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

[AnaV]

Can anyone enlighten me on the Sega Saturn hype around the internet, I would see for myself but emulators are still buggy, and I'm not rich.

 

[Billy_Sama]

New roms added to Nintendo Switch Online today, bringing you all the joy and fun of digging through a clearance bin. This time around, we've got Operation Logic Bomb, Wild Guns, Panel de Pon, and Rygar. And here's the announcement video:

12k likes to 7.3k dislikes at the moment. The comments are thankfully mostly people going "what the fuck Nintendo where is Earthbound/Donkey Kong Country/literally anything on N64 or Gamecube, why are we getting fucking Rygar?".

Panel de Pon is especially a weird one, considering it's the Japanese version of Tetris Attack. Tetris Attack was the first game in what would go on to be Nintendo's Puzzle League series, and featured Yoshi's Island characters as mascots, making up a nice theme for the game. The Japanese version was released with its own original characters, a bunch of fairies that never showed up anywhere else of note. So I figure the fairy theme was considered unpalatable for Americans back in the 90's, and thus came the Yoshi theme.

But afterwards, you never heard the game referred to as "Tetris Attack" in any newer releases, since they just named it that as a tie-in with the Tetris brand. But I guess Nintendo didn't wanna relicense the Tetris name, so they just skirted it and released Panel de Pon? That's... dumb. Especially since the Yoshi-themed one did get a Japanese release:

View attachment 1308858

Or they could have just hacked out the "Tetris" name and just renamed it to "Yoshi's Puzzle League". Instead, we got the original Japanese version, complete with untranslated menus. Great, thanks Nintendo.

They've already had an awkward enough relationship with their own Puzzle League series, with each game having an identity crisis of sorts. Firstly was Tetris Attack, a game where they had no confidence in the graphics or even the title. Then came Pokemon Puzzle League on N64, a game that was literally the same but tied into the Pokemon franchise. Then Dr. Mario & Puzzle League on GBA, a two-pack released at a time when the GBA was on its last legs, with... no theme whatsoever. Seriously, here's a screenshot:
View attachment 1308878

It's really that bare bones.

Afterwards came Planet Puzzle League, a pretty good version for the DS that used the stylus and went along with that brief fad Lumines started where classic & puzzle games went all techno-ey (see also: Space Invaders Extreme; Pac-Man Championship Edition; Meteos; Every Extend Extra). And then... that's it, I guess? There was a stripped-down version of the DS game as a download on the DSi & 3DS, and Wikipedia says there was a bonus game of it in Animal Crossing New Leaf. I guess Nintendo just never knew what to do with the franchise, despite how they could have just slapped a bunch of Nintendo characters all over it over and over and over and over like they do with everything, along the lines of Tetris DS (or, you know, Tetris Attack).

But it's been 13 years since the last time they put any measurable level of ass into a version of Puzzle League, and now we can play an old-ass Japanese SNES version of it where they couldn't even be bothered to translate the already-in-English-but-written-in-Katakana menus.

Nintendo only rerelease what people want if they are not selling well. Remember the Zelda series release on the Gamecube or the free GBA games for early 3ds owners? Until the Switch starts to dip in sales will Nintendo care to put the N64 stuff or the desirable out.

I might play Rygar later. One of those games I can enjoy better with save states.

 

[Celebrate Nite]

I own a PS1/PS2, Saturn, N64, GameCube, and Wii that's hacked to have NES/Genesis/SNES games on it.

The TV I play it one is an old-skool 30'" tube tv with composite, S-Video, & component hook-ups. The GameCube, Wii, and PS2 Iuse the component hook-ups while the N64, Saturn, and PS1 I use Composite/S-Video. If you're wondering why I have BOTH a PS1 and PS2 it's because my previous TV was a big-ass plasma-screen and playing PS1 games on my PS2 on the Plasma-screen would give audio only but no video, and I didn't want to have to keep changing the resolution/widescreen settings on my PS2 everytime i wanted to play a PS1 game on it.

