WELL THIS IS INTERESTING.. Retron 5

[Thierry Henry]

Thanks guys.
Did the update, all is well.

I'd recommend 2.0 BETA 6 as that's the one I have, also the most stable and has the most features right now.

Yup. That's what I updated to.

If you can push down between the cart slots on top and it doesn't bend and if your system has little rubber caps over the controller ports on the side -- it's new, the solid well built model.

Check and check.
Glad that's the one I've received.

Also if you want to use translations, hacks, and other junk, just copy it on the card and leave it there as the game system will pick it up. You just go into a menu before starting the game and activate those fixes and it will run them.

Good to know! Thanks.


BTW, as suggested, I'm putting that controller aside. It's just not for me.

I was intent though on a wireless controller option.
So I hooked up one of my SNES retrobit controller adapters to it.
Controller syncs fine, but sadly that's as far as it goes. All buttons are non-functional.





The one other thing I was a little peeved about was the fact that the system/box had clearly been opened and the console almost looked slightly used.
A fair few light scuff marks on the body.

This is not the first time that I've had issues with international shipping via Amazon's i-parcel.
Seems they open the packages/parcels and "inspect" the contents before sealing everything up and sending it on it's way.

[skel28]

I've read before that wireless controllers (other than the supplied) won't work on the RetroN5. Get yourself some original wired controllers and you won't go wrong mate.
Cheers.

[Tanooki]

NO controllers work with the R5 unless they add them. Stock controllers and those that detect as them because they don't have added features (ie: NES/SNES Advantage, etc) will work. Stuff like that wireless competitor one will not. It won't even use the Arkanoid VAUS controller because they never got one in office to add detection to the system.

The SNES Mouse does work, it even works to navigate the retron menu system.

If you want the second best option (or first wired) get the SNES Asciipad made by the same dudes as the SNES Advantage and detects the same, it's just not a joystick. You get independent turbo on every single button and slo-mo too. Since it was the one thing Nintendo did give a license to, it has a legit Nintendo d-pad on it so it's comfy.

[ExedExes]

My newest (and first) import for the Retron 5: Pinball Challenge Deluxe (GBA - Europe), was recognized and works perfectly.

(screenshots enlarged)

[Tanooki]

Dude! GOOD JOB! I'm happy to see someone knows what the hell that game is who isn't from the UK. Seriously by all accounts the best damn pinball game on the system, and if you like UK imports, also get Pinball Advance as it's stunning as well, just less tables.

I own that one and have twice over the years for a long stretch. That there is a combination of the old Amiga/DOS games of Pinball Dreams and Pinball Fantasies (4 tables per game, 8 total.)

Here's a fun factoid for you that is a real crap eater. Ubisoft screwed the developer. Fire that game up in an emulator with a ROM, get a high score, and see what happens.

If you reset the game the save it still there, if you play on a cart it's gone. Ubisoft second to no one but maybe Capcom in being cheap on that system of the big developers decided the 50 cent battery the developer requested wasn't cost effective so they removed the save capability by not soldering one on the board. The developer was furious about it and was all too happy to vent about those dicks to me a decade ago over email. His attitude was if you're not from our region which I wasn't, I don't care if you warez it, at least it'll work right. (hah!)

So if you're using a R5, that game will behave like normal basically since it always hot saves your last moment played, and you can save state the battery that way too.

[ExedExes]

I'm a huge fan of the DICE pinball games, probably the biggest fan on RB. I had a CD in the 90s that had Dreams 1 & 2 for DOS, I picked up the SNES port of Fantasies last year, and I have the Pinball Gold Pack from GOG (contains Dreams 1 & 2 and Fantasies).

I was looking for this GBA port for years because it does NOT come up online often, then someone from the UK had it complete with box and manual. Olaf Gustafsson's music is perfectly preserved, which is nice, plus they added some nice graphics to the original tables.

Interesting story about Binary Nine (the developer) getting screwed by Ubi. For some reason, I'm not surprised, Ubi can be just as slimy as EA sometimes. I noticed there was just the program ROM when I opened it up and no save features whatsoever. But yes, the Retron 5 will preserve those scores.

[Tanooki]

Wow nice, maybe I'm #2 then?

I used to have all those packages along with the stuff EPIC did such as Silverball back in the DOS days. Since that time I snapped up the GBA port there, then I had the MINIS on PSP/PS3 until I lost access to that, and I do have that big CD worth of all their tables as a GoG.com download file (pinball gold pack.) I've had theSNES ports of Fantasies and Dreams, GB too, and man every last one but Dreams (SNES) were god awful so I got rid of them.

You're right about the music, it's very well sampled so the loss is minimal.

It's a sad story what Ubisoft did because they told them up front it would save, and they dumped the battery just as it went into production so they were pissed off. Even in public media stories of their work back then I remember them talking up the save feature saying only people with kits or emulators could save as they were not happy at all.

Even owning the game I still had them on my last 2 GBA kits I've owned just because it would hold my data. At least now the R5 can do it.

[ExedExes]

Sounds like you're just as big into them as me then. The SNES ports are good but I hear the Atari Jaguar version of Fantasies is very well done.

I like the Pinball Gold Pack because it's exactly what I had on the old CD I had, 8 tables plus the history section and they threw in Fantasies and those extra tables that Spidersoft did themselves with no involvement from DICE. I totally forgot Pinball Illusions was also included on the GOG package.

This GBA port is very spot on and I'm glad to finally have it, and it's a good fit for the Retron 5.

[Tanooki]

I got introduced to them in 1995 in HS. We had this college professor who ended up teaching this desktop publishing class (Dr Jerry) and he handled it like a college course but very lax too. If you got your work done you were allowed to do ANYTHING on the computers and he'd even let people go on food runs if they'd bring him back something too. A friend of mine warez'd up Pinball Fantasies and threw it on a disk for me and I was hooked with that stunning MOD music out of the crappy PC speaker that I had no idea could do anything other than ear shattering BEEPS and SCREECHING. After that I was on the BBS's looking for Dreams and it rocked too (love Steel Wheels best.) I dug further, then I got all those Epic tables though Silverball was my love the most, the fantasy table with the dragon was stunning.

I'd say we're even, I just never brought it up really before since I never see old 90s digital pinball come up. Again I'd strongly suggest you find Pinball Advance, at least get the ROM and get a taste since it's UK too. I got lucky a little over a year ago, some dude oddly put it up alone and usually was a car salesman of all things out of TN so I snapped it up CIB for like $10. It's good quality pinball, far better than the shite we got entirely in our region. Not to knock Pinball of the Dead or Sonic Pinball Party, but they're not really pinball and more an adventure with pinballs like Kirby or Sonic.

[ExedExes]

Oh gosh I had a similar situation in a computer course, basically we'd smuggle in games for downtime. I fancied some Epic Pinball and the Microprose F-117 flight sim.

Steel Wheel is great. My high score on the GOG package is 36 million. I even grabbed a MOD player and copied the files from the CD onto the computer. HG 101's writeup for PCD mentioned that Binary Nine used a MOD player which is why everything sounds perfect.

I only got the complete Epic Pinball CD off Amazon a few months ago. It also had a bonus table not found on the non-shareware version.

I will check for Pinball Advance. Europe got all the good pinball stuff, but I can understand that with the popularity of the home computers around that time. I've got other GBA pinball stuff like Pinball of the Dead, Sonic Pinball Party, Pac Man Pinball Advance, etc. but none can match the "simulation" pinball of the 90s at all.