The packaging for the 8Bitdo offerings.

The other offering, the SNES30 GamePad, is a Bluetooth wireless controller styled like the original SNES gamepad. Besides working with the Retro Receiver, it also functions as a Bluetooth joystick, Bluetooth keyboard, in iCade mode, in Emu-Touch Screen mode, in Wii remote mode, in RetroN 5 mode, and as a wired USB controller, with more functions promised. Those additional functions can be added via firmware updates, which is also possible on the Retro Receiver.

Opening the SNES30 GamePad box.

The contents.

In the attractive packaging for the SNES30 GamePad, you get the controller itself, standard USB cable to charge the built-in 480mAh Li-on battery, SNES 30th Anniversary keychain, and paperwork. The packaging for the Retro Receiver is simpler, coming in blister packaging, and includes the controller port dongle and a standard USB cable for connecting to a computer. The instructions are on the back of the packaging insert.

What you get with the Retro Receiver.

Although both devices offer a tremendous range of functionality, I primarily bought this for use with the amazing Retro Freak (which I reviewed back in 2015), which does not have a wireless option. To use an SNES (and other) controllers with the Retro Freak, you need the Retro Freak Controller Adapter, which comes with the Premium bundle, or is available for purchase separately.

Here’s how I got both the Retro Receiver and SNES30 GamePad to work on the Retro Freak:

1. I charged the controller.
2. I plugged the adapter into the controller adapter on the Retro Freak.
3. I turned the Retro Freak on.
4. I pressed the pair buttons on both the adapter and the controller.
5. I was almost immediately able to move around in the Retro Freak’s menu system.
6. I selected the standard SNES controller setup in each Retro Freak emulation system’s menu.
7. I started playing wirelessly like it was a normal SNES controller plugged into the controller port with a wire.

It really is remarkable how seamlessly it all works. While I like the SNES30 GamePad, it’s not quite as nice as the original SNES gamepad. There’s a bit more bounce to the d-pad, for instance. Overall, though, I have no significant complaints, particularly for a third party design. It’s definitely a controller I’ll make regular use of.

These 8Bitdo products offer a solution to the one real problem with the Retro Freak.

The Retro Receiver on the other hand is unequivocally extraordinary. It delivers the holy grail of classic gaming, bringing true wireless capability to legacy hardware (or hardware that uses legacy controller ports) with no perceptible lag and no fuss configuration. It just works, period. That’s why the Retro Receiver for SNES is receiving an Editor’s Choice award for 2016.

Armchair Arcade Editor’s Choice Award 2016: 8Bitdo Retro Receiver for SNES

8Bitdo SNES30 GamePad

Pluses:

• Wireless
• Lots of functionality
• Excellent packaging

Minuses:

• Doesn’t quite capture the feel of the SNES original

8Bitdo Retro Receiver for SNES

Pluses:

• Wireless for SNES compatible controller ports
• Lots of functionality
• Works out of box
• Powered by controller port

Minuses:

• Nothing!

The post Review: 8Bitdo SNES30 GamePad and Retro Receiver for SNES appeared first on Armchair Arcade.

One usage scenario.

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The box.

The Buffalo Classic USB Gamepad is modeled after the proven, classic Super NES controller design. While a lot of previous controllers have gotten the look of the Super NES controller right, this controller is probably the first that also gets the quality right. While physically, it’s all but indistinguishable from its inspiration, the controls themselves are arguably even a bit more responsive and provide even more audible feedback when a positive press is made.

What you get. Don’t worry, you don’t need the instructions.

As stated, I bought this to take the place of the poor Retro Freak Controller (although, like anything, it does have its fans). While the Buffalo Classic USB Gamepad does that job well, you still have to map the buttons in the Retro Freak setup just like any other standard USB controller. In my testing on my Windows 10 PC desktop, it was also recognized and usable without issue as a standard 2-axis, 8-button gamepad, although the Turbo and Clear buttons were not recognized by default.

Another angle.

I’m happy to say that the reports are true. The Buffalo Classic USB Gamepad is like Nintendo themselves making a new USB version of their Super NES controller. For anyone who has ever used a Super NES controller, you know that’s the highest praise there is.

The post Review: Buffalo Classic USB Gamepad (Super NES style) appeared first on Armchair Arcade.

The front of the box.

The back of the box.

The packaging is interesting in that you can access the d-pad and buttons. It’s very clicky, very noisy, and does this fan of mechanical keyboards proud. The d-pad is a bit like an analog stick, very loose, but very clicky; as a result, it moves extremely easily. The buttons are also super sensitive to presses.

The inside of the box.

Setup on the Retro Freak was relatively straightforward. It saw the controller as a standard USB controller and then it was just a matter of mapping the buttons with a custom profile in each of the supported systems.

The front of the controller.

