Ever since the Retron 5 and Retro Freak arrived on the scene clone hardware maker Retro-Bit has fallen a little silent. The company's last major release - the Super Retro Trio - was seen as a rival to Hyperkin's hardware, but lacked HDMI support and the ability to load data via an SD card, and was kind of ignored as a result.
The company hasn't been idle however, and is currently working on its next venture, a system which aims to offer something similar to the recently-announced NES Mini from Nintendo.
The Retro-Bit Generations comes with all the mod-cons, such as two Mega Drive-style 6-button USB controllers, HDMI out and an SD card slot, which presumably will be used for loading ROMs and storing save data. The big news here is that the machine will be pre-loaded with over 100 different titles, some of which will be licenced from the archives of Capcom, Data East, Irem, Jaleco and Piko Interactive.
Titles confirmed for the machine are Ghosts 'N Goblins, Gun Smoke, Kid Niki Radical Ninja, Kung-Fu, Captain Commando, Kickle Cubicle, Rival Turf, Super R-Type, The Super Bases Loaded Series, Knights of the Round, Brawl Brothers and Ring King. The more eagle-eyed of you will notice that many of those releases were console exclusives back in the day - Super R-Type and Brawl Brothers are SNES games while Kickle Cubicle came out on the NES - so it would appear that the system simply emulates old hardware, like the Retron 5 and Retro Freak, just without support for original cartridges.
Retro-Bit will be announcing more games in the future, but in the meantime, let us know what you think by posting a comment below.
Comments 82
I'm gonna pick this up most definitely
I've never heard of them. I always iffy about these things since I know the emulation can be really bad on some machines like this, though I do plan on getting the NES mini since it's a bit more "official", being straight from Nintendo. They really should have put at least a few more games on that one though instead.of 30, knowing the competition. That's Nintendo sometimes though.
I've been looking into purchasing a retro console recently, and while I was attracted by the Mega Drive thing the iffy sound/input and lack of HDMI really put me off.
And this thing lacks the cartridge slot, which is somewhat of a must for me. At the moment, I think the Retron 5 is still the best option, if only the controller didn't look so rubbish!
@Whopper744 Really step back and think about that though. 30 games. I guess now that's a number people can turn their noses up at, but you were one fortunate mofo to have even 5 or 6 games back in NES days. Just an observation.
This sounds so dubious. It's one thing if Nintendo does that with its own old games and the stuff it acquired a license for, but how in the world is this legal when done by retro-bit? They're selling an ugly emulation console preloaded with games by other companies? This is wrong on so many levels...
I am satisfied with my retron 5, but this would be a nice gift for a casual gamer.
Or buy a NVIDIA Shield TV which also can emulate N64, PS1, Dreamcast and GameCube.
NVIDIA Shield TV costed only 99$ recently at Amazon including 2 Gamepads.
NX is rumoured to use the same powerful GPU as in Shield btw.
That Sega-style controller could be great if it has the same build quality as the original Sega controllers had.
Data East huh? Ohhh we're gunna have one heck of a time!
Console haven't even been release yet and there're already copycats. No wonder why Nintendo haven't show the NX yet
I actually own the Retro Freak, and I have own a Retro Duo in the past. One thing these companies can't get right is the controller. The Freak is pretty close, but the duo wasn't very good at all.
If this is going to have any life to it, they definitely need to pay attention to the controller
/me goes and hugs his still working front loading Nintendo Entertainment System
Just make your own with the raspberry pi.
"mod-cons"? ...
But this does look pretty cool.
@Matclip Oh I do completely agree. Good point. Sometimes it's best not to compare like that. A lot of quality in the box too.
30 perfect ports, carefully and officially curated > 100 dubious emulations of variable merit.
interesting, will wait and see price and games list but if it was any good and was £50 like the new Nintendo one that would be 50p a game!
This would be good for all of my Sega rooms I have of my cartriges. Most of them are on storage . . . . Now can it play Sega CD ROM. . .
Won't be buying this.
