Retro-Bit Generations

[Flojomojo]

I'd buy the heck out of a modern GBA with 30 built-in games and a headphone jack. They could make it the size of a smartphone but with D-pad and buttons.

[PikoInteractive]

When I came out of college, I interviewed to this workplace that sold Trucking parts and hauling stuff. They needed someone in Maerketing and e-commerce. When I spoke with the guy that interviewed him, he told me the story of the place. At the time (and still till today) there was about 6 different businesses right next to each other selling the same stuff (Trucking parts and hauling stuff). He told me their business was the first one to put a location there, and business exploded! Then a ton of other people saw the success and started to open places right next to them. However, they lived off the scraps. Since they were the original trucking parts place in the area, they built a reputation and a know-to place to go. The rest, as mentioned lived off their scraps.

 

We just entered this era for retro gaming plug and plays where Nintendo is the original business in this case, and everybody else is going to live off their leftover.

 

To answer your statement Bill on Atgames, there is no anger at all! They have been successfully selling $6 cost products from Dichroic Cat/Hamy Game, the factory that handles makes the Hamy stuff (I think they do Retron stuff too right? Correct me if I am wrong) for a 500% mark up; they are in all major retailers, you got to give them credit for that, my only criticism is that they've been selling the same technology which clearly has problems for 5 or 6 years now, it was due for an upgrade since year 1 I'd say . This is key for Retro-bit if they want to stay in the game and not be benched indefinitely.

On the Sega license, I just mentioned some rumors that already 3 people have told me. Actually one stated "I can't believe how Atgames has been able to piss off everyone in the industry, including Sega". One claim was even because they were being shady about their royalties. But yeah at the end of the day only rumors. You are in their payroll so you should know more inside info.

Piko Interactive is a free agent and only content provider (honestly we are barely building a portfolio and will never be as popular stuff even compared to Jaleco which is the content provider with the least popular stuff in my opinion) so unfortunately my hands are tied on this one, but again since the shelve space now will be up for competition for 5+ plug an plays (Atari, Genesis, Nintendo, Generations and the Dream Gear stuff) everyone will need to up their game. Even Nintendo will add more games to their PNPs Im sure.

Edited November 21, 2016 by PikoInteractive

[BillLoguidice]

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.

 

I'm assuming that Nintendo will not have a next system for quite a while and just release indefinite incremental system improvements like the current Microsoft and Sony strategy. That would mean no lulls. Again, that's assuming the Switch is a success. That remains to be seen.

[Andromeda Stardust]

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.

What! Why?

 

No NES Classic Mini 2 (with 40 games instead of 30, some repeats, some new), and no SNES Mini? Given the overwhelming consumer interest in the NES Mini, Nintendo would be a fool not to do this again next year, regardless of whether the switch is a dud or blockbuster success.

 

If the NES Minis languished on store shelves, I could see Nintendo not making a sequel. But the overwhelming response to this device shows that Nintendo have another cash cow on their hands. It would be silly not to take advantage of the "Mini" product line in subsequent years...

 

They are catering to an entirely different market to the Switch (casuals versus hardcore) so withholding the Mini consoles because it might erode sales of the Switch makes little sense at all. Then again, Nintendo (as it exists today) is known for making odd business decisions which make little sense to fans or investors alike.

[BillLoguidice]

What!?

 

No NES Classic Mini 2 (with 40 games instead of 30, some repeats, some new), and no SNES Mini? Given the overwhelming consumer interest in the NES Mini, Nintendo would be a fool not to do this again next year, regardless of whether the switch is a dud or blockbuster success.

 

If the NES Minis languished on store shelves, I could see Nintendo not making a sequel. But the overwhelming response to this device shows that Nintendo have another cash cow on their hands. It would be silly not to take advantage of the "Mini" product line in subsequent years...

