RetroFreak (11 consoles in 1)

[Tanooki]

Maybe? Or they're finally saying there's a NES adapter coming. Which in itself maybe pointing to a US/NTSC release outside of Asian areas. I don't see much of a use over there for NES carts as they mostly wouldn't care as they got far more and the un-neutered releases too.

Refresh my memory, this thing likes multicarts and flash kits which the retron5 gets all snooty about and ignores right? And what was the cost of this thing over there (not for importer abuse) as well was the controller adapter?

I may just have to box my pristine old Retron5 up and throw it to the wolves on ebay. I detest not being able to use a few of my bootlegs on the thing. And well the whole feature set has all the R5 does plus what people wish it did, including stuffing games into it so you can just fire them up off the system, and far better save file management/transfers/backups too.

[Jagosaurus]

Maybe? Or they're finally saying there's a NES adapter coming. Which in itself maybe pointing to a US/NTSC release outside of Asian areas. I don't see much of a use over there for NES carts as they mostly wouldn't care as they got far more and the un-neutered releases too.

Refresh my memory, this thing likes multicarts and flash kits which the retron5 gets all snooty about and ignores right? And what was the cost of this thing over there (not for importer abuse) as well was the controller adapter?

I may just have to box my pristine old Retron5 up and throw it to the wolves on ebay. I detest not being able to use a few of my bootlegs on the thing. And well the whole feature set has all the R5 does plus what people wish it did, including stuffing games into it so you can just fire them up off the system, and far better save file management/transfers/backups too.

True or just aiming for more US orders.

It'll just run ROMS right of SD card. No need for flash carts.

[Fragems]

Maybe? Or they're finally saying there's a NES adapter coming. Which in itself maybe pointing to a US/NTSC release outside of Asian areas. I don't see much of a use over there for NES carts as they mostly wouldn't care as they got far more and the un-neutered releases too.

Refresh my memory, this thing likes multicarts and flash kits which the retron5 gets all snooty about and ignores right? And what was the cost of this thing over there (not for importer abuse) as well was the controller adapter?

I may just have to box my pristine old Retron5 up and throw it to the wolves on ebay. I detest not being able to use a few of my bootlegs on the thing. And well the whole feature set has all the R5 does plus what people wish it did, including stuffing games into it so you can just fire them up off the system, and far better save file management/transfers/backups too.

This thing allows you to run roms right off an sd card and also allows you to dump your legit carts directly onto a sd card as well. So I don't think multi carts, repros, or etc. should have any issues.

Edit: As for price it's $200+ most places. I got lucky a year ago and snagged one for $150 on Amazon Warehouse deals, but sadly it was defective so I sent it back . Haven't bumped into one sub $150 since then. Amazon currently has the console bundled with the controller adapter for $230 which seems about the average.

https://www.amazon.com/Cyber-Gadget-Ret ... etro+freak

There are some cheaper ones for $210 or so but they are imports that take a month or more to arrive the $230 ones are from guys keeping stock in Amazon's warehouses so they take 2 days for Prime members and returns are a hell of a lot easier since you just deal with Amazon.

[Tanooki]

Fascinating, and that link lacks the NES adapter still since that website seems to note it is coming. They have 2 bundles popping one with just the retrofreak+NES adapter, and another new sku with the retrofreak+nes adapter+controller adapter.

I'd go for that last one there if I went for it. Sure $230~ or whatever sucks, hell it maybe the same price or more than the Switch ends up being which is kind of amusing. But given I have a barely touched Retron5 complete in the box here I'm sure I could cut the costs by nearly 1/2 so ...not a deal breaker.

[R9delta]

Refresh my memory, this thing likes multicarts and flash kits which the retron5 gets all snooty about and ignores right? And what was the cost of this thing over there (not for importer abuse) as well was the controller adapter?

It's not necessarily that the Retro Freak is better with those devices...in fact, it's really not better about that at all and I would expect the same compatibility as the Retron 5...just that the Retro Freak allows you to work around that particular issue. You don't need to mess with flash cartridges and multi-carts when the Retro Freak allows you to load roms (official or homebrew, doesn't matter) just fine in the first place without having to exploit the patch system like on the R5. Multi-carts and Flash Carts are still not going to work for the most part if those are your thing.

