Retrode 2 Allows You to Play SNES & Genesis Games on Your PC

[Rob Williams]

I've written about many cool gadgets, pieces of PC hardware and technology in general over the course of this site's existence, but what I'm about to talk about might just be one of the coolest of them all - at least for old-school console gamers. The product is called Retrode, a small dock that plugs into an available USB dock and allows you to play Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis games on the PC... with the original controllers.

Read the rest of our post and then discuss it here!

 

[marfig]

Unfortunately both the Sega Genesis and the Super Nintendo aren't a part of my history. So the appeal of this device isn't so great. However I'm a huge fan of emulators. I can safely say they are my greatest computer passion. So much, they have been responsible for me having learned how to program the Zilog Z80 processor, which powered the Sinclair ZXSpectrum, Apple II and Commodore 64, and that today still serves as a great processor for embedded systems (on many cases better still than the traditional, but more limited, PICs).

So I certainly can appreciate how cool this device is for anyone insterested on emulation of those two systems. In fact, for emulator fans this device may as well double as a great rom dump device for their cartridges. I sort of follow the progresses of emulators like Fusion, HazeMD and ZSNES (which handle these two systems) and I constantly hear of the dumping progress of hard to find cartridges. With this, anyone -- knowledgeable or not -- can make their own dumps easily when they own the cartridges.

Likewise, for anyone with just the roms, this functions as a sort of affordable controller port, which at $85 for the ability to use up to 4 controllers at once is a sure steal.

 

[TheCrimsonStar]

Must. Get. NAO. This looks epic. I LOVED the Genesis and SNES. Still have 2 Genesis and one SNES systems.

 

[Rob Williams]

Unfortunately both the Sega Genesis and the Super Nintendo aren't a part of my history

Were any consoles part of your gaming history? You seem to mostly emulate machines I ended up not having a chance to try at all, unfortunately. I grew up on both the PC and console for gaming, but ended up playing on the console a lot more because that's what we owned the most games for (and the graphics was probably a lot better than what we could have mustered on our PCs at the time).

I agree on the ROM-dumping, but didn't mention it in case there was some stipulation about that (like not being able to copy from the device, though it seems unlikely). It'd be amazing if they continued this sort of product to support the NES and N64.

I just love the idea of this thing... you'd literally be able to save your game to the PC and / or the cartridge itself. You could save to it on your PC then go play it on the real console!

Must. Get. NAO. This looks epic. I LOVED the Genesis and SNES. Still have 2 Genesis and one SNES systems.

One of each for me, but crammed into some closet due to lack of room.

 

[marfig]

Were any consoles part of your gaming history? You seem to mostly emulate machines I ended up not having a chance to try at all, unfortunately.

Not many, no. Well, the ZX Spectrum doubled as both a gaming console and a personal computer archetype. Before that I played mostly two systems: Those small handheld game consoles of the 80s and the Atari 5200 console. Other than that I did play extensively on the Playstation, but dropped the habit shortly before the PS2 came up. My first and last PS was the original one.

I grew up on both the PC and console for gaming, but ended up playing on the console a lot more because that's what we owned the most games for (and the graphics was probably a lot better than what we could have mustered on our PCs at the time).

Yup. I seem to recall it was about the time the PS2 came up that high quality GPUs could be had for an affordable price that were better than console ones. But this wasn't my main reason to stick to PC gaming.

Until recently there was a genre divide between consoles and PC gaming. I identified more with strategy, grand strategy, RPG and FPS games, whereas consoles insisted for a long time on action, driving and fighting games. Three genres I'm only moderately interested on (fighting I do appreciate a lot, but not enough to fuel my interest on consoles).

So PCs remained my main gaming arena ever since the late 80s when I got my first personal computer.

 

[Rob Williams]

Not many, no. Well, the ZX Spectrum doubled as both a gaming console and a personal computer archetype. Before that I played mostly two systems: Those small handheld game consoles of the 80s and the Atari 5200 console. Other than that I did play extensively on the Playstation, but dropped the habit shortly before the PS2 came up. My first and last PS was the original one.

PSX emulators for the PC are quite good, so you might want to check them out sometime. ePSXe can read straight off of a PS1 disc or a ROM ripped to the PC. Have played many a game this way.

I have played the Atari 2600/5200 but mostly to see what they were like way after-the-fact. There's certainly no shortage of emulators for those consoles, haha.

Until recently there was a genre divide between consoles and PC gaming. I identified more with strategy, grand strategy, RPG and FPS games, whereas consoles insisted for a long time on action, driving and fighting games.

I agree. The games I had the most fun with on the console were RPGs, racing and platformers, while on the PC I enjoyed RTS, FPS and of course... MMO. I'm about as pro-PC as one can get right now though, so if a racing or platformer game is also made available for there, there's no debate in which platform I'm going to play it on. High-res graphics and convenience = a big plus for me.

 

[madstork91]

something about SNES and SEGA being on the same system makes me feel... gamerually confused (Sexually-sex+gamer)

But i still want one. Just dont call me Bi.