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

[Celebrate Nite]

Has there been an update on the "Retroarch vs Stenzek" situation? Guy randomly decided to delete all his PCSX2-related stuff a couple of days ago and was wondering if he got kicked from the team or something.

You have ANY source to back up your statement and share to the rest of us that have no idea about this?

Google doesn't show shit except for drama that happened 5 months ago in which he closed down the DuckStation GitHub and made it read-only mode

And it seems like the latesst development build of that was released 4 days ago

Stenzek has a GitHub profile and his latest contribute to PCSX2 was on the 7th of this month, and the Libretro Forums aren't showing shit.

if this is Discord drama then fuck that and Discord entirely.

 

[Stasi]

You have ANY source to back up your statement and share to the rest of us that have no idea about this?

Google doesn't show shit except for drama that happened 5 months ago in which he closed down the DuckStation GitHub and made it read-only mode
View attachment 3484099
And it seems like the latesst development build of that was released 4 days ago

Stenzek has a GitHub profile and his latest contribute to PCSX2 was on the 7th of this month, and the Libretro Forums aren't showing shit.

if this is Discord drama then fuck that and Discord entirely.

I hope its just a bullshit rumour. The only worthwhile updates to PCSX2 in about 10 years have been as a result of the duckstation guy getting involved.

 

[Celebrate Nite]

The only worthwhile updates to PCSX2 in about 10 years have been as a result of the duckstation guy getting involved.

1 Month ago: PCSX2 gets a new UI (Archive - https://archive.ph/YUP8n )
March 2022: PCSX2 will drop 32bit and support DirectX12 (Archive - https://archive.ph/nWIo1 )
January 2022: PCSX2 adds Vulkan support (Archive - https://archive.ph/pJjl3 )

Most recent news I could find on PCSX2 and Stenzek

 

[tswkelbris]

Turns out it was just internal team drama (a tidbit can be found at https://github.com/PCSX2/pcsx2/pull/6540#issuecomment-1181267917). As for what I was referring to by "Retroarch vs Stenzek", I was referring to the whole Swanstation debacle and the claims that the Retroarch team were trying to get Stenzek booted from the PCSX2 team, blackmail etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rw6owAP3uE

Thought maybe they had succeeded

 

[MembersSchoolPizza]

So what is the current bang-for-buck best retro handheld? I'm not interested in spending 250-500 dollars on some of the mini-pcs like the Steam console and the steam-console knockoffs. I just wanna play SNES, Genesis, Neo Geo, and arcade games. Maybe a few PS1 games like Symphony of the Night, and if it could manage Dreamcast, Dreamcast had a great selection of 2D fighters, but that would be purely a bonus.

I'm currently looking at a Retroid Pocket 2, or the GPI2.

 

[ApatheticViewer]

So what is the current bang-for-buck best retro handheld? I'm not interested in spending 250-500 dollars on some of the mini-pcs like the Steam console and the steam-console knockoffs. I just wanna play SNES, Genesis, Neo Geo, and arcade games. Maybe a few PS1 games like Symphony of the Night, and if it could manage Dreamcast, Dreamcast had a great selection of 2D fighters, but that would be purely a bonus.

I'm currently looking at a Retroid Pocket 2, or the GPI2.

View attachment 3502686
I have this thing. Works fine. Mine came with nearly every Neo Geo game not sure if it's different for others tho. Comes prepacked with so many Genesis, NES, PC Engine, GBA, Arcade classics etc, PS1 seems ok but I don't use it a lot. Dreamcast is jittery. I can run Crazy Taxi fine tho

Snes catalog was lacking. But it's pretty easy to just download more. One problem I guess is the battery doesn't give accurate read outs. It'll go from 80% to 5% to 0% back up to 95%. You stop paying attention after a while.

 

[Smaug's Smokey Hole]

I installed the latest RetroArch so I could install Win98 on it, pretty nifty that they support that now, here's my experience:

Wow, they updated the interface to be windows/pc friendly, that's nice.
Downloading cores is super easy, just scroll down and click on it.
Then just launch the Win98 iso from Load Content.

Current RetroArch retardation status: 50%, it seems nice if still a bit cumbersome.

