Additionally: The console also doesn't emulate sound/music properly on the bulk of the games I played. This video didn't use the audio from the games because it sounded totally awful and annoying.
It seems like they rushed out this Retro console to capitalize on the NES Classic thing and ended up EMBARRASSING THEMSELVES with a shotty product. BAD MOVE.
Dustin Woolworth Yeah the Raspberry Pi looks like the way to go for a retro gaming station, except for that fact that you need a PC or Mac to be able to set it up. You can also have KODI on there, though unfortunately the newest versions aren't working on it yet. I think it's still usable though.
Rerez It can also be a controller issue. I bought a wired Competition pro usb joystick once, and it lagged like crazy. Did you try other usb controllers with it? Or those controllers on a Pc? If the controllers also lag, there is no need to buy it for those either!
I read a couple of reviews from other gamers who didn't address any of the issues I saw. Retro-bit has made some clone systems that have been so close to the original that it's almost impossible to see a difference. I really feel like this was rushed out and a huge mistake. If they knew it was THIS bad I'd be shocked.
Rerez I can't recommend anyone watch your channel, shit talking biased reviews. The generations is the bomb giggatey, the slam dunk of the year and your poop slinging vomit review isn't going to hurt its sales. Nice try, how's that phat check from Hyperkin ?
sethk1212 you might be 12 and have very little knowledge of emulation lol I bought the same thing and it's pretty shit compared to most proper emulators
Thanks for responding to my comment. I wasn't expecting you to notice. But anyway, can the next game be Plumbers Don't Wear Ties or Drake of the 99 Dragons?
Bruwneah Doge how is it illegal? When I rip the rom the the hardware I already own? Do you mean it's illegal to use certain websites to aquire roms you do not own?.... Because that's the bit that is illegal, which you can do with most Android, Apple, Windows, Linux ect. Based systems since like the 90's
GanjsmostPrime - You should upload a video showing off all the NES, SNES, GB, Genesis, Arcade etc ROM-ripping hardware that you totally own. You'd get views. I'd watch it. For anyone else though, unless they have all that hardware, and original copies of all the games on this system to make ROMs from, then yeah: it would be illegal to whack all these games on an rPi with emulators.
Absolutely not, I'm afraid; it's illegal to download ROMs of games, regardless of if you share them. It turns out even ripping your own is not the solid legal option I'd thought: www.howtogeek.com/262758/is-downloading-retro-video-game-roms-ever-legal/
Fuck the legality of it, in particular if you're emulating a game like Space Megaforce where the ONLY way to legally play it is to get a second hand copy off ebay for a stupidly inflated price. It's not like you're given much of a choice is this pile of tat Rerez is reviewing is anything to go by!
@@rerez I love the arcade game mercs and that game doesn't run on here so screw it I'm going to play Super Mario Brothers that's not going to work either I said oh screw it I'm going to play my game say what you need a video game intros going to be bad
I remember having Super R-Type on SNES and it had some MAJOR slowdown issues. I was sometimes happy when it happened because there would be so much on screen that the extra reaction time was welcomed.
Bought two recently, one running arm7 processor, one running arm8 processor. The 7 runs up to 16 bit consoles very well, 32 bit not so much, the arm8 processor runs a handful of 32 bit and some more demanding arcade games well. Easy-ish to set up, they do need some research but nothing your average Joe could Google and set up in a day or 2.
Not true. It's legal to make and use your own ROMs of games you legally own (format shifting). It's still illegal to use a ROM someone else made, *even if you own a physical copy of the game*.
Toonami4Life Sweet used to have a psp might buy one tomorrow for the reason I said though. Seriously, it's a handheld ps1 if you think about it and it's a pretty good gba xl which I love.
The idea and marketing of machines like this is to get them to people who do not want to hack their systems, or have to build their systems. They want something simple and prepackaged, ready to go.
I had to stop autoplay and run this one back to leave you this compliment but here it is -- thank you for doing a video where you criticized the flaws of this system without screaming that it's HOT GARBAGE every three seconds. I'm not saying I mind gamer videos where people scream a lot - Game Grumps are funny - but with reviews I'd like a reasonable and rational explanation of why something is or isn't good. This was it.
I respect the companies who are willing to put their products on the line for an honest review on my channel. If I just rip their stuff apart for no reason it would be a disservice to viewers. Retro-bit has made some products I liked. This one fails. I'm more than happy to check out their next device.
***** Right on. I even appreciate that you pointed out the controllers almost make it worth the purchase price - that means if I ever saw it on clearance somewhere I wouldn't hesitate to pick it up to get them.
Fantastic review sir! I tore this product apart on my channel in a video that was uncharacteristically ranty for me. The video's done very well for my struggling channel but it's also kind of a bummer because it's not the kind of content I like to make. I will say, I wish I had the money to have the kind of production values you do. :) You articulated all the issues with this thing far more eloquently than I did. I do have to disagree with you on the controllers. While it is nice to get two in the package and have them be USB, they're both small and very cheaply made. You can do a lot worse but honestly, I think if you want two USB Genesis controllers, you're better off buying two of the others on the market for less money, and also not supporting this junk machine in the process. Tons of detractors in my comments kept screaming "They'll patch the firmware, just you wait!", even though there was no evidence that was even possible, much less that Retro-Bit cared to do it. I guess they confirmed to you that it's not possible. On top of that though, some people at AtariAge did a teardown and said the CPU they used was so weak and not designed for this, that there's probably no way to fix many of the core issues with a software update alone. I suppose it's good to hear that they're planning a hardware revision but if they don't offer a free trade-up (which I'm sure they won't), that's a colossal slap in the face to everyone who bought this thing and got burned on it. I was lucky enough to get a refund from the place I bought mine from but I'm done with Retro-Bit because of how awful this is. I definitely won't be buying an update with my own money for coverage, that's for sure.
