Andromeda Stardust Posted November 20, 2016 Share Posted November 20, 2016 AKA The Coleco Chameleon approach... Well to Retrobit's credit, the Generations actually exists! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
homerhomer Posted November 20, 2016 Share Posted November 20, 2016 Hopefully somebody gets one of these unit right someday. There's so much potential to be had with a unit like this. I guess they just want it on the shelves so when people go to get the NES mini and it's sold out they can buy this instead. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+GoldLeader Posted November 20, 2016 Share Posted November 20, 2016 Hopefully somebody gets one of these unit right someday. There's so much potential to be had with a unit like this. I guess they just want it on the shelves so when people go to get the NES mini and it's sold out they can buy this instead. Probably not their initial intent...But at this point I'm sure they'll take what they can get. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted November 20, 2016 Share Posted November 20, 2016 Thanks for the pics. I can't help but wonder, has anyone ever seen this kind of legalese printed on any other HDMI/USB device they own?? WTF is going on? The same kind of company that would choose an un-Googleable name for their company, because Kool Brands is used by a British clothing company and an American maker of menthol cigarettes. Point of personal privilege-- I HATE it when companies use a "cute" deliberate misspelling of a common word in their brand. Kool Qwik EZ La-Z Lite Arrrgghh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted November 20, 2016 Share Posted November 20, 2016 Hopefully somebody gets one of these unit right someday. There's so much potential to be had with a unit like this. I guess they just want it on the shelves so when people go to get the NES mini and it's sold out they can buy this instead. DIY https://github.com/retropie/retropie-setup/wiki/First-Installation 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillLoguidice Posted November 20, 2016 Share Posted November 20, 2016 Hopefully somebody gets one of these unit right someday. There's so much potential to be had with a unit like this. I guess they just want it on the shelves so when people go to get the NES mini and it's sold out they can buy this instead. I'd argue we already have it with something like the Retro Freak. It's many times the price, but that's really the ultimate realization of a modern plug and play TV game system. I actually was recommending to AtGames to become the US distributor of the thing, but it's too costly to distribute. The main problem is the price point these have to hit. There is only so much you can do for $60 or less at retail. If all continues to go well on the AtGames side, I think they'll really start to move the bar on these types of things at that price point in 2017, but there are still several potential gotchas to overcome. Seeing how the behind-the-scenes works, I do have more of an appreciation for the difficulty in execution and how time sensitive many things are, which results in the "mistakes." That's why I privately chuckled at some of the bravado from some of the participants on the Retro-bit Generations side. On one level, I appreciated the confidence, but on another certainly knew that actual execution was a different story. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenixdownita Posted November 20, 2016 Share Posted November 20, 2016 .... The main problem is the price point these have to hit. ... ...and yet they waste money in useless junk. The RetroBitGen case uses no less than 6 screws and 2 red plastic pieces on the top case just to have those little red hi-lites (that's for you flojo ) and 4 distinct PCBs (way to save on costs). Let alone the list of B-games that still would require some royalty payments for what amounts to "shovelware". Wrt ATGames, why do the MD versions carry those non MD games at all? If it caters to retro gamers those come as a very cheap way to inflate the numbers .... save the money and invest in better hardware/execution .... those are not for free either however cheap they may be. I believe that the inflated numbers + subpar execution + shovelware of these kind of units relegates them in the crap pile. They do tickle the retro feeling for sure but man it's sad. Wrt the NESMini I believe big N should have tried harder to have a better emulation, they managed to not fell victim of the big number trap (no shovelware please), and they surely had enough budget, knowledge, time to do it right (well I should say "better")..... nobody knew much of this until the big N reveal, no hyperbolic announcements too soon or any of that hype, no Coleco Chameleon kind of cheap ass marketing. Their sales number are already very good, the mini Famicom version selling 250K units already .... the Jag never reached that point .... so they hit some milestone and I agree that the occasional nostalgic would go for it .... I see .... that's the market .... all in all the NES Mini fares better than the rest with less features, less games, but more omph (thanks to the fact that they do have games that matter) ... there's a lesson there somewhere. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NinjaWarrior Posted November 20, 2016 Share Posted November 20, 2016 (edited) I would rather play Games ment for a CRT, on a CRT Even on my NES Classic Edition on my nephews HDTV, One of those LED TV's has some Lag, Even in SMB3 Edited November 20, 2016 by NinjaWarrior Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PikoInteractive Posted November 20, 2016 Share Posted November 20, 2016 I'd argue we already have it with something like the Retro Freak. It's many times the price, but that's really the ultimate realization of a modern plug and play TV game system. I actually was recommending to AtGames to become the US distributor of the thing, but it's too costly to distribute. The main problem is the price point these have to hit. There is only so much you can do for $60 or less at retail. If all continues to go well on the AtGames side, I think they'll really start to move the bar on these types of things at that price point in 2017, but there are still several potential gotchas to overcome. Seeing how the behind-the-scenes works, I do have more of an appreciation for the difficulty in execution and how time sensitive many things are, which results in the "mistakes." That's why I privately chuckled at some of the bravado from some of the participants on the Retro-bit Generations side. On one level, I appreciated the confidence, but on another certainly knew that actual execution was a different story. On Atgames, I've heard they pissed of Sega and might/are losing the license. On RetroFreak, stay way on US distribution unless you want to be sued by Hyperkin. The RetroFreak Is the Retron 5. They both were made by the same Hong Kong Software developer just sold the world wide but Japan license of the system to hyperkin and the Japan distribution to that other Japanese distributor. It is still the same thing inside. That's why Hyperkin had no response with the Retroarch stolen code, because it wasn't them it was the developer etc. Generations definitely is not aimed to retro gamers at all, more to like casual gamers or people that remembers a bit some of these games and see the console for sale at a pharmacy. There is a lot of room for improvement which I'm sure it can be acquired. Atgames has been selling the same crappy firecore hardware for the Genesis one and still you see them every year on Target. However once there is more competition for shelve space we'll see who can survive the cut! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillLoguidice Posted November 20, 2016 Share Posted November 20, 2016 On Atgames, I've heard they pissed of Sega and might/are losing the license. On RetroFreak, stay way on US distribution unless you want to be sued by Hyperkin. The RetroFreak Is the Retron 5. They both were made by the same Hong Kong Software developer just sold the world wide but Japan license of the system to hyperkin and the Japan distribution to that other Japanese distributor. It is still the same thing inside. That's why Hyperkin had no response with the Retroarch stolen code, because it wasn't them it was the developer etc. Generations definitely is not aimed to retro gamers at all, more to like casual gamers or people that remembers a bit some of these games and see the console for sale at a pharmacy. There is a lot of room for improvement which I'm sure it can be acquired. Atgames has been selling the same crappy firecore hardware for the Genesis one and still you see them every year on Target. However once there is more competition for shelve space we'll see who can survive the cut! I'm not sure why you're so angry at AtGames, but keep fighting the good fight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillLoguidice Posted November 20, 2016 Share Posted November 20, 2016 Wrt ATGames, why do the MD versions carry those non MD games at all? If it caters to retro games those come as a very cheap way to inflate the numbers .... save the money and invest in better hardware/execution .... those are not for free either however cheap they may be. I agree. We should be dropping them for next year. We own those games and they're meant to appeal to casuals, so that's why they're on there. I actually do like a few of those games, but most are unlikable in my opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenixdownita Posted November 21, 2016 Share Posted November 21, 2016 I agree. We should be dropping them for next year. We own those games and they're meant to appeal to casuals, so that's why they're on there. I actually do like a few of those games, but most are unlikable in my opinion. Off Topic. How come your account states you're a new member "since 11 Nov 16" .... what happened? I am pretty sure I exchanged posts with you way before that ..... did I drop in on an alternative universe? And why do new releases on Jag cost 80US$? That Xenon II really set the pace the wrong way imho Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NinjaWarrior Posted November 21, 2016 Share Posted November 21, 2016 Where did you here ATGames pissed Sega off? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenixdownita Posted November 21, 2016 Share Posted November 21, 2016 .... Generations definitely is not aimed to retro gamers at all, more to like casual gamers or people that remembers a bit some of these games and see the console for sale at a pharmacy. There is a lot of room for improvement which I'm sure it can be acquired. Atgames has been selling the same crappy firecore hardware for the Genesis one and still you see them every year on Target. However once there is more competition for shelve space we'll see who can survive the cut! As you said AtGames MD is the same thing for years .... and the RetroBit Gen isn't exactly coming out swinging .... I do not know how AtGames is on the shelves every year ..... you say that if there's more competition we'll see who makes the cut ..... I hope so because with this year offering neither of them "made the cut" so to speak. I did hear good things about the VCS portable though ... so there's that. wrt "see the console on sale at a pharmacy" ..... I can only see one thing out of this statement. Greed. Let's hope to fool the untrained nostalgic fellow at a pharmacy, yeahh!!! As he's buying his viagra, his blood pressure medication, his souped up vitamins, why not give him some crappy nostalgic retro junk? ..... I know I am being very harsh ..... but I would hope some of these self proclaimed "retro-companies" would do the right thing and build a system that can cater to retro-gamers ... and yes at 60US$. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Austin Posted November 21, 2016 Share Posted November 21, 2016 Just checked out a video of this thing in action. Sadly, sound is off in the NES games, and the SNES stuff looks like it's running at nearly twice the speed. What a shame. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Osgeld Posted November 21, 2016 Share Posted November 21, 2016 (edited) Just checked out a video of this thing in action. Sadly, sound is off in the NES games, and the SNES stuff looks like it's running at nearly twice the speed. What a shame. A lot of times I hear things like "the sound is off" and usually think yea ok its 1/3rd of a hertz off but yea this thing doesn't appear to even be play tested as everything I have seen on it is WAY off on another topic, worried about screws and PCB's phht that's cheap compared to the connectors in there, probably 3-4 bucks per unit in wire harnesses and conncectors in that thing screws cost pennies in bulk, PCB area is in the pennies in bulk (heck I even got one board done at 5 cents a square inch on a high volume product) wire harness bam Edited November 21, 2016 by Osgeld 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillLoguidice Posted November 21, 2016 Share Posted November 21, 2016 Off Topic. How come your account states you're a new member "since 11 Nov 16" .... what happened? I am pretty sure I exchanged posts with you way before that ..... did I drop in on an alternative universe? And why do new releases on Jag cost 80US$? That Xenon II really set the pace the wrong way imho My other account from many, many years back is inaccessible for some reason. No big deal. It's still me either way and I could care less about 4,000+ posts or 60+ posts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillLoguidice Posted November 21, 2016 Share Posted November 21, 2016 Where did you here ATGames pissed Sega off? I'd love to know that too. Considering we're working on multiple new Sega products under our usual partnership, I think it would be news to both AtGames and Sega that there's any type of trouble. Maybe that's the strategy, though, to try and spread false rumors. It seems odd to try and tear down a competitor who is only peripherally in the same market. In my opinion, the better these products do as a category, all the major players should benefit. I certainly believe that's the case with the NES Mini. It's bringing in new customers and forcing everyone else to raise their game. That's a good thing. While I agree it does no favors to have an AtGames Sega product with poor sound and IR-based controllers (which again, will FINALLY be addressed and then some), it also does no favors releasing a product like the Retro-bit Generations, which by all accounts is a complete miss. Hopefully they'll get a second chance with it, because if executed correctly, despite the scattershot game line-up with few anchor titles, I did think it would have been a pretty interesting product for a certain market segment. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NinjaWarrior Posted November 21, 2016 Share Posted November 21, 2016 (edited) Because of AtGames track record with the Genesis Brand, they used the cheapest chip & emulator for there product Horried Sound coming from it, I surprised Sega didn't pull AtGames from there Genesis Brand To put it, AtGames ruined the Genesis Brand, And people still buy it Edited November 21, 2016 by NinjaWarrior Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted November 21, 2016 Share Posted November 21, 2016 I'd argue we already have it with something like the Retro Freak. It's many times the price, but that's really the ultimate realization of a modern plug and play TV game system. I actually was recommending to AtGames to become the US distributor of the thing, but it's too costly to distribute. The main problem is the price point these have to hit. There is only so much you can do for $60 or less at retail. If all continues to go well on the AtGames side, I think they'll really start to move the bar on these types of things at that price point in 2017, but there are still several potential gotchas to overcome. Seeing how the behind-the-scenes works, I do have more of an appreciation for the difficulty in execution and how time sensitive many things are, which results in the "mistakes." That's why I privately chuckled at some of the bravado from some of the participants on the Retro-bit Generations side. On one level, I appreciated the confidence, but on another certainly knew that actual execution was a different story. With all due respect, the NES Mni has a price point of $60 and has above and beyond the level of polish that anything Retrobit, AtGames, or the big clone makers have ever produced. Nevermind it only contains 30 games. Nintendo (or anyone else) could easily include 2 or 3 times the amount of software titles with no increase in the production cost. And I believe the quality or software selection on the NES Mini is above and beyond what is available on the AtGames consoles or Retrobit, despite having less games. But the actual quality of the included software is irrelevant. It is well known that Nintendo is the "Disney" of video game corporations, with excellent depth of content in their vaults. The build quality is paramount here. The fact is the NES Classic Mini has much higher quality of menu interface, controllers, and build quality, with an "at or under $60" price point. Where are the save states, HDMI, or quality feeling controllers? Why cannot AtGames or Retrobit provide the same level of quality presentation with the "at or under $60" price point which Nintendo has exhibited, irregardless of actual game content? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Osgeld Posted November 21, 2016 Share Posted November 21, 2016 (edited) Why cannot AtGames or Retrobit provide the same level of quality presentation with the "at or under $60" price point which Nintendo has exhibited, irregardless of actual game content? R&D funding and talent willingness to take a loss at first for the bigger picture industry connections and clout (ie its a lot easier to buy an extra million screws when you already buy 10 million of them a year) Edited November 21, 2016 by Osgeld 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillLoguidice Posted November 21, 2016 Share Posted November 21, 2016 With all due respect, the NES Mni has a price point of $60 and has above and beyond the level of polish that anything Retrobit, AtGames, or the big clone makers have ever produced. Nevermind it only contains 30 games. Nintendo (or anyone else) could easily include 2 or 3 times the amount of software titles with no increase in the production cost. And I believe the quality or software selection on the NES Mini is above and beyond what is available on the AtGames consoles or Retrobit, despite having less games. But the actual quality of the included software is irrelevant. It is well known that Nintendo is the "Disney" of video game corporations, with excellent depth of content in their vaults. The build quality is paramount here. The fact is the NES Classic Mini has much higher quality of menu interface, controllers, and build quality, with an "at or under $60" price point. Where are the save states, HDMI, or quality feeling controllers? Why cannot AtGames or Retrobit provide the same level of quality presentation with the "at or under $60" price point which Nintendo has exhibited, irregardless of actual game content? The only real disappointment besides the usual minor emulation anomalies with the NES Mini are the bizarrely short controller cord(s). Frankly, they should have been wireless, but including longer cords should have been the minimum. In looking at the product pipeline for 2017, I do think AtGames is finally on the right path with the hardware (and software UI/UX) and will actually be able to one-up the "competition" in a few key areas. As discussed before, Nintendo's entry into the market and establishment of a higher price point has suddenly opened up more options for a variety of reasons. Healthy competition can definitely be a positive. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted November 21, 2016 Share Posted November 21, 2016 Why cannot AtGames or Retrobit provide the same level of quality presentation with the "at or under $60" price point which Nintendo has exhibited, irregardless of actual game content? Regardless of games included ... AtGames has used pretty much the same hardware since 2008. They're overdue for a refresh, and we have been told that's coming soon. I think it would be great if AtGames game out with something truly cool that made Nintendo up their game. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillLoguidice Posted November 21, 2016 Share Posted November 21, 2016 (edited) Regardless of games included ... AtGames has used pretty much the same hardware since 2008. They're overdue for a refresh, and we have been told that's coming soon. I think it would be great if AtGames game out with something truly cool that made Nintendo up their game. I don't think Nintendo will care, regardless, but even if they did, I'm skeptical of them releasing any more of these types of systems. I truly believe this was nothing more than a stop-gap between the Wii U and Switch. I think if all goes well for Nintendo and the Switch is the hit they hope it will be, there will be no need for more of these types of products from them. Edited November 21, 2016 by BillLoguidice 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atariboy Posted November 21, 2016 Share Posted November 21, 2016 (edited) You don't see them following up when the Switch enters its twilight but the successor hasn't yet been released? Seems like an easy way to not only bolster their finances for a minimum of effort, but also a great way to keep excitement going for their brand during the inevitable between-generation lull where the Switch will be ripe for retirement but Nintendo isn't yet ready to launch their next-gen hardware. Like you, I doubt Nintendo will do more than just restock these units a year from now. But I bet we'll get a SuperNES Classic Edition in 4 or 5 years time. Edited November 21, 2016 by Atariboy 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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