Are you going to purchase a Retron 5?

The recent coverage on the Retron 5 got me to look it up out of curiosity. While it does have some nice features it just doesn't fill that niche that I'm looking at when it comes to retro collecting. I still have all my old Nintendo systems and they still work fine.

Part of the collecting isn't just having something to play the games on. Having the original hardware with all their eccentricities and faults is part of the fun of owning them. There's also the obvious nostalgia factor. I even keep around my old CRT just so I can recreate the old feel that much more accurately. If I just wanted a reliable way to access the old catalog of games I would just use some sort of emulation instead.

From what I've seen from the livestream it seems like the Retron still has its own issues that it needs to work out. While I'm sure with time it will get better support, it still fills this odd space in-between analog and digital that I'm not particularly interested in when it comes to retro collecting.

Maybe if it were cheaper. I've never played games from the nes/snes eras and I'd love to finally sink my teeth into them, but 140 bucks is a little steep for my taste.

Question: does it have support for the ps4 controller? I know it has Bluetooth, so theoretically it could work if they added support.

Unfortunately I can't, the only way is to ebay it but the shipping and import costs are insane.

I already own one and I pre-ordered on Amazon when it was listed at $100 and only paid that. /raiseroof

I actually own all my old video game consoles (along with games) but dragging them out individually to hook them up to a HDTV is a pain. I can't even hook up most of them as I only have the RF Adapter for them. So being able to hook something up via HDMI is pretty great.

I didn't have the issue Jeff seemed to be having getting it to recognize carts. I definitely had to re-seat games on occasion but it has been pretty good. I think something could be wrong with his console. His other complaints however I find to be totally valid:

- The controller that comes with it is garbage.

- Pulling cartridges out takes way too much effort, feels like you might crack the cartridge in half trying to rip it out.

- You have to hold the power button like 5 seconds before it will turn on. When I first got my system I thought it was defective for about 20 minutes before I figured this out.

- Would be nice if I could connect on the internet to update system instead of using SD card.

I just wish I could play Atari 2600 games on it but besides that I'm pretty happy with it. Being able to plug a SNES controller in and play a Genesis game (and vice versa) I think is pretty awesome. All the save state stuff is awesome. Being able to mess with options on the fly is great. It is definitely a cool product that would benefit from some minor iterations but the past few weeks I have been playing Shining Force and that is great.

It's cheaper and easier to just make a small computer with a collection of emulators on it, especially for someone like me who does not have their old carts anymore. One of the biggest pluses with that is you can use a PS4 controller which is better than any of the ones the Retron is compatible with and you can emulate even more consoles (you can easily get a $100 computer that can emulate up to the PSX perfectly in the home console department and up to the PSP in handhelds).

I find the retron 5 to be absolutely intriguing. The only draw back would be the money I would spend on re aquiring the mega drive and NES games I didn't have the foresight to hang on to. My retro collection mostly consists of PS1/PS2 discs and GBC carts. Perhaps I'll get one when the Retron 7 acquires a disc drive?

I really want to play my old Genesis carts on something (for some reason the actual Genesis has gone missing at my folks') but I'm undecided since there are far more economical alternatives to buying the Retron 5 available.

After the two live streams with their many issues, I'm not so sure about the Retron 5 anymore, sounds like the Retron 3 may be better (unless you want to play games with additional chips and stuff), since they use console-on-a-chip rather than software emulation. Even after Drew managed to fix the sound issues during the stream, the sound seemed off.

Maybe I should just go Jeff's route and get one of those USB cart adapters so I can play my real carts using good PC emulators instead.

I wonder if the Retron 5 was even built with what Giant Bomb does in mind. Meaning if you're just using this to play some carts you have every once in awhile it might be totally fine. But when you ask it to read countless numbers of carts, all different formats, in short periods of time you'll see the results that Jeff was getting frustrated with on the stream.

Nah. I think I would rather have the one that had the actual hardware built into it. Wasn't that 3?

I approve.

I don't have a collection, otherwise I would definitely get one.

Nope. From the sound of things it still has a lot of kinks that need to be worked out. Raising the price by $40 was also pretty off-putting.

I'll just stick to playing backups on emulators, thanks.

No. While I'm sure the HDMI out is nice, there is still too much wrong with it, not to mention price is too high. Maybe when they get to the Retron 6 or 7 they'll get it right.

I preordered immediately when it was announced, and because of Amazon being awesome, I got it for only $70. I think its worth that much, 140 or whatever is way too much.

If Jeff was one of those people from the home shopping network and last week's Freedom stream was a live demo of the Retron 5 I would have to decline from purchasing one now. Seems to be too many bugs on that system for me to want and delve some money for one. Also did anybody else see how fuckin hard Jeff was pulling his snes cartridges from that thing?

Given it being sort of wonky and bad during that livestream, I don't think I'd get one even if the price were a little more to my liking.

I'd rather just buy the old consoles. That thing looks shaky as shit.

It's an interesting idea but for $100 more I could just buy a Wii U which I've become more into in getting by the day with what Nintendo is doing lately.

Here's the deal: I live in Finland. If I want to buy one of those consoles individually, it's between 70-150 dollars. I will much rather just get the RetroN5 and buy games and controllers off US Ebay to use it with than get those consoles out here, especially as very few sellers are willing to ship a console overseas.

