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[mocoworm]

Very long review. Click link for all the info:

Hyperkin Retron 5 review - Five retro consoles in one - with pin-sharp HDMI support. Digital Foundry investigates.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2014-hyperkin-retron5-review

And here we come to perhaps the most important aspect of the Retron 5 - its ability to accurately play software from the past 30 years. Although emulation is clearly used, overall performance is faultless. All of the games we tested played exactly as they do on their original host hardware, right down to the various imperfections of the era - such as bouts of slowdown on SNES action titles and sprite flicker on NES games. Territory lock-outs aren't an issue here, as the console automatically switches to the appropriate region when the game is booted up. You can even toggle between regions if you so wish, as well as force a 50 or 60Hz setting.

Taking the emulation approach will surely have purists up in arms, but it offers several notable advantages. The most obvious is drastically improved image quality; whereas the best previous clone systems could muster was s-video or composite, the Retron 5 outputs a glorious 720p HD image via the bundled HDMI cable. Software is displayed at the original resolution of the host hardware before being upscaled by the Retron 5, and the results are fantastic - easily matching the visual clarity seen on the Wii U's Virtual Console.

The next big addition is the ability to apply filters to the image, such as emulator favourites Super Eagle and Scale2x. You can also turn on authentic CRT-style scanlines, something which will no doubt come as a massive bonus to those who want their retro games to look exactly like the screenshots which graced the pages of Mean Machines and Computer and Video Games back in the early 90s, when reviewers like our very own Richard Leadbetter had to physically take a photo of a paused screen in a darkened room in order to capture a static image.

Save states are another welcome luxury, allowing you to retain your progress even in games that lack battery back-up. In a neat touch, the Retron 5 automatically creates a save state the moment you remove the cartridge, and restores the game from that point the next time you load it up. The final plus point is the ability to fast forward the game you're playing by pressing the top-right button on the wireless pad - a curious feature to those not accustomed to emulation, but one which comes in handy more often than you might otherwise expect.

"There are some compatibility worries, though chip-enhanced titles like Super Mario Kart and Star Fox worked without issue."

VERDICT

Hyperkin has managed to create a clone system actually worth investing in even if your collection of vintage hardware is still in perfect working order, and has finally provided retro gamers with a way of enjoying their games on HD television sets without them looking soupy and ill-defined. Its reliance on original carts makes it more suited to existing collectors rather than absolute newcomers, but given how cheaply unboxed games can be purchased these days, we imagine that many retro gaming novices will have a lot of fun acquainting themselves with the past via this excellent - if slightly flawed - device.

 

[SolVanderlyn]

Looking good! The save file problem seems like a pretty big one, however.

 

[Bar81]

Did you not see the thread?

 

[mocoworm]

Did you not see the thread?

I have searched onsite and on NeoGafs Google index. I found no thread about DF's analysis and review.

Link please?

 

[ponpo]

With so many controller ports on offer, it should come as no great surprise to learn that the Retron 5 is capable of hosting multiple players in games which support such a feature. For example, Super Bomberman 3 on the SNES allows for up to five players in its Battle Mode, a feat that would have required the additional purchase of a multi-tap accessory on the original hardware. On the Retron 5, all you have to do is drop into the settings and assign each player to a particular controller port on the system.

Does this mean you can use whatever controller you want for whatever system? Neat.

 

[mocoworm]

It sounds awesome. Few bugs but software updates could help?

 

[JaseC]

I have searched onsite and on NeoGafs Google index. I found no thread about DF's analysis and review.

Link please?

I think he's referring to this tangentially related thread which was bumped about 14 hours ago and in which somebody posted a GameSpot review, but it's not a review thread so "new news, new thread" and all that.

 

[AniHawk]

so would a pal terranigma work on this thing?

 

[WarpathDC]

Too bad I got rid of most of my carts over. The years. What a gorgeous beast

 

[OmahaG8]

If this is true, this is awesome news. People were swaying back and forth on impressions of this unit. Very cool.

 

[feint_ruled]

Sounds cool, but it seems like the whole concept is a house built on sand. The actual unit is just an Android console, and it just does a temporary ROM dump of any cartridge you plug in which it then runs in an emulator. It's just a high-faluting dongle really, to prove you are running emulations of games you own.

(Of course I am ignoring the support of original controllers, and the fact that ROM dumping has utility in and of itself ;-)

 

[BriBri]

so would a pal terranigma work on this thing?

Jeremy Parrish (is it one r?!) said yes.

 

[Cmerrill]

Too bad it's over priced

 

[Vamphuntr]

Where is the cheapest place to buy one?