Unfortunately, while it’s a pretty nice controller, it’s not necessarily something I’d recommend for classic console games like you play on the Retro Freak. The feel of the controller is unique in a way that really doesn’t make it quite as versatile as a more traditional plus-style d-pad and non-microswitch button design. In fact, while I like the responsiveness of the unique d-pad, the buttons, while sufficiently reactive, have an odd feel, making super fast button presses a bit of a sloppier experience than I usually like.

The rear of the controller. It has a nice, tacky surface on the back.

Some additional information came to light in regards to the Retro Freak both from my own experimentation and in my discussions with other owners. It seems that Sega SG-1000 support is not yet implemented, which might be why the Retro Freak Gear Converter is delayed into next month (when mine arrives, I’ll post a review). Presumably a firmware update will be available by then to make both adapted cartridges and regular ROMs work.

I also confirmed that the Retro Freak Controller Adapter can be loaded up with legacy controllers on all of its available ports, with each registering individually on the console. It also works perfectly well on a PC (I tested in Windows 10), with each port registering as its own USB controller (although they’re all generically labeled the same, so you’ll need to figure out which controller port goes to the specific controller or controllers you have plugged in).

Finally, I actually got a wireless controller to work on the Retro Freak, albeit with some caveats. I had a second generation OnLive controller, which was different from the first generation OnLive controller in that the first generation only works with the now-defunct OnLive console, while the second generation OnLive controller is more of a generic Bluetooth controller. I plugged in the wireless USB dongle into the Retro Freak and the controller was immediately controlling the menus. Even the left analog stick worked, although use of it in a game caused malfunction. Unfortunately, in the case of button mapping (it has a SNES-style button layout, with two shoulder bumpers and two shoulder triggers), not all of the buttons work correctly, so it doesn’t really work right for games that require more than three buttons, and really is only ideal for two button games because of what buttons work properly with that layout. It’s a pity, but at least it shows that some type of wireless solution should be possible at some point, and maybe one even exists already.

The post Review: PDP PS3 Versus Controller (plus additional new Retro Freak console information) appeared first on Armchair Arcade.

Although I’m an enthusiastic fan of the Hyperkin RetroN 5, which plays original cartridges from the NES, Famicom, Super NES, Super Famicom, Genesis, Mega Drive, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, and Sega Master System (with a Power Base Converter or equivalent) in glorious HD, it’s not without its frustrations. Perhaps the biggest of those frustrations is that there’s no easy and official way to play flash-based multi-carts or run ROMs. It’s strictly for playing original cartridges. That’s why the Japanese Retro Freak console from Cyber Gadget had me so excited. Not only does the Retro Freak do many of the same things that the RetroN 5 does, it can also run ROMs directly from an optional microSD or microSDHC card (up to 32GB, although you’ll read later why a card of that size is not necessarily all that useful at this point).

The box for the Premium edition.

The mix of systems for the Retro Freak is a bit different from the RetroN 5. The Retro Freak plays original cartridges and ROMs for the Famicom, Super NES, Super Famicom, Genesis, Mega Drive, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Super Game Boy, TurboGrafx-16, PC Engine, PC Engine SuperGrafx, and, with an adapter if you want to play physical cartridges, NES, Game Gear, Sega Master System, Mark III, and SG-1000. Interestingly, unlike the RetroN 5, the Retro Freak is not entirely self contained, with, for instance, the tiny main unit inserting into a larger shell for when you want to use cartridges (its total size is still smaller than the RetroN 5) and the controller adapter to use a single original controller (versus two ports built into the RetroN 5 for each of its main supported systems) for the SNES, Famicom, NES, PC Engine, and Sega Genesis/Mega Drive an optional add-on outside of the Premium model. A further deviation from the RetroN 5 is the lack of a wireless controller option (there are rumors of third party Bluetooth adapters from 8Bitdo in development), with only a lightweight, wired controller modeled somewhat after the Super NES/Super Famicom included, although you can plug in many USB adaptable controllers, both classic and modern, including Sony PlayStation 3 and 4 DualShock gamepads.

Although the Retro Freak is available from a variety of sellers on eBay, the most cost effective and reliable method is to do what I did for the Premium model and get it from Play-Asia, which was only recently able to meet the incredible demand for the product with sufficient stock levels. Play-Asia stocks the Retro Freak Standard, Retro Freak Premium, Retro Freak Gear Converter (for adapting Sega Game Gear, Mark III, and SG-1000 cartridges), Retro Freak Controller Adapter (which comes with the Premium set), and a Retro Freak AC Adapter (in case you want another one; note that this is the same type of adapter used on the Sony PSP and devices like the indispensable XRGB-mini Framemeister). Although you’ll pay a premium for the FedEx shipping option at Play-Asia, the fact that you’ll get your delivery in a few days helps make up for it (just be sure to have someone present to sign for the package).

