Crossing the Line for Classic Gaming (My Repro Carts Confession)

For many of us who grew up with a controller in our hands, the world of retro gaming holds a special, nostalgic charm. But what happens when that charm is locked behind language barriers, unreleased titles, ridiculous scalped pricing or obsolete hardware? This is the dilemma that led me down the path of buying knockoff reproduction cartridges, a decision I'm ready to discuss, if not entirely condone.

My most recent acquisition, and perhaps the one that truly highlights my predicament, is a repro cartridge of the Game Boy game The Frog For Whom the Bell Tolls. This title has been my personal white whale for years. Despite sharing a strikingly similar style to the beloved Zelda: Link's Awakening, it was never officially released in English.

I've yearned to experience this game, patiently waiting for an official localization that never materialized. Then, a recent discussion on Retronauts reignited my desire, and I finally decided to bite the bullet and get a knockoff cart.

Now, let me be clear: I'm not advocating for the rampant production or sale of pirated goods. However, when a game has been out for over 25 years, with no official English release – physically or digitally – what's a dedicated gamer to do? The alternative is to simply never play it, and that feels like a loss for both the gamer and, in a way, the game itself.

This isn't an isolated incident either. I recently picked up repro carts of Mother 1, 2 and 3 for the Game Boy Advance. Again, my reasoning was simple: these titles are either completely unavailable in English or, where they are available digitally (like Mother on the Wii U), it was on hardware I'm unlikely to pull out of the loft anytime soon or on a digital storefront that is now closed.

As someone who has witnessed the evolution of the gaming industry firsthand, from motherboards to cartridges to cassettes to cartridges to CDs to digital downloads and streaming, the current landscape of game preservation and accessibility is a source of both wonder and frustration. We now have a multitude of means and methods to release videogames, from emulators to digital storefronts. Given these advancements, any form of gatekeeping, especially for titles that have been out of print for decades, truly grates on me; there are punters williing to pay for these items and acquire them by legal means, allow people to do that!

There's clearly a market for these classic retro games, especially if they were made readily available and, crucially, in English. Imagine the joy of legitimate, accessible digital releases for these long-lost gems. Until then, however, for those of us who simply want to experience these pieces of gaming history, the murky world of reproduction cartridges sometimes feels like the only viable option. It's a compromise, for sure, but one born out of a deep love for the games themselves.

LINK- Looking Back at the Switch

LINK- The Rise of Retro Gaming During Covid

LINK- Japan: My Journey to the East

LINK- Pure Invention: How Japan's Pop Culture Conquered the World- Book Review (and Personal Reflections)

LINK- Blood, Sweat and Pixels- Book Review

LINK- Utopia for Realists- Book Review

LINK- On And On And Colston ( Or, How We Kinda Sort of Learned to Talk About the Legacy of Colonialism and the British Empire)

LINK- ‘Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire’

LINK- Elden Ring- Videogames As Art

Retron 5 Review

The Retron 5 has been a long time coming to the UK. Initially planned to be released in early 2014 the clone console was delayed, when the initial shipment was produced the machines went to America to fulfill orders there, unsettling those in the UK. And so we arrive, a year later than expected... But was it worth the wait?

First the preliminaries, the Retron 5 is a clone console which means it plays original hardware using emulation.
The machine has HDMI output and it is excellent, the picture clarity is superb and whilst it wont match the costlier upscalers it does a darned fine job making your old game gleam like they have never gleamed before.
The extensive menus also allow you to tinker with the visuals and add filters which significantly change the look of the game and you can screen capture images.

However its trump card is that it has 6 pad ports for SNES, Mega drive and NES controllers, for many this is the main attraction of the machine. This is just as well as the machine looks like a hideous toaster and comes packed in with a horrible controller which is best used to just navigate the menus.

Remapping joypad buttons is a treat for the games that had the jump button not keyed on for optimum ease and it also lets you save your progress at any time. For the Gameboy games you can change the screen colours and save your progress from cartridges with batteries (brilliant for saving your Pokemon progress from the mid 90s whose battery packs are dying, however this doesn't work at the moment but has been promised as a firmware update).
The machine has an SD card slot and it will only be a matter of time before some hackers figure out a way of allowing you to play the ROMs you want but may not have hard copies of.

So would I recommend the machine? In a word yes! Even though it is quite costly (£129.99) the Retron 5 is a space saving smart solution to playing your old games in the high fidelity you remember from your childhood but even better.

I have started a Retro Games Club in my school and we have been playing a different game each week. We started off with Street Fighter 2 on the SNES, then moved onto Golden Axe on the Megadrive and both games looked stunning on the HD 52 inch screen (for the article on this click here). This is what the machine is best for, not to replace your old original systems but to offer a way to play the games you loved in your youth in the simplest possible way,  As a soon to be father I want to make sure my child has access to the games of my youth to appreciate modern gaming. I look forward to sharing my passion for retro games without it taking over my living room and life.

Original Hardware, Emulators or Clone Hardware?

Playing old computer games is pretty easy nowadays with many games being available online through digital download services such as GOG, Steam and the numerous legal download services, as well as illegal emulator sites too. However when playing computer games there's nothing like to have the real thing, many of the retro games are available to play but the real problem lies with the joypads. There is nothing like playing a game with the controller it was meant for. Also for many gamers space is a premium and the problems associated with compatibility with modern television sets comes into play too.

