Kintaro Super Kuma 9000 - SNES Inspired Raspberry Pi Case with Functional Power & Reset Buttons, LED and Custom Aluminum Heatsink (Raspberry Pi Model 3B+)

This case is phenomenal. Truth be told, there is little that can compete with it for the price. For the sake of comparison, I will compare it to the NESPI Case+, and the BassTop SNES case. The NESPI Case+ costs $24.99 and the BassTop case is $21.99 while the Super Kuma 9000 is $19.91. This gives Kintaro's offering the best pricing available. Now, let's talk features:Ports:The BassTop case and NESPI Case+ both offer USB ports on the front of the console in the same location as the original consoles, which in my opinion is ideal. The Super Kuma 9000, however, keeps the ports on the side. This is a trade-off for size, as BassTop's offering adds a fair amount of size to the case to move the ports to the front. The NESPI Case+ is also quite a bit taller to make room for its extra boards. In my opinion, it's a wash and comes down to what you want, front mounted USB ports or compact size.Cooling: Heat sinks:The Super Kuma 9000 comes with a hefty heatsink that covers the CPU and USB chip on the Raspberry Pi boards prior to the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+. I modified my Pi 3 B+ by snapping off the POE connectors to make the heatsink fit. This provides very tight coverage on the CPU, however, this is not a perfect fit. The CPU is higher on the 3 B+ than on the 3, so the heatsink will float higher than intended, which makes it a VERY tight fit in the case. This increase in height prevents ANY contact with the USB board without a shim. The NESPI Case+ and BassTop case both include no heat sinks. Fans:The BassTop case comes with a 30mm fan and the NESPI Case+ supports a 30mmx30mmx10mm fan. The Super Kuma 9000 supports a 25mmx25mmx10mm fan. This is the biggest con in comparison with the other two offerings for cooling as there are very limited 25mmx25mm fan offerings, and the few that exist are exceptionally loud. This really should be a 30mmx30mmx10mm slot as there are more offerings designed for the Pi in this sizing. For the air holes, I think a combination of the BassTop's case and the Super Kuma 9000 implementations would be ideal. I love the holes on the back of the Super Kuma 9000 near the CPU as that allows air flow right over the massive heatsink. However, all the ventilation holes around the bottom of the case prevent ideal air flow. Limiting the slots around the fan and adding some near the RAM chip would provide paths for air to flow over hot components. The BassTop has no holes in the back of their case over the CPU limiting its CPU airflow potential.*Note* I duct taped off the excess vents around the fan to provide more direct airflow for my uses. Cooling Overall:Even though the size of the fan is a weak option and the ventilation holes aren't quite there, the massive heatsink is a blessing. I stressed the Pi 3 B+ with Sysbench for nearly an hour, and as expected the fan turned on at 60c and would turn off as the temp would drop below 55c, so the fan is not always on. I disabled the fan for a bit and the CPU didn't go much higher than 63c, so a huge plus there. The heatsink provided is better than the included fan on the BassTop SNES case in my opinion as it is designed for this case, however, I wish there was a 3 B+ variant of the heatsink with POE allowances and z-depth adjusted for the CPU and USB controller.Aesthetic:Little to mention here, the Super Kuma 9000 looks better than the BassTop case. As for the NESPI Case+ and the Super Kuma 9000, it depends on which you prefer. The Super Kuma 9000 is much smaller, but they are both true to their respective original consoles in terms of aesthetics.Packaging:I have never seen the BassTop in person, and the NESPI Case+ experience is from a friend of mine's case where I lacked the packaging to compare, so I cannot comment on those. The Super Kuma 9000's case, however, is excellent. Dense foam keeps everthing in tact and feels excellent. Not a single complaint there.Extras:This is where the Super Kuma 9000 stands out compared to the rest. They all offer power and reset switches, however, the NESPI Case+ and Super Kuma 9000 are the two that are script controlled which is ideal. The power LED location on the Super Kuma 9000 is true to the SNES unlike the BassTop case while the NESPI Case+ is true to the NES. The power and reset switches slide like the original SNES which was honestly one of the biggest selling points to me. The Super Kuma 9000 has the power plug directly into the Raspberry Pi, which prevents the voltage issues that the NESPI Case+ can experience. The heatsink is a HUGE addition. The scripted fan controller is HUGE as this prevents unnecessary noise. I played emulated PS1 games for hours without the CPU going over 60c, so the fan never turned on. The fans in the NESPI Case+ and BassTop are always on, even at idle. Also, Kintaro provides awesome customer support. Their presence on Reddit as well as their helpful and responsive support team is remarkable.Requests for future cases:This case is almost perfect. There is the obvious heatsink and Raspberry Pi 3 B+ recommendation, however, there are a few other modifications I'd suggest to make this the bonafide best case on the market:*Replace the 25x25x10 case spot with a 30x30x10 fan. This opens more options for fan support and would reduce noise when it does turn on.*Change the fan holes to allow air flow to pass over the RAM chip and remove the air slots directly surrounding the fan as this prevents air from going to the hot components.*The included circuit board consumes a 3.3v pin. This opens up the option to enable further controls for the fan. If the 25mm fan slot stays, please allow some way of using the 3.3v rail to power the fan to reduce noise. There are 2 ways I can think of this being accomplished: A hardware jumper that switches the voltage rail used, or a software switch that enables further zones such as Off if T<55c, 3.3v if T>55c and 5v if T>65c. This would reduce noise and improve features.*The branding is confusing. The case says "Super Kintaro" yet everywhere else calls it the "Super Kuma 9000". It would be nice to change the label on the case to "Super Kuma" and leave the embedded "Kintaro" on the top right as it is and to clean up the branding a bit. I searched google for a while looking for the Super Kintaro (due to the case) and found little results, just to find out I was wrong.Summary/TLDR:This case is cheaper than the competition and has more features with excellent customer service to boot. Highly recommended, 5 stars.

