I had this huge post written out but the forum screwed the pooch and lost it all. :(

Basically the gist of it is, I am a huge fan of import gaming, classic gaming, and the like. I figured because this site has so many fans of classic games there might be a few fans of classic systems like NES/Famicom, SNES/SuFami, etc... The new Retron 5 is coming out soon.

It can run NES/Fami, SNES/SuFami, Genesis/MD, Game Boy, GBC and GBA. It has some awesome features such as save states AND saves being saveable to the system instead of the cartridge and saves supposedly being able to be saved from the cart to avoid issues with a battery. It has some awesome up scaling audio and video filter systems. It handles original controllers, plus one of it's own. All of which are remap-able. It can also handle both PAL and NTSC carts.

Hope someone else may find this of interest, I am pretty excited for it. Sorry to sound a little meh, I was just so mad the forum lost my entire post. But yeah, I figured maybe some other classic game fans might like this, and it looks so friggin cool. It is great for people with Famicom carts since it has a dedicated Fami port, so if you're like me and can't afford the absurd price of a 60-72pin adapter it is a real joy to see finally introduced.

That's pretty awesome. It'm always surprised Sega and Nintendo never bothered with emulation software in the recent years for their 8 and 16 bit catalog. Sega is sort of making things ok with Steam releases of old games but still.

Yeah it's pretty friggin sweet. I am so getting one since it would be nice to have one unit than to get an upscale device and constant replugging of whatever console I want to play, PLUS no need for a Super Game Boy and no worries about cartridge batteries. I have some pretty kickass SuFami beat 'em ups I would love to play on my TV rather than relying on emulation software. Yeah, I think if Nintendo was smart, REALLY smart they would release their entire back catalog (including imports) for those who want to play classics on their Wii/Wii U/3DS'. I realize some times it's due to legal SNAFUs, but there are many games (for example Mother 3) that would benefit even with a download only version. That's what I like bout PSN with it's PSP/PS1/PS2 classics.

These clones usually tend to have problems with graphics and sound. Usually nothing that would ruin the game, but definitely inferior, varying from game to game. Obviously I don't have any experience with the Retron5, but I think it's best to wait for some reviews first.

The Retron 5 has been in development for a while now and it is finally coming out this year.

One of the great aspects of it is the fact it has HDMI out for audio & visual, a lot of newer TV's at the minute only have 1 legacy D Type Scart socket and it will only be a matter of time due to the analogue switch off before the analogue input via RF cable will no longer be available on modern TV's.

You can also use a Master System Converter in the Megadrive / Genesis port to play the Master Cartridges as it didn't need any extra wiring, I believe on the front it is going to have the Gameboy Cartridge slots. There is also the adapter you can get which slots into the SNES port that you put original Gameboy Cartridges in and it adds color to the game.

Things like the SEGA MegaCD & 32X you won't be able to use, MegaCD due to the fact that the original machines slot onto it and the 32X due to it needing a pass through wire from it to the original machine.

Quite looking forward to this machine in all honesty, I have the MD with all its peripherals (except 32X) and a SNES and play on them often. It will be nice for a change to actually have a machine set up in the front room on the big TV instead of dotted around the house hooked to to various older TV's

Been keeping an eye on Funstock here in the UK for when it comes out, may even pre order it

Yeah, thankfully I have a Genesis/Sega CD so if I really get stuck I can play my Sega CD games. Though I never got the 32x for some reason. Yeah the front port beside the power switch and sync button will be the Game Boy cartridge slot. I am happy it will have GBA so I can play games like FF V, Mother 3, and Super Mario Land 2 on a big screen. The HDMI port is nice because not only does it set everything up for one port and as you said future proofs the machine, it also will have built in filters for scan lines for those who would like such a visual set up. I know I would, that's for sure; maybe not all the time but when I want to have a more retro feel.

On a side not the SNES can run SuFami games easily by removing 2 plastic knotches in the SNES itself, at least with the NTSC models (there was no physical reason other than that stopping someone from running the Japanese versions of games). Now that being said, you should be careful and if you screw it up it's your own fault and all that, however, it is a relatively easy fix if you can get use of NTSC SNES.