Everdrive and burned cdr's for me, I just like using my original systems on a crt but have no interest in competing with a bunch of collectors who inflate prices just to make shelf ornaments out of game carts.
You can buy the controller on Ebay for $5.29 if you really wanted to, Stay away from this guys, theres a million other devices that will emulate games way better than this and alot of them are probably already in your house. Even a really old computer is a better option.
TacticalPower88 yeah I'm sure nearly everyone still has a wii gathering dust and neglect somewhere in most homes, even your ancient ass grandparents lol.
TacticalPower88 The Wii is very fun once modded. All my disc games managed to make it thru my kids being little by teaching them how to use USB loader. Modding my Wii set off my console modding. Don't forget the original xbox. After modding it becomes something worth having.
sabata414 That awesome! The original xbox is so much better modded! Even better with a TSOP flash. Then just plug in the new HDD and Load the HeXeN discand you're good to go after just a few simple clicks.
I think the input delay can be fixed on your TV, most modern TVs have a gaming setting, if you set it to that it will disable all the filters and stuff and thus reduce the delayed inputs, I used to have crazy delay on my Raspberry Pi too, but on my tv i found a "Use no postprocessing techniques" setting, wich is basically the gaming setting :) now theres no noticable delay Oh well i would recommend the PI to anyone tho, i have loads of DOS games on it, Lucas Arts games like monkey island, and all the famous emulators like NES, SNES, PS1 and genesis
Feels like Retro-Bit Generations rushed this out to compete with NES Mini Classic. I think it would be best to wait for their next iteration in February.
As bad as the Generations console was\is, they definitely redeemed themselves with the release of the Super Retro-cade. If you haven't had an opportunity to review the Super Retro-cade, please check one out. You'll be pleasantly surprised how well they addressed the shortcomings you mentioned in your review. Thanks for the review and for taking the time to do a really comprehensive analysis for all of us who love our classic games.
One reason that I took the wait and see attitude with this was because when I played the demo unit, it exhibited pretty bad frameskipping on the Capcom arcade games, or just ran slow. I'd rather they just make a new super retro trio with component and HDMI output.
the_randomizer That's because you don't learn by repackaging open source projects. When they need to add device specific code like audio-resampling, they fuck up.
I don't care what anyone thinks, it was worth it enough to me for Knights of the Round, and to be able to play it again with my dad. We had a great time. (I guess if i didn't care what anyone thinks, I wouldn't be here for the review..... but always love Rarez!)
"Console Change in February" Well, it's April and it seems nothing has happened. God damn it, seems the RBG might go down as the worst christmas gift I've gotten in years...
Here's a tip: Raspberry Pi 3 + Recalbox + some nice usb controllers and there you go. A relatively cheap emulator console that actually works really well. I recommend getting a good case for it with a fan so you can overclock it a bit for more advanced emulators.
It's a derivative of RetroPie (it essentially is the same thing) with less fiddling around with settings and less experimental crap. So it's super easy to set up and it comes with a web app so you can locally control it via a browser. But it does lack certain (borderline experimental) stuff and you can't customize it as much. It has also officially been added to NOOBS, so you can dual boot it with OSMC or Raspbian and install it without downloading it straight from them.
BirdGod At this point, no. Dosbox is not available in the current version, I think, and even if they do add it I doubt you'll be able to just run a dos game without any editing. But maybe in the future. Maybe...
Anodyne @11:28. It is a Zelda-like game that was homebrewn for GBA & DS that actually has a small-batch hard copy release for GBA with an extra dungeon.
For me, emulation on pc is the way to go. My pc is plugged to my tv and I have many of the original console controllers and I have usb adapters for them (n64, saturn, xbox, ps2, ps1, game cube, etc). No problems with frame rate, upscaling, gameplay, plus fillters, texture mods, mods (like perfect dark 60fps on multiplayer, Ocarina with texture mod to look like Wind Waker cell shading, Super Mario 64 for two players simultaneously, with player 2 playing as Luigi, mouse and keyboard gameplay for goldeneye and perfect dark, man, the list of excellent mods goes on and on...).
It's almost impossible to find Genesis 6 buttons controllers in a good state today, so, yes, just the controllers themselves worth the purchase, specially for being usb, is amazing! It's on my shop list from now! I hope the directional is good, responsive and soft as the Genesis original 6 button controller.
Thanks for this video, Shane! I had been debating with myself about trying to get one of these, but the emulation issues have scared me aware. I'll wait until the February "update" Retro-Bit says is coming, but I'm not holding out much hope.
Wait a sec, I saw a few homebrew games in there! Zooming Secretary and Lawnmover for the NES, Creepy Bird for the Genesis, and the one you were discussing is actually a modded version of a SNES fanmade port of Donkey Kong.
If it was that, he'd have seen the same issue with his other hardware reviews. That also wouldn't explain the low/high/inconsistent framerates, which were the biggest issue.
Egzon Gashi Right, but that (again) shouldn't affect the framerate issues. And if it *does*, if you have to use the AV for some reason to avoid that... that's still a huge problem, especially with HDMI being the standard these days.
It wouldn't matter because the console would not output any better quality image, because as he sad, even if the res was 720p , it didnt feel like it, shitty upscaling
It matters in a couple of ways. First, it's harder nowadays to find TVs that support AV (because HDMI is the standard now), so many people may be forced to use the HDMI connection anyway. Second, the AV would produce an even worse picture (in terms of quality) than the kinda-soft shoddily-scaled HDMI... It's the difference between taking a fairly sharp image and blowing it up, and taking an already soft image and blowing it up. Basically, even if using AV magically fixes the framerate issues (which it shouldn't), that just means people buying this have to choose between two display connections (one of which is now obsolete) that both look bad in different ways. There's no interpretation of this where it's OK.
