Clone consoles suck
I've never had any trust that clone consoles were any good. I've always read about compatibility issues, video quality issues, and audio issues. somehow, I haven't really played on a clone console until I was at a flea market today. A Retron 2 was connected with Super Mario Bros. 3 the controller was still wrapped with a bag and twist ties, but it was connected and usable that way. Right away, there was a graphical glitch in 1-1 as I hit the first 2 coin blocks. Then the turtle shell kicked into the block just bounced off twice in a row without releasing the leaf (the block was not near the edge of the screen).
The D-pad was awful. It would try to walk left and right while I was trying to crouch.
The sound was just...wrong.
The status bar was all glitchy and had vertical bands of different colors.
Then I had a problem near the end of the stage where a turtle shell would frequently bounce off a brick without breaking it.
I re-seated the cartridge and powered the system off/on. I'm pretty sure I lifted that Super Mario World out of the SNES connector. Most of the glitches were repeated while I was recording. It was interesting to see the koopa shell bouncing back and forth between bricks and racking up points forever without breaking them.
This Hyperkin Retron 2 failed beyond my expectations.
Comments
Originally posted by: Ichinisan
Not even considering the inaccurate output of the Retron 2, the horrible build quality makes me wonder how it could be the same manufacturer as the highly-praised Retron 5 (Hyperkin).
Just a friendly tip:
Do some quick research before buying stuff like this. Just a simple Google search of Retron 2 reviews would have given you plenty of indication that this thing is not up to par.
When it comes to controllers... _always_ use OEM controllers. Especially when it comes to NES/SNES. Even the Retron 2 allows for usage of original controllers, so that's more on you than them.
Also, the Retron 5 is an emulation box, ripping ROMs straight from carts. It has virtually nothing in common with clone systems, and is therefore not comparable to any of their other products.
When it comes to clone systems, I believe the Super Retro Trio is deemed to be one of the better ones. Even though that one also has some small problems. There should be some reviews of it on YouTube, so check it out.
Not even considering the inaccurate output of the Retron 2, the horrible build quality makes me wonder how it could be the same manufacturer as the highly-praised Retron 5 (Hyperkin).
Pre-Retron5 used NOAC's, Retron 5 uses stolen emulation software.
The NOAC's are terrible. That's all there is to it. It would be nice if all these clone consoles had perfect audio and some nice video output options. Apparently nobody thought this stuff was important.
They're basically cheap crap manufactured for the average person who wants to relive their childhood by playing Super Mario Bros. for a few minutes and won't care about slight technical imperfections. They're fine for that purpose.
The NOAC's are terrible. That's all there is to it. It would be nice if all these clone consoles had perfect audio and some nice video output options. Apparently nobody thought this stuff was important.
They'd all be priced at Bunnyboy's AVS or higher, and they wouldn't sell (true retro gamers are buying original hardware, maybe waiting for the AVS.) mbd39 is right, they're made for the causals who find some games in their attic and want to play them off and on, not daily.
Nobody making those clones thought it was important because it isn't important when you're selling to people paying only $20 for one.
Bunnyboy did create the AVS, and it's looking like it will be awesome for retro gamers, but I don't see causals plunking down $185 for one, no matter how much they want to save the princess again.
Not even considering the inaccurate output of the Retron 2, the horrible build quality makes me wonder how it could be the same manufacturer as the highly-praised Retron 5 (Hyperkin).
Companies like Hyperkin do rebranding for some of their products. They buy a generic clone from a company like Qishenglong then slap their name and packaging on it. They don't do the design, specs, or manufacturing, so they just get whatever the real manufacturer puts out.
Not even considering the inaccurate output of the Retron 2, the horrible build quality makes me wonder how it could be the same manufacturer as the highly-praised Retron 5 (Hyperkin).
Just a friendly tip:
When it comes to clone systems, I believe the Super Retro Trio is deemed to be one of the better ones. Even though that one also has some small problems. There should be some reviews of it on YouTube, so check it out.
You seem to think I bought it. Thankfully, no.
