If you’re the sort of person who likes the idea of the RetroN 5 or Retro Freak, but feels that those machines just aren’t versatile enough, you might be interested in the newly-announced Retroblox.
The system is a modular emulation-based console that accepts optical discs as standard and supports other consoles through attachments known as “Element Modules,” which add a cartridge slot and appropriate controller ports. It seems that games can be saved to a digital library, allowing them to be played both with and without the original media present. Connections include an HDMI port for 1080p video output, USB ports that are presumably for controllers, and an SD card slot. A crowdfunding campaign is due to launch in April this year.
At present, there are a number of questions that aren’t yet answered regarding the Retroblox console. One of these is what systems will be supported – we’ve seen modules for the Mega Drive and NES, SNES and PC Engine support has been heavily implied, and disc-based systems seem to include Mega-CD, PC Engine CD and PlayStation. We’re also not sure about the price of the base unit or Element Modules, or any on-board storage the system might have. It also remains to be seen how convenient the Element Modules are in practice – while they seem like a neat idea, we can’t imagine wanting to switch out part of the console every time we want to use an appropriate controller.
To find out more info, click here to visit the Retroblox website.
(Hat tip to Retrocollect for picking up on this story)