Does anyone know if they released a newer improved version with the games fixed? I’ve seen online 2 different packages of this system with 2 different sets of artwork, also the old one says 90+ games and the newer says 100+ games?! Does anyone know the difference and if the newer one is worth getting, or has the same problems?
Hi. I came to point out that THIS is how you do a thumbnail. None of that "le surprised fayse and maymays XD" Thanks Rerez, for not being a damn sellout.
One thing that stuck out is that some of the games that you pointed out are freely available homebrew games for the different platforms that were basically repurposed for this product. Some of these games are, for example, available for download in the multi-platform emulation application for OS X, OpenEmu, including Anguna, Broken Circle, Sumo Slam, Lawn Mower, and Zooming Secretary Just to name a few. I agree that it feels just, well, wrong to pad out the listed number of games you have on a device by including titles that are literally available for free elsewhere (and possibly even play better in other sources).
Really neat detailed review! Also, Avenging Spirit is a great arcade original, and you might like Hammering Harry (also for the arcade) if you liked it.
*"While we were limited to only Nintendo games on the Nintendo Classic, on this system there was no limitation"* _Earlier in the video..._ *"There's no way to expand the system to get more games, and that means you'll be limited to whatever games they've included in this box."* To make things extra ironic, Retroarch can be installed on the NES Mini which means non-Nintendo games. To be fair, this video _was_ done before Retroarch became installable through hacks on the NES Mini, but still.
If there were any Japanese viewers who can speak English, I'm sure they know the English names for the games. If they could not speak English, then they wouldn't understand your comment anyway. Unless of course you were just showing off your knowledge.
The Japanese names are more confusing. Ghouls n Ghosts is on the Genesis. SUPER Ghouls n Ghosts is on the SUPER NES. Not confusing. Billions of people speak English. Millions speak Japanese.
I can't believe they put Super Noah's Ark 3D and Free Fall on this thing, especially as Free Fall never made it past the prototype stage (unless you count Sunday Funday).
The problem you described with Super R-Type reminded me of a long while back when I tried to play R-Type Final, but the TV I had my PS2 hooked up to was giving me nearly 0.25 of a second of input lag. It was MISERABLE.
Now I don’t expect perfect cycle/framerate accuracy as it’s really difficult to make things perfectly accurate, but I agree that the emulator has to be running at the correct speed.
@@MabuseXXOn a hardware requirements level it is, you can run ZSnes on an ancient PC, and Snes9X on almost anything, but Higan requires top of them range hardware. Or at least it used to. I can understand a small emulation box not being perfectly accurate, as long as it doesn’t cause obvious issues or make it play worse, if very few people will notice and it seems to run all the included games fine, it’s understandable. But you can’t have an emulator that runs games at the wrong speed.
Great review as always, dude. Wish I could be as positive about the "Generations". Master of none? These emulation issues show a clearly slap dash approach to the titles that they could place on the console. Clear focus on quantity over quality :( ... and, I mean, who is this console for if not for someone that would notice even minor flaws in their favorite classic games? Who is buying this? Is this supposed to be a stocking stuffer or last minute chain store pickup?
The NES Classic Edition is not limited to games by Nintendo, there are also Games from Taito, Bandai, Namco, Konami, Tecmo, Acclaim, Capcom..... and the quality is superb, especially when compared to this machine.
Reminds me of my Capcom CPS Japanese only console, similar design, a bit of a supergun esq unit. Plays Capcoms CPS carts on my TV! AWESOME piece of kit! The CPS not the Generation! :)
I personally wouldn’t use the Retro Trio, as it’s an emulation based system. I’d rather have original hardware or maybe an FPGA based system wired into an old CRT, or plugged into a big ass OLED through a OSSC in line triple mode.
Fair warning. One of my controllers does work great, but one has a sticky right directional button. I have to push it twice as hard to get the input to register.
One small criticism which may or may not be a criticism but one thing to look out for. On the snes version of ghouls and ghosts many times there was intense slowdown in many sections of the game on the real hardware. To the benefit of the player actually because it sometimes made some parts easier. An interesting tid bit related to this is that the capcom classics for ps2 rectified this issue and as such that version of Super Ghouls n Ghosts is actually harder than the original snes version.
And me and my freaking luck. I ordered this for my dad for Christmas. One day before this video came out. Oh well. We can point and laugh at it together...
Sad to see how this console turned out. Any chance you've gotten hold of or heard if the later revisions of the console addressed the issues you mentioned?
If you like the GameBoy games in question, you're probably better off importing them and just playing them on a GameCube GameBoy Player. Those are region free.
In fact... just gut the console, shove a Pi Zero in, and keep the controllers! ...or be fancy and make the Pi into the controller if there is enough room.
I find the console works fine if you use an old school television It just doesn't work well with the TVs that require HDMI. But even still Bases Loaded II has a terrible glitch so I play part one with my friends. The console is dope because you can play an Arcade Port of Ghouls and Ghost the nintendo port is complete shit. Most games play fine and R Type III is better than R Type one and that game plays fine. I think its ok for a console on the cheap. They should make a better version of this console
Great review! I wonder if these timing issues show up through composite, on a CRT TV? Because I still have one. If the issues mentioned in this video are fixed with the upcoming February release, I'd love to get one of these.