What you get with the Premium edition.

The Retro Freak comes with the console itself, a short HDMI cable, and an AC adapter (it’s universal, so it works fine in both Japan and North America). If you got the Retro Freak Premium like I did, you also get the controller adapter box and miniUSB cable for connecting it to the console.

Starting Out

When you first start the Retro Freak, it helpfully gives you a choice of language. I of course chose English. It also prompted me to automatically update the RetroFreak Cartridge Adapter. And that was that. You can see the whole process in the absolutely unexciting video that follows:

I then went into Settings and set it up the way I like it. You can see that and my play session from the Sqoon Famicom cartridge I inserted:

Unfortunately, Sqoon‘s performance was miserable. I decided to go into System settings and request a firmware update. I took the microSD card and inserted it into my computer. I then followed the instructions here to get the update. Unfortunately, after multiple tries, I always got the “<< ERROR >> Invalid update request (bad magic)” error.

The main part of the console sitting on top of the bottom of the cartridge unit.

As it turned out, I was using a microSD card that wasn’t newly formatted, i.e., it had stuff on it. Obviously, the Retro Freak didn’t like that. Once I fixed that issue with a fresh format, I was able to both dump a cartridge (Wildtrax for the Super Famicom) and write a working update request. I’m now on system version 1.4. You can see the update process in the video:

As you can also see in that second video, I put a random Genesis ROM (Streets of Rage) in a sub-folder under Games to see if I’m able to organize ROMs in that manner. Fortunately, I am. As you can also see, Wildtrax performed reasonably well, although there was some glitching in the in-game menu. After the firmware update, Sqoon clearly worked much better, although I find the performance of the game on the RetroN 5 superior.

ROMs off microSD

My next task was to load up my microSD card with some additional ROM sub-folders for the various other systems it’s supposed to support. With lots of ROMs, even in sub-folders, it does seem to take the system several minutes to parse and make them accessible, which is frustrating.

On a subsequent start-up, it didn’t even find the same microSD card, so I’m thinking it got corrupted, even though there were no signs of it. Other times, it would just endlessly try to parse the games without giving me access to the microSD card. Instead of trying to work with an overstuffed microSD card, I just reformatted the card and decided to put just a handful of ROMs for each system to finish my testing:

What this sluggishness with too many ROMs means is that this system is not a good solution at present for those of us who want to have large numbers of ROMs accessible. With that said, with a more modest collection of ROMs, I have no complaints with how quickly it parses and loads the listing, as you can see in the previous video. And even though it clearly has issues with running some ROMs correctly, other ROMs like Virtua Racing for the Sega Genesis that give other systems fits, works well here.

The console inserted into the cartridge unit.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t get any SG-1000 ROMs to run (with .sg extension), and I don’t have an adapter to try one of my SG-1000 cartridges. I don’t know why it doesn’t work.

While I didn’t load any SuperGrafx ROMs in that previous video, I did put in a SuperGrafx cartridge so I could show every system it supports.

The Controller

The included wired controller is OK, but seems to lack some precision and responsiveness. While the Bluetooth RetroN 5 eventually grew on me after my initial hatred of it, I’m not sure this one will have the same unexpected recovery. The build quality just doesn’t seem to be there. I suspect when I’m not using a classic system’s controller, I’ll be using a PS3 or PS4 controller, which seems to work fine, although only with the d-pad and not the analog stick(s) (I only tested a PS3 controller, since I had it handy after testing the disappointing PlayStation TV).

The Retro Freak Controller Adapter

I happened to have a copy of the Famicom version of Arkanoid II, complete with paddle controller, ready to go. I plugged both the cartridge and Famicom controller into their respective slots and turned the system on. It loaded the game just fine and, surprisingly, the controller worked beautifully (in the first video, without scanlines, it picked up where I left off, which is a nice feature of the system):

Conclusion

It still seems to be early days for this console. In its present state, it’s tough to fully recommend considering the RetroN 5 can presently be had for so much less money in a more complete configuration. The main advantage that the Retro Freak has outside of TurboGrafx-16, PC Engine, and PC Engine SuperGrafx support is its ability to rip cartridges to microSD, as well as run ROMs from microSD, ripped or otherwise. Unfortunately, it’s this latter experience that is the biggest let-down of its enormous potential at present, since you have to carefully manage the number of ROMs you have on your microSD card. Nevertheless, when it works, it works well, and the ROM thing, however limited, is still a critical differentiator. As such, if you have the money to invest in this and any relevant adapters or add-ons, it’s presently the only such system of its type available with this overall feature-set.

How the Premium edition looks all hooked up.

Naturally, if its niggly issues get resolved with future firmware updates, I’ll be sure to do a follow-up review.

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