Retro games and emulation - Discuss retro shit in case you're stuck in the past or a hipster

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PotatoInMyAss said:
I’ve thought about getting one for my oldest daughter who loves old Sonic and Pokemon games. What brands should i avoid?
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Powkiddy is a hard avoid. Maybe theyre better now but they were pretty infamous for low quality shit a while back.

After experimenting with them the only brand I honestly really like is Retroid. I tried a few Ambernic consoles but I just didnt like most of them for various reasons, mostly the lack of USB file transfer and a sort of funky sleep mode and the stock firmwares being ass so you have to download a custom one (doesnt take long, but makes them poor gifts imo)

That being said, if you're gonna be installing the roms for your daughter and calling it there, the rg35xx or rg35xx sp are VERY good budget devices. Can do all 8-16 bit consoles very easily. You should probably install the GarlicOS cfw, easy to find a guide on youtube.

But if you wanna go a little more pricey (100-150$ range) I would suggest either the retroid pocket 3S or Retroid Pocket Mini. The Mini is my main device and I really love it. Can do up to ps2 and gamecube pretty well. They're also Android so you can play around with some mobile games as well.








On a non handheld topic. I started playing Baten Kaitos for Gamecube, what a weird fun rpg. Anyone played this one? Its a card based rpg with a lot of cool mechanics like real time card evolution and your main source of money being taking photos of enemies by effecting the lighting. Definetly one of the most unique RPGs I've played.
 
IsaACKRepentance said:
On a non handheld topic. I started playing Baten Kaitos for Gamecube, what a weird fun rpg. Anyone played this one? Its a card based rpg with a lot of cool mechanics like real time card evolution and your main source of money being taking photos of enemies by effecting the lighting. Definetly one of the most unique RPGs I've played.
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I picked it up in 2006, really gorgeous looking game with some cool ideas. I distinctly remember being hyped for the sequel but noped out on the price (back then games were $70 in Canada despite the dollar getting closer to the USD) only to never see it for sale again afterward.

I was about to say I thankfully picked it up off ebay before GC prices spiked but wow that bubble seems to have burst.

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PotatoInMyAss said:
I’ve thought about getting one for my oldest daughter who loves old Sonic and Pokemon games. What brands should i avoid?
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The three main good ones off the top of my head are Anbernic, Retroid, and Miyoo.

Anbernic makes a new handheld every other month or so, and the quality is all over the place. Some are great, some are bad, some are good but too similar to existing handhelds to get anyone excited. I recommend the RG35XX-H (standard form factor) or RG35XXSP (GBA SP form factor, lets you shut the system to quickly put it in sleep mode), and the latter is a community favorite. As others have said, the stock OS will be bad, but you have several options for much better custom firmwares that are all very easy to install.

Retroid makes high-quality systems, but keep in mind that they use Android, which has its pros and cons compared to the typical Linux-based OS. Personally, I really dislike Android on these things, but you do you. You could get the Retroid Pocket 2S, but anything more than that is probably overkill for what you want.

Miyoo is the most consistently good, given that they have the fewest devices and actually spend some time designing each. The Miyoo Mini Plus is a good size, but the vertical form factor may be uncomfortable. They’ll be releasing the Miyoo Mini Flip (RG35XXSP competitor) soon, so consider waiting for that.
 
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davids877 said:
With the retarded prices on the DE10 a RetroTink or OSSC Pro is probably cheaper.
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If it works with the misterpi then you could get that and the misterpi for the price of the de10 alone
Pepe Cortisona said:
Repairing them its what got me started into learning basic soldering and electronic skills. A cap costs pennies and you can update old components with better ones to extend their life, you can also easily repair copper lines in old pcbs for when they get damaged by said bad caps.
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I'm not great at precision work and would probably break my console doing that

The mods look cool, dunno why there arent oled screens tho, but given the prices at some point its just cheaper to get the analogue pocket
Two Dollars said:
I really dislike Android on these things
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Why?
 
Cool Dog Returns said:
Why?
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A few reasons, but the big ones are:
1. Because it’s an OS made for phones, pressing the power button doesn’t actually turn the system off, and just puts it in sleep mode. So your options are to either keep it in sleep mode so the battery slowly dies after a few days of non-use, or completely shut it down when you’re not using it. Either way, booting it up again takes way longer than a non-Android system, especially if you’re also using an SD card since that takes extra time to re-mount.
2. I’ve tried several launchers, and even the community-recommended ones are okay at best. They’re a pain to set up, tedious to navigate, visually unappealing, and you have to change settings through each individual emulator instead of through the launcher itself.

There are some benefits to Android like potentially better N64/DC emulation and being able to play Android games (obviously), but overall Linux feels more like an actual game system while Android feels like a phone that’s been repurposed to play games.

One thing I forgot to mention in my last post, though, is that some of the newest Retroid models give you the option to install either Android or Linux, so you don’t even have to worry about that choice.
 
Cool Dog Returns said:
Whats a good upscaler thats not insanely expensive? is there some fosh upscaler project like the misterpi?
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There's a decent one called "Retroscaler" on Ali Express that's a knockoff of the Retrotink 2X. Don't mind people on Reddit Reeeing about how you should pay the original reator 5-10x as much just cause.
 