Apocalypse II looks a lot like Mad Planets. Never played the actual arcade cabinet but even on MAME this game was *NUTS!* I'm kind of guessing some beancounters at RetroBit decided to skimp on the CPU used in this console, hence the failure to display shoot em ups in portrait as they ought to be. Yeah. MAME do an absolutely amazing job, especially when you realise they've absorbed MESS and have taken up the emulation of fruite machines and I think some pinball machines. So... buy the RetroBit Generations for the controllers... and then stick RetroPie on a Raspberry Pi or something and use the controllers on that!
It's obvious that they rush this product to market just to compete with the NES Classic Edition Mini without taking consideration of the quality. The controllers were great and the save features as well as the option for remapping control are fantastic but the emulations on most games were poor and seem as if Retro-Bit just quickly add them in there just to upped the number of games. In this case it's a quantity versus quality kind of deal. If you want a quality plug and play with minor issue regarding the controller and some great 30 games from one platform then the NES Classic Edition is for you but if you just want variety of games from different platform regardless of quality and some third party USB controllers to go with those then the Retro-Bit Generation is for you. My problem with the Retro-Bit Generations is that it just doesn't had that many popular games in there, though I love me some Capcom classics like Ghosts 'N Goblins, Super Ghouls 'N Ghosts, Bionic Commando, Knights of the Round, Merc, and Forgotten World, it really is a shame that no Street Fighter (I would had expect at least one version of SFII in there but nope there are none), Final Fight, or Mega Man games were ever included. The same could be said about Data East, we had a few good ones like Ring King and Kid Niki but some of the more popular ones like Rampage, Karnov, Fighter's History, Shadowrun, and Atomic Runner were heavily missing.
I bought the sequel to this, the Super Retro-Cade, because it was better put together and didn’t really have any issues compared to this system. Sad that a number of the games on here weren’t carried over to the Retro-Cade.
I just don't see a reason to buy any of 'em if all they are is emulation. Like, it's not even on the level of the Retron 5 where it's emulation, but you still have to use your real carts. This is just a pre-packaged emulator. Why not just emulate on a PC? Hell, I have Retroarch on my Xbox One, and it runs all the way to Wii games. I didn't spend an extra penny to play 'em.
The console itself seems pretty horrible, but adding Flappy Bird to it? That just devolved to insulting.
Yes
It's not as bad as these other awful emulation consoles at least.
Additionally: The console also doesn't emulate sound/music properly on the bulk of the games I played. This video didn't use the audio from the games because it sounded totally awful and annoying.
It seems like they rushed out this Retro console to capitalize on the NES Classic thing and ended up EMBARRASSING THEMSELVES with a shotty product. BAD MOVE.
Dustin Woolworth Yeah the Raspberry Pi looks like the way to go for a retro gaming station, except for that fact that you need a PC or Mac to be able to set it up. You can also have KODI on there, though unfortunately the newest versions aren't working on it yet. I think it's still usable though.
I played it on several different HD TVs and CRTs. It has nothing to to with the TV you use, it's the system itself.
Rerez It can also be a controller issue. I bought a wired Competition pro usb joystick once, and it lagged like crazy. Did you try other usb controllers with it? Or those controllers on a Pc? If the controllers also lag, there is no need to buy it for those either!
Not to mention to quote Paralax Abstraction "VARTH PLAYS SIDEWAYS"
Not just Honest, but knowledgeable and informed with experience. Consumers need more real reviews like this.
Agree
If he was knowledgeable, he wouldn't be totally out to lunch about Capcom arcade architectures.
"They didn't realize" you and me both know that they just didn't give a shit.
I read a couple of reviews from other gamers who didn't address any of the issues I saw. Retro-bit has made some clone systems that have been so close to the original that it's almost impossible to see a difference. I really feel like this was rushed out and a huge mistake. If they knew it was THIS bad I'd be shocked.
Rerez your wrong on just about everything on this review, the emulation is spot on. Your trying to bad mouth retrobit
Rerez I can't recommend anyone watch your channel, shit talking biased reviews. The generations is the bomb giggatey, the slam dunk of the year and your poop slinging vomit review isn't going to hurt its sales. Nice try, how's that phat check from Hyperkin ?
sethk1212 you might be 12 and have very little knowledge of emulation lol I bought the same thing and it's pretty shit compared to most proper emulators
@@sethk1212, Bro, what?
I now wanna get Avenging Spirit because of this, might look at the arcade version instead of the Gameboy one though
I've been looking to pick up Avenging Spirit for a while :P
Pretty cool lookin' game that I STILL need to get.
What's the last show you've been to?
Wish r type third lightning.
Why don't you do positives and negatives anymore? That was your best series.
Me too. ***** We want this series back.
Agreed
I'll get back to it eventually. Probably some time in the next month or so.
Thanks for responding to my comment. I wasn't expecting you to notice. But anyway, can the next game be Plumbers Don't Wear Ties or Drake of the 99 Dragons?
This seems rather unfortunate. I sincerely hope the company take on board these points and learn from them.
Getting a Rasberry Pi with Retropie installed is a good but not so legal option to play all of these games.
Bruwneah Doge how is it illegal? When I rip the rom the the hardware I already own? Do you mean it's illegal to use certain websites to aquire roms you do not own?.... Because that's the bit that is illegal, which you can do with most Android, Apple, Windows, Linux ect. Based systems since like the 90's
GanjsmostPrime - You should upload a video showing off all the NES, SNES, GB, Genesis, Arcade etc ROM-ripping hardware that you totally own. You'd get views. I'd watch it.
For anyone else though, unless they have all that hardware, and original copies of all the games on this system to make ROMs from, then yeah: it would be illegal to whack all these games on an rPi with emulators.