@Billsama
That's basically been the story of Nintendo, video game wise. They produce something unique, and then someone else will try to one up Nintendo with a competitive knockoff so to speak...
It's funny and fun to watch too.
@samuelvictor Well the Gamecube, N64 & Dreamcast games usually suffer from a myriad of issues. The 16 & 32 bit stuff is flawless.
...you had me at "Kickle Cubicle". Now I will just to know about built quality of those pads and if SD card ROM loading turns out to he true and properly working.
@samuelvictor It certainly does. The Shield TV can run the Dolphin emulator just fine, so Dreamcast will even be less of a problem:
And here's some other emulators that it can run:
But if Dreamcast is your primary target along with N64, PSX and 8 and 16bit gaming in a portable device, then you might want to look into the GPD XD:
http://www.trustedreviews.com/gamepad-digital-gpd-xd-review
(and take note of the reviewer... )
Homepage: http://www.gpdxd.com/
EDIT:
Extensive review:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dijYHMTY74I
Personally, I'm more a fan of table top arcade, besides "on TV" retro gaming, so I'm looking forward to the Starforce PI:
http://www.starforcepi.com/
The biggest problem with this system is that it will never have Nintendo's games. There were a lot of great 3rd party games on the NES and SNES, of course, but is any NES/SNES collection really complete without Super Mario Bros?
I'd also wonder about the controller. I've never gotten a clone system before, but I've looked into quite a few, and a very common complaint is that the controllers are awful. That's one thing I'm interested in about the NES Classic. Since Nintendo's making the controllers, I expect them to be of excellent quality.
@TrueWiiMaster I think you need to re-read the last paragraph of this article. Kickle Cubicle is only one of the NES/SNES titles that is on there, making it quite obvious that it will indeed run these games if you provide it with the necessary ROMs...
@ThanosReXXX
I figured that was the case, but downloading ROMs is illegal. I meant that any official release would never happen. While I'm sure a lot of people would, I don't pirate games, and therefore I would never have Nintendo's games on this system.
I wonder if this will come out in psvita?
It's not got that appeal like the NES Mini got but sounds interesting tho.
These types of machines are aimed at people who are nostalgic about the games they played as a kid but cannot be bothered to track down original hardware or figure out how emulators work. They would rather spend $60 on off-the-shelf solution that they can have up and running in five minutes and maybe spend a few hours with it before they get bored. Then it will not come out again until they are feeling nostalgic again.
@r4ind4nce The games are officially licenced.
@TTGlider "Modern conveniences"
@ThanosReXXX I don't trust that Damien McFerran character.
@YeshaYahu5417 The NES Mini isn't exactly an original concept - companies have been making officially licensed plug and play consoles for over a decade.
I'm guessing the included games are all off cartridges, but if this has a bunch of arcade games, I'd get it.
@joedick
Yeah I'm very aware of all the Sega Mega Drives, Atari plug and play, and even Coleco Vision. Nintendo didn't originate those like the NES Mini. But still when they do patent something original, or go in a certain direction creatively from a gaming perspective and it happens to gain popularity, then the obvious happens to follow hoping for the same success under a different name.
@TrueWiiMaster Well, there are already a couple of NES and SNES games on there, so even if you wouldn't add any yourself, you would still have some if you'd buy this system.
@samuelvictor If you check the videos and the blog of the Starforce Pi, then you can see that you can order several button layouts, also 6 buttons and if you want even in your own color(s).
@Damo Yeah, he sure is laying it on a bit too thick with the whole "trusted reviews" label. If anything, I'd advise people to be more wary of people that call themselves trustworthy...
@Matclip Considering the convenience of the Internet, yes, I can't blame people for finding a locked 30 game system something they can turn their nose up at.
Sounds good. Loved kung fu for reasons I don't quite understand myself.
Still feel like Nintendo coulda did
Better than 30 games....45?
@samuelvictor And the cool thing about it is that almost all components are replaceable, even the internal hardware, so even if the Raspberry Pi that's inside the table top breaks down, you can replace it yourself, although obviously you would have to put all the games and software to run them on there again, but still...
