It's safe to say 2017 has been a year for retrogamers to relive classic video games through emulation as we've seen the NES Mini, AtariBox in development, SNES Mini and multi-platform devices including the RetroEngine Sigma which emulates over 28 classic gaming machines. 
Enter the latest 'black box' device called the Game Box Hero retro gaming system, which is currently being sold via GameBoxHero.com with simple PDF Instructions and marketed on the same Craigslist-style sites as you'd expect to find unlocked Kodi boxes and jailbroken Amazon Fire TV sticks from... see the fairly decent demonstration video below.
Although you can use online coupon codes such as savenow to get a few bucks off, it's currently being peddled as a Gold Edition (5 systems with 3,503 games) for $129, a Gold Edition with Cheats for $139 or a Platinum Edition with Cheats (16 systems with 11,805 games) for $149 which likely make use of popular XML Cheat Collections.
From their page, to quote: What's in the box:
Game Box Hero includes everything you need to plug right in and start playing. No internet required.
Seeing that video reminded me of many moons ago when I built a MAME cabinet using a variety of MAME Front Ends including LaunchBox with MAME, IV/Play / MAME UI and even the Artwork Packs... but the cabinet ended up taking up too much room so I ended up parting it out.
Which brings us to the discussion topic of this article, what free or low-cost alternatives are there to paying some nob off the Internet $100+ to configure a tiny plastic box (which likely houses a Raspberry Pi or Teensy type board) of game ROMs they added versus those I'd prefer to add myself in order to use them via HDMI with a USB or wireless controller on a smart TV?
If using Kodi, for the software side I've seen the dated XMBC option, with an updated post by Digital Vortex who recommended RetroPlayer or the Advanced Launcher add-on.
There are also even more recent MAME frontend add-ons for Kodi such as Play MAME or Advanced MAME Launcher... assuming Kodi is even the best software to use for a homemade 'black box' emulation station.
Has anyone here made a homebrew emulation 'black box' like the guy in the Game Box Hero video above, and if so what did you end up using for the PCB and software side to create nice simple menus listing thousands of retrogame ROMs that can be easily updated via PC / Wifi... share your suggestions below and thanks in advance!
PS: I'm not looking to use expensive or bulky hardware such as a laptop, PS3, PS4, PC with Chromecast, smartphone with screen mirroring etc in this winter project... if I can make my own simple 'black box' I may end up cloning it and giving them to friends and family over the holidays to enjoy on those cold winter nights.
Enter the latest 'black box' device called the Game Box Hero retro gaming system, which is currently being sold via GameBoxHero.com with simple PDF Instructions and marketed on the same Craigslist-style sites as you'd expect to find unlocked Kodi boxes and jailbroken Amazon Fire TV sticks from... see the fairly decent demonstration video below.
Although you can use online coupon codes such as savenow to get a few bucks off, it's currently being peddled as a Gold Edition (5 systems with 3,503 games) for $129, a Gold Edition with Cheats for $139 or a Platinum Edition with Cheats (16 systems with 11,805 games) for $149 which likely make use of popular XML Cheat Collections.
From their page, to quote: What's in the box:
Game Box Hero includes everything you need to plug right in and start playing. No internet required.
- HDMI cable
- Game system "brain"
- 2 SNES style controllers
- Controller cord extenders
- Power supply
- Instruction manual
Seeing that video reminded me of many moons ago when I built a MAME cabinet using a variety of MAME Front Ends including LaunchBox with MAME, IV/Play / MAME UI and even the Artwork Packs... but the cabinet ended up taking up too much room so I ended up parting it out. Which brings us to the discussion topic of this article, what free or low-cost alternatives are there to paying some nob off the Internet $100+ to configure a tiny plastic box (which likely houses a Raspberry Pi or Teensy type board) of game ROMs they added versus those I'd prefer to add myself in order to use them via HDMI with a USB or wireless controller on a smart TV? If using Kodi, for the software side I've seen the dated XMBC option, with an updated post by Digital Vortex who recommended RetroPlayer or the Advanced Launcher add-on.
There are also even more recent MAME frontend add-ons for Kodi such as Play MAME or Advanced MAME Launcher... assuming Kodi is even the best software to use for a homemade 'black box' emulation station.
Has anyone here made a homebrew emulation 'black box' like the guy in the Game Box Hero video above, and if so what did you end up using for the PCB and software side to create nice simple menus listing thousands of retrogame ROMs that can be easily updated via PC / Wifi... share your suggestions below and thanks in advance!
PS: I'm not looking to use expensive or bulky hardware such as a laptop, PS3, PS4, PC with Chromecast, smartphone with screen mirroring etc in this winter project... if I can make my own simple 'black box' I may end up cloning it and giving them to friends and family over the holidays to enjoy on those cold winter nights.
