It feels like My Arcade has been teasing its Super Champ Retro, which plays Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis games, for quite some time. It first appeared during CES 2020, and since then, it hasn’t seen the light of day as My Arcade did not launch the device. However, as of CES 2025, the Super Champ Retro has resurfaced, and according to the reps at the My Arcade booth during the event, that could be changing this time around.
The Super Champ Retro features four front-facing gameplay buttons, start and select buttons on the right, a D-pad, and two connected controller notification lights on the right. The bottom of the device features two speakers located on the left and right and a kickstand to set the Super Champ Retro upright.
However, there does appear to be a slight difference between the one shown at CES 2025 and the one revealed back at CES 2020. Originally, the device featured a 7-inch screen; however, the one shown at CES 2025 now features a backlit 6-inch LCD screen.
The D-pad has also been swapped out. The original D-pad, which looked more like that of the NES or Super Nintendo, now resembles the one from the SEGA Genesis and is white, rather than the dark gray version we originally saw. Instead of two buttons at the rear, there now appear to be two more, which seem to be connected.
There’s also the mention that the Super Retro Champ now features multiplayer support.
Outside of that, the Super Retro Champ still only plays carts instead of ROMs, unlike some other similar retro gaming devices on the market. I wasn’t able to get the rep to explain what sort of technology was being used to play the games. But since it is using carts, I’m guessing it’s using FPGA but it could also use software emulation, I don’t have an official answer for that.
There’s no price for the My Arcade Super Retro Champ and according to the rep and images, this unit is a prototype and could change again before it eventually goes on sale. But at least the device has made yet another appearance after being shown back during CES 2020.
Check out the rest of our My Arcade CES 2025 content here:
- CES 2025: First Look at My Arcade’s Revenge of Shinobi Joystick Player
- CES 2025: Hands-On with the My Arcade Pole Position Racing Player Mini-Arcade Cabinet
- CES 2025: First Look at My Arcade’s Sonic the Hedgehog Mighty Player Mini Cabinet
- CES 2025: My Arcade Teams Up with Bandai Namco & Capcom For the Gamestation Retro Line-up
