Hyperkin RetroN 5: HD Gaming Console for Game Boy Advance/ Game Boy Color/ Game Boy/ Super NES/ NES/ Super Famicom…
Amazon.com Price: $499.99 (as of 08/05/2021 11:01 PST- Details)
Multiple System Compatibility: The RetroN 5 allows you to play your favorite NES, SNES, Super Famicom, Genesis, Mega Drive, Famicom, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and GBA cartridges on one system. You can also play Master System games with the use of the Power Base Converter.*
HD Output: The HD output will upconvert the signal to your HDTV with a maximum output resolution of 720p.
Save/Load States: Save or load your games at any point during gameplay, with 10 save slots for each game.
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The ultimate HD remake: Hyperkin presents the RetroN 5, a revolutionary new way to experience classic games in high definition; the first of its kind with an all-digital HD output. The RetroN 5 plays Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Famicom, Super Famicom, Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Sega Genesis, and Mega Drive cartridges with enhanced resolution, improved interpolated sound, screenshot capture, and the ability to have on the fly save states. The RetroN 5 is the retro gaming console that brings you back to a world where recharging health is cheating, you can have as many guns as you want, and achievements aren’t just some numbers on a screen. Cheats: Pre-built cheats that can be accessed at any point during gameplay for most games. Compatibility the RetroN 5 will play both PAL and NTSC cartridges.
Multiple System Compatibility: The RetroN 5 allows you to play your favorite NES, SNES, Super Famicom, Genesis, Mega Drive, Famicom, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and GBA cartridges on one system. You can also play Master System games with the use of the Power Base Converter.*
HD Output: The HD output will upconvert the signal to your HDTV with a maximum output resolution of 720p.
Save/Load States: Save or load your games at any point during gameplay, with 10 save slots for each game.
Bluetooth Wireless Controller: Utilizing Bluetooth technology, this controller has a range of up to 30 feet and features a microswitch directional pad, two programmable macro buttons, and a Home button for quick-in game access to features.
Original Controller Ports: 2 original controller ports (6 total) for each platform
8 reviews for Hyperkin RetroN 5: HD Gaming Console for Game Boy Advance/ Game Boy Color/ Game Boy/ Super NES/ NES/ Super Famicom…
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Amazon.com Price: $499.99 (as of 08/05/2021 11:01 PST- Details)
Stacey –
If it sounds too good to be true…
It probably is. Was so excited to get it but quickly realized it wasn’t going to live up to the hype. Dealing with all of the controller/game selection/player limitations is the most frustrating. Only certain controllers can be used on certain system games. I kind of get it buuuut Why would it be impossible to use a classic nes controller for a gameboy game? Same button pattern/use on these original systems but nope not an option. And the controller that comes with it? I don’t understand who made this or why. Terrible. I had read that the controller sucked but wasn’t too worried bc I had my own (that were supposedly compatible). But your typical multiplayer games are no longer capable of multiplayer bc the controller you already have MIGHT work for what you want to play, but in my experience, probably not. I thought me and my son would be on this for a month straight. Couple hours and haven’t touched it again since. Back to looking for a classic system. 1 star given for the 1/20 games that can be played as intended. 1 more star given for the SAVE game capability this system offers that nintendo denied us of in 1988.
Jason Ryan Robertson –
Hyperkin stands behind their products.
I use this all the time on my HDTV instead of busting out my old consoles and hooking them to my little CRT.I had always heard good things about how Hyperkin handles warranty concerns. I was about 5 months past my warranty period and had accidentally kicked the power cable out of the console breaking the rear board. I emailed Hyperkin to see if they would sell me just the board so I could solder it in. Well, to my surprise, one of the warranty department employees sent me an email asking for the proof of purchase info to give me a RMA number. I sent the info and said I understand not covering this since it’s out of warranty and I basically broke it being clumsy. They went ahead and had me send it in and sent me a brand new, sealed unit within a couple of weeks.I’m blown away with this customer support. I will be buying more Hyperkin products in the future.
H B –
Works great! ROM to IPS gives access to all retro games on one 2GB SD card!
