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

[Dr. Geronimo]

May Allah forgive me for asking this in this sub, but are there any good Xbox 360 controllers out there? All I'm seeing are a bunch of no name ALL CAPS CHINK SHIT.

 

[Xarpho's Return]

Question:

Can someone name an emulator for Gameboy that actually DOES have Super Gameboy functionality.. including the borders (both the built-in ones and any that load with a game?)

I've seen emulators *claim* to have this but really they just put the games in color. I wanted to show online friends this stuff but right now my only option is to use an actual super gameboy (which I do have, but I don't have a capture device and webcam loses detail).

For Game Boy emulators, it will load the border if it has one (and only a handful of games did), but not the borders that SGB has built-in, which is a ROM cartridgte.

 

[11 Herbs and Spices]

May Allah forgive me for asking this in this sub, but are there any good Xbox 360 controllers out there? All I'm seeing are a bunch of no name ALL CAPS CHINK SHIT.

For the 360 itself or just 360-like controllers? The Hyperkin 360 remake for the Series is apparently heavily dependent on the QC of the batch you get. Some are good, some are absolutely awful.

 

[Dr. Geronimo]

For the 360 itself or just 360-like controllers? The Hyperkin 360 remake for the Series is apparently heavily dependent on the QC of the batch you get. Some are good, some are absolutely awful.

For the 360 itself. I saw the hyperkin controller but they only work for the One and up.

 

[11 Herbs and Spices]

For the 360 itself. I saw the hyperkin controller but they only work for the One and up.

My honest suggestion is to check a local game store and see if you can find a wired 360 in decent enough condition for $30. I tried two chinkshit ones before the pandemic and both sucked in almost every regard and were still around $30. The local for me even had an official wireless USB dongle for $15.

 

[skykiii]

So... is there an emulator whose handling of analog sticks doesn't suck?

Having owned a real N64 and Playstation with Dual Shock controllers, I know how its supposed to work, but emulators seem to never feel "right." They seem like they're interpreting the analog stick as a glorified D-pad.

 

[Friendly Primarina]

I know how its supposed to work, but emulators seem to never feel "right."

Could you give some examples?

 

[Two Dollars]

So... is there an emulator whose handling of analog sticks doesn't suck?

In my experience, all of them. Maybe it’s your controller?

 

[Judge Dredd]

Having owned a real N64 and Playstation with Dual Shock controllers, I know how its supposed to work, but emulators seem to never feel "right." They seem like they're interpreting the analog stick as a glorified D-pad.

This requires some autism.

In short, early analog stuff works different with different dead zones, resistance, etc. With the n64, first party controllers could never reach 100% in any given direction iirc. There's also the "gate" of the stick. That's the plastic bit that stops the stick from moving. The n64 had an octagon gate. Duel shocks have a round one. So if you're using a modern controller, and you move the stick to 1 oclock, you technically couldn't get that in a N64.

You can fiddle around with the setting to get it more to your liking, but it's easy to drive yourself insane. My advice is to mess with the settings to get something okay-ish, then try to adjust. Another option is to get a retro N64 controller for PC. I got a Tribute 64 a while ago, and while I can't use it for Turok or Wrestlemania, it works good enough for most games.

 

[BrunoMattei]

This requires some autism.

In short, early analog stuff works different with different dead zones, resistance, etc. With the n64, first party controllers could never reach 100% in any given direction iirc. There's also the "gate" of the stick. That's the plastic bit that stops the stick from moving. The n64 had an octagon gate. Duel shocks have a round one. So if you're using a modern controller, and you move the stick to 1 oclock, you technically couldn't get that in a N64.

You can fiddle around with the setting to get it more to your liking, but it's easy to drive yourself insane. My advice is to mess with the settings to get something okay-ish, then try to adjust. Another option is to get a retro N64 controller for PC. I got a Tribute 64 a while ago, and while I can't use it for Turok or Wrestlemania, it works good enough for most games.

To be fair, it's N64: I can't think of any games off the top of my head that require absolutely precise movement and decision making ala Mike Tyson's Punch Out or any extremely difficult platformer.

Maybe Sin & Punishment on the hardest difficulty but even then it's still kind of easy?

 

[Carpenter Trout]

Speaking of controllers, retrobit have finally added two sticks and two extra shoulder buttons to the Sega Saturn controller.

There are some caveats:
No analog triggers, despite the 3D Saturn Pad having two analog triggers (with the excuse "the saturn never used those");
C and Z are just L1 and R1 again instead of extra buttons, and SDL does allow for extra inputs.

All of this for the sake of being a Switch controller.

More details here:

I'm honest, the first design (3:27 and 3:31 in the video) looked much better than this revision.
It's pure Form over Function, the 8BitDo's SNES dual analog controller was better.

 

[残念。]

I think the issue with N64 emulation is that the original joysticks didn't output in a linear way, which is why emulation and even third party controllers feel like they go to 0 to 100 in about a quarter of a millimeter.

 

[SSj_Ness (Yiffed)]

To be fair, it's N64: I can't think of any games off the top of my head that require absolutely precise movement and decision making ala Mike Tyson's Punch Out or any extremely difficult platformer.

