I love retro games. I grew up in the 90s, my first console was a Super Nintendo Entertainment system (SNES).
It came with a Street Fighter Cartridge which is probably why i'm still a fan of the game till tomorrow and probably forever. I also had the NES
Collecting then was fun, but then times changed. There's the NES, SNES, Nintendo 64 and that's just from Nintendo, finding space for all that will be a hassle for any collector of retro games.
But that might no longer be a problem, there's one gadget showcased at Computex in Taiwan that could be a collector's dream-- The Retro Freak.
The Retro Freak is a nifty little console that will provide a home for all your favourite old games, with slots for well-loved cartridges and an '80s-perfect controller to boot.
It also promises a bunch of features that certainly weren't around in the '80s:
So you can play your classics; Mario Kart, Street Fighter 2 Turbo, Killer Instinct etc. Just chuck in your SNES cartridge, plug the Retro Freak into your TV's HDMI port and you can go back in time when things were simpler and you could just sit around playing video games without worrying about making a living and all that other stressful stuff.
The Retro Freak recreates your childhood down to the vintage-look scan lines on the screen that give those games a their real arcade flavour.
The interface is a little spare, but you can change your game's appearance by toggling features, such as those scan lines, on and off. You can also change the display filter to smooth out pixelated lines and adjust the refresh rate from what the original game demanded to up to 60Hz -- all to make the games adjust a little more easily to modern TVs.
You can also use cheats which will allow you to play with perpetual lives or a bottomless pit of money.
The console isn't in the US yet, though it's available in Asia for 20,000 yen (roughly $180, AU$250 and £125), with Australian distribution reportedly coming soon.
It looked really good though and i could just imagine playing my old favourites without having to look for some emulator somewhere.
So guys, what do you think? Gonna get one?
