I am looking to get my brother one of these consoles since he wants to get into retro gaming (nostalgic for his childhood), yet does not want to play emulators on a computer, and has cartridges and controllers for his old consoles anyway.
I heard these types of consoles though have pretty shoddy quality, so I am hesitant. The price points for these consoles ($100 or less) is a major plus as well as the fact that they play the consoles my brother is nostalgic for (NES, SNES, Genesis, Game Boy, Game Boy Color).
So what is /vr/ 's take on these things, and what is the best one you can get on the market right now in terms of quality?
>>3347870
My wife's son says the Retron is good.
This has to be bait
My wife and her boyfriend love the retron i bought them
Softmodded Wii/Xbox.
An old laptop with a busted screen and VGA/HDMI.
If money for multiple consoles is the problem; emulate.
If space for multiple consoles is the problem; emulate.
If money and space for multiple games is the problem; flashcart.
There is no excuse to spend $100 on an emulator that still needs the original games.
All the authenticity of emulating with the convenience of physical carts.
Also wife memes etc.
The most popular one of those is the Retron5, which is an android-based emulation machine.
You're literally better off with a cheap laptop, install something like Lakka if you want a dedicated retro gaming box, then get some USB adapters to use retro controllers.
It will emulate the games better too.
The only real advantage I see is that it comes with a native HDMI output. The idea of wireless controllers is kind of neat, but the ones I've seen all look fucking horrible and inauthentic so you'll end up plugging in the old wired ones.
Just get him an OEM console in good condition.
There are also a variety of emulator frontends that look all shiny and eliminate the need to click menus and shit. My personal favorite is "EmulationStation", I run it on a few netbooks and a raspberry pi. It boots up straight to a shiny, "modern" looking interface that shows logos and box art, etc and lets you launch games straight from a USB or wireless gamepad. You will have to be somewhat competent to set this up (~4-6 hours for a noob, more like ~1.5 if you work in IT/aren't retarded).
If the goal is real nostalgia, just buy him the original hardware. That's what my wife's son says, anyways
>>3347914
>EmulationStation
Upgrade to LaunchBox man. you won't regret it.
>>3347982
> Closed-source
> Freemium
> Windows only
what the fuck is wrong with you
Super Retro Trio for me. The only problem I find is that it won't play Castlevania 3 without doing some soldering job.
Otherwise it's great and very convenientand my wife and her son love it!
>>3347870
Don't be a fucking idiot.
>>3348242
Sorry, I was under the impression I was communicating with a straight man who doesn't use broken, outdated frontends.
Sure, I had all my old consoles working fine, but the scart cables were so expensive, and the converter for RGB Scart to HDMI was just too much money!
I'll spend it instead on a 100 dollar retron 5, and get the best bang for my buckaroo!
>>3347870
Don't.
They're just emulators with illegal copies of software running in them.
Everyone should own a Retron 5.
It's a great way to enjoy old games without the hassle of having multiple consoles and tons of wires.
>>3349360
lol
>>3348594
>2016
>proprietary software
>>3349441
<current year
>>3349230
This is fucking wrong, if you're going to try and give advice, get your shit right. Only the Retron 5 and the RetroFreak are emulator boxes. Most other clones are hardware clones of varying quality.
I love my retro trio
>>3349445
>any year
>windows
>tfw /vr/ has learned well from your techings
The only thing I'd add is that clone consoles can be a fun novelty if you get them for ~$1-$19. Good for small installations or fun little projects
>>3349501
what console is that in your pic?
>>3349501
>Someone destroyed a Mario's Cement Factory to make this
>>3349501
Good execution but fucking Jesus, the gore...
>>3349441
>M-man I sure love using my obscure Linux distro, it's so much better than Windows, I'm so cool!
Windows is fine if you trim the fat, you're just being a hipster.
![NINTENDO%20PANORAMA%20SCREEN%20MARIOS%20CEMENT%20FACTORY.%2004[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/oypVhDg.jpg "NINTENDO%20PANORAMA%20SCREEN%20MARIOS%20CEMENT%20FACTORY.%2004[1].jpg")
>>3349528
LoL that's exactly what everyone in his forum was saying. He bought it broken. Completely corroded internals iirc.
>>3349520
It's a Famiclone built into a vintage Nintendo LCD mini-cabinet of one of the early Game & Watch games. Medium rare ~$150
>>3347870
>yet does not want to play emulators
The Retron is an emulator.
Just get a Raspberry Pi if you want to go this route, it's cheaper and supports more consoles.
>>3349556
theoretically, thanks to the proliferation of SBCs there's at least 3 main sources to make an DIY emu console:
-Raspberry pi - the cheapest of them all and the most supported, but, given the unique architcture it's software is way too much specialized and limited, outside of the common emu/media options.
-the odroid - middle price with the U3 , higher with the XU4, using the samsung exynos processors and based in pure android, it has a wider range of programs to run than the raspi
-the lattepanda - at the same level of price than the Odroid XU4, using an intel x86 processor (atom x5 z8500) and win10 based, retroemu wise it should be the absolute best option, but the higher price, and low support for being a new board, might make some people to consider it yet, the same would go to the udoo x86 that's also coming.
>>3349536
>I don't like his software choice and because it's not the most popular I'll call him a hipster!
You don't even try to refute his point. You shouldn't need to trim the fat on a commercial product, why are you giving Windows a pass for this shit? Have fun with you inability to turn off the built in antivirus and being unable to control when updates install on Windows 10, have fun "trimming that fat"
>>3349775
>Assuming I was talking about Windows 10 in the first place
No way. It'd be better to use a TI-83 than a computer with Windows 10.
>>3347870
But none of those are retro sport.
Probably the GBC. Most of the other retro consoles that can play multiple systems games require an adapter.
I've got a retro duo.
It's worked okay, and the built in s-video is really nice.
The main problems I had with it are that games with the SA-1 chip in it (Mario RPG and Kirby's dreamland 3) would be very finicky and only sometimes work for it.
You're better off tracking down the original systems.
>>3347885
Oh my god can you shut the fuck up with this "bait" shit. Its like half of all genuine questions or opinions asked here are followed by "LOL THIS IS BAIT". Just answer the fucking question or don't even bother posting, you look fucking stupid
>>3349781
Totally with you. I used a plain Win 7 Ultimate install on a fairly old PC with some $15 composite adapter and that's worked fine for me. It would not be considered adequate for a serious enthusiast, and I absolutely admit that a good Linux distro would function better, but it makes troubleshooting simple and it's easy to add functionality.
>>3349775
I think we can all agree that Win10 isn't great.
>>3347880
I have one of these in my shed for when my wife's boyfriend comes over.
