General Arcade and Retro Chat - Insert Coin -

Inviere

It's crazy alright, a repro of a rare game is still a repro...it's worth the same amount as a repro cart of a very common game - (a donor cart, an eeprom, a few blobs of solder, a sticker, and the time to do it)

CiDeRmAn

I have a couple of repro carts but I'm under no illusions that they are anything more than the hardware equivalent of a CDR.
And the only reason I bought them is because my Retron5 doesn't like my Everdrive... And of course because I don't want to remortgage the house to buy them.
But to buy a bad game, as a repro, because it's r@re is just bizarre, but the sites wouldn't be flogging them unless there was a market of idiots willing to buy them.

Inviere

Inviere wrote: »

No, the component cable can give you progressive scan (480p), whereas PAL60 (480i @60Hz) can be got natively from the console and through an RGB scart

OK its worth a try. Will be playing a few games and tomorrow evening and will test and report back.

Edit* just checked there and yep it works
Just tested killer 7 and Viewtiful Joe and both have 60hz mode. Interesting as Killer 7 is not even on that list.

The Last Bandit

Well looks like the Spectrum Vega+ is a write off...

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-39191064
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-sinclair-zx-spectrum-vega-plus-console-games#/comments

Bracken3000

With my storage on my PS4 getting tight and the new system update letting you use an external hard drive, which one you consider for all round good storage, speed and price? The Seagate Expansion is getting mentioned alot!

Retr0gamer

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

IAnd the only reason I bought them is because my Retron5 doesn't like my Everdrive...

YourSuperior

Anyone have any views about the updated graphic mods/remakes of old games. I see loads of videos on YT. Quake 1- III, Unreal + Tournament 99, Thief, NFS Most Wanted (2005) Brutal Doom+ Wolfenstein, Black Mesa etc. I get the nostalgia. Does it make things better or worse? It's not quite the same thing after all. It's also mad looking at ps1+ n64 games in 1080p. Dreamcast titles look quite well at that resolution.

Retr0gamer

I prefer to play my games the way the developers in tended, I find many fan updates take a lot of liberties. There's a good few enhancement mods that are near essential though like the KOTOR 2 mod that restores cut quests and content or the fan patch of Vampire Bloodlines that does the same.

Some remakes like Black Mesa or Resident Evil REmake change so much they are pretty much different games so it's worth experiencing both.

In terms of emulation I stick to original hardware. PlayStation and N64 emulation is really inaccurate and frankly looks really bad. Good developers used the quirks of the systems to hid imperfections that show up when played in HD.

Dreamcast is kind of different as it's mostly well emulated and was made for 480p screens with anti aliasing. The chunky colourful textures and polygons really look great in HD but some games with 2D assets like Space Channel 5 look really bad.

YourSuperior

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I prefer to play my games the way the developers in tended, I find many fan updates take a lot of liberties. There's a good few enhancement mods that are near essential though like the KOTOR 2 mod that restores cut quests and content or the fan patch of Vampire Bloodlines that does the same.

Some remakes like Black Mesa or Resident Evil REmake change so much they are pretty much different games so it's worth experiencing both.

In terms of emulation I stick to original hardware. PlayStation and N64 emulation is really inaccurate and frankly looks really bad. Good developers used the quirks of the systems to hid imperfections that show up when played in HD.

Dreamcast is kind of different as it's mostly well emulated and was made for 480p screens with anti aliasing. The chunky colourful textures and polygons really look great in HD but some games with 2D assets like Space Channel 5 look really bad.

Can't argue with any of that. With one of the thief mods it was just a visual update, otherwise it's the exact same. But yes, liberties will be taken. Some of them do it to get recognition from industry as well.

Tom Mann Centuria

The Last Bandit wrote: »

Well looks like the Spectrum Vega+ is a write off...

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-39191064
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-sinclair-zx-spectrum-vega-plus-console-games#/comments

Increasingly beginning to look that way, I don't think they have the money to build what they need to now, I think they've spent tens of thousands (at least) on legal costs in their battle with the 2 former directors, their communication has been abysmal. Feel very sorry for those that have lost over a hundred euro each on this.

Zxds emulator on a ds/dsi/3ds and you're good to go. Highly recommended it for Spectrum gaming on a handheld.

Retr0gamer

YourSuperior wrote: »

Can't argue with any of that. With one of the thief mods it was just a visual update, otherwise it's the exact same. But yes, liberties will be taken. Some of them do it to get recognition from industry as well.

Doing a big project like that is a good thing to have on your CV. Plenty of modders have ended up at the likes of Valve and Bethesda.

YourSuperior

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Doing a big project like that is a good thing to have on your CV. Plenty of modders have ended up at the likes of Valve and Bethesda.

Indeed. It must be easier than ever to demonstrate projects across the net. Plus tutorials to get started. One potential drawback is more competition. It's a brave new world.

TechnoFreek

Anyone use hdmi switchers? Any recommendations, what to look out for etc.

