Anybody ever hear of the Facebook Group that sells illegal emulator consoles called Retro Game Fans?

[Steve-French]

The dude that runs it's name is Rob Alvey. He's known well enough to have a Wiki page. He has produced AAA video games and is some kind of renowned theme park and roller coaster reviewer ( I guess that's a thing) Anyway he's kind of a dick and runs the group with an Iron fist. It's like he's on some kind of nerd power trip and it's weird.

He also pedals these fully loaded Raspberry Pie retro game consoles and will mod your NES, Snes, Genesis, etc... reboot consoles if you send them into him. These systems have full Rom sets and of a bunch of licensed games. It's basically every game on every system and computer up to the 32 bit era.

I don't really ever post in the group (or Facebook in general) but I would like to read the comments from the community. Anyway I made a post talking about fully loaded Android Box (that works great) you can get off Amazon for $99 that has 45,000 games that goes up to the Sega Dreamcast and I got banned.

What he is doing is illegal and the group has 40,000 plus members. I don't give a shit, but what he is doing is pretty dumb imo. Selling licensed content while using his real name on top of being a dick is going to get him pinched. I'm just curious if any of you have ever stumbled across this page.


TLDR:
A well know video game producer is building retro consoles with pirated licensed content and flipping them as the admin of a private retro video game discussion Facebook group. All while being a dick to it's members.

 

[method115]

The dude that runs it's name is Rob Alvey. He's known well enough to have a Wiki page. He has produced AAA video games and is some kind of renowned theme park and roller coaster reviewer ( I guess that's a thing) Anyway he's kind of a dick and runs the group with an Iron fist. It's like he's on some kind of nerd power trip and it's weird.

He also pedals these fully loaded Raspberry Pie retro game consoles and will mod your NES, Snes, Genesis, etc... reboot consoles if you send them into him. These systems have full Rom sets and of a bunch of licensed games. It's basically every game on every system and computer up to the 32 bit era.

I don't really ever post in the group (or Facebook in general) but I would like to read the comments from the community. Anyway I made a post talking about fully loaded Android Box (that works great) you can get off Amazon for $99 that has 45,000 games that goes up to the Sega Dreamcast and I got banned.

What he is doing is illegal and the group has 40,000 plus members. I don't give a shit, but what he is doing is pretty dumb imo. Selling licensed content while using his real name on top of being a dick is going to get him pinched. I'm just curious if any of you have ever stumbled across this page.


TLDR:
A well know video game producer is building retro consoles and flipping them as the admin of a private retro video game discussion Facebook group. All while being a dick to it's members.

The guys trying to make money and you point people to another product that could cut into his revenue. Then you think he's a dick? Just because what he is doing is illegal doesn't mean he's just going to sit back and let people steer away potential customers.

 

[Halifax]

The dude that runs it's name is Rob Alvey. He's known well enough to have a Wiki page. He has produced AAA video games and is some kind of renowned theme park and roller coaster reviewer ( I guess that's a thing) Anyway he's kind of a dick and runs the group with an Iron fist. It's like he's on some kind of nerd power trip and it's weird.

He also pedals these fully loaded Raspberry Pie retro game consoles and will mod your NES, Snes, Genesis, etc... reboot consoles if you send them into him. These systems have full Rom sets and of a bunch of licensed games. It's basically every game on every system and computer up to the 32 bit era.

I don't really ever post in the group (or Facebook in general) but I would like to read the comments from the community. Anyway I made a post talking about fully loaded Android Box (that works great) you can get off Amazon for $99 that has 45,000 games that goes up to the Sega Dreamcast and I got banned.

What he is doing is illegal and the group has 40,000 plus members. I don't give a shit, but what he is doing is pretty dumb imo. Selling licensed content while using his real name on top of being a dick is going to get him pinched. I'm just curious if any of you have ever stumbled across this page.


TLDR:
A well know video game producer is building retro consoles and flipping them as the admin of a private retro video game discussion Facebook group. All while being a dick to it's members.

