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

[Jean Lafitte 1812]

I finally got around to watching My Life in Gaming's review of the Analogue Pocket today and I am actually impressed with the physical hardware. MLiG is usually the channel I watch when my YouTube sub box gets bombarded with reviews of whatever new retro gaming tech thing comes out. The screen that's an exact 10x integer scale for Gameboy, Gameboy Color, and Game Gear let Analogue do some interesting things like using the image's sub-pixels to get a perfect idealized version of the Gameboy's screen colors. Gameboy games always had a specific color to them due to how the original screens worked and based on that video it's probably the best device at replicating that. The price is even better than previous Analogue systems, I remember when their NES clone was $500 due to the included DAC, and $220 for a very well put together emulation handheld isn't outrageous. I have a higher first opinion of it than I did their consoles.

I'll consider an Analogue Pocket once the firmware is feature complete and once there's a jailbreak firmware with more systems and loading ROMs from SD. The poor thing got delayed repeatedly and it shows by having multiple menu options greyed out and no way to load custom or Super Gameboy palettes. And the fact that it can only play the advertised systems; even loading Master System games through the GG Everdrive or adapter doesn't work right. I'd also like a landscape version similar to the GBA because those tiny L and R buttons look painful, especially with a cartridge in.

 

[Jinmen]

I finally got around to watching My Life in Gaming's review of the Analogue Pocket today and I am actually impressed with the physical hardware.

I'm very impressed with the Analogue pocket as well but there's no way I'm dropping the money on it until there's a way to put roms on it or use an everdrive of some sort.


Also discovered both my TVs have woefully low TVL lol, the fucking 27 inch symphonic is just 250. I think its less of a big deal than reddit makes it out to be though but ill finally get to do testing once my modded psx arrives this week. I personally don't think the vertical "jailbars" look as bad as people say. I talked to some guy that makes quality transcoders on ebay (he's currently out of stock) and he's going to make me one without a shell so I'll get to enjoy that awesome RGB look sooner.

 

[Jean Lafitte 1812]

My CRT is a random small Triniton with a Retro Pi setup to do 240p through composite. Composite looks more than good enough to me and I much prefer keeping my CRT small for moving, and most small ones max out at composite or S-Video at absolute best. I wish mine had stereo sound, but I could hook headphones directly to the Pi if it bothered me that badly.

 

[Smaug's Smokey Hole]

Also discovered both my TVs have woefully low TVL lol, the fucking 27 inch symphonic is just 250. I think its less of a big deal than reddit makes it out to be though but ill finally get to do testing once my modded psx arrives this week. I personally don't think the vertical "jailbars" look as bad as people say. I talked to some guy that makes quality transcoders on ebay (he's currently out of stock) and he's going to make me one without a shell so I'll get to enjoy that awesome RGB look sooner.

I've already made this joke in another thread...

 

[Cloaca Rimjob]

I've noticed CDromance has been sticking a lot of translated turbografx-CD roms on their website. I normally just download translated roms automatically because if the games were shit then why would people go through the trouble of translating them?

Turbografx-CD games just seem like super nintendo games but with much larger file sizes though. The only game I think that stands out is the castlevania one but you can unlock that version in the PSP castlevania.

 

[comfysocks]

I get cancer whenever I visit TV tropes, so I was wondering if anyone could remind me of these games. The first was released in the late '80s or early '90s. You played a detective who has a database called UMBRA. This game might have inspired Her Story and The List.

Second is a game that I think was made between Maniac Mansion and all the Alone in the Dark. You had four party members and you could choose their jobs, you lived longer if your party had a decent layout. You could be a medium or a detective and a bunch of other things.

 

[Basic Block]

I get cancer whenever I visit TV tropes, so I was wondering if anyone could remind me of these games. The first was released in the late '80s or early '90s. You played a detective who has a database called UMBRA. This game might have inspired Her Story and The List.

Presumed Guilty perhaps?