The DosBox-Pure window behaves a bit weird when selecting things. A bit annoying but no big deal and maybe it would be unreasonable to expect them to be as user friendly as VMWare.
52%

It recognizes the ISO and asks which size the hard drive will be, nifty. It creates the hard drive then the screen is just black. Turns out I picked the wrong boot option and while it recognizes that it can't possibly install windows it won't say anything.
53%

I can just reset/restart the core or exit it. No, have to quit retroarch and start from the beginning.
58%

This time everything works, except regular arrow keys no longer work, only the numpad ones does something and it seems to emulate a 2xCD drive(61%) so it takes a while. But I'm running it in a window so I'll just click on the youtube video on the other screen and watch that. No, no, the mouse isn't captured by the window but RetroArch confines the cursor to the screen the program is running on for reasons unknown. This is retarded, it would take dev time to do something that dumb.
70%

Alt-tab works and I tab to the other screen. This pauses the emulation/installation, the Window needs to be in focus for the installation to progress, it cannot happen in the background.
80%

Finally, time to enter the serial key. C 3 4 Y P - wait, it types C34 but the Y doesn't register and P pauses everything, surely there's a way in the menu to capture the keyboard the way it can capture the mouse. No. Have to google it and it's in the general settings somewhere. Pressing scroll lock enables "game focus" that allows the keyboard to work. It warns you that game focus is on but it never says anything about it being off while the program is well aware that you are installing Windows. Now the first field only takes 4 characters instead of 5, how is this even possible? Backing up and going into it again solves it.
90%


Finally finished and I'm in Win98, then change the resolution, color depth and mouse sensitivity. Things works well, this is really cool and you know what's great? There's Voodoo 3 emulation, that's a beefy graphics card for 90's games and pretty much everything up to 2000 supported Glide as opposed to the spotty or lackluster support for D3D/OGL and all the other APIs. Good stuff.

Shut down win98 by shutting down retroarch, this is done by pressing escape twice which is an improvement, start retroarch again, go into load content, navigate to my Nocturne ISO, choose "launch OS" and it mounts the ISO in Win98! Fantastic. Installation takes a long time because of the slow cd readspeed, and the window has to be in focus the whole time or else it will pause, the cursor can't go outside the borders of the physical monitor and these things are annoyances for sure.

Game is installed, launch it... Oh, MMX isn't supported at all in this machine. It emulates a graphics card from 1999 but can't run games using any part of a games/multimedia instruction set introduced in early 1997, which was before most people even had 3D accelerators. This is... I mean, the instruction set is still supported by all modern processors.
120%

It's still an improvement.

 

[Carpenter Trout]

I mean, Duckstation was a really nice emulator. Idk what would replace it at this point.

I'm still not replacing it. Sure as hell won't go back to ePSXe, nor retroarch.
I hope someone as talented as him (and who isn't a furry faggot troon drama queen) will take his place and keep further improving this emulator (like adding an option to not have on-screen messages and instead having an external console for that, or TAS support, because Bizhawk is quite annoying with all its infinite bugs).

Sad, it's still a very good ps1 emulator, it even includes PGXP (to fix texture culling and shit)
oh, also a video which was linked from a r/emulation post about this.
still, everyone say and shows pictures of the repository being read-only, but I really can't see it being so.
Also, archived today for posterity sake.

I hope not, but it's looking more and more like stenzek could do a byuu. Someone forks his shit and does whatever, and he loses it. What kind of 'harassment' is being applied by retroarch, exactly? Forking it and copying it? Grow a pair and stop whining like a little kid, everyone knows you're the original creator, and nearly nobody uses/likes retroarch anyways. Retroarch is still a laughable matter on its own merits already, one of the worst excuse for an emulator I've used yet.

what is with good emulators and having touchy lunatics as lead devs? Apparently stenzek will probably do a completely overhaul and turn it closed source, according to this completely unfounded post here [a]:
which is, in my opinion, is a dumb move.

Oh, also MVG has posted there, this is going to be fun.
That guy's been turning into a lolcow as of late.

Qt: Fix window reopening after close by stenzek · Pull Request #6540 · PCSX2/pcsx2

Description of Changes Stops the window reopening after it's been closedl Rationale behind Changes Regression from #6536. Suggested Testing Steps Test closing window with game running.

github.com

Holy shit, it's Byuu all over again. Hopefully he'll learn not to troon out and not to become a drama queen, although he's on his way in. Someone should tell him to get more sleep, fix his sleep schedule and not to fuck up his own mental health by not sleeping and getting addicted to caffeine and discord.

 

[Gru]

Oh, also MVG has posted there, this is going to be fun.
That guy's been turning into a lolcow as of late.

As of late? I've considered him a lolcow ever since that time he tried to pass off some chinese emulation machine for the N64 as a legitimate clone console and then got mad for being criticized about it.

Also he whined about Byuu's "suicide" on twitter or something, that should set it in stone for everyone else.

 

[Carpenter Trout]

Also he whined about Byuu's "suicide" on twitter or something, that should set it in stone for everyone else.

If I am not mistaken, he made a badly informed video about it, he stated that it was kiwifarms and muh online cyberbulleh or some shit. I haven't seen it because I stopped caring about that guy after he started branching into drama and shit. You can find the video somewhere in the 700+ page thread "The great twitter meltdown".
I honestly much prefer LGR and "8-Bit Guy". At least, from what I've seen, they keep sperging to a minimum.