You can mod your own nes mini and snes mini with 10 minutes and a USB cord lol.

Those 30 games they come with are alright, but the first thing I did was plug it into my PC and add retroarch + 500 games, complete with box art

 

[Steve-French]

The guys trying to make money and you point people to another product that could cut into his revenue. Then you think he's a dick? Just because what he is doing is illegal doesn't mean he's just going to sit back and let people steer away potential

The group discusses all kinds of different emulation devices as well as original hardware. Plus the waiting list to get one of his pie devices is like 7 months long.

I think the reason I got band is because I was in a thread that was discussing what's underneath the hood (software wise) of his build and he just band everybody in the thread.

It's not really just that either it's the way he would interact on the discussions. Like he was on some weird power trip or something. You've been around here for a while he kind of reminds me of the old mod Nostromo, but more of a jerk.

Like I said I don't really care about that group, or what they're peddling, but you would think he would try to be pleasant to the community so someone doesn't turn him in.

 

[method115]

The group discusses all kinds of different emulation devices as well as original hardware. Plus the waiting list to get one of his pie de I es is like 7 months long.

[/QUOTE]

Yea I don't see the problem then. Might be like you said that discussing his implementation was a no go for him. Overall sounds like the guy is on a power trip.

 

[djacobox372]

If Amazon can sell this sort of stuff, why can't he?

https://www.amazon.com/Kinhank-Console-Classic-Consoles-Controllers/dp/B08ZYF8LMK/ref=sr_1_2?crid=AFKP60IM2UHH&keywords=game+emulator&qid=1641495204&sprefix=game+emulator,aps,109&sr=8-2&th=1

 

[Steve-French]

If Amazon can sell this sort of stuff, why can't he?

https://www.amazon.com/Kinhank-Console-Classic-Consoles-Controllers/dp/B08ZYF8LMK/ref=sr_1_2?crid=AFKP60IM2UHH&keywords=game+emulator&qid=1641495204&sprefix=game+emulator,aps,109&sr=8-2&th=1

I think there's a loophole there because they ship from China. I'm still not sure how Amazon pulls off listing them though. I actually have that model in the link you posted, but I bought it from Ali Express. Well worth the $100-$120 that they go for. Just check out how many games from each of the systems there are.

 

[jefferz]

The group discusses all kinds of different emulation devices as well as original hardware. Plus the waiting list to get one of his pie devices is like 7 months long.

I think the reason I got band is because I was in a thread that was discussing what's underneath the hood (software wise) of his build and he just band everybody in the thread.

It's not really just that either it's the way he would interact on the discussions. Like he was on some weird power trip or something. You've been around here for a while he kind of reminds me of the old mod Nostromo, but more of a jerk.

Like I said I don't really care about that group, or what they're peddling, but you would think he would try to be pleasant to the community so someone doesn't turn him in.

The wait list for the Pi's is probably because they're sold out everywhere. Digikey has a 52 week eta for restock on the 4B 4gb version.
You can download preconfigured iso's for the pi. Download, drag and drop on an SD card, and profit.

 

[Derousey]

It takes 5 min to download all games up to 32bit and have it up and running. Bunch of idiots tbh.

 

[hollywoodhorror]

The dude that runs it's name is Rob Alvey. He's known well enough to have a Wiki page. He has produced AAA video games and is some kind of renowned theme park and roller coaster reviewer ( I guess that's a thing) Anyway he's kind of a dick and runs the group with an Iron fist. It's like he's on some kind of nerd power trip and it's weird.

He also pedals these fully loaded Raspberry Pie retro game consoles and will mod your NES, Snes, Genesis, etc... reboot consoles if you send them into him. These systems have full Rom sets and of a bunch of licensed games. It's basically every game on every system and computer up to the 32 bit era.

I don't really ever post in the group (or Facebook in general) but I would like to read the comments from the community. Anyway I made a post talking about fully loaded Android Box (that works great) you can get off Amazon for $99 that has 45,000 games that goes up to the Sega Dreamcast and I got banned.