GanjsmostPrime it's legal if you don't share the games i think
Absolutely not, I'm afraid; it's illegal to download ROMs of games, regardless of if you share them. It turns out even ripping your own is not the solid legal option I'd thought: www.howtogeek.com/262758/is-downloading-retro-video-game-roms-ever-legal/
Fuck the legality of it, in particular if you're emulating a game like Space Megaforce where the ONLY way to legally play it is to get a second hand copy off ebay for a stupidly inflated price. It's not like you're given much of a choice is this pile of tat Rerez is reviewing is anything to go by!
Closing in on 100k!
Getting close! :)
@@rerez I love the arcade game mercs and that game doesn't run on here so screw it I'm going to play Super Mario Brothers that's not going to work either I said oh screw it I'm going to play my game say what you need a video game intros going to be bad
I remember having Super R-Type on SNES and it had some MAJOR slowdown issues. I was sometimes happy when it happened because there would be so much on screen that the extra reaction time was welcomed.
Yep, shooters were the only games that slowdown benefited lol.
"they didn't notice" "they didn't realize" actually they just didn't care.
When he looks to the side, take a shot.
VaughnJogVlog
*Commenter has died*
"These cables are as long as my c-"
That scared me. Lmao.
Or better yet,just get a raspberry pi running retro pie.
Narvi Nott Same with mine running tons of emulators,these mini consoles are kinda worthless compare to the raspberry pi.
Narvi Nott also u can run linux on it.There are many uses for the raspberry pi and for 35 dollar it's worth it.
Bought two recently, one running arm7 processor, one running arm8 processor. The 7 runs up to 16 bit consoles very well, 32 bit not so much, the arm8 processor runs a handful of 32 bit and some more demanding arcade games well.
Easy-ish to set up, they do need some research but nothing your average Joe could Google and set up in a day or 2.
Logical Phallusy Some of these games aren't available to be purchase anymore.its not illegal if u own the game and most of these games i already own.
Not true. It's legal to make and use your own ROMs of games you legally own (format shifting). It's still illegal to use a ROM someone else made, *even if you own a physical copy of the game*.
I Really Like How Ambitious Retro-Bit is,But Sometimes Ambition Can be a Bad Thing
When it's not well executed.
People who want to play these games all in one package should get a Wii and throw some emulators on it via hacking + homebrew.
The Renegadist not really portable though. These smaller emulation machines are great to pack up and take to a friends or on a trip.
GanjsmostPrime
i'd rather take a hacked psp on a trip honestly
it's an emulation god
+. WereWaffle I just got a psp last week and I agree to this 1000%
Toonami4Life
Sweet
used to have a psp might buy one tomorrow for the reason I said though. Seriously, it's a handheld ps1 if you think about it and it's a pretty good gba xl which I love.
The idea and marketing of machines like this is to get them to people who do not want to hack their systems, or have to build their systems. They want something simple and prepackaged, ready to go.
Thank you for actually playing this and not giving it a glowing review based solely on the games it includes.
Well at least they got the controller length right, whereas Nintendo totally fucked up on that.
Cannot wait for the updated version, the Retro-Bit Retrocade!
I had to stop autoplay and run this one back to leave you this compliment but here it is -- thank you for doing a video where you criticized the flaws of this system without screaming that it's HOT GARBAGE every three seconds. I'm not saying I mind gamer videos where people scream a lot - Game Grumps are funny - but with reviews I'd like a reasonable and rational explanation of why something is or isn't good. This was it.
I respect the companies who are willing to put their products on the line for an honest review on my channel. If I just rip their stuff apart for no reason it would be a disservice to viewers.
Retro-bit has made some products I liked. This one fails. I'm more than happy to check out their next device.
***** Right on. I even appreciate that you pointed out the controllers almost make it worth the purchase price - that means if I ever saw it on clearance somewhere I wouldn't hesitate to pick it up to get them.
so basically don't buy this then?
If you're interested in accurate emulation, no. You could buy a Raspberry Pi kit and do better.
I was just thinking about this channel, and oh look a new video.
Shane plz stop monitoring my brain
Fantastic review sir! I tore this product apart on my channel in a video that was uncharacteristically ranty for me. The video's done very well for my struggling channel but it's also kind of a bummer because it's not the kind of content I like to make. I will say, I wish I had the money to have the kind of production values you do. :)
You articulated all the issues with this thing far more eloquently than I did. I do have to disagree with you on the controllers. While it is nice to get two in the package and have them be USB, they're both small and very cheaply made. You can do a lot worse but honestly, I think if you want two USB Genesis controllers, you're better off buying two of the others on the market for less money, and also not supporting this junk machine in the process.
Tons of detractors in my comments kept screaming "They'll patch the firmware, just you wait!", even though there was no evidence that was even possible, much less that Retro-Bit cared to do it. I guess they confirmed to you that it's not possible. On top of that though, some people at AtariAge did a teardown and said the CPU they used was so weak and not designed for this, that there's probably no way to fix many of the core issues with a software update alone. I suppose it's good to hear that they're planning a hardware revision but if they don't offer a free trade-up (which I'm sure they won't), that's a colossal slap in the face to everyone who bought this thing and got burned on it.
I was lucky enough to get a refund from the place I bought mine from but I'm done with Retro-Bit because of how awful this is. I definitely won't be buying an update with my own money for coverage, that's for sure.
Seems like it'd be better to just stick with an Everdrive or emulators
Agree 1000x
Everdrive and burned cdr's for me, I just like using my original systems on a crt but have no interest in competing with a bunch of collectors who inflate prices just to make shelf ornaments out of game carts.
I own it and love it a lot and the sd card slot runs a good amount of nes,snes,gameboy/advance and genesis, play it alot
You can buy the controller on Ebay for $5.29 if you really wanted to, Stay away from this guys, theres a million other devices that will emulate games way better than this and alot of them are probably already in your house. Even a really old computer is a better option.