Seeing it in action made me realize that it was neater than I had given it credit for. Since I still own and play the systems it covers, I really don't tend to pay attention to these sorts of devices, but the stream sort of caught my interest. Even if it's just software emulation, it goes far enough that I could at least get the feel of playing old games with it, and the auto saving and time skipping features would really come in handy. In the end though, the stream did just as much to discourage me from a purchase. The apparent touchiness of the hardware, and the fact that you can only have one game plugged in at a time removes some of the convenience. If the inevitable Retron 6 fixes the problems of its predecessor while including a region switchable Hucard slot, well, that would be something else entirely.

I'm all for emulation, I've just already played every old game I've ever wanted to when I was younger. Don't have too much interest in revisiting that now.

I think a Retron 3 will work fine for most of you guys, the 5 can play Famicom and GBA and is newer. If you're planning on playing GBA or Famicom games, or you're just the kind of person who has to get the new thing, then get the 5. But you'll save probably 70 bucks on the Retron 3.

I will back up what other people say in that a) the controller is shit, and b) you have to slam carts in there sometimes. There's also a limited number of carts that will not work.

I don't really see a reason to pick up the retron 5 right now although I still own all of the consoles it can play. Plus other than the Genesis they are all still hooked up too. It could certainly be a valid purchase if a few of my consoles fail and if it's cheaper to buy one instead of getting replacement consoles.

Most likely not. I don't have any old cartridges lying around and I don'r plan on getting any any time soon either. If it played Saturn, Dreamcast, and PS1 games though, then it'd be a completely different story. I would pick one up in a heartbeat.

I wanna wait and see what modders do with it before I decide. I'd like to at least see the ability to dump your games to the system without needing the cartridge in to play it. I understand they had to cover themselves when it comes to piracy but, I don't want to deal with trying to find a spot near my TV for all my old NES games. Also that thing looked like it took up a massive amount of vertical space when Jeff put in an NES cart.

This seemed like a really cool idea, but the deal breaker for me is the Genesis sound emulation. If they can fix the off-sounding music in Genesis games, I'll probably pick one up. It looks great through HDMI, definitly clearer than I can get my old school systems looking on an HDTV.

Naw can't justify the cost vs other potential uses of that money.

Seems alright though, I like what it does with HDMI

No, I will not be buying a Retron 5. But, after watching through the Freedom Stream, what will I be buying? Dan Ryckert. All day every day. Great addition to the site.

I suppose I have some old NES carts from back in the day, like 25 or so, but that's literally the only thing I could use it for.

Move still got the consoles and games of my childhood, and don't intend to get rid of them, so a machine like the retron doesn't do anything for me. Even if I didn't still have the consoles and controllers, it just ain't the same.

As impressed with the Retron 5 as I was, I already have a Retron 3. That does the job just fine for what I use it for.

was really excited when it was first annouced but after everything ive heard when it comes to issues and the fact its a android emaulator that just dumps the roms im not interested. I see the appeal but im an old school purist so it doesnt do much for me.

I'm the same way. It looked cool (with the GBA covered), but the GB streams have shown me I ought to wait until the Retron has more time to cook.

If it was cheaper I'd consider it. There is something really nice about just using the old consoles though. Maybe at some point in the future, it'd be nice to buy more cartridges.

too much money not enough fun-ey

When the Retron can play N64 games as well, that's when I'll get one.

Aside from the novelty of playing physical games you own, a Raspberry Pi set up with something like RetroPie is such a distinctly better value proposition that I kind of have no idea why the Retron even exists. It's a similar experience for something like 20% of the price and some setup time.

I think Jeff's Retron is busted. I don't own one myself so I can't know for sure, but I refuse to believe that it is that busted in general. I believe Jeff said he bought it used, from Peter from gamespot even or something like that, so I honestly just think he got a bum deal. Not that he sold him a busted Retron intentionally, but it just happened to be broken or it got broken not too long after the purchase.

Jeff should probably just have bought a new one to start with if he really wanted one.

@murdouken: The setup time is why it exists. Raspberry Pi usually involves technical knowhow :)

I have a retron 2 but the upconversion to HD is huge for me. I'm definitely getting one. I can't wait for the next one that has Nintendo 64 on it.

I can't get into retro gaming...
Even for nostalgia sake, I just can't do it.
Feel like I played all those and games and games have just gotten better, more complicated and nicer to look at.
I feel no need to go back.

No space for all the carts these days.

After all of the stuff I've seen with the issues it's been having, I'd rather just use the money to buy a regular SNES for my games.

I looked it up out of curiosity when Alex and Vinny bought one, but too much was offputting for me to buy one: the price, the fact that I still have all of those old systems hooked up to various TVs around my house, the fact that it seems to have both minor and fairly significant issues. It's one of those things I've always thought would be neat to own, but in reality it'll always be better if you have the original hardware, which I do.

If they fix the weird problems like what we saw on the Freedom Stream, then yeah. I would probably just use it for NES and SNES carts though. My choices are to either buy a NES and SNES, or just by a Retron 5. Price wise it would be about the same, if not a little cheaper just going with the Retron. I guess the big question here is "does it work?"

Consider this position applied to film, or recorded music.

Was planning on it when it was first announced. It sounded like the greatest thing in the world. Then it got delayed, and then delayed again, and then the price increased. Now there are multiple reports of it just being garbage. If they can fix the issues with firmware I might consider it, but I'm not gonna hold my breath.

Yeah I think I will ask for it for Christmas. Like Patrick does, I could get it myself but I probably wouldn't buy it so I'll ask my wife for it.

Yes, but after a price drop. I only want it to play my Nintendo games on. All my other old consoles fire up 99% of the time, the NES refuses to play more than half my games.