Hasta La Gadget!

Even with its over-hyped ‘blast processing’ on the Genesis and the much-loved Dreamcast, Sega still ended up losing the console war to Nintendo, Sony, and eventually Microsoft. The company still survives through its software, but if you want new Sega hardware in your home you’ll have to settle for this Bluetooth speaker from Tommo that pays tribute to the 25th Anniversary of the Genesis.

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Do you remember growing up in the 1980s and the early 1990s? The Nintendo NES did take the world by storm, where it popularized the home videogame console genre, sending the Atari 2600 into the consumer electronics retirement home along the way. One thing about the NES was its library of games that definitely appealed to a wide range of gamers, and it opened up the imaginations of millions of kids, too. When the SNES arrived on the scene to succeed where the NES left off, Sega’s Genesis has delivered 16-bit gaming goodness for quite some time already, and with the $54.99 Genesis Arcade Ultimate Portable Console, you can roll back the years by enjoying 80 pre-loaded games right out of the box.

The Genesis Arcade Ultimate Portable Console comes with TV-Out capability, not to mention an internal battery that delivers anywhere from 4 to 6 hours of gameplay on a full charge. This means you can just tote around this little puppy without worrying about removing those mint looking carts from your video game collection at home. Some of the games include Altered Beast, the Golden Axe trilogy, and Sonic the Hedgehog I and II, just to mention a few. Games will be played off the SD memory card, and you can once again settle the score with your mate over a round of Street Fighter II: Special Champion Edition or Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers.
[ Genesis Arcade Ultimate Portable Console copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

This year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo might be all about the next generation of gaming hardware, but not in Hyperkin’s E3 booth: these guys are looking backwards. We dropped by to check out the Retron 5, the outfit’s latest machine to traverse the library of older gaming titles. All told, this iteration strolls through half a dozen hardware cycles, offering compatibility for a full nine video game systems. It’s more than a simple hardware emulator, however — this machine offers save states, cheats and visual filters too.

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This strange looking box is capable of something no other device ever built is – it can play the original cartridges, ROMs and discs from 18 different retro gaming systems.

The beastly Project Unity system was built by modder Bacteria, and it took him over 3500 hours and three years to assemble. Inside, it contains original circuitry from 15 classic systems, but works with a single master controller, a single power supply, and a single (SCART) video output connector. All tolled, it cost Bacteria about £700 (~$1076 USD) in parts to build, but its really his time and labor that represents the majority of the cost.

Inside the system is approximately 100 feet of cabling, and the whole thing weighs in around 44 lbs. The system has physical hardware from an Atari 7800, Sega Master System, Sega MegaDrive (Genesis), Super Nintendo, Nintendo NES, Nintendo 64, NeoGeo MVS, Sega Saturn, Sega Dreamcast, Nintendo Gamecube, NEC TurboGrafx X, Colecovision, Intellivision, Sony Playstation 2, and Amstrad GX1000 consoles. He says it can actually play games from 18 total systems, including PS1 games on the PS2, Atari 2600 games on the 7800 and GBA games on the GameCube.

In order for all of the games to work with a single controller, he built a series of special NES cartridges which plug into the controller, providing system specific interfaces for the single mega-controller.

Bacteria explains the build and how Project Unity came together and how it works in the extensive video below. The system and controller demo starts around 9:30.

You could play all of these consoles using MESS or other emulators, there’s something to be said about using the original hardware to play games without the quirks that most emulators exhibit.

If you’re wondering about the big nondescript square box it’s all set inside of, Bacteria says he built it that way so it would all fit neatly into the cabinet under his TV. While it may not be the prettiest looking console I’ve ever seen, you’ve got to hand it to Bacteria for his persistence and technical abilities.

Awesome job!

If you recall, a few weeks back, we mentioned that Hyperkin was working on an update to their popular retro multi-console, the RetroN. Well, today, they officially showed off the console, and it’s been renamed the RetroN 5, since it has five cartridge slots.

Hyperkin Retro N 5 rendering

Announced at this weekend’s Midwest Gaming Classic, the RetroN 5 made an appearance as both a rendering (shown above), and as a shiny red prototype console, still bearing the RetroN 4 badge, and without the promised GBA slot.

Hyperkin Retro N 4 prototype

The five-slotted console will be able to play original cartridges from the NES, SNES, Genesis, Famicom, Super Famicom, Mega Drive, Game Boy Advance, Game Boy Color and Game Boy. In addition, it will offer an HDMI output for playing games on today’s HDTVs, and a special video enhancement circuit to ensure high quality playback at resolutions up to 720p.

The RetroN 5 will also offer technology to improve the audio quality compared to what you’re used to hearing from emulators, with the ability to increase playback frequency if you so choose. While you can play games using the original controllers from the various retro systems, the RetroN 5 will ship with a Bluetooth wireless controller(s?), complete with a lovely clicky microswitch D-Pad.

Hyperkin Retro N 4 prototype wireless controller

Hyperkin has also suggested that you’ll be able to use controllers from different systems on each other’s games. For instance, you could play an NES game with a Genesis controller. The system will also have its own custom interface, which will provide the ability to save states, map buttons, and tweak gameplay speed by “overclocking” the game systems. You’ll also be able to assign settings to macro keys on the sides of the controller for easy access. While the menu UI I saw was clearly in the early stages of development, it was already accessible on the prototype system.

‘ Hyperkin RetroN 5 Prototype UI

Hyperkin hasn’t revealed the pricing or an exact release date for the RetroN 5, but they’re hoping to release the system this July – though they were clear they want to give their development team enough time to put a shiny coat of polish on the finished product, so that date isn’t carved in stone.

Here’s video from today’s announcement for more details on the system.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip