WELL THIS IS INTERESTING.. Retron 5

[alienjesus]

I still seem to have trouble with Chiki Chiki Boys on one firmware adn with Sonic 3 on the other. There's no winning

[Gunstar Green]

Note sure what new updates would do, honestly. Things seem to be running smoothly now.

It can still be a little creaky on the Sega side of things, as mentioned above. I'm running the latest beta and don't have any problems except for occasional crashing to the menu. It's rare but annoying.

There's still room for improvement.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Gotcha.

Maybe if I played Sega games I would have noticed these things.

[Tanooki]

Maybe if I played Sega games on it too I would. I've only once stuck a Genesis game in there and then my model one non-tmss system showed up the next day and I'd rather use it especially now that I got an rca cable for it the other day as it's a real treat.

I always tested what I had on it, Nintendo. Even went the extra mile tracking down weird junk to get working on it like the mapper data for a few super vision carts, in particular the 115in1 I have so that works. Normally multicarts fail as the system will just dump the menu and not the ROMS under it within the big file on the cartridges chip(s.)

[Aaron C.]

My wonderful wife gave me my Retron 5 early for Christmas and I have to say, really digging it right now.

I have it set to Super Eagle and 60Hz and it looks and plays fantastic. Took it for a spin with Super Star Wars and Revenge of Shinobi and was very pleased with it. The only issue I had was one of my SNES controllers wigging out on me, but I'm not for sure if it was the system or the controller. Plugged in my other one and it worked with no problem so I'm guessing it's a controller issue.

The best part for me personally is the saving ability. It helps for me to enjoy my games without having to take up massive amounts of time like I could when I was 8 haha! It's easy to do and just works really well.

This does bring a up a good question, do you find save states as cheating? I don't think anyone can say it isn't cheating, especially in games that doesn't have a save feature, but I do feel like it is a huge convenience. I have made rules as far as games with levels progression. I don't save in a middle of a level. I only save at the beginning of the level. Basically a checkpoint save. I find differing opinion on this subject so I thought it would be a good discussion if it's not been had already.

Overall, I'm very impressed with the system. I seem to have got the updated one as the shell does not bend in. I did have a bit of an issue getting the Shinobi out of the Genesis slot, but the Super Star Wars came out very easily. This makes it easier for me to enjoy my game collection and play games I otherwise would have never had a chance to beat due to lack of time.

[BoneSnapDeez]

I've had occasional controller issues (only lately) too, and I know it isn't the controllers themselves.

For instance, my SNES controller kept registering that I was hitting X when I wasn't.

No idea what's happening but I have a vague theory that the Retron 5 controller itself may have been interfering somehow. See, lately I've had the R5 controller active, as I like to take screenshots and save states with it - with the R5 controller you can map these functions to one button as opposed to using down+start on a retro controller.

Anyway, I now only turn on that R5 controller when I really need it (as opposed to just leaving it plugged in and on) and the issues have mostly resolved.

do you find save states as cheating? I don't think anyone can say it isn't cheating, especially in games that doesn't have a save feature, but I do feel like it is a huge convenience. I have made rules as far as games with levels progression. I don't save in a middle of a level. I only save at the beginning of the level. Basically a checkpoint save. I find differing opinion on this subject so I thought it would be a good discussion if it's not been had already.

Over time my opinion has shifted from "yes" to "I don't give a shit." I play games during what little free time I have and for my own enjoyment. I'm not entered in a competition and my results ultimately don't matter. That said, I avoid save-scumming but I've been known to save state halfway through a level or whatever if I have to stop playing at an inopportune time.

[Tanooki]

I never liked or used save states, haven't on this either, but the hot save it does going to the menu I take advantage of. I've got a 4 year old and my time is limited, so if I'm in a game and I have to stop, I pop the menu up then shut it off and that's the limit of it. It's much like those hot saves GBC/GBA RPGs do and some other games where it has it, but once you re-load it it's gone. Seems fair to me.

Never had a controller issue, but I don't use the R5 pad and it's long since discharged. I setup button combos on my controller (almost always use SNES pad) so it suits my needs more than enough.

Funny thing I got that Genesis a couple months back, have yet to use it for Genesis as I've been using the real hardware. Go figure on that one. I think I'll end up using it though if I wish to commit to a long enough game and don't want to screw with passwords like whenever I get around to doing DUNE.

See that's something to consider save states for -- password replacement instead of having to write all that garbage down and not lose it. Save state a password screen, can't call that cheating, you earned it.

[Aaron C.]

I had the controller that came with it on when my controller went nuts, so that may be the reason as well.

It was just something interesting I heard someone say on a Podcast about how save states were cheating with on exception, but he didn't care either due to just the enjoyment he gets in playing games. I just think it's a convenience we didn't have, or possibly didn't need, as kids. Just not enough hours in a day to come home and beat a game on the Sega or SNES. And, to be quite honest, as much as I love playing game I suck at them haha! It takes me twice as long as most to beat games sometimes. I don't think I'll ever just save in the middle of a stage, but I'm cool with saving at the first part of each stage. And I never used a Game Genie as a kid so I think I've built up enough goodwill with the gaming spirits to use the save function haha!

[ExedExes]

It's certainly got me back into cartridge collection lately. In the past few months, my NES and SNES collections have increased. I try to make time on the weekends for the Retron 5. I use the SNES controller on everything, so that way on most games I got some neat hot-button combinations with L,R,X and Y free.

Over time my opinion has shifted from "yes" to "I don't give a shit." I play games during what little free time I have and for my own enjoyment. I'm not entered in a competition and my results ultimately don't matter. That said, I avoid save-scumming but I've been known to save state halfway through a level or whatever if I have to stop playing at an inopportune time.

That's my opinion as well. The ability to play multiple consoles and the picture/sound quality was nice, but the save states really sold me on this. It saves a LOT of time, especially with the games you just can't sit down and play real fast. Like right now I can play Battle of Olympus on my schedule, and no crazy weird passwords to have to worry about either.

I'm surprised it's holding up as well as it has considering it's an original and not the improved-built revision. The NES games still have a death grip sometimes (and require a certain seating-depth to be read right) but everything else comes out fine.

EDIT: There was a new firmware update released 12/9.

2.3 BETA 3 - Many game compatibility fixes - Stability improvements.

I'm sticking with 2.0 - 5/6 for now. I haven't had much luck past that point.

[Tanooki]

Yet another firmware. When I'm up to it I'll grab it. I should do some genesis on the r5 but I just got the console. It's fun being able to buy new games I've never seen and for pre hype pricing that roasted Nintendo. I still don't care to abuse save stages but as I said the hot save is a savior as it can keep a game going with a kid eaten limited schedule.

Not sure how I'd feel about using a SNES controller for genesis games but all the rest feels natural.