 

[Josh7289]

Unboxed game cartridges are cheap?

 

[Sixfortyfive]

This is pretty disappointing for a Digital Foundry review. Not even a rudimentary input lag test? That's like the one and only aspect I think it's even possible, if still unfeasible, for this thing to beat out original consoles with certain external upscalers.

It also doesn't cover some worthwhile topics brought up elsewhere, both positive and negative. Supposedly Sonic & Knuckles lock-on doesn't even work, rendering one of the most popular Genesis games neutered. Also, Master System FM sound is surprisingly supported even though it doesn't work on the Genesis.

 

[Astral/H3X]

Hrm. The saves thing bothers me. Other than that, this seems like a pretty good device, if they update compatibility.
Sucks that I can't hook it up to a CRT though, I'd have loved that.

 

[Buzzman]

I was interested but it seems like the only european retailer has it for £120.
No thank you.

 

[Dash Kappei]

Lol this was an "in-depth" analysis? Totally amateurish and I mean that well knowing that retro gaming amateurs would provide a much better and more comprehensive rundown on every feature available.

 

[dancrane212]

That save issue sounds horrifying, I'll be sure to avoid plugging in the couple games I want to keep the save on until I hear more.

Just got an email a couple hours saying my Amazon.com order is on it's way up to Canada. Looking forward to finally getting my hands on it.

 

[Tain]

Yeah, I was pretty ticked that this review doesn't even talk about lag or frame timing.

It's practically the single most important thing about this box. Everybody knows everything else; these platforms have been decently emulated for years.

 

[IMACOMPUTA]

Is it out? Who's selling?

 

[Savitar]

You can find them on amazon. I'm sure various gaming shops will have them as well.

From reviews of the machine it seems like there is a ton of potential but some things still need to be worked out.

Going to wait and see if they do a second version of this or not.

 

[Fox Mulder]

Unboxed game cartridges are cheap?

I lol'd at that.

there's cheap games, but lots of notable games people would want to play aren't.

 

[jvm]

Did they test Elite (PAL NES)? One of the games I own in original cart form, despite being in the US, and would like to play.

 

[xemumanic]

...... Master System FM sound is surprisingly supported even though it doesn't work on the Genesis.

Not so much, since this is emulation at its core. That's also why F-16 Falcon works as well, since that also couldn't run on the Genesis (no Mode 4 support I believe).

 

[7DollarHagane]

Those scan lines are NOT accurate or good. Not even in the same universe as some of the free shaders on retroarch.

I'm sure this thing is fine but so is a cheap htpc running emulators and doing a lot morw .

 

[Man God]

Those scan lines are NOT accurate or good. Not even in the same universe as some of the free shaders on retroarch.

I'm sure this thing is fine but so is a cheap htpc running emulators and doing a lot morw .

emulators don't play off real carts...well, not usually. I'm sure you could.

 

[AwShucks]

Those scan lines are NOT accurate or good. Not even in the same universe as some of the free shaders on retroarch.

I'm sure this thing is fine but so is a cheap htpc running emulators and doing a lot morw .

Which I can't easily play on my TV.

Anyways, I tested all my nes games. About 20 in all. Only three didn't work and I think those are due to the carts. Super Mario Bros 2, wizards & warriors 1 and 3.

 

[Sixfortyfive]

emulators don't play off real carts...well, not usually. I'm sure you could.

The Retron is also an emulator.

 

[oneils]

is anyone else having problems reading the eurogamer page in chrome? The ads seem to be creating an issue.

 

[Man God]

The Retron is also an emulator.

PC/android/console emulators don't play real carts...most of the time is all I'm saying. I know this is an emulator but there is some value to having all these cart slots.

 

[Xav]

I will buy one of these Retron systems the day they add N64 support and let me play Jet Force Gemini.

 

[Emperor Bohe]

PC/android/console emulators don't play real carts...most of the time is all I'm saying. I know this is an emulator but there is some value to having all these cart slots.

the retrode plays some carts at least

 

[Seik]

Will buy when I'll find it at a less shocking price tag.

The thing was supposed to be 100$ for starters. :/

 

[Anony]

All of the games we tested played exactly as they do on their original host hardware, right down to the various imperfections of the era - such as bouts of slowdown on SNES action titles and sprite flicker on NES games.

i have no clue what they used to test this, but..
i call bullshit right here, there's no way to 'know' this unless the emulator was programmed to do this

 

[Seik]

PC/android/console emulators don't play real carts...most of the time is all I'm saying. I know this is an emulator but there is some value to having all these cart slots.

the retrode plays some carts at least

Well, PC/android emulators actually plays the carts.

