General Arcade & Retro Chat' Special Championship Edition

o1s1n

Honestly I know it's expensive but the Retrotink 5X is one of the best investments I've ever made when it comes to playing old consoles. Think of it as a one off thing and you then have all of your old consoles on modern displays forever. With the Retrotink 4k out now you might be able to nab a secondhand 5X for a bit cheaper.

They do some other converters that come in at half the price, I've never used one myself but they might be worth a look:

https://www.retrotink.com/post/introducing-the-retrotink-2x-pro-multi-format

Tom Mann Centuria

^^^^ cheers. I did think it was unlikely there'd be a cheapish option, bit of saving of pennies required.

MrVestek

Kaico do some good hdmi cables for the various consoles.

I have one for my original Xbox and it works and gives a decent picture. Could be an option if you want to do that and get a HDMI splitter perhaps?

Although might be just as cheap to get a Retrotink if you're going to do that as the cables can be €30 and up.

bugs

The retrotink 2x Scart does the job for upscaling with zero fuss. It's still not cheap but much cheaper than the 5x.

Retr0gamer

Macaulay Culkin either a STG fan or talking ballocks here:

https://youtu.be/Wspw2S05HME

Doge

Fess up! Who modded their PS1 like this and decided to throw it up on Facebook Market place? 😜

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1428193797780463/

Doge

So I ordered my first batch of PCBs and they arrived today from JLCPCB, but won't be used to conduct any current! Why not you ask?

These are to be used as Front And Rear panels for MIDIbox Quad Genesis - A Mega Drive synthesizer project I'm building capable of playing back vgm files, and also allow you to play the original instrument sounds in Mega Drive soundtracks across the keyboard via MIDI. Or you can create your own sounds using the FM chip also.

Originally designed by Sauraen, who has built 2 which are the only 2 known completed builds in the world. Mine will be the 3rd if all goes well.

I had to modify the mounting holes in the front panel and spent many hours converting the Front Panel designer format to a Kicad format, and I designed the rear panels myself from scratch hence the basic look.

Never had experience with Kicad or front panel designer before so it was a pretty big learning curve.

It will be my biggest soldering project yet. I have 549 LEds to solder (that's just shy of 1000 joints for the LEDs alone!)

It will have upto 4 x Yamaha YM2612 FM chips, and 4 x SN76489 PSG chips.

I already got sound working from the chips a few years back so these 2 panels are the last pieces of the puzzle:

IMG_20171213_195003.jpg

IMG_20171225_223933.jpg

It would have cost more than 500 euro to have just one aluminium front panel CNC milled and painted due to it's large size and complexity.

However it only cost me about $180 to have 5 sets of each of the panels made up as PCBs.

I'm extremely happy with how the edge cuts came out so precise, precision is critical for a project like this.

I'll be painting the wooden enclosure black btw.

Inviere

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121621684#Comment_121621684

Absolutely class, fair play. I'm sure more than a few of us here would love to see you document it and post up your progress!

Doge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121621883#Comment_121621883

Thanks! I have a build guide here that's a work in progress, and will hopefully serve others who want to build it:

http://midibox.org/forums/topic/20619-build-guide-midibox-quad-genesis/

Plenty of step by step instructions and pictures.

phily2002

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121621577#Comment_121621577

Looks like a butter knife was used for the cutouts. At least their not looking for 500 euro I suppose

o1s1n

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121621684#Comment_121621684

What a project 😮 - that's amazing.

For a layperson such as myself, is this going to use several Megadrives (I see you say it'll have 4 x Yamaha YM2612 FM chips?) or just sound elements of the consoles specifically? Fascinating stuff.

Doge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121623449#Comment_121623449

Thanks dude!

Edit: it is just the sound elements it's generating specifically.

I bought the chips on eBay from a seller in Dublin funnily enough a good few years back and tested them in one of my mega drive consoles, by plugging them into the socket. No mega drives were cannibalised for the chips! All passed fine, despite the seller sending them wrapped in tin foil with no other protection! 🙈

4 chips is a bit overkill but it means I can have different sounds layered on each chip as if it's 4 synths in one.

Sauraen put up this video of 4 vgm files playing over the 4 chips at once for fun!

https://youtu.be/YCZNiDBotLM

If I was to do vgm covers on the unit there's some limitation, where I might need to use 2 chips instead of 1 due to how the voices are assigned. I can't remember specifically what it is.

You can load up the vgm file for Streets Of Rage for example and capture the original instrument sounds, and play new melodies with those sounds using a midi keyboard connected! Imagine having access to Yuzo's original instrument sounds for use in your own compositions!

https://youtu.be/1-tgXWJ92R4

This can probably be done in software trackers too but there's something cool about using tactile hardware to sculpt your sounds using encoders and buttons.

Retr0gamer

Here we go again

https://twitter.com/kobunheat/status/1747432647469719652?t=XXSyj8poKRKVy0niw4ZSwg&s=19

o1s1n

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121626827#Comment_121626827

Wow that's cool! The absolute clarity in the sound is amazing. I suppose it quite literally is the sound chips. I'd say you'll have some amount of fun with that. I'd sit there listening to those vgm files all day.

