Recently, a fair number of our client's have expressed understandable frustration with their Retron 3 systems. The cause of those problems being the Retron's seeming incompatibility with multiple Sega Genesis games. Now while it is true that there are some games with fancy graphics cards which simply will not work with the Retron's hardware, these are all mostly Nintendo titles. We offered a comprehensive list of incompatible games in an earlier blog post, and I invite you all to look it over. However, I can already hear some of you pointing out that this does nothing to change the fact that your Retron 3 is not functioning as advertised, and you are getting error messages whenever you try to play your Sega games.

Well, fear not. Because if your Genesis games aren't playing on the Retron 3, there's a good chance that we can fix all those problems in just four incredibly simple steps:

1. Get out your Retron 3 System

2. Turn it Around

3. Look for the Switch

4. Flip the Switch




There, you're done! What'd I tell you? Total cake walk.

Now, you might be wondering what it is you just did.
Well. without getting too technical, I'll try and explain. Depending on what continent you grew up on, the Sega Genesis (or Mega Drive) had different components embedded in its hardware. This effectively made it impossible to play Japanese cartridges on an American console, and vice-versa. So, normally you'd have to own multiple Sega consoles to be able to  play every game that Sega produced.

However, the  good folks at Hyperkin wanted to make the Retron 3 a truly international console. So, they installed a switch that allows you to convert your Retron 3 from an "American" Genesis to a "Japanese" Genesis in one, quick motion. This is great for die-hard collectors who might own multiple copies of a game that was released all over the world. But for the average user it's a really confusing extra, which isn't clearly explained in the Retron's instruction manual.

So, to summarize: your Retron 3 probably isn't broken, you just need to flip a switch. If the game doesn't work on the "0" setting, try the "J" one. Easy as that. However if problems persist, please don't hesitate to give us a call. Our DKOldies' tech specialists will be more than happy to answer any further trouble-shooting issues you might have with the Reron 3, or any other console we sell.

Did you find this instructional blog helpful? Do you have any other hardware issues you'd like us to address in the future? Let us know in the comments. We're always eager to help you get the most out of your retro gaming experience.