Retro-Bit Generations

[Fragems]

Hadn't heard of this till I bumped into the Amazon preorder page.



Apparently Retrobit is making a plug and play with around 100 arcade games including some foreign titles . System also features a SD card slot(meant for gamesaves) and HDMI out. Currently listed at $60 which is right in line with the NES Classic Edition. Probably won't be nearly as nice but I don't mind seeing more competition crop up.

Game List:

1942
1943
2048
10-Yard Fight
Aguna
Apocalypse II
Argus
Astrohawk
Astyanax
Avenging Spirit
Banishing Racer
Bases Loaded
Bashi Bazook: Morphoid Masher
Battle Squadron
Battle Unit Zeoth
Big Run
Bionic Commando
The Black Bass
The Blue Marlin
Brawl Brothers
Broken Circle
Captain Commando
City Connection
Commando
Corn Buster
Creepy Bird
Escape from Atlantis
Exed Exes
Exerion
Field Combat
Forgotten Worlds
Formation Z
Fortified Zone
Free Fall
Ghosts ’N Goblins
Gun.Smoke
Hammerin' Harry
Hero Pinball Party
Higemaru
Holy Diver
Hoops
The Ignition Factor
Ikari no Yousai 2 (Fortified Zone 2)
Image Fight
JaJaMaru no Daibouken
Jim Power
Kaitetsu Yanchamaru 3 (Kid Niki 3)
Kickle Cubicle
Kid Niki: Radical Ninja
Knights of the Round
Kung-Fu
Kung-Fu Master
Lan Master
Lawn Mower
Legend E
Major Title Golf
Maru's Mission
Mazezam
Mercs
Mr. Bloopy
Night Defender 2
Ninja JaJaMaru-Kun
Onslaught
Operation Logic Bomb
The Peace Keepers
Pinball Quest
Questforge
R-Type 3
Ring King
Rival Turf
Rockfall
Rocky Rodent
Rod Land (Game Boy)
Rod Land (NES)
Skip and Friends
Smart Mouse
Soldam
SonSon
Sumo Slam
Super Bases Loaded
Super Bases Loaded 3
Super Earth Defense Force
Super Ghouls ’N Ghosts
Super Noah's Ark
Super Professional Baseball 2
Super R-Type
Sword of Sodan
Thor's Quest
Totally Rad
Tuff E Nuff
Varth: Operation Thunderstorm
Water Margin
Yang Warrior Family
Youkai Club
Zippy Race
Zooming Secretaries

[samsonlonghair]

Retro Bit actually announced this before Nintendo announced the NES mini.

Overall I like the Generations better. I like the obscure games. I like the SD card slot. I like the USB ports.

Still, I'm more likely to drop my money on the NES mini to re-buy games I already own, and I suspect that I'm not alone. Weird, isn't it?

[Ziggy]

This is the first I'm hearing about it. Sounds neat, but I'd have to wait to hear about the quality before purchasing one. The few things I've owned from Retro Bit were cheaply made.

[Anapan]

That short-list is really well picked, but missing a lot. No Pacman? The price isn't good, but the convenience will make it a good choice for consumers looking for an easy arcade experience.

I'm right-now running CLR to merge an old romset for a Raspberry Pi before culling crap for a shortlist in Mame4all (it's an old Model1 I lent to a friend years ago - gonna install it in the dash of the truck so most libretro ports are less responsive).
For the price you could easily have ~ 2000+ games by putting your own hardware together and following an easy guide... People are making handhelds and full arcade cabinets for under $120.
Still, neat (and legal).

I wonder if it's actually a Raspberry Pi inside? Maybe one of the cheaper clones?

[BoneSnapDeez]

Dude, I wants.

They can't be all arcade games though. I see lots of console exclusives on that list.

So, anyone know what version of, say, 1943 is on this? Arcade? NES?

Either way, I see this in my future.

[darsparx]

Another of these types of systems? I mean great for those who don't already own these in some form but really?

[Ghegs]

I remember reading about this earlier in the year and it was all arcade titles then, apparently that changed at some point.

Now this feels like a hodge podge of titles with no rhyme or reason. Two versions of Rod Land? Kid Niki 3 but not the first two? The SNES titles R-Type 3 and Super R-Type but not any of the arcade ones? And the free NES homebrew Zooming Secretary?

I think I was more interested about it when it was a focused collection of arcade games. Sometimes less is more.

EDIT: Found the latest promo video at

Apparently many of the titles listed are in actuality the home ports. Bionic Commando, Image Fight, Mercs...footage of their home console versions are shown there, not of the arcade originals.

[Sarge]

Note that it has Holy Diver. Pretty nuts.

[Ghegs]

Note that it has Holy Diver. Pretty nuts.

Which is by Irem, the people behind this must've got some package deal with them.

I have a legit CIB copy of the game so the game's not a selling point to me personally, but it is pretty neat that the game finally gets an official release outside Japan.

[darsparx]

Geez...just ebay'd that one to see the price, and that's even more nuts....starting out for a legit copy is 87 o_O