What he is doing is illegal and the group has 40,000 plus members. I don't give a shit, but what he is doing is pretty dumb imo. Selling licensed content while using his real name on top of being a dick is going to get him pinched. I'm just curious if any of you have ever stumbled across this page.


TLDR:
A well know video game producer is building retro consoles with licensed content and flipping them as the admin of a private retro video game discussion Facebook group. All while being a dick to it's members.

Yes I unfortunately found out who this guy was after I joined his Retro Games Fan group. All it was is a bunch of guys that brown nose Robb all the time and then other than that, a bunch of promotion of the retropies. I ordered one. Right after I received it, I could not get a RetroUSB NES controller to work with it. He does not support that controller so I asked in the group and was attacked for not using the "recommended controller" which is an Xbox 360 clone controller. I ignored the taunts and tried to get an answer from anyone who got the NES controller to work. Instead Robb showed up and banned me for being rude. It was actually other people attacking me for asking how to use a "non-approved" controller that were being rude, but Robb is a control freak and didn't like me asking how to use a controller he doesn't recommend so he just said I was being rude and banned me. A guy even contacted me the next day to show me a screenshot of how he defended me and then got banned himself. Robb is really a jerk and a bully. Somehow he amasses butt kissers and bans everyone else, so his group really is just a Robb Alvey fanboy group. I ended up filing a claim with PayPal and returning his retropie. He did refund my money.

 

[Steve-French]

Yes I unfortunately found out who this guy was after I joined his Retro Games Fan group. All it was is a bunch of guys that brown nose Robb all the time and then other than that, a bunch of promotion of the retropies. I ordered one. Right after I received it, I could not get a RetroUSB NES controller to work with it. He does not support that controller so I asked in the group and was attacked for not using the "recommended controller" which is an Xbox 360 clone controller. I ignored the taunts and tried to get an answer from anyone who got the NES controller to work. Instead Robb showed up and banned me for being rude. It was actually other people attacking me for asking how to use a "non-approved" controller that were being rude, but Robb is a control freak and didn't like me asking how to use a controller he doesn't recommend so he just said I was being rude and banned me. A guy even contacted me the next day to show me a screenshot of how he defended me and then got banned himself. Robb is really a jerk and a bully. Somehow he amasses butt kissers and bans everyone else, so his group really is just a Robb Alvey fanboy group. I ended up filing a claim with PayPal and returning his retropie. He did refund my money.

Thanks for the reply. Yeah that dude is a douche. I was actually A member of the group twice. The first time I unfollowed it on my own just because Robb gave threaten boot me from the group for having a little back and forth with one of his butt kissers. I just told them both to save it and just unsubscribed. The second time I got booted for reasons I mentioned previously itt.

Couldn't he get in trouble for selling licensed content like that? I know Nintendo has the reputation for not letting that shit slide. I think somebody is going to eventually turn him in. Not because they care that he's selling pirated content, but just because he's a dork with a huge ego that is rude. How much does he flip those retropies for if you don't mind me asking?

 

[Mike]

If Amazon can sell this sort of stuff, why can't he?

https://www.amazon.com/Kinhank-Console-Classic-Consoles-Controllers/dp/B08ZYF8LMK/ref=sr_1_2?crid=AFKP60IM2UHH&keywords=game+emulator&qid=1641495204&sprefix=game+emulator,aps,109&sr=8-2&th=1

Don't mean to hijack your thread @Steve-French, but if I wanted something to emulate nes up to playstation or so, what would be something simple to use I could buy on Amazon? Is this thing any good?

I haven't used an emulator in many years so have no idea how any of this stuff works now. Would like something I can just plug in and play out of the box.

 

[Steve-French]

Don't mean to hijack your thread @Steve-French, but if I wanted something to emulate nes up to playstation or so, what would be something simple to use I could buy on Amazon? Is this thing any good?

