I just picked up my Retron 5 today, the last in my area at local stores.  I am really really pleased with the system so far!  I have it hooked up to my 37 inch Toshiba LCD and have a 5.1 surround sound hooked up.  I'll just make a bullet point list of what I've done/how the system handles stuff/etc.
 
-I updated the firmware to 2.1- Not really a pain in the butt, but I was just scared either I'd screw up the process or for some reason my system would brick.  Everything went smoothly and it works great!

-My NES&SNES pins are just right on the console, my Genesis and Famicom pins are uncomfortably tight & the top plastic by the cart slots Does feel flimsy
 
-I've tried every original controller and all work flawlessly.  I played Ninja Gaiden 1 on the NES and noticed no lag as well as  no lag on any other "system"/game.  The Retron 5 controller isn't as bad as reviews I've read have   made it, but that said,  I'll never use it over originals. 
 
-Has anyone tried controller extension cables, say for their SNES controllers, on the R5? I don't have any and have heard other clone consoles don't take a liking to them.  I certainly would buy & use some if they work on the R5
 
-EVERY game I've tried has worked from all systems.  I tried various GBA/GB games, Devil World&Excitebike (Famicom games,) StarFox, Super Metroid, Mario RPG, Super Mario Bros 3, Castlevania 3, Return of the Joker, Hyperstone Heist, Contra Hard Corps, and all have worked without a hitch.
 
-I ballsed it and copied saves from Link's Awakening, Minnish Cap, Link to the Past, Super Metroid, FF3, and all have copied to the R5 Without damaging the original save on the carts
 
-I SUPER Ballsed it and copied a save from the Retron 5 to my Link's Awakening and it worked without corrupting the cart!
 
-I've tried Repros of Gimmick! and Sweet Home and both have worked no problem! 
 
-I tried my Taiwan pirated black Super Mario Bros 3 Famicom cart my Dad imported for me back when SMB3 launched and it dumped the rom but didn't pull up a game name on the menu and stated that the R5 couldn't fully read the rom.  It asked me to stop or continue to play, I played it and it worked great
 
-I jacked with mapping controller buttons, screenshots, moving stuff from the internal to SD card without a hitch
 
-I tried out the enhanced sound mode and came away thinking it was ok.  It kinda muddy the sounds but brings out the bass.  My sub gets a major workout when it's on but I'll stick to the regular audio, it can rock the bass just fine.  The Genesis audio seems a bit off, not quite as robust as my Genesis 1 but not horrible by any means.  If you're a casual audio guy, you'll be fine. Sound on NIntendo systems sounded just fine and the NES sounded Great.
 
-The picture is flat our gorgeous!  Pixel perfect gorgeous!  The settings I use are "Force Origianl Resolution" this keeps it to a pixel perfect ratio and doesnt allow stretching, NO filters, they just look hideous all around by blurring and mucking up the image, and I Do use scanlines, I think it does look more natural.  The with or without scanlines wil be up to the individual but either way it's a very pretty picture

-I took screenshots, take a look! (super cool feature I think I'm going to love!) Scanlines are NOT added to screencaps









-I'd like an update for sound options for the R5 menu.  The sounds it makes are annoying "dinging" sounds and other obnoxious effects.  It sounds cheap and extremely loud compared to your game audio, I turn them off but I'd like some sounds.

-I'd really like an updated wireless controller for this with a good dpad, or as I stated, if controller extension cables work for this, it'll be just as good.

-I really don't have any other complaints, but I just picked it up and have spent about 6 hours putting it through it's paces


Overall I'm Extremely pleased with my purchase.  The convenience of having it hooked up to my big screen and stereo is awesome.  My CRT is a Commodore 1702, although I LOVE it, the bigger screen is great.  I'll always have my normal consoles hooked up to my 1702 but for more social gatherings or when I'm feeling like some crisp HD I'll be using my Retron 5.  Hope this is informative.  Feel free to shoot me questions too!

An Update on what I have also done today with the Retron 5.