@Damo Totally off-topic, but I was just wondering why none of you are reporting on the news tip that I sent in several days ago about the Shadow of the Eternals update from Quantum Entanglement. There's a new trailer and it shows that the game is still very much alive and whatever else you can say about it or about mr. Dyack, at least it is actual confirmed news and not a rumor...
@ThanosReXXX The video was little more than a level demo - certainly not a trailer - but we'll keep an eye on the game we've done from the start.
Cool and all, but I can't be excited if these mini consoles don't have cartridge slots.
The only advantage I see is bringing them on trips, then you wouldn't have to pack a bigger console and cartridges.
These minis aren't for people that care about owning the original cartridges. If you do care about owning the cartridges, nice, but owning one of these is about having an easy way to play without paying for a retro cart collection that collector's grip tightly. Having to include hardware to put in cartridges would also make the thing more bulky, plus it confuses the digital only people they are really selling to anyway. Cartridges aren't something they want to officially support anymore, what with the batteries needing to be replaced all these years later. Really, makes sense just to ignore that feature.
The Super Retro Trio already had me cover, this thing is just an emulation box just like the AtGames, Ouya, and Retro Freak. Would had been interesting if they included PlayStation and N64 supports in there too but it's just NES, Famicom, Genesis, SMS, Mega Drive, Super NES, and Super Famicom. As much as I like having more games, being able to use my own physical copy wins over any emulation.
@Damo True, but at least it showed that the work is still progressing and that Dyack is committed to complete it, and on several occasions he has been VERY positive about Nintendo (such as in a YouTube podcast with SuperMetalDave64, well worth a watch imho) and the NX, so chances are this is coming to Nintendo, and as such it would be newsworthy.
@ThanosReXXX Sure, and we've given the game plenty of coverage (and will continue to do so) but that video alone doesn't really say all that much, aside from the fact that it's not dead (which we mentioned a while back).
Why bother with this when the super retro trio and the N8 everdrive has everything you would ever need for playing any NES game you want plus SNES and megadrive compatibility.
Looks interesting. Depending on video output options and how good the SNES emulation is I might well be tempted.
It looks ugly. ...like the other Retro-Bit Consoles. But I like the software lineup, because it looks like they coming up with more 16Bit era and less 8Bit era.
@Damo Fair enough.
Pfft, no cartridge support and you don't even get any of Nintendo's or Sega's first-party titles? You'd be better off with the Super Retro Trio.
Although, I'll admit that some of the games they do have are pretty rare and expensive.
@dronesplitter Supporting cartridges is better than encouraging people to illegally download their games. These things really shouldn't have ROM support at all. Just what percentage of users do you think actually own the games they're using (and even then the legality is debatable)?
@BulbasaurusRex Where did I endorse piracy at all? Oh, right, I never did.
to be honest, this clone console assaults the eyes.
plus the novelty of a Mini Nes trumps this Genesis wannabe
It's not a great line up of games.
This is a cool console, but I'm still super excited for the mini NES.
@YeshaYahu5417 I love Ninty,but the NES Classic edition is not "original". Atgames has done this before multiple times (although a lot worse)
How does the company that makes these clone consoles get the licencing to have the ROMs on the system?. As I thought the ROMs were technically illegal.
I think they made the wrong choice going with the Genesis 6-button controller design over the SNES controller design; it's an inferior controller design imo, especially the d-pad, which is right at the heart of all these retro games. There's a reason most controllers mimic the SNES design rather than the Genesis design and it's not just "because".
I'm still interested in finding out more about the system though, particularly what games come bundled. If they manage to put 100 proper/decent games on there, I'll be mightily impressed.
