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

[Two Dollars]

Here comes the Good Shit boys and >girls, say hello to the AYN Thor:

A dual screen handheld with a lot of power and a good price. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 should be well worth the extra $50, but even the 865 should handle most if not all 3DS games at a full 4x resolution.

… But it’s not perfect. The top screen is 1080p as expected, but the bottom screen is a bizarre 1240x1080, meaning those DS and 3DS bottom screens are gonna have a few pixels cut off the sides if you want integer scaling. And because the bottom screen is so much smaller than the top, games that effectively use both screens as a single connected screen like Yoshi’s Touch and Go or Sonic Rush won’t feel good to play.

So it’s not a true replacement for DS. Very tempting, but I’ll hold off until I see what Retroid inevitably makes.

 

[StacticShock]

It's the purple snowy background, I'm telling you. Show me an emulator with a more eye-pleasing purple UI and better snow.

based and snowpilled.

 

[Samuel Fuller]

Here comes the Good Shit boys and >girls, say hello to the AYN Thor:
View attachment 7814572
A dual screen handheld with a lot of power and a good price. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 should be well worth the extra $50, but even the 865 should handle most if not all 3DS games at a full 4x resolution.

… But it’s not perfect. The top screen is 1080p as expected, but the bottom screen is a bizarre 1240x1080, meaning those DS and 3DS bottom screens are gonna have a few pixels cut off the sides if you want integer scaling. And because the bottom screen is so much smaller than the top, games that effectively use both screens as a single connected screen like Yoshi’s Touch and Go or Sonic Rush won’t feel good to play.

So it’s not a true replacement for DS. Very tempting, but I’ll hold off until I see what Retroid inevitably makes.

The screen differences are clearly inspired by the 3DS, which had asymmetric screens.

 

[That Guy You Know]

It's the purple snowy background, I'm telling you. Show me an emulator with a more eye-pleasing purple UI and better snow.

I still run ZMZ just for the UI sometimes. It has a special feeling about it, the user interface makes it feel like its own sleek console firmware as opposed to just being software that runs Marios.

 

[Tom Nook's Gloryhole]

Here comes the Good Shit boys and >girls, say hello to the AYN Thor:
View attachment 7814572
A dual screen handheld with a lot of power and a good price. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 should be well worth the extra $50, but even the 865 should handle most if not all 3DS games at a full 4x resolution.

… But it’s not perfect. The top screen is 1080p as expected, but the bottom screen is a bizarre 1240x1080, meaning those DS and 3DS bottom screens are gonna have a few pixels cut off the sides if you want integer scaling. And because the bottom screen is so much smaller than the top, games that effectively use both screens as a single connected screen like Yoshi’s Touch and Go or Sonic Rush won’t feel good to play.

So it’s not a true replacement for DS. Very tempting, but I’ll hold off until I see what Retroid inevitably makes.

Four hundred and twenty nine dollars to play the six DS games worth playing. Ok I know that's being hyperbolic but even $249 is a stretch for a console that tons of people have in their cupboards and would easily part with for $40

I gotta hand it to these modernised console manufacturers because they know they have a niche and people will pay hundreds to ensure their 256kb rom in a cartridge that is rapidly degrading plays exactly how it did as a kid but also better and also in a way that's significantly more inconvenient than left clicking a desktop shortcut.

Yes I'm a retro console hater.

 

[Xarpho's Return]

Guess who has to obsessively read manufacturing codes in ebay seller images again to buy a replacement Saturn because it turns out the olders Saturns are prone to having an oscillator chip that no one manufactures anymore up and die and fuck the entire system board up????

No, really, if you have a Saturn I advise you to check the model code, if you have a VA5 or before your board's equipped with a timebomb from Hitachi that no one's replicated yet, now I have a VA4 dud with a really nice japanese white shell and I have to use Klarna. I just wanted to experience the bad voice acting that Working Designs put on top of Magic Knight Rayearth, man.

As many of these boards and chips are reverse-engineered, I wonder why there's not some sort of grey-label fabrication plant that can churn out replacement boards and copies to all these old consoles or otherwise compatible hardware.

 

[Betonhaus]

The screen differences are clearly inspired by the 3DS, which had asymmetric screens.

it would've been nice if the screens had the same DPI because you'll notice when everything becomes a bit tinier when they jump to the lower screen.

 

[Two Dollars]

The screen differences are clearly inspired by the 3DS, which had asymmetric screens.

No, the 3DS only had different widths. The height and DPI were the same.

