Nintendo, Sega controllers and carts find a new home in the RetroN 3 console
We know the hazards that can befall retro gaming enthusiasts -- janky third party consoles and KIRFy handhelds not the least among them -- so it's nice to see someone put some real thought in their hardware. Available in retro-futurist red or sober, serious black, the RetroN 3 gaming system is compatible with your Nintendo, Sega Genesis, and SNES cartridges. And if that weren't enough for you (it seldom is, is it?) you can use a pair of the original controllers from either of those three systems. If that seems too awesome, it also packs its own wireless controllers. Available now for $70.
This looks awesome, but is it emulation?
@XtraSmiley
No idea, tried to check their sell sheet .pdf but seems to be corrupt and the manual's link is unclickable.
@XtraSmiley since your using the cartridges, i don't think so. but on another note
DO WANT!!!
@XtraSmiley Yep. Thats how it can run multiple consoles.
@The Geek there are manufactures that make the slots so you can play real carts in an emulator or rip the roms. Just saying.
@XtraSmiley
Cartridges. See the 3 slots?
@n8equalsd
Dude, I mean are the systems emulated, not the games. Obviously the slots are there for the actual cartridges.
@XtraSmiley
If someone could hack this somehow and load it with ROMs, I would easily pay $100!
@XtraSmiley It doesnt appear to be emulation, it looks like the front has a selector as to play nes, genesis or snes
Actually no, it's probably NOT emulation. Beyond the fact that emulation-based KIRF-y consoles almost always come with preinstalled games, it doesn't make financial sense to sell a boxed emulator like this - it's more expensive.
You'd need a central processor capable of emulating the consoles in question, plus some kind of OS, plus the emulators to be written for said processor architecture and OS. That's a lot of work for a KIRF.
No, these retro/knockoff consoles almost always use System-on-a-chip designs that basically incorporate all the processors of the systems on a single chip, so they aren't really "emulation", just super miniaturized versions of the old console.
Hence why this thing has a knob on the front that selects the system - what you're actually doing is selecting which of the 3 chips to boot up and run from. It's pretty ingenious, actually.
The only downside of these consoles is that the SoC designs usually mean incompatibility with certain games (NES Castlevania 3, for example) due to the knockoff aspect of the chips not authentically duplicating the functionality of the original console. Whereas a properly written emulator would have almost no incompatibility problems.
@XtraSmiley Probably it is, it would be easier to build and upgrade. Anyway this machine sounds stupid for me, it is just an excuse to not dump your old carts to the trash or to your nearest "friend" that REALLY WANTS THEM.
@pisiiki
Will just have to wait till some one takes it apart to see what chips are inside I guess...hopefully
@illuminerdi
Machines like this are almost always notoriously bad at playing even the games they do play... sounds are different or missing, slowdown where there's none in the original machine, etc.
I'd probably rather play either an emulator or the real thing... none of these consoles are all that expensive. I'm sure you could get all three for $70. Yeah, it's convenient having them all in one box, but if the tradeoff is incompatibilities and poor fidelity, I'd rather have a few more wires.
@Warzone - Because the "Sell Sheet" isn't a PDF (even though it says it is)...it's an ActiveX/Javascript HTML page that tries to load it in another window, but still seems to have an invalid link to the PDF.
@XtraSmiley
it is very similar to emulation.. Quite moreso than other comments will have you to believe.
The software was not intended to run on ANY other hardware than the destination hardware. Therefore this actually emulation.
The only reason they consider PC/handheld emulation a crime is because the original cartridge is not on hand.
Laymans terms= Hardware that can play the cart/cd is okay.
Hardware than can play the image of cart/cd is okay.
Having the cart/cd image is not okay. !!!Even!!! if you own the original copy of the software.
I hate how they make me feel like I've stolen something I've already paid for. I gave hard worked for cash to these people. Yet they judge me a thief if I have a ROM/CD image.
They need us. We do not need them. The way my girlfriend looks right now highlights that fact.
@Plazmic Flame This has been done, it's called a computer!