I think my N64 might be dead though Last month it kept blue-screening and glitching out randomly to the point where it won't play any of the N64 games I have, even after cleaning all the cartridges.

 

[Smaug's Smokey Hole]

Nintendo should start doing rom-hacks, they have dudes talented enough to do that and they wouldn't need a huge team. I think people would be much more hyped if they released remixed and strange versions of old games on the Switch store for subscribers. Look at the success of that flash game that put Samus in Mario 1 and Link works well in Mario Maker, so give Konami a call and put Simon Belmont in Metroid and have him whip Ridley to death or let me play through Zelda 2 as Pitt or something ridiculous like that.

 

[Raging Capybara]

NES remix was basically that. But you could only play some challenges and not the whole game.

 

[Chonburi Flaps]

I think my N64 might be dead though Last month it kept blue-screening and glitching out randomly to the point where it won't play any of the N64 games I have, even after cleaning all the cartridges.

Did you check the expansion/jumper pak? Might be worth swapping it out if you have access to a spare.

 

[XYZpdq]

Can anyone enlighten me on the Sega Saturn hype around the internet, I would see for myself but emulators are still buggy, and I'm not rich.

Back in the days before CPS2 emulation and the Dreamcast it was the system with the best Capcom fighting ports, and it also did NeoGeo ports well too, so it had a pretty firm place for 2d fighting.
It's got the 10 player Bomberman, various Sega titles
These days a lot of what it did well has been done by other stuff so it's not as big a deal now.

 

[Biffo]

I have no idea why PS1 emulation always gives me trouble, yet have no issues with Dolphin or PCSX2.

Anyone have recommend of a good PS1 emulator that isn't a headache to use if you want to play games in hd

 

[BrunoMattei]

Back in the days before CPS2 emulation and the Dreamcast it was the system with the best Capcom fighting ports, and it also did NeoGeo ports well too, so it had a pretty firm place for 2d fighting.
It's got the 10 player Bomberman, various Sega titles
These days a lot of what it did well has been done by other stuff so it's not as big a deal now.

The Saturn had Radiant Silvergun that fags trip over their dicks saying it's the greatest SHMUP ever. Massively overrated title IMHO. Then it had another Treasure game Guardian Heroes which was an interesting Beat 'Em Up. I think the Saturn lost the specialness for Capcom fighters when emulating CPS 2 happened way back in 01.

Not unless niggas are hype over Mr. Bones or Sega diehards I don't get the hype over the system.

 

[XYZpdq]

The Saturn had Radiant Silvergun that fags trip over their dicks saying it's the greatest SHMUP ever. Massively overrated title IMHO. Then it had another Treasure game Guardian Heroes which was an interesting Beat 'Em Up. I think the Saturn lost the specialness for Capcom fighters when emulating CPS 2 happened way back in 01.

Not unless niggas are hype over Mr. Bones or Sega diehards I don't get the hype over the system.

yeah like I said a lot of it was that it had some niches it did well in its time
also I recall it being well-regarded in its day for having a lot of the weeb shit after the turbo-cd started falling behind in Japan, like VNs or something

 

[Exbein]

Can anyone enlighten me on the Sega Saturn hype around the internet, I would see for myself but emulators are still buggy, and I'm not rich.

Sega during the Saturn days was basically a trend setter. Most of their games was basically copied left and right by various companies. In a way, it is seen as the "hipster" console. It was during this time that Sega was the most creative. For example, Panzer Dragoon was copied by Polyphony Digital (before they started making GT games) as Omega Boost. Dragonforce was copied by Idea Factory as Spectral Force. Virtua On was copied by Art as Project Gaiaray, Bandai copied as Real Robot Final Attack. Virtua Fighter is copied by Namco as Tekken, and still up to this day, still copies a lot of things introduced from Virtua Fighter.

Some of the games I really like on the Saturn
MOTHERFUCKING Dragonforce!!