I haven't used an emulator in many years so have no idea how any of this stuff works now. Would like something I can just plug in and play out of the box.

I have a little emulator box called a Super Console X. It works awesome and is plug and play right out of the box. They're made in China, so they can get away with selling the pirated stuff. It has pretty much full Rom sets for everything up until the 16bit era including like 8,000 coin up arcade games. It does have some PS1, N64, Dreamcast, and PSP games, but not the full sets as the hardware isn't powerful enough.

It's pretty much ready to go out of the box, and while I know I could have done this for less money It was well worth it to have someone else do all the legwork. The buttons are mapped for all of the games and everything. Even the N64, which can be tricky on a dual shock style controller.

I messed with the resolution and monkey'd with some other settings too, but if you have ever set up any kind of emulator before or are computer literate it's pretty easy. There are Youtube tutorials as well. The only thing I had to do is swap the A and B (or X and O) buttons as they were reversed (like the Nintendo Switch is) as to what was enter and what was back when navigating the root menus.

The Console itself is just a cheaply made android box running a program called Emulec through an SD card. There is a 64, 128, and 256GB option, each being packed with 30,000, 40,000, and 50,000 games. It also comes with a couple of controllers and a remote and everything as seen below.

Here is a review of the one I have


I got mine from Ali Express and it took about 3 weeks or so to get here. They're also available on ebay and Amazon, but they're a little more expensive. I've had mine for about a year now and they make other variations of it that are a little more powerful now.

Such as the Super Console X Pro, Super Console X Max, Super Console X Cube and the Super Console X PC. The Super Console X PC can play up to Wii and GameCube games, but it's like $500. All of the other ones Range from $80-$130 depending on what options you want with it. Memory size, controllers, etc...

Super Console X Pro


Super Console X Max


The Super Console X PC


All of these are on Amazon, Ebay, and Ali Express. They kind of range in price depending on which seller you buy them from, so do a little digging before you pull the trigger. I know how to set emulators up as I did it with my Bar-top Arcade machine and with PC's over the years; but for $100 it was worth it to me having it all set up with the menus and everything mapped. Plus you have all of the Roms and ISO's on an SD card that you can clone or back up on a hardrive.

 

[hollywoodhorror]

Thanks for the reply. Yeah that dude is a douche. I was actually A member of the group twice. The first time I unfollowed it on my own just because Robb gave threaten boot me from the group for having a little back and forth with one of his butt kissers. I just told them both to save it and just unsubscribed. The second time I got booted for reasons I mentioned previously itt.

Couldn't he get in trouble for selling licensed content like that? I know Nintendo has the reputation for not letting that shit slide. I think somebody is going to eventually turn him in. Not because they care that he's selling pirated content, but just because he's a dork with a huge ego that is rude. How much does he flip those retropies for if you don't mind me asking?

Yeah it's a gray area for a lot of the older roms because there is an expiration on the licensing if it doesn't get renewed after so many decades, but you are correct, the Nintendo stuff for sure is off limits. Yeah he certainly could get in trouble if he got turned in. Myself, I have no intention of doing that, I'd be a hypocrite, but you're right, the guy shoots himself in the foot with being such a jerk to people, that he will eventually get turned in. The price without a controller is $355. He didn't tell me the price with one since I asked for one without. I'd say he's making at least $180 pure profit on each one he sells other than his time involved.

I watched for months how he treated his members disrespectfully but I was on the waiting list and wanted to see what his retropie was all about. He's just done all the downloading and function testing to optimize the device but anyone could do it themselves. He does a good job of banning everyone but his butt kissers, so it gets way overhyped. I'm not sad that I sent it back at all. IF you want to know, the Xbox Series S and X are one of the best emulation machines out there. Not as pretty of an interface, but you buy a developer license from Microsoft for $19 and then you can put everything up to Wii and PS2 on it and play pretty much perfectly with some tweaking. I've decided to just go that route. Robb's retropie only goes up to Dreamcast/PS1.

