SXSW 2014: Hands On with the RetroN 5

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Photo courtesy of Hyperkin’s facebook page.

There wasn’t much of anything SEGA related at this year’s South By Southwest in Austin, Texas. However it did provide a chance to check out Hyperkin’s upcoming RetroN 5 console with a number of games to show off the system’s accuracy and additional perks.

The RetroN 5 is a major step up from the other RetroN consoles for a number of reasons. The system provides compatibility for a number of consoles including Nintendo, Famicom, Super Nintendo, Super Famicom, Genesis, Mega Drive, Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance games through its five cartridge slots on the system as well as Master System games via the Power Base Converter. But aside from the added compatibility, it makes use of emulators running on Android hardware instead of clone hardware to run the games. What this provides besides better accuracy, is the other benefits of game console emulation including save states, remapping buttons and macros on any controller, take screenshots, fast forward games, as well as several video filtering options.

Video Review: Mega Drive Master System Converter

TrackerTD, first place winner of the SEGAbits third anniversary contest, put together this excellent video review of the Mega Drive Master System Converter, also known as the SEGA Genesis Power Base Converter. It really is a sweet piece of tech, allowing Genesis and Mega Drive owners to play Master System games in both cartridge and card formats on their 16-bit console. Check out TrackerTD’s great video review above and make sure to browse and subscribe to his YouTube Channel. Congrats TrackerTD, and enjoy  AJ’s personal copy of Technocop for the Genesis, his Genesis model 2 and a copy of the official “SEGAbits Presents My Life with SEGA” DVD!