Hyperkin RetroN 5: HD Gaming Console for GBA/Gbc/GB/Super NES/Super Famicom/Genesis/Mega Drive/Master System (Hyper Beach) - Super NES

Really, this review is 4.5 stars.This console is a blast to use. I’ve got over 100 Genesis, NES, and SNES games on my shelf, and until now, I relied on emulation. But nothing beats the feeling of popping in a physical cartridge and jumping straight into gameplay. It’s nostalgic, satisfying, and just works.I usually avoid scanlines, but the implementation here is subtle enough that I forget it’s even on. The system includes all the modern quality-of-life features: save states, fast-forward, cheats, and even super easy ROM patching. That last one has me buying Famicom and Super Famicom games on eBay, currently I am patch titles like Legend of Zelda—it’s addictive. Sadly it's only one patch per game.It’s easy to use and genuinely fun, but it’s not without flaws.Reproduction cartridges are hit-or-miss. Most American releases like Moonwalker, Chrono Trigger, and Lufia II work fine. But translated imports like Clock Tower and Live A Live don’t boot—oddly, Back to the Future II and Bahamut Lagoon do.There is custom firmware that may fix all this, but I am just enjoying Deja Vu for the NES right now to care, and yes I added a patch to make it uncensored which I added a screenshot for.At $155, it’s a bit pricey. If you don’t care about save states, ROM patching, or support for Famicom, GBA, GBC, and GB, the Retron 3 HD might be a better value at around $60 less. But for my needs, this system is fantastic.Bonus: it comes with a SNES-style controller, which is a huge win—especially compared to the Retron’s default controller, which is laughably bad.* All screenshot has scanlines turned on.

Came in faster then expected box was a little crumpled in some areas but did not affect product. Item works but after like 20 or 30 min of use time we have noticed a few issues. It freezes or glitches from time to time. One time it froze to where system had to be unplugged for outlet just to reset it. But when it plays it plays beautifully. Graphics, sound and color are awesome.

I had good luck with a Retron 3, but this Retron 5 was dead on arrival. No signs of power when plugged in (U.S. adapter on power plug of course). Too bad they don't use USB for power because there's no way to see if a different adapter works. Sending back and trying again.Worth noting, I recently bought a SupaBoy Hyper Beach it it only worked for a couple minutes. Got a new one, works fine. Bought a SupaBoy Black & Gold from an authorized reseller, and it had been repackaged and had two dashed lines across the screen.Funnily enough, so far EVERY OTHER CONSOLE has arrived with something wrong. QC failure rate is 50%, but when they work, they're cool systems. Just not sure how old products are being resold as new, and they should really start doing more QC.

I got this unit to play some retro games, but didn't want too much clutter of too many systems and cables and the occasional issue like the 72 pin NES connector. Although I've heard about this item having a tight cart fit on the NES slot, I also saw that this particular model should have fixed it.Thankfully, with YouTube reviews, I got all I needed to get started on this thing, was able to easily navigate all the options and set it up the way I wanted. I tried all 4 of the NES games I had and they not only all worked great, but looked bright and clear as well.NOTE: I've had some issues with this unit being able to read early revisions of NES carts that don't carry the Authorized Nintendo stamp, so be careful picking those carts up.The Hyperkin does a quick rip of the game ROM as opposed to playing it directly. This allows for cheats and translation patches to be applied. Apparently, it deletes the ROM after you remove the cartridge, perhaps to circumvent any issues with piracy. It optionally saves the game state anywhere you are in the game, regardless if there's a save checkpoint there or not, so that feature was really attractive to me.I gave the wireless controller a chance. It paired quickly and seemed to work fine, but the clicking drove me nuts, so I quickly plugged in the wired controller. I like that they thought to put rubber dust covers on all of the controller ports as well. I briefly misplaced one of the rubber covers and wondered if they sold these separately, but I found it later.I inserted a FAT32 formatted SD card for game saves, cheats and translation layers. If I had one more tiny gripe besides the controller, maybe having the SD card have a push in to lock spring-loaded mechanism instead of just push in and hope it's in all the way thing.That's about it. Overall, I think this unit is great so far. I love all of the added features it has, the dust covers, all of the different formats it supports.. I really have no idea what they were thinking of when they made the wireless controller, but it's somewhat usable in a pinch. Although this console isn't the heftiest of items, it was still better than the old third party SNES/NES unit I had. I just realized I also had another cheap unit that wasn't Hyperkin and that one was super cheap feeling.One last note: When inserting the cartridges, push in one side (left or right) first and then the other and it works better than straight pushing and removing, which I've always done before.

Got this as a giveaway and my friend absolutely loved it so much and her son even started using it.

I've had my Retron 5 for a week now and it works great! I will recommend to be mindful of the "death grip" and take care when inserting and removing cartridges. If I do have any issues in the future I'm sure the slots can be easily replaced. When it comes to third party emulation gaming, I don't expect to fully not have to put in some effort in the long run. Overall I am very pleased with the product, the controllers, and the functionality. I would recommend to anyone who is interested in an all-in-one console that reads original game cartridges, has plenty of controller options, and some really nice game settings features. I also like the exclusive controller it came with. It works great for racing and flight games.

Overall a really good multi game console but the gene port does not work I put multiple games in and it say card not in slot or reads nothing there even with the three in one adapter