controller in your hand that’s part of the experience. I loved the old style flat NES and SNES controllers. They were not at all ergonomically designed, but gamers were more hardcore back then. Our hands could take a beating. I’ll probably use the wireless one most of the time, though. Again it’s just the convenience factor – plus it has its own little cradle on the console for storage, just behind the game slots. Super cute!!
I’m also stoked about the ability to create save states for games whenever you like – something old consoles couldn’t do, while some couldn’t save at all. You literally had to complete the game in one sitting… or start again. There are also a bunch of cheats already loaded… yes to cheats and Gamesharks. Cheat codes were so much fun in old school games, particularly for replay value. Sorry to anyone who disagrees. It destroyed my childhood during an experience with Pokémon Blue, however it made life in GTA: Vice City a thing of beauty.
Output is strictly via HDMI, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Plus its still the original, retro game without any attempt at remastering graphics… these can sometimes end up looking horrible. Some GBA versions of older console games were not so good. The audio has also been enhanced. It’s not 5.1 Dolby Digital, but it’ll sounder cleaner and more crisp than the original consoles.
Nothing particularly special about the RetroN 5 from an aesthetic perspective. It seems to get it’s inspiration from the older consoles and the original Genesis/Master System wasn’t exactly a work of art. This doesn’t bother me too much. This thing is just so cool and super convenient that it doesn’t need to look super schmick and modern. It comes in two colours – classic grey and black. I’d normally steer towards the black so it matches everything else in my living room, but the grey is so nostalgic… It is a console for my retro games after all. Still torn on this.
The RetroN 5 supports: NES, SNES, Famicom, Super Famicom, Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, Gameboy, Gameboy Colour and Gameboy Advance cartridges. It also boasts 100% region compatibility, so regardless of where you bought your game from in the world, this thing should play it. That’s pretty impressive. It will also make acquiring new games in the future far easier. Although regions never mattered when it came to Gameboys.
I’m so excited to play some old school RPGs on this thing… so so many. Also it has been a while since I’ve played a good Genesis game. I have things like Sonic the Hedgehog and Streets of Rage on my iPhone, but it’s not the same thing on a screen the size of my thumbnail.
It’s selling for about $160 in the US which is not too bad considering what all the consoles combined would cost you these days, especially cause retro stuff is totally hipster and cool now. Getting it in Australia, however, is not as straight forward. The internet is probably your best bet… somewhere that will ship to Australia… obviously.
Also anyone complaining about how pricey games are, I found original working Zelda: A Link To The Past SNES Cartridges for $30 on eBay. GBA version for $25. I mean… that’s not really expensive, is it? Compared to a brand new Xbox One game these days. Yes it doesn’t come with a box, but I definitely don’t have boxes for any of the games I kept from the 90s… so why get all high and mighty about what I buy off eBay in 2015? If you do want to do that, however, you could pick up Zelda for SNES + box and manual for about 65-150 bucks depending on condition.
Man… one more thing to add to my growing list of ‘Stuff I Want’…. better start actually selling stuff on eBay… I haz no moniez.
Check out the super cute little trailer from Hyperkin showcasing the RetroN 5 below:
http://youtu.be/aQ6s6ZB-vU4
– Geek and Gamer Girl
images via tomsguide.com and Hyperkin