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It´s never wrong to have dreams, life goals or ambitions, but sometimes you just have to realize that your dream (s) may be nothing more than a dead-end. And that´s pretty much what I felt when I heard about the Retro VGS console (it´s made by Retro Entertainment Technology). Sure, I like the idea of having a retro console that plays new games on cartridges and everything. However, the Retro VGS team (Mike Kennedy, Steve Woita and John Carlsen) are asking for 1,95 million dollars via indiegogo (which they need to collect within 38 days from now). And the console price is said to be $350 per unit (you could buy a PSV, a Wii U, or even a PS4 or a Xbox One with that kind of money).

So in my opinion, the Retro Entertainment team is asking for quite a lot of money (the early bird backers will get the console for $299 though). Nevertheless, at least it seems like the console supports 1080P HD resolution. Besides that, I really like the look of the Retro VGS console. In fact, it made me think about Atari´s Jaguar console. And guess what? It´s because the development team got their hands on the original Atari Jagar mold tooling design kit (which Atari used to create the Atari Jaguar in the early 1990s). Thus the Jaguar:ish looks to the console (there have been some slight modifications to the Retro VGS console though).

Retro VGS needs to raise 1,95 million dollars on indiegogo in-order to become a reality.

So in away, you could actually say that the Retro VGS console is the Atari Jaguar III, but with another name (yes, there did indeed exist a Atari Jaguar II Prototype back in 1995). Anyhow, let´s take a lot at the specs for the console shall we?

Internal Hardware:
CPU: “Quadrunner” 4-core 1.6 GHz 32-bit ARM Cortex-A9 (16,000 DMIPS) processor plus embedded high-performance graphics processing unit
(GPU) with:
3-D (shader, tiler, parallel vertex and pixel processing, and more, supporting OpenGL ES 1.1 and 2.0, OpenVG 1.1, etc.),
2-D (blitter with high-performance stretch and shrink plus one-pass blending, scaling, and rotation, anti-aliased line drawing, etc.),
and Image enhancement (scaling, rotation, mirroring, etc.)

RAM: 1 GiB (2^30 bytes) 32-bit DDR3-800
– Field-programmable gate array (FPGA)
– Fast, flexible, durable cartridge interface
– Convection cooled: no noisy fan to wear out

Data Storage:
– User data is stored externally only
– No private user data is stored in console
– Console always returns to factory state when unplugged
– When plugged in, only time and date are saved, if the user has set the clock
– Game-related data (such as high score lists, saved games, etc.) may be stored on each cartridge (depends on game)
– System-related data (such as preferred initials for high-score lists, preferred controller configurations, etc.) may be stored on
an optional USB thumb drive

Besides that, the Retro VGS also offers:
– Analog: NTSC or PAL (user-selectable)
– Digital: up to 1080p/60
– Aspect ratio: select 4:3, 16:9, etc.
– USB up to 4 controllers directly, or more via optional hub(s)

And what do you get for your $350?

Included with each RETRO VGS game console:

Pack-in game cartridge: The Adventures of Tiny Knight in an exclusive campaign only “Knighted” silver cartridge shell
1 RETRO VGS USB game controller
Digital A/V cable (HDMI)
Analog A/V cable (RCA triple)
Power adapter (with input and plug for destination nation, unless otherwise requested)

The RETRO VGS USB Controller
The RETRO VGS controller is designed to have the best of both worlds. From modern-day controllers come responsive dual-analog sticks and
shoulder buttons combined with the all familiar and loved classically inspired D-pad and correctly oriented buttons. Developers will
have a multitude of game and player control options to tap into. RETRO VGS will utilize its own USB controllers but gamers will also
have the option to plug-in their other favorite USB controllers and devices, even a keyboard!

The Retro VGS controllers look rather cool, in my opinion. They also seem to be quite light when it comes to weight?

Awesome indeed, but what about the games then? Well, the following games will be ready on the Retro VGS´s launch day:
Sydney Hunter and the Caverns of Death
Tiny Knight
Read Only Memories
Songbringer
Pier Solar

Sure, some of those games seems to be really cool and all. However, 1,95 million dollars (and $350 per console) are still a lot of money. And right now Retro Entertainment is about $1,3 million dollars short (with less than 38 days left to go). And I’m not a very optimistic person either, so it´s going to be a really hard task for Mike Kennedy (Co-Founder, President and the creator and publisher of RETRO Video Game Magazine), Steve Woita (Co-Founder, VP Developer Relations) and John Carlsen, (Co-Founder, VP Operations and Platform Development) to raise all that money on time. And even “if” Retro Entertainment gets all the money that they need to make the Retro VGS happen for real. Will the console then launch at the beginning of mid 2016 as planned? (FunStock.co.uk will take pre-orders for the console in the near future). Not only that, but as far as I can tell. There is no default retail price for the Retro VGS game cartridges either. And how many developers have signed up to develop games for the console really?

Yes, all the games for the Retro VGS console, is cartridge based.

So, yeah. There are quite a few question marks regarding Retro Entertainment´s Retro VGS console, that´s for sure. The dev team has been very clear to point out that their console is NOT an Ouya or Retron 5 console though (which is explained in detail via the F.A.Q page). So I don´t know, I got very mixed emotions about the Retro VGS. As I really like the idea of a new cartridge console. And since I’m a fan of Atari´s Jaguar, I also found the consoles look to be rather appealing. Nevertheless, I don´t know if this will be enough to impress the Gaming community though. Time will tell I guess.

With that said, what do you guys and girls think about the Retro VGS so far? And would you buy the console?

***Disclaimer***
This is a personal opinion of the writer, and it doesn’t necessarily represent the other writers (nor The Gaming Ground´s) opinions.