Retro Kezins

I'm semi-interested in checking out Contra Returns when it releases on Monday although it does appear to potentially be a F2P cash grab style game. Pre-registration does net you some extra items to get you going. The game is also releasing on iOS.  It looks like this game adds to the arcade/console classic with an updated look, online multiplayer options, new characters, many new weapons, new story lines and has 200 levels. That all sounds great but from what I can tell, the extra characters and weapons will possibly be part of a micro-transaction scheme so my hopes aren't real high but it's Contra so I'm still checking it out. It does look good!  From PROXIMA BETA: Contra Returns is a classic side scrolling shooter game Remember the secret code: Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A to get extra lives? After a 30-year hiatus, the Contra you know and love is back! Developed by famous Japanese game company KONAMI and worl

Anbernic RG300X When it comes to cheap sub $100 budget retro emulation handhelds, Anbernic is well known for quality options.  Initial Hands Off Impression   The Good -It looks great -Pocketable -Excellent Screen -Looks well-built  The Bad -A little overpriced -Not much of an upgrade over cheaper options  I'll likely sit this handheld out myself but it's still a potential option for collectors and anyone who just really likes the look. I think it will be a good handheld although a little overpriced at the moment. I'd drop $70 or less on it no questions myself.  The RG300X dropped today at the price of $87.99-$95.99 depending on the size of included MicroSD card. It's generally best to use your own card with a fresh firmware install with these devices so I'd advice against spending $95.99. Personally I think the price should have been around $60-$70... https://www.anbernic.com/phone/eac_phone_sel_one?eng_ApplianceVo.eac_id=77 Emulation-wise it

It looks like the Anbernic RG300X will become available on the Anbernic.com store in about hours...  For me the price drops interest a bit. I can't justify spending near $90 on this when you can get a 350/350P for less now. It looks like a GB Micro but is a lot bigger than one and about as powerful as the 350 but less functional although the screen on the 300X is nice.  For this one I'm staying on the sidelines. Can't justify around $90 but I plan to keep an eye on it. It will probably a pretty good system...  I used a "?" because they did a countdown with the RG351V and then delayed it a couple days when it hit 0 so we'll see what happens...  Thursday around 6am EST for people in the US. 

October Update: The KTR R1 as it is now known is expected to hit Indiegogo by November.  My interest in the KT R1  retro handheld has faded over time but it's still high up on my watch list.  The KT R1 generated a lot of chatter last year as a potential Retroid Pocket 2 killer but development has been a slow process. It's expected to hit IndieGoGo as a pre-order by the end of this month but I wouldn't be surprised if it's August.  The expected price is $235 which is a bit higher than we were thinking it would be last year and the specs and actual housing have changed a bit. Information and developments have been a little slow on this handheld but it seems to be nearing actual production.   There are quite a few powerful handhelds coming out in the near future to keep an eye on. My current top 5 most anticipated handhelds in order from most to least anticipated at the moment are the Steam Deck, Odin, KT R1, Z-Pocket Game 2 and Retroid Pocket 3. I've alrea

BTS's Butter Inspired by NES Game?  Pretty interesting find from BTS fans. The track 'Monster Rap' (Link Below) sounds an awful lot like the hit song Butter and the leader of BTS's name is Rap Monster. I'm sure BTS Army members know more about this this than I do. The one thing I do know is their songs are always deep with references and meaning.  Pretty interesting that they may may gotten some musical inspiration from the 1992 NES game Monster in my Pocket.  Also in the song 'Joke' there's a line where he says "In my Pocket, there's full of monsters".  Starting to sound like there's more than a few retro gaming references and inspirations in their songs.  06:14 in the video. Check it out. The similarity is striking.  https://youtu.be/g_T-CXFUN_c Feel free to comment below!  Relative Links:  https://ibighit.com/bts/eng/ https://www.usbtsarmy.com/

Pre-orders for the GPD Win Max 2021 are opening soon and it will be very interesting to see how interest is effected by the recent news around Valve's Steam Deck.  https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/aaa--179/coming_soon I think the Win Max will still have some interest and will likely still have high interest in regions where you couldn't reserve a Steam Deck.  In ways one could see the Win Max as more of a laptop replacement that can be used for Gaming and work which really is different than the Steam Deck. If Gaming is the priority though, paying a lot more for this that the Steam Deck is a choice a lot of gamers will question now.  https://www.notebookcheck.net/GPD-Win-Max-2021-Pre-orders-to-start-this-month-for-AMD-Ryzen-7-4800U-or-Intel-Core-i7-1185G7-powered-handheld.551595.0.html