Will be following that midibox thread with great interest.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121627433#Comment_121627433

About time! I've been waiting to retire on my Wii copy of Klonoa.

Seriously thought that's rather interesting to see. I really thought the Wii would be impervious to this kind of thing, seemed like you couldn't even give Wii consoles or games away for free.

Retr0gamer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121628375#Comment_121628375

You see most 'gamers' are focused on the big powerful consoles but the Wii outsold all of them and was the console a lot of kids owned that are now in the workforce with disposable income. It's kind of like how all the focus is on the Xbox and PS5 when the biggest console by far is the switch or how the two biggest games in the world are fortnite and Roblox but there's not a lot of coverage. A lot of the time what gamers are interested in isn't what's actually the most popular.

DaveyDave

Lads, any mini consoles available these days worth getting? My sister is looking at getting something for the lunch room in the office she works at.

Is there an Atari? I recall seeing a video of an Atari that has documentaries and history archives on it...

Edit: actually I think that was a game compilation released for modern system.

Inviere

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121631740#Comment_121631740

There's the Atari 2600 Plus released late last year. You can probably still grab the Amiga 500 mini too in places. Not sure about the rest, I imagine the Nintendo ones and Playstation one are out of production by now?

o1s1n

Any of you guys feel like you've been absolutely murdered by customs charges in the last year?

While paying yet another customs charge this afternoon (PC Engine RGB adapter thingy from the UK) I decided to search 'Customs Declaration' in my inbox to see how many receipts I had.

12 receipts in 2023. Many of which ranged from 50-80 euro a piece.

Would love to know what all this extra revenue is being used for...

sniper_samurai

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121634680#Comment_121634680

Yeah. I mainly collect anime blurays and Amazon is the only place you can order from now without incurring customs charges, unfortunately they're also usually the most expensive even taking An Posts €3.50 service charge per package into account.

Also anime blurays have been disproportionately hit with Amazons export to EU restrictions as the listings aren't being posted correctly with a country of origin, which doesn't help.

Because of this I usually end up with over 40 separate charges a year.

The charges usually average about €14 between the VAT and service charges.

Retr0gamer

Yep I'm kind of glad I'm out of collecting retro games now as but I'm also getting myself rubbed up for the analogue pocket adapters to get posted.

briany

Those old ROM sites back in the day that had links to N64 roms, but when you clicked on them, it took you to these clickable survey things instead with a promise of taking you to the game once the survey was completed, but then it just seemed like never-ending surveys, like a Penrose Stairs of ads, did they actually have those ROMs on the site at all?

sniper_samurai

Nice to see an Irish animation studio get work on a game. Studio Meala have done the animated intro for Limited Runs Rocket Knight Adventures collection.

https://twitter.com/StudioMeala/status/1748396051952763169?t=Kgv5IQ2R7He1o4pyRJqcaw&s=19

remoteboy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121615061#Comment_121615061

Where’s the best place to buy a Retrotink these days? Direct from the manufacturer? Also, how do handle RF only outputs like a Spectrum or a Coleco?

KeRbDoG

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121640586#Comment_121640586

I contacted the supplier in Ireland who stocked them in the past, https://videogameperfection.com/ - but it seems Retrotink don't want to deal/stock with them anymore. There is a German supplier if you search around but they didn't have stock last time I checked.

If you find a supplier in the EU, let us know.

Retr0gamer

https://twitter.com/BoundaryBreak/status/1748362377349763405?t=PnFJ6lyTxddVZwFL_UAhgw&s=19

Interesting.

Retr0gamer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121640367#Comment_121640367

Ireland is actually kind of a hotbed for animation and animation talent/studios. The don Bluth studios was only here for a while but lots of animation courses were set up due to them and when they left you had a lot of animation studios being set up by former employees. I used to work security for a summer in the Guinness digital hub and had to walk through the animation studios there at night. They had loads of cels up of the stuff they worked on like the 90s TMNT show and loads of Nickelodeon stuff.

You'd be surprised how much gets animated in Ireland. I also know that the broken sword games animation was all done by an Irish studio run by former don Bluth staff.

sniper_samurai

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121642790#Comment_121642790

A lot also stemmed from Jimmy Murakamis Fred Wolf Studios too.

Lighthouse in Kilkenny have been doing quite a bit of high profile stuff recently too contributing to the Bobs Burgers movie, The Cuphead Show and Rick & Morty.

Skerries

https://www.techspot.com/news/101571-jailbroken-wiis-gain-access-revived-digital-storefront.html

dogs

Inviere

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121643049#Comment_121643049

Won't be long now I'd say....

Mr.Saturn

Will this RiiShop be able to bypass the file size limit from the original WiiShop, assuming storage isn't an issue? It'd be a nice way to get your hands on the Captain Rainbow fanslation whenever it finally drops.