Maybe Sin & Punishment on the hardest difficulty but even then it's still kind of easy?

It's the kind of thing you probably won't even notice until someone brings it to your attention anyway, unless you used real hardware in recent memory. All the N64 games feel just fine on NSO for example, as do the ones I've tried on Steam Deck (though I prefer Switch's stick in terms of feel).

 

[Takayuki Yagami]

So, I have a slightly weird thing. I’m using an Anbernic 35xx with garlicOS to play all the usual shit you do, and for some reason in Aria of Sorrow the game is not keeping my saves. I haven’t played anything else in the gba library and I’m wondering anyone knows why it would be doing this and how to fix it. The dual pack version for some reason is keeping a save right after the first boss but it nothing else sticks.

 

[Dr. Geronimo]

My Life in Gaming made a video on the RetroTINK 4K:

I watched it and said "huh. Maybe I should get one for my Wii." Went to the store page annnnd:


Is shit like this actually that in demand? Why in god's name would I spend a gaming PC budget (That I can just emulate these games) for a damn upscaler?

 

[Cubanodun]

May Allah forgive me for asking this in this sub, but are there any good Xbox 360 controllers out there? All I'm seeing are a bunch of no name ALL CAPS CHINK SHIT.

I dont know for the xbox, i got a T4 Kaleid for next to nothing to replace my old xbox controller for the pc and only picked it because it looked gayming and the thing came with hall effect joysticks, mechanical buttons, gyro and all the shebang and was like 25 bucks, chineses can throw you good shit but you have to search carefully

Is shit like this actually that in demand? Why in god's name would I spend a gaming PC budget (That I can just emulate these games) for a damn upscaler?

like every reviewer tell you this is the ferrari of upscalers, it works with everything you throw it, even with tricky stuff like the Amiga, it cant even make the Switch looks decent when you pump that boy to 4k60, like the MISTER, is a product specifically designed for the turbo autists that work with it, if you are a streamer this is no brain, plug that bitch and use any of the community profiles, watch it look like a actual remaster

 

[MembersSchoolPizza]

Is shit like this actually that in demand? Why in god's name would I spend a gaming PC budget (That I can just emulate these games) for a damn upscaler?

One of the reviewers I watched said something like "Will this finally make retro-gamers give up their CRTs?"

And it's like... fuck no, not at that price. I'm not a purist. I just game on a regular ol' monitor. It's good enough for me. But you can get many CRTs for that price. Even some of the really premium "deluxe" CRTs that are really coveted you could at least get a couple of.

 

[Anon88]

My Life in Gaming made a video on the RetroTINK 4K:

I always find these types of videos to be funny. They compare the difference between the image from the tv upscaler and the RetroTink 4K side to side with each other and I can hardly see a difference. If you removed the label from under the video I probably would think that it's just the same thing shown two times. There's a difference if you look really hard but I can't imagine that your going to notice it when playing a game.

 

[Two Dollars]

So, I have a slightly weird thing. I’m using an Anbernic 35xx with garlicOS to play all the usual shit you do, and for some reason in Aria of Sorrow the game is not keeping my saves. I haven’t played anything else in the gba library and I’m wondering anyone knows why it would be doing this and how to fix it. The dual pack version for some reason is keeping a save right after the first boss but it nothing else sticks.

The 2-in-1 games might not emulate well, so you’d be better off using the standalone version’s rom. Or if you’re using gpSP, you could try switching to mGBA, but I recommend trying the other rom first.

I always find these types of videos to be funny. They compare the difference between the image from the tv upscaler and the RetroTink 4K side to side with each other and I can hardly see a difference. If you removed the label from under the video I probably would think that it's just the same thing shown two times. There's a difference if you look really hard but I can't imagine that your going to notice it when playing a game.

It’s not nearly as bad as GameXplain’s comparison videos where they put the Switch Online emulator next to a vanilla N64 with shitty analog output connected to a modern digital TV and say “wow look how much better the switch version is!!!”

 

[斯尼 德之王]

My Life in Gaming made a video on the RetroTINK 4K:

I watched it and said "huh. Maybe I should get one for my Wii." Went to the store page annnnd:
View attachment 5539216

Is shit like this actually that in demand? Why in god's name would I spend a gaming PC budget (That I can just emulate these games) for a damn upscaler?

Never thought I would see the day where retro upscalling nonsense would be talked about on the Farms.

Anyway, I think part of the reason why it's so expensive is because it's such a niche market that it's difficult to source parts and these fat man children will buy anything. Also there's that dumb drama that these morons get themselves into.

A rival "company" Pixelfx is making a similar device but in two versions with supposed "DRM" built into it. Also, they have been shit talking Mike Chi, the maker of the Retrotink in their Discords.

This sektor of autism never stays out of petty drama, from Voultar and Bob from RetroRGB screeching in their Xitter page, to the maker of the XBOX HD+ (a og xbox hdmi mod) buying website domains to spite people that criticized his shitty 300 dollar mod.