Retro-Bit Generations

[samsonlonghair]

It doesn't help that the game list looks like it was compiled based on throwing darts at a Mame ROM list. No, this thing is about as serious and legit as it seems. They are hoping to get by without getting sued.

This is the part of the Retro-bit Generations that appeals to me, though. It looks easily hackable. There are two USB ports right up front and an SD card port right in the back. It's like they're begging the homebrew community to hack this bad boy.

Nintendo, on the other hand has done everything they reasonably can to discourage hackers from hacking the NES mini. It's not going to work of course; hackers love to do what they're told not to do. No doubt that the NES mini gets hacked sooner or later. Heck, someone already loaded some version of Linux into RAM.

Back to the Retro-bit Generations, I plan on getting one after the homebrew community has figured out how to turn this into a pre-made emulation box. It probably won't take long.

[Gunstar Green]

This is the part of the Retro-bit Generations that appeals to me, though. It looks easily hackable. There are two USB ports right up front and an SD card port right in the back. It's like they're begging the homebrew community to hack this bad boy.

Again though... if that's what you want the Raspberry Pi is sitting right there going, "Why bother?"

I don't really get this fascination with turning everything into sub-par emulation boxes when we've already got the means for a good, cheap, tiny emulation box.

[ExedExes]

More reviews are appearing on YouTube, and it's not looking good for this. Super Ghouls N Ghosts, Super R-Type, Legend, and Rival Turf are all running much quicker than they did on the SNES, about 1.5x I reckon. I also saw numerous complaints and video proof of Mercs running really slow. There's also audio channels missing from the non-Micronics Capcom NES ports like 1943 and Gun.Smoke.

Finally, Retrobit confirmed on their Facebook that all of these games *are* in fact licensed. I guess this Piko Interactive got the rights to games like Super Noah's Ark in addition to the homebrews they have on this too.

[Sarge]

Did they do a "PAL version on NTSC" thing here? Sure seems like they might have.

Anyway, very disappointing to hear. I'd love to snag one just for novelty's sake, but... eh.

[Tanooki]

More reviews are appearing on YouTube, and it's not looking good for this. Super Ghouls N Ghosts, Super R-Type, Legend, and Rival Turf are all running much quicker than they did on the SNES, about 1.5x I reckon. I also saw numerous complaints and video proof of Mercs running really slow. There's also audio channels missing from the non-Micronics Capcom NES ports like 1943 and Gun.Smoke.

Finally, Retrobit confirmed on their Facebook that all of these games *are* in fact licensed. I guess this Piko Interactive got the rights to games like Super Noah's Ark in addition to the homebrews they have on this too.

Well that's horrible. And yes you're right the stuff on there Piko either owns the rights to it, bought the license outright, or got a time window lease or profit sharing deal on the license which is why that stuff is there. His stuff unlike so many(most) other proto and homebrew peddlers is contractually legal and legit.

[samsonlonghair]

This is the part of the Retro-bit Generations that appeals to me, though. It looks easily hackable. There are two USB ports right up front and an SD card port right in the back. It's like they're begging the homebrew community to hack this bad boy.

Again though... if that's what you want the Raspberry Pi is sitting right there going, "Why bother?"

I don't really get this fascination with turning everything into sub-par emulation boxes when we've already got the means for a good, cheap, tiny emulation box.

No, stop! I refuse to join the cult of Raspberry Pi!

Why buy a radio? I could build a Raspberry Pi box that streams internet radio or plays an mp3 playlist for me.

Why buy a DVD? I could build a Raspberry Pi box that streams video over the internet.

Why buy a microwave? I could wire up my old microwave with a Raspberry Pi.

Why order a pizza? I could program a Raspberry Pi to order one for me from pizzahut.com with everything I like.

Why flip a light switch? I could program a Raspberry Pi to turn my lights on when I get home from work.

Why bother getting out of bed in the morning? A Raspberry Pi can fulfill all of my functions. Then I could wire up a Raspberry Pi with a robotic arm to smother me with a pillow while I sleep. Every other function in my life can be replaced with Raspberry Pi.

And in the end he had won the victory over himself. He loved Raspberry Pi.

[marurun]

Well, took you long enough, samson. Isn't it better now as part of the collective?

[samsonlonghair]

This is really Samson replying, and it's definitely NOT a Raspberry Pi programmed to reply for him.

I agree Raspberry Pi is the best.

You should buy a Raspberry Pi, and buy one for each of your friends and family members.

Raspberry Pi can do anything.

Raspberry Pi is love.

Obey Raspberry Pi.

[Gunstar Green]

Seriously though.

Every time something like this comes out I hear, "I HOPE THEY HACK IT AND TURN IT INTO AN EMULATION BOX!"

Why?

I mean if you're a hacker and you want to mess around with the hardware for fun, great I get that. Go nuts and disregard everything I've said and am going to say because you're doing it for hobby reasons.

But if you're just a gamer and you're going to put illegal ROMs onto the thing, thus defeating the purpose of buying it in the first place because you wanted to obtain the games on it legally, there are already other ways to do that. It doesn't even have to be a Raspberry Pi. Just about any cheap, small computer can handle these type of games better and easier and leave you with more options for customization.

It's like being given a job to hammer nails into a board and instead of choosing the hammer you prefer to modify a saw.

[Tanooki]

Agreed, and really if you don't want to deal with the PI mess, I mean I don't or I'd have one there are stupid easy alternatives. Ouya comes to mind, it's no slouch and any emulator for Android can be side loaded so that's fair game. Tiny cube profile, usb ports, easy to load network or manually, and can handle any bluetooth controller too.

This looks like a fairly unremarkable box with a bunch of halfassed randomly cherrypicked releases that'll probably not sell astoundingly well. At least say with something like that NES Classic Edition, if someone could bust it open, at least you get the benefit of the form factor and the controller (and controller choices) where you could have a really wicked looking little all ROMS NES box that would be fairly cool. But this thing, it has no curb appeal going for it at all and is more work to get done what you want.