Retro Games

[Jinsai]

Hey... so I realized we didn't have a thread dedicated to old school retro games... I guess it would apply to everything that could be hooked up to a CRT? Or arcades, general gaming nostalgia...

As a conversation starter, I would suggest that The Battle of Olympus is the best video game you've never heard of.

[caca]

I'm a HUGE retro gaming fan. I've still got my Atari 2600, Nintendo, Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, Game Gear, Virtual Boy, and all of my games from when I was a kid.

I've also got 7 arcade games, 9 pinball machines, and an old EM rifle game (Haunted House).

As far as consoles, NES and SNES are definitely the ones I have the most nostalgia for. Picking a favorite game is tough, but I'd probably go with Mega Man 2.

[halo eighteen]

That's like, 95% of what I play is retro gaming hah. I'm currently playing through FF3j translation on my NES everdrive. My game room set up has NES & SNES (with full library everdrives), N64, GameCube, WiiU, Switch and original PlayStation all hooked up. Soon to be added will be the Analogue Pocket thing that'll be capable of playing virtually all the old handheld games (GBA and earlier) on the TV. Suuuuper excited for that. I do also have a complete in box Virtual Boy in the closet that literally hasn't been thought of for about 10 years until this very thread. Maybe I should get around to selling that lmao.

Battle of Olympus scratches that Zelda II itch for sure - it's got some pretty obtuse puzzles/aimlessly running around though. I never made it all the way through :(

I will never tire of playing old school Mega Man games - undoubtedly my favorite game/series (not sure if I could pick just one, but maybe Mega Man 3. I mean, sliding and Rush.. hell yeah). Castlevania, Metroid, Ninja Gaiden, Metal Gear are all way up there too though.

[Jinsai]

I wish I had a working Windows PC right now... this fan-made retro-2D remake of Metroid Prime looks amazing

https://kotaku.com/prime-2d-is-the-coolest-metroid-in-over-a-decade-1846620658?utm_campaign=Kotaku&utm_content=1617644809&utm_medium=SocialMarketing&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR1LNJkatPe9vhv1dj75OWa7ylNSzHLmMsI_I8vUd S7U5O6dm3k215d2mJk

[Self.Destructive.Pattern]

Megathread! Edit: Sorry for the long post everyone.

I'm currently playing Metroid Prime over again. It brings me back to some of the best times in my life, especially around the holidays. I hold the gold bar of accessories for the GameCube with the component cables I am soooo glad I held onto, for they had to make cheaper alternatives due to Nintendo scrapping the cable all together with prices almost as much as a new console at this point. I have the first edition Cube, with newer models not having the port at all; you can really see the difference.

My set up is all over the place with still not being able to find an affordable apartment, so it is pretty much swapping consoles in and out at this point. I recently have been getting back into PS1 and PS2 games, and found a goldmine of games over the weekend at a yard sale. Let's just say the people had no idea what they were selling...

Metal Gear Solid 1... MINT CONDITION.
Silent Hill 2... Manual has a slight crease but can always find a replacement.
Dirge of Cerberus... MINT..
...and fucking Godzilla for PS4 which is now out of print and worth over $300. I brought to their attention about a few and they didn't seem to care at all lol. All these games together are about $500 and I paid about 63 dollars for all of them. Fucking ecstatic about this!

All the consoles and devices I currently own:
Atari Super Pong
Atari 2600
ColecoVision
NES (& Classic)
SNES(& Classic)
Nintendo 64
Gamecube
Wii
Gameboy Pocket
Gameboy Color
Super Gameboy
Nintendo 3DS XL
Xbox 360
Playstation 1 - 5
Turbografx 16
Ever Drive X5 for Genesis, N8 for NES
Framemeister with a 4 way scart


I do also have a complete in box Virtual Boy in the closet that literally hasn't been thought of for about 10 years until this very thread. Maybe I should get around to selling that lmao.

If you see my post, this is not on my list. I would be highly interested if you ever decide to part with it. Every VB I come across either has stuff missing or is ridiculously priced and not even complete in box. I'm currently on the hunt for a Sega Master System!


I wish I had a working Windows PC right now... this fan-made retro-2D remake of Metroid Prime looks amazing

https://kotaku.com/prime-2d-is-the-coolest-metroid-in-over-a-decade-1846620658?utm_campaign=Kotaku&utm_content=1617644809&utm_medium=SocialMarketing&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR1LNJkatPe9vhv1dj75OWa7ylNSzHLmMsI_I8vUd S7U5O6dm3k215d2mJk

It is everything I thought it would be.

[Kodiak33]

I wish I had a working Windows PC right now... this fan-made retro-2D remake of Metroid Prime looks amazing

https://kotaku.com/prime-2d-is-the-coolest-metroid-in-over-a-decade-1846620658?utm_campaign=Kotaku&utm_content=1617644809&utm_medium=SocialMarketing&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR1LNJkatPe9vhv1dj75OWa7ylNSzHLmMsI_I8vUd S7U5O6dm3k215d2mJk

I really hope this gets finished and released.

[MrLobster]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DiuqgyVx0w

I've almost convinced myself this is what I was to pick up... see, playing Tekken 3 has a huge fondness in my heart and I just ordered the soundtracks (arcade and PS) on vinyl... if I still have a strong urge that I listen to them, I may just go ahead and do it.

And to figure out what other games to pick up as well.

[Self.Destructive.Pattern]

Was finally able to acquire a capture card for my framemeister! Man... after tweaking the settings, I cannot get over how well the Genesis looks on stream. I tested 3 Ninjas Kick Back just for fun, and FOR FUCKS SAKE is it hard. Controls pretty well, graphics are good as well, but it can turn into a "Where the fuck do I go?" type of game, but not that bad. Cannot wait to get the rest of my scart cables for the rest of my consoles.

[allegate]

https://twitter.com/frankcifaldi/status/1387496553418428418?s=20

[Jinsai]

yep, allegate, and these CRT filters don't emulate it properly.

I feel like calling out my retro game find of the day... Has anyone here played Treasure of the Rudras? (aka Rudra no Hidou)

This is the last game that Square localized for the SNES, and it came out at the end of the system's life cycle, so nobody played it... at least not on this side of the pond.
The graphics look like it has to be the same team that pulled together FFVI, it's impossible there's not some of the same artists working.
The music is great.
Nobody played this. It's awesome.

[thelastdisciple]

Can someone explain to me why the image on the right.... even though it was designed by the artists on hardware reflective of that era, is supposed to be preferable?

I mean it looks objectively worse doesn't it? the colors are dull, it looks washed out. It looks like it was left out in the sun too long.

About the only thing that i dig about the image on the right are the scanlines.

I understand everything about experiencing something as it looked at the time for nostalgia sake, I get kicks out of watching VHS tapes in a VCR with a CRT but if it was technologically restrained and there was something better (DVD, Blu-ray), why not go with the better option?

"absolutely clear that this game is meant to be played with a composite signal"

Uhhh.... what? Meant to be played as shitty looking as possible? Ok.

It reminds me of when texture filtering is used in certain games and it just makes everything look muddy instead of crisp.

[MrLobster]

Can someone explain to me why the image on the right.... even though it was designed by the artists on hardware reflective of that era, is supposed to be preferable?

I think, in this specific case, it means they looks more like the cartoon of the era...

[Self.Destructive.Pattern]

Can someone explain to me why the image on the right.... even though it was designed by the artists on hardware reflective of that era, is supposed to be preferable?

I mean it looks objectively worse doesn't it? the colors are dull, it looks washed out. It looks like it was left out in the sun too long.

About the only thing that i dig about the image on the right are the scanlines.



I understand everything about experiencing something as it looked at the time for nostalgia sake, I get kicks out of watching VHS tapes in a VCR with a CRT but if it was technologically restrained and there was something better (DVD, Blu-ray), why not go with the better option?

"absolutely clear that this game is meant to be played with a composite signal"

Uhhh.... what? Meant to be played as shitty looking as possible? Ok.

It reminds me of when texture filtering is used in certain games and it just makes everything look muddy instead of crisp.

