When I first learned about the Retron 5, I thought it sounded too good to be true. Not only does the Retron 5 boast that it can play games from 9 different consoles, but it also has modern features like HD upscaling to 720p, save states and built-in support for cheat codes -- all at a very reasonable price of $159.99. Does it deliver on its promises or fall short?

What systems does the Retron 5 support?

The biggest appeal of the system is the ability to play games from a whole slew of systems on a single console. When adding in the Japanese console support, the Retron 5 will play game cartridges from the the following systems:

• NES
• Famicom
• Super Nintendo
• Super Famicom
• Sega Genesis
• Sega Mega Drive
• Game Boy
• Game Boy Color
• Game Boy Advance
• Sega Master System (if using the Sega Power Base converter adapter)

What does this thing do?

The Retron 5 is a console that uses software emulation, not hardware, to play the games you load on it. So rather than reading the games from the cartridge, they are dumped into and ran off system memory. Even though you’re essentially playing ROMS that you’re dumping yourself every time you pop in a cartridge, there’s no way to save those ROMS to an SD card and use the system as a glorified emulation machine.

But in reality, it is a glorified emulation box. In fact, Hyperkin has found themselves in legal trouble when it was discovered they were using open source emulators in this system rather than writing their own, which is prohibited by the developers of the emulators Hyperkin used.

Hardware

The console itself has a design that’s somehow both sleek and cumbersome. Its available in two colors, all black with purple accents or a gray and purple design that's clearly influenced by the Super Nintendo (I bought the black model myself.) The console cartridge slots are on the top, and the handheld cartridges are inserted into the front of the machine.

Thankfully, original controllers can be used on this system. Inputs for NES, SNES and Genesis controller line the left and right sides of the machine.

The biggest issue with the hardware is the connector pins. They’re uncomfortably tight. So bad, in fact, that I ruined the pins on my first Retron 5 in the first few days by simply inserting and removing cartridges. I cannot stress this enough, if you ever buy a Retron 5, remove cartridges by tilting them to the side and ‘rocking’ them out. Pulling them straight out will bend the pins and ruin the cartridge connector. I’ve gotten used to this, but I’m very careful every time I use the console.

To power the system on and off, the power button on the front of the console must be pressed and held down for a few seconds. A quick push of the button does nothing.

Controller

The controller that ships with the console is an awkward, clunky mess and you probably won’t want to use it (thankfully we can opt to use original controllers instead). The controller that comes packed in is wireless and has a dedicated home button, but is just unpleasant to use. The buttons feel cheap and too clicky, and instead of a dpad it uses a weird thumbstick that isn’t precise enough for the normal 8-way inputs of a traditional dpad.

Interface

The garish red interface won’t win any awards, but it gets the job done. Options are laid out clearly and allow you to get to everything you need. You're able to configure settings for every game, manage save states and access other system settings easily.

Performance

Once your games are loaded off the cartridge, they boot like you're on a real system. In my experience, I've not ran into any problems with games that were not supported or had glitches. Everything felt like you were playing on the original hardware. Only die-hard retro gaming purists will be able to tell the difference between a game running on this thing versus the original hardware.

Features

In my opinion, the smoothing filters look great

Video upscaling

I was instantly impressed with the image quality this machine was able to coax out of these old games. Pixels were sharp and without any noticeable video noise.

Video filters

In addition to the video scaling, a number of smoothing options are available. They all essentially do the same thing, which is rounding the pixels of the graphics to give a more solid and rounded appearance to the sprites. For some games, I actually prefer this method. For example, it breathed new life into the large sprites of Mike Tyson’s Punch Out!.

Audio boost

While not as apparent as the visual boost, the audio receives a boost as well. Playing these games on a surround sound system gives the games deeper and richer sounds and music.

Save states

This is a game-changer and one of the biggest features. It allows you to save multiple save states for every game, allowing you to instantly save or restore your game at any point. This is a life-saver for games with particularly tricky areas, like the infamous final level of Ninja Gaiden.

Cheat code support

I've not used this feature yet myself, but it allows you to download packs of cheat codes and add them to the system via SD card. I was never a Game Genie guy myself, so it holds little appeal to me, but I can understand how some people will love this feature.

Final thoughts

So in the end, should you buy a Retron 5? If you're a more casual retro gamer, a system like the Super Nintendo Classic Edition or any of the various Genesis or Atari retro consoles with built-in games might be a better and less expensive option.

However, if you're into retro game collecting, particularly for a wide range of older consoles, I would say this is a a must-buy console. Despite all the system's flaws, the bottom line is that it's a huge convenience by consolidating multiple systems into one and it breathes new life into older games by giving them a visual boost and adds welcomed features like the ability to save your game at any point. No more battery backups, passwords or marathon sessions to beat games in a single sitting.

If you're a retro gamer and collector, I would highly recommend picking one up.

Thanks for reading. As always, upvotes, resteems and comments are appreciated!