Opinions on the Retro Freak console from Japan?

[Floob]

Do you guys think this is just a JP copy of the Retron 5 - or more than that?
http://www.retrocollect.com/News/pre-or ... japan.html

Here is a translated product page:
https://translate.google.co.uk/translat ... rofreak%2F

I'm tempted, but then I'm thinking the in-system menus will be hardcoded in Japanese.

[CkRtech]

I bet either they or someone else can provide translated menus.

Functionality-wise, it seems to run circles around the Retron 5. Glad to see PC Engine's inclusion since America (at least) is "PC what?" "Turbo what?" when it comes to that stuff.

[D]

Does it play teh romzis?

[CkRtech]

Does it play teh romzis?

And rips them. Yes.

[Fudoh]

As far as I understood the base system is simple ARM-based emu PC. With a little effort this could turn out more solid than the Retron 5 already. The MiniSD card slot accepts ROMs of the listed systems. Available add-ons are the controller adapter and the cartridge adapter. Given that the core system plays roms the cartridge adapter seems a bit odd though. It's nothing but a gadget if you already got your roms running.

[bobrocks95]

Does it violate GNU licences by using RetroArch cores too?

[BONKERS]

It probably uses stolen software just like the Retron5 does.

There's no way they are spending tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars to have someone write even remotely accurate emulators from scratch. Let alone ones that run well on low end ARM hardware. (And even if they licensed from say Libretro, they'd still be violating the licenses under which various cores are sub-licensed under. Just like the Retron5 and the SNES core, which they directly violate the license of. Only because there are no other cores they could steal that would run even remotely well)

[Fudoh]

On the Retron they had a use a lot of protection to keep roms directly from running. I think here it's openly advertised as running roms from SD card, which would also defeat the reason to keep the emulation core protected. This way they could keep the emu cores accessable and open source and just add their front end or launcher application.

[alamone]

I think here it's openly advertised as running roms from SD card

It doesn't say this anywhere on their website. All it says is that you can install games (that you own of course) onto the SD card using the cartridge reader.
I sort of doubt you can just drag and drop ROMs into the SD card.

[alamone]

Available add-ons are the controller adapter and the cartridge adapter.

The cartridge reader is included in both packs. There is no version sold that does not include the cartridge reader.
The difference between the two packs is that one includes the controller adapter.

[Fudoh]

Oh, ok, thanks for the clarification. Last time I checked the website they didn't have the content tables up yet, so I assumed the cartridge adapter was optional from the beginning.

Well, whatever they do, it doesn't look too bad and I honestly have a little more confidence in them than into the Retron units.

[alamone]

retronlabo (the guy who is hacking the Retron5) noted that in the Retron5 2.3beta firmware,
there are pathnames with the name "RetroFreak" in them.

Draw your own conclusions from that...

[Ed Oscuro]

retronlabo (the guy who is hacking the Retron5) noted that in the Retron5 2.3beta firmware,
there are pathnames with the name "RetroFreak" in them.

Draw your own conclusions from that...

I like these guys already.

[atheistgod1999]

If it doesn't have the original hardware, it can go screw itself.

[Elixir]

http://www.geocities.jp/obaky/retron5/r ... freak.html

In Japanese, but has extensive comparisons between the Retro Freak and Retron 5, among other things like preorder status. As of right now it's completely presold. I wonder if it's really worth the hype.

Here are Y!JP auctions and here are expired auctions.

[ELabit]

Too bad there isnt a good system like this that can output RGB. I would love a simple set up like this to bring to game meet ups along with a PVM

[quash]

My thoughts exactly. Why not add the features the original hardware didn't have/had to be modified to have?

[BONKERS]

That comparison sure doesn't make it look like it is just a modified Retron 5


As suspected.

[Fudoh]

Anybody know if this one's still on track for a release end of the month ?

[Fudoh]

seems to have shipped yesterday: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aja5CPp6e-U

Still interested to see if they learned from the Retron5's flaws. Hope to get one soon.

[FinalBaton]

seems to have shipped yesterday: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aja5CPp6e-U

Still interested to see if they learned from the Retron5's flaws. Hope to get one soon.

yeah I'm curious too. They have a good headstart (Retro Freak) with the ability to put roms on and sd card, stick it in the console and play those.
And also being able to take only the part of the console that holds the roms with you(without having to carry the part with the cart slots) is a nice feature.

Hoping the cart slots will be quality and that the console will recognize and read save files on carts. And better game compatibility than the Retron 5.

[Hoagtech]

seems to have shipped yesterday: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aja5CPp6e-U

Still interested to see if they learned from the Retron5's flaws. Hope to get one soon.

yeah I'm curious too. They have a good headstart (Retro Freak) with the ability to put roms on and sd card, stick it in the console and play those.
And also being able to take only the part of the console that holds the roms with you(without having to carry the part with the cart slots) is a nice feature.

Hoping the cart slots will be quality and that the console will recognize and read save files on carts. And better game compatibility than the Retron 5.

Cmon guys. Why would you ever tickle your fancy about an emulator box? When the original content still hasn't been fully explored?

Example: hdmi nes. Sd dreamcast. Wonderswan English translation patch carts, GameCube fpgas?