 

[Tom Nook's Gloryhole]

The key reason why I hate reproduction consoles is that the very issue they're trying to solve: playing the old games on improved hardware with modern sensibilities (native HDMI etc.) sounds fine in theory but there's no way in hell that those consoles will have the lifespan of the original consoles they're trying to emulate because so much relies on flash memory.

These are not console manufacturers with the R&D of Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft, these are companies that are taking little shortcuts and manufacturing products that look sleek out of Chinese chips. The moment the flash memory starts to disintegrate the OS is fucked and the console is dead. I'm sure you all remember the Nexus 7 and how it was the most innovative tablet around until the flash memory started to wear out and it couldn't even open a browser tab. So potentially in five years time you're holding onto a Chinesium box that's broken and unable to play anything, and if the retro reproduction market falls off a cliff there's nothing to replace it with.

That's just one of the components which could go wrong over time, the physical cartridge slots will likely have shortcuts in the design so would wear out fast, any capacitors on the board might be cheap junk and leave people with the same issue as the original Xbox where by the time you realise what the issue is, the board is beyond repair etc. Hell maybe the PSU gives up the ghost in 3 years and that's that.

In comparison, I'm 95% sure if I picked up any Sega Megadrive or Snes in a car boot sale that's had multiple owners and been shoved loosely into a car and knocked around for 30 years would power up fine. Those consoles were designed knowing that kids would be rough with them whereas reproduction consoles are built for enthusiasts who will likely never move them from their cabinet below the TV for their entire lifetime.

I keep sperging about creating an emulator box but honestly the ability to just take out components and upgrade/replace if anything goes wrong is a very big thing when it comes to complete future proofing your retro gaming needs. For slightly more than a reproduction Mega Drive you could create a micro-atx build that's practically silent and can be configured to your needs completely. No, you can't use original controllers or cartridges, but we live in the year 2025 where there's some actually fantastic gamepads that are useful for gaming and would elevate the experience. I'm nostalgic as fuck for the Mega Drive but no fucking way am I ever going to touch one of those uncomfortable boomarang controllers ever again when 8biitdo have some of the most comfortable controllers around.

 

[skykiii]

No, you can't use original controllers or cartridges,

Actually you can. There's tons of "old controller to USB" adapters out there, some of them even work well.

As for cartridges, I'm sure there's some solution for that.

 

[analrapist]

As for cartridges, I'm sure there's some solution for that.

Anything contemporary that will read a cart should also be able to dump a cart, but that'll just give you the same data as a ROM, so whatever. Most cart readers today are cucked lest they attract the ire of the N-word.

 

[Tom Nook's Gloryhole]

Actually you can. There's tons of "old controller to USB" adapters out there, some of them even work well.

That's actually pretty neat, I remember having a USB->Gamecube controller adapter for my Wii U with Super Smash Bros but didn't think there were any for the PS2 or Xbox or SNES etc.

The bigger issue though is... most controllers really suck. I have a cheap Saitek PC controller from back in the late 90s that still technically works if I'd ever want to use it but I found it really strange how a cheap PC controller was so much more comfortable than the average console controller. I'm assuming that's because console controllers were designed to be as handy for a kid to use as an adult, whereas PC controllers were roughly designed for the adult gamer.

The Xbox controller was too big, the SNES/Mega Drive controllers were too rigid and blocky, the N64 controller was incredibly polorising, the GameCube controllers were the most comfortable controllers you could use as a kid but became slightly more uncomfortable as you got older, and while I appreciate how cool the PS1/PS2 controllers were in terms of being a level ahead with touch sensitive buttons, I just never really liked the feel of them. Which is wild because on paper they have the same layout as the 8bitdo Pro 3 but playing with both controllers is like night and day.

The Xbox 360 controller on the other hand might genuinely be the perfect video game controller, at least on console level. I still prefer modern controllers like the 8bitdo Pro 3 just simply because of how comfortable it feels and how versatile it is. I've played NES games, I've played GameCube games, I've played Xbox games and even modern games just feel better with a good controller. Even button mashing is better on a controller that doesn't have sticky rubber buttons. I have so many good memories of gaming on the SNES/Mega Drive but I have absolutely no desire to use another one of those controllers ever again.

 

[skykiii]

The Xbox controller was too big, the SNES/Mega Drive controllers were too rigid and blocky, the N64 controller was incredibly polorising, the GameCube controllers were the most comfortable controllers you could use as a kid but became slightly more uncomfortable as you got older, and while I appreciate how cool the PS1/PS2 controllers were in terms of being a level ahead with touch sensitive buttons, I just never really liked the feel of them. Which is wild because on paper they have the same layout as the 8bitdo Pro 3 but playing with both controllers is like night and day.

