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

After re-installing Project 64 with angrylion to play the Dinosaur Planet leak, it got me playing N64 games again.

I'm way behind on my N64 emulation news.

Project 64 has a number of errors. Smash Bros runs too fast, games like Body Harvest have parts that run too fast, and some games crash or don't work right. I don't care about upscaling or mouse controls. I just want to play the games as close as I reasonably can.

I remember hearing about Cen64, but that seems to be vaporware.


On a related note, feel free to recommend N64 games that aren't the usual games like Goldeneye, Mario 64, and Banjo Kazooie.
Have you tried ParaLLEl? I hate to recommend something you need Retroarch for but that core works pretty well for me. Gonna second Mischief Makers and Mystical Ninja god damn those were good. A great cheery and unique platformer, and a great zelda/platforming/historically accurate depiction of japan sort of game (second one is just a regular platformer but good). Also check these out:

  • Beetle Adventure Racing (Doesn't sound like the greatest idea for a racer but it's quite good, so is a lot of the console's racing library actually)
  • Rakuga Kids (A strange and charming fighting game. Each character is drawn by a different in game kid, like a superhero or a tank with a bear for a face)
  • Paper Mario (Thousand year door is more text focused but this is more gameplay focused, every second is fun to play and explore through, very charming, very tightly designed, play this)
  • Resident Evil 2 (Has some unique weapons, notes, and death animations, among other small things. they put a crazy amount of effort into this port for no reason I can discern. Yet none of the extra content went into the GameCube port.)
  • Wonder Project J2 (I'm not even sure how to describe this but the sprite art is phenomenal. Life sim? Adventure game? Very Ghibli if you like that)
  • Last Legion UX (This and Custom Robo are your only options for 3D robot battle games afaik, both have English translations, both are neat)
  • Pokemon Snap (I'm not sure if this is too obvious of a recommendation or not but it's surprisingly good for a game where you sit in a rail car and take nature photos, nothing else like it)
  • Space Station Silicon Valley (3d platformer/adventure sort of thing where you control a variety of different creatures to explore each level. You need a patch to fix an uncollectable item if you care about 100% completion)
  • Sim City 64 DD (This isn't just Sim City 2000 or 3000, it's a strange new experience worth trying out. There's an English patch and a conversion to a normal n64 rom format)
  • Jet Force Gemini (I don't know if it holds up anymore but it's an interesting third person shooter at least. Rare is always interesting at the very least.
  • Magical Tetris Challenge (I know it's just Disney Tetris but the soundtrack is phenomenal
All the 64DD Mario Artist games have English translations and conversions to regular n64 rom formats, they're fun to play around with.
 
LMAO, redhotsonic got salty over a comment that said that there's no need to watch his video on whether or not the Sonic Improvement ROMhack runs on real hardware when it was tested on Mesen, the most accurate NES emulator that got a higher TASvideos accuracy score than the Everdrive did (which redhotsonic used, ironically).
He went and posted it on Twitter. I'm not sure this is what most YouTubers do when they see a negative comment, unless that comment is blatantly racist with death threats and anything similar. If he really cares about something running on real hardware, he should burn some EEPROMs.
 
Diddy Kong Racing, which is Mario Kart 64's better cousin
Seconding this, Diddy Kong Racing has superior tracks and an amazing soundtrack. There's also the original Conker's Bad Fur Day, if you're into that kind of humor. Bomberman Hero is a controversial choice, but in my opinion it's the absolute best of the 3D Bomberman games. Pilotwings 64 is surprisingly underrated. I fucking love Paper Mario.
 
I finally got emulators that I have always wanted. Mainly for the NES, SNES, Gameboy, GBA, and Sega Genesis. I still need to get MAME and a good Amiga emulator.

Any of you guys have those emulators?
 
I finally got emulators that I have always wanted. Mainly for the NES, SNES, Gameboy, GBA, and Sega Genesis. I still need to get MAME and a good Amiga emulator.

Any of you guys have those emulators?
Try the wiki, they have a list of working/recommended emulators for each system with links to download pages. Personally never been able to get mame running right, its too much work and never been worth it for me but maybe the user friendliness has improved in recent years. Can't comment on amiga as never tried to get it working myself.
 
  • Informative
Reactions: The Curmudgeon
I finally got emulators that I have always wanted. Mainly for the NES, SNES, Gameboy, GBA, and Sega Genesis. I still need to get MAME and a good Amiga emulator.

Any of you guys have those emulators?
If it's arcade you're looking for, try looking into Fightcade, has it's own website with an emulator. Haven't checked in some time but I didn't have much issue setting it up compared to fighting with other Mame emulators (Or maybe it's just me being terrible at configuring it). Fightcade felt more user friendly. Then it's just following the instructions and finding a fat ass zip of arcade roms, still works like a charm for me. Fightcade is also able to emulate sega game gear and genesis games, but I wouldn't recommend it. For some reason on Sega emulation, Fightcade won't let you hold down one button while pressing another, so if you're playing a run and gun like Contra you're gonna have a bad time.