 

I stand by my analysis. In my opinion, Nintendo would instead be foolish diverting potential customers away from the Switch (and related Virtual Console purchases) by having a low cost, high value offering like another Mini. The only reason I feel they're doing it now is because there's no Wii U market to cannibalize, so it's safe. I think Nintendo and everyone else on the planet always knew something like this would sell like gangbusters. A Nintendo with a healthy primary console NEVER releases something like this. So that's why I state what I state.

[Pixelboy]

I stand by my analysis. In my opinion, Nintendo would instead be foolish diverting potential customers away from the Switch (and related Virtual Console purchases) by having a low cost, high value offering like another Mini. The only reason I feel they're doing it now is because there's no Wii U market to cannibalize, so it's safe. I think Nintendo and everyone else on the planet always knew something like this would sell like gangbusters. A Nintendo with a healthy primary console NEVER releases something like this. So that's why I state what I state.

I agree with Bill. It would be awesome to see a SNES Mini, or other such Nintendo retro systems, but it's not in Nintendo's best interest to diversify like this when they need to concentrate on making the Switch a success. I'd love to be proven wrong, mind you...

[Andromeda Stardust]

^^I respectfully disagree. Switch shouldn't have to "fail" in order for Nintendo to see value in the Plug-n-Play market. Customers interested in the Mini consoles would never have bought a Switch to begin with.

 

That's about like arguing the Game Boy detracted from NES/SNES sales. Instead, it printed money...

[Keatah]

No reason you can't have Switch and NESmini and SNESmini.

[onmode-ky]

A quick reminder to all owners of retail-purchased Retro-Bit Generations consoles: I'm still missing ARC/NES/SNES/GEN/GB/GBA identification for the following 24 games:

 

10-yard fight -- irem

argus -- jaleco

astyanax -- jaleco

big run -- jaleco

captain commando -- capcom

commando -- capcom

exed exes -- capcom

exerion -- jaleco

field combat -- jaleco

formation z -- jaleco

gun.smoke -- capcom

higemaru -- capcom

holy diver -- irem

image fight -- irem

kickle cubicle -- irem

kid niki: radical ninja -- irem

major title (listed as: major title golf) -- irem

r-type iii: the third lightning (listed as: r type 3) -- irem

ring king -- data east

rocky rodent -- irem

rod-land (listed as: rod land) -- jaleco

sonson -- capcom

totally rad -- jaleco

zippy race -- irem

 

I would appreciate any input toward getting that list of unknowns down to zero entries long. Also, if someone could post a screenshot of the title screen of what's listed in the menu as "Judo Warriors 2," that would be helpful, too (unless you can read Japanese, in which case just tell me what it says as the title).

 

Speaking of which, this is the first plug-n-play game system sold in the West with Japanese-language games packed in. This strikes me as very odd, given their target market (i.e., a casual gaming audience), and probably not a good idea. The casual audience would likely be just as put off by encountering a bunch of Japanese text as they are by encountering the rotated Varth screen. A look at Amazon user reviews by people who accidentally bought Japanese games reveals people who don't think, "Ooh, an exotic treasure!", but rather "What is this $#@!? You sold me something I can't read!" Or just look at the user ratings in the PS Store for the majority of PS1 Imports releases.

 

Admittedly, there aren't that many Generations games with Japanese text, and you could still play them without understanding story, stats, etc., but I don't think any other company in the market would have included them at all. At the very least, there would be a notice on the box. I mean, what's one more sticker on a box already loaded with them?

 

onmode-ky

[Osgeld]

Speaking of which, this is the first plug-n-play game system sold in the West with Japanese-language games packed in.