The Retrode extracts (doesn't literally plays carts, it just reads them) the same file found in the cartridge (.sfc) and then the emulator plays it afterwards. Same thing Retron 5 is doing except it actually does both.

It would be cool to be able to extract files with the Retron 5, because the Retrode cannot extract the ROM files from Super Mario RPG and Kirby Super Star. Both can't be properly detected by the Retrode because of the SA-1 chip.

 

[baphomet]

i have no clue what they used to test this, but..
i call bullshit right here, there's no way to 'know' this unless the emulator was programmed to do this

That's easy to know of you're familiar with the actual hardware.

 

[Fox Mulder]

Will buy when I'll find it at a less shocking price tag.

The thing was supposed to be 100$ for starters. :/

why I'm not buying yet.

The retron 3 was fine for what it was, but was also like $50 when I bought it. I've got a pvm to play my stuff on anyways, but I would have bought one for the hdmi convenience at $99.

 

[Woo-Fu]

You have to give them kudos for making the frankenstein console look like a frankenstein console. I almost want one just to mystify anybody who shows up in my living room.

 

[jett]

Oh wow what in the fuck were they thinking with that controller.

edit: Oh it's an emulation machine, that's decidedly less exciting. Still an interesting thing to read about.

 

[Zabka]

Has there been any word on them upping the output resolution to 1080p down the line? My TV and projector both have low input lag with 1080p sources but anything below introduces a noticeable amount.

 

[OneEyeTwoHead]

Man, I have no idea when I'm going to get my hands on one. It's sold out...EVERYWHERE.

 

[Darkangel]

I don't see the point of this, you're just paying for android emulators. Why not just buy an Ouya or something?

If this was an actual all in one hardware clone then it might have been interesting. I guess there's the original controller support...

 

[MoosiferX]

We carry these at my store! I'm really happy with the one that I took home. I turned off the automatic save state feature though, as it had automatically overwritten a save on one of my GameBoy cartridges. Other than that, it's been working great. We sold out of our first wave in about 3 hours.

I don't necessarily understand the price complaints, as we sell a lot of the original systems at my shop for 40-60 bucks complete and have a hard time keeping them in stock. If you were to buy each system that this plays it would be something like $200-$300.

I could see how if you pre-ordered it for $99, you would be disappointed. But I feel like it's still a pretty good value.

 

[RobbieNick]

I got one yesterday for the very fair price of $165. no Tax. (It's $140 retail) Here are my thoughts.

PROS

ALL IN ONE - You can play NES/Famicom, Genesis/Mega Drive, SNES/Super Famicom. Game Boy/Game Boy Color/GBA and even the Master System with the Power Base Converter. This frees up a lot of shelf space for me!

SAVE STATES - This is the best thing about the system. It's like virtual console in which you can save your game at any time and come back to it. It's a huge help against those really tough areas in certain games. I'm already farther on Super Star Wars than I've ever been.You can even take your game save and put them on an SD card. Just remember to load any game save back onto your cartridge if you are gonna use it on another system.

HDMI - You're playing your classic games with a nice, sharp picture on an HD screen.

SCREENSHOTS - Take your own screenshots, put them on an SD card and use them for retro reviews and such.

FILTERS - This has the first scan line filter I've ever been happy with. You can also smooth out the images if you hate your games looking too pixelated.

USE THE ORIGINAL CONTROLLERS - Two slots for each controller. Six extra slot altogether for Genesis, NES and SNES. Not only that....

BUTTON MAPPING - You can use a Genesis controller for a SNES game and vice versa! Program any buttons in any way you want. The Ratron 5 controller has extra buttons on the side. I put save staye on the left and load state on the right.

CONS

LOADING/EMULATION - This is not the original hardware, so when you put in a cartridge it rips the ROM and save files onto the hardware. It can take up to a minute before you can play your game.

ONLY ONE CARTRIDGE IN AT A TIME - You can't just plug in multiple cartridges and select them through a menu. I don't know why this is since the OS seems to have a selection menu on it. Hopefully this will be fixed in a later update.

THE CONTROLLER KINDA SUCKS - It works good wirelessly and the exta button for mapping are helpful, HOWEVER It's not ergonomic (how it feels in the hands) at all and they went with an 8 direction joystick instead of a D-Pad which should have been the obvious choice.

THE TEETH GRIP TOO TIGHT - "Okay, gimmie back my Genesis cartridge. GGGRRR!! HHHHMPPH! I said give it back!!"

WHY NO HOLDING OF ROMS? - It's coming from my own cartridge and not the internet, why can't I just have it on the system? The hard drive is 1.5 gigs and that can't be all save states.

