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

[Gingervitis]

skill issue
Are you using wired controllers? And if so, USB or SNAC? Run-ahead in emulators?

I tend to use my Steam Deck as of late. On the rare occasions the four face button setup doesn’t work (literally just the Saturn), I use the wireless Saturn controller, and when I connect it to the TV, I use either a wireless Xbox One controller, a wireless Saturn controller, or a wireless PS4 controller. When I do use a wired controller, I typically use USB. The Xbox and PS4 controllers are bluetooth, while the Saturn controller is 2.4GHz. No idea what run-ahead is

 

[Captain Syrup]

Dropped. My immersion is ruined.
View attachment 7134124

Actually, Vyse didn’t prove the world was round. Belleza did. She made it to Yafutoma first, but go off, I guess.

(Yes she took a shortcut and didn’t technically circle the globe.)

 

[73_Autistic_Fuck_54]

Bought a summercart64 for my N64, hell of a lot cheaper than the everdrive. It can even run n64dd games

 

[73_Autistic_Fuck_54]

 

[HexFag]

View attachment 7151554

Actually, Vyse didn’t prove the world was round. Belleza did. She made it to Yafutoma first, but go off, I guess.

(Yes she took a shortcut and didn’t technically circle the globe.)

Maybe Belleza should've reported it to the Guild first

 

[Bruce LaLiLuLeLo]

The Pikmin Wii port with Keyboard+Mouse controls is amazing. Selecting Pikmin with a mouse feels just as natural as any PC game having all the Pikmin commands bound to a 5 button mouse feels great.

Wii games on Dolphin aggravate my autism. Dolphin displays Wii game banners but only after a save file is created. So I have to launch a bunch of games I know I'm never going to actually play just so the menu looks nice. Very tedious to do for hundreds games.

Do you have a tutorial or something for setting up mouse on dolphin? I'm having a lot of difficulty setting it up

 

[MongolianMongoose]

Do you have a tutorial or something for setting up mouse on dolphin? I'm having a lot of difficulty setting it up

The most important setting is Config, Interface, Mouse Cursor Visibility "Never" because it's impossible to get your computer mouse and the Wii on-screen pointer to line up perfectly.
I attached my control config. It's an ini file that was renamed to .txt so it can be uploaded here.
My settings might be kind of strange. Probably the best thing to do is read the Wii manual to understand the controls and map it to what suits you best.
Manual PDF https://archive.org/details/manuallib-id-2492718
And BTW the 60 FPS patch break the game so don't use that.

 

[Two Dollars]

I tend to use my Steam Deck as of late. On the rare occasions the four face button setup doesn’t work (literally just the Saturn), I use the wireless Saturn controller, and when I connect it to the TV, I use either a wireless Xbox One controller, a wireless Saturn controller, or a wireless PS4 controller. When I do use a wired controller, I typically use USB. The Xbox and PS4 controllers are bluetooth, while the Saturn controller is 2.4GHz.

Well there’s your problem, you’re using wireless everything. In terms of controller connection speed, it goes:
Serial connection (actual controllers on an actual system) = SNAC (actual controller connection on a Mister FPGA) > USB wired > USB 2.4Ghz dongle > Bluetooth
Your TV is only one variable.

No idea what run-ahead is

That’s a setting in RetroArch (and maybe others). I don’t know exactly how it works, but it’s something about running multiple instances of a game simultaneously that’s supposed to reduce input lag below even a CRT.

 

[Never Scored]

With how popular CRTs are amongst retro gamers as well as their willingness to spend the money to play old games just like as they remember it, I'm surprised no company has taken advantage of this and started to make new CRTs. Is there a reason why this isn't the case or does the Tink 4k just kind of outpace any CRT that is still around?

I put an IPS in my GBA and GBC. I put them next to my original brick GB and my wife's GBA SP and there is zero perceptible delay compared to original hardware. We are perfectly capable of manufacturing displays which will not cause input delay when playing old hardware. The delay issue is twofold.

1) Emulation can cause a delay because as opposed to the software being a rom chip you plug directly into the hardware, allowing virtually instant communication between the software and hardware, you have a software layer pretending to to be the hardware which often creates a delay as the transposes what the software is doing for your modern hardware. This can be mitigated with fast hardware and well written software to the point that most people will not notice, but the only way to 100% eliminate it is by using original hardware, an FPGA to actually emulate the hardware, or a system on a chip clone.

