Well, since Nite demanded requested it, I'm making a review topic.

Before I begin, I should probably mention that I have little experience reviewing things, so this'll probably be a load of butt.
Also, I haven't had it long, so I might change my mind on a few things later.
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-Before I truly begin-
Many, many months ago, I was browsing a certain site when I saw a topic for the Super Retro Trio (a different clone console).
I read the topic and wasn't terribly interested in the product, but then somebody mentioned a "RetroN 5".

Hold on, a 5? What is this nonsense?

I looked it up and was very impressed by the sound of it.
It seemed as if Hyperkin was really trying to step up their game and break the mold of normal clone systems.

Of course, they completely screwed up the release in every way imaginable, but after a long period of waiting, I finally got one.

-What I got-
Once I got my package, it contained the following:
-The console
-2 Bluetooth controllers (one of which was a bonus from Stone Age Gamer)
-A rather long HDMI cord
-A rather short power cord and adapters for it
-The manual
-Stickers (for some reason)
-A $15 gift card to Stone Age Gamer (also a bonus)
-A discounted Power Base Mini

-The hardware-
The console itself feels like it was put together decently, I suppose.
The design is decent enough (and a massive improvement over the RetroN 3), but it's kinda made weird by the controller dock.

The Famicom and Genesis slots really don't want to let go of your games sometimes, so you'll want to exercise caution when taking them out.
The former seems to have loosened up a bit since I've had it, but the latter still has a death grip.

-The controller-
I guess I could lump this together with the hardware, but I decided to make it its own section.

The controller... is really hit or miss.
For some games, it's perfectly usable (I found Sonic worked reasonably well with it), but for others, it's nigh unbearable (Mega Man).

You can use the official Nintendo and Sega controllers, though, so the faults of the controller are fairly moot.

-The software/features-
This thing offers a lot of extra features that, to my knowledge, are not present on any other clone on the market.
Save states, built-in Game Genie (sorta), graphical filters, sound enhancement and other such things.

The graphical filters work as they should, but I don't really care for them in general.
I'll occasionally turn them on for a change of pace, but I feel the crisp pixels look much better.

The sound enhancement was actually very hard to notice without either wearing headphones or turning the volume way up.
Perhaps it would work better if I had a speaker system or something, but I don't really intend on getting one any time soon. Heh.

The built-in Game Genie... actually seems to be closer to Pro Action Replay than anything else.
Oddly, all codes except for SNES codes don't seem to work as of this writing, but I've heard it'll be fixed soon.
Also, the cheat database files are simply XML files, so anybody with enough knowledge could make their own if need be.

Something I also feel I should mention is the odd way this thing handles save files.
Akin to modern consoles, the RetroN only uses the cart for the game and all save data is stored on the console and it won't use the one on the cart until you tell the system to copy it.
The upside to this is that any games with dead batteries will now work just fine provided you play them on the RetroN.

Another awesome thing about this device is the ability to update the firmware.
Most issues folks have with this thing could conceivably be fixed down the road.

You can also use any controller for any system, which is an awesome feature.

-The emulation-
The quality of emulation was inconsistent, but usually ranged from decent to pretty great.

The NES/Famicom upscaling is noticeably... inconsistent.
Some pixels are larger than others, it seems.
This may also be a problem on other systems, but it's far less noticeable.

The SNES and Genesis are emulated decently.
The Genesis sounds slightly off to me, but I'm used to playing on a RetroN 3, so it's likely that's how it's supposed to sound.

The highlight of this device, however, is the GB/GBC/GBA emulation.
These games look fantastic on a HDTV.
The lower resolution also means that the inconsistent scaling mentioned above is nigh unnoticeable or just plain doesn't exist.

-Final verdict-
As somebody who is fairly concerned with staying legal, the ability to use emulator features with legitimate carts is great.
Anybody who is perfectly fine with just playing a folder full of ROM files probably won't see the point, but it's awesome for folks like me.

If you have a bunch of carts lying around or would like to start collecting, I'd recommend it.

EDIT:
A few things I forgot that I'm appending to the end because I'm not sure where to put them:
-This thing requires a HDTV.
-Compatibilty is actually very good. Most games that don't work are unlicensed.
-The system plays games by dumping them to RAM. This means that most carts that require/use the "piggybacking" thing don't work. The only exception that I know of is Sonic 3 and Knuckles.
-There is a very small amount of input lag at the moment. You'll probably only notice it if you've played a game a lot, though.
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Edited by: DustinVG, Jun 25th, 2014 @ 4:07 pm

Thanks for sharing. That was an interesting and informative review.

I still have my old Super NES, but the power supply is out of whack, and Nite says I'd have to do some soldering if I wanted it to work reliably.


So does this console allow you to copy game save data? I've never had a cartridge battery die, but I know it could happen eventually, and there are some games where I wouldn't mind being able to back up my game progress.

Yes, save data can be copied to and from the cart.
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Edited by: DustinVG, Jun 25th, 2014 @ 2:53 pm

That save data copy function does sound like a rather handy feature, though the unit does sound like it has it's shortcoming.

Excellent review BTW.

Well given the nature of HDTVs are you sure that second thing's a fair judgement on part of the console? (I have not yet seen an HDTV that doesn't have a late display or been shown proof that one even exists, and I have an extremely hard time trusting people when they tell me they don't notice it because that's them not noticing it.)

Other than that, I'd say you have a nice review right there, yes indeedy.
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Edited by: Miles, Jun 26th, 2014 @ 12:15 pm

Well, my PS3 appears to play without any input lag on the same TV, but I'll admit I really have no idea.
Other users seem to have noticed as well, so that might give me a bit of credibility on the subject.

In other news, the system was updated today.
Notable changes/additions (mostly ones that conflict with the review) include:
-Full support for Sonic and Knuckles lock-on. Blue Sphere and Knuckles in Sonic 2 apparently work now.
-The cheat system seems to have been fixed.
-Support for Master System controllers has been added.

A bit of a bump, but they've recently confirmed that support for ips patches is coming in a future update.
It's already available in beta form, but a lot of patches don't work yet, apparently.

Just posting this because I thought it was pretty awesome.