 

There's been a gazillion famiclone plug n play's sold for almost a decade with almost all Japanese-language games

[Andromeda Stardust]

A quick reminder to all owners of retail-purchased Retro-Bit Generations consoles: I'm still missing ARC/NES/SNES/GEN/GB/GBA identification for the following 24 games:

 

10-yard fight -- irem

argus -- jaleco

astyanax -- jaleco

big run -- jaleco

captain commando -- capcom

commando -- capcom

exed exes -- capcom

exerion -- jaleco

field combat -- jaleco

formation z -- jaleco

gun.smoke -- capcom

higemaru -- capcom

holy diver -- irem

image fight -- irem

kickle cubicle -- irem

kid niki: radical ninja -- irem

major title (listed as: major title golf) -- irem

r-type iii: the third lightning (listed as: r type 3) -- irem

ring king -- data east

rocky rodent -- irem

rod-land (listed as: rod land) -- jaleco

sonson -- capcom

totally rad -- jaleco

zippy race -- irem

 

I would appreciate any input toward getting that list of unknowns down to zero entries long. Also, if someone could post a screenshot of the title screen of what's listed in the menu as "Judo Warriors 2," that would be helpful, too (unless you can read Japanese, in which case just tell me what it says as the title).

 

Speaking of which, this is the first plug-n-play game system sold in the West with Japanese-language games packed in. This strikes me as very odd, given their target market (i.e., a casual gaming audience), and probably not a good idea. The casual audience would likely be just as put off by encountering a bunch of Japanese text as they are by encountering the rotated Varth screen. A look at Amazon user reviews by people who accidentally bought Japanese games reveals people who don't think, "Ooh, an exotic treasure!", but rather "What is this $#@!? You sold me something I can't read!" Or just look at the user ratings in the PS Store for the majority of PS1 Imports releases.

 

Admittedly, there aren't that many Generations games with Japanese text, and you could still play them without understanding story, stats, etc., but I don't think any other company in the market would have included them at all. At the very least, there would be a notice on the box. I mean, what's one more sticker on a box already loaded with them?

 

onmode-ky

I'd go do it right now, but I am currently at my fiance's...

 

Please be patient, some of us have a life outside of games...

[onmode-ky]

Actually, I wasn't specifically directing my post to you, as there are several other people here who have the system now. Also, the last time I posted what I was still looking for was 4 pages and 5 nights ago. I didn't think now was too soon, especially with new owners having come into the thread. Sorry if it came across as spamming.

 

There's been a gazillion famiclone plug n play's sold for almost a decade with almost all Japanese-language games

Okay, so I guess I needed to include the word "legitimate." My post was about quality and customer perception, and it's not like pirates give a crap about those.

 

onmode-ky

[NinjaWarrior]

Has anyone tested input lag on both the NES Classic Edition & the Retro-Bit Generations?

[Andromeda Stardust]

A quick reminder to all owners of retail-purchased Retro-Bit Generations consoles: I'm still missing ARC/NES/SNES/GEN/GB/GBA identification for the following 24 games:

 

[...]

 

I would appreciate any input toward getting that list of unknowns down to zero entries long. Also, if someone could post a screenshot of the title screen of what's listed in the menu as "Judo Warriors 2," that would be helpful, too (unless you can read Japanese, in which case just tell me what it says as the title).

 

onmode-ky

The "Judo Warriors 2" on my Retrobit console is the exact same Famicom game featured in this Youtube video:

 

[onmode-ky]

Ah, so they really did inexplicably slap a '2' onto the end of Moero!! Juudou Warriors. Thank you for the confirmation. I have no clue how they could even come up with that mistake when they had it right at one point, but that's hardly the worst problem with the system. And again, that game seems to have quite a lot of Japanese text.

 

Is there a manual of some sort included with the system telling how to play each game? I recall that the ColecoVision Flashback has a little blurb on basic gameplay for each game, written by Bill Loguidice, while the Intellivision Flashback, well, mostly just has overlay images (but has the manuals hosted online by Intellivision Productions). How does this system's paperwork stack up?

 

I found a YouTube archive of someone's live stream of a retail system. From that, I got a few more platforms confirmed:

 

NES/FAM

- gun.smoke -- capcom

- holy diver -- irem

 

SNES/SFC

- big run: the supreme 4wd challenge - 13e rallye -- jaleco

 

I should have had Holy Diver marked as Famicom already, since there's no other rendition of it. Not sure how I missed that detail. Gun.Smoke on the NES seems easier than the pretty hard arcade original. Big Run on the Super Famicom is "13e" instead of the arcade original's "11e."

