Retrobit Super Retro-Cade Review

Don't mean to toot my own horn but I've been working hard lately, harder than when I was employed actually. Right out of the gate I got a contribution gig with Horror News Net and already have two articles with them which you can find here and here. Beyond that there's been work on a novel, looking into returning to school, tasks at the shelter job, etc. The problem with a lot of this stuff is that it's very long form work by which I mean you may not see any results for weeks, months, maybe even years. That sort of delayed satisfaction can drag you down if you're not careful which makes it very important to treat oneself after some strong productivity. That need for a reward recently led me to the Retrobit Super Retro-Cade.

A little background first, Retrobit is a company that specializes in a variety of retro game goodies. Last year they made a plug & play box called Generations that was apparently all kinds of rubbish, but this year they came back and put some effort into making something worthwhile. That newest attempt is the Super Retro-Cade, a little console preloaded with 90 games across arcade, NES, SNES, and Genesis from a few select companies such as Capcom, Data East, Irem, and Technos.

For sixty bucks you get the system, power adapter, HDMI cable, and two controllers. None of this is grand quality but it's decent enough. The system itself has a decent feel, looks good, and has a nice responsive power button. Likewise the controllers have held up well over the first few weeks of play though I'm not sure how long they will last. For anyone who was lucky enough to get NES classics only to complain about cord length, that's not a problem here as these babies give enough leeway to relax without moving a chair. I should note some other USB retro controllers are compatible with this so you don't have to freak if one of them breaks.

As I mentioned earlier there are 90 games in this little box and as you might imagine the range of quality is pretty vast. Of course there are some old favorites, I'm very happy to see the likes of Captain Commando and the Final Fight trilogy included. There are some pleasant surprises such as Ken-Go and Boogie Wings. Then there's a wide selection of games that are either crap like Vigilante, or good but ludicrously difficult like the Ghouls & Ghosts series. It can be tough to tell people how good the selection of games will be for them, though with everything that's on tap you should at least be able to find a couple of games to enjoy.

That brings us to the issue of performance. After all these are tough old games that relay on some serious timing, which means speed hitches or jitters can be game breakers. Thankfully most of the emulation offered here is on target with only a few games suffering from notable hiccups most of which is auditory. There are some titles like Mythic Riders that suffer from slowdown, but not so much as to hurt the game. Probably the biggest issues I've faced gameplay wise is that the controllers may not have the responsiveness needed for the balls out difficulty of Mega Man 2, though that may just be me.

The biggest draw for most people is the nostalgia that comes from playing these games. On the day I bought it, I'd been goofing around with the selection of titles, finding some decent and a few awful, finally I settled into Final Fight 3. About halfway through the game my brother showed up after work. He popped in the second controller, joined the game, and suddenly it may has well have been the mid 90s all over again. We were kicking thugs in the face and throwing people at each-other. The whole experience spoke to the therapeutic nature of such simple games. That bit of old-fashioned fun was totally worth the cost of admission.

There is one more reason to take interest in the Retro-Cade though it's not one the company advertises. Since the system itself has no locks on any of the software, it's basically an idiot proof emulation box for anyone looking to add roms to it. I'm not saying that you should do such a thing, as that could lead to copyright infringement, nor have I done it myself, but I have seen it done and yes it is very easy to add more games to the system. Definitely an interesting feature for those interested in game emulation who aren't ready to devote themselves to building a retro-pi.

Even though I largely enjoy my time with the Retro-Cade I can't recommend it to everybody. Let's face facts that some people just don't have a love for this sort of gaming as a lot of what's here is mostly violent and somewhat brainless arcade games meant to frustrate and suck up quarters. A lot of people who do love such gaming may already have a collection of home console ports or have gotten into the raspberry-pi arena. That puts the Retro-Cade in an odd spot where it's best suited for gamers who don't have the room or cash for massive collections, who have also avoided making their own emulation machine. If you're in that camp and harbor lots of love for classic shooters and brawlers, this has a lot of fun to offer.

And with that I must return to hard work. All this effort to reshape ones lifestyle can get a little nerve-wracking. Like I said earlier, it's important to reward yourself once in a while be it with old video games or maybe sleeping all day alongside a kitty. Actually, that bit sounds pretty good about now. See you all again soon.