 

[mb23100]

I have a little emulator box called a Super Console X. It works awesome and is plug and play right out of the box. They're made in China, so they can get away with selling the pirated stuff. It has pretty much full Rom sets for everything up until the 16bit era including like 8,000 coin up arcade games. It does have some PS1, N64, Dreamcast, and PSP games, but not the full sets as the hardware isn't powerful enough.

It's pretty much ready to go out of the box and while I know I could have done this for less money It was well worth it to have someone else do all the legwork as all of the buttons are mapped for all of the games and everything, even the N64, which can be tricky on a dual shock style controller.

I messed with the resolution and monkey'd with some other settings too, but if you have ever set up any kind of emulator before or are computer literate it's pretty easy. There are Youtube tutorials as well The only thing I had to do is swap the A and B (or X and O) buttons as they were reversed (like the Nintendo Switch is) as to what was enter and what was back when navigating the root menus.

The Console itself is just a cheaply made android box running a program called Emulec through an SD card. There is a 64, 128, and 256GB option, each being packed with 30,000, 40,000, and 50,000 games. It also comes with a couple of controllers and a remote and everything as seen below.

Here is a review of the one I have


I got mine from Ali Express and it took about 3 weeks or so to get here. They're also available on ebay and Amazon, but they're a little more expensive. I've had mine for about a year now and they make other variations of it that are a little more powerful now.

Such as the Super Console X Pro, Super Console X Max, Super Console X Cube and the Super Console X PC. The Super Console X PC can play up to Wii and GameCube games, but it's like $500. All of the other ones Range from $80-$130 depending on what options you want with it. Memory size, controllers, etc...

Super Console X Pro


Super Console X Max


The Super Console X PC


All of these are on Amazon, Ebay, and Ali Express. They kind of range in price depending on which seller you buy them from, so do a little digging before you pull the trigger. I know how to set emulators up as I did it with my Bar-top Arcade machine and with PC's over the years; but for $100 it was worth it to me having it all set up with the menus and everything mapped. Plus you have all of the Roms and ISO's on an SD card that you can clone or back up on a hardrive.

Do the controllers work well and are all the buttons mapped? That would be worth it for sure.

 

[Steve-French]

Do the controllers work well and are all the buttons mapped? That would be worth it for sure.

The controllers are PS3 clones but the run off a wifi dongle. They are pretty lightweight, feel a little cheap, and take 2 AAA batteries, but they are comfortable and respond well. Personally I like them. Yes the buttons are mapped, even with the 64 games, but you can switch them around to your preference if you want.

The older PC emulators like the C64, ZX Spectrum, Amiga, Atari 800, SG-1000, etc... can be a little hit and miss, but they would probably be alright if you connected a Keyboard. As far as all of the consoles, handhelds, Neo Geo and Arcade (Mame) goes everything is pretty on point.

 

[Steve-French]

Yeah it's a gray area for a lot of the older roms because there is an expiration on the licensing if it doesn't get renewed after so many decades, but you are correct, the Nintendo stuff for sure is off limits. Yeah he certainly could get in trouble if he got turned in. Myself, I have no intention of doing that, I'd be a hypocrite, but you're right, the guy shoots himself in the foot with being such a jerk to people, that he will eventually get turned in. The price without a controller is $355. He didn't tell me the price with one since I asked for one without. I'd say he's making at least $180 pure profit on each one he sells other than his time involved.

I watched for months how he treated his members disrespectfully but I was on the waiting list and wanted to see what his retropie was all about. He's just done all the downloading and function testing to optimize the device but anyone could do it themselves. He does a good job of banning everyone but his butt kissers, so it gets way overhyped. I'm not sad that I sent it back at all. IF you want to know, the Xbox Series S and X are one of the best emulation machines out there. Not as pretty of an interface, but you buy a developer license from Microsoft for $19 and then you can put everything up to Wii and PS2 on it and play pretty much perfectly with some tweaking. I've decided to just go that route. Robb's retropie only goes up to Dreamcast/PS1.

