RetroN 77

[Keatah]

THX

 

---

 

Well.. Looking at the big picture, with Stella for the PC, all the development tools, this console, and more.. The community has effectively recreated the VCS infrastructure and greatly expanded on it. And made it incredibly more convenient. Not bad for a 41 year old game console!

 

It still amuses me to this day:

I discussed small computers and future-laptops back in the late seventies.

Looked at a wall of cartridges and imagined putting them on a "SuperMan" style data crystal.

Imagined having instant access to thousands of games, electronically organized too.

Imagined playing them on a TV as big as the livingroom window.

And got laughed at by real IBM engineers for even thinking about such nonsense.

 

..and..well..here we are!

[Keatah]

Question to Hyperkin and associates. Stella is chock-full of semi-technical options like CRT settings, debugger, and configurable controls. How much of this will or will not carry over into the final product.

 

I would expect the debugger to be axed, but hopefully not anything related to simulated CRT settings or controller configuration/response/layouts.

[hizzy]

I'm hoping for a July 7th release!

[Jstick]

 

It still amuses me to this day:

I discussed small computers and future-laptops back in the late seventies.

Looked at a wall of cartridges and imagined putting them on a "SuperMan" style data crystal.

Imagined having instant access to thousands of games, electronically organized too.

Imagined playing them on a TV as big as the livingroom window.

And got laughed at by real IBM engineers for even thinking about such nonsense.

 

..and..well..here we are!

 

and here we are... hanging on to our 40 year old old carts and trying keep them running on original hardware, while praying our old CRT sets with RF connections don’t die

[Flojomojo]

and here we are... hanging on to our 40 year old old carts and trying keep them running on original hardware, while praying our old CRT sets with RF connections don’t die

 

Hmmm ... I like Keatah's forward-looking a bit more. :-)

[Keatah]

I do too!

[+Muddyfunster]

Andrew, assume you were referring to my post & not Xucaen's?

 

I've mailed you.

 

 

Release date, we hope for it to be symbolic. Sorry can't tell you more just yet.

 

We don't have a list of incompatible cartridges / games, but I tested Space Rocks last Friday, it works.

 

xucaen, that sounds great, could you reach out to us at developer@hyperkin.com?

 

As for the latest Stella build, we think it might be a good idea to simply set up a support page on our server with experimental revisions in the future. Also, since it's a community-friendly project, we expect people to make their own "unofficial" builds with whatever extra features they might consider useful.

 

P.S. Also, by experimental / unoptimized I was referring not to Stella 5x per se (we know it's good and stable), but to running it on the R77.

[iesposta]

About 16:9 / 4:3:

 

I love finding games that look good in 16:9!

Best example: Star Castle Arcade (homebrew).

Why? The rings become round!

A totally surprising happy accident.

 

Also so finding old games that developers never dreamed would be stretched horizontally, and don't appear distorted blows my mind!

 

Now an incorrect aspect ratio on a tv program or movie drives me crazy, but why do so many seem to want to dismiss 16:9 so completely, even though it has both as an option?

[up2knowgood]

Wikipedia says this, but without a source. Does anyone know how we know this? Seems pretty precise.

Yeah, I find it pretty suspect too, especially since we don't have a solid release date for like ANY of the games.

[bellview17]

I am in for a July 7 release and take my money now...

[Andromeda Stardust]

I am in for a July 7 release and take my money now...

I am in for a "rest of 2018" release and will be happy to preorder when the time comes, even if it means waiting a bit.

[+Atari_Warlord]

Yeah, I find it pretty suspect too, especially since we don't have a solid release date for like ANY of the games.

 

After a little searching it appears the authors of Atari Inc, Business is Fun are the source of the September 11 date. It's actually in the forums here. My memory is a little hazy, but I think the first time I saw it at my local Sears was in October and bought it immediately. I was already hyped from staring at the wishbook for months.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Have you seen that? I have no idea what the creators of that stuff must have smoked.

[Flojomojo]

Yeah, I hope no one signs that one-sided BS contract. It needs to be amended into something more fair, for the good of the community if nothing else.

[RevEng]

That contract is completely overreaching. The most they need is a non-exclusive license to distribute the game. Copyrights and trademarks need to stay with the homebrewer, unless they're compensated for handing them over.

 

Also, someone at Hyperkin desperately needs to look up the enforceability of a contract with no consideration.

[up2knowgood]

 

After a little searching it appears the authors of Atari Inc, Business is Fun are the source of the September 11 date. It's actually in the forums here. My memory is a little hazy, but I think the first time I saw it at my local Sears was in October and bought it immediately. I was already hyped from staring at the wishbook for months.

