Hi there, new runner here. I took an interest to Summoning Salt and was watching his video over tetris when my dad walked in and asked if he had one over punch out. We watched it and now he's deadset on beating Salt's record so I decided to buy him a Hyperkin Retron 5 to practice on for Christmas. I didn't see it listed on the rules so I'm not sure if it's allowed and also if it's an actually good console to use. What is the consensus? Thanks!
The only hardware permitted for use in submitted runs are listed in the main rules for the game. The Retron 5 is not in that list of permitted hardware.
The Retron 5, and other consoles of their ilk, generally work by ripping the game ROM from the cart you insert and then running that game ROM in their emulator that was flashed onto the system-on-a-chip used in those devices. While okay for casual gameplay, they will typically have many shortcomings when compared to the permitted hardware devices.
For Mike Tyson's Punch-Out, nothing will top an actual NES with a CRT. However, emulators such as MesenRTA have proven to be quite accurate and usable by folks. (We have a few sub-16 single segment runs done on emulator, as well as a few perfect tyson fights). So take a look at the list of permitted hardware in the main game rules, or the permitted emulators, and you'll be fine. If it's not explicitly listed in the rules, then it is not permitted for submissions.