 

[Two Dollars]

So what is the current bang-for-buck best retro handheld? I'm not interested in spending 250-500 dollars on some of the mini-pcs like the Steam console and the steam-console knockoffs. I just wanna play SNES, Genesis, Neo Geo, and arcade games. Maybe a few PS1 games like Symphony of the Night, and if it could manage Dreamcast, Dreamcast had a great selection of 2D fighters, but that would be purely a bonus.

I'm currently looking at a Retroid Pocket 2, or the GPI2.

The Retroid Pocket 2+ (the plus is important) is great and can comfortably handle everything up through Dreamcast, along with a very small amount of GC/Wii. I got mine for $100 plus shipping, though you may have to pay more depending on where/when you get it. Unlike other handhelds at that price point, it runs Android, which has its pros and cons. It can play low-end Android games, touch screen is good for menu navigation, and you get Android’s sleep mode, but like any Android device, the battery will run out when it’s not being used and the startup/SD mounting time from being fully powered off is several minutes.

I also have a GPi2 and it’s terrible, don’t even bother. It’s overpriced, bulky, the dock is really screwy, and an all around pain to use; and good luck finding a CM4.

Aside from those, there’s also the Miyoo Mini with Onion OS CFW. No Dreamcast, a tiny handful of SNES games like Star Fox don’t run well, not sure about PS1 but it’s been good in my experience, and the device is too small to comfortably play a lot of run and jump platformers like Mario unless you have small hands. But if you don’t mind all that, it’s only $60, well-made, and highly portable. Anbernic also makes some good stuff but I don’t know much about them.

 

[SSj_Ness (Yiffed)]

If I am not mistaken, he made a badly informed video about it, he stated that it was kiwifarms and muh online cyberbulleh or some shit. I haven't seen it because I stopped caring about that guy after he started branching into drama and shit. You can find the video somewhere in the 700+ page thread "The great twitter meltdown".
I honestly much prefer LGR and "8-Bit Guy". At least, from what I've seen, they keep sperging to a minimum.

I haven't noticed much by MVG, is he a libtatd? I know he was whining about Near in a video when he "died" but that was all.

 

[Pissmaster]

I haven't noticed much by MVG, is he a libtatd? I know he was whining about Near in a video when he "died" but that was all.

Here's a long effortpost I wrote last year, where he promoted some emulator box as a clone console and kept doubling down:

https://kiwifarms.st/threads/retro-games-and-emulation.30435/page-40#post-10577251

He's not quite threadworthy just yet, but worth keeping an eye on

 

[tswkelbris]

Holy shit, it's Byuu all over again. Hopefully he'll learn not to troon out and not to become a drama queen, although he's on his way in.

Yup, sadly-whatever caused this led to the delay of the RetroAchievements integration (which Stenzek STILL hasn't restored the branch for). Makes me wonder if that was part of the cause of this.

 

[Jonah Hill poster]

Fun fact: You’re living in a current timeline where games like these will be 20 to 20+ years old.



Yes, I know they’re annual sports games and we all know how we feel about those, but these games were from a different time. Even being a normie did not mean much since the NBA Live series from the late 90’s (starting from NBA LIVE 98 to NBA LIVE 99 to be exact) was a true cool thing to witness.

The video game covers from these games look really vintage, as if a real sports floor cameraman actually took the time and effort to capture the talents of these known NBA stars on the court. If you ask me, the PS2 versions of these four games were much better than the XBOX and GameCube ones (the PS1 versions were pretty much how I learned about copy and paste so they could force you to buy the upgraded versions if you were poor, though I know they stopped that after NBA LIVE 2004 was released).

Though, one of the best things about the game(s) in particular were the start up menus that really showed you that at a time, EA SPORTS at least attempted to show some care for their games:

The time they hired Montell Jordan to do the theme for NBA LIVE 2001 while showing a mo-capped Kevin Garnett:

Have in-game highlights in NBA LIVE 2003 while it looked like they were doing a rap music video while playing the game:

Also in the same game, show you tutorials on how basic and freestyle controls worked:

Have the real future Hall of Famers act like real athletes and not celebrities being flashy:

I could go on and on, but the NBA LIVE series from ‘98 to ‘04 was the best time to play this series. It’s a shame NBA 2K turned to what it is today and essentially destroyed the competition as far basketball sports games go. All you need to remember is that those games in the pictures have the best video game covers I’ve ever seen. It was like picking up a real life trading card and showing it to your friends in the least show-offy way possible.

 

[José Mourinho]

Yes, I know they’re annual sports games and we all know how we feel about those, but these games were from a different time. Even being a normie did not mean much since the NBA Live series from the late 90’s (starting from NBA LIVE 98 to NBA LIVE 99 to be exact) was a true cool thing to witness.

