So my Retron 5 NES port finally ate it...time to move on to an emulator?

smokehouse

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This is something I've been kicking around for some time now...and the end of a chapter in my life (so to speak).

I game significantly less than I used to, and at this point, I primarily play 60% NES games, 30% SNES, and 10% Genesis...and that's about it.

I've sold off much of my stuff but have held on to my favorites for use on my Retron 5.

I know some of you hate the Retron, but it's been a pretty solid system these past 3'ish years.

Sadly, the pins on the NES port finally gave up the ghost and I'm left with a decision.

I'm no longer screwing around with my original consoles...they're too much of a pain and my current TV sucks at displaying composite video.

I borrowed a Retro Pie from a co worker and I'll say that I was pretty impressed. He has the entire SNES and NES library on it and the games played perfectly fine...

Either way...I'm looking down the barrel of either just building one for myself and selling off nearly all of the games I have...or possibly dropping $170 on a RetroUSB AVS.

Thoughts?

I want accessibility, ease of use, and longevity of use. I'm not sure that dicking around with my old carts is really the answer moving forward...
 
JoeAwesome

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If the NES port is shot, I've heard you can use a NES to Famicom adapter as a pass through. I tried once, and it didn't work, but others had reported success.
 
famicommander

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The RetroAVS is an emulator anyway. The only difference is authentic carts versus ROMs. You might as well just go the Raspberry Pi route, or better yet just run a damn cable from a PC.

EDIT
Ignore this, had the AVS confused with the Retro Freak
 
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ggallegos1

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I recall when I had a retron 5 twice. Both times the NES slot always felt looser and tended to be more finicky. I've heard nothing but good things about the AVS, and if you already have the games then it will suit your needs. If you want convenience the pie setups seem to be gaining ground in terms of ease of use and power.
 
M

MCF 76

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I've had two Retron 5's currently still using one. I did half to do some work on the Genny cart slot last year. Megadrive carts were way to tight for it. I took the shell off and radiused all four edges of the Sega cart slot where the pins are housed. Other than that I love the system, i really think what damages them is how you remove the carts. I pull one side up slowly at a time until it's free, it's a pain in the ass but really like the features of the system.
 
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gusmoney

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+1 for RetroUSB AVS
 
HDRchampion

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NES Classic & SNES classic
 
Renmauzo

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Only in here to say welcome back Smokie! I saw your name as the thread starter and had to pop in.

Slightly on topic, thanks again for the F-Zero and Super Bomberman Party Pak hookups a while back; Bomberman has been a riot to play with the familyon the SNES!

On topic, it sounds like you're pretty well over the need to have carts and just care about playing the games in whatever form is easiest when you have the time to do so. Based on the way you wrote your OP, I think you've already decided what your going to do and should go for it.
 
X

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smokehouse said:
This is something I've been kicking around for some time now...and the end of a chapter in my life (so to speak).

I game significantly less than I used to, and at this point, I primarily play 60% NES games, 30% SNES, and 10% Genesis...and that's about it.

I've sold off much of my stuff but have held on to my favorites for use on my Retron 5.

I know some of you hate the Retron, but it's been a pretty solid system these past 3'ish years.

Sadly, the pins on the NES port finally gave up the ghost and I'm left with a decision.

I'm no longer screwing around with my original consoles...they're too much of a pain and my current TV sucks at displaying composite video.

I borrowed a Retro Pie from a co worker and I'll say that I was pretty impressed. He has the entire SNES and NES library on it and the games played perfectly fine...

Either way...I'm looking down the barrel of either just building one for myself and selling off nearly all of the games I have...or possibly dropping $170 on a RetroUSB AVS.

Thoughts?

I want accessibility, ease of use, and longevity of use. I'm not sure that dicking around with my old carts is really the answer moving forward...
Click to expand...
Did you pull the carts straight out or at an angle? A lot of people fuck theirs up by just pulling the cart straight up rather than removing the cart at an angle.
 
madman

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smokehouse, I heard one of your neighbors posted on Facebook that they're upgrading their emulation setup to be better than yours. Does that anger you and make you lose faith in humanity?
 
Jibbajaba

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If it were me, I would give the AVS a try. I don't think I would ever be satisfied just using emulation, though. But since you were already effectively using an emulator with the Retron, maybe try the RetroPie route.
 
CORY

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smokehouse said:
This is something I've been kicking around for some time now...and the end of a chapter in my life (so to speak).

I game significantly less than I used to, and at this point, I primarily play 60% NES games, 30% SNES, and 10% Genesis...and that's about it.

I've sold off much of my stuff but have held on to my favorites for use on my Retron 5.

I know some of you hate the Retron, but it's been a pretty solid system these past 3'ish years.

Sadly, the pins on the NES port finally gave up the ghost and I'm left with a decision.

I'm no longer screwing around with my original consoles...they're too much of a pain and my current TV sucks at displaying composite video.

I borrowed a Retro Pie from a co worker and I'll say that I was pretty impressed. He has the entire SNES and NES library on it and the games played perfectly fine...