TacticalPower88 yeah I'm sure nearly everyone still has a wii gathering dust and neglect somewhere in most homes, even your ancient ass grandparents lol.
So true, its amazing how many people out there don't know how awesome it is once modded.
TacticalPower88 The Wii is very fun once modded. All my disc games managed to make it thru my kids being little by teaching them how to use USB loader. Modding my Wii set off my console modding. Don't forget the original xbox. After modding it becomes something worth having.
Dane I'm in the process of upgrading the hard drive in my Xbox, it's already modded
sabata414 That awesome! The original xbox is so much better modded! Even better with a TSOP flash. Then just plug in the new HDD and Load the HeXeN discand you're good to go after just a few simple clicks.
I think the input delay can be fixed on your TV, most modern TVs have a gaming setting, if you set it to that it will disable all the filters and stuff and thus reduce the delayed inputs, I used to have crazy delay on my Raspberry Pi too, but on my tv i found a "Use no postprocessing techniques" setting, wich is basically the gaming setting :) now theres no noticable delay
Oh well i would recommend the PI to anyone tho, i have loads of DOS games on it, Lucas Arts games like monkey island, and all the famous emulators like NES, SNES, PS1 and genesis
Thank you for the honest review. I shall not be wasting my money. Also you got yourself a subscriber!
RetroBit's stuff has never really thrilled me, but I'd never heard of this device before. Great video!
Thanks for being honest in your review. There are some reviewers out there that aren't noting the faults in this thing, and that's a bit of a shame.
Feels like Retro-Bit Generations rushed this out to compete with NES Mini Classic. I think it would be best to wait for their next iteration in February.
I was out christmas shopping here at home in Finland and found the RetroBit Generations for sale in our local Prisma shop.
Merry Christmas y'all
As bad as the Generations console was\is, they definitely redeemed themselves with the release of the Super Retro-cade. If you haven't had an opportunity to review the Super Retro-cade, please check one out. You'll be pleasantly surprised how well they addressed the shortcomings you mentioned in your review. Thanks for the review and for taking the time to do a really comprehensive analysis for all of us who love our classic games.
excellent review! I was on the fence about this system but thanks to your review I won't get burned!
I totally just clicked on this because the thumbnail was so eye catching
hey man, just found your channel. Nice content, I subbed
One reason that I took the wait and see attitude with this was because when I played the demo unit, it exhibited pretty bad frameskipping on the Capcom arcade games, or just ran slow.
I'd rather they just make a new super retro trio with component and HDMI output.
never a good idea to limit a emulation box games to only a preset amount thats preset by the maker of the system.
Or by using shoddy emulators either. Maybe they should, you know, use open source emulators that are actually GOOD.
They usually are using modified open source emulators, often without permission from the authors
And they're doing a horrible job at that, even open source emulators are better than this POS.
the_randomizer That's because you don't learn by repackaging open source projects. When they need to add device specific code like audio-resampling, they fuck up.
Yeah, the fact unofficial emulators do a better job is sad
Please post more, you have good content!
Baseload was missing the umpire voice. I returned mine back to amazon the following day. Great review
It's pretty telling when the bundled accessories are the strongest selling points of a product...
new video! finally :D Flappy Bird emulated? really??? hahaha
I don't care what anyone thinks, it was worth it enough to me for Knights of the Round, and to be able to play it again with my dad. We had a great time. (I guess if i didn't care what anyone thinks, I wouldn't be here for the review..... but always love Rarez!)
If this is just a Linux box with Linux emulation software on it, can we re-flash it with our own Linux distribution of choice and emulators?
oh shit, Super Noah's Ark is on there? xD
3:48 I count the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Genesis having the same amount of buttons I'm counting MODE!
The Super Retro Trio is great!
TG-16 = Shortest controller cables!
Fun side-note: Bit-Generations is a collection of games for GBA which are awesome. Check em out.
We want positives and negatives series back
"Console Change in February"
Well, it's April and it seems nothing has happened. God damn it, seems the RBG might go down as the worst christmas gift I've gotten in years...
Here's a tip: Raspberry Pi 3 + Recalbox + some nice usb controllers and there you go. A relatively cheap emulator console that actually works really well. I recommend getting a good case for it with a fan so you can overclock it a bit for more advanced emulators.
It's a derivative of RetroPie (it essentially is the same thing) with less fiddling around with settings and less experimental crap. So it's super easy to set up and it comes with a web app so you can locally control it via a browser. But it does lack certain (borderline experimental) stuff and you can't customize it as much.
It has also officially been added to NOOBS, so you can dual boot it with OSMC or Raspbian and install it without downloading it straight from them.
BirdGod At this point, no. Dosbox is not available in the current version, I think, and even if they do add it I doubt you'll be able to just run a dos game without any editing. But maybe in the future. Maybe...
Anodyne @11:28. It is a Zelda-like game that was homebrewn for GBA & DS that actually has a small-batch hard copy release for GBA with an extra dungeon.
Awesome video Shane, thanks for checking this out. BTW, What's that gameboy game where you're playing as a car?
For me, emulation on pc is the way to go. My pc is plugged to my tv and I have many of the original console controllers and I have usb adapters for them (n64, saturn, xbox, ps2, ps1, game cube, etc). No problems with frame rate, upscaling, gameplay, plus fillters, texture mods, mods (like perfect dark 60fps on multiplayer, Ocarina with texture mod to look like Wind Waker cell shading, Super Mario 64 for two players simultaneously, with player 2 playing as Luigi, mouse and keyboard gameplay for goldeneye and perfect dark, man, the list of excellent mods goes on and on...).