Which is funny, cause I think it was in The Rise and Fall of Atari that Nolan Bushnell said it was released during the Consumer Electronics Show in 1977, which was the first week in January of that year.

[up2knowgood]

Have you seen that? I have no idea what the creators of that stuff must have smoked.

Okay, let me just say that does NOT look like a corporate contract to me. Sure it's a contract, but it's not nearly detailed enough for what I have seen other companies use.

[AndrewHyperkin]

I’ve already posted a comment in that thread and I’d like to repeat it here.

 

Guys, there’s no need to over-react. This contract is simply a draft from our lawyers, and if it contains any wrong parts, let’s talk about it. I’m not a lawyer myself, and to the best of my knowledge, that contract was supposed to be a simple “I’m the author and I give consent to bundle my game with the system” thing. We don’t want to take your games, and if our laywers made it sound like that - let’s edit that contract to make it reasonable and saying just that.

[up2knowgood]

Ive already posted a comment in that thread and Id like to repeat it here.

 

Guys, theres no need to over-react. This contract is simply a draft from our lawyers, and if it contains any wrong parts, lets talk about it. Im not a lawyer myself, and to the best of my knowledge, that contract was supposed to be a simple Im the author and I give consent to bundle my game with the system thing. We dont want to take your games, and if our laywers made it sound like that - lets edit that contract to make it reasonable and saying just that.

Ooh! A pack in game!

 

But no one will make much money on it, and might never get played... what's Randy Crihfield up to?

[iesposta]

AndrewHyperkin, are you reading Private Messages here? Too many?

Or is it best to use the email provided?

 

I’ve already posted a comment in that thread and I’d like to repeat it here.

Guys, there’s no need to over-react. This contract is simply a draft from our lawyers, and if it contains any wrong parts, let’s talk about it. I’m not a lawyer myself, and to the best of my knowledge, that contract was supposed to be a simple “I’m the author and I give consent to bundle my game with the system” thing. We don’t want to take your games, and if our laywers made it sound like that - let’s edit that contract to make it reasonable and saying just that.

[AtariLeaf]

I'm not sure if this has been brought up already but as an owner of a Retron 5 I would like Hyperkin to really pay attention to this - DON'T MAKE THE CART CONNECTOR ON THE RETRON 77 SO TIGHT THAT IT FEELS LIKE YOU'RE GOING TO RIP THE CONNECTOR PINS OFF TO GET A CART OUT!!!

 

That is all.

[up2knowgood]

I'm not sure if this has been brought up already but as an owner of a Retron 5 I would like Hyperkin to really pay attention to this - DON'T MAKE THE CART CONNECTOR ON THE RETRON 77 SO TIGHT THAT IT FEELS LIKE YOU'RE GOING TO RIP THE CONNECTOR PINS OFF TO GET A CART OUT!!!

 

That is all.

 

As an older gent who remembers how the Nintendo 64 cartridges originally fit, I can say that's just originally how it was. My cousins had one, one game, Pokemon Stadium I think it was, that one was always super tight. We had to have one person hold the console while the other pulled to get it out when we wanted to play something else. Took forever till we got it so we could pull it out with one hand.

[godslabrat]

 

As an older gent who remembers how the Nintendo 64 cartridges originally fit, I can say that's just originally how it was. My cousins had one, one game, Pokemon Stadium I think it was, that one was always super tight. We had to have one person hold the console while the other pulled to get it out when we wanted to play something else. Took forever till we got it so we could pull it out with one hand.

This isn't my recollection at all.

[Flojomojo]

As an older gent who remembers how the Nintendo 64 cartridges originally fit, I can say that's just originally how it was. My cousins had one, one game, Pokemon Stadium I think it was, that one was always super tight. We had to have one person hold the console while the other pulled to get it out when we wanted to play something else. Took forever till we got it so we could pull it out with one hand.

Something must have been wrong with your machine. In my experience, they snapped in firmly, but never too tight.

 

I have a Retro Duo that wrecked the first cartridge I put into it, so I haven't played with it since.

[up2knowgood]

Something must have been wrong with your machine. In my experience, they snapped in firmly, but never too tight.

 

I have a Retro Duo that wrecked the first cartridge I put into it, so I haven't played with it since.

 

Really? See I have a Retro Duo Portable, and the only problem I have is how hard it is to get the NES games out of that big adapter, they go in that thing pretty far.

 

Maybe, but I have no way of testing now, that thing was given away long ago.