Second is a game that I think was made between Mania Mansion and all the Alone in the Dark. You had four party members and you could choose their jobs, you lived longer if your party had a decent layout. You could be a medium or a detective and a bunch of other things.

No idea on this one. Do you remember any further details?

 

[Sexual Chocolate]

RPCS3 has been around for a few years now (10 years ) but it's still getting updates every few days and has an impressive compatibility list now - more than 2000 titles.

Been playing the Dead Space games on it recently and they're still a lot of fun. Given how easy it is to download rap and pkg files from psndl and install them with updates via psnstuff it's now a better option than softmodding a PS3 and dealing with slow file transfers / install times.

 

[THEY STOLE MY FORESKIN]

RPCS3 has been around for a few years now (10 years ) but it's still getting updates every few days and has an impressive compatibility list now - more than 2000 titles.

Been playing the Dead Space games on it recently and they're still a lot of fun. Given how easy it is to download rap and pkg files from psndl and install them with updates via psnstuff it's now a better option than softmodding a PS3 and dealing with slow file transfers / install times.

PCSX2 too is getting a lot of attention right now, they're making a shader cache so there's less stutter and overhauling the UI. Kind of crazy because I thought the codebase was so old it would've been easier to drop everything and start over from scratch. On the other hand, Dolphin has kind of stagnated and Citra is pretty much dead.

 

[Sexual Chocolate]

PCSX2 too is getting a lot of attention right now, they're making a shader cache so there's less stutter and overhauling the UI. Kind of crazy because I thought the codebase was so old it would've been easier to drop everything and start over from scratch. On the other hand, Dolphin has kind of stagnated and Citra is pretty much dead.

Oh yeah, I was playing God Hand on PCSX2 recently and it was a lot of fun. My son loves Bully and Burnout and it's easier to fire them up on the emulator than it is to keep messing around with IP addresses and FreeMcBoot configs every time Microsoft forces a Windows update that breaks file transfers between the PC and PS2.

 

[Buffalo Chicken Sandwich]

On the other hand, Dolphin has kind of stagnated and Citra is pretty much dead.

Specifically for Smash bros melee there has been a massive step forward with Dolphin in 2020. Slippi adds roll back netcode and matchmaking which has had a massive impact on competitive scene.

 

[Jinmen]

After a near heart attack from thinking I couldn't get the AV menu due to no remote I finally figured it out. Vagrant Story was my burned game I tested. No go. Tested Valkyrie Profile Undub disc 1. Seems to work. Tried vanilla FFT. Works. Same for Crash Bandicoot and Mega Man X4 undub. The SDC combo is such a pleasure to pull off with no input lag.

Tried a reburn of VS at 8x and it seems to work now. Going to test more games tonight.

 

[Friendly Primarina]

Dolphin has kind of stagnated and Citra is pretty much dead.

Lolwut? Dolphin has made leaps and bounds in terms of features (mgba integration e.g.) and compatibility (True Crime NYC finally). Stop using the stable version.

Citra I'll give you, though. It's a shame because Mario Golf is the one game I want to play and it's the one game that runs like shit

 

[X Prime]

Some big news in the world of PS2 emulation. A full speed, free PS2 emulator for Android has just been released in open beta on the Play Store, AetherSX2. As far as I know up until a couple of days ago the only PS2 emu on Android was some Chink spyware using stolen code and a stolen logo from PPSSPP so this is pretty great news.

I haven't tested it myself yet but looking at some of the videos its pretty impressive considering its just come out in open beta.

I am deeply confused.

I thought AetherSX2 was just a fork of PCSX2. PCSX2 has been terrible for years. Why would this suddenly be good, unless what happened here was that some outsider broke through and rekindled interest in PCSX2 to make it better?

 

[Jinmen]

I've already made this joke in another thread...
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The prices on ebay are a fucking joke. My humble little TX-P1430 is going for 400$ and my garbage 27' symphonic im missing the remote to that is only composite + low tvl goes for 300. I don't really think its the end of the world if you can't get S-video/component but part of that is because of bullshit prices. I paid 5$ and 11$ for both.