Just wished they had a separate audio output!For the cheapies out there, you can download your roms, and convert it to IPS with a converter program.That way you have access to all retro games!All you need is one cartridge of each console you’d want to play a game on.I spent $50 for the Sega game gear adapter, then spent $20 on about 8 game cartridges (averaging at just over $1 per cartridge), ranging from the Japanese gameboy and famicom cartridges, to sega gamegear, and NES cartridges. Games on the cartridges sucked, but you can load an IPS over it, so basically the cartridge enables you to load the correct console for the games on the SD card.If you’re not into this illegal actions, you can also purchase legit games, and load them in the Retron 5. Or download ROMS and convert them to an IPS, of the games you already own; and then play it.The benefit is, if you have lots of cartridges already, you don’t need to unpack them, just run them from SD card.I think most people will spend a few hours for nostalgia purposes on this machine, but since the age of the games, these games probably won’t be played regularly!The Retron 5 has HDMI output, but no separate stereo out! So, unless you have a soundbar, accepting HDMI signals, or a headphones jack on your TV, you’re stuck with the TV speakers.The best image is to just run the native resolution, or upscale it by 2x, 3x or 4x (640×480 x2 = 1280×960, or x3 = 1920×1440, or x4 = 2560×1920); or let your TV stretch the image.The image is razor sharp on my 4k TV, using 4x upscaling.I don’t use the internal scalers. They make the image look weird.Retron 5 doesn’t accept generic bluetooth controllers, so you got to buy a few of the original Retron 5 controllers, or original gaming console controllers.The only problem with the SNES controllers are that the cables are pretty short.USB controllers also aren’t supported!
Crimmas –
If you can ignore annoying quirks you’ll probably love it
It’s been very interesting finally pulling the trigger and buying a retron 5 and seeing for myself the ups and downs of it. The ups are very promising, they add a lot of great options to a variety of old consoles, not just centralizing five (or eight, with the adapter) but upscaling to HD with scan lines and all that instead of feeding everything through an old VCR or AV switch or something. From my experience so far what it sets out to do it does pretty well. Sadly some poor design and cheap manufacturing still get in the way. The controller hasn’t bothered me yet (playing an RPG, if I were playing a platformer it might be different) but it took AGES to get it to pair with the controller. I had given up a long time ago and was using an SNES controller. What seems to have finally fixed it was leaving the controller plugged into a power supply for days on end, a second time. And no, you don’t actually need the controller, but it adds a lot of that convenience and additional feature access like a home button, shortcuts and wireless connectivity, so the controller should be better for sure. Or better yet you should be able to pair a better controller. Just put a USB port on the front for the love of God.I also had to turn off automatic save downloading because it got stuck in a cycle where it would begin but never finish and I couldn’t do anything in the console with the game plugged into it. That was easily fixed but maybe that setting shouldn’t be on by default anyway.I thought it was strange that you couldn’t have more than one game plugged in at a time. I mean with 5 cartridge slots and a UI you’d think you could switch from one game to another, right? But I don’t design hardware so I suspect it’s easier said than done and it’s a minor annoyance anyway. Maybe if the GBA port on the front had a dust cover like the cartridge ports do, I would feel better about it. Another annoyance is the abrasive UI sound effects which I had to turn off in the settings. Way too loud and way too irritating, they sound like goofy arcade sound effects you hear in a movie where they have the rights to show the game but not the audio. There must be 8 consoles out there that have gotten the UI sound effects right, they shouldn’t be a detriment to using the menu.Overall I am happy with it. Most of these issues are annoyances and not a reason to avoid buying altogether. It’s still a single console that can hold games from nearly every console of the 8 and 16 bit eras, with bonus ports for handhelds (although you may need to use the bonus adapter, which looks great and I hope to get it soon). I wish they added in N64 capabilities to really drive it all home, and maybe we can get that in the future, but N64 is notoriously hard to emulate and that’s before you consider the expansion pack so I’ll hang on to mine for now.I recommend it for anyone with an HDTV and their old consoles hooked up to it in a bottomless tangle of wires and surge protectors. It does the job, just not without some annoying quirks.
Brandon –
Best Purchase Ever!
