Hyperkin RetroN Sq: HD Gaming Console for Game Boy/Color/Game Boy Advance (Blackgold) – Game Boy Advance

an interesting way to play gameboy game on tv
i like the small form factor it play some reproduction i bought but will not play muticart games so a little of a bummer. all and all after manual update it runs great.

Barely functional
I’ve been looking for something to scratch my I-want-to-play-gba-games-on-my-tv itch. I saw this and was like “cool!” Then I looked at the reviews online and I should’ve listened. I thought “it can’t be that bad, right?” And then bought it. It IS that bad.When I unpacked this product and set it up, I plugged Pokemon Ruby into the slot and hit the power button. 5 minutes later I got tired of waiting for the game to load. Out of every game I’ve tried I’ve only gotten a Porsche racing game to work and not crash. The loading time is horrendous by today’s standards. Even when the game loads it is very unstable and will most likely crash. I did a little research and it turns out the Hyperkin Sq copies the game from the cartridge onto the Sq instead of booting the game from the cartridge. This makes the loading time unbearable with no guarantee that the game you’re trying to play will even load and run properly. As a result of this product copying the game over to the Sq, when you save your game it doesn’t get saved to the game cartridge. Your save file is saved to the micro SD card plugged into the back of the Sq.This whole process is bizarre and you’d think it’d make more sense to build a console that just runs the game like a normal GBA. But I guess that would make too much sense.

Before you buy… Make sure you know the details
So this thing does what it is supposed to do, and does it well. BUT be aware of one thing before purchasing. How this works, is there is an SD card in the back of the device. When you plug a game into it, the device makes a copy of your save file onto the SD card and then emulates the game using that save file. Which is fine, but when you unplug the game and try to play it on another device like a regular hand held, the save file does NOT come with the cartridge. An example of this is, I had a pokemon game with a save file on it. I then plugged the game in and it made a copy of that save file to the SD Card. I played for about 10 hours through the device, saving a long the way as you normally do. But when I unplugged the game and tried to play it on my Gameboy, the original save file was still on the cartridge, meaning I lost those 10 hours of progress UNLESS I play the cartridge through the device. If this is the only device you will be using to play the game it should be fine, but if you want to use your save file in any other way, you would have to manually copy the save file from the SD card to the game cartridge using another 3rd party device. Not the most convenient thing, but if it works for your purposes then it is a good product.

Just remember GB and GBC saves fine
I dug deep into this, read all I could about it before buying myself one and I love it. It has the latest patch installed that fixes issues so I was excited there. Not only that but I didn’t expect to be able to save my gb and GBC games on the actual cartridge. But gba does save state’s that’s fine as long as you know how to get there with your keyboard I fully recommend this.

The device easily plays Gameboy and Gameboy Colour games. But to play Gameboy Advance, it’s not likely unless it’s a beta version. And with physical GBA cartridges before you get one, there’s no indication that it’s a beta version or a official release game.

I have quite a few GB and GBA games and this little device seemed perfect for continuing to use these when my GB and GBA handhelds eventually wear out etc.. (GB, GBA and GBA carts are mask ROMs and likely to vastly outlive the handheld consoles)The console is super tiny, connects to TV via HDMI, and has a nice design. The device comes with USB A to USB C charge cable, USB A adapter/charger, and a single game controller (similar in style to SNES controller). The console comes with a 512 MB micro SD card that contains the OS/Firmware. A little disappointed that its a generic no brand card… Not sure about its quality or reliability (so I plan to copy the card onto a branded card as a backup at some point, and you can re-download the software from hyperkin). TBH I wish they had put a decent card in the box for the price.The console runs games really well…GB, GBC and GBA all work surprisingly well. It’s a pleasure to play the games on a big screen and the controller is sufficiently good to make it comfortable too. Id say it’s a decent experience considering its emulation.Overall Im happy… my only criticism is that I feel at times its a bit cheaply made… the cables, the controller feeling (the buttons are ok but you can feel its not up to the standard of XBOX/PS/ Nintendo etc).. the no brand micro SD card…It is what it is, and there is not really anything equivalent on the market. Id say it’s a good buy if you want a way to continue playing your game library.

De 30 juegos originales que tengo, solo me reconocio 7…mejor pedi mi dinero de vuelta.