RetroN 5 Thoughts

[Black Ridge]

On topic

Missus got me one for Christmas and it arrived yesterday. Huge shock to me! She apparently preordered it for last Christmas but never cancelled it. Got it for the original asking price!

Anyway I've been playing on it today and really like it so far. Lovely features like the filter options, scanlines, force 60hz, region select, save states. Games look surprisingly nice on HD TV unlike the original systems.

Only downsides I've experienced so far are the dodgy cart slots (struggled to get a mega drive cart out and had to wiggle it out), and the controller isn't great. Not a huge downside considering you can use original pads

[crusto]

I've got a £250 Edenred compliments card as a bonus from work and It's just sat there waiting to be spent. I want a Retron 5 and would buy one instantly given the circumstances. But the thing is ithe card isn't that widely accepted, so I'll probably end up getting a PS Vita from Argos instead.

[andyfunstock]

On topic

Missus got me one for Christmas and it arrived yesterday. Huge shock to me! She apparently preordered it for last Christmas but never cancelled it. Got it for the original asking price!

Anyway I've been playing on it today and really like it so far. Lovely features like the filter options, scanlines, force 60hz, region select, save states. Games look surprisingly nice on HD TV unlike the original systems.

Only downsides I've experienced so far are the dodgy cart slots (struggled to get a mega drive cart out and had to wiggle it out), and the controller isn't great. Not a huge downside considering you can use original pads

This will help with the cartridge slots mate: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMdaiyU_b9s (pull from the right hand side - they come out with EASE - if you pull from the centre it's like pulling it out of a vice, if you pull from the right, candy from a baby). Hope that helps!

[RodimusPrime]

Its the MD slot thats a bit tight for me as well. I juat bought an import adaptor off Ebay for a tenner and just plug that into the Retron 5 and then just plug the MD carts into that. works a treat.

[andyfunstock]

Its the MD slot thats a bit tight for me as well. I juat bought an import adaptor off Ebay for a tenner and just plug that into the Retron 5 and then just plug the MD carts into that. works a treat.

Try this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMdaiyU_b9s (pull from the right hand side - they come out with EASE - if you pull from the centre it's like pulling it out of a vice, if you pull from the right, candy from a baby). Hope that helps!

[Antiriad2097]

Deja vu.

[nakamura]

Played it. Wrote a mini review.

http://judged-by-gabranth.blogspot.co.u ... inion.html

[gman72]

Played it. Wrote a mini review.

http://judged-by-gabranth.blogspot.co.u ... inion.html

That's a nice unbiased mini review, naka. Well played, sir.
Did you have any problems with tight cart ports?
What were the sound issues you had with SNES games on the JXD?

[nakamura]

The carts weren't too bad. They didn't go in half as far as they do on real systems. No major issues.

On the JXD the sound on the SNES X9 emulator was slightly behind and I couldn't figure out why.

[BellyFullOfHell]

Well mine arrived yesterday and I'm honestly not impressed. The games look no better than on any other emu, and the sound... oh my god it's poor. Dunno what I'm missing here, but the MD games sound horrendous (way too high pitched) and while the SNES fares a little better it's still not right. Playing with the settings actually appears to make matters worse. Not happy so far.

[The Laird]

Well mine arrived yesterday and I'm honestly not impressed. The games look no better than on any other emu, and the sound... oh my god it's poor. Dunno what I'm missing here, but the MD games sound horrendous (way too high pitched) and while the SNES fares a little better it's still not right. Playing with the settings actually appears to make matters worse. Not happy so far.

This was my worry, the sound emulation often makes or breaks these things. It kills the AtGames devices and was really bad on the Retron 3.

[gman72]

Interesting. Naka reported no sound issues. Could BellyFullOfHell's unit be faulty?

[Darran@Retro Gamer]

No sound issues either and nakamura would know, he's amazongly anal about picture and sound quality.
Short of a ridiculously expensive scaler there no way your old consoles will look this good on a modern tv.

[RodimusPrime]

I never noticed any sound issues, and I love the crisp picture it outputs.

Sure the machine has its issues, but the important thing for me is that the positives far outweigh them.

I feel in a way that the machine is getting censored on now because of the company behind it, and all the drama surrounding it.

What are people expecting, I mean seriously its not reinventing the wheel, its just letting you use original cartridges for a few systems in one package while clearing the picture up for a HD TV. its as simple as that. I really feel like there are people out there overcomplicating it all TBH.

[RodimusPrime]

No sound issues either and nakamura would know, he's amazongly anal about picture and sound quality.
Short of a ridiculously expensive scaler there no way your old consoles will look this good on a modern tv.

without giving to much away, what are your initial first impressions. I know you will go into more detail in the mag but are you enjoying using it.