It's almost impossible to find Genesis 6 buttons controllers in a good state today, so, yes, just the controllers themselves worth the purchase, specially for being usb, is amazing! It's on my shop list from now! I hope the directional is good, responsive and soft as the Genesis original 6 button controller.
the R-type one upset me cause it's such a good game and it works better on the arcade cabinet which I have one in my basement
Thanks for this video, Shane! I had been debating with myself about trying to get one of these, but the emulation issues have scared me aware. I'll wait until the February "update" Retro-Bit says is coming, but I'm not holding out much hope.
Or...You could just buy a WII U, enjoy Wii U titles AND play NES, SNES, GBA, DS, and Wii games on the Virtual Console??? :D
Sandy Rootz I don't wanna play two times for something I already have.
Well I still want it because of the selections of games it has.
Wait a sec, I saw a few homebrew games in there! Zooming Secretary and Lawnmover for the NES, Creepy Bird for the Genesis, and the one you were discussing is actually a modded version of a SNES fanmade port of Donkey Kong.
So what is the SD card slot for?
Skot Nealey who knows
Usually firmware updates
There is a file called key dot something. You put that on an SD card & you can load your own roms up until about SNES? & CPS1 games.
Great video, Shane!
This is why people are excited when Nintendo announced the Classic. We know this stuff won't happen.
are you sure that the problem wasnt your tv lag?
If it was that, he'd have seen the same issue with his other hardware reviews. That also wouldn't explain the low/high/inconsistent framerates, which were the biggest issue.
Ok , even if we put the hardware out of the way , look at the software, he only tried hdmi mode
Egzon Gashi Right, but that (again) shouldn't affect the framerate issues. And if it *does*, if you have to use the AV for some reason to avoid that... that's still a huge problem, especially with HDMI being the standard these days.
It wouldn't matter because the console would not output any better quality image, because as he sad, even if the res was 720p , it didnt feel like it, shitty upscaling
It matters in a couple of ways. First, it's harder nowadays to find TVs that support AV (because HDMI is the standard now), so many people may be forced to use the HDMI connection anyway. Second, the AV would produce an even worse picture (in terms of quality) than the kinda-soft shoddily-scaled HDMI... It's the difference between taking a fairly sharp image and blowing it up, and taking an already soft image and blowing it up.
Basically, even if using AV magically fixes the framerate issues (which it shouldn't), that just means people buying this have to choose between two display connections (one of which is now obsolete) that both look bad in different ways. There's no interpretation of this where it's OK.
Does anyone know if they released a newer improved version with the games fixed?
I’ve seen online 2 different packages of this system with 2 different sets of artwork, also the old one says 90+ games and the newer says 100+ games?!
Does anyone know the difference and if the newer one is worth getting, or has the same problems?
Hi. I came to point out that THIS is how you do a thumbnail. None of that "le surprised fayse and maymays XD" Thanks Rerez, for not being a damn sellout.
One thing that stuck out is that some of the games that you pointed out are freely available homebrew games for the different platforms that were basically repurposed for this product. Some of these games are, for example, available for download in the multi-platform emulation application for OS X, OpenEmu, including
Anguna, Broken Circle, Sumo Slam, Lawn Mower, and Zooming Secretary
Just to name a few.
I agree that it feels just, well, wrong to pad out the listed number of games you have on a device by including titles that are literally available for free elsewhere (and possibly even play better in other sources).
I like that he measured but never said how long the cord is
Really neat detailed review! Also, Avenging Spirit is a great arcade original, and you might like Hammering Harry (also for the arcade) if you liked it.
i'm a big fan of reto-bit and that i love the game products and game consoles
*"While we were limited to only Nintendo games on the Nintendo Classic, on this system there was no limitation"*
_Earlier in the video..._
*"There's no way to expand the system to get more games, and that means you'll be limited to whatever games they've included in this box."*
To make things extra ironic, Retroarch can be installed on the NES Mini which means non-Nintendo games. To be fair, this video _was_ done before Retroarch became installable through hacks on the NES Mini, but still.
Super Ghouls'n'Ghosts (Chou Makai Mura) is the sequel to Ghouls'n'Ghosts (Dai Makai Mura).
If there were any Japanese viewers who can speak English, I'm sure they know the English names for the games. If they could not speak English, then they wouldn't understand your comment anyway. Unless of course you were just showing off your knowledge.
MeanMrMustard1
That's because the american names are pretty horrible and confusing.
The Japanese names are more confusing. Ghouls n Ghosts is on the Genesis. SUPER Ghouls n Ghosts is on the SUPER NES. Not confusing. Billions of people speak English. Millions speak Japanese.
And Ghosts n Goblins is on the.... NES.
You mean to tell me you've never gotten at least those two confused?
MeanMrMustard1
But they're very different games. Chou is not a "super" version of Dai.
I can't believe they put Super Noah's Ark 3D and Free Fall on this thing, especially as Free Fall never made it past the prototype stage (unless you count Sunday Funday).
The problem you described with Super R-Type reminded me of a long while back when I tried to play R-Type Final, but the TV I had my PS2 hooked up to was giving me nearly 0.25 of a second of input lag. It was MISERABLE.
Now I don’t expect perfect cycle/framerate accuracy as it’s really difficult to make things perfectly accurate, but I agree that the emulator has to be running at the correct speed.
No...it isn’t.
@@MabuseXXOn a hardware requirements level it is, you can run ZSnes on an ancient PC, and Snes9X on almost anything, but Higan requires top of them range hardware. Or at least it used to. I can understand a small emulation box not being perfectly accurate, as long as it doesn’t cause obvious issues or make it play worse, if very few people will notice and it seems to run all the included games fine, it’s understandable. But you can’t have an emulator that runs games at the wrong speed.