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Two Dollars said:
One thing I forgot to mention in my last post, though, is that some of the newest Retroid models give you the option to install either Android or Linux, so you don’t even have to worry about that choice.
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How good is linux support for it? cuz its using snapdragon and adreno right? most linux arm distros I seen are meant to run with mali or videocore gpus
 
Never Scored said:
There's a decent one called "Retroscaler" on Ali Express that's a knockoff of the Retrotink 2X. Don't mind people on Reddit Reeeing about how you should pay the original reator 5-10x as much just cause.
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The retrotink 2x isn't even expensive and I am 100% confident it will not cause a fire, unlike anything off aliexpress.
 
Never Scored said:
Buddy, a low voltage, usb powered board made from standard components with no internal battery has much less of a chance of causing a fire than your aging retro system.
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I have a 1980s home computer.
It powered up fine. I walked in the house from the garage, came back a few minutes later and had the worst smelling smoke ever filling the garage, just the capacitors had let go, no flames. Luckily the nice folks at MeanWell still make a triple output power supply, which fits where the old one was. Just need to re-do the wiring one of these days and sell it.
 
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davids877 said:
I have a 1980s home computer.
It powered up fine. I walked in the house from the garage, came back a few minutes later and had the worst smelling smoke ever filling the garage, just the capacitors had let go, no flames. Luckily the nice folks at MeanWell still make a triple output power supply, which fits where the old one was. Just need to re-do the wiring one of these days and sell it.
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I had an original PSone power adapter give out and blow the board. A lot of smoke and smell, but no fire.
 
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I have two questions;

Is EPSXe the best (in that i mean the easiest to start, have tried countless times on my new computer but it just doesn't work, i want to play me some BoF3 in wait for the Suikoden remaster) emulator out there for playstation?

Which handheld is best for retro emulation? i don't care about NDS and the R2 for it, just like with my EPSxe it doesnt work, and people always tell me just how easy it is, untill i ask them to do it for me, then it's a very complicated matter, i'm talking about some chinese thing with either a sick load of games already installed or prepared to be filled with it. It's for playing during my new commute.

EDIT: I didn't read up on the thread and missed that Two Dollars and IsaACKRepentance already talked about it on the same fricking page. But if people want to give me input go ahead, i'm looking for some cheap thing to keep me occupied on 30 min bus rides.
 
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deeman said:
I have two questions;

Is EPSXe the best (in that i mean the easiest to start, have tried countless times on my new computer but it just doesn't work, i want to play me some BoF3 in wait for the Suikoden remaster) emulator out there for playstation?

Wich handheld is bast for retro emulation? i don't care about NDS and the R2 for it, just like with my EPSxe it doesnt work, and people always tell me just how easy it is, untill i ask them to do it for me, then it's a very complicated matter, i'm talking about some chinese thing with either a sick load of games already installed or prepared to be filled with it. It's for playing during my new commute.
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Duckstation is now the best PSX emulator currently at the time. It should be able to run BoF3 on even low end machines. I don't know shit about retro handhelds though.
 
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Lone Wandering Courier said:
Recently upgraded from a 4th gen Intel Xeon (roughly i7-4790k) to a Ryzen 5 4500, is it worth trying to emulate PS3/PS4?
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RPCS3 has gotten significantly better over the years to the point where you can reliably run PS3 games on an Raspberry Pi. If you have an even halfway decent setup you should be just fine for everything minus MGS4 because even on beefy hardware that game is still a bitch to run.

PS4 emulation through shadPS4 is another story. You need the top of the line equipment and a good amount of patching/modding autism in order to be able to barely run games with severe compromises (no cloth physics and frequent crashes on Bloodborne). The emulator isn't there just yet but give it 6 months or so and we might have a different story on our hands.
 
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HexFag said:
For the people in this thread, is there any point in investing in a RetroTink?

I recently got my hands on a Rad2X for my PS2 and the increased video quality and improved deinterlacing definitely do speak for themselves, but even with this 50 dollar cable, I feel like I've maxed out the potential video quality I could ever possibly get out of this console. I cannot fathom a reason to drop 750 USD on a RetroTink 4K or even 250 USD on a RetroTink 2X Pro unless the benefits on other retro consoles are THAT good.

Also does anybody have any experience with PS2 console hardware modding? I was considering getting Methylene installed on my PS2 which allows the console to have Bluetooth connection and remote power on/off.
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1- There's a cheaper model of the retrotink 4k in production. No price reveal yet, but the guy making them stated that it will be significantly cheaper.

2- Methylene is kind of pointless and unreliable. You really need to get familiar with the PS2 internals and things can get cramped inside.
 
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Two Dollars said:
Who’s making it? I want to keep up with that.
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The same guy who's making the Retrotink 4K. Found a video on YT that goes into more about it. Apparently it's going to be a third of the price of the 4k, so about 250 USD. IM RETARDED AND CANT DO MATH/CANT LISTEN TO A YT VID SO 670 USD. If I had more retro consoles I'd definitely consider it but as of right now I only have a PS2 so it's still too steep for my blood.
 
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