One thing you'll come to find out is at the Retro Freak's core...it and the Retron 5 are pretty much identical at the functional level. The menu may look different and there's some extra features that the Retro Freak has, and they have a different way of handling controllers...but apart from that they are similar to the point where either one blatantly ripped off the other or one company is a subsidiary of another or there's some mutual licensing going on. There's a reason why I make fix/make translation/conversion patches for people and the only thing I need to do is test them on the Retro Freak to know they'll work on the Retron 5 even though Retro Freak users aren't really my target audience.

I had a Retron 5 before it died out for no reason and I've owned a Retro Freak since then and while I prefer the Retro Freak by far for the extra features it has and the better quality control if you don't care for the Retron 5 because of how it works at a basic level you'll probably feel the same about the Retro Freak. If you liked the Retron 5 but had some minor issues it's likely the Retro Freak addresses most of them for you.

[Tanooki]

Had feeling that maybe the case with the core of it, but that confirms it.

I don't need a multicart to work. The R5 as it is, it won't run the modern super games 500in1 I have, but I have that fc mobile88 so I don't care. It will run the Supervision 115in1 because I had been friends with the coder for it and got him the mapper data online and he added while I waited over facebook and gave me a test link on their site to confirm it back then which was nice. I have no doubts it would not work in the RF if anything for that reason unless they lifted his code (as you said, maybe a shared entity.)

I liked the fact the RF could run more base systems if I ever ran across something. Also, it looks largely better constructed. I'm on my technically I think 4th retron5. The first one magically hated my SMB2 cart, then slowly others. That went back, then got a dud, and another dud. Furious and talking with the old friend, he told the ownership of the company about it, and then manhandled the US office over their garbage. They sent me the modern unit sold now a good month or so before it hit stores as they were slowly shipping over stock at the time. That one has held up and haven't had anything not read, but I don't trust it. The only reason I never bothered with the RF was the lack of a NES slot and i wasn't too thrilled about the early units overheating if you bought the controller module that kind of slotted over the air vents to cool it.

[R9delta]

Yeah I heard a lot of complaints about overheating when the Retro Freak first launched in Japan a year+ ago. If it's any consolation I have a launch unit from then I use everyday and I have never had that issue, regardless of circumstances i've put it in...running it with the cartridge slot unit attached with a cartridge in...on carpet, with graphical filters on...and for pretty much 24 hours a day never turning the thing off. I've never had it crash on me or shut off due to overheating (it's crashed on me before but that's usually when I'm testing a patch i've made and I botched it).

Supposedly it was thought to be somewhat software related anyway as an early firmware update mitigated that issue for some people. If you're worried just install or download everything you want and skip the cartridge slots altogether during normal play and I would imagine that would probably eliminate heat issues if there were any since yeah...the cartridge unit does cover the air vent on the main piece.

[Tanooki]

I thought it was the controller adapter blocking the vents, the carts just go in the top and any adapter I've seen slots in there as well doesn't it?

[R9delta]

The controller adapter is a separate box that connects through a USB cable (assuming you get a version of the Retro Freak that even comes with it) and then has the plug ins for different controllers on that. It doesn't block the main unit at all as it sits separate from the whole thing. Other than that the Retro Freak itself is a combination of a main unit...the brains...about the size of a Playstation Vita TV that slides into a cartridge slot unit making the usual picture of the Retro Freak you see in promotional shots, and once you install the games you want on it it's not even necessary to use the big cartridge slot piece unless you just really prefer to...and like i said, not using that might help with the heat issues anyway.

Which by the way if you think you'll even want the controller adapter at any point i would recommend buying the Retro Freak set with it included off the bat. Cyber Gadget does sell it separate but it's never in stock anywhere. I didn't get one myself as damn near any usb controller works (Xbox-based excluded but who cares) for the Retro Freak including most third party Console->PC/USB controller adapters but it would have been nice to have for collector's sake.

[Tanooki]

Hmm I wish I got that entire, probably something I'll have to google to see what it looks like in functional pieces as now I'm curious when you say PSTV sized.

There's no doubt if I popped on this it would have to be with the adapter. I've got so many original controllers around here for the systems I care most of there's no way I'd part with using them.

Like I said I don't trust the R5 for stability at all after the mess I had, and this other than early heat issues you claim got nuked with a firmware update of all things, I've not seen any consistent complaints about it. Seems to be more solid, better built parts and code wise, and seems to somewhat just share the same shortcomings of the R5 which you can dodge mostly feeding it a direct diet of ROMs on a SD card.