You're also looking at shitty twitter compression, and the crt image is way too bright... look at that image with the brightness bumped down on a crt in real life and it will look miles better. Of course, many would just go with the bumped up, HD/UHD Ultra 4K image, but for me, especially growing up in that era, the right image looks better to me as well. Studying how these sprites were made back then when I was a youngin', and with the color palette they were limited to, it gives more room for the colors to blend better, especially the fading in the background with the buildings. You will never get that fading and blending in the left image which you can clearly see on the buildings; they're over-stippled compared to the smooth colors you get in the right image, even on Robin.

Regardless of nostalgia sake, the left looks like the image is too sharp, while the CRT image (When adjusted properly) will look like someone did an amazing job with colored pencils which will always be lighter and nicer to look at than that dirty ass image on the left... but of course, to each their own :D. I find it fascinating how different color interpretation can be with anothers point of view.

[thelastdisciple]

I've seen some videos on youtube by great channels like Digital Foundry or My Life in Gaming make the case for how much better the games look on original hardware with a CRT and I don't doubt that, these videos point out some great examples where it truly does look better but I guess I'm just saying for that specific image comparison shown above, I don't see what everyone else is seeing. I wish i could, yes there's sort of like a faux fog of war with how those buildings show in the background but stuff like that is what i hated about N64 games (i know the technical reasons for why that was typically done but it was just never something i was a fan of overall)

Maybe it's the poor compression and brightness (like you mentioned) that just ruins the point of that twitter post for me.

BTW i love Frank Cifaldi, in case it wasn't clear from my quoting/questioning of what was said. His GDC Emulation talks are great! I fully trust that he knows what he's talking about but i just WISH i could see it here.

[halo eighteen]

I feel like calling out my retro game find of the day... Has anyone here played Treasure of the Rudras? (aka Rudra no Hidou)

This is the last game that Square localized for the SNES, and it came out at the end of the system's life cycle, so nobody played it... at least not on this side of the pond.
The graphics look like it has to be the same team that pulled together FFVI, it's impossible there's not some of the same artists working.
The music is great.
Nobody played this. It's awesome.

I've literally never even heard of this, but I'm 10000% intrigued

[Jinsai]

@thelastdisciple (https://www.echoingthesound.org/community/member.php?u=199) the problem is, you're still not looking at it on a CRT. The way details blurred disguised rough edges and, in that case, actually used the blurring to basically create a tone. This is really a big part of the reason why when people boot up games on emulators on their modern monitors they feel their memory is messed up, or that they were just looking at it through nostalgic lenses. But then you go to an actual arcade and play one of the original units, and it looks good, the way you remember it.


I've literally never even heard of this, but I'm 10000% intrigued

It's really great. I guess I was mistaken... I thought Square actually did the translation and then didn't release it, but I guess not. Still, similar to Panzer Dragoon Saga, it was this great thing that came out right when the system was dying, and so most people never heard of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFvEGtiU5eI&t=207s

[thelastdisciple]

This is really a big part of the reason why when people boot up games on emulators on their modern monitors they feel their memory is messed up, or that they were just looking at it through nostalgic lenses.
Isn't some of that just having been acclimated to higher fidelity images over time though? We were all blown away with the visuals of games as they came out, when something was state of the art for the time we figured nothing could ever top it. Then you see the next thing and the thing after that, the frame of reference changes.

We thought Doom from 1993 was the pinnacle, it was the limit and equivalent of Doom 2016 for it's time and then you experience the modern games and suddenly what blew you away back then doesn't look as impressive anymore. (Not that the old is no longer playable or fun or still visually nice to look it and well crafted, the experience just hits a bit different) You get this weird sensation of... wait but it looked SO MUCH BETTER back then, what happened? what really changed? The games themselves did not (save for remasters and ports etc.) but with the more recent experiences progressively filling up our minds over time, it's like the contrast of going from spending x amount of time without corrective lenses or laser eye surgery to being on the other side of that and then putting a pair of beer goggles on to try and reduce your visual memory.

EDIT:

So I was looking through that CRTPixels twitter account, ok this one to me is a definite and obvious no-brainer.

The actual CRT shot on the right is clearly the better picture.

https://i.postimg.cc/HxN8TkgN/Screenshot-2021-04-29-CRT-Pixels-on-Twitter.png

[Jinsai]

thelastdisciple it's a thing that people really get into for authenticity, and it's true that the graphics were designed to be viewed on these monitors... so the characters were intended to blur in parts. It's a weird thing, I remember buying a DS game for Wii Virtual store, and playing on the big screen looked horrible, and this is just a resizing thing... but the game was designed to be played on this tiny screen, so the pixels would kinda smash together because that's how our eyes work at that resolution... and to a certain degree, I think the CRT fetish has some credibility there... and in the fact that apparently the response time is faster unless you have a Framemeister?

Still, I don't keep a CRT hanging around. I'm not that hardcore.

[allegate]

That reminds me: I saw a widescreen HD (I mean, probably 720i) CRT on the side of the road and I had to have it. I mean, the best of both worlds! and connecting a PS2/PS3 up to it with Rock Band or Guitar Hero and playing in HD with no lag? fuck yeah buddy.

Then I got that heavy fucker home and my wife is like "and where do you think you're going to put it." no question, it was a statement of fact.

oh. right.

shit.

Still want to own one of those. Maybe after my son moves out.

[allegate]

https://twitter.com/PointerFunction/status/1390368354863570948

wow, I can play black and red games on my television now. I kid, but I do wonder how it works considering.

[Self.Destructive.Pattern]

Neat, but the Virtual Boy should stay dead.

[Jinsai]

there IS one decent Virtua Boy game, and it's kinda sad that it's trapped in this horrible console, but the Wario game is cool, and deserved better.

[halo eighteen]

I did like Mario Clash, too. It gave off some major OG Mario bros vibes. Red Alarm wasn't horrible, either.

[allegate]

I do wonder if there's someone trying to emulate VB games for one of the VR headsets so you can get the 3d going. hell, they probably did and it's so niche no one knows about it.

[Jinsai]

the effect would be really easy to pull off with even a really rudimentary VR concept (like the attachment you can put on an android phone)... you wouldn't need anything approaching a modern headset... so I bet someone out there has done it?

[allegate]

that's true.
The hobbyist community at Planet Virtual Boy has developed Virtual Boy software.[6] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_Boy#cite_note-Boyer-7) Two previously unreleased games, Bound High (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bound_High) and Niko-Chan Battle (the Japanese version of Faceball (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faceball)) were released.

[Jinsai]

been playing through Crystalis on the SNK collection, and this is a bittersweet nostalgia trip. Some of it is great just the way I remember it being, and then some of it is just terrible... especially the "puzzles" and their obtuse solutions. How was anyone supposed to figure this stuff out before the internet?

And I guess somehow I did, back when I was 10.

[allegate]

Jinsai: looks like someone went and done did it:

https://twitter.com/rob_sheridan/status/1395101839280930823

[halo eighteen]

limitedrungames.com/collections/neo-frontpage/products/mega-man-the-wily-wars-genesis (http://limitedrungames.com/collections/neo-frontpage/products/mega-man-the-wily-wars-genesis)

First and probably only time that the 1994 SEGA Genesis game Mega Man: The Wily Wars will be available in cartridge form in North America. $69.99 on sale until June 20.

This is the first 3 Mega Man titles beefed up in 16-bit graphics with a bonus fortress to play through. I don't think my emulator back in the day would ever unlock the bonus levels, so I'm pretty sure I've never played them. Also, my Genesis isn't even hooked up anymore haha.

[allegate]

https://twitter.com/HardDriveMag/status/1396843509878042629?s=20

I mean, I know a couple people who would definitely buy that.

[Self.Destructive.Pattern]

^^^ Hell yes. This was pretty much all I did in typing class, along with breaking into my high schools joke of a firewall lifting the block of these sites. Thankfully, never got caught :D.

[elevenism]

there IS one decent Virtua Boy game, and it's kinda sad that it's trapped in this horrible console, but the Wario game is cool, and deserved better. @Self.Destructive.Pattern (https://www.echoingthesound.org/community/member.php?u=602) and the rest of you guys talking bad about the Virtual Boy:
I don't think you guys were playing it right.

What you do is, take at least three or four pieces of blotter acid.

Then, you take the headset off of the tripod and put it on the floor.
Make sure the room is completely dark, but keep a flashlight nearby for changing games.
Connect the headphones.
Lay on your stomach and stick your face in the thing, creating a sort of sensory deprivation.
THAT'S the best way to use it.
Holy god, I had borderline religious experiences doing that shit. I'd play galactic pinball for eight hours in the dark like that, along with Teleroboxer, Red Alarm, and all the others (I bought the system and all of the games for SUPER cheap, when they were on clearance.)
Those are some of the fondest memories of my life.