Magic Knight Rayearth

Sakura Wars

Shining Wisdom

Gundam Blue Destiny

Anyway, I could recommend a lot more, but I think you get the idea. Before the PS3 days, Sega Saturn is basically seen as the weeb holy grail as there are a lot of great Japanese games that can be had on the console, and the better arcade ports compared to PS1 (seriously, KOF ports of PS1 are extremely shit compared to SS ports). But I guess it lost a lot of its appeal and value since the advent of online stores, ports and games collections. Though I think there are still some value to it, like some of the raunchy VNs have nip slips in Saturn versions, but the modern ports of the game have the nip covered and censored.

 

[Pissmaster]

Nintendo only rerelease what people want if they are not selling well. Remember the Zelda series release on the Gamecube or the free GBA games for early 3ds owners? Until the Switch starts to dip in sales will Nintendo care to put the N64 stuff or the desirable out.

I might play Rygar later. One of those games I can enjoy better with save states.

I'll never forget how the Wii U was in such bad shape by 2015 that the biggest release of July that year was Earthbound on Virtual Console.

 

[BrunoMattei]

I have Memorial Day off. What should I play via emulation? Demons Souls (big Souls fan) or Breath of the Wild?

 

[Smaug's Smokey Hole]

I have Memorial Day off. What should I play via emulation? Demons Souls (big Souls fan) or Breath of the Wild?

Breath of the Wild has a very summery feel to it so if you're going to sit inside while the sun is shining then it's a good "being outside" simulator. It's a great game and I had that childlike joy of exploration playing it in my underwear, drinking beer and smoking.

If you're emulating it the tilt puzzles will drive you insane unless they found a better solution for that.

 

[Vapewizard]

Sword of mana is fun except for the part where my AI partner is a braindead moron who gets stuck on literally everything. At first I was thinking of doing a magic build since the female MC starts with a staff anyway but I soon realised I should just beat everything to death myself cause there's no guarantee my party member will be reliable. Thankfully I was early enough in the game that I could just restart to put all my points into thief so I can go for ninja master eventually.

 

[Fuck Y'all]

in meantime XBox kernel has leaked

 

[XYZpdq]

Every Game Ever is fun except for the part where my AI partner is a braindead moron

fixed that
seriously anybody who thinks AI is gonna rise up and do anything ever never played a video game

 

[BrunoMattei]

Breath of the Wild has a very summery feel to it so if you're going to sit inside while the sun is shining then it's a good "being outside" simulator. It's a great game and I had that childlike joy of exploration playing it in my underwear, drinking beer and smoking.

If you're emulating it the tilt puzzles will drive you insane unless they found a better solution for that.

Demons Souls it is.

 

[Vapewizard]

fixed that
seriously anybody who thinks AI is gonna rise up and do anything ever never played a video game

The thing is, I've played plenty of games such as the Tales of -- games where they actually bother hitting stuff or serve as meatshields for you and I've played games where they prevent party members from getting stuck on the overworld by just making them teleport to you, but this Sword of mana guy is as far as I can remember the dumbest AI party member I have ever had. He gets stuck on everything AND only bothers hitting enemies sometimes if he feels like it. And that is even if I mess with his settings and put him on attack mode.

 

[Stasi]

Try the Ishiiruka fork of Dolphin and test which build runs best.

Here's Mario Galaxy running on the HD 4000 using that particular fork(not sure which version though).

edit: @Bread Fetishist some games will still wreck your shit, F-Zero on Gamecube comes to mind. Remember that you can also right click on the games in Dolphin and go into properties to apply tweaks and speed hacks for that specific game.

I decided to play around with this today on my Thinkpad x230 with an i5-3320M. Holy shit, I can't believe how far people have been able to take Dolphin. Like how the fuck can this dinky laptop run Resident Evil 4 and hold it steady at 30fps?

Meanwhile those asshats at PCSX2 can't even make a default GUI that doesn't look like shit.