I thought about doing the emulators on my Series X for Wii and GameCube games, as I have a Custom Bartop Arcade unit and that android box that I posted above that runs up to Dreamcast, but last time I checked the Dolphin emulator was still a little hit and miss.

Plus I have way too many video game options as it is right now. I only really play (on average) a few hours throughout the week, and a few hours on Sundays, but on top of my two emulation rigs I have a Series X, a Switch, an Oculus Quest 2, and recently a friend just game me his PS4 slim when he upgraded to a PS5, so I'm pretty set when it comes to gaming right now.

It's like picking a movie on Netflix sometimes when deciding on what game I want to play. It's a sweet problem to have though. Being an adult rules sometimes

 

[Mike]

I have a little emulator box called a Super Console X. It works awesome and is plug and play right out of the box. They're made in China, so they can get away with selling the pirated stuff. It has pretty much full Rom sets for everything up until the 16bit era including like 8,000 coin up arcade games. It does have some PS1, N64, Dreamcast, and PSP games, but not the full sets as the hardware isn't powerful enough.

It's pretty much ready to go out of the box and while I know I could have done this for less money It was well worth it to have someone else do all the legwork as all of the buttons are mapped for all of the games and everything, even the N64, which can be tricky on a dual shock style controller.

I messed with the resolution and monkey'd with some other settings too, but if you have ever set up any kind of emulator before or are computer literate it's pretty easy. There are Youtube tutorials as well The only thing I had to do is swap the A and B (or X and O) buttons as they were reversed (like the Nintendo Switch is) as to what was enter and what was back when navigating the root menus.

The Console itself is just a cheaply made android box running a program called Emulec through an SD card. There is a 64, 128, and 256GB option, each being packed with 30,000, 40,000, and 50,000 games. It also comes with a couple of controllers and a remote and everything as seen below.

Here is a review of the one I have


I got mine from Ali Express and it took about 3 weeks or so to get here. They're also available on ebay and Amazon, but they're a little more expensive. I've had mine for about a year now and they make other variations of it that are a little more powerful now.

Such as the Super Console X Pro, Super Console X Max, Super Console X Cube and the Super Console X PC. The Super Console X PC can play up to Wii and GameCube games, but it's like $500. All of the other ones Range from $80-$130 depending on what options you want with it. Memory size, controllers, etc...

Super Console X Pro


Super Console X Max


The Super Console X PC


All of these are on Amazon, Ebay, and Ali Express. They kind of range in price depending on which seller you buy them from, so do a little digging before you pull the trigger. I know how to set emulators up as I did it with my Bar-top Arcade machine and with PC's over the years; but for $100 it was worth it to me having it all set up with the menus and everything mapped. Plus you have all of the Roms and ISO's on an SD card that you can clone or back up on a hardrive.

Hey thanks for the detailed response! I was a bit out of the loop, knew these things existed but not that they were this readily available. Gonna have to watch some videos and see which one has the best combination of games. Ideally I can find something with Saturn games on it. The physical copies of those are a bitch to find and expensive these days.

 

[TestosterOWN]

I was playing super Mario 3 on my htc cell phone using a emulator in 2008. Don’t get why people pay for that shit, it’s all online and for free.

 

[Steve-French]

I was playing super Mario 3 on my htc cell phone using a emulator in 2008. Don’t get why people pay for that shit, it’s all online and for free.

I first started messing with emulators in 2001 via Vimm's Lair. I know how to set them up too, but the emulator box I bought cost me $100 with two controllers and has 50,000 games over 51 different systems. Every game has box the box art, a description, and a screen shot or preview video in the menu as well. plus the buttons are mapped.

I set up everything via retroarch on my bar top arcade cabinet and it can be really time consuming. Playing Super Mario 3 is one thing, but honing game libraries across multiple platforms Is a totally different beast. Especially when you're doing it on something that is proprietary.