Mysterious RetroEngine Site Goes Live, Promises Support For Nintendo, Sega, Atari And Sony Systems

There has been so many scams, and shady ports of emulation software... It's getting hard to be excited at this point !

EDIT : wait, is this just a freaking RetroArch in a shiny box ? I can see EmulationStation right in the vid ? Has this been authorized ?
But first : If this is pure emulation, how on Earth should we believe that Nintendo is supporting this ? LOL. Scam of epic proportion, just buy yourself a NES mini when there's more, or if you like emulation, just a 30 buck raspberry pi.

Booo, no Commodore 64? Its a scandle

By the time this is actually released, they will probably have been forced to remove compatibility with half of those systems, and the other half will probably be dodgy at best.

looks sketchy

@Bunkerneath And no Amiga either...

Just like openemu for Mac - the Dreamcast and Openemu has DS and Virtual boy. Just use a Ps3 or a Wii remote and your in business. Its easy and you have to download Bios.

@ThanosReXXX no 3DO ether

No Virtual Boy, no want. I will only support this if Virtual Boy gets some love.

thoe a machine that can play all off that sounds awesome

Thanks, but no thanks. I play video games on the consoles they were made to be played on (if you're not counting the Virtual Console).

Talking about vintage gaming systems support and no Commodore 64/Amiga on the list?

Looks shady...

I love these

It is a mini more yet retro futuristic Mega Drive with Retropie?
I like the Steel touch.

This is blatant Pyramid Marketing - to create bigger launch day sales - only to be let down later by support. I wouldn't support this at all. . .

Kickstarter is getting full of RetroArch box clones. I wonder if they can offer anything more than a cute box.

Please be high quality with a great library of games Please be high quality with a great library of games Please be high quality with a great library of games! wishful thinking

@Diamondhero That's no Commodore machine and besides the console itself massively failing to catch on, it didn't have that many memorable games either, so with all the other stuff that's on this list, I don't think that the 3DO will be missed...

@audiobrainiac But first of all: please be true and actually be good at emulating all the systems listed.

Most of these multi-emulator systems aren't really that good, save for one or two exceptions...

Good that the article got an update. The device itself looks nice, if that is the final form factor. Looks a lot like RetroPie but could also be an FPGA, although far as I know, both of them would probably have imperfect emulation of Dreamcast games and PSP could also be underwhelming.

ahem Raspberry Pi ahem

This is my reply to anybody asking for cash on crowd funding sites.

" In the case of the PlayStation and PSP - two of the listed platforms - the BIOS would be required to emulate software, something the creator of the RetroEngine would need to obtain."

Not true. There are open source bios simulations available.

Yep didn't anyone learn from Xbox this year?

@ThanosReXXX oh yes, hence my comment

I will buy this IF it gets Xbox one controller support. I have to ha a clicky d-pad to play retro games!

@neufel

Sometimes a cute box is all someone is looking for

I love my Wii for retro games, but I won't deny that I'd love to use an assortment of retro USB controllers for a more authentic experience. Nintendo, get on restocking the NES Mini controller and a similar one for the SNES! Please.

@technotreegrass A Super NES style classic / mini controller has already exist and yes you can use it on the NES Classic Edition as well.

@retro_player_22 Far as I know, that controller hasn't got a USB connector, but if it does, then it is definitely not compatible with the NES Mini, since that only has Wiimote connector ports for the controllers.

The usage of text to speech in the trailer feels a bit shady, though...

Wonder what the actual price of this thing is going to be, if they even reach their goal in the first place.

Might be better for most people that are interested in a multi-functional retro console to invest in a Starforce Pi, at least that is already a reality:
http://www.starforcepi.com/overview.html

@ThanosReXXX I thought you were talking about the NES Mini one but sure a SNES USB one also exist though that one would be hard to find as it isn't made by Nintendo but by a third party (RetroUSB was their name I think). All they did was replace the original SNES wire with a USB one. I own one myself and it works great on all my emulators.

Also you can use this adapter to attach any Wii classic controller, Wii SNES Classic Controller, or NES Mini controller to a USB compatible devices such as a PC or an Ouya and play it on there. It's now available at Raphnet. So yes there is a way for you to use the NES Mini controller on your PC and your Wii.

Here is their website:

http://www.raphnet-tech.com/products/wusbmote_adapter/index.php

@retro_player_22 Ah, okay. That picture you posted before also said Classic Controller, so no way was that going to have USB.

So, you have to mod it then, to get it to work with this RetroEngine console. I think I'd just go for original controllers and USB converters, they are available for almost any type of connector.

The Bios are only for the disk type games.

It looks fun but i bet this wont get off the ground and i dont trust kickstarter campaigns

Nah, already got a Wii, PSP, and PC for emulation. The only thing I could want out of a standalone emulator is reliable Saturn execution... Fat chance. SSF for JP and Yabause for EN is the best we've got for now. Although they're not too bad, considering you just need the system BIOS and game image mounted with Daemon for it to work, but it's still kind of a hassle. And some games glitch out when they do work, like Panzer Dragoon Saga on Yabause.

lol folks having a haaard time getting that saturn part to boot hahaha

@ogo79 It is pretty much the most difficult major console to emulate of all time.