Retropie has been around since 2012, but with the release of Nintendo's Classic consoles, many gamers turned to the Raspberry Pi at a time when the former was extremely hard to come by, and that, in turn, inspired a number of Pi cases based off of the original NES and SNES. While this is all well and good, many of these cases had varying degrees of quality and accuracy, and a quick search can yield rough 3D print jobs, or injection mold jobs with flimsy parts and faulty power buttons.Amidst its competitors, this one stands out with an unmatched level of quality. The injection-molded plastic shell has a professional-grade sturdiness and texture that feels very similar to that of an original SNES, and the attention to detail is stellar; the lettering in "Eject" and "On/Off" are all part of the molding, there are raised dots near the faux controller ports to indicate players 1 and 2, and there is even a faux extension port on the bottom, which is a testament to the care that went into its design.The included heat sink is also just as good as its plastic housing; previously, to keep my Pi within safe temperatures, I needed a cooling fan to go with the minuscule heat sinks that would stick to the CPU and GPU, but this beastly heat sink, along with some thermal paste, keeps my system cool without the need for a fan, even though the case can accommodate one. The weight that it adds to the system is a nice bonus as well, as it gives my Pi the feel of a solid gaming system.What especially stands out about this case is the red LED and working power and reset buttons, which are all connected to pin connectors that conveniently slot directly onto the Pi when it's screwed into the case. Instead of directly cutting the power, the switches are tied to a script that safely shuts down the system when a user slides the Power switch to the off position, and restarts the system when the Reset switch is pressed. This is a much safer way of powering down the system, and it prevents the potential SD card corruption that comes with pulling the plug on the Pi. I'm also grateful that the additional hardware hasn't caused any of the power warnings that gamers have experienced with other cases that have working buttons.Overall, I'm very happy with this case; it's highly detailed, feels smooth and sturdy, has working buttons and an LED light, and the beastly heat sink keeps my Pi cool without the need for an additional fan. It's of a level of quality that I haven't seen in most other cases of its kind, and I can say that this is the best SNES-esque case on the market.

