Gaming never goes out of style. The titles you played when you were a child, sitting in front of a huge TV, blowing on cartridges to make them work, and attempting to find secret areas that you knew absolutely, positively existed are as incredible now as they were then. Retro gaming isn’t good because it’s hip, but because quality games don’t have expiration dates. That’s why the RetroN 5 is the best console a player can own.
That may seem odd to say. After all, the RetroN 5 isn’t an official console. It’s a hybrid created by Hyperkin to play games from multiple, cartridge-based systems. It may seem odd to suggest spending $160 on a system that only plays older games, especially since a little thrift shop hunting could turn up the actual systems for a fraction of the price, but it’s worth it. The RetroN 5 made me a believer when I bought it earlier this month, and it’ll work the same magic on you.
Part of it is the convenience. The issue with these older consoles is that they don’t often play nice with modern TVs. They were designed for the CRT monitors of our youth. Even if you do get it working with your TV, the image may not look “right.” The RetroN 5 is wonderful because it eliminates the issue by connecting to an HDTV via a HDMI cable and offers multiple filter options that let you find the one that works best for whichever game you’re playing.
Convience also ties into shelf space. The RetroN 5 plays NES, Famicom, SNES, Super Famicom, Mega Drive, Genesis, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance cartridges. There wouldn’t be enough room for between three and six consoles otherwise. This resolves that issue.
Also, I don’t know if you remember, but back in the old days games were hard. They were designed to ensure everyone felt like they got their money’s worth, with all sorts of artificial challenge added. Again, the RetroN 5 makes things more convenient by letting you add cheat lists onto an SD card, pop it into the system, and use them in any game at your leisure. That same SD card can also store screenshots, game saves, and language patches for foreign titles, ensuring you easy progress and new memories.
The only issue some might have is that the RetroN 5 didn’t exactly start off on the right foot. There were some launch issues with compatibilities, features, and overall performance. It’s been a year since then, though, and most issues have been worked out. Especially since Hyperkin has released firmware updates that make sure the system runs much smoother. And even if something does bother you, like the bluetooth controllers, you can always get original controllers and use those instead.
The RetroN 5 is an amazing machine. We all get nostalgic about our gaming pasts, but technology and time often keep us from returning to the games we loved. We don’t have the right equipment or even the same skills as we did back then. The RetroN makes it easy to enjoy our old favorites and, if we need to, even cheat to make sure it feels just like it did when we were younger.