Also a tip: if you search for TVs on a listing NEVER put "Crt" or "retro", always try to find people who just want to toss their box and cross your fingers it has good outputs.

 

[Massively Strong Greed]

Where do you download PS1 ISOs that don’t trigger the anti-piracy screen? Archive.org?

 

[chiobu]

Where do you download PS1 ISOs that don’t trigger the anti-piracy screen? Archive.org?

I found this piracy-related list of useful things yesterday, might be helpful for that

GitHub - Igglybuff/awesome-piracy: A curated list of awesome warez and piracy links

A curated list of awesome warez and piracy links. Contribute to Igglybuff/awesome-piracy development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

 

[THEY STOLE MY FORESKIN]

I am deeply confused.

I thought AetherSX2 was just a fork of PCSX2. PCSX2 has been terrible for years. Why would this suddenly be good, unless what happened here was that some outsider broke through and rekindled interest in PCSX2 to make it better?

AetherSX2 is indeed a fork of PCSX2. PCSX2 has grown a lot in the past 3 years or so for some reason, it's almost surreal. I honestly don't know what's up, but I think it might have to do with them ditching the plugin system.

Lolwut? Dolphin has made leaps and bounds in terms of features (mgba integration e.g.) and compatibility (True Crime NYC finally). Stop using the stable version.

Citra I'll give you, though. It's a shame because Mario Golf is the one game I want to play and it's the one game that runs like shit

You're right, I forgot about the GBA integration because I don't use it at all, but in my opinion compared to a few years ago where they were able to get the Virtual Console titles and even the Wii Shop working with Nintendo's own servers it gives me the impression that progress has slowed down a little nowadays. Also it sucks that Yuzu took all of Citra's devs away, I wanted to play Luigi's Mansion 2 but it also runs kind of poorly for me.

 

[Smaug's Smokey Hole]

The prices on ebay are a fucking joke. My humble little TX-P1430 is going for 400$ and my garbage 27' symphonic im missing the remote to that is only composite + low tvl goes for 300. I don't really think its the end of the world if you can't get S-video/component but part of that is because of bullshit prices. I paid 5$ and 11$ for both.

I should have been more specific, that is a professional broadcast monitor being sold as a retro thing. They were insanely nice but no one played games on them.
My joke was that people put more time, money and effort into creating the perfect retro setup than anyone did when the consoles were new.

Here's a genuine retro setup: use a tv that was found by the road, unknown make and model.

 

[Jinmen]

I should have been more specific, that is a professional broadcast monitor being sold as a retro thing. They were insanely nice but no one played games on them.
My joke was that people put more time, money and effort into creating the perfect retro setup than anyone did when the consoles were new.

Here's a genuine retro setup: use a tv that was found by the road, unknown make and model.

I have to agree. People act like if you can't get a trinitron or pvc that its the end of the world or not worth pursuing. I don't have any horizontal scanlines on my crt but the picture is still great and I'm very excited to try out RGB. r/crtgaming is basically pvc brag center and the most obnoxious post I saw was one along the lines of "Ah now I can appreciate those oldschool games with a decent crt!" and dude has one of those PVCs. Nothing wrong with being a really devoted enthusiast(if you're very lucky or have enough cash), but after playing with my current setup I care way less about stuff like TVL. IMO factors that should matter when looking for a CRT in the wild is if it works and possibly if it has s-video or component for a better picture. I think TVL sperging is pointless since all consumer models tend to have 200-500 TVL anyway. Could be wrong though.


I'm waiting for my memory card to arrive this afternoon then I need to decide on what rpg to play. Considering Valkyrie Profile or Vagrant Story though replaying FF7 on my display and re-living nostalgia as an 11 year old is highly tempting. My only problem so far when testing games is that for some of them I get very slight slowdown or longer load times. All are burnt CD-Rs so I suspect my laser may need replacing in the future, anyone ever done this before?