@8itmap_k1d Well, the emulated NES games on my PC are of a far higher/better quality than the official versions of those NES games on Virtual Console (and the emulated versions of the likes of SNES AND Genesis games are basically perfect too), so these emulated games could easily be just as good as anything that Nintendo puts out, and potentially even better. In fact, I'm genuinely worried that the versions of the NES games Nintendo puts on the NES Classic Edition might just look the exact same as on the Virtual Console, and that would be a major disappointment imo, and an instant zero interest in the system for me. Those dull and muted colours, and the whites that are more like light grey, are just not good enough. And, you can't even play games like Star Fox and Yoshi's Island on Nintendo's official Virtual Console, while the homebrew guys got these games working basically flawlessly a long time ago. But, there it is; a bunch of homebrew hackers did a better job than Nintendo itself--and that's just factually true.
@samuelvictor : NVIDIA claims Tegra X1 have twice the power of Xbox 360.
Most 3D games on Shield TV is 1080p/60.
Its a powerful box.
@dronesplitter You technically didn't, but supporting ROMs over cartridges with these clone systems does imply a support for piracy.
@Kirk Unless it's the quality of the pad itself, in which case you can't blame the design, I don't get what's wrong with the Genesis D-Pad design. I actually consider it the superior design, as it makes it easier to use diagonal inputs without sacrificing the ease of cardinal inputs as long as the pad has a quality build.
As for the 6-button layout, that is the best layout for Genesis games, and they were also accomodating enough to arrange the buttons so that A, B, X, and Y form the standard diamond arrangement used for SNES games. You just have to be careful not to mix up the letters or use controller reconfiguration options in NES and SNES games, since A & B and then X & Y are reversed from the Nintendo standard. That's pretty much the best option for a single controller that supports both companies' systems. They only made the mistake of making the X, Y, and Z buttons smaller than the others.
As always with these things, look for detailed reviews, videos and impressions. The Sega ones are dire and should be avoided at all costs, and the only reason I've preordered the Nintendo one is because I trust them to get the emulation right. As much as people complain about the Virtual Console sometimes, the actual accuracy of the emulation is rarely ever an issue and is usually far beyond third party knockoffs, so I expect the same from their mini box.
@Kirk If you are basing quality solely around visual appearance rather than accuracy, you may be right. While the VC has some issues, in general the game accuracy levels are on the money. Also, the visual appearance of NES games IS actually closer in some respects to the original hardware. Emulators increase the contrast levels, adjust the ratio and the sharpened pixels were never how the games were originally meant to be seen. Although we are used to this due to emulation, I feel Nintendo's VC emulation is a design choice to better represent this. Look at old of NES games and they are all very dark and washed out compared to emulator footage. It also may have something to do with epilepsy stuff, and I have a theory it might be a legal thing to do it, which would explain why it's also present in N64 games (which is bizarre, I grant you). I could be wrong, however, but it's definitely a design choice rather than a mistake.
Certainly, legalities are likely the reason behind the lack of Super FX games. There are more legal issues behind the scenes with Virtual Console than we're aware of, I suspect, hence why the DKC games disappeared, and other games have been delisted, or never appeared at all (such as Contra).
@Aurelis Old games never looked as bad on my TVs as they do on Nintendo's VC, but I live in the UK and apparently we generally had better connections back then. I played most of my games via S-Video or SCART, and the picture was basically as good as any of the modern retro consoles I see that are trying to get the best quality retro images possible. I was maybe a bit lucky in that respect. But, as a result, these NES games look terrible to me, like pale (literally) imitations. And, the emulators probably are a little part of that too, because these game really do look great on modern emulators. But, if a bunch of homebrew coders using emulators can get it looking that good, so too can/should Nintendo I say. I'm also not accepting any excuses whatsoever for Nintendo not having proper versions of these classic Super FX chip games and stuff on its Virtual Console too; it really needs to get that stuff sorted. I expect more from Nintendo, and I really do feel it's just doing the bare minimum at times, because it knows the most loyal Nintendo fans will lap it up regardless--but not me.