-I downloaded translation files of my Japanese heavy Famicom games (Downtown Special for example) and loaded the .ips file on the R5. I easily applied the patch to the rom via a few menu prompts and the game worked perfectly, I can now play my Japanese text heavy games with English text!(if there are translations created out there that is.) I think this is a really big selling point for those looking to import IF you have no problem screwing around with finding, downloading, and putting the files on the SD card.

My local Game-X-Change got these in, at MSRP of $139.99 No price gouging goind on here at all. Still, I'm probably not getting one due to the emulator issues. Hyperkin busted their balls trying to bring legal emulation to the masses by illegally ripping the source code. So they only pirate the emulator guys with no money but not the rich game companies. Toche.!

Yeah, I'm sure that's the reason you're not getting one.  Your back and forth on this console is one of the most pathetic and sad instances on this forum.

Flips coin. Tails it is...

I don't remember if I commented in the thread, but I played one noticed some input lag, still would like to have one in my living room and for playing some games on systems I don't actively have unboxed. I'd be a buyer at 79.99 if it manages to stay alive pending lawsuits.

Interesting story about my first hands on experience with the system.

I was at Gamer's Edge in Ocala FL

Store employee was going on about how they just got Retron 5 systems, and asked if I knew about it. I said "yea, I knew about it, glad to see that it finally came out." He said "well, what's funny is we didn't think we could get any, and we got a call from Retron, saying a customer called and complained that he wanted to buy the system and couldn't find it for sale on our shelves, so Retron hooked us up with a shipment and gave us all this awesome swag, like a game tote, and 8-bit sandals!"

Me: Do you have one hooked up?

Employee: Yes, you wanna play it?

Me: Yes, (walking over to it) Does it have input lag?

Employee: Yes it does! (Enthusiastically)

Me: That's not a feature I want, that's a bad thing.

Employee: Well it plays 60hz/50hz (perplexed)

I then tested it out, noticed input lag and decided it was a "if it gets cheaper" purchase.

Meanwhile the employee was bragging about the 8-bit sandals to another customer.



Now same day I'm back in Gainesville, FL and stopped at Gamer HQ, I tell Dave, one of the owners the story of Gamer's Edge having them and how the employee was so happy about the bonus junk they received from Retron after an customer called and complained that the store didn't have the system for sale. Dave starts laughing.

Dave tells me that they got the same call from Retron, saying a customer had called them saying he wanted to buy it and didn't see it in the store, he asked what customer called in out of curiosity. He looked up the name and the guy lives in El, Monte California....Hyperkin's address is 1918 Frank Stiles St, South El Monte, CA 91733.

Prior to that search, he had mentioned that he was on the fence, cause they had a lot of returns of previous Retrons. The sales lady said "If you're not going to stock the system, you know your competitors are." At that point he felt that the lady was trying to use some bullying sales tactic and they got into an argument"



With stolen emulator support, and seeminly sketchy sales tactics, I'm actually liking the Hyperkin more. Right now, they are being striaght up balla. Hyperkin don't care, they do what they want.

This system is approaching the outlawness of the Coleco Expansion Module #1

Hahaha, I didn't expect this to be the moral of the story! Disappointed to hear about the input lag, but I hope it's less evident with my setup and using wired controllers.
KAMIKAWA's review does give me hope. (Thanks for putting in all that work for a thorough review of your experience, it's much appreciated.)

^^Are we sure the input lag is being caused by the Retron and not a poor HDTV? This device needs to be ran through a low-latency gaming monitor before jumping to any conclusion over the issue of input lag.

The input lag wasn't terrible, where I had that playing on ice feeling that you experiencing when playing an old console platformer on a HDTV. The game I was playing was sonic advance 2 and the input lag was mild, but not enough to turn me away from the system. I was playing on some unknown store HDTV and using the wireless controllers. Going wired and with a better TV, I assume the lag would be managable for games like Zelda LTTP, Kirby's Dreamland, Mickey's Mousecapade. Games where timing isn't going to make or break you like high lvl Tetris, Speed runs, shooters etc. RPGS would be a good fit for the system.