I don't see the magic In this when any one with 15 dollars could go to goodwill and buy a "windows Xp" desktop that would emulate 5000 times more content.

Well I could see why people might like it but it's not for me. My emulation days stopped when I played R-Type 3 on ZSNES and I noticed input lag. Never again. And they were one of the good emulators too. Although I liked project 64 because the original picture was terrible and actually made the emulator "look" better than original content, but then I tried playing the "slingshot rupee shooting game" in Hyrule and reconfirmed why I was not going to playing anymore emulators

[FinalBaton]

Cmon guys. Why would you ever tickle your fancy about an emulator box? When the original content still hasn't been fully explored?

Example: hdmi nes. Sd dreamcast. Wonderswan English translation patch carts, GameCube fpgas?

I don't see the magic In this when any one with 15 dollars could go to goodwill and buy a "windows Xp" desktop that would emulate 5000 times more content.

Well I could see why people might like it but it's not for me. My emulation days stopped when I played R-Type 3 on ZSNES and I noticed input lag. Never again. And they were one of the good emulators too. Although I liked project 64 because the original picture was terrible and actually made the emulator "look" better than original content, but then I tried playing the "slingshot rupee shooting game" in Hyrule and reconfirmed why I was not going to playing anymore emulators

It is actually not for me. I have a couple of friends who asked me, in the last few months, to recommend them a console emulation standalone machine. If the retron freak meets the criteria I posted above, it would make a good recommendation for them.

I have 7 consoles hooked up to my TV, so you're preaching to the choir here I will always prefer to play on real hardware. But while an emulation machine is not for me, there's no denying that it is a very convenient solution for a lot of people. Especially when you can copy roms from your computer, transfer them on the console, and carry just a small part of it (by removing the Cart Slot part) to a friend's house and hook that up to his /her HDTV and display an upscaled 720p image that will looks nice.

[cfx]

.

[BONKERS]

Well, I hope I am proven wrong. I am not expecting to be.

[Hoagtech]

In addition, seeing no use for this while simultaneously praising a SD-card modified Dreamcast seems rather disingenuous. That's pretty far from original hardware too.

Well it has a place in gem gaming. There are English translations to Japanese games available only in rom form. If I could I play one of these as an American on original hardware then sign me up.

That's the same reason I want the wonderswan rom flasher, not because I cannot afford Judgement Silversword but the fact my favorite Final Fantasy 2 version "ohh the music" is on wonderswan but has been translated to English. Even back on that judgment Silversword topic. There are 3 different versions that didn't make it to retail content.

I don't care if one of you guys picks one of these up (you might even enjoy it) but the OP asked for my opinion so BAM! there it is..

[arcadeswede]

If Retro Freak is able to do translationen patches then I'm buying it.
Retro videogames have become super expensive over the years, so living in Europe it's expensive to import your favorite games from the US for example.
The best way for me to get physical games is to buy famicom/super famicom games, these are a lot cheaper right now.

It's something about taking the cartridge out of the shelf, putting it into the console and play with the original controller. I only collect games that I enjoy, so for me, what's between the controller and the TV, doesn't really matter that much to me. As long as I'm getting the same playable feeling I did when I was a kid.

So yeah, I could use a computer with a USB controller instead but I already have all these physical games and I like to collect them.

[cfx]

.

[indiantotheright]

Hello, I'm new here.

The wealth of information and interesting discussion on Shmups Forum has contributed to my enjoyment of the hobby no end so it's high time I started giving something back!

I recently picked up a Retro Freak to have a mess around with. A few people on here were wondering if it plays roms directly from a microSD card. I can confirm that it does.

The UI is better than I expected and there's an English language option. It has recognized the twenty or so (PCE/MD/FC/SFC/GB/GBA) carts I've tried so far - upon inserting a game the main menu displays the format, title, publisher and release date. Here it automatically imports the save data from the cartridge and gives you the option to install the game to the microSD card.

Although inferior to gaming on a CRT or using an expensive upscaler, it doesn't look too bad and has minimal tearing/distortion. I've used New Famicom, Super Famicom, PC Engine and Dual Shock 4 controllers without any problems and surprisingly the default button mapping has actually had some thought put into it.

If anyone has any questions please fire away (not too technical though please!)

[Hoagtech]

If Retro Freak is able to do translationen patches then I'm buying it.
Retro videogames have become super expensive over the years, so living in Europe it's expensive to import your favorite games from the US for example.
The best way for me to get physical games is to buy famicom/super famicom games, these are a lot cheaper right now.

It's something about taking the cartridge out of the shelf, putting it into the console and play with the original controller. I only collect games that I enjoy, so for me, what's between the controller and the TV, doesn't really matter that much to me. As long as I'm getting the same playable feeling I did when I was a kid.

So yeah, I could use a computer with a USB controller instead but I already have all these physical games and I like to collect them.

I was trying to explain why I would probably NOT buy a retro freak console, because of the (most likely input lag and improper color palette) that plagues the retron 5.

If you had to play a translation patch and you want that "feel" of a classic console then you either have to mod the console to play backups or toms on the "original hardware"

@cfx I will not try to drop anymore strong opinions or coercing in the future. But I just dislike emulation for a few reasons.