And, while I mostly enjoyed that machine as an LSD toy, I played it clear headed on occasion. I don't understand why everyone hated it so much. The PRICE was absurd, but when I bought it, it was down to about $20 and the games were all $2 or $3. It was a hell of a lot of fun for what it was, especially with the aforementioned chemical enhancement

[elevenism]

But, yes. Retro gaming. I DABBLE in new games. I have that Xbox One with gamepass that my homeboy bought for me. But, these new games: they just don't do it for me, for the most part.
I have an Anbernic RG351P handheld that runs and has most games for everything up to and including PS1, as well as thousands of arcade games.
I've got a Retroid Pocket 2 that's slightly more powerful: that's what I use for all of my N64 needs.
I have a hacked Wii with a lot of the old consoles and handhelds, but most importantly, a big ass hard drive full of Wii and GC games.

I'm literally still playing games I read about in Nintendo Power in 1991, but wasn't able to get. Plus, I pretty much MISSED PlayStation, and a lot of N64.
Sometimes I feel like I have a touch of Peter Pan syndrome. The fact that I've got every SNES/NES/NeoGeo game in my POCKET brings me almost as much joy as it would have when I was twelve or thirteen.

I'm not so much of a gamer as I am a RETRO gamer.

Currently, i'm playing Zelda: Minish Cap

Who else is mostly a full on retro gamer?

[Self.Destructive.Pattern]

@Self.Destructive.Pattern (https://www.echoingthesound.org/community/member.php?u=602) and the rest of you guys talking bad about the Virtual Boy:
I don't think you guys were playing it right.

What you do is, take at least three or four pieces of blotter acid.

Then, you take the headset off of the tripod and put it on the floor.
Make sure the room is completely dark, but keep a flashlight nearby for changing games.
Connect the headphones.
Lay on your stomach and stick your face in the thing, creating a sort of sensory deprivation.
THAT'S the best way to use it.
Holy god, I had borderline religious experiences doing that shit. I'd play galactic pinball for eight hours in the dark like that, along with Teleroboxer, Red Alarm, and all the others (I bought the system and all of the games for SUPER cheap, when they were on clearance.)
Those are some of the fondest memories of my life.

And, while I mostly enjoyed that machine as an LSD toy, I played it clear headed on occasion. I don't understand why everyone hated it so much. The PRICE was absurd, but when I bought it, it was down to about $20 and the games were all $2 or $3. It was a hell of a lot of fun for what it was, especially with the aforementioned chemical enhancement

Yea, not doing all that lol... agree to disagree on this one. I experienced this monstrosity when it came out and I hated every moment of it. Unwanted headaches, uncomfortable no matter how you set the thing up, and the games are simply down right shit with the exception of Wario and Teleroboxer. And Red Alarm? My friend had that game (Also the only other person I knew that had a VB) and it was the main game that straight up hurt our eyes and eventually our heads.. Yea, fuck this thing :D.

[elevenism]

So i just saw the new PowKiddy. The form factor is terrible and the buttons don't work right.
But here's the thing: It runs N64, Dreamcast, and PSP perfectly. It also can run about 25% of GameCube games, and some PS2.

All of the competitive and affordable current retro handhelds run the same chipset, the RK3326; some of them have better processors and operating systems, which is the difference between running ALL n64 and many dreamcast games, or only a FEW N64 and a COUPLE of dreamcast games. (i mean, of course, you can get a handheld that's actually a beast of a micro laptop with handheld controls, that gets into Switch territory, but those devices are like $900.)

While this new PowKiddy is definitely a flop, i'm pretty sure this is a sign of What's Just Around The Corner for retro handhelds in general.

I'm thinking that with the next gen, (which should be appearing VERY soon,) that ALL of them will have 100% N64/Saturn/Dreamcast/PSP, and many will run demanding android games and work for XBOX One streaming, and we'll be talking about updates that make these things run more PS2 and GameCube games, instead of PSP and Dreamcast.

AND, this thing is only like $169

PLUS, there's the Retroid Pocket 2 Plus for like $99. It's ALSO exciting, because it removes ALL of the need for tinkering and fucking with RetroArch and changing scaling and button mapping and such. Instead, the software is INSANELY user friendly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vouw1Kz79c4&t=71s

My wife is already scheming on selling her RP2 and adding $10 or $20 to get the Plus.

I'M probably gonna sell my beloved Anbernic351P and Retroid Pocket 2 to get the rumored upcoming Anbernic 552.
(There's a leaked video showing what's PURPORTEDLY the upcoming Anbernic, and it's running PSP God Of War FLAWLESSLY. Leaker calls it a 552.)

I'm THRILLED. These are VERY exciting bits of news and rumors, for this fledgling, crowded, competitive field of gaming systems.

[elevenism]

I just found out that you can put retroarch on an Amazon Fire Stick and play everything up to and including PS1.
You can also play 90% of N64 games.

And you don't even have to "hack" or "jailbreak" it. It's just something I don't think they anticipated people doing. It's got a web browser and an app called "downloader," so you just download Retroarch, mupen64, get you a micro.SD full of roms and any Bluetooth controller, and boom boom, shake the room.

Pretty crazy since these things should be about $40 for black friday.

[Jinsai]

I have a portable retro thing build w/ a Raspberry Pi Zero and a GPi case (basically looks like an original game boy w/ four buttons on the front and two shoulder buttons on the back).

I really wanna like it more than I do. You need to use it with an external battery bank (my iMuto works great), but that just adds an extra paperback-book-weight to the setup, and it takes forever to charge the battery. If you use it with AA batteries, it eats them in about 2 hours and gives no warning that it's about to just die and crash (outside of a couple power light blinks).
I also hate the shoulder buttons... there's so much "form over function" stuff going on here... like the external HDMI-out port is sealed off and inaccessible? WHY!? Also, the D-pad feels like garbage. The screen is also just way too small to play anything that has text and wasn't designed to be played on a handheld.

I realize I'm spoiled here, and that if you'd shown this thing to me when I was a kid, my head would have exploded. Still, gotta feel there's a better way to do this.

[frankie teardrop]

I just recently upgraded my Raspberry Pi from a Pi 3 to a Pi 4. I paid for one that was overclocked and all set up to run PS1, N64, and Dreamcast games smoothly, and for the most part, it's doing an amazing job... I was a bit put out by my old box's inability to run ANY n64 games, so this is a big improvement. There's occasional stuttering, but for the most part, it's smooth and seamless on games like Blast Corps, Star Fox, and so on. Conker's Bad Fur Day runs sort of stutter-y, but never played the original game, so not much to compare to.

The Pi was a nightmare to set up the first time, but the seller I purchased the 4 from did a killer job with the button mapping and setting up the interface for beauty and ease of use. Mostly my six year old uses it now to play arcade port versions of TMNT/Turtles In Time, both of which run perfectly.

@Jinsai (https://www.echoingthesound.org/community/member.php?u=272) - I'm intrigued by this RP2+ but wish there was some way to get that level of power on a bigger screen. I don't travel so much anymore, so having a dedicated box that is even better and more user friendly than the Pi would be a dream, especially once the technology can start running PS2/Gamecube.

[Jinsai]

The power of Raspberry Pi stuff is really on the cusp it seems... it's ALMOST there.

[elevenism]

I have a portable retro thing build w/ a Raspberry Pi Zero and a GPi case (basically looks like an original game boy w/ four buttons on the front and two shoulder buttons on the back).

I really wanna like it more than I do. You need to use it with an external battery bank (my iMuto works great), but that just adds an extra paperback-book-weight to the setup, and it takes forever to charge the battery. If you use it with AA batteries, it eats them in about 2 hours and gives no warning that it's about to just die and crash (outside of a couple power light blinks).
I also hate the shoulder buttons... there's so much "form over function" stuff going on here... like the external HDMI-out port is sealed off and inaccessible? WHY!? Also, the D-pad feels like garbage. The screen is also just way too small to play anything that has text and wasn't designed to be played on a handheld.

I realize I'm spoiled here, and that if you'd shown this thing to me when I was a kid, my head would have exploded. Still, gotta feel there's a better way to do this.

