In this episode, we take a look at another Pandora’s box board. This one is the Pandora Box E-Sports Edition. This claims to be the first Pandora box to add an easy plug and play online gaming system for retro gaming. The System is said to have a comprehensive lobby, spectator mode and the ability to join existing games as well as set up password protected rooms.
The E-Sports Edition claims to bring the simpliticy of Retroarch and Fightcade in a simple and easy to use package. Does this system live up to the hype, let’s find out!
Pandora Box E-Sports:
Pandora Box History:
Pandora’s Box was initially released by 3A Games who started by creating JAMMA compatible arcade boards that could easily upgrade old arcade machines. This easy fix or upgrade increased older arcade machines from 1 to a 60+ games machine. Pandora box models included 2,3,4,4S,4S+,5 and 6.
The ability to support the old 15hz CRT CGA tube screens was a big selling point, and in 2015/16 the official 3A games pandora’s box 4 with JAMMA harness did just that. Needless to say being the first it received a lot of attention and praise.
In 2017, 3A games released the PB5, but for some strange reason, dropped 15hz support. With a ton of manufacturers wanting a piece of the pie, many so called PB5 and 5s version were sold that supported CRT. It turns out that the PB5 and PB5s units that supported CRT were third party clones that copied the older PB4 spec and chipset.
At this point, there are so many clone boards on the market that it’s hard to know what ones are actually good. I put a list of my favorite boards below to hopefully help you navigate what “Wicked Games and Collector” calls the Pandora Jungle.
My Suggested Pandora’s Box Boards:
Pandora’s Box DX (Home Version):
Pandora Box DX (Jamma Version):
Pandora Box Saga 3D:
Pandorytool v1.10
Installing Pandory Video Guide:
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#retrogaming #gameconsole #arcade
Gareth Beaton
12.01.2023Can it run 64 n Dreamcast well
Mete BUNUL
12.01.2023hı my friend ı want to buy pandora e sport but ı want to plat virtua striker 2 football game and add to psp ps1 dreamcast and mame roms can you help me
Jhigz Canapi
01.01.2023hi great review, i need your help i have a pandora esport but no luck in firmware, if you have an image copy from you sdcard in esport that would be a great help thank you..
Tim Murray
26.04.2022Thank you for making this video Ralph! Very informative!
TNT Amusements Inc
21.04.2022Good episode! I am not really into these "boxes" but your video is enthusiastic enough to get others in!!
edward fredericks
20.04.2022Cool concept! Definitely different
Adam Montgomery
20.04.2022So let me get this straight… there's a guy from Japan named Tim who goes by "JohnLuke"? Sounds sketchy to me. Even if this did work properly, I seriously doubt that you'd ever get enough concurrent players to find a match.
ZodWriter
20.04.2022A firmware update for a Pandora's Box is like expecting Arcade1up to include quality speakers in their machines. It's an utter pipe dream! Excellent video Ralph! I have the DX mini and if I'm feeling adventurous I'll see if I can get Pandory to run on it. PaPOw!!!
Luis Chambers
20.04.2022In my experience boxes are usually empty… Or maybe with a little cheese stuck to the top. And one time, pepperoni. What a day that was!
Mike Libidinsky
20.04.2022Package from…….China!
rb1033
20.04.2022It’s the netcode. It just isn’t good. It isn’t there yet
Wicked Gamer & Collector
19.04.2022Great review and ow men this would be the next level if it worked with the online play 😳
You could mod arcades, get bartops or 2 player arcade stick and play with people online.
Thanks for the video 👍
Ur Average Gamer
19.04.2022Damn it. I really wanted this to work. Maybe the next version. Good vid my guy.
Chosen One
19.04.2022yes! the retro godfather is back with another great video!!!… wonder if wicked knows about this😮
infernaltim1
19.04.2022What a bummer, man. I have a Pandora Games 3D in a Street Fighter Arcade1Up and I love it for what it is. I got excited at the prospect of playing online against people, but here we are. Just gonna stick with what I have.
Arcade Racer
19.04.2022Emu chicken has left the building
Arcade Erik
19.04.2022What about Pipacker? Have you messed with that? How's the online play?
Mike Channell
19.04.2022Haha thanks for this video man, I was super excited for the concept but it looks like a real mess. Gonna stick with Piepacker for now, it's been working great for me!
Atul Shrivastava
19.04.2022@retroralph great video man! does this pandory tool work on the dx special version? thats the pandora box that i own
worstJago
19.04.2022I bet you were totally shocked it sucked 🤣 good stuff man, hope all is well.
Mark Rickan
19.04.2022Very retro… it's been a while since I saw someone go head-to-head on dial-up.
Team Pandory FTW!
Evercade Effect
18.04.2022Great video and I really enjoy seeing these types of things tested. It's too bad online play was a bust.
The Code Always Wins
18.04.2022Nice vid. Looks like an interesting product. Especially how it (shamelessly) runs RetroArch but has a yzkof romset.
Wondering a lot of the performance issues are from the enforced gfx upscaling? Would probably be very easy to mod if you might have no need for it 🤐 it's very similar when running RetroArch upscaled on cheap hardware when online (like… possibly certain home arcade systems we know about).
Footie Laughs
18.04.2022Wow wish it worked.
nathan rochester
18.04.2022lol nice attempt online they do try lol
Thundercats
18.04.2022Dude, People have been jailbreaking with Pandory for a while now. 3:4 ratio, installing new games and better graphics all can be done easily. Pandory team also do updates. Great discord community.
stonedcommander
18.04.2022You would imagine they tested this crap before going to market. I have a Pandoras box and love it for the game selection and cheapo price, but this is a total waste of money if the one major feature it touts is bologna:(
Júlio Tattoo
18.04.2022im using pandora with the cga video from the jamma output rgb video , this pandory tool will make what kind of difference in this configuration ?
FormulaFox
18.04.2022Given the quality of the average Pandora's Box, I'm actually impressed this connects AT ALL.
DJ ILK SF2TV
18.04.2022Been waiting to hear about pandoras box netplay and now here it is. Im not buying it! Was planning to throw this into my sf2 fullsize cab.. big disappointment!
yudshvat
18.04.2022I live in New York and I have a Cherry Master arcade game I was wondering if you have ideas how I can get it fixed
Arcade Hollywood
17.04.2022Great review Ralph!
TiltingT Pinball
17.04.2022Tha ks for the look… a little off topic but is anyone else tired of that stupid Evony game commercials
Andy’s Odyssey
17.04.2022I can’t get behind a mess like this . The new feature needs major improvement. I do like the game library so that gets a thumbs up. Thanks for putting this out there for us to see.
Mr. Styles
17.04.2022Wow that is bad lol
The Swole Dad PITBULL
17.04.2022Need to review the king of air 2 one new cpus only lcd though . So let me know when you get that out to me lol
Kanti Dinda
17.04.2022Thanks for saving me some money @Ralph!
Dragon Gamer
17.04.2022What they need is Roll Back Netcode
Dragon Gamer
17.04.2022Also Try Parsec 😉
Command-HQ
17.04.2022Always steered clear of Pandoras Box in favour of RetroPie, bit more configuration to do but for the most part its better emulation and runs as it was ment to.
Might circle back though and check out Team Pandory, could be worth if if they are fixing the long standing issues the Box has
Hallard Addison
17.04.2022lol…,I'll stick to my pi 4….!!!!!
Al Lubis
16.04.2022thx u Ralph
UnorthdoxCleric
16.04.2022This could be a game changer if it grows and works better.
DarkTetsuya
16.04.2022ouch! I mean I could understand lag like that going from AZ to Japan, but two boards in the same ROOM?! (at least I'm assuming they're not far from each other) also yeah that filter is ugly AF! I never liked it at most I just turn scanlines on when I can (like my modded atgames legends mini, which keeps the right aspect ratio as well) and if I DO wanna play online I can just plug the stick directly into my PC and hop on fightcade or whatever)
isamuu99
16.04.2022Fightcade Fightcade Fightcade!!!!! spread the word guys. It's the best place to play retro games online BY FAAAAAR! Nothing comes close. Lets all meet up in Fightcade and play some Final Fight and Cadilacs and Dinosaurs.
therexershow
16.04.2022I’m shocked it doesn’t even work locally. The pi3 and pi4 do a much better job of netplay.
CSlaven15
16.04.2022Are you off Whats Not App? I was gna buy that dreamcast! 😂
Dryker
16.04.2022They guys over at Team Pandory are the best. Best Patreon buck ever spent.
Chud Bud
16.04.2022This has nothing to do with the video but I wanted to know if you know people who could build tabletops like the Golden Tee GO you made a video on a while ago. Specifically, A Golden Tee live a Silver Strike X and a Target Toss Pro. 3 individual tabletops just like that GT "GO" version but without the 15" screen inside it. For people with limited space that's a game changer.
jbaize80
16.04.2022Thanks for the video! Thank you for covering this