I have a collection of about 200 NES, SNES, Sega Genesis, GB, and GBA games. I also own their original consoles, which I hate pulling out to use because they could break any day. The Hyperkin RetroN 5 maybe the best thing I’ve ever bought as it can play all of those games and display them on my HDTV beautifully.So this console has slots for NES, SNES, Genesis, GB, GBA, and Famicon games. It also has controller slots for NES, SNES, and Genesis, or you can use the Bluetooth controller than comes with the system. It greats playing any game I want with a SNES controller. The console itself has a lot of settings to change the image of the games and even resumes where you left off on the game when you turn it off.I wish I could post pictures but Amazon removed that feature but the image quality is amazing. I tested various games for every system on this console and it didn’t disappoint. I highly suggest this hardware for those looking to play their old games with high quality picture.
Ryan Blizman –
Hyperkin did a great job with this one
Hyperkin did a great job with this model. I’ve had some rough experiences with RetroNs in the past (mostly the 3), but I have to say I’m impressed with this. So far there’s no problems with the system, all cartridge and controller ports work properly. The build quality is greatly improved over others, such as the RetroN 3 feeling like it was made in someone’s backyard. In short, the 5 HD feels more sturdy. As for the game ports, there is a bit of grip on each cart, but not so much that I’m worried they will be ruined. For the record, I think the Genesis slot was the tightest.This system has a lot of really cool features that I’ll be messing with, but the ones that I like the most would be the save backups and state saves. You can backup save files from a cartridge to system memory or an SD card if you have one, and you can transfer a save file from an SD card to the game cartridge (I didn’t test overwriting the cartridge save, because I didn’t want to lost my own game progress, but the option is there). State saves are pretty standard on any emulator, but it can automatically save and load games when turning off and on, as well as playing other games and going back. Switching between games will still load the latest state. This can be turned off. One hiccup I ran into was testing two different carts of the same game. The system keeps the state of the first cart loaded, so if you want to load the second cart, you need to go into the RetroN menu and delete the save state before you can load the second cartridge’s save. Why would you do this? I don’t know, I was just testing it to see what would happen.The system’s one drawback so far is that the included controller is totally whack. It’s ugly as sin, uncomfortable to hold, and button presses do not feel right. I mean, it works for sure, I just don’t want to use it. AND it has an analogue stick instead of a D-pad. That doesn’t make any sense since all of those systems use a D-pad. Maybe some people don’t care, but I notice a difference. The redemption for is that you can use original NES, SNES, and Genesis controllers.One more thing, I bought the Master System 3-in-1 converter cartridge, and tested a Master System game, that worked fine too.Overall, pleasantly surprised and glad to clear out 4 consoles worth of cords.
ALeGault –
Doesn’t play with SNES controllers
Had to return two of these. Works for every console but SNES. The games load but The contoller ports are defective. Both retrons wouldn’t play the 3rd party controller that THEY RECOMMEND ON THEIR WEBSITE and original SNES controller. Genesis and NES seem to work fine. Great idea but horrible product. I recommend buying the Retro-bit Super Retro Trio to play your classic games. It works flawlessly because it’s a clone console gaming system with no emulation. Yeah you can’t save whenever until checkpoints or passwords but we weren’t able to do that in the 80’s or 90’s lol. Retron 5 is a bust. Sure the games load and work with other console controllers but I’m not going to play a SNES game with a Genesis controller. Deeply disappointed. Why even release a product that clearly hasn’t been tested correctly.
Nate George –
Visually fantastic, a few issues prevent the Retron 5 from being the perfect HD retro game machine
Visually, the Retron 5 is amazing. I’m a big fan of the filters and with such a crisp picture, any one you choose will look fantastic. All of the games I’ve tried worked, maybe not on the first try but you’ll get that with older games anyway. The in-game menu and save states are great and I’ll be utilizing them in some of my toughest games. Unfortunately, these games are made even more tough by the slight delay that’s present on the system. Some games it’s not a big deal but I noticed it in games like Sonic and Mario. This input lag is easily the system’s biggest issue. One that might push people to buy a Super Retro Trio (which I also own) instead. The SRT in contrast to the Retron 5, features none of the bells and whistles (and it’s HD version sounds DREADFUL), lacks noticeable input lag, plays more games (including unlicensed) and is a bit cheaper. Also, use original or aftermarket controllers with this console as the wireless controller that comes packaged with it is AWFUL. It’s cheap, clicky and doesn’t even have a d-pad. As negative as this review may sound, I really do like my Retron 5 and it’s my primary choice when playing retro games unless the input lag makes the game unplayable.