You AREN'T acting spoiled, REALLY.
There are SO many great form factors in this handheld race. I'd HIGHLY recommended an Anbernic351V if you're ok with everything up to PS1, and hit and miss for N64/Dreamcast/PSP. It sounds like what you're working with, game boy shape, but it charges like a phone, has a good sized screen, and the buttons are pretty much perfect. I play the 351P, which is horizontal. AND, there are a fuckton of these things in all shapes and sizes.

The form factor and quality of life stuff is lovely on the RP2 and RP2 plus, also, but even though it's more powerful, I haven't even opened my RP2 because I'm still playing the Anbernic. My wife is partial to the RP2 form factor.

But if you're thinking of getting one of these, you MIGHT want to wait, because the dozen or so competing companies will have THEIR version that runs perfect N64/PSP/Dreamcast with some GC and PS2 VERY soon.

But yeah, dude. I'M still a kid inside, and my head almost DID explode when I saw these things. That's how I wound up with 2 different brands, and one still unopened in the factory box. (you may also note that I'm kind of obsessed with this shit :P I'm still playing games I saw in Nintendo Power in 1993 and didn't get to play.)



@frankie teardrop (https://www.echoingthesound.org/community/member.php?u=889) , I'm 99% sure the RP2 has an HDMI out, and i'm certain of Bluetooth controller support. I think you can just use Xbox one controllers if you like.
There are also portable-ish tv boxes coming out that do everything the handhelds do, like the Super Console X line.

REedit: Check out Retro Games Corps on YouTube for deep dives on all this stuff; this guy also makes step by step how-to guides on EVERYTHING, in both written and video form.
Retro Dodo and Taki Udon are also great channels for seeing what everything in this sea of devices has to offer.

[Jinsai]

What I don’t get is why Saturn emulation is still so bad. I could mostly not care about anything on the n64. Really I guess I liked Killer Instinct, but that’s one that doesn’t run on stuff.

I really love the idea of playing Panzer Dragoon Saga on a handheld though

[allegate]

Saturn was a wild chipset that was basically* a beefed up SNES chip that was asked to do 3D a-la the FX chip. Oh and the RAM cart.

*wild hyperbole on top of years of hearing people make disparaging comments IRT the chips.

[Self.Destructive.Pattern]

What I don’t get is why Saturn emulation is still so bad. I could mostly not care about anything on the n64. Really I guess I liked Killer Instinct, but that’s one that doesn’t run on stuff.

I really love the idea of playing Panzer Dragoon Saga on a handheld though

Panzer Dragoon was released for Switch last year. Sort of flew over everyones heads ;).

[Jinsai]

Panzer Dragoon was released for Switch last year. Sort of flew over everyones heads ;).

I think you’re talking about the HD release of 1 that also came out on PS4? Saga is the awesome action rpg that they lost the source code to. I sold my copy for 650 bucks when I needed cash. It’s worth more now

[Self.Destructive.Pattern]

I think you’re talking about the HD release of 1 that also came out on PS4? Saga is the awesome action rpg that they lost the source code to. I sold my copy for 650 bucks when I needed cash. It’s worth more now

Oh damn, didn't see Saga, yes the OG. What a lost gem that game is. It goes for about 1500 to 2000 now.

Sucks because it came out when Final Fantasy VII was coming and it barely got any western recognition.

[Jinsai]

Yeah I actually bought a Saturn just for that game, then discovered a bunch of other great things before they became priceless.

I did mod my Saturn so it can play Japanese games and I still have JP versions of the best stuff

[Self.Destructive.Pattern]

Yeah I actually bought a Saturn just for that game, then discovered a bunch of other great things before they became priceless.

I did mod my Saturn so it can play Japanese games and I still have JP versions of the best stuff

How did you mod yours? I was able to get the action replay cart and it works good.

[henryeatscereal]

Latest console i bought was a Mini Nes, so i guess i'm a Retro Gamer?

[MrLobster]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USHvvSbYmJA

*grabby hands*

If I had the space to set up another machine in this room... I don't. But if I did (!!!!)

[elevenism]

What I don’t get is why Saturn emulation is still so bad. I could mostly not care about anything on the n64...

It's weird to me, too. I don't understand.

I assume it's the same reason N64 emulation took so fucking long: they took their own strange path with the hardware and software.

[Jinsai]

It's weird to me, too. I don't understand.

I assume it's the same reason N64 emulation took so fucking long: they took their own strange path with the hardware and software.

I know that back in the day, the big hurdle people were running into was the "Saturn Ring of Death." This referred to a small strip of copy protection at the beginning of the disc. So that made sense for a bit, but then people got over that and the ripped ISOs are out there; there's just no great emulator I've heard of. I've heard the argument that if there was a huge interest in the library, the emulation would be here. Uhhhhhhh... it's got pretty much the most valuable game library of any system ever. I know because I sold my library for thousands of dollars, but I'd still like to play Panzer Dragoon Saga and Shining Force III.... Then there were all these awesome obscure gems, like Burning Rangers, Dragon Force I and II, Guardian Heroes (though there's other ways to play this now), Die Hard Arcade, and Virtua Cop (which is Kyle Rittenhouse's favorite game).

The best argument I've heard is that it's just a really unique and bizarre architecture. It had 8 processors and did stuff in really unconventional ways, which also lead to a lot of developers getting fed up with it. This might be part of the issue that is going to hamper PS3 emulation down the line.


How did you mod yours? I was able to get the action replay cart and it works good.

Installed a switch on the side that toggles region.

[elevenism]

...
The best argument I've heard is that it's just a really unique and bizarre architecture. It had 8 processors and did stuff in really unconventional ways, which also lead to a lot of developers getting fed up with it. This might be part of the issue that is going to hamper PS3 emulation down the line.


That's what i figured. That being said, i HAVE seen some new Chinese rigs running Saturn.

But i've had WAY more luck with DreamCast than Saturn on my handhelds.

It's similar to the problem people encountered with N64.
The Wii i hacked can run any Wii rom, and GC, but N64 is hit and miss.

I mean, also, i DO know that the Wii and DC works using a "kernel," but good god, you'd think N64 would work, SOMEHOW, on a more powerful machine.

[Self.Destructive.Pattern]

The best argument I've heard is that it's just a really unique and bizarre architecture. It had 8 processors and did stuff in really unconventional ways, which also lead to a lot of developers getting fed up with it. This might be part of the issue that is going to hamper PS3 emulation down the line.

This is the reason for sure. Pat the NES Punk covers these sorts of stories religiously on his podcasts and I'll try and find the video, but he spoke about someone last year pretty much on the verge on cracking the Saturn architecture for fluent emulation down the road.

Cool you have the switch, my friends brother had one on his when it wasn't really a thing to do.

[Jon]

Has anyone here tried messing around with a DexDrive + Dexter on Windows 11? I was curious as to whether there are any new quirks that weren't present in Windows 10.

[Self.Destructive.Pattern]

Well, this is pretty amazing during a Russian invasion.

https://twitter.com/belmont1792/status/1517013543723352066?t=C7a0vbB_kd9QNkHF0KBEUw&s=19

[allegate]

the mister is so boss, I wish I could get one. the thing holding me back is what I keep hearing on podcasts: you get more interested in keeping it up-to-date and what you could do with it that to tend to forget what you can do with it.

namely: play games.

[Dr Channard]

The 1992 X-Men 6 player cabinet. So many great memories, so many spent quarters. Wish I could find one again.

https://i.postimg.cc/L4tmsrrS/xmen.jpg
https://postimg.cc/t74KSmqv

Question. Exactly how old does a game or technology need to be to fall into the category of retro? Any thoughts?

[thelastdisciple]

I don't know that there's a rule but my general feeling is around 15-20 years?

[Self.Destructive.Pattern]

^^^ agreed.

I consider anything around two decades old retro. PS3 is just about there after playing a few the other day; damn some games feel incredibly clunky and blurry.

[GulDukat]

I bough a handheld version of Oregon Trail (replicates the 1985 version) and it rules.

[Jinsai]

one of the FB groups I was in said that anything before 2000 could be considered Retro. I still feel weird calling NIN64 or Dreamcast "retro," but they are I guess, more or less, and will become more so.

[elevenism]

I'm trying to find good, full romsets for NES, SNES, GB, GBA, GBC...everything up to PlayStation, not including N64.