......

Though, one of the best things about the game(s) in particular were the start up menus that really showed you that at a time, EA SPORTS at least attempted to show some care for their games:

Even though I don't play these basketball games, I used to play these retro football games (same company, EA) and looking back at it, it's rather depressing that most of the sports games nowadays focuses on this dumb lootbox "upgrade your own team" bullshit mechanic which yes, I get it, it's a very good moneymaker, but I guess trying to use that money to improve on your game is a pipedream.

 

[Jonah Hill poster]

Even though I don't play these basketball games, I used to play these retro football games (same company, EA) and looking back at it, it's rather depressing that most of the sports games nowadays focuses on this dumb lootbox "upgrade your own team" bullshit mechanic which yes, I get it, it's a very good moneymaker, but I guess trying to use that money to improve on your game is a pipedream.

FIFA is the worst example of this, since I recalled they had a lawsuit over spending multiple amount of dollars in a game on game modes like Ultimate Team:

https://www.republicworld.com/sports-news/esports/ea-sports-sued-for-5-million-over-claims-fut-constitutes-gambling.html

Digital gambling has the same kinds of addictions that real life gambling can have, if one does not control it.

 

[Friendly Primarina]

Fun fact: You’re living in a current timeline where games like these will be 20 to 20+ years old.

View attachment 3533199View attachment 3533200View attachment 3533201View attachment 3533202

Yes, I know they’re annual sports games and we all know how we feel about those, but these games were from a different time. Even being a normie did not mean much since the NBA Live series from the late 90’s (starting from NBA LIVE 98 to NBA LIVE 99 to be exact) was a true cool thing to witness.

The video game covers from these games look really vintage, as if a real sports floor cameraman actually took the time and effort to capture the talents of these known NBA stars on the court. If you ask me, the PS2 versions of these four games were much better than the XBOX and GameCube ones (the PS1 versions were pretty much how I learned about copy and paste so they could force you to buy the upgraded versions if you were poor, though I know they stopped that after NBA LIVE 2004 was released).

Though, one of the best things about the game(s) in particular were the start up menus that really showed you that at a time, EA SPORTS at least attempted to show some care for their games:

The time they hired Montell Jordan to do the theme for NBA LIVE 2001 while showing a mo-capped Kevin Garnett:

Have in-game highlights in NBA LIVE 2003 while it looked like they were doing a rap music video while playing the game:

Also in the same game, show you tutorials on how basic and freestyle controls worked:

Have the real future Hall of Famers act like real athletes and not celebrities being flashy:

I could go on and on, but the NBA LIVE series from ‘98 to ‘04 was the best time to play this series. It’s a shame NBA 2K turned to what it is today and essentially destroyed the competition as far basketball sports games go. All you need to remember is that those games in the pictures have the best video game covers I’ve ever seen. It was like picking up a real life trading card and showing it to your friends in the least show-offy way possible.

I played a lot of NBA Street Vol. 2 back in the day and there's a video included where the guy that played the announcer says something like "...and in 20 years time we're gonna be looking back and saying, 'these are the guys that were playing in 2002/2003'." Kinda hard to think about now.

 

[Two Dollars]

If you ask me, the PS2 versions of these four games were much better than the XBOX and GameCube ones (the PS1 versions were pretty much how I learned about copy and paste so they could force you to buy the upgraded versions if you were poor, though I know they stopped that after NBA LIVE 2004 was released).

I never played those, but what would make the PS2 versions the best? It’s the weakest of the three systems, and I can understand it possibly being better than the Gamecube version since it had less space to work with, but wouldn’t the Xbox version be the same but on more powerful hardware?
Or is it just because Playstation and basketball target the same demographic?

Mine came with nearly every Neo Geo game not sure if it's different for others tho. Comes prepacked with so many Genesis, NES, PC Engine, GBA, Arcade classics etc,

I forgot to mention in my earlier post, but don’t do this. Some retro handhelds come with SD cards preloaded with games, and they’re all but guaranteed to be the worst knockoff cards China can make. They’re slow and won’t last long, so just throw it away, buy a micro SD off Amazon for a few bucks, and load it up with your own roms.

 

[Jonah Hill poster]

I never played those, but what would make the PS2 versions the best? It’s the weakest of the three systems, and I can understand it possibly being better than the Gamecube version since it had less space to work with, but wouldn’t the Xbox version be the same but on more powerful hardware?
Or is it just because Playstation and basketball target the same demographic?

Since I can only speak for myself here, the XBOX versions may have had powerful hardware, but the controls for the NBA LIVE series were a little hard to maneuver. At best, the PS2 versions for those games were easy to control, as the analog sticks made it an improvement over the PS1 when it was first launched (replay-ability and all of that jazz).