My experiences in the retro-emulator-console market... and ... - Reddit
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A community for vintage gaming, celebrating games for hardware released before the year 2000.


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# My experiences in the retro-emulator-console market... and a warning to would-be buyers.

[\[Emulation\]](/r/retrogaming/?f=flair_name%3A%22%5BEmulation%5D%22)

I've posted some stuff about this before but nothing really cohesive and conclusive. A while back, I decided I wanted to share retro console games with my kiddo and I started exploring those pre-loaded consoles that come with XX,000 games (we've all seen the Facebook ads probably, if we frequent this sub - that's what got me on my initial kick actually).


I settled on two different ones and I'll link the stores so you can make your own conclusions but this is definitely going to be a bit of a biased opinion by the end - fair warning.


The GameGrid 2 ( [https://gamegridofficial.com/products/gamegrid-2](https://gamegridofficial.com/products/gamegrid-2))


and


RetroKat XPro 2 ( [https://retrokat-electronics.com/collections/all-in-one-devices/products/x-pro-2](https://retrokat-electronics.com/collections/all-in-one-devices/products/x-pro-2))


My original decision after basic research was the GameGrid... but that was the wrong decision. All of the reviews were great. As a deciding factor as I was about to order I made a Reddit post ( [https://www.reddit.com/r/retrogaming/comments/14h0tqq/gamegrid\_2/](https://www.reddit.com/r/retrogaming/comments/14h0tqq/gamegrid_2/)) because I had begun to suspect that 99% of the reviews I read were fake. Rave reviews from Reddit users with one karma and no post history. Lots of similarly formatted names, etc. the post I made blew up with horror stories from some users, and also a bunch of positive comments from brand new, 0 karma Reddit accounts (shills, maybe?) . I heard from people receiving wrong consoles, used consoles, broken consoles, consoles that won't save data... all of it.


I turned to my option B - the retrokat system. I couldn't find a lot on the way of discussion about it, but the company appeared to be based closer to where I lived (I'm in NYS) and I really wanted to play these games with my kid, and fiddling with my own pi setup sounds like my own personal hell, so I took a chance and ordered.


The console worked out of the box but it shows up in a sort of "safe mode" that prevents you from messing with settings that would brick the console. It also stops you from adding shaders and graphics smoothing but there's an option to contact their support for a literal cheat code to unlock it.


I contacted their support on a Sunday for the instructions and surprisingly got an answer and the instructions within an hour. I had to contact their support on one other occasion and again had a rapid and favorable response. (The GameGrid customers are having a far different experience, unfortunately).


Why am I making this post gushing about this system? I'm happy with it and I'm glad I didn't fall into a rip-off.


Can you build these yourself at home? Probably. That's not for me though. If you're like me, I hope you see this post before you buy.


I've purchased a second handheld console from the same company and am enjoying that too. They sent me a promo code to use when I was dealing with their support and it may still work I'd be happy to share it for someone to try if you're buying - just DM me.


My Reddit post history hopefully gives this post some credibility but feel free to hit me up for details on my purchases. As an independent business owner I'm a huge proponent of leaving a good review where one is warranted... plus I just like making Reddit posts :)


Edit: just to clarify im not trying to talk the DIYers out of it! For folks like me who just don't want to DIY, it's easy to get ripped off and I've had a good experience I just wanted to share.


IMPORTANT EDIT: one more clarification - my area of focus is in the older stuff - genesis, nes, snes, sega cd, etc. I haven't dabbled much in the Dreamcast, Saturn, n64 stuff. I tried a few titles and they worked but I have by no means tried a majority of those. If that's your focus / priority, this review is not the one that should sway you.


TLDR: almost bought a GameGrid 2, that would have been a mistake. Bought a retrokat X-pro 2, am very happy.


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