I had all of this on a disc, but it's corrupted, and The Eye is down.

Does anyone have such a collection?

[Kodiak33]

https://www.reddit.com/r/Roms/comments/m59zx3/roms_megathread_40_html_edition_2021/ (https://www.reddit.com/r/Roms/comments/m59zx3/roms_megathread_40_html_edition_2021/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf)

[allegro]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bICt3WRH4Bs

LGR wearing a PHM shirt... I know he's fan (how long, no idea), he's made reference to them many times over the years.
His brother is also sporting a Spring US 2022 tour shirt....
Pretty Eight Machine also makes a cameo...


Holy shit, I had NO idea this show existed, and I LIVE HERE! I'm so bummed out that I didn't go to this thing!!!

Oh well, next year!

AND I discovered Galloping Ghost (https://www.gallopingghostarcade.com) via that video! Wtf!! The video shows they have the full-size sit-down Star Wars game, that was my game omg.

https://coffeewithkenobi.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/1181242172188.jpg

[Jinsai]

one great time, I went to this chiptune show in Fukuoka, and there's like three different artists playing primarily with actual modded hardware, like old Nintendos, that was awesome... like it was occasionally super heavy, but it was all good... super interesting. But yeah, most of it sounded like intense Mega Man

[allegro]

I love how the Midwest show is so much old geeky hardware. Like telephony stuff. And an original pristine Apple Lisa. It’s fun to just stand around talking to people who used to be around in “the old days” about hardware. “Oh man I had a 3B2 running System V that I got out of some guy’s trunk!”

I showed my husband the info about Galloping Ghost. If it wasn’t so far away from where I lived, I’d join as a MEMBER.

[elevenism]

Anyone else getting a new Retro Handheld for xmas?

I've got a Retroid Pocket 3+ on the way...from China, of course, so god knows when it will get here.

My prediction on the previous page was right: this thing plays Dreamcast, N64, Saturn and PSP BEYOND perfectly, as you can UPSCALE the fucking resolution on most of it. It'll also play SOME GameCube and PS2.

It has an extremely (by comparison) simple, user friendly interface: I've seen and used it on my wife's RP2+ : you've obviously gotta do SOME setup, but this is NOTHING compared to setting up an Anbernic device.

It's also more ergonomic and bigger, with a touch screen, WIFI 5, and Bluetooth, an HDMI out so you can use it as a console, it updates itself through wifi...all kinds of cool stuff.

You can do cloud gaming with XBOX, PS, whatever steam uses, etc.

It's Android...11, I think? So, native android will run, too, chipset permitting, of course: this ain't a snapdragon or anything. It's a Unisoc Tiger T618, actually.

And this fucker is only $149!

I CANNOT WAIT.

I still ADORE my Anbernic RG351, and play it about 1000x more than my XBOX One and hacked Wii/GameCube combined, but that thing honestly caps out at PlayStation 1.
I'm ready to get me some glitch free, upscaled N64, PSP and Dreamcast.

[virushopper]

Anyone else getting a new Retro Handheld for xmas?

Yes, I bought the new Anbernic RG353M. I debated between this and the new Retroid for a bit. Eventually settled for the Anbernic as it fulfill my needs of a quick portable device I can throw in a backpack and the amount of features on the Retroid will be wasted as I am a low volume player. Meaning I just pick it up for casual play and that's it.

[elevenism]

Yes, I bought the new Anbernic RG353M. I debated between this and the new Retroid for a bit. Eventually settled for the Anbernic as it fulfill my needs of a quick portable device I can throw in a backpack and the amount of features on the Retroid will be wasted as I am a low volume player. Meaning I just pick it up for casual play and that's it.

Ah, nice. They say those metal variants are the sure shot. That thing dual boots, too, right, and that rockchip will get you SOME good PSP and Dreamcast and such.
And I LOVE the form factor.

Is size why you didn't go with the more powerful/similarly priced 505, though?

Yeah, I like the size of my 351, a LOT, and I WISH they'd just put that fucking T618 chip in the same old shell.
In fact, I was SURE the next device to come after the 351 line would be the same shit, but with perfect Dreamcast/PSP/N64, but then they went off the deep end, making all kinds of problematic devices, rapid fire style.

But that 353 comes closest to what I had in mind, though, for sure.

Shit, I'D put the fucking RP3+/505 chipset into my 351 shell, if I was any good at such projects.

As far as pocketability? I feel you.
Trust me. I'll NEVER get rid of Jennife...I mean, my 351P.. :p

[virushopper]

Ah, nice. They say those metal variants are the sure shot. That thing dual boots, too, right, and that rockchip will get you SOME good PSP and Dreamcast and such.

Is size why you didn't go with the more powerful/similarly priced 505, though?

Yeah, I like the size of my 351, a LOT, and I WISH they'd just put that fucking T618 chip in the same old shell.
In fact, I was SURE the next device to come after the 351 line would be the same shit, but with perfect Dreamcast/PSP/N64, but then they went off the deep end, making all kinds of problematic devices, rapid fire style.

But that 353 comes closest to what I had in mind, though, for sure.

Shit, I'D put the fucking RP3+/505 chipset into my 351 shell, if I was any good at such projects.

As far as pocketability? I feel you.
Trust me. I'll NEVER get rid of Jennife...I mean, my 351P.. :p

Yup, it does dual boot (though, I won't use it.) And yes, the size of the screen was a deciding factor too cause I thought about the use and how annoyed I would be if the device was slightly bigger.

I haven't fully set it up yet but I'll get to it. And a big YES on the ability to play Dreamcast games on it.

Let me know how the Retroid goes. I'm curious how well it will run some of the Gamecube games.

[chuckrh]

I gave up on video games when I discovered gambling but I used to love playing Joust. Such a stoner game, haha.

[Jinsai]

I gave up on video games when I discovered gambling but I used to love playing Joust. Such a stoner game, haha. But gambling in general is the most retro gaming thing ever!

[chuckrh]

But gambling in general is the most retro gaming thing ever!
Yep. The new video games just confuse me, haha.

[Jinsai]

ok... so I got a Steam Deck for XMAS... and I'm trying to mess with this Emudeck nonsense... what the HELL is going on here with assigning cover art? The rom organizer requires you to work with it to place the cover art but seems to get titles wrong... so my copies (which I own all of, lol) of Dragon Quest 1+2, 5, and 6 for SNES are all, for some reason, matched with art for DQ3.

This might sound like a small complaint, but Steam Deck organizes all the titles by cover image, so there's no way to know which version of the game you're trying to load (until you fucking load it), and you can't even change the file name, not that it matters because you can't see the name obscured behind the cover art.

I have to be missing something here. Other, more obscure games are easy to fix w/ the cover art. I just loaded in Uncharted: New Horizons with an image I snapped off the web, but I cannot do that for Dragon Quest... and at this point, I guess I'll just delete the roms and move along? This is completely nagging at my OCD though.

Otherwise, Steam Deck gets an 8/10 from me for a nifty new device. For just running Steam games, it's mostly great, but still problematic in a few ways, and really, that hardware dock to hook it to the TV... that's some bullshit design. Just rip off the Switch already. They did it right. This stupid shit requires you to use up the one USB C port that could otherwise be purposed to hook up a hard drive or keyboard/mouse dongle, and is just a pain. The plug could really just be that. The design here is garbage.

Fun bonus fact: The "retro game achievement" thingy knows which version of the game I'm running. It's telling me "ok, you're running Dragon Quest VI, and you've earned no trophies!" but the Steam Deck keeps telling me it's Dragon Quest VII, even though that's impossible, and it won't let me correct it.

[Kodiak33]

ok... so I got a Steam Deck for XMAS... and I'm trying to mess with this Emudeck nonsense... what the HELL is going on here with assigning cover art? The rom organizer requires you to work with it to place the cover art but seems to get titles wrong... so my copies (which I own all of, lol) of Dragon Quest 1+2, 5, and 6 for SNES are all, for some reason, matched with art for DQ3.

This might sound like a small complaint, but Steam Deck organizes all the titles by cover image, so there's no way to know which version of the game you're trying to load (until you fucking load it), and you can't even change the file name, not that it matters because you can't see the name obscured behind the cover art.

