Kintaro Super Kuma 9000 - SNES Inspired Raspberry Pi Case with Functional Power & Reset Buttons, LED and Custom Aluminum Heatsink (Raspberry Pi Model 3B+)

Retropie has been around since 2012, but with the release of Nintendo's Classic consoles, many gamers turned to the Raspberry Pi at a time when the former was extremely hard to come by, and that, in turn, inspired a number of Pi cases based off of the original NES and SNES. While this is all well and good, many of these cases had varying degrees of quality and accuracy, and a quick search can yield rough 3D print jobs, or injection mold jobs with flimsy parts and faulty power buttons.Amidst its competitors, this one stands out with an unmatched level of quality. The injection-molded plastic shell has a professional-grade sturdiness and texture that feels very similar to that of an original SNES, and the attention to detail is stellar; the lettering in "Eject" and "On/Off" are all part of the molding, there are raised dots near the faux controller ports to indicate players 1 and 2, and there is even a faux extension port on the bottom, which is a testament to the care that went into its design.The included heat sink is also just as good as its plastic housing; previously, to keep my Pi within safe temperatures, I needed a cooling fan to go with the minuscule heat sinks that would stick to the CPU and GPU, but this beastly heat sink, along with some thermal paste, keeps my system cool without the need for a fan, even though the case can accommodate one. The weight that it adds to the system is a nice bonus as well, as it gives my Pi the feel of a solid gaming system.What especially stands out about this case is the red LED and working power and reset buttons, which are all connected to pin connectors that conveniently slot directly onto the Pi when it's screwed into the case. Instead of directly cutting the power, the switches are tied to a script that safely shuts down the system when a user slides the Power switch to the off position, and restarts the system when the Reset switch is pressed. This is a much safer way of powering down the system, and it prevents the potential SD card corruption that comes with pulling the plug on the Pi. I'm also grateful that the additional hardware hasn't caused any of the power warnings that gamers have experienced with other cases that have working buttons.Overall, I'm very happy with this case; it's highly detailed, feels smooth and sturdy, has working buttons and an LED light, and the beastly heat sink keeps my Pi cool without the need for an additional fan. It's of a level of quality that I haven't seen in most other cases of its kind, and I can say that this is the best SNES-esque case on the market.

I was hesitant to buy this case due to reviews stating the rasp b+ wasn't compatible with this case, namely the heat sink/power delivery issues. I can tell you at this point in time both of those issues have been addressed. The heat sink looks to be redesigned to fit B+ board features and I haven't had any power issues with it yet either.Pro's:Case looks amazing, its much smaller than I thoughtSafe power and reset switch (one of the main reasons I bought it)Heat sink is large and fits perfectly with the B+ (just make sure you get the right version for your pi)Con's:Some wont like the ethernet and 4 usb's ports looking like an eyesore on the left side of the case. Its not a big deal for me, need access somewhere and if they put 2 usb's upfront the case would need to be redesigned and would result in having a larger footprint.I'm new to pi's/linux and some of the setup procedures/navigating menus/using code can be a pita.Setting up the script so you can use the power and reset functions aren't as straightforward as the manual states. My keyboard was set to the UK version and when typing the code one key wasn't correct resulting in the script not properly installing. After some research though, I got the keyboard setup correctly and could then properly setup the script. More than happy now.Another con is the scraper feature. I would not work until I spent an hour searching for answers. If you run into a problem scraping game images: 1. Update your retropie setup script and 2. Update your emulation station under core packages. Do that and your scraper should work. Once all that is done, you can sit back and enjoy this little case, it will def bring back some memories.

This case is great. It is well built, attractive, small, and easy to assemble. However, a heads up. When I tried to install the image of recallbox that Kintaro has on it's site with the 3b+, that I bought from Amazon, I received the golden lightening bolt. This indicates low power, but it can also be triggered by an operating system problem.Some research indicated that this was probably caused by the later, as it appears the retro gaming systems on their site are out of date. For instance, I have read that Raspberry Pi 3b+ requires RetroPie 4.4 or 4.5, it seems that they have retropie 4.2 on their site.This isnt a big problem. I was able to install Retropie 4.4, and then update to 4.5 (this avoids the composite out problems that are in the current image of 4.5), and still install the kintaro script. The LED light works and the reset and power button work. The only thing that is missing is the Kintaro splash screen, and I am sure there is a fix for that if you care.This is the best solution anyway as the more recent editions of Retropie will work better with games (N64, especially) than the 4.2 version.So overall a good product, just dont use the images on their website.