One of the companies I was able to check out this year was Hyperkin, a manufacturer of third-party accessories and retro systems. While they are planning to branch out into game publishing as well, they don’t have any games to offer for Nintendo systems. They do, however, have some retro machines that will make old-school Nintendo fans rather happy.
One of the two machines they had to show me was called the Retron 3, pictured above. This console, which comes in red or gray, can play original cartridges for the NES, SNES or Genesis; one way that Hyperkin hopes to stand out is by allowing players to use the original controllers in addition to the original cartridges. The Retron 3 has six controller ports around it, two for each system, and also comes with two wireless controllers that will work with any system. Speaking of compatibility, the rep at Hyperkin told me that there were only three games they tested that weren’t working correctly: Paperboy and Battletoads for NES (all parties present agreed this was no great loss), and Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars for SNES, due to its custom lockout chip.
The unit also can handle both S-Video and composite out, for those with TVs new or old. They were also particular to mention the console’s detachable rubber feet, which you can see above; the unit is surprisingly light, and an errant tug on the controller could normally send the Retron 3 crashing to the ground, so the feet were added to help give it traction. The Retron 3 is available now for $69.99, and can be bought at the Hyperkin website.
The other device they had to show was the currently-unreleased Supaboy, which, as you can see above, looks completely awesome. As you might guess, the Supaboy is a portable SNES system, which takes both SNES and Super Famicom cartridges. The system’s specs are still a little bit up in the air, I’m told, but the unit tentatively has a 3.5 inch screen and 5.5 hours of battery life. You can plug in headphones and adjust the volume on the unit, or you can plug in some original SNES controllers and hook the Supaboy up to your TV, treating it like a standard SNES. In addition to a standard SNES controller, it also works with a Multitap, a Super Scope, and even the Mario Paint Mouse. It also has a cartridge lock so that the cartridges don’t end up falling out if you’re playing it on a turbulent airplane or something.
I was able to go hands-on with this machine, to see how it looks and controls; unfortunately, the game I tried out was Street Fighter 2 Alpha, and I am not exactly skilled at 2D fighters. Still, the controls were responsive and felt like a classic SNES controller, and the screen was reasonably bright so I could see the game just fine; the brightness of the screen is one of those things that is still up in the air, but for now you can imagine a “2″ on your DSi, if that helps any. The reps at Hyperkin informed me that there isn’t a game they could find that couldn’t work on the Supaboy, and the product’s web page confirms that Super Mario RPG works on the device, though PAL games are untested. The Supaboy should be released later this year, with a MSRP of $79.99.
Stay tuned to Nintendo Gal for more updates and E3 impressions.