I have to be missing something here. Other, more obscure games are easy to fix w/ the cover art. I just loaded in Uncharted: New Horizons with an image I snapped off the web, but I cannot do that for Dragon Quest... and at this point, I guess I'll just delete the roms and move along? This is completely nagging at my OCD though.

Otherwise, Steam Deck gets an 8/10 from me for a nifty new device. For just running Steam games, it's mostly great, but still problematic in a few ways, and really, that hardware dock to hook it to the TV... that's some bullshit design. Just rip off the Switch already. They did it right. This stupid shit requires you to use up the one USB C port that could otherwise be purposed to hook up a hard drive or keyboard/mouse dongle, and is just a pain. The plug could really just be that. The design here is garbage.

Fun bonus fact: The "retro game achievement" thingy knows which version of the game I'm running. It's telling me "ok, you're running Dragon Quest VI, and you've earned no trophies!" but the Steam Deck keeps telling me it's Dragon Quest VII, even though that's impossible, and it won't let me correct it.

Are you using Emulation Station or Steam Rom Organizer? I have Emulation Station setup so I'm not sure about Steam Rom Organizer...

[Jinsai]

Steam Rom Organizer. It's bizarre that this sort of thing is a hiccup

I've worked out a solution, but I dunno, it seems like they need to work the kinks out... and really, I've just been messing with it to see what it can do. Primarily it's to play Steam, and on the retro game topic, I just got the Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters for it, and so far really liking it.

[Kodiak33]

Steam Rom Organizer. It's bizarre that this sort of thing is a hiccup

I've worked out a solution, but I dunno, it seems like they need to work the kinks out... and really, I've just been messing with it to see what it can do. Primarily it's to play Steam, and on the retro game topic, I just got the Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters for it, and so far really liking it.

Ah I can't really help you with that one. I'd search reddit for anything related to that.

I have such a large rom collection that I'd rather have it's own app for everything (Emulation Station) instead of through the Steam Library.

[Jinsai]

yeah, Kodiak33, it's not built for huge rom dumps w/ the organizer, you kinda have to curate which ones you want if you're going to use it that way... and some of the retro titles I'm playing now are stuff I bought from the Steam store, like the Genesis collection, Samurai Shodown collection, Capcom Fighting Collection... I know you could just emulate all that easily, but I do like these polished collections, and the Steam prices are great compared to the average you see on PSN.

[Kodiak33]

yeah, @Kodiak33 (https://www.echoingthesound.org/community/member.php?u=1211), it's not built for huge rom dumps w/ the organizer, you kinda have to curate which ones you want if you're going to use it that way... and some of the retro titles I'm playing now are stuff I bought from the Steam store, like the Genesis collection, Samurai Shodown collection, Capcom Fighting Collection... I know you could just emulate all that easily, but I do like these polished collections, and the Steam prices are great compared to the average you see on PSN.

That makes sense for your use case for sure.

I've been using Reddit and Youtube for most of my questions about the Deck and there is a ton of information out there. I think it's probably the best overall computer I've ever had, especially if you like to tinker.

[elevenism]

Jinsai

My wife and I don't have steamdecks, but we DO have 7 retro handhelds between us. When it comes to frontends and emulators and, hell, firmware, ALL of this shit comes with kinks that need to be ironed out.

I can tell you that autoscraping box art, badass as it is, almost ALWAYS misses some titles.

Have you tried long pressing the incorrect box and seeing if there is a re-scrape option?
Or, perhaps you can download boxart?

It IS doable one way or another.

As Kodiak33 said, Reddit is definitely your friend, here.

Youtube can be quite helpful, too: Top cat on YouTube is Retro Game Corps: he creates INCREDIBLY detailed, in depth video guides for all this shit, along with written guides.
And he's got a few hours, I think, on Steam Deck emulation setup and such.

[elevenism]

Yup, it does dual boot (though, I won't use it.) And yes, the size of the screen was a deciding factor too cause I thought about the use and how annoyed I would be if the device was slightly bigger.

I haven't fully set it up yet but I'll get to it. And a big YES on the ability to play Dreamcast games on it.

Let me know how the Retroid goes. I'm curious how well it will run some of the Gamecube games.

Holy FUCK this thing is amazing for $149. It'd be amazing at $229...the RP3+, I mean.

Of course it runs everything from pre 2600 to PS1 perfectly. What's crazy is that it can run PS1 at 4x native resolution.

One of the surprise stars of the show, here, is PSP. You can run ALMOST (aka except God of War, more or less) every PSP game at like 3x, and often 4x.
GOW runs at 2X.
It's like playing HD remasters of PSP games.

another BIG ass surprise is that, YES, it DOES run a WHOLE hell of a lot of Gamecube. In fact, the majority of the library is "playable." It takes a bit of per game tinkering, though, in many cases. It's not like you can just turn on an emulator, set the global settings, and run the majority of the library.
I'm also not a "playable" guy. The shit has to be silky smooth, unless we're talking about just a weird box in a menu, or a couple of explosions not being perfect.
And I'm honestly stunned at how many games run perfectly.
(I gotta say, though: I wouldn't get this thing for Gamecube. Looking at the way things are NOW, I think the next affordable chipset should run ALL GC with VERY little tinkering, and if it doesn't pop up in December/Jan, we'll get it NEXT dec/Jan).

Surprise number 3, that I didn't even think about, is android. I can't believe some of the android stuff this chipset can pull off. I mean, it legit runs triple A android games (GTA 3, Max Payne, GrimValor, Dead Cells, Oceanhorn).
And a whole lot of them have RP3+ controller support.
That fact, combined with Netflix stepping up their gaming library, has been a lot of fun.

Dreamcast is perfect, and can also be upscaled, and runs widescreen hacks.

N64 is fucking great and can mostly be upscaled, but it STILL requires a TINY bit of tinkering, in the form of switching profiles on the M64 FZ Plus emulator.
It's just a weird fucking system, the N64. So is GC, come to think about it.
Those systems will require per game tinkering (I call it finger fucking, don't judge me) until an emulator comes along that's preconfigured for each rom, imho.

DS is awesome on this 4.7" screen.

A FEW PS2 games run perfectly. I expect to see more in the future as the emulator gets better.

I LOVE the form factor: it's nice on my RA plagued hands. And it IS pocketable, because it's so thin. I'm not gonna try it because I'm scared of the possibility of damaging the sticks, but it's far more portable than I expected. Oh, ALSO, the screen: it's gorgeous as it is, but ALSO, there's a glitch that makes it pretty much indistinguishable from an OLED panel.

The only thing that's bothered me about this thing is that it claims to have too notch, stand alone emulators, preconfigured for the Retroid. It does have standalone preconfigured emulators: it's just that they aren't exactly top notch.
I'm pretty sure they were top notch for the RP TWO plus.

So if you want optimum performance for Saturn, you'll need to throw down five bucks for the pro version of Yaba Sanshiro.
With Gamecube, it comes with Dolphin, but to unlock the potential, you'll have to sideload Dolphin MMJR...stuff like that. And then, you'll have to finger fuck the settings to get them truly optimized.

All in all, though, this thing just blows me away. There's just SO much here for the price tag.
I honestly wanted an Odin Lite, but I didn't want to wait god-knows-how-long to get it, and this was my second choice.

But yeah. We've both had an RG351P, RP2, RP2+, and these things blow all of those out of the water.
virushopper how did your device turn out?

Also, when you say you won't dual boot, do you mean that your a Linux man, or that you're using it as an android system?
Either way, I'd look at a community spreadsheet for the device and see what Android games are playable, ESPECIALLY with the free Netflix stuff that's out.
You may be able to get, say, Shredder's Revenge going, with controller support, for free.

[Jinsai]

@elevenism (https://www.echoingthesound.org/community/member.php?u=2475), I figured it out, but the whole Steam Rom Organizer thing is probably for smaller libraries. I've since just been using the Emulation Station and I feel like it's fine, and I don't need the box art as cute as it is... I can always, y'know, boot up google if I'm curious.

And so far, I just gotta say, the Steam Deck wins at this stuff.

[elevenism]

@elevenism (https://www.echoingthesound.org/community/member.php?u=2475), I figured it out, but the whole Steam Rom Organizer thing is probably for smaller libraries. I've since just been using the Emulation Station and I feel like it's fine, and I don't need the box art as cute as it is... I can always, y'know, boot up google if I'm curious.