 

onmode-ky

[+evg2000]

Is there a manual of some sort included with the system telling how to play each game? I recall that the ColecoVision Flashback has a little blurb on basic gameplay for each game, written by Bill Loguidice, while the Intellivision Flashback, well, mostly just has overlay images (but has the manuals hosted online by Intellivision Productions). How does this system's paperwork stack up?

 

 

There is a very basic manual telling how to set up the system, traverse the menu. Nothing about the games. Partly I'm sure because they didn't know what games would be on the system till it shipped. The footer on each page states "For the full manual, download via www.retro-bit.com/generations". As of this morning I still cannot find the manual on that page. I posted this morning to their facebook page asking about: usb controllers, playing varth, and patching via sd slot. Wonder if I will get any answers.

[fdr4prez]

Seeing the pictures of the internal guts, maybe they used such a chaotic internal design so once they are selling on ebay for $10 then someone (like me) couldn't take out the main board and put in a RPi3 (or other Pi flavor) and get a better system built out of it.

[Keatah]

Seeing the pictures of the internal guts, maybe they used such a chaotic internal design so once they are selling on ebay for $10 then someone (like me) couldn't take out the main board and put in a RPi3 (or other Pi flavor) and get a better system built out of it.

 

My opinion, right or wrong, is that they just re-used the housing and built the VCS emulator board to to fit inside it. I don't believe it has anything to do with purposely disallowing the R-Pi to fit inside. Anyways, if you want an R-Pi, this shouldn't stop you. There's a billion other options out there.

 

If the design is chaotic, well then that means there's too much stuff to cram into too small a space. A space which is oddly shaped to begin with.

 

Ever been inside an early submarine? Look at all that stuff!!!

Edited November 25, 2016 by Keatah

[Andromeda Stardust]

 

Ever been inside an early submarine? Look at all that stuff!!!

Only if it's Yellow.

[Andromeda Stardust]

All this talk of whether Alfred Chicken should or should not have been included made me track down the actual cart on fleebay. After all my first name IRL is Alfred, so can't be all that bad.

 

Also from Mindscape, the same developer that brought us two great (or not) licensed Mario themed edutainment titles to the NES!

[onmode-ky]

A German YouTube clip I found revealed platforms for another 3 games (and I did first confirm that his menu was that of a retail unit, with "Judo Warriors 2"):

 

ARC

- captain commando -- capcom

 

NES/FAM

- commando -- capcom

- ring king -- data east

 

Also, I found references in GameFAQs and Amazon reviews to Gadget Twins being totally unplayable on the Generations system. That is, it just returns an error when you try to start the game. I saw this in a YouTube clip of a reviewer unit as well. Curiously, though, there was one Amazon review that instead claimed Onslaught was the game that couldn't start, and that Gadget Twins "looks like a lousy plug and play game" (presumably means it did at least start for him). Not sure what to make of the discrepancy, but if anyone wants to check these two titles' ability to run, I'd welcome the info.

 

I never thought there would come a day when plug-n-play game systems could have customers expecting day-one patches. After all, it defeats the entire "plug-n-play" descriptor, no? And yet, several of the Generations' more lenient reviewers excuse its poor execution by expecting its flaws--like a game not even starting up--to be addressed in patches. "Eh, they can just install the tractor beam on Tuesday."

 

onmode-ky

[+phoenixdownita]

..... "Eh, they can just install the tractor beam on Tuesday."

 

onmode-ky

ROTFL, this made me laugh so hard I almost peed!!!

[Flojomojo]

Oh my, it's a quote from Star Trek 7.

 

Oh

 

My

[+phoenixdownita]

Oh my, it's a quote from Star Trek 7.

 

Oh

 

My

I am more of a Star trek Classic kind of guy (up to Start Trek 4) ..... "what does it mean: exact change" kind of guy.

 

[i honestly didn't remember that quote so it was funny as new]

[fdr4prez]

Tuesday

https://youtu.be/4HG_Hx-0ulQ