The future potential of Valve's Steam Deck is sky high. While there's nothing official going on, the Tweet from Phil Spencer at Xbox is certainly encouraging.  Gamepass on the Steam Deck would make it basically a portable Xbox with all the modern console games that come with it.  Still a long way to go until lunch of the handheld (I'm in the Q1 2022 club) so a lot can happen between now and then. It looks like Microsoft has certainly noticed the potential here.  https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/xbox-game-pass-for-pc/cfq7ttc0kgq8

The nice thing about retro gaming is that there's always something to play... This week I plan to spread my time across a few handhelds and hopefully complete a few games.  Nintendo Switch   The Nintendo Switch is far from my favorite system but I've been playing a lot on it lately. I'm about halfway through Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne HD Remaster so might as well finish it up this week. I picked up the regular digital version last week on sale. The last time I played through the game was roughly 16 years ago on the PS2. The game has aged pretty well for sure and is still a must play for any old school turn-based JRPG fan. I'll likely post a review of the HD Remaster soon.  Anbernic RG351V   I tend to play a lot of Game Boy Advance titles on Anbernic handhelds and am currently punching away at The Legend of Zelda: The Minnish Cap . This is also my second playthrough of the game. Of all the Zelda games over the years,  this one is firmly in

I think the Nintendo Switch vs Steam Deck arguments are silly considering both have different target consumers but a size comparison is interesting to really get an idea of how big the Deck is.  I don't think size will be a huge issue because it looks to be very ergonomically designed. It may look strange but most great designs look strange at first. Can't wait to get my hands on the Deck. 

https://www.steamdeck.com/en/ As long as you have a Steam account in good standing with previous game purchase(s) you can reserve a Steam Deck (shipping in December) today for $5 down.  There are 3 models available but only two seem like smart moves to me. The base model is only $399 but only has 64GB eMMC internal memory. That will pretty much lock you out of some fairly large games out of the gate.  I'm likely opting for the $529 model which has 256GB NVMe (much faster than eMMC) internal storage. There's also a $649 model with 512GB storage. If you plan to play big file current generation games, you'll definitely need 256 or 512. The 64GB model would be fine for older games and emulation. Running ROMs off a microSD wouldn't be an issue but you probably wouldn't want to run huge PC games off external storage.  Regardless I'm pretty excited about this recently announced handheld. We've been hearing rumors for months about it but wasn't expec

A new video has surfaced showing off the RG300X. It's definitely a little larger than I expected. In essence it's an RG350 without the thumbsticks and with a smaller screen. Price will be the determining factor with this one. It looks nice but it's nothing new.  Link To Video Below The buttons in the video do appear stiff and very "clicky" but are probably typical Anbernic buttons that loosen up a bit after a while. Just from quick observation it looks to be a pretty high quality Anbernic build as we've grown to expect. It's just hard to get excited when this is mostly just something old in a new shell.  They did get the Game Boy Micro inspired look pretty good. I was assuming this was going to be a micro handheld but it's too big to be.  https://youtu.be/2U6wGMcsB34

The PowKiddy Q20 Mini dropped today on the market for $39.99 + Free Shipping on AliExpress.  https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002982099514.html At the size it's in the same range of devices as the V90, TrimUI/A66, etc... Personally I don't see any big need for this device unless you just like the looks. You can still pick up a V90 for less and that's a little handheld I still highly recommend. In this micro sized arena from the specs and what I've seen I'd probably want one of these over a TrimUI/A66 (which has no headphone port) and over a Q90 or PocketGo. All in all this isn't a terrible deal.  With an F1C100S processor it will play up to PS1 games but will be hit or miss depending on the game. If you do want one I'd certainly guarantee flashing custom firmware will be necessary for a decent experience. Some SNES games might struggle a little bit as well.  Specs:  -Allwinner F1C100S  -CPU: ARM926-EJS Single Core 533 M