And so far, I just gotta say, the Steam Deck wins at this stuff.

Quite naturally.
Obviously the SteamDeck is the sure shot, you hot shot California prep school fuc...nevermind lolol. (you know i'm kidding, Jinsai ).
It really, honestly is, unless you wanna get into the $1k plus handhelds.

I just...i don't have FIVE hundred.
And remember: if i get something, the Mrs. has to have one, too, so double the prices.
We didn't have $1k.

We WANTED odins, and we HAD the bread for that, but when we ordered these, people were JUSt starting to get the Odin Lites they ordered in 2021 or whatever

So...on a budget, the RP3+ is still my recommendation.
$150. Or, you know...2 for $300 plus shipping and pretty cases and micro sd cards and whatnot.

Price to performance is fucking incredible in this case.

[elevenism]

So do enough of us have these devices to warrant an emulation handhelds thread?

[Jinsai]

So do enough of us have these devices to warrant an emulation handhelds thread?

I would think this thread could be a catch-all for that, but I dunno. On that note, currently tackling MAME

[elevenism]

I would think this thread could be a catch-all for that, but I dunno. On that note, currently tackling MAME

Are you using retroarch? Because I have an issue regarding MAME cores.

It's a first world problem, to be sure...it's just that I can't fucking figure out how to map the "insert coin" button to my device, and so I have onscreen controls at like 10% opacitiy for that button.

It isn't optimum, and I'm obsessed with getting what runs to run perfectly.

[Kodiak33]

Are you using retroarch? Because I have an issue regarding MAME cores.

It's a first world problem, to be sure...it's just that I can't fucking figure out how to map the "insert coin" button to my device, and so I have onscreen controls at like 10% opacitiy for that button.

It isn't optimum, and I'm obsessed with getting what runs to run perfectly.

If it's not working through the Retroarch menu, I would try the actual MAME menu.

[elevenism]

If it's not working through the Retroarch menu, I would try the actual MAME menu.

Hmmmm. MAME menu...is there...OH, wait. I know what you mean.

Yeah, I tried that. I'm still stuck.

I mean, it's not a HUGE problem.

I probably need to take this one to Retroid Reddit.

I THINK I'm having the same problem with my Final Burn Neo romset.

[elevenism]

Hey, while I'm at it: do any of you guys play the NBA Ballers: Rebound game on PSP?

I LOOOOOOVE the idea of it, especially Rags to Riches mode. But I can't win a SINGLE FUCKING MATCH in that mode.

I can sure win as Dirk or Steve Nash, but fuuuuuck me: in the coolest mode of the game, the arcade style, create your own character, rise up through the ranks and buy tattoos/clothes/cars/houses/become friends with NBA legends, I'm just SOL.

[Jinsai]

the only sports games I ever got into, outside of racing titles, are NBA Jam, Blades of Steel, and Tecmo Bowl. OG Excitebike if that counts.

[Kodiak33]

Hey, while I'm at it: do any of you guys play the NBA Ballers: Rebound game on PSP?

I LOOOOOOVE the idea of it, especially Rags to Riches mode. But I can't win a SINGLE FUCKING MATCH in that mode.

I can sure win as Dirk or Steve Nash, but fuuuuuck me: in the coolest mode of the game, the arcade style, create your own character, rise up through the ranks and buy tattoos/clothes/cars/houses/become friends with NBA legends, I'm just SOL.

Never played Ballers, but I LOVED NBA Street.

[elevenism]

Never played Ballers, but I LOVED NBA Street.

Are they relayed? Ballers:Rebound is one on one, aka, not exactly my cup of tea, but it DOES remind me of playing IRL when I was a kid, in our back driveway.

It even has alley basketball rules: play to eleven but you gotta win by 2, gotta run back and touch whatever "arc" you've set up, etc.

Ok, again, while I'm at it, do you know a fix for the NBA Live pitch black arms and legs glitch?

Also, I FINALLY figured out how to have a decent chance in PSP 2K11 and 12, by switching the settings from "simulation" to "arcade."
I'm gonna set up a full season and try recreate the Mavs' 2011 championship,

[Kodiak33]

Not sure about Ballers, but NBA Street was part of the EA Big series (SSX, NFL Street, FIFA Street, etc).

Not familiar with NBA Live since the early 2000s lol

Saw this today, and it looks fucking cool (but >2X cost of the Steam Deck).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODUicTB5V9k

[Self.Destructive.Pattern]

Are they relayed? Ballers:Rebound is one on one, aka, not exactly my cup of tea, but it DOES remind me of playing IRL when I was a kid, in our back driveway.

It even has alley basketball rules: play to eleven but you gotta win by 2, gotta run back and touch whatever "arc" you've set up, etc.

Ok, again, while I'm at it, do you know a fix for the NBA Live pitch black arms and legs glitch?

Also, I FINALLY figured out how to have a decent chance in PSP 2K11 and 12, by switching the settings from "simulation" to "arcade."
I'm gonna set up a full season and try recreate the Mavs' 2011 championship,

What year of NBA Live? And what are you playing it on? Apparently there is still no fix for this.

[elevenism]

What year of NBA Live? And what are you playing it on? Apparently there is still no fix for this.

ALL of them, on PPSSPP, RP3+. No fix to.be found.

[keilwerth]

I think the PS1 was the best console so far. Great exclusive title, great controller and very long lasting :)

[Self.Destructive.Pattern]

I think the PS1 was the best console so far. Great exclusive title, great controller and very long lasting :)

There are still so many games I am discovering all these years later! Such a powerhouse of a console as far as games were concerned! What are some of your favorites?

elevenism Yeaa, there are a few forums that have literally been trying to figure out a fix since 2011 lol.... Still nothing.

[Jinsai]

what's weird to me is that the PS2 is the best selling console of all time, but there's really not THAT amazing games for it. The PS1 had an overall more memorable library imo.

[Self.Destructive.Pattern]

what's weird to me is that the PS2 is the best selling console of all time, but there's really not THAT amazing games for it. The PS1 had an overall more memorable library imo.

Agreed. I'll never forget the hype when PS2 was being released... The graphical upgrade was the main thing people were so excited about, with nothing else (Even Nintendo) in the stratosphere of console gaming at the time.

My friend Jon's mom brought all of us to the mall to pick up his PS2. We came back with Tekken Tag Tournament and Oni... Let's just say Oni (Bungie West actually developed it) didn't get much playtime next to Tekken lol.

[Jinsai]

I do have really fond memories of Tekken Tag Tournament parties in college. I was a ninja w/ Hwoarang

[MrLobster]

I do have really fond memories of Tekken Tag Tournament parties in college. I was a ninja w/ Hwoarang

Opponents don't need to touch the ground.... :)

[Self.Destructive.Pattern]

^^^ Hahaaa!

Jinsai Hwoarang, Law, and Lei were my mains. I never played the sequel.

[scribnation]

Literally thinking the same way I have been thinking for a while now, and as a result I have been slowly collecting more hidden gem PS1 titles at the retro shop recently.

Surely there are so many more gems out there that I will never find the chance to hop on, but for now, it's been a blast to get into.

[elevenism]

^^^ Hahaaa!

@Jinsai (https://www.echoingthesound.org/community/member.php?u=272) Hwoarang, Law, and Lei were my mains. I never played the sequel.

You two can't see me, with Miss Ling Xiaoyu. I'm murderous.

So I didn't have a PS2 back then, but damn. This brings back memories.
All the young dudes had a PlayStation and Tekken 3, in my circle, and extended circles, in the Dallas area.
At every party or get-together, and every friend of a friend's house, SOMEBODY would turn that shit on.
And everybody was GOOD at it.

My brother and I would play my LX vs his Brian Fury like, 100 times in a row.

Now: we both knew EVERY character, but those were our respective favorites.
We likely, no shit, played that match at LEAST ten thousand times.
We'd also do Mokujin vs Mokujin: THAT shit is the ULTIMATE test.

Honestly, the ONLY reason we had a PS1 was Tekken 2, and then 3.

I had SoTN and GTA 1, and my brother bought THRASHER (the REAL skateboarding game, compared to Tony Hawk), but it was mostly just the Tekken Machine.

[elevenism]

@elevenism (https://www.echoingthesound.org/community/member.php?u=2475) Yeaa, there are a few forums that have literally been trying to figure out a fix since 2011 lol.... Still nothing.