@PlywoodStick
indeed thats why i said that lol
ive always hoped for a system similar to the retron that boots sega cd, saturn, dreamcast , ps1 and ps2 discs...to hell with a region lock. if that system operated correctly id drop some hundreds on it

2600 vcr ? ha ha my gavoourite movies

@ThanosReXXX @Bunkerneath Well, if it is just an Emulation Station thing inside a box, and it is, computer emulation is freaking hard since you actually need a keyboard.
Emulation Station is good but also not exactly user friendly, that's probably why they didn't show any computer games here, I guess.

@Alessandro_P It's RetroPie. The menu is exactly the same. But even besides that, if it is so hard to emulate computers with keyboards, then why do they have Amstrad and Atari ST on that list?

The Atari ST was the main competitor for the Commodore Amiga, so if that can be emulated on there, so can the Amiga and the C64.
EDIT:
RetroPie's homepage even shows Commodore C64 and Amiga support:
https://retropie.org.uk

@ThanosReXXX Because there is support, and the emulators work fine! Maybe with the ST and the Amstrad CPC, the emulator doesn't need a physical keyboard to play and so they put it is, but I can assure you that, with a gamepad alone, Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum, even if they work, are absolutely unplayable: the gamepad buttons and directions are used for emulation functions and not for direction/button press, you need a keyboard to run game, change stuff, etc..
If they're selling this machine as a pure gaming console, they can't take the risk to add such things to the mix, I guess.

@Alessandro_P ZX Spectrum? Where did you get that from? Blasphemy! We were talking about the Amiga!

@Alessandro_P And I own several models Commodore Amiga and if you insert a floppy disk with a game on it, most of the time only a mouse is needed, so no keyboard necessary at all.

The Atari ST is more or less the same as the Commodore Amiga, and both are home computers that also play games, so if that is on this little box, then so could the Amiga. One isn't more keyboard dependent than the other.

@ThanosReXXX Yeah, I know, but still, if the emulator doesn't use the gamepad for controlling the game but just for emulation stuff (and there is no easy way to remap the controls, not at all, believe me) the game may work, but you just can't play it... XD

@ThanosReXXX Ahahahahah, sorry, but I was talking about a computer I don't have and of which I need emulation... I have an Amiga (even if I have a bad relation with it!)!

@Alessandro_P Well, I have Amiga emulators on both my Wii and on my DSi, and they work perfectly, so I have no idea which problems you're talking about.

Most console Amiga emulators are a fork of WinUAE, the best Amiga emulator on Windows. They've probably already remapped controls when they ported it to consoles, so that it would work with only buttons and directional controls.

@ThanosReXXX I haven't tried WinUAE on Retropie yet, and evereything you're saying makes a lot of sense; but still, for example, Commodore 64 runs on Retropie with Vice, which is an incredible emulator on Windows: on Retropie, though, when you boot a game, everything is confused.
The controls on the pad are a mess (right on the analog stick is down on the emulator menu, down on the d-pad is 'enter', etc.) and there is no easy way to remap the controls without a physical keyboard. If you know how to use a Pi and Retropie it's fine, but this Retroengine will be probably sold as a ready-to-go unit... And some emulator, while working extremely well, are way, waaay far from ready-to-go!

@Alessandro_P Well, I will have to take your word for that. I only know of RetroPie by name: I've never used a Raspberry Pi or related stuff before, but I figured since the Amiga system was shown on the RetroPie page, that it would work normally in all versions of RetroPie. And they have in-game footage too.

And that still leaves one question open: like I said before, the Atari ST is almost exactly the same kind of system as an Amiga A500, so why would that be included in this retro console and the Amiga not? The Atari ST also needs keyboard support.

That is why I suspect that other emulators can be added if someone wishes to do so.

@ThanosReXXX Yes, there are tons of emulators in Retropie that aren't in that list. Most are in an experimental state and don't work properly.
I'll try Atari ST myself to see if it works without going crazy over keyboard issues!

Still, I wonder why they put MAME on the list.
MAME on Retropie, with all the problems tied to the constant changing of the roms, is confused as hell (and also, in some occasion, can't work properly without a keyboard, which is absurd) XD

To make it simple: they're trying to sell the most user unfriendly thing ever as a plug and play thing, and it is incredibly far from that. XD

@Alessandro_P They will first have to succeed in their kickstarter campaign, so we may never even see it become a reality anyway.

When they've passed that requirement, they can worry about getting all the emulators working in a closed system without a keyboard...

Or maybe, one of those USB ports also allows for a keyboard to connect, or perhaps they'll have Bluetooth support for keyboards, who knows?

@Alessandro_P And MAME will work perfectly. If they can sell MAME arcade cabinets, then that problem must have been eradicated long ago already, since cabinets are also closed systems with even less buttons on average than a home console controller.

And if you get that Atari ST emulator to work without too much keyboard hassle, then the same will be true for the Amiga one, so maybe you should give that a go too...

Currently, I myself was busy adding the final emulator to my Wii and DSi: fMSX with all the ROMs available. Got it to work like a charm, on both systems. And the MSX is another keyboard heavy system, but it did also use cartridges for the games, so most games will work just fine.

@zip in the end Nintendo,Sega and Sony will be off this list.so yes is true

@slim80 It's not. You don't need a proprietary bios to emulate any system. Sure it makes things easier to have one, but it's not needed.