What it is
“Retron” is a series of emulator video-game consoles developed and manufactured by Hyperkin, with the intent of letting you play those “retro” video games with convenience, from a console likely cheaper than the original. The Retron 5 is, naturally, the fifth (and latest, as of the time of this writeup) product in the series.
Features
The Retron 5 is a singular console that allows you to play games from the Nintendo Entertainment System, Famicom, Game Boy/color/advanced, Sega Genesis, and Super Nintendo. It possessess 5 cartridge slots; four on top for the consoles, and one in the front for the Game Boy cartridges. It also supports emulator game-specific “cheats”, if you so desire – you download the “cheat” files onto an SD card, insert the card into your Retron, and then you can pull up a menu from within the console’s home screen that displays the cheats for only the inserted game. (There’s some really interesting ones on there, but I’m too afraid of bricking my cartridges or console to even try it.)
Aside from the cartridges and the cartridge options, there’s also some system-wide settings that are “improvements” upon the original graphics. Firstly, the graphics are in full HD by default; crisp pixels that you couldn’t have gotten on a CRT television. However, you can change the resolution and aspect ratio to your heart’s desire, as well as image enhancement that applies filters to attempt to “smooth” the pixels. It lets you turn on simulated scanlines; they’re not customizable and not great but… I still prefer them over nothing.
The Retron, being emulator technology, supports save-states, and I believe offers 10 save-state slots. It does not, however, mark or indicate if a slot is in use, much less what game is using it. You’ll have to write them down on a notebook and pray you don’t overwrite one by accident. (I only use it to keep my Tetris high scores, since the NES Tetris wipes the high scores after the game gets shut off. (Also, I used it one time on Super Metroid, shhhhhhh)
The system has inputs for all the various controller types, but it also comes with a wireless controller out of the box, which is complete shit. You can tell how cheap it is just by holding it it, it probably cost them 15 cents to produce. The buttons feel horrible to press, the D-pad is super imprecise. It’s total shit, absolutely ruins the experience of playing the game. You can purchase one of the controllers off their website for the reasonable and fair price of only $39.99 USD, though :-) (For reference, I believe an 8BitDo controller is under 30, and the 8BitDo SNES controller that I have feels super nice, durable, the buttons are satisfying.)
Personal thoughts
I’ve had mine for two years now I believe, and it works great. Runs all my old games. (I mainly play Tetris, Galaga, Zelda, Metroid II, and Super Metroid. I also have Sonic for the Genesis but I always get stuck in this one underwater part and I’ve done it so many times that the game isn’t fun anymore. I have a ton of others that I pick up every once in a while.) It runs them fine, no problem.
The console is very light, though; not weighted down (it’s made of plastic), and the NES pins on the slot are really really tight, so I have to put a lot of oomph into it and hold the console down with one hand as I remove the cartridge. It’s really, really annoying. I like the tactile sensation of inserting and removing games, but not NES games, not on this thing.
Also, it only outputs HDMI. A lot of people says that this is great for recording super crisp images of old games on a capture-card that can’t be done on a regular console (which is true, I’m sure), but I really don’t like this because one has to use an HDMI to RCA converter to play it on a CRT television. HDMI support is great, but if it’s a console that runs these old games it really should have RCA inputs.
The menu is kind of hideous, which I don’t like. But it works fine. The in-game overlay lets me adjust the volume, which I do like.
Playing those old gameboy games on a big TV with an SNES controller is so nice. Yes, I know you could actually do that on an SNES, but I never did as a kid, so it’s nice. Plus, with HDMI, I can run it on any current TV or monitor that I want :)
Sometimes it doesn’t recognize games, and you have to insert the game multiple times to get it to work. (This only happens with Tetris, every other game works fine. It’s either the system or the cartridge. I haven’t bothered buying another Tetris to find out.)