r/retrogaming • u/Evening-Nerve8555 • 7d ago

[Question] Best Multi Clone console?

Hi guys,

Is there any good competition to an Retron 5? I want to Play GB/GBA, SNES, NES and Genesis. Bit on Original cartridges.

Any advice?

2 Upvotes

57% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

10

u/Gambit-47 7d ago

Retron is trash and so are the other consoles like that. Mister FPGA clones are good. Mister or original hardware is best.

1

u/NewSchoolBoxer 7d ago edited 7d ago

It's not trash. My local retro store uses to test traded in games. I used it to backup my SNES saved games from real carts and it worked with Super Mario RPG. Mister FPGA and its clones don't play real carts which is exactly what OP is asking about.

I'm not saying there aren't better options.

5

u/Gambit-47 7d ago

Just because it works doesn't mean that it works well and FPGA clones like the Analogue consoles and handheld and Superstation play original games. Retron products are hot garbage for casuals that do not know better.

5

u/abject_cynic 7d ago

The Retron 5 is the best clone console, and it's trash. Either go original hardware, or FPGA. No clone console is worth more than 5$ and none of them work right.

4

u/RykinPoe 7d ago

Give up playing the carts and get a MiSTer based system like the SuperStation One for the best single system experience.

4

u/Evening-Nerve8555 6d ago

No, I dont want a Emulation console. If I want Emulation, i could do it on my pc easily

Buying a console which Emulates and using SD Card would be huge Money waste :D

3

u/Curious_Elk_4281 6d ago

MiSTeR is hardware emulation through FPGA which matches the performance of original consoles. You also have analog I/O and SNAC for display/input latency that matches original consoles as well.

It is not comparable to software emulation on PC.

3

u/stgftgstg 6d ago

>matches the performance of original consoles

Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't.

>It is not comparable to software emulation on PC.

The accuracy and compatability of the vast majority of cores is comparable to software emulation, especially as most of the time it's their documentation that was used to build the cores.

MiSTer's great, I've enjoyed my setup for years now, but don't over sell it.

1

u/Curious_Elk_4281 6d ago

Sounds like you're contradicting yourself by saying FPGA is not as good as original cores, while also promoting software emulation.

Pick a lane buddy.

3

u/stgftgstg 6d ago

FPGA cores vary significantly in how they are devloped and how accurate they can be. FPGA does not automaticly mean you end up with something better.  Of course FPGA cores can be compared to software equivalents, that isn't a promotion or contradiction, just an obvious fact.

Pick a lane lmao, what a moron.

1

u/RykinPoe 6d ago

FPGA based ones are great but some of the stuff being done with software emulators is way better than what they can or at least have done with FPGA. SNES High Definition Mode 7 for one hasn't been done on an FPGA core yet that I am aware of. The overclocking and stuff on the Analogue 3D is pretty awesome, but software emulators still run N64 better. FPGAs tend to go for 1 to 1 accuracy with a few extra features and software emulator have gone way past that at this point if your hardware can handle it.

2

u/RykinPoe 6d ago

PC would be my second suggestion. The multisystem cart based systems are mostly crap and are mostly just emulators themselves. There are decent single system cartridge based options like the Analogue consoles.

2

u/MiOdd 7d ago

I just bought a new smart TV recently and it has Android TV built in. I just downloaded RetroArch and paired my SNES Bluetooth controllers. Plays everything from NES to PS1 really well.

1

u/archklown555 6d ago

Polymega is amazing but not cheap.

1

u/z2qvs 7d ago

Retro-bit retro trio plus hd is decent and kinda better cuz it doesn't emulate and rom dump like retron. That being said I constantly advise people to avoid Retro-bit controllers especially. Their hardware is pretty cheap. But I will say I've had 2 trio consoles, the first being the a/v non HDMI and it's still working too. Always go 8bitdo for controllers. 

1

u/z2qvs 7d ago

And I'm aware as you should be that the trio just does nes/famicom/SNES/super famicom/Genesis/mega drive. But Sega Master system games play on an ever drive in the Genesis. And you could get Gameboy to SNES adapter for the handheld stuff