A while back we covered the Retro Freak console, a platform that will apparently offer owners access to no less than 11 consoles and hand helds of the past.  In that original post there was only a piece of concept art available, now there have been a few more pieces of concept art made available.  These new pieces show off the unit more, console cartridge placement and general size better than originally explained.  Cyber Gadget is pushing the Retro Freak directly at the same market that the Retron 5 by Hyperkin is focusing on.  Will the Retro Freak be able to dethrone the current “leader” of aftermarket all in one retro platforms?

While the Retron 5 offered a handful of platform support, the Retro Freak is going above and beyond.  Some of those 11+ platforms that are purported to be supported we can expect to see the SuperGrafx, TurboGrafx-16 among others.  The Hyperkin Retron 5 doesn’t support anything by NEC which makes the “retro” part of their units name kind of misleading for hardcore retro gamers.

While there is no way any platform, outside of modern computers, could support nearly every console or hand held that could be considered retro.  The Retro Freak by Cyber Gadget sure as hell gives it a better run that than any other competitor has so far (again, outside of modern personal computers).  This is mostly what makes the Retro Freak so interesting, the sheer support it will have for retro gaming fans.

That is all great and dandy but how will the games look?  The Retro Freak will allow gamers to play their games through the HDMI port on modern televisions.  This is something that is incredibly hard, read costly, to do with most retro consoles- if at all.  Also, the Retro Freak will allow gamers to implement filters to improve the look of the games, read/write game saves, use save states and more.

One thing that we do know about the Retro Freak now, which we did not know before, is that the cartridge slot section is detachable.  This is handy since the system can then be made smaller which is more portable.  Since the games are read onto the internal memory you won’t have to carry around a bulky console, rather you can just carry the necessary part and leave the cartridge slots at home if not needed/wanted for your trip.

The controller has also been shown, at least concept art thereof.  It seems the Retro Freak will come with at least one controller that bares quite a resemblance to the Super Nintendo controller.  This may, or may not, be just what fans will want.  For those that do not like the SNES controller there will be myriad of controller ports to accommodate the controller of your choice- though there is no word yet if you can play say, SuperGrafx games using the Genesis controller or if they will be locked to each particular console.

We will continue coverage as we know more.

Source: Retrocollect

Carl Williams

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