Retron 3 NTSC/ PAL Schmoz

My problems with my Retron 3 have been recorded for posterity and subsequently clarified, though it’s time to add another, which I will call: “what?”

It seems like the Retron 3 is a PAL machine. Frankly I didn’t even know that was a thing for videogames until I plugged in my brand spankin’ new/old copy of Streets of Rage 2. I guess it makes sense that would be a thing… but seriously?

WHAT?

So, at least Genesis games are locked to regions on this slowly-becoming-more-useless-as-time-rolls-on machine. Sweet Zombie Jesus Retron, why would you sell PAL encoded hardware in North America???

I guess I can least play SoR IIand Shinobi III guilt-free on an emulator now…

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The RetroN 3 can suck an egg – PARTIALLY RETRACTED

Ok, so I started a post about how much I hate the Retron 3, but before I wrote the whole potato I decided to try a few other game/ NES controller combinations to see if it was entirely the hardware’s fault. It’s good that I did, because it turns out that at least part of the issue is the NES controller I was using – apparently it used to work, but doesn’t work well anymore/ doesn’t work well with the Retron 3/ past James somehow doesn’t even live up to even the low-bar of competency that we have set for him in relation to learning to plug things into other things.

At any rate, the damn thing is functional (I played 2 mins of Castlevania and Double Dragon II last night), though I still can’t get it working with Cobra Triangle, which, of course, was going to be the subject of my “first” post.

First world problems abound.

SO, even though the not-working is at least partially my fault, I’m going to leave the ‘go suck an egg’ video that I had planned on posting.

Enjoy 🙂

Original-post-that-I-edited-into-this-post here:

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Sucking an egg is something that sucky things can go do, right?

Blogging is hard

So I love playing videogames. I’m even writing my Master’s thesis about videogames. I like games now, but I LOVED them as a kid. Or at least, I really loved them in retrospect – probably something that happens to one as one gets older… the application of past love to things done in the past… (there’s probably a germanic verb conjugation for that)

ANYWAY

In the name of this love, or assigned love (or past love magnified by the passing of time or past frustration forged into love by a longing for youth) over the last few years I’ve been slowly putting together a collection of retro games/ systems. Chiefly NES, but I picked up a Genesis and even brought all my OLD OLD Coleco stuff home from my parent’s house. However, and to my everlasting shame, I’ve never really spent any time with the old favourites. I own Super Mario 3, BUT I’VE NEVER PLAYED IT, for example. There are lots of reasonable excuses like “being lazy”, “being busy”, or “I’m tending my WoW garden so leave me alone”, but it really came down to convenience. Modern TVs don’t have coax connections and having system upon system set-up in addition to XBox, Wii, Bluray, etc. takes up a buttload of space.

So imagine my happiness when I came across the RetroN 3. The damn thing plays 3 different systems worth of games! 3 SYSTEMS! It has wireless controllers and modern (well, not, like, HDMI or anything, but rather the respectable composite & s-video) video outs.

So I bought this thing online, waited for it, set it up, and tried it out.

Fail #1: the wireless controllers are rubbish (I’ll tell that story another time). Well, OK, that’s annoying, but no problem. The RetroN 3 has input for legacy controllers…

Fail #2: using the NES controllers still has WAY too much lag! I don’t know if you remember old games, but what they lacked in video quality, they made up for in speed and need-for-super-quick-movements-to-avoid-the-BOUNCING-KILLER-ENEMIESOFDOOM!

So. I’m back to my legacy systems and the not-doing-it-ness that comes with them, from me.

Though it isn’t THAT bad, it will just delay the population of this blog. And hey, this really is the epitome of a first world problem 🙂

EDIT: I tried again last night and don’t hate things quite so much.