I honestly rarely have a problem with first-party console controllers, with two exceptions. First, I hate Switch Joy-cons. They're so fucking tiny. Second, I know if I ever used them that I would hate Sega Master System controllers.

With the Sega Genesis I didn't mind the normal three-button ones but I was not a big fan of the six-button models that were (like the Switch joycons) so tiny... tho they weren't as tiny as the joycons.

These days tho, there's perfect aftermarket options. I have an 8bitdo Pro 2 (I assume a Pro 3 is the same layout) and yeah, I find this perfect for almost everything. For Sega Genesis and Turbografx games, I instead use a different 8bitdo, the M30, which is designed after a Saturn controller, which is close enough to the layout the Genesis and TG16 (at least once they got six-button controllers) actually used.

(And then games like Street Fighter II just need the six-button layout anyway.... punching and kicking with L and R is doable but is less intuitive).

 

[The Mass Shooter Ron Soye]

I'll cross post this here:

Post in thread 'Video Game Chat Thread'

Aug 25, 2025

Niche Gamer: Japan-only Cowboy Bebop PS2 game gets fan translation (archive)

Cowboy Bebop 追憶の夜曲 (Cowboy Bebop: Tsuioku no Serenade) was released in Japan for PlayStation 2 exactly 20 years ago to the day. The game was originally developed by Banpresto and was published by Bandai.

This is a full 100% English fan translation with all text, graphics, credits, and much more translated, the first time the game has been fully playable in English.

https://github.com/SONICMAN69/Bebop-PS2-English (archive)

...

• The Mass Shooter Ron Soye

Reactions: x 2 x 2 x 1

Four hundred and twenty nine dollars to play the six DS games worth playing. Ok I know that's being hyperbolic but even $249 is a stretch for a console that tons of people have in their cupboards and would easily part with for $40

Think of all the Wii U games you could play on a dual-screen retro handheld.

 

[Tom Nook's Gloryhole]

Got that Cowboy Bebop game patched and ready to go, the only issue was that the title was displayed in Japanese on PCSX2 so was listed at the end not under C. I had a little browse around to see if anyone knew how to edit it so it'd be listed as Cowboy Bebop and found a thread with the following message on some obscure PS2 forum

"The most recent post in this thread is more than 8 months old. Please create a new thread and refrain from posting in threads older than 8 months in the future. Please also review the forum rules. Thank you.

When I'm king of the world I'm taking 95% of jannies, tying them to a post and burning them alive.

 

[Dr. Geronimo]

The screen differences are clearly inspired by the 3DS, which had asymmetric screens.

Aspect ratio is fucked. 1080 is 4.5 times the 3DS's 240. If you're going to replicate a retro console can we at least get some proper integer scaling?

 

[Samuel Fuller]

Actually you can. There's tons of "old controller to USB" adapters out there, some of them even work well.

As for cartridges, I'm sure there's some solution for that.

Anything by Brook or Columbus Circle is amazing for controller conversion.

 

[DavidS877]

Anything by Brook or Columbus Circle is amazing for controller conversion.

This guy has tested a ton of controllers and controller adapters for latency, if you're in to that sort of thing.

https://misteraddons.com/pages/latency

Tested with MiSTer FPGA, but they're all standard USB adapters and controllers I think.

 

[Samuel Fuller]

This guy has tested a ton of controllers and controller adapters for latency, if you're in to that sort of thing.

https://misteraddons.com/pages/latency

Tested with MiSTer FPGA, but they're all standard USB adapters and controllers I think.

I have only used a generic PS2 to USB that I got when my friend initially got his PS3 for USB conversion, but the Brook USB/Bluetooth to PS2 adapter is incredible. I have used a Hori gamepad for Switch and DualShock 4 and DualSense with my PS2 with it. No lag, no issues.

 

[The Mass Shooter Ron Soye]

Aspect ratio is fucked. 1080 is 4.5 times the 3DS's 240. If you're going to replicate a retro console can we at least get some proper integer scaling?

AYN Thor: 1920×1080 and 1240×1080
DS: 256×192 (both screens)
3DS: 400×240 per eye (800 x 240) and 320×240
Wii U: 1920×1080 maximum output and 854×480 gamepad

For the small screen, 1280×960 (QuadVGA/SXGA-) would work for DS/3DS. I don't know about the large screen, or anything accommodating the Wii U GamePad.