So Apocalypse II appears to be a Super Nintendo version of Mad Planets by Gottlieb.
3:04 actually, you can play every original Game Boy game on a home console with the Super Game Boy.
Great review as always, dude. Wish I could be as positive about the "Generations". Master of none? These emulation issues show a clearly slap dash approach to the titles that they could place on the console. Clear focus on quantity over quality :( ... and, I mean, who is this console for if not for someone that would notice even minor flaws in their favorite classic games? Who is buying this? Is this supposed to be a stocking stuffer or last minute chain store pickup?
2:16 DANKPODS MUSIC!!!
The NES Classic Edition is not limited to games by Nintendo, there are also Games from Taito, Bandai, Namco, Konami, Tecmo, Acclaim, Capcom..... and the quality is superb, especially when compared to this machine.
Reminds me of my Capcom CPS Japanese only console, similar design, a bit of a supergun esq unit. Plays Capcoms CPS carts on my TV! AWESOME piece of kit! The CPS not the Generation! :)
To quote Paralax Abstraction " VARTH PLAYS SIDEWAYS"
I personally wouldn’t use the Retro Trio, as it’s an emulation based system. I’d rather have original hardware or maybe an FPGA based system wired into an old CRT, or plugged into a big ass OLED through a OSSC in line triple mode.
Just bought this thing for $23, I think for that price, its a good buy.
Fair warning. One of my controllers does work great, but one has a sticky right directional button. I have to push it twice as hard to get the input to register.
thx for the info saving a few dollars and sticking with the originals
One small criticism which may or may not be a criticism but one thing to look out for. On the snes version of ghouls and ghosts many times there was intense slowdown in many sections of the game on the real hardware. To the benefit of the player actually because it sometimes made some parts easier. An interesting tid bit related to this is that the capcom classics for ps2 rectified this issue and as such that version of Super Ghouls n Ghosts is actually harder than the original snes version.
And me and my freaking luck. I ordered this for my dad for Christmas. One day before this video came out. Oh well. We can point and laugh at it together...
Just get a Hyperkin Retron 5 and be down with it.
Or a Super Retro Trio Plus if you're not insane.
Sad to see how this console turned out. Any chance you've gotten hold of or heard if the later revisions of the console addressed the issues you mentioned?
If you like the GameBoy games in question, you're probably better off importing them and just playing them on a GameCube GameBoy Player. Those are region free.
Delicious Raspbery Pi...
raspberry pi 1......
In fact... just gut the console, shove a Pi Zero in, and keep the controllers!
...or be fancy and make the Pi into the controller if there is enough room.
Flame Soulis **plug and play intensfies**
These Capcom games were released on the Capcom Classics Collection Vol.1+2 on the original Xbox and PS2.
I find the console works fine if you use an old school television It just doesn't work well with the TVs that require HDMI. But even still Bases Loaded II has a terrible glitch so I play part one with my friends. The console is dope because you can play an Arcade Port of Ghouls and Ghost the nintendo port is complete shit. Most games play fine and R Type III is better than R Type one and that game plays fine. I think its ok for a console on the cheap. They should make a better version of this console
Great review! I wonder if these timing issues show up through composite, on a CRT TV? Because I still have one. If the issues mentioned in this video are fixed with the upcoming February release, I'd love to get one of these.
Apocalypse II looks a lot like Mad Planets. Never played the actual arcade cabinet but even on MAME this game was *NUTS!*
I'm kind of guessing some beancounters at RetroBit decided to skimp on the CPU used in this console, hence the failure to display shoot em ups in portrait as they ought to be.
Yeah. MAME do an absolutely amazing job, especially when you realise they've absorbed MESS and have taken up the emulation of fruite machines and I think some pinball machines.
So... buy the RetroBit Generations for the controllers... and then stick RetroPie on a Raspberry Pi or something and use the controllers on that!
It's obvious that they rush this product to market just to compete with the NES Classic Edition Mini without taking consideration of the quality. The controllers were great and the save features as well as the option for remapping control are fantastic but the emulations on most games were poor and seem as if Retro-Bit just quickly add them in there just to upped the number of games. In this case it's a quantity versus quality kind of deal. If you want a quality plug and play with minor issue regarding the controller and some great 30 games from one platform then the NES Classic Edition is for you but if you just want variety of games from different platform regardless of quality and some third party USB controllers to go with those then the Retro-Bit Generation is for you.
My problem with the Retro-Bit Generations is that it just doesn't had that many popular games in there, though I love me some Capcom classics like Ghosts 'N Goblins, Super Ghouls 'N Ghosts, Bionic Commando, Knights of the Round, Merc, and Forgotten World, it really is a shame that no Street Fighter (I would had expect at least one version of SFII in there but nope there are none), Final Fight, or Mega Man games were ever included. The same could be said about Data East, we had a few good ones like Ring King and Kid Niki but some of the more popular ones like Rampage, Karnov, Fighter's History, Shadowrun, and Atomic Runner were heavily missing.
I bought the sequel to this, the Super Retro-Cade, because it was better put together and didn’t really have any issues compared to this system. Sad that a number of the games on here weren’t carried over to the Retro-Cade.
I just don't see a reason to buy any of 'em if all they are is emulation. Like, it's not even on the level of the Retron 5 where it's emulation, but you still have to use your real carts. This is just a pre-packaged emulator. Why not just emulate on a PC? Hell, I have Retroarch on my Xbox One, and it runs all the way to Wii games. I didn't spend an extra penny to play 'em.
Will you be doing any more POSITIVES? I always enjoyed those segments.