2) Many LCD or LED tvs take time to process input which also leads to a delay. A newer TV with a game mode virtually eliminates this delay. I put an actual SNES hooked up to a CRT and a Retron 3 HD hooked up to a newer TV side by side, put Super Mario World on both, and honest to god, you cannot tell the different in terms of input delay. I had an older LCD TV with the light tubes in it, and the delay was brutal even with the Retron 3.

Even with a good TV and an FPGA though, you're not going to capture a certian feeling... Even with filters. At that point it's more of a nostalgia thing than any kind of technical issue, though. Sitting down in front of an actual CRT with an actual SNES feels good because it's what I did for years and years as a child.

 

[TaimuRadiu]

If you could even make them economies of scale would not be in effect and they would be extremely expensive and not very well produced.

But you probably can't even make them anymore due to environmental regulations as CRT tubes are coated in lead to prevent radiation which isn't allowed in consumer products these days.

Environmental regulations, yes. Thanks Obama.

I got a nice 2008ish CRT in front of me rn, it even has a digital tuner in it.

Basically, there is no CRT manufacturing capacity in the world anymore, and it would be way too expensive to tool up for, given the miniscule market for them.

Supposedly Chink factories still make them, if you can afford to buy 100 shitty chink CRTs off Ali that is you can get more.

 

[The Evil Midnight Bomber]

I mean, my main issue with non-CRTs is input delay. I can’t count the number of times when I thought, “No, fuck you, I pressed the button at the right time” when playing something like Punch Out or the minecary segments from DKC. If I can’t do that on a regular TV, it’s not good.

That was the thing that impressed me the most about the Sony I bought. I'm way better at Super Contra now because my inputs don't have horrid 2010 LCD TV delay anymore (it must have been like 5ms).

 

[Samuel Fuller]

That was the thing that impressed me the most about the Sony I bought. I'm way better at Super Contra now because my inputs don't have horrid 2010 LCD TV delay anymore (it must have been like 5ms).

Sony LCDs in Game Mode have extremely low lag. I am on my third one over the past 15 years from upsizing as prices got to where I could swing it, and my latest one is just insane for gaming, even using an HDMI convertor for my original PS2 that uses the RGB signal off the multi AV port and just puts it on the RGB lines of an HDMI connection.

The HDMI convertor is one of those things where all the reviews are either 5 stars from the people who have TVs it works with, or 1 star from people who don't. The really. cool thing is seeing what it puts out and realizing all the washed-out look of PS2 games was mainly from the reduction of color gamut due to NTSC processing. I now know why Japanese RGB-equipped TVs were so awesome.

 

[The Evil Midnight Bomber]

Sony LCDs in Game Mode have extremely low lag. I am on my third one over the past 15 years from upsizing as prices got to where I could swing it, and my latest one is just insane for gaming, even using an HDMI convertor for my original PS2 that uses the RGB signal off the multi AV port and just puts it on the RGB lines of an HDMI connection.

The HDMI convertor is one of those things where all the reviews are either 5 stars from the people who have TVs it works with, or 1 star from people who don't. The really. cool thing is seeing what it puts out and realizing all the washed-out look of PS2 games was mainly from the reduction of color gamut due to NTSC processing. I now know why Japanese RGB-equipped TVs were so awesome.

I'm not talking about a modern LCD, I should have been a little clearer I guess. I'm talking about this Trinitron I posted recently:

I swapped from some random Telefunken LCD I've had for a decade to this screen. I'm also seriously impressed with the speakers besides the great reaction time:

This is recorded with a Blue Snowball from across the room at about 2/3s volume btw.

 

[Never Scored]

I got this weird handheld called a "Neocade MD-200" that takes Sega Genesis carts on sale on Temu, thinking it would be Hyperkin-style system on a chip clone. I'm still not 100% sure, but I think it's using emulation. Sound is a little off but nowhere near as bad as the old Firecore systems. There doesn't seem to be input lag that I can perceive, but it seems like the screen runs at 30fps instead of 60fps and that's really weird at first. I booted up Sonic 2 on both it and an actual Genesis at the same time, tried to start at the same time and held right, and they seemed to stay pretty much in sync. There was noticeable slowdown in Sonic 3, though so I assume anything that pushed the Genesis a bit is going to be the same.

Sega Six-Pak, Open ED, Mega Everdrive and a chink everdrive knockoff I have all don't work in it, but weirdly this 208-in-one cart from China I have does. I love these little single console handhelds because of how uncomplicated they are, and it's an OK device for what it is. If you pick it up with a $10 chinese multicart, it's a straightforward way to play some mindless Genesis games, especially if you like weird chink shit like me. I wouldn't hesitate to play a beat-em-up or something on it while I listen to the news or a podcast in the background. Don't buy it at full price, though.