I wasn't blown away, but at a certain price point I'd be a buyer. It's like the big box from taco bell, it may not be what you want, and its not going to be high quality, but you shove enough crap in there and price it cheap enough than I'd be a buyer. It even fits the color scheme.

Taco Bell is gross, no offense. Almost as bad (but not quite) as Mickey-Dees.

Taco Bell stole their source code from Mexicans lol.

I seriously doubt that. I've tasted fine Mexican food. Taco Bell, like Hyperkin, cheaped out on the ingredients...

Thanks cirello, I just tried patching Dragons Quest 3 for SF.  I'm actually goint to move my posts to a new thread for reviews/thoughts for owners of the system away from the emulator controversy talk so parties who might be interested in the system have quick point of refernce as opposed to looking on page 65 of this thread for first hand impressions

lol they just raised the msrp to $159.99. You gotta be shitting me

You could try their factory reset or worst case scenario you could do an actual factory reset by connecting the r5 to the pc in maskrom mode and flashing from rk batch tool(the update.img from hyperkin factory reset is recognized by the tool)

note: even when I flashed a bad recovery I was able to get back to stock--I have seen some threads calling rockchip 3066 unbrickable if you can get to maskrom mode

I posted about that the other day. Just when I think my opinion of them can't possibly get any lower...they always find a way to become even scummier.

I noticed this too. I was in my local game store yesterday and almost even forgot about the Retron 5 since it's been unavailable what seems like forever. So I happened to see it and I got excited for a brief moment...til I noticed the price tag. $160!? Forget that. $100 I could've done but $160 is a bit much. Oh well. What I'm really waiting for is the Retron 64 anyway.

Maybe Game-X-Change didn't get the memo that the MSRP went up? Either way, I'm not getting one with all the ape shit slinging Hyperkin is doing...

They are sitting them extra dolla bills aside from the price hike to pay off people

my guess is they just didn't realize how expensive software is since most of their prior consoles were hardware

I don't expect them to offer money since guys like retroArch couldn't really license snes9x even if they wanted to(and I'm guessing genesis+ gx is non-commercial since the CPU emulator it uses was non-commerical) and all the other software is GPL(which doesn't require payment generally, though it doesn't prohibit it--and is slightly more complicated now since they were not compliant from the get go)

possibly helping to pay for a board revision to get rid of the 2 hand soldered resistors

and, building some leeway into the msrp so stores can say look $150, it's below MSRP!

edit: looks here like on the black one the reset pin hole is filled in? 



can anyone confirm the switch for maskrom mode is still inside just no hole?

Sorry for posting this here. I don't really know what else to do than asking you guys for help...
I bought a Retron 5. I started it and went through the first boot setting menu. Pairing the controller and then the "TV setting adjustments" page. At this point I didn't have time, I turned off the console.
The second time I turned the console on, it was stuck in an endless loop (with the Retron 5 Logo appearing over and over again).

I asked on the manufacturer Facebook for help, this is what they told me to do :


However, I am not able to access the main menu, so that is completely useless to me.

I asked the support team by email, this is what they answered : "It appears that you have a hardware issue that is unable to be resolved by software updates and technical support [...] You may have the item returned to us directly for an exchange [..] Our factory warranty only covers the US." I am not in the US... So they want me to return the console for what ?

I tried to reset the console http://retron5.in/node/4....
But I am not able to navigate in the recovery menu. The controller (plugged to USB mini B) is not responsive...

I tried the small hole at the back. It does not do anything... Or I don't know how/when to press it...

What else can I try ?

Where you live? Canada, Europe?

.

I've replied already elsewhere but you need to use a NES or SNES or GENS controller...

"The controller (plugged to USB mini B)" does nothing(okay, it charges, but it does not connect). The pack-in controller is only bluetooth as far as I know.

I would say you could try to rk batch tool factory reset but if you are having trouble with the controller that would probably be a bit advanced for you unless you have a tech savy friend that can help or something.

I did work with an old NES controller. I was able to navigate through the Recovery Menu and do a Factory Reset.
No more boot loop problem after that.
Thank you all for your help.