@Plazmic Flame Mmmm... are you talking about my computer? *drops his controller* OH... MY... GOD... there has been a thing like that for years! But yeah... it's cool nuff =D
I'm just curious if this is licensed by Nintendo and Sega. I know that KIRF systems are sold with emulators pre-installed all the time and some have been very successful (Dingoo A320) yet Nintendo, Sega, Capcom etc. have never sued. I think if system manufacturers like these had an actual chip in there then there might be some licensing issues. It's the same reason Microsoft has sent cease and desist letters to online sites that modify Xbox 360s and how Nintendo has done the same with sites that sell flash carts most notably in the U.S. because of the laws in the United States. That's why if you ever looked into modding a video game system or buying tools do so 95% of the sites in the Americas are Canadian.
This site/company is apparently located in California so I just have a feeling the systems are more emulation based than hardware based because of the potential lawsuits. The systems might actually be licensed by Nintendo and Sega but it just seems so unlikely. I could be completely wrong about my comments, too. That is always a possibility, too lol
Ok, this is awesome. As much as I like emulators it just doesn't have the same feel as using real cartridges on a dedicated console.
Wow, google translate is starting to get pretty damned good at translating other languages into stuff that doesn't sound completely bizarre in English.
DO YOU FOOLS SEE THE SLOTS!?
@Needsahaircut there pretty hard to miss
@Needsahaircut
LOL
I wonder when wii's virtual console will get "Exo Squad"(Genesis) and "Metal Storm" (Nes)
@Needsahaircut
By "Emulator" he meant...
"Is the thing inside actually three physical consoles, or is it a single chip with emulators on it that can read the cartridges, and pretend to be the target system."
not "Ooh, aah, gimme da roms."
@Needsahaircut Yes I did. So many slots, so little time.
Awesome!
do want!
... tho i never owned a SNES or Sega (o my childhood)
Goes to check the attic
Kids of the 80s, unite! Cheers
@Delirium Trigah
80's ... and 90's.
so full of win.
Time to spend some of this well earned unemployment money...
Get ready to blow some old dusty carts ... again.
;)
Where can I get one?
damn......i guess my lightheaded days from blowing cartridges clean arnt over hahaha
@iuoyu
Quit posting this stupid shit, you fucking moron.
*Megadrive...
if it plays emu roms ill order today.
"either of those three systems."
Uhh, either means a choice between two, not three... it should be "any of those three systems."
Hawt.
O nice. I volunteered with these folks for the past 2 years for E3.
Useless without TurboGrafx-16
The last model of this had some issues with a few games
Sumer metriod
Super Mario world
Secret of mana
and I think Donkey Kong
Wouldnt run on it, which IMHO makes it useless.
That aside the wireless controllers and 3-in-1 design makes it pretty hot (technically 4 in 1 as the 16bit sega can play 8bit games)
@Joeyjoejoe Shabadoo
Didn't the Genesis need some peripheral called the Power base converter to play 8-bit games?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mega_Drive#Master_System_compatibility
@thunder18
That is what I mean by "the 16bit sega can play the 8bit games".
As they were both coded on the same mainframe the converter litterally just let the master system carts fit into the megadrive/genesis cart hole.
My brother dug out his old SNES at Christmas. We played for five minutes, and had to stop because we were both getting severe headaches. The graphics on these old games was so appalling. Is it really worth going back and reliving that?
@MikeUK
I'm guessing you didn't get headaches from it before, so you might want to go to a doctor. That or stop playing SNES games on a 52in TV from 4ft away using composite cables.
@MikeUK
Wouldn't have those per pixel shaders if it wasn't for the original pixels.
@MikeUK
Jesus, the *SNES* gives you headaches with its bad graphics?
Some of us have been gaming since the Atari 2600. And I can still play those games. SNES games look great to me. That was near the end of the 2D era, so it doesn't get a whole lot better, unless you look at the few 2D games for the Saturn and Dreamcast (for some reason Sega's 3D consoles always had more 2D games than their competitors - probably because of the extra VRAM they had).
The Dreamcast's 2D games are probably as good as it gets, but the SNES was no slouch when it came to certain types of games, especially RPG's.
@MikeUK
I once watch my cousin play the original PlayStation and mistaken it for a cheap SNES game due to it's quality. Right now I have Virtual Bart in my SNES, that game looks great after all these years.
After seeing some of the late game on the SNES, I felt that system never reach it's peak. Donkey Kong Country had gotten it's graphics without using the FX chip.