@BulbasaurusRex I basically just think the Genesis 6-button controller is inferior to the SNES controller in pretty much every way. I think the SNES has a vastly superior d-pad, and it works absolutely perfectly for diagonals too. Other than the special moves in the Street Fighter II games, which are just hard to execute in general (whatever controller you're using), I've never had any issues with the SNES d-pad not registering diagonals properly. The diamond button layout is also just better for so many types of games; it's a much more ergonomic, intuitive, and versatile layout. Think about playing games like Robotron: 2084 and Smash TV with it for example, where you can actually use it basically like another d-pad for all intents and purposes. And I also think the shoulder buttons on the SNES just open up so much more possibilities than having those buttons squeezed next to the others on the front of the pad. Think about the air-brakes in F-Zero, using them to barrel roll in Star Fox, or for strafing in Doom for example. Yeah, overall I just think the SNES controller blows the Genesis one away (be it the 3-button or 6-button Genesis controller).
@samuelvictor I'd say Street Fighter II is basically the only game it's [arguably] better for.
And, man, the [white] Jap Sega Saturn really is a thing of beauty (even now, which shows just how gorgeous it is):
I mean, genuinely, I think that is a far more stunning/striking piece of kit than the likes of Xbox One, PS4, and Wii U.
But, it's interesting just how much simply using a different colour scheme can largely ruin that:
@PinkSpider We are actually working with the full cooperation of these publishers to release their games on the new Retro-Bit Generations!
@Retro-Bit Can I ask you a somewhat senstive question. . . .
What kind of licensing fee do you have to pay to get these games on the console (like, how much per title or whatever)?
And, if you can't even broadly answer that, could you at least give me an indication if you believe it would be possible for a company like Nintendo to have say the Top 100 NES or SNES games on one of its Classic Edition consoles and still sell if for basically the same price as its available for now?
Because, that's what I really think Nintendo needs to do to make these things basically the near perfect realisation of this kind of all-in-one retro console, especially when all the games come pre-installed with no ability to add any games after the fact.
Also, you guys say you're bundling 100 games with your system: Are you trying to go for all official titles?
If you pull that off you'll have already done a far better job than both Nintendo and Sega. I mean, sure, you might not get all the biggest and best first party games, but 100 official games would still be mightily impressive.
@Kirk Unfortunately not something I can talk about personally haha. We are very excited to be working with such great publishers though. It's one way for us to take out the legwork for you guys in trying to hunt down each game on the console. So you can spend less time searching and more time playing.
For another company to do something of the nature you speak of, they would have to speak with all original publishers and owners of the titles to get their consent to even plan something like that. It may be possible, but would require a lot of collaboration from multiple parties.
A majority of our games our official and you have played them or heard of them before. But we are also working with another current developer to add some "new-retro" style games into the library. A taste of the old and the new for a larger library!
We will begin unveiling the actual games on our social channels and official website as time goes on.
@Retro-Bit Coolio.
Cheers for responding.
I wish these guys would take it a step further and have an online store where you can add titles for say 2 to 5 or 6 bucks and possibly bring back Xband play for a wonderful online experience for games like NHL hockey and NBA Jam. The first company who does it this way get my moola
I might actually pick this unit up. But I will wait a bit and see if the technology progresses to online markets and online Multiplayer. The Turbo Grafx 16 would be ripe for such a unit. Think about it. Online Bomberman and Online Dungeon Explorer. That's good stuff
@Kirk Well, the D-pad is a build issue then, not a design issue. If it has the build of SNES D-Pad and the design of the Genesis D-Pad, then you've got the best of both worlds.
Did you miss the fact that this controller includes the shoulder buttons?
As for the face button layout, the classic diamond is still there. It just has two extra buttons to the right. Like I said, they should've made the top buttons the same size as the bottom buttons, and they'd be golden. Overall, that's the best method for dealing with both SNES and Genesis games with the same controller.
apparently this will be $59.99 so could well be £50 like nintendos. I maybe tempted to get both!