Yeah I'm eyeballing Canadian sites to see if I can get one here. I like Think Geek but I rather avoid duty charges if possible. That and DHL always tries to hose me for duty feels twice. I think Amazon.co.uk might have it as well, I know I'm keeping an eye on Amazon.ca for it to be released.

Keep an eye on http://www.funstock.co.uk also, they are one of the main stockists of the retro re release consoles, they have things like the Dingoo & Atari Flashback. I know they are going to be the main supplier here.

I do tend to go for the old computers more than anything else must admit, have a full C64 setup (Disk, Tape and AR4), Spectrum +2A, Amiga 600 & Atari STe (Updated to 4Mb ram and have the Ultra Satan Disk external hard drive), I'm also getting an Amstrad CPC464 with color screen in around 2 weeks also.

Console side of things I have the MD Mk1, MegaCD Mk1 & the original Master System Converter that has the card slot on it, SNES, Gamebot Color (Yellow One) & a SEGA Game Gear

It will be cool having a Retron 5 hooked up to my main TV, my wife likes the NES & SNES stuff and I'm into the Master System and Megadrive, best of both worlds really for both of us to get some good use out of it.

Hmm.. looks interesting. Can it also handle images on SD/MMC or similar?

I don't want to hijack the thread but is anyone familiar with Sega Mega Drive Arcade Ultimate Portable? Is it worth buying?
And does anyone have experience with emulation of old gaming systems (Amiga, C64, Sega Megadrive/Genesis) on mondern, Android tablets? The reason I ask is because my son is hyped about games on my nephwe's smartphone and I was thinking about buying him some kind of mobile device but capable of running classic games in order to play with him....

I should imagine it will work fine with the Megadrive Everdrive cartridge, the cart doesn't require any extra connectors and just loads up a menu with everything you put on the SD card, select what you want to play and away you go. There are a few original Megadrive cartridges that have more than 1 game on them and a menu frontend to select what you want to play.

http://www.funstock.co.uk/everdrive-md-v3


As for emulation of older systems on Android based systems you can get UAE4Droid which is the Amiga Emulator, easy to configure and start up the games, you will need to acquire the 1.3 Kickstart Rom though to be able to use it and the 1200 AGA Kickstart Rom for the AGA only games.

Once set up its really easy to use, after a few times using it you will know exactly what you need to do.

For the C64 you can get Vice and Frodo, Vice on PC is really easy to use but on Android its a bit confusing so I personally recommend getting Frodo, literally just select a game image and away it goes, on some games the only issue is to start you have to bring up the virtual keyboard to start them to press a number or Function key. Games that require say the Spacebar on a proper machine, Commando for example you press Space to lob a grenade can be awkward as you can't place it onscreen next to your virtual D Pad and fire button.

Once again though you get used to it and its easy enough to use.

There are SNES, PSX & Megadrive emulators available for Android but I found it a bit awkward with the multiple buttons on the game controllers. Megadrive was easiest to use as most of the games just use a standard 3 button layout and D Pad for control, SNES itself has 6 buttons not including Start & Select

Completely OT, but in case you use Firefox (or forks of it) or Chrome (or variants of it) you could try the Lazarus extension; it auto-saves web-forms as you type (in real time), allowing you to easily retrieve your lost text.
There's also a version for Safari.

Saved me numerous times :-)

Awesome, thank you for the link, I'll keep an eye on the site and check out some of that other stuff mentioned in your post. :)
Awesome, yes I do use Firefox and this would help a tonne. Thank you for this link and I'll make good use of it.

The Retron5 is different than previous clone systems in that it isn't one, really. It's basically just a mini Android computer with cartridge inputs, running various emulators.

Ninja'd

It looks like it has a rather significantly high compatibility rate due to the changes on the 5 thanks to this. I particularly like being able to save to the machine rather than relying on a cartridge battery. :D

SNES on the Retron 4 sounded like it was constantly farting, so that seems intredasting.