This case is great. It is well built, attractive, small, and easy to assemble. However, a heads up. When I tried to install the image of recallbox that Kintaro has on it's site with the 3b+, that I bought from Amazon, I received the golden lightening bolt. This indicates low power, but it can also be triggered by an operating system problem.Some research indicated that this was probably caused by the later, as it appears the retro gaming systems on their site are out of date. For instance, I have read that Raspberry Pi 3b+ requires RetroPie 4.4 or 4.5, it seems that they have retropie 4.2 on their site.This isnt a big problem. I was able to install Retropie 4.4, and then update to 4.5 (this avoids the composite out problems that are in the current image of 4.5), and still install the kintaro script. The LED light works and the reset and power button work. The only thing that is missing is the Kintaro splash screen, and I am sure there is a fix for that if you care.This is the best solution anyway as the more recent editions of Retropie will work better with games (N64, especially) than the 4.2 version.So overall a good product, just dont use the images on their website.

I bought the old Super Kuma case earlier this year and have been quite pleased with it. It looked really sharp and kept my Pi 3B nice & cool. When I saw that the Kuma 9000 case was availale, I bought one as soon as I could.I am very pleased with this case. One of my concerns was how the system shuts down and reset with the buttons - were they just a hard power/reset button or do they initiate a safe shutdown? Thankfully it's the latter - Kintaro includes instructions on how to download the software for the built in controller board and they work like a charm. It's also worth mentioning that the Kuma 9000 is a much closer shade of grey to that of the SNES when compared the older model, which was almost white.Get this case if you want something that looks as close to a SNES as possible, keeps your Pi cool and has functional on/off & reset buttons.

Gefällt mir, kleine Zusatzänderungen, LED's und fertig.

I’ve bought two of these now, both as part of a retropie build for my brothers. The only drawback to this case is the heatsink, which is only compatible with the slightly older 3B board & not the latest 3B+.Otherwise, the case build quality is superb & the instructions are very well written. Included with the case are all the screws, the heatsink, thermal paste & a screwdriver. The instructions explain exactly how to install a driver for the custom power switch board, so as long as you follow the instructions to the letter, then you’ll have no problem installing your board & getting the power buttons working.The whole kit is well packaged in a nice sturdy, fun looking box.Hopefully they’ll release a version for the 3B+.(To clarify, a 3B is more than good enough for retropie, if any is starting from scratch).I recommend matching this case with the US-style purple-buttoned SNES USB controllers that are widely available. It doesn’t look so great with my UK style SNES controllers!

Possiedo già un NESPI, ma volevo qualcosa di più adatto al mio retropie "snes-oriented", e questo case è perfetto!Ottimo il funzionamento dei tasti, basta scaricare un piccolo scriptino e riavviare il sistema per farli funzionare. Ricordatevi al primo avvio di lasciare l'interruttore su on, così che poi possa interpretare correttamente il comando di shutdown. Le istruzioni comunque presenti nella confezione sono molto chiare. Rispetto al NESPI è forse un pelino più "semplice" come fattura, però è di ottima qualità! Peccato non ci sia una versione famicon/snes euro... Ma se/quando uscirà la comprerò di sicuro!Il dissipatore presente nella confezione sembra di qualità, purtroppo non ho potuto utilizzarlo perchè NON è compatibile con l'ultimissima versione del raspberry 3 b+ (i connettori per il poe-hat andrebbero dissaldati...)Ottima anche la confezione, ben studiata e completa di tutto: dissipatore, pasta termica, viti e mini cacciavite, quest'ultimo un po' troppo piccolo e quindi un po' scomodo. Assolutamente promosso! In attesa sbavante della versione euro/jap... se mai uscirà...

Un boîtier très sympa qui imite la snes mini. Un radiateur est avec la coque pour garder un max de frais dans le boîtier mais vous pouvez rajouter un ventilo (25x25x10mm) que je n'ai pas mi encore.La notice malgré en anglais explique bien les démarches. Attention si vous avez déjà recalbox dans votre SD card il faudra le réinstaller avec le fichier image fournit sur le site Kintaro (marque du boîtier) sinon les bouton power et reset et la led lumière ne seront pas actif.