Ok, you know what ELSE fucking sucks?

With the 2k games, (not live), on PPSSPP, there's a fucking menu glitch, wherein the sub menus open BEHIND the menu you're on.

It's still perfectly playable...no slowdown, 3x resolution, all that shit, but it's impossible to unlock the full potential of the games.

@scribnation (https://www.echoingthesound.org/community/member.php?u=6244) please to lay the names of your favorite hidden gems on me?

[Kodiak33]

Ok, you know what ELSE fucking sucks?

With the 2k games, (not live), on PPSSPP, there's a fucking menu glitch, wherein the sub menus open BEHIND the menu you're on.

It's still perfectly playable...no slowdown, 3x resolution, all that shit, but it's impossible to unlock the full potential of the games.

@scribnation (https://www.echoingthesound.org/community/member.php?u=6244) please to lay the names of your favorite hidden gems on me?

Standalone PPSSPP and Retroarch have the same issue?

[elevenism]

Standalone PPSSPP and Retroarch have the same issue?

I've not tried any PSP retroarch cores for these games, as, in my other PSP RP3+ adventures, well...retroarch ain't gonna properly play top notch psp.

That being said, it might be worth a try.
'ppreciative . tis worth a shot.

Edit: sadly, yeah...same issue.

[Self.Destructive.Pattern]

The Legend of Dragoon is now available on PSN and Plus WITH trophy support and I am the happiest person on the planet right now.

This game needs a remaster or a full on remake.

[Kodiak33]

I've not tried any PSP retroarch cores for these games, as, in my other PSP RP3+ adventures, well...retroarch ain't gonna properly play top notch psp.

That being said, it might be worth a try.
'ppreciative . tis worth a shot.

Edit: sadly, yeah...same issue.

Damn, worth trying but I figured it would be the same.

[thelastdisciple]

The Legend of Dragoon is now available on PSN and Plus WITH trophy support and I am the happiest person on the planet right now.

This game needs a remaster or a full on remake.

I was just going to say that it was already remade but I confused the title with Panzer Dragoon.

[Self.Destructive.Pattern]

I was just going to say that it was already remade but I confused the title with Panzer Dragoon.

Hahaa, I can see why. Panzer is one of my favorite yester-year games.

[Jinsai]

what they really need to remake from the ground up is Panzer Dragoon Saga. That game was brilliant, and the ending choked me up. It's a work of art and it's dumb that it's relegated to this. The other Panzer Dragoon games are cool, and I've had fun with the HD remake of 1 (which is currently on sale for like a dollar btw), but Saga was something special. I feel the same way about Panzer Saga that I do about Final Fantasy VII. There was this special kind of japanese/anime take on cyberpunk that has dated really well.

[poinoup]

I played River City Ransom the last couple of days. Still a blast.

[scribnation]

Ok, you know what ELSE fucking sucks?

With the 2k games, (not live), on PPSSPP, there's a fucking menu glitch, wherein the sub menus open BEHIND the menu you're on.

It's still perfectly playable...no slowdown, 3x resolution, all that shit, but it's impossible to unlock the full potential of the games.

@scribnation (https://www.echoingthesound.org/community/member.php?u=6244) please to lay the names of your favorite hidden gems on me?

Sorry for the late reply, been a busy college student...

But the hidden gems were from my late-Grandfather who just so happen to own PS1 games in his possession. Tetris Plus, NFL Gameday 99 and MLB 2000 are the hidden gems I think are worth hopping on from time to time. Recently got myself Gran Turismo, Spyro 1 and Snowboarding (A1 Games), yet so far, I really think these sports games from this era are worth to trying out too.

[Jinsai]

So this is exciting. Not too many people know about the Samurai Spirits (Samurai Shodown) RPG in the west. It was never localized, and was obscure enough already since it was the only RPG released for the Neo Geo, and it was brought out on the Neo Geo CD. It was eventually ported to Playstation 1 and Sega Saturn, but still never outside of Japan, and never fan translated into English. For some reason due to the tile sets used for the characters, it was supposedly a huge pain in the ass to translate... though there was a French translated Rom, so I don't know...

Anyway, it's finally, surprisingly shown up as a fan-translated rom! (https://www.polygon.com/23982922/samurai-shodown-rpg-neogeo-snk-english-translation)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c4/NEOGEO_Shinsetsu_Samurai_Spirits_Bushid%C5%8D_Rets uden.jpg
I'll have time to check it out tomorrow, but I've been waiting a while for this.

[Dr Channard]

what's weird to me is that the PS2 is the best selling console of all time, but there's really not THAT amazing games for it. The PS1 had an overall more memorable library imo.At that time the backwards compatibility feature had to help ps2 sales. That feature was a great move that made 2 generations a single library on the ps2, and assured that most people who already had an investment in ps1 games would buy the ps2. But both systems individually had great libraries. It would be hard for me to pick one over the other. To this day I still have 30+ ps2 games, many of them bangers in my mind…

https://i.ibb.co/3RwZGnL/ps2.jpg (https://ibb.co/J3NJ09M)
https://ibb.co/J3NJ09M

and 40+ equally great ps1 games…

https://i.ibb.co/580Mphw/ps1.jpg (https://ibb.co/0M7D4yv)

https://ibb.co/0M7D4yv
It goes without saying this isn’t even a drop in the bucket for either catalogue. But many of my games still get playtime to this day. In fact, a few months back I got a levelhike since none of my current monitors supported the old inputs…

https://i.ibb.co/rxKdkS5/lh.jpg (https://ibb.co/8rnYMpP)
https://ibb.co/8rnYMpP

[Jinsai]

@ Dr Channard, there's some great stuff in the PS2 library... the GTA games, Suikoden 3 and 5, Dragon Quest 8, the Metal Gear games, God of War... some stuff like Rez and the Soul Calibur games... and you've got Rogue Galaxy, which is such an underrated game. I was also big into the original SSX game... and I really liked FF12. I'm a big JRPG fan though, so a lot of what appeals to me doesn't do much for the average person.

Maybe it's just that I don't have much nostalgia for the system, and the general graphical style doesn't rock my world.

[elevenism]

poinoup my brother and i were MASSIVE super dodgeball fans (which is, in a strange way, a sequel to RCR), but we TOTALLY missed RCR.

I'm playing it, now, and HOLY SHIT. That's the craziest thing, when you find a fucking NES game, post 40 years of age, and it's mind blowing.

OH. And ANYONE playing retro games on emulators, ESPECIALLY retroarch (i think), look up Retro Achievements. It is SO much fucking fun.

It does what it says on the tin: you get modern day type achievements, but for Castlevania 3, or SMB2. It is a fucking HOOT.

[Kodiak33]

If you liked RCR, try Underground that was released a few years ago. You also might try River City Girls (I didn't like it for reason).

[elevenism]

SO. virushopper Jinsai

I was NOT going to get an RP4 Pro; i haven't had my RP3+ long enough to justify the cost. I planned to wait for a 5 or whatever.

BUT, it took a hard fall onto concrete (read: my dumb ass dropped it outside the dr's office), and it started getting glitchy. It ISN'T the micro SD card, and, while the SOFTWARE side of these things is a big hobby for me, i've no idea for the fucking LIFE of me what could have gotten jiggled around in the hardware, that makes the damn thing randomly switch to netflix while i'm trying to get Die Hard Arcade going.
And i just had a birthday on 3-1, and, i...well,

I have an Retroid Pocket 4 Pro on the way.

It's got a Dimensity 1100 under the hood, and appears to run damn near ALL Gamecube (at just universal settings), OSTENSIBLY almost all PS2, a reasonable amount of 3DS, and SOME SWITCH, ffs.
It also runs systems like PSP upscaled DRASTICALLY.

Also, the color wave is like, PERFECT American SNES, with the grey and the face buttons.

MY big question is, does it run San Andreas?

SPEAKING OF WHICH: i have a PS2 and a PS3 and a stack of all the best games, sitting in a row, alongside my XBOX 1 (that a friend bought me; you guys know i don't purchase such things) and my hacked Wii/Gamecube rig.
BUT, i've managed to lose ALL of the cords for the Playstations.

Does anyone have the power and plug-into-tv cords for either of those two, the Playstations? Perhaps you had one fuck up and it's collecting dust?
I'll pay you.