 

[Samuel Fuller]

I'm not talking about a modern LCD, I should have been a little clearer I guess. I'm talking about this Trinitron I posted recently:
View attachment 7159992
I swapped from some random Telefunken LCD I've had for a decade to this screen. I'm also seriously impressed with the speakers besides the great reaction time:

View attachment 7160157
This is recorded with a Blue Snowball from across the room at about 2/3s volume btw.

Trinitron tubes were awesome. I had a Sun Microsystems 21" monitor with one back in the day, it was amazing with my Dreamcast.

 

[BrunoMattei]

I thought a direct and abbreviated experience might appeal to the TikTok generation but it seems kids these days prefer cinematic walking simulators like Wolverine. Maybe give Robotron 2084 or Joust another shot after you get your Adderall refilled.

Late, but I did play Robotron 64 and got up to level 50 or whatever. So you can suck my fat one.

 

[el bandito loco]

this has fuck all to do with retro games or emulation but I'd like to take a moment to mention something that vaguely has to do with CRTs and my complaints with modern televisions. You know what I miss the most about older tvs, channel surfing. You're probably thinking, what are you talking about you retard? There was nothing good on then, and there's nothing good on now. besides, you can surf channels.

to the first point, true. to the second, not efficiently. now I'm not sure if it's the digital tuners and signals, or if it's the little computers/processors in a modern television, but there's a fucking delay that drives me up the god DAMN wall when you change the channel. It loads the fucking channel. tvs never used to load the fuckin channel, you'd press up or down and it'd go up or fucking down.

my crt doesn't have a digital tuner, the antenna is run through a late model VCR/DVD combo and it seems to be faster than through my Samsung and Sony Bravia OLED smart tvs antennas so maybe it's a smart TV thing. In any case, it fucking sucks. I haven't had cable in years but I imagine it also has to fucking load when you change channels now although I'd just use the guide anyways. That's the other thing, new tvs have built in guides and that should kick ass but they're slow as fuck to load. the vcr has one too for it's tuner, and it's instant. Fucks up with that? anyways this was irrelevant I just wanted to complain. Thanks for reading.

 

[Calandrino]

Late, but I did play Robotron 64 and got up to level 50 or whatever. So you can suck my fat one.

Well that's something. That game supports the same dual-analog setup that Goldeneye and Perfect Dark are more famous for, which is neat. Though tbh Robotron 64 is pretty slow and toothless compared to 2084. The original is one of the most ageless games from its time imo. I mean to me e.g. something like Galaga's still fun, but admittedly stiff compared to its successors. Robotron 2084 otoh is outright more frantic and intense than later games Smash TV, let alone most of the slop we get now.

I'm very fond of Nex Machina though.

 

[Baraka Obama]

this has fuck all to do with retro games or emulation but I'd like to take a moment to mention something that vaguely has to do with CRTs and my complaints with modern televisions. You know what I miss the most about older tvs, channel surfing. You're probably thinking, what are you talking about you retard? There was nothing good on then, and there's nothing good on now. besides, you can surf channels.

to the first point, true. to the second, not efficiently. now I'm not sure if it's the digital tuners and signals, or if it's the little computers/processors in a modern television, but there's a fucking delay that drives me up the god DAMN wall when you change the channel. It loads the fucking channel. tvs never used to load the fuckin channel, you'd press up or down and it'd go up or fucking down.

my crt doesn't have a digital tuner, the antenna is run through a late model VCR/DVD combo and it seems to be faster than through my Samsung and Sony Bravia OLED smart tvs antennas so maybe it's a smart TV thing. In any case, it fucking sucks. I haven't had cable in years but I imagine it also has to fucking load when you change channels now although I'd just use the guide anyways. That's the other thing, new tvs have built in guides and that should kick ass but they're slow as fuck to load. the vcr has one too for it's tuner, and it's instant. Fucks up with that? anyways this was irrelevant I just wanted to complain. Thanks for reading.

It's one of the many things that has made watching TV a miserable experience.

 

[HexFag]

People always say that modern games with shitty graphics "look like a PS2 game" but if I'm being honest PS2 games don't even look that bad. When will people realize that the early Xbox 360 and PS3 era was the ugliest era of 3D gaming so far? Every entry going from PS2 to PS3 or Xbox Original to Xbox 360 looks significantly worse at best and unfinished at worse.