@Kirk Late replying here, but I will say that as much as I understand it's an intentional thing on Nintendo's part (the Virtual Console as a concept was meant to emulate the original system, warts and all), options are obviously better, so having the choice to remove any filters would be ideal. They did it for the GBA emulation, so maybe they're slowly moving in that direction. Older stuff is basically directly ported from the Wii VC though, so yes, they're putting in a very bare minimum effort with that, sadly, aside from a few things like button remapping. It's slow but they are adding things bit by bit, including 60hz games for us poor PAL gamers, but hopefully it'll improve.
You also may be right about how the NES looked back in PAL land, my only experience of the original hardware is US footage, I sadly never owned one. SCART cables were a hell of a lot better but as far as I'm aware they weren't available in the US or Japan, I wasn't aware the original NES even used them, although I know the SNES of course did.
@Aurelis There are certain "warts" that make sense and others that are purely the company being lazy and avoidance as much extra work as possible, to the detriment of the experience of the end user. I don't expect Nintendo to include high-res modes or extreme stuff in these games, only the stuff that make sense in 2016, regardless of these being older games running on a Virtual Console. So, common sense should dictate what does and does fit in with that thinking. Displaying the NES colours properly for example should be a bare minimum to expect, and that's irrespective of some people having TVs that made the games look like total junk back in the day because others didn't have such crap TVs and the games actually looked fine for them. So, Nintendo should basically go with what these games could have looked like at the absolute best, even back in the day.
@Kirk Aside from the darkening, which seems like a stylistic choice probably partly TO get the colours more accurate, NES game colours are pretty damn spot on. Compare this https://youtu.be/wCda9Y_kN5Y?t=2m50s Virtual Console footage with actual NES footage of Donkey Kong, here... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gr-6j87tqcQ
Compared to emulated footage here... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_PrG8P5W8o
Now, while the colours are sharper and brighter on the emulation, the aspect ratio is wrong, and due to the bright colours, Donkey Kong looks red rather than brown. While the VC version is not perfect, it is FAR closer to the original game than this example of emulation.
Of course, the issue here is that some people prefer the colours of the latter, and even games like NES Remix go for the sharper, brighter look. I am all for options and they should add them. However, the VC is not displaying the game "incorrectly", most emulators are actually immensely inconsistent with NES colours because there is no "correct" way to display them for some annoying technical reasons I don't quite follow myself.
Anyway, basically all I'm saying is that the VC is not doing it wrong, but it may not be doing it as you wish, and obviously having the options would be nice. In this instance, the actual arcade version of Donkey Kong did have a brighter palette than the NES, so it's an interesting example as it highlights the flaws of the NES hardware.
@Aurelis NES games never looked that crap on my TV. And, you don't want them to emulate stuff they didn't intend in the first place anyway. They didn't intend for the whites to look wrong (dull and grey) or for all the colours to be muted; that was just an issue with some crap TVs (and maybe how people had set their settings too). It would be stupid to try to replicate that, especially without at least offering an option to play without that kind of junk (which is not the case with the current VC games). I mean, it's cool having the option to play with scan lines for that authentic retro experience for example, but in 2016 you obviously also has to have the option to play with perfectly clean and clear pixel visuals too. That's just good practice. And, if you look at a game like SMB3 that has all the visual artifacts at the edge of the screen, which would often be hidden on old CRT TVs, you'd actually want to try to clean that up on modern displays, because clearly you really weren't meant to be seeing that stuff in the first place. But, they can always leave in an option to turn it on for those people that want it. This is just like how they added an option to have sprite flicking in Mega Man 9 and 10 (normally caused by hardware limitations but not something the developers actually wanted), but you wouldn't want to have sprite flickering without any option to turn it off in 2016, that's just stupid, and if you can fix stuff like that it would make sense to do so. Same goes for things like unintended slowdown and all that kind of stuff. In 2016 you'd really want to include that as an option but definitely give players the choice to get rid of it all if they actually want the best possible game experience; if it's possible to do so.
And, with emulation they can get the aspect ratio correct if they want. They can pretty do it however they want on PCs these days. It's all about choices. Emulation still blows away anything Nintendo has done on the VC; it's not even close.
Given how old games looked on my TVs back in the day, Nintendo's Virtual Console is doing it wrong.
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