Retrode

The Retrode (formerly: snega2usb) is an easy to use USB adapter for *Super Nintendo / *Super Famicom and *SEGA Mega Drive / *Genesis game cartridges. Play your favorite 16-bit games – legally! – on your PC, smartphone, laptop, network router, *Wii, or *Pandora. There is a huge number of emulators for virtually all existing systems, and the Retrode is the link that enables them to load the ROM data straight from the cartridge. Of course, the savegame RAM on many *SNES cartridges can also be read and written.

What’s needed?

• Game cartridges, and lots of them
• Emulators for SNES/SFC and Genesis/Mega Drive: SNES9x, ZSNES, Gens, Fusion, …
• A computer with a USB port, running any of the above (Windows/Linux/MacOS/*NIX)

The Retrode is for you if…

• you like playing legacy video games on your PC, and doing so legally
• you want to preserve your investment in these games, even after all hardware has expired
• you want to back up your game progress, e.g. before replacing the cartridge battery
• you like emulator cheats, but prefer to finish the boss on the real console
• you simply think it’s cool to plug huge game cartridges into a PDA or cell phone

The Retrode is not for you if… you don’t see the difference between making private backup copies of games that you own, and downloading 10,000 ROMs from the internets.

This is ripped straight from their homepage.  After searching around a bit I found that most people were pleased with the product in that it delivered as intended. The Retrode II is also in production as we speak! -kaokensho

iCast

The iCast is a Sega Dreamcast combined with an iMac (with the CRT screen converted to LCD). Plug in the controllers on the front of the machine and you’re good to go for a little Jet Grind Radioor Rez. And look, even the controller matches.  Not impressed yet? No matter how beautiful (or in this case, large) a gaming console, it an almost always be improved upon in some way. In this particular case, the marriage of two classics has produced one harmonious construction that provides everything you need to get your Dreamcast on… and it’s all packaged up like an iMac.  -kaokensho

SNES Power Pak by RetroZone

"Play your SNES games with just one cart! Copy your games to one compact flash card then insert into the SNES PowerPak and play!"  That's what they say over at RetroZone (see link at left too).  Currently on sale for $145.00 this hot item seems to deliver.  The Grandmasters' over at GBAtemp.net did an extraordinary job (click here) of laying out a full technical review of this godsend.  Any SNES owner would be a fool not to check it out!  -kaokensho

Game Boy Mini Arcade

By Andrew Liszewski

Every gamer would like to have an arcade in their home full of classic titles, but not everyone has the space, or the money, needed to buy and/or build one. Chinese modder XCKDIY may have found a happy medium though. They’ve converted an old Game Boy, well 10 of them actually, into a miniature arcade cabinet by removing and angling the handheld’s controls, and swapping out the 4-way directional pad with an actual joystick. As I mentioned, 10 of these creations are currently available on eBay at $149.99 a piece, and while it’s a clever mod for sure, for that kind of money I’d like to be able to request some different cabinet graphics, and maybe a simple overhead LED to better illuminate the Game Boy’s monochromatic display.  from Oh Gizmo! 05/31/10 -kaokensho