*Updated (7/12/21) Anbernic RG300X Debut Video:  https://youtu.be/OnzulSjyUZg One would assume the Anbernic RG300X would be an updated version of the RG300 but apparently that's not the case.  It looks like it will be a plastic/metal landscape handheld with a form factor similar to a Game Boy Micro (GBM) with a JZ4770 processor, and a 3 inch 640x480 screen. The processor is the same one used in the RG350 so the 300X will be able to handle most systems up to PS1 excluding N64 etc.  The main benefit of this OpenDingux option is that it will be more pocketable than the 350 line. Price will be everything with this one. It's not introducing anything new and will need to be cheaper than the 350/350P/350M to become an interesting option. There's no estimated release date yet but I expect to see this drop by Fall. I'd have no problem dropping $70 on this but it wouldn't surprise me if Anbernic tries to juice more $ out of it and prices it closer to $80/$90. Much

Valis and the entire series is a bit of a strange platformer but this remake of the original PC-88/MSX game is definitely worth a playthrough. The original game was frustrating and near unplayable but the Genesis remake wasn't bad.  What really hurt Valis was how how slow it plays in my opinion. While a lot of people will say Valis is a bad game they are ignoring how unique it really was.  Above average graphics, cinematics between stages was unusual for the time, excellent sound, balanced gameplay and a decent story make it a game you need to play at least once.  https://www.retrokezins.com/p/top-100-sega-genesis-games.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valis_(video_game_series)

Updated info posted by Sonic Love on Twitter:  Update: Looks like there will be two color Options and likely come in below $50. I'm not super excited about this one but it's always nice to see more handheld devices coming out.  Unfortunately I don't know anything about this device so can only guess about it. I have to wonder if this is a repackaged version of the TRIMUi Model S which Powkiddy acquired. Hopefully some info on this device will appear soon.  

It seems we have finally reached a point where there aren't many retro handhelds (SBCs) being released. Not that long ago it seemed like something new was coming out every week. Most of this is due to chip shortages, parts supplies and increased costs (due to the pandemic) but I expect things to really start picking back up this Fall.  If I had to pick a few of upcoming handhelds I'm most looking forward to they would probably be the KT R1, Retroid Pocket 3, Retroid Pocket 2.5, the 199 Handheld now known as "Odin", Anbernic RG552, Anbernic RG300x, and the Z-Pocket Game 2. There are definitely lots of options on the way in the near future. 

While it's an early build in testing, 351Droid is pretty exciting news as another custom firmware option for the RG351P, RG351M and RG351V.  Android Gaming isn't for everyone of course but when you already have some of the premium Android apps it's certainly convenient. I haven't had a chance to dive deep into this option but I have a slow week coming up and this gives me something extra to do.  Check out the breakdown on RetroGameCorps:  https://retrogamecorps.com/2021/07/04/introducing-351droid-for-rg351p-rg351m-and-rg351v/

My first day of playing Disgaea 6 is in the books and I have a lot of opinions on the game so far... *****Possibly some very light SPOILERS ahead!***** This a very light dive into my early impressions. Deeper dives coming soon!  Nintendo Switch Version  While it plays mostly well the underpowered Switch really struggles with the 3D rendering and its very noticeable. You can choose between 3 graphics settings which helps a little but you'll still notice the Switch struggling slightly even in performance mode. It's not game breaking or anything but is noticeable. The game looks fantastic in 3D at times and other times looks awful. I think they should have stuck with 2D honestly.  Perhaps the upcoming Switch Pro will be able to handle games like this more.  Stats Galore Anyone who is a veteran of the Disgaea franchise understands that stats are everything (lol) and Disgaea takes stats and combos over the top. This time the level cap is 99,999,999 and character stats ca

Not a lot going on with new handheld releases in the SBC world for now so I've been focusing on Nintendo Switch gaming for the past few weeks. Bought Borderlands GOTYE, Borderlands 2 GOTYE and Borderlands The Pre-Sequel UE for the Switch on Father's Day and picked up 2 games this weekend on the Switch Store.  16-Bit Soccer and Disgaea 6 are my two latest additions to the Switch lineup. 16-Bit Soccer was only $1.99 but probably not even worth that. Disgaea 6 however should be worth every penny even close to full price.