I'm aware that the RetroN 5 does emulation and is different in that regard. I was actually commenting on the build quality in that statement. The console's shell was very poor quality.
Actually - while I do enjoy my Retron 5 - the build quality is just alright. Wouldn't call it great by any means.
I on the other hand I have a Retro Duo console where I can also play Sega Genesis games on with a RetroGen attachment.
My Retro Duo console i got for Christmas last year and ive been playing NES and Super Nintendo games on it and it plays just fine.
For reference, I just threw a Famiclone in the garbage last week. It had been sitting on my shelf for a few years, and when I took it down to take some pics to sell it, I saw the controller had literally broken just from sitting on the shelf. Such cheap plastic. With that said, there are tons of amazing Famiclones out there.
Check out the old-style Ending Man products, the Micro Genius clones, etc. Solid products, with quality equal to the original product, only with AV of course
People always try to point to an extreme example of a poor product to make their case, but sadly the OP falls far from the mark of reality, and we can judge that just by viewing the video title.
No offense, but I personally hate when people try to make over generalizations on stuff like this, especially when they seem to be uneducated about the stuff. Take the OP, for example: he titles the video "Famiclones suck" yet clearly in the video, it is a Nintendo clone, not a Famicom clone. It is running US games, this is not a Famiclone at all. And perhaps this had been designed earlier by a Chinese company and only published by Hyperkin, but they are as much to blame as the Chinese company, imo, for putting a product like this out on the market.
For reference, I just threw a Famiclone in the garbage last week. It had been sitting on my shelf for a few years, and when I took it down to take some pics to sell it, I saw the controller had literally broken just from sitting on the shelf. Such cheap plastic. With that said, there are tons of amazing Famiclones out there.
Check out the old-style Ending Man products, the Micro Genius clones, etc. Solid products, with quality equal to the original product, only with AV of course
People always try to point to an extreme example of a poor product to make their case, but sadly the OP falls far from the mark of reality, and we can judge that just by viewing the video title.
I qualified the statement with a caveat:
Clone consoles suck If this Retron 2 is any indication...
It's the only clone I ever tried to play. It's defective. It's probably the most common model.
I have a hunch their quality control process is poor.
I'm fully aware of the competent clones that used to be available and no longer are. I also aware that the RetroN 5 is better for numerous reasons made possible because it uses emulation. I'm not ignorant on this matter.
Did you try the SMB3 cart on another console? Did you clean it? SMB3 should be compatible with clone systems.
The shop owner kept suggesting it was dirty pins. That can obviously cause graphical glitches, but not the same type. These repeatable graphic glitches still appeared the same after the cartridge had been re-seated multiple times.
The bricks not breaking -- that is unlike any "unclean game" glitch I've ever encountered.
Nothing else was connected for to test the game with. It seems like the Retron 2 was defective because I know they can't possibly all be like that one. Still, it's an indicator that Hyperkin's QC process is pretty poor.
The main thing about them for me is, I'm usually on a pretty tight budget and at least the dual system clones give me access for the most part of two systems games for the price of one of them. That and I know what I'm getting into with them so.
The nice thing is the added features. Multiple systems is common. The retron 5 also lets you use translation patches, play gameboy games on the tv, and use any controller on any system.. On the flip side, the stupid thing doesn't let you specify mappers for games it doesn't recognize.
The main thing about them for me is, I'm usually on a pretty tight budget and at least the dual system clones give me access for the most part of two systems games for the price of one of them. That and I know what I'm getting into with them so.
The nice thing is the added features. Multiple systems is common. The retron 5 also lets you use translation patches, play gameboy games on the tv, and use any controller on any system.. On the flip side, the stupid thing doesn't let you specify mappers for games it doesn't recognize.
I'd definitely like to try a retron 5. But will probably be outside the range of my budget for quite a while. I'd really like to try the retro trio at some point. But probably same problem there. I could possibly try the genesis to SNES adapter, GBA to SNES adapter. And somewhere near the ammount of sytems perhaps.