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Comment by jogu | Hacker News Reader

> I guess my main argument is, I could make a RetroPi in a few hours with every emulator, and every rom, and meet all of the marketing criteria with better settings. Including better compatibility.

> Assuming they're trying to advertise to my market, why would I pay 50x the cost for an inferior product? Why wouldn't they start from where emulation enthusiasts currently are instead of way behind?

If you're happy with RetroPi then Analogue's products simply aren't for you.

Being able to use my original controllers, accessories, cartridges directly (not just dumping the rom) is important to me. Having a big Street Fighter II cartridge sticking out, two controllers right there, and simply pushing the power button to immediately get into that game is important to me. It strikes up conversations and leads to impromptu gameplay in a way that a RetroPi or something similar likely doesn't.

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For me and my friends, "let's play contra" doesn't take longer than maybe 10 seconds from intention to the start screen.

I have a retro pi that lives always connected to my tv for impromptu play like you describe.

The Analogue OS doesn't say if it supports TV output or controllers besides

> OS is designed to connect seamlessly to virtually every 8BitDo Bluetooth, 2.4g and next gen controller. Wired and wireless. With button mapping on a controller by controller, system by system basis.

I attached two cheap USB NES adapters to it, allowing NES controllers of all kinds to be plugged in.

It works perfect for contra, battle toads, tetris, whatever, and feels extrememly close to native form my experience (which is impressive to me, as I used to play competitive NES tetris, which requires 1 or 2 frame input windows for some techniques)

EDIT: And TBH if that format is best for you, why not just spend your money on a real console instead? It'll definitely be cheaper and will ALWAYS boot faster than anything else you can buy.

> For me and my friends, "let's play contra" doesn't take longer than maybe 10 seconds from intention to the start screen.

But how would they know you have Contra and think to play it? The presence of a physical cartridge or recognizable console sparks the spontaneity. I think Analogue's consoles do this in a way that RetroPi does not.

> The Analogue OS doesn't say if it supports TV output or controllers

To be clear, I'm not talking exclusively about Analogue OS or the Analogue Pocket, but their other existing products the Mega Sg and Super Nt.

> And TBH if that format is best for you, why not just spend your money on a real console instead? It'll definitely be cheaper and will ALWAYS boot faster than anything else you can buy.

Unfortunately this isn't the case. Especially given the recent retro gaming boom inflating prices. You also have to consider that retro consoles are borderline unusable on modern TVs (even if they have composite input) and you'll need to purchase a quality upscaler (or hardware mod), which can run anywhere from $80 to $500 depending on what you get. If you don't mind having a CRT you can go that route too, but nice CRTs are also quite expensive. Then if you're interested in playing ROMs that's unlockable via a jailbreak on the Super Nt vs paying $80 - $200 for a flash cartridge.

So here's what I want:

1) Play on a modern TV via HDMI

2) Play original cartridges directly

3) Native support for original controller hardware

4) Support for additional accessories that worked on original hardware

5) The option to play ROMs if a particular game is inaccessible physically

The Super Nt/Mega Sg provide all of these things at a much cheaper price than trying to get the equivalent on original hardware.

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