Either way...I'm looking down the barrel of either just building one for myself and selling off nearly all of the games I have...or possibly dropping $170 on a RetroUSB AVS.

Thoughts?

I want accessibility, ease of use, and longevity of use. I'm not sure that dicking around with my old carts is really the answer moving forward...
Click to expand...

You don't need to spend any money bro, you already have an emulation box. Just download all the roms you want, convert them into IPS files and put them on your SD card. Problem solved. Google is your friend.
 
greedostick

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I personally find emulators run great anymore provided you take the time to adjust the audio and video settings. I would say if you are just going 8 and 16 bit era the pi is great, and even for most mame. If you want something a little more beefy though and already own a desktop, I would install either the Ultimarc Arcade VGA graphics card, or a regular old AMD and the CRT emu drivers. I picked up the Ultimarc before I knew about the CRT Emu drivers, and it works great. If you're using a desktop pc then you get that extra graphical power for MAME with the dedicated graphics card, and processor power.

Then just set it all up through launch box (I would buy big box), and you're set. I even have FightCade integrated in my setup. It's pretty slick.
 
Neo Alec

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I hope I never end up this hopelessly done with this hobby. You're at a point where it seems like few options will satisfy you anymore. I don't know what to tell you. I feel for you, man.
 
Tung Fu ru

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Neo Alec said:
I hope I never end up this hopelessly done with this hobby. You're at a point where it seems like few options will satisfy you anymore. I don't know what to tell you. I feel for you, man.
Click to expand...

Really?!?! If that's honestly how you feel, that's pretty sad TBH.

Your hobby is playing video games. Who really cares how you go about playing them?
 
Ramad

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Retropie is fantastic. Get a raspberry pi, load it Retropie, and you're off to the races. All of the systems that you like to play, play great on the pi.
 
Mr. Mort

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Another +1 for the Retro AVS.

I don't care much for emulators. I'd rather play on real hardware with original controllers (tho the 8-bit do ones are nice). Besides, while downloading a whole romset might sound appealing, I personally find I get ADD, sampling several games for a few minutes while appreciating none of them. I'd rather just play and enjoy the carts I have.
 
greedostick

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Neodogg said:
Hack a Wii?
Click to expand...

With the invention of the pi really hacking any console is just more trouble than its worth. Unless you want to rip wii and gamecube games, but surprisingly dolphin is pretty bad ass anyway.

Then with the OG xbox it was a major pain in the ass transferring files to the console because they had to be under a certain length. Maybe that's changed though, i haven't messed with that in years.

Hands down the 2 best options for emulation are a pi, or a dedicated rom box in an itx or mid tower case.

Launchbox works great as an alternative to hyperspin, which is a major pain in the ass to configure. RetroPi is just so user friendly, if you just want to play 8 and 16 bit era Theres really no other option to recommend.
 
NeoSneth

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he clearly plays his carts, so i dont know why people keep going with a pi based system.

There are lots of HD console clones now, but they are all quite pricey. Some use proprietary controllers.
you may want to look into getting another retron 5 since they are cheap.
 
Jibbajaba

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Why doesn't he just get a CRT TV from the thrift store, then? A big part of the reason that this is even an issue for so many people is that they want to play old games on an HDTV. Go get a 19" TV, and you can just have a Genesis, SNES, NES, etc. hooked up to it. The whole thing with the reliability of NES hardware so so overblown. Clean the connector, clean your games, and just keep them that way.

Edit: Same goes for RGB. Somehow it has become the standard, but you're just needlessly complicating things if you want to just casually play games. I play in RGB because I already have all this shit, but I have a little setup down in my basement with a Commodore 1702 that dubdubdub gave me and a spare NES, and I love it. I don't give a shit that I'm playing in composite. All I'm saying is that if all of the bullshit is creating a barrier between you and games, then just go back to the basics and fuck all of that other shit.
 
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HeavyMachineGoob

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I don't know what it is with the CRTphobia in recent years. Everyone has to have a 6000" 8K HDTV to play their NES games on, what is advantage in playing Contra with 1-square inch pixels? Get that 19" CRT, plug in your consoles with composite and play your games! Heck, I have a 14" RF only CRT I have an RF modulator connected to, my Famicom, PC Engine and Genesis 3 are as crisp and clear as can be had on a consumer CRT.

If CRT geometry is a problem for you, consider that smaller CRTs are at a far lower risk of a misshapen picture than larger CRTs.
 
Mr. Mort

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Yeah, it seems a lot of people are obsessed with playing retro consoles in HD on modern TV's. To each their own, but at some point it gets to be a hassle. Simple solutions like the component HD Retrovision cables are great, but personally, I draw the line at SCART cables and Framemeisters. I don't have the time, money, or patience to fuck with all that. I want the best picture possible up to a certain point. I have CRT TV's, and my NES hooked up through composite, while my Genesis is hooked up via component, and I'm happy with that.
 
Electric Grave

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Any random laptop or PC can run emulation on a LCD screen pretty well if you know how to set everything. I don't see what the big deal is, just plug in a USB controller and play.
 
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