How many of you found out about RetroPie because you couldn't buy the NES Classic?

dragon_0n4

@ravagetalon well....in Nintendo's defense, the NES Mini was a "limited special edition" which was never meant as a long-run selling console like the others. See here

dragon_0n4

I've been playing with emulators since I started messing with them on Win XP. Started with a gameboy emu, then snes...and on, and on as I found more lol.
The NES mini wasn't the main factor, for me; rather, it was seeing everyone making a rPi3 system to look like one. Premade cases, skins for the official rPi case, lego cases! So many possibilities!
That coupled with a custom retro/8bit theme for retropie = emulation heaven!

mediamogul

@dragon_0n4

the NES Mini was a "limited special edition" which was never meant as a long-run selling console like the others.

Still, once the winds changed and it was obvious how popular the NES classic was going to be, they could have adjusted their plans. Since absolutely no company in the world hates money, it's possible the decision to discontinue this product boils down to the need to keep manufacturing lines fully open for the Switch, or perhaps even to what Nintendo of Japan might see as potential brand confusion in English speaking markets and a long-term dilution of their intellectual properties that could impede the launch of the Switch. Nintendo of Japan has never given these markets much credit for common sense.

edmaul69

@mediamogul i hate they now have discontinued the mini. If people hadnt hacked it so fast, maybe it would have gone longer. I really wanted one. I even bought 2 raphnet wii classic remote to usb adaptors with plans on purchasing one. I stood in line several cold mornings to no avail.

mediamogul

@edmaul69

If people hadnt hacked it so fast, maybe it would have gone longer.

That could be a factor as well, but with all the money left lying on the table, you'd think that some of it could have gone into system revisions that would combat piracy. Nintendo is so absolutely secretive about their decision making, that we may never know what really went on here. After years of supposition and investigation, it's only been this past year that we finally have a believable explaination as to why they've never released the arcade version 'Donkey Kong' on a virtual platform.

Capeman

@mediamogul Out of curiousity, what was that reason?

mediamogul

@Capeman

It's recently come to light that Nintendo may not have have full, or perhaps any distribution rights to many of their early arcade titles, Donkey Kong included. If true, this would be the result of an undisclosed settlement between them and Ikegami Tsushinki, who were responsible for programming the games in question, as well as developing the hardware. To make a long story short, Nintendo tried to cut this company out of their original agreement by reverse engineering their previous designs when creating 'Donkey Kong Jr.'. There are a few things that give credence to Ikegami Tsushinki having some legal claim to the software. Most humorously is the company developing a direct clone of 'Donkey Kong', Nintendo's most popular title at the time, in the form of 'Congo Bongo' to SEGA, without any legal challenge.

Capeman

Figures it was copyright issues. If copyright law could figure itself out, thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of people at this point wouldn't need to resort to hacking together projects like RetroPie to bypass all that corporate BS. I guess there's always a silver lining.

anasazi29

updated my NES Classic replica. Added the NES classic icons. I added the NES Classic music that plays during the menu. I also added MP3s that play during the menu that are from the original 30 games.
I soldered a working Power button, that clean shuts down the Pi.
and the 2nd button, "Reset" basically clean reboots the machine.
My 3D printed case is the EXACT dimensions and size of the NES Classic.

Thanks,
Anasazi

dragon_0n4

@anasazi29 great work, looks awesome!
for the shutdown and reboot buttons, did you use the same script, just modified what command is executed, and what GPIOs are used?

anasazi29

@dragon_0n4
GPIO 3 and ground for Power shutdown and turn on.

