Retro-bit Generations console review

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VideoGameCritic
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Retro-bit Generations console review

Postby VideoGameCritic » December 22nd, 2016, 10:01 pm

Here's a little holiday treat for you all.
I think it's been hard to find a decent review of this... until now.
Feel free to leave feedback, including typos and errors.

http://videogamecritic.com/extras/revie ... bitgen.htm

Robotrek
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Re: Retro-bit Generations console review

Postby Robotrek » December 22nd, 2016, 10:59 pm

"Most games were published by Jaleco, although Data East, Irem, and especially Capcom are well represented"

Bull. Data East has ONE GAME on here, hardly "well represented".

"I'd rate emulation as satisfactory"

Minus Game Boy games, almost every game has sound, speed, or graphical errors, so you must not have played the originals in a while.

"I enjoyed sampling all the games and my friends seemed to have a good time with it. Purists may scoff at the imperfections in the emulation and the overall lack of polish, but hey, you get what you pay for."

I never payed a dime for ZSNES, KEGA Fusion, MAME, VisualBoyAdvance, or FCEUX, yet ironically, the do a better job than this thing, on a computer from 1999.

I notice you were also overly kind to the Genesis clone systems, which had LESS horrible qualities, but it seems you might have been slightly MORE kind to THIS one. I don't think you're being honest Dave. I purchased this system in the hopes that I'd have something like the old plug n' play TV games. This could've been fantastic. A Raspberry Pi 3 can do the same thing, requires minimal setup, and it 35 to 40 dollars, and it will emulate the games in a far superior fashion. There is absolutely ZERO reason for this to run bad. You didn't even mention that Varth ran the game SIDEWAYS, without ANY options to flip it around. This thing was set to be a slam dunk, and absolutely could have been. I'm sorry for editing this post so much (I won't after this one) but the more I think about it, the more I realize what a waste of money it was. Retrobit has seriously damaged their reputation. I loved their Retro-Duo portable. They CAN do wonderful emulation, but this was just a cash grab, looking to capitalize on the popularity of the NES Classic. And I can't say much.

Also, funny how the only "decent review" happens to be yours, which ironically, is the only positive one I've seen.

P.S: Yes, I was named after the SNES RPG of the same name.
Last edited by Robotrek on December 23rd, 2016, 5:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Atariboy
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Re: Retro-bit Generations console review

Postby Atariboy » December 22nd, 2016, 10:59 pm

If anyone's interested, SD rom loading has been recently uncovered here that allows you to load your own roms. Alas, it doesn't solve the other issues with this, but it could be fun to fool around with for someone like the Critic that didn't find the flaws with this product unacceptable.

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/253811 ... ?p=3654688

And here's a demonstration video that someone posted at AtariAge of some NES classics running via this method on this system.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SW_MxkXGPcA

VideoGameCritic wrote:I think it's been hard to find a decent review of this... until now.
Feel free to leave feedback, including typos and errors.


What did you think about the Capcom arcade classic Varth when you fired it up? I figured you'd get a big laugh when the first thing you likely noticed was insert coin being displayed sideways due to them rotating this vertical game to a horizontal orientation.

And not only do the modern day homebrews from Piko Interactive that you mentioned drag down the game lineup, but I think it's disappointing that Data East content was mentioned everywhere with this product including the logo displayed prominently on the box itself, but ultimately only one Data East title made the cut.

Pretty misleading advertising if you ask me.

Alucard1191
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Re: Retro-bit Generations console review

Postby Alucard1191 » December 22nd, 2016, 11:31 pm

Wow robotrek, harsh. (Are you named after the rather underrated classic SNES RPG by any chance?)

There seem to be a huge amount of these types of systems out now, but I can't get myself to buy them. I think with few exceptions, I'd want to mainly have originals. If there is something out there or unavailable in that format, I'll just download it on my computer, run an emulator, and hook up a controller.

Unless by chance a particular brand of this type of thing works really well, (what are these called BTW as a genre? Retro emulator systems?) I just don't see myself investing in one. Even if they're inexpensive

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BlasteroidAli
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Re: Retro-bit Generations console review

Postby BlasteroidAli » December 22nd, 2016, 11:36 pm

Sounds like there are too many problems with the machine to warrant buying it. Reading between the lines I think you give the review a c plus or a D. It is noble failure. A curio.

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Re: Retro-bit Generations console review

Postby VideoGameCritic » December 23rd, 2016, 7:51 am

I fixed the line about Data East.

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Atariboy
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Re: Retro-bit Generations console review

Postby Atariboy » December 23rd, 2016, 8:15 am

I missed it the first time, but just noticed that you and your buddies enjoyed Big Run.

Glad to see that other people appreciated this one. I had never even heard of this Japanese exclusive until this thing appeared, but curiosity led me to loading it up into my Super Everdrive and I've now spent several hours with it.

Not very well liked online these days, but I've had fun with it and would love to see the Jaleco arcade game that it was a port of appear in a compilation someday (And Cisco Heat, another underrated Jaleco arcade racer which I actually owned once upon a time).

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Re: Retro-bit Generations console review

Postby VideoGameCritic » December 23rd, 2016, 2:14 pm

I don't really think the animosity is warranted. If it were a $150 system I might be a little more critical, but last time I checked this was $41 on Amazon.

Instead of saying "don't buy" I think we should encourage consoles like this. Retro-bit may not have put much effort into this system but if it sells well they will probably make another. And hopefully they'll invest more into it and release a better product.

The same could probably be said of the Nintendo Classic. Nintendo may not have anticipated it as a runaway success, but will probably take the next iteration a lot more serious and go "all out". (read: longer wires!)

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Rev
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Re: Retro-bit Generations console review

Postby Rev » December 23rd, 2016, 5:40 pm

Nice review. This looks interesting and it is relatively cheap for what you're getting. Might be worth a pickup if I see it laying around. It's a big missed opportunity that it doesn't have HDMI cables... That would have done this console a big favor.

Gleebergloben123
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Re: Retro-bit Generations console review

Postby Gleebergloben123 » December 23rd, 2016, 10:50 pm

Robotrek, geez dude, that was an uncool post.

VGC, interesting read. Not sure if I'll get it, but it calls for a second look.


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