I can't help you on Amiga, I don't have much desire to go THAT retro so I never bothered.
 
  • Informative
Reactions: The Curmudgeon
I finally got emulators that I have always wanted. Mainly for the NES, SNES, Gameboy, GBA, and Sega Genesis. I still need to get MAME and a good Amiga emulator.

Any of you guys have those emulators?
I got a WinUAE set up a long time ago so I could play Town With No Name with some friends (its a genuine experience btw). The problem is, I don't remember for the life of me how I did it. I know it was a pain in the ass, but that's about it.
 
  • Informative
Reactions: The Curmudgeon
  • Wonder Project J2 (I'm not even sure how to describe this but the sprite art is phenomenal. Life sim? Adventure game? Very Ghibli if you like that)
Oh yes! I only played the on the SNES(after translation was released) because it was an absolute curiosity well before it's release. It's like The Sims, but there's only one character, he's an android and you need to teach him different skills and abilities as he goes through life. At least the first one was a (gorgeous, for SNES) passive point-and-click. There will be sections like exploration, combat or competition where his skills and abilities are put to the test and you as the player can't really do anything but hope he's skilled enough to handle it. Really fun, very slow-paced.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Judge Dredd
oh boy time to go sell some more old games on ebay, let's open up my copy of Twin Snakes to take pictures of the OH GOD WHAT THE FUCK
ul1uZjc.jpg
not my copy but apparently this is a systemic problem
 
oh boy time to go sell some more old games on ebay, let's open up my copy of Twin Snakes to take pictures of the OH GOD WHAT THE FUCK
View attachment 1981355
not my copy but apparently this is a systemic problem
I checked my copy in a panic because I wasn't aware this was an issue. The discs are fine, thankfully, though weirdly my case is structured differently; it's got one disc in the usual spot in GameCube cases, and the other is behind the instruction manual. I'm pretty sure my case is original since it holds the undersized GameCube discs just fine and the cover hasn't been tampered with in any way.
 
  • Thunk-Provoking
Reactions: XYZpdq
oh boy time to go sell some more old games on ebay, let's open up my copy of Twin Snakes to take pictures of the OH GOD WHAT THE FUCK
View attachment 1981355
not my copy but apparently this is a systemic problem
Is this the cracking in the disc art ink? My Gamecube Skies of Arcadia has this, but played fine the last time I tried it. I thought I read a while back that it's just a cosmetic defect (though I assume it'll hurt resale value).
 
Excuse the shilling but though might be relevant to people here. I bought a couple of 8bitdo pads recently after my 360 controller finally died and am really impressed. Would highly recommend if you are after a wireless controller.

I got one of these a while back (SN30Pro+)
gamepad_8bitdo_sn30_pro_plus_black_edition_01_l.jpg
Really nice controller, the best 3rd party pad I've ever owned and one of the best pads I've used period. The only real complain I have is the D-pad feels a little spongy which I don't like but its still miles better than the 360 one.

Got a SN30Pro more recently. Much smaller form factor but I like the layout a bit more for retro games and the D-pad is more solid than the Pro+ which I prefer.
3max.jpg
 
My copy of Twin Snakes did the exact same thing. Played fine but it's part of why I ended up selling it on a few years back. If you're just interested in playing and don't want to just grab an iso for whatever reason I'd definitely be willing to grab a copy with cracked art.

Also RE: 8bitdo controllers: I have an SNES clone pad, the one without the analog sticks. Very comfortable if you're looking for something accurate to emulate with. Mine even has the SNES/NES mini adapter, but I just USB it to my PC or Pi. Doesn't worth with the Switch unfortunately but whatever.
 
Last edited:
  • Informative
Reactions: XYZpdq
Is this the cracking in the disc art ink? My Gamecube Skies of Arcadia has this, but played fine the last time I tried it. I thought I read a while back that it's just a cosmetic defect (though I assume it'll hurt resale value).
Glancing around about it for a minute or two it appears to be an issue with a lot of gc discs printed around that time.
Seems to be a cosmetic issue and that the data layer is separate, but I haven't looked into this too much yet.
 
oh boy time to go sell some more old games on ebay, let's open up my copy of Twin Snakes to take pictures of the OH GOD WHAT THE FUCK
View attachment 1981355
not my copy but apparently this is a systemic problem
I have zero idea what the hell is wrong with the Twin Snakes production especifically but disc rot is so stupidly common (particularly on disc 1) that the price of it is starting to slowly climb up.

Skies of Arcadia and the version of Mario Kart with the bonus demo disc are other games that suffer from this, which really stinks as all three of these were already expensive before they started self destroying themselves.
 
Last edited:
  • Informative
Reactions: Judge Dredd
Got a SN30Pro more recently. Much smaller form factor but I like the layout a bit more for retro games and the D-pad is more solid than the Pro+ which I prefer.
yea i have the wired version of this one it is pretty good and was cheap like 30 dollars
 
  • Like
Reactions: Stasi
Back