Unboxing the Hyperkin Retron 77 Atari 2600 HDMI Equipped Clone System
113In this video, we unbox the Hyperkin Retron 77 HD Atari 2600 clone system.
While my retro Gaming exploits generally hark back to memories of the Nintendo Entertainment System, that was not, in fact, my first experience with video games in the home. My family, like others in the early 80s, had an Atari 2600 (and PONG before that). I remember playing games like Adventure, The Empire Strikes Back, and ET, I just don't have the font memories for it like I do the NES. And when Nintendo's little gray box finally found its way into my bedroom, I never looked back at the Atari 2600 again. That is, until now.
The 2600's blocky graphics, poor sound, and generally crappy games are some of the reasons why I have never collected for the system. Add into the mix the fact that it's extremely difficult to get a quality picture out of an Atari 2600, and you have a perfect combination for why it is not one of my favorite retro consoles. The folks in the Hyperkin Labs, however, look to change that with their Retron 77 by addressing one of the biggest problems with the Atari 2600 today. The Retron 77 allows you to finally connect an HD equipped cartridge-based 2600 system to your television and relive Atari's glory days.
The system itself includes one controller which they call the Trooper. It is very much inspired by the original Atari 2600 controller, with one minor change in the inclusion of a second button on the face of it. This should make it easier for people who are left-handed to play with a more natural feel.
Also in the box is an HDMI cable, micro USB power cable, and a power brick. I was surprised to see a MicroSD card was also included and plugged into the back of the system out of the box. I guess this is for running homebrews, hacks, and other games which we will get into in our full review.
The Retron 77 features some interesting additions over the original hardware. On the back of the unit, a 4x3 and 16x9 button allows you to toggle aspect ratio, while a fry button allows you to exploit certain game glitches that could have been initiated by wiggling and jiggling the cartridge in the slot and taking advantage of a loose connection.
From a hardware standpoint, I actually think it's an attractive looking console. It hits enough of the right memberberries from a design aesthetic, specifically the wood grain, but updates the design enough to feel fresh and unique. If Atari was still producing consoles today, I'm looking at you VCS, this is what a cartridge-based 2600 would look like in 2020.
I will say that one of the reasons why I have split this video into a separate unboxing and review is the original unit I had failed out of the box. I couldn't get a game to work, nothing worked! Looking at the fact that it appeared that there was gunk spilled on the top of the unit, I wonder if this isn't a unit that was returned to Hyperkin for an RMA and accidentally sent back out. As it is, Adrian at Live Action Games replaced the unit for me at no cost. Having an out-of-the-box failure like this was definitely disappointing.
For a system I have very little nostalgia for, I'm surprisingly looking forward to this review. the more I looked into the catalog, I did find games that I really did enjoy, and I am looking forward to revisiting these again to see if they are as I remember period And yes, I will be testing out ET.
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#Hyperkin #Atari2600 #Unboxing
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