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RetroN 5 retro console delayed to December 10
Hyperkin, maker of the five-in-one retro machine, has announced that the RetroN 5 will launch on December 10 for $99.99 in the US and €89.99 in Europe. According to the company, Amazon's listing of an October 31 release date earlier this month was a placeholder. Regardless, the December release date marks a significant delay from the system's planned summer launch. Hyperkin chalks it up to "several key modifications made to the console shown at E3." The console is now better ventilated, and it will also allow the use of the Sega Power Base Converter, a peripheral originally designed to let the Sega Genesis play Sega Master System games. Lest you've forgotten the RetroN 5's other bells and whistles, it plays NES, SNES, Genesis, Game Boy Advance (w/ Game Boy and Game Boy Color support) and Famicom games. The console features HDMI output, game speed control and support for save states. And, in addition to its own wireless controllers, it has ports for Genesis, SNES and NES controllers. It's kind of bananas.
All-in-one retrogaming console RetroN 5 now available for pre-order
Hyperkin's five-slot retrogaming solution RetroN 5 is now up for pre-order at Amazon ahead of an October 31 release date. The RetroN 5 is compatible with original Nintendo Entertainment System, Super NES, Sega Genesis, and Game Boy Advance cartridges, and also supports the Famicom, Mega Drive, Game Boy and Game Boy Color cart formats. The package includes a wireless Bluetooth controller, and the console itself features an array of controller ports, supporting original NES, SNES, and Genesis peripherals. While 8-bit and 16-bit consoles maxed their video output capabilities at S-Video (or worse, composite), the RetroN 5 features HDMI output for all supported games. The platform also offers a number of features common to emulation software, allowing players to speed up and slow down gameplay at will and enabling the use of savestates. Joystiq's JC Fletcher previously weighed in on the console, praising its space-saving form but admitting that it fills a small niche "between pawn shops and Virtual Console." The RetroN 5 is available in black and grey, and is priced at $99.99.
Hands-on with Hyperkin's Retron 5: emulating nine classic consoles with help from Android
This year's Electronic Entertainment Expo might be all about the next generation of gaming hardware, but not in Hyperkin's E3 booth: these guys are looking backwards. We dropped by to check out the Retron 5, the outfit's latest machine to traverse the library of older gaming titles. All told, this iteration strolls through half a dozen hardware cycles, offering compatibility for a full nine video game systems. It's more than a simple hardware emulator, however -- this machine offers save states, cheats and visual filters too.
RetroN 5 and the uncomfortable tension between old and new
There are at least two schools of thought when it comes to playing retro games. Let's call it two for the sake of argument. On one side, there are people who want all the modern conveniences, both in-game and out: save states, fast-forward and rewind in the games, and wireless controllers, high definition output, and non-finicky hardware to play them with. These are the people who like emulation the most, either through downloading ROMs or official downloadable re-releases of games.On the other side, there are people who strive for absolute authenticity: real cartridges on real consoles, played on CRT televisions with real controllers. These are the people who, hypothetically speaking, stuff a Twin Famicom in their suitcase while on a business trip to Tokyo.Somewhere in the middle is this thing.
'RetroN 5' console plays NES, SNES, Genesis, GBA and Famicom, supports HDMI, save states
Hyperkin's reveal of the "RetroN 4" console at the Midwest Gaming Classic turned out to be the unveiling of the RetroN 5, with the addition of another cartridge slot for Japanese Famicom games (which have 60 pin connectors vs. the NES's 72 pin). Now the console supports Nintendo, Famicom, SNES, Genesis (plus Mega Drive), and Game Boy Advance (with Game Boy/Color support), all over HDMI, with controller ports for NES, SNES, and Genesis controllers, as well as its own wireless Bluetooth controllers. The company plans to make the controllers remappable and usable cross-platform, but those features are still in the works.The console upscales old games to HDMI with special image processing to make them look decent on HD screens. It also supports save states just like emulators do, with an SD card slot to store saves. Furthermore, you can speed up gameplay and remap the Bluetooth controller buttons to control these features.Hyperkin doesn't have a firm price or release date, but is hoping to release the console around July for less than $100.