GPIO 18 and ground for sudo reboot
____________ reboot script ___________________

#!/bin/python

import RPi.GPIO as GPIO
import time
import os

GPIO.setmode(GPIO.BCM)
GPIO.setup(18, GPIO.IN, pull_up_down = GPIO.PUD_UP)

def Shutdown(channel):
os.system("sudo reboot")

GPIO.add_event_detect(18, GPIO.FALLING, callback = Shutdown, bouncetime = 2000)

while 1:
time.sleep(1)
_______________ Shutdown script__ (which you can find on here)
#!/bin/python

import RPi.GPIO as GPIO
import time
import os

GPIO.setmode(GPIO.BCM)
GPIO.setup(3, GPIO.IN, pull_up_down = GPIO.PUD_UP)

def Shutdown(channel):
os.system("sudo shutdown -h now")

GPIO.add_event_detect(3, GPIO.FALLING, callback = Shutdown, bouncetime = 2000)

while 1:
time.sleep(1)

easy as that,
Anasazi

StormJH1

First post. NES Classic is exactly the reason I discovered RetroPie (and Raspberry Pi 3). When it first came out in November, I started getting Google-suggested articles like crazy about a $35 alternative called the Raspberry Pi. I had some past experience with ROM's, but those were always anchored to desktop PC's and weren't as immersive as a TV-based gaming experience. I also saw the phrase "Linux-based" and quickly put it out of mind. More than anything, I assumed that the U.I. would be some hacked-up, unattractive junk that only appealed to engineers.

As recently as 2 or 3 weeks ago, I was still looking for an NES Classic, even considering paying a premium on Amazon. The discontinuance and price hike was a blessing in disguised. I dove deeper into the details of what I would have to do to make a mini gaming console and was like "Wait, I can actually do this!".

I am absolutely in love with the RetroPie system I created. Now I just have to balance my incessant need to tinker with things against the fact that I basically have an up-and-running system that seems to be stable, accessible, and reliable. I need to back up my work thus far so I can get back to this point - one of my favorite things is how you can basically swap in and out a whole operating system since everything is stored on the microSD card. I'd like to tinker with themes and creating my own images for some missing box art, but given that the Linux command stuff is still way above my pay grade, I'm likely to screw things up.

Eldrethor

I had no real interest in the NES Classic, and I didn't plan on getting a Raspberry Pi. My original intent was to build a small computer housed in a slim micro ATX case, hook it up to my TV, and use that as my gaming console, but the parts alone had already added up to few hundred dollars.

While I tried to work on my budget for parts, I stumbled across an article raving about how you can create your own retro console for $35 (whoever wrote the headline conveniently forgot to mention needing a case, SD card, etc.), and that led me to the Raspberry Pi and the RetroPie project, which I have to say, I'm really grateful for.

Putting together a RetroPie setup of my own been an absolute blast, and I'm hoping to make my own code contributions one of these days, though I'm admittedly spoiled by high-level languages and IDEs.

Wulf

the NES Classic? what's that?

mattrixk

@Eldrethor said in How many of you found out about RetroPie because you couldn't buy the NES Classic?:

I'm hoping to make my own code contributions one of these days

If the coding isn't for you, you can always try making themes. It's fun and not too difficult (having a little basic html coding experience helps, but isn't essential).

spruce_m00se

I got retropie due to a shortage of nes classics about 6 months ago, however I had wanted to use a Pi for years and progress from playing with arduinos, so it was the perfect excuse, I now have 3 pi3 and a Zero, loving the learning experience and cant wait to start playing with IO pins etc to get some of my scripts running in the background

detron

with the success and demand that out-paced supply for the NES Classic, I wish Nintendo would make a 3DS cartridge "NES classic" say a $50 game, that has the 30 NES games that are included in the NES classic.

I was lucky enough to get a NES Classic, but I would buy the "NES Classic, 3DS edition"

SgtJimmyRustles

@detron

I don't think they will. The NES Classic is going back on sale next year.

detron

@sgtjimmyrustles said in How many of you found out about RetroPie because you couldn't buy the NES Classic?:

@detron

I don't think they will. The NES Classic is going back on sale next year.

I know, but it would be a cool 3DS cartridge. seems like a simple profit opportunity

chewsavedlatin

I ended up here because of not being able to get a NES classic. I still have a NES that works (plus a few other consoles) but I just don't have to room so they're packed away, retropie is space saving tool for me really and is perfect for that.