Minor nitpicks are that you have to hold the power button for about 5 seconds to turn it on (I thought mine was broken for awhile). Also, Super Game Boy doesn't work. I guess emulation on top of emulation is a bit too much.

Overall 7.5/10 Having all these systems on one consoles saves a lot of space and Saves States are a game changer as I can now defeat the much harder games. Only one cartridge in at a time and the poorly handled controller are a bit of a bummer though. In the end, I think it's worth it.

 

[Rich!]

Minor nitpicks are that you have to hold the power button for about 5 seconds to turn it on (I thought mine was broken for awhile). Also, Super Game Boy doesn't work. I guess emulation on top of emulation is a bit too much.

Super Game Boy isn't emulation. It's literally a Game Boy inside a cart, without a screen and an extra ROM for the SNES side of things.

Hell, you can even do the Pro Sound mod for it (got two phono sockets on mine), which gets audio directly from the Game Boy PCB in the cart.

It won't work on the retron because you're only dumping the ROM - not the gameboy part of it that the SGB essentially is as that is hardware. It will never work on the retron for this reason.

 

[Sixfortyfive]

^ That's probably why Sonic & Knuckles lock-on doesn't work either. The Retron might not have any way to access S&K's cartridge mapper.

 

[Rich!]

^ That's probably why Sonic & Knuckles lock-on doesn't work either. The Retron might not have any way to access S&K's cartridge mapper.

Yeah. It'll be dumping the base Rom, not anything else.

It's just an emulation box. Seriously, Retroarch is a far superior choice, and that's free. Hook it up with a Retrode for real cart support, and you have better emulation, better filters, a better experience all round.

I don't really care about it anyhow, as I have all my consoles hooked up via RGB, but I just hope people keep their expectations realistic.

 

[OneEyeTwoHead]

I got one yesterday for the very fair price of $165. no Tax. (It's $140 retail) Here are my thoughts.

PROS

ALL IN ONE - You can play NES/Famicom, Genesis/Mega Drive, SNES/Super Famicom. Game Boy/Game Boy Color/GBA and even the Master System with the Power Base Converter. This frees up a lot of shelf space for me!

SAVE STATES - This is the best thing about the system. It's like virtual console in which you can save your game at any time and come back to it. It's a huge help against those really tough areas in certain games. I'm already farther on Super Star Wars than I've ever been.You can even take your game save and put them on an SD card. Just remember to load any game save back onto your cartridge if you are gonna use it on another system.

HDMI - You're playing your classic games with a nice, sharp picture on an HD screen.

SCREENSHOTS - Take your own screenshots, put them on an SD card and use them for retro reviews and such.

FILTERS - This has the first scan line filter I've ever been happy with. You can also smooth out the images if you hate your games looking too pixelated.

USE THE ORIGINAL CONTROLLERS - Two slots for each controller. Six extra slot altogether for Genesis, NES and SNES. Not only that....

BUTTON MAPPING - You can use a Genesis controller for a SNES game and vice versa! Program any buttons in any way you want. The Ratron 5 controller has extra buttons on the side. I put save staye on the left and load state on the right.

CONS

LOADING/EMULATION - This is not the original hardware, so when you put in a cartridge it rips the ROM and save files onto the hardware. It can take up to a minute before you can play your game.

ONLY ONE CARTRIDGE IN AT A TIME - You can't just plug in multiple cartridges and select them through a menu. I don't know why this is since the OS seems to have a selection menu on it. Hopefully this will be fixed in a later update.

THE CONTROLLER KINDA SUCKS - It works good wirelessly and the exta button for mapping are helpful, HOWEVER It's not ergonomic (how it feels in the hands) at all and they went with an 8 direction joystick instead of a D-Pad which should have been the obvious choice.

THE TEETH GRIP TOO TIGHT - "Okay, gimmie back my Genesis cartridge. GGGRRR!! HHHHMPPH! I said give it back!!"

WHY NO HOLDING OF ROMS? - It's coming from my own cartridge and not the internet, why can't I just have it on the system? The hard drive is 1.5 gigs and that can't be all save states.

Minor nitpicks are that you have to hold the power button for about 5 seconds to turn it on (I thought mine was broken for awhile). Also, Super Game Boy doesn't work. I guess emulation on top of emulation is a bit too much.

Overall 7.5/10 Having all these systems on one consoles saves a lot of space and Saves States are a game changer as I can now defeat the much harder games. Only one cartridge in at a time and the poorly handled controller are a bit of a bummer though. In the end, I think it's worth it.

I think the chances of someone creating new firmware for this system that lets you save the ROMS and use downloaded ROMS is extremely high.