Classic and Retro Gaming Headaches

[scotland]

Sometimes the good old stuff has headaches too.

I sat down to play a game with a battery save. An RPG. Those batteries last for years, but in any case, I had just replaced the battery inside before starting it. Was well into the game when ... fzzzzzt.... All the game saves were corrupted or gone. The game did not even want to start again. I tried a different game unit to see if it was the unit...no, its the game cartridge. Replaced the battery again, which definitely kisses those game saves goodbye. A single bad battery? Maybe. A bad battery connection? I don't know, but now its the choice of giving up on the game and moving on to a new one, or just replay all that stuff I've already played through....and hope it doesn't happen again.

[AtariToday]

That is definitely a bummer.

Just to provide a possible "plan b" option, systems like the Retron 5 allow you to back-up your saves off the cart to the system and do save states directly to the system itself instead of saving to the cart. Being able to save to the systems SD card would get around the worry of losing your progress again, and if you have a fried battery it would get around that as well. Just throwing it out there!

[scotland]

Thanks. Thats nice to think about.

I do own a Retron 3, but I soured on the Retron 5 when I learned its an android system with a bunch of adapters. Nothing wrong with emulation, but if I am going that route there are lots of options. The advantage here is the use of physical media, and thats a big plus to many of us. Do they still make Retron 5s? What about tbe deathgrip it had on cartridges?

[Rookie1]

Thanks. Thats nice to think about.

I do own a Retron 3, but I soured on the Retron 5 when I learned its an android system with a bunch of adapters. Nothing wrong with emulation, but if I am going that route there are lots of options. The advantage here is the use of physical media, and thats a big plus to many of us. Do they still make Retron 5s? What about tbe deathgrip it had on cartridges?

Retron 3 is the way to go, but I am pretty sure that just dumps the rom and uses an emulator to play it like the Retron 5. It just doesnt have the fancy GUI.

The R5 was a piece of junk IMO. I bought it, and shortly after the Sega slot stopped working all together. Then the pins got ripped out on the NES slot. Not to mention the latest update they put out made most games unplayable and the thing bricked when I tried to downgrade the software. Yeah, that went right in the trash.

For your battery troubles, did you make sure to get the exact same battery? I know a lot look the same, but put out different voltages. So you need to make sure its exact, or it will/could mess things up.

[scotland]

I might have messed up the battery. It sure looked like a CR32, but given the damage, maybe it was not.

Good to know your disatisfaction on the Retron 5. I think the Retron 3 is still hardware emulation with a system on a chip. I like mine, but its only a/v out and it won't help with game saves. Actually, I have a SNES contraption which I think might help with those. Had it so long I've forgotten but it takes a fistful of batteries.

[matmico399]

Yes I have a Retron 3 and it has seen a lot of action. No kidding about the death grip. Sadly the snes slot quit working. The other two work great though.

[eneuman96]

Finding a way to play a system older than the 90's on a modern TV is a pain in the ass. It never seems quite as straightforward as the Internet makes it out to be. Also, does every single Dreamcast in the world get finicky about reading discs or is it just my incredibly bad luck?

[CharlieR]

I've noticed that about dreamcast too. Sometimes it reads discs, sometimes it goes into the cd player and plays the game's music. Sometimes I start it up with no disc, put the disc in and press play. It restarts. I get nervous seeing the dreamcast logo wondering if the game will start or go back to the menu.

[AtariToday]

I don't use my Retron 5 often, so while it hasn't crapped out on me yet I can tell that the build quality is "cheap". I'd say it doesn't surprise me it has broken for others.

In regards to the Dreamcast the disc drive seems to be the first thing to die. I've had two Dreamcast's eat it, both with the disc's refusing to read. Headache for sure!

[Voor]

For a while I had a Retro Duo, that played nes and Snes games. It worked well, but I was shocked at how light and flimsy the thing felt. It had the death grip thing going for too, and I have no idea why that is such a common issue.