Any advice appreciated. Thanks

The Last Bandit

I'm using a little 3 way switcher I got in Tesco for a couple of years now, switches automatically (or manually) and never have a problem with it.

CiDeRmAn

I must get another one of those, tv in the kitchen only has one hdmi input and it's pretty inaccessible a ways up on the wall.

Steve X2

I use a nice and neat 5 port Duronic HDMI switch and pass that through a 2 way splitter(the splitter is actual just to remove the HDCP security for my Micomsoft capture device).

They are all fairly cheap on Amazon.

Retr0gamer

Phantasy Star Universe, why do I torture myself?

I'm only playing it out of love for the series. I wouldn't mind if it was as mediocre as it is but having save points an hour between each other and having the game crash randomly during load screens is infuriating.

Tchoin

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Phantasy Star Universe, why do I torture myself?

I'm only playing it out of love for the series. I wouldn't mind if it was as mediocre as it is but having save points an hour between each other and having the game crash randomly during load screens is infuriating.

That reminds me, I've been toying with the idea of playing Phantasy Star Online on the Gamecube on one of them private servers (I believe there are still 2 online).

Never tried PS Universe, is it that bad?

Doge

TechnoFreek wrote: »

Anyone use hdmi switchers? Any recommendations, what to look out for etc.

Any advice appreciated. Thanks

One thing to watch out for is if you have a 4K TV set with HDR, you'll need a more expensive switcher that is HDR compatible if youre using it say on the ps4, netflix etc...

If you're not using HDR then any switcher will do.

Retr0gamer

Tchoin wrote: »

That reminds me, I've been toying with the idea of playing Phantasy Star Online on the Gamecube on one of them private servers (I believe there are still 2 online).

Never tried PS Universe, is it that bad?

Probably better off playing it on a PC private server, there's less hassle setting it up, a good community and you have the Blue Burst content that is exclusive to the platform.

Phantasy Star Universe online is dead now and no fan project has managed to resurrect it just yet. Supposedly it was rather flawed with everyone just playing the same area as it was the best for levelling, apparently that was sorted with the expansion but it was too little too late.

Phantasy Star Universe has a single player campaign separate to the online game and it's... painful.

Tom Mann Centuria

I'm nothing to do with this, but they are brilliant, so thought I'd share.


https://www.facebook.com/groups/robstributes/

They're fantastic, and not expensive, not sure if he'd do requests, but worth asking.

CathalDublin

For anyone with a JAMMA pi, there was a new version of ARpiCade OS was released yesterday.
Single file 4.1GB download here
THIS DOWNLOAD DOESN'T INCLUDE ROMS OF ANY SORT

new features include:
-MAME 0.181 (almost but not quite current, I haven't tried newer yet)
-more consoles supported (Atari 2600, Nintendo, Super Nintendo, Turbo Grafix and PlayStation)
-easy setup changes from the menu (horizontal low res or high res, vertical low or high res, horizontal 240p only and horizontal low res 4 player - highres is disabled by default to avoid accidentally sending the wrong signal to the monitor)
-rudimentary console game scanning script (or you can use the Attract-mode built in one)
-easy to combine console and arcade gamelists
-software volume adjustment accessable from the menu (now possible to adjust the Linux system volume level with only JAMMA controls)
-file manager accessable from the menu (Midnight Commander - definately keyboard required)
-if your cab has Service and Test you should also be able to do most of the Attract-Mode setup stuff without a keyboard too

CiDeRmAn

will that run the likes of Progear, Raiden/II/DX?

CathalDublin

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

will that run the likes of Progear, Raiden/II/DX?

I haven't tried them, but anything I've thrown at it has ran perfectly. I don't think many of the CHDs do though. I'll give Progear a go later and see what it plays like and report back.

CiDeRmAn

Question though, at the moment my RP3 is running Retropie, how can I integrate ARpiCADE into the set up, or am I doomed?

Retr0gamer

So the day I decide to come back to my game project after an extended hiatus is the exact same day Yoyo decides to release Gamemaker 2 and stop supporting the old gamemaker...

Time to see if a few hundred hours of work are going out the window.

Retr0gamer

Ok that wasn't so bad, 19 line compatibility report and a 10 fold performance increase so very little to change.

Mr.Saturn

Bit of afternoon cringe courtesy of The Telegraph.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2016/05/14/retro-tech-worth-thousands-on-ebay/pink-game-boy-advance/

Original GBA casually mentioned as maybe being worth £1000.

Retr0gamer

Mr.Saturn wrote: »

Bit of afternoon cringe courtesy of The Telegraph.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2016/05/14/retro-tech-worth-thousands-on-ebay/pink-game-boy-advance/

Original GBA casually mentioned as maybe being worth £1000.

That's complete ballox. As some one that owns an embarrassing amount of pink consoles, it's because the pink ones always sell cheaper. And GBA's are a dime a dozen.

DinoRex

Good to know my 1st Gen iPod is worth 40k.