The Retron5 comes in a very cool looking box

The Retron5 comes in a very cool looking box

I am a collector and have many of the original computers, consoles and games from my childhood but with my room being converted into a nursery for our imminent firstborn space is at a premium. So I purchased a Retron5 Clone Console, a machine that plays the original games AND uses the original controllers of the Famicom, NES, SNES, Megadrive, Gameboy, Gameboy Colour and Gameboy Advanced. The aspect I am most looking forward to is the fact that it is usable on the current television sets and upscales to 720p. Also with fatherhood around the corner the use of Save States will come in very useful I'm sure.

I will be testing the system over the next couple of weeks and will be providing my opinions and feedback here.

25 Years of the Gameboy

As incredible as it might seem the Nintendo Gameboy is now 25 years old. It was released in Japan on April 21, 1989, in North America in August 1989, and in Europe on September 28, 1990 so technically it's been 24 years for us Brits but let's not get bogged down in semantics...

I couldn't afford a Gameboy at launch but got one a few years later when the Gameboys popularity was waning... before it ascended again with Pokemon.

I couldn't afford a Gameboy at launch but got one a few years later when the Gameboys popularity was waning... before it ascended again with Pokemon.

Gunpei Yokoi, the creator of the Gameboy and its predecessor the Game and Watch LCD games, wanted to create a machine which was simple to use yet economical to produce to maximise profits. As such he created the Gameboy to have just 4 buttons (A, B, Start, Select), a small 2.6 inch screen capable of only showing 4 shades of grey at 160 x 144 pixels resolution, a 4.19 MHz processor, a single speaker (though it played in stereo through headphones) and just 8kb of RAM. With just 4 AA batteries the Gameboy could last anywhere from 10 to 30 hours, the higher estimates are from Nintendo themselves.

  The Nintendo Gameboy transcended its limitations to become the second biggest gaming machine of all time, beaten only recently by the Nintendo DS. So how did this simple 8-bit machine defeat the likes of the technically superior Sega Game Gear and Atari Lynx to sell in excess of 118 million units worldwide? Simple.... it had an amazing lineup of top-tier software. Whilst not playing all the games out there for the Gameboy I did play a lot and have listed a few of my favourites. See if you can spot yours on the list and tell me your favourite games in the comments section below.

 

 

TETRIS

Tetris was a gaming phenomenon, being a pack-in with the system made the Gameboy an essential purchase. It has one of the most memorable soundtracks of all time and the game while simple was deceptively addictive- lulling you into that 'just one more go' trap. A masterpiece of a game!

 
 

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: LINK'S AWAKENING

Link's Awakening is a brilliant game. Out went the conventions established in Ocarina of Time and Link to the Past and in came a memorable bittersweet tale of Koholint Island and Links mission to awaken the Wind Fish. This game is a towering achievement that leaves a long lasting impression on players, well certainly with this one at least. Special mention must also be made for the sublime Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons.

 

 

SUPER MARIO LAND

Super Mario Land on the Gameboy blew my mind the first time I saw it. Whilst visually simple the game nailed it where it counted, in the platforming. The levels were well designed and occassional side-scrolling shooter sections were interesting and added variety to the game. As the game was not made by the regular Mario team it toyed with conventions but like Zelda above, in a good way.

 

 

SUPER MARIO LAND 2: 6 GOLDEN COINS

Coming 3 years after the original, Super Mario Land 2 was an impressive visual and audio leap forward. The game allowed players to tackle the 6 worlds in any order before meeting the game's villain, the first appearance of Wario. I enjoyed the game greatly but preferred the platforming skills of the original, however I did enjoy some of the new powerups.

 

 

WARIO LAND: SUPER MARIO LAND 3

This was a bit of a left turn from Nintendo but an inspired one. Wario took centre stage and his method of dispatching his enemies was much more aggressive, a shoulder barge, a bottom smash or a variety of powerups. This changed the gameplay significantly and turned a one-off villain into a bona fide star.

 

 

TENNIS

This was an early release in the life of the Gameboy and whilst a simple game it was a fun. It had the rules of the game and a wide variety of shots. Mario as an empire is a sweet touch and the fact that you could link up with a friend to play added to the charm.

 

 

REVENGE OF THE 'GATOR

This is an excellent pinball game from HAL Laborotories, the creators behind Kirby. It is a quirky game with lots of personality and the physics work well. The fact that it had longevity due to features not available on  real pinball table made it a must-have.

 

 

METROID II: RETURN OF SAMUS

Metroid II didn't get much love when it first came out but over the years it has been reevaluated and  considered an important game. The game is sprawling and difficult but it recreates the mood for which the series is now famous for very well, an impressive feat considering the Gameboys limitations.

 

 

MONSTER MAX

As a fan of Head Over Heels this game ticked the right boxes. The sprites are beautiful and the puzzles clever and interesting. This isometric game is a sadly forgotten classic, released prior to the Gameboys resurgence after the Pokemon craze. Pick it up if you can, you won't regret it.

 

 

KIRBY'S DREAM LAND 2

Kirby's Dream Land 2 was an improvement over the original in every way. The introduction of woodland animals helping Kirby added much to it's charm. A great game with lots of charm.

 

 

POKEMON

Pokemania hit Britain in the later part of the 90's. The game was and still is a phenomenon, just consider the number of people watching the Twitch Plays Pokemon videos (over 58 million at the time of writing). This is an amazing game and has stood the test of time.

 

 

DONKEY KONG LAND

This is a bit of a controversial one as this game has many fans but also many dissenters. I loved the game even though the graphics are very hard to see sometimes, the soundtrack is amazing and the platforming tight and fluid.