Nebulon

Welcome. I'm mainly into old-skool arcade-type games (Galaga, TRON, Space Duel, Major Havoc, R-Type, etc...). However, I have been known to play the odd game of SoulCalibur, Burnout Revenge, or Titanfall.

I'm pretty sure that was extra ROM. Personally, I make a distinction between adding ROM space and adding RAM (especially with the RAM is working in tandem with additional processing hardware).

Actually it does matter. Comparing systems with games that make use of additional CPU power or RAM in their cartridges is effectively cheating. It's a bit like a steroid user at the Olympics. Typically, these 'enhancements' take advantage of the falling costs of production over time as well as the lessons learned from hardware designs that followed the release of the systems concerned. "If you're going to compare, keep it fair."

Well, except maybe for this: "Just before Nintendo started work on the Famicom, Coleco employees visited Nintendo with a prototype ColecoVision in tow. R&D2’s engineers were shocked at seeing smoothly animated graphics for the first time." http://www.glitterberri.com/developer-interviews/how-the-famicom-was-born/deciding-on-the-specs/

Apparently the fix for Dreamcast disc readers is pretty simple (in most cases). YouTube has quite a bit on that subject.

Related to this topic is this nifty video. I first watched it a few days ago and then it struck me that maybe people on this thread might find it interesting too:

Worms Armageddon - Dreamcast Ridge Racer Unbounded - 360 Crazy Taxi - Dreamcast

My choice would be RalliSport Challenge 1 on the XCast, err... I mean the original XBOX. I actually prefer it over the Forza series.

Yes. The SEGA arcade at the Luxor (1993). More info here: http://segaretro.org/Sega_VirtuaLand

The audio transfer may be slow, but it's also awesome. Thanks so much for making this great utility!

I see them in thrift stores from time to time. Since the channels each have their own separate cable, you really can't go too far wrong. If it works, it works. I wouldn't expect any interference using any of the M$ component cables you see in your travels. The knock-offs are dirt cheap too ($3.50), so there's not too much risk there.

Well, I still recall being blown away when I saw the big-screen launch version of Virtua Fighter in Las Vegas. Today when I look at that game, it looks really really primitive (especially compared to Soul Calibur on the Dreamcast). I also have a tough time looking at games on the N64. Again, they don't seem to have aged well at all. Yet when I look at a 2D game like Strider or R-Type, I still find that they look pretty awesome.

Agreed. I was dabbling with the idea of picking up a used Wii U when they dropped in price. But as you've mentioned, they really didn't drop in price much at all. I guess my plan backfired. So yes, things certainly are changing out there in retro bargain world. I too also wonder how some of these stores manage to pay their bills when stuff is priced too high to really sell in any significant volume. I think one major difference between us and some of the buyers out there is that a lot of us buy in order to actually play these games and not just to put them under glass. So in our minds, it shouldn't just look good -- it should play well too.

As long as people don't go overboard with the beer. If so, then we might be having the other kind of AA meeting. Going back to Ready Player One though, I'd definitely recommend the book to anyone on AtariAge. I think this group will appreciate the references.

Info from one of the designers of the Texas Instruments video chip that was famously used in the TI-99. ColecoVision, SEGA SG-1000, MSX, and many other game consoles and computers: "We were about the cancel the whole 9918 program when Coleco came in with Colecovision and the TI Home Computer took off while at the same time the MSX computer in Japan (the “MS” standing for Microsoft which had a short lived joint venture in Japan) started selling big time using the 9918." "there is a color burst at ~3.58MHz. The 9918’s input clock was ~10.74MHz or exactly 3 times the color burst reference." http://msx.hansotten.com/technical-info/tms9918/

This site has some interesting tidbits about Williams arcade machines, including a multi-game cabinet that runs real (not emulated) versions of Joust, Sinistar, Robotron, Splat, and Bubbles. http://www.seanriddle.com/willy2.html#pics Why do this? Well at the time (and possibly today as well) there were slight differences in blitter operations between the real machines and the emulated versions. Here's an excerpt: In older versions of MAME and in several xx-in-one boards, blits happen pretty much instantaneously, unlike the real games where the Special Chips have a maximum throughput of 1 MB/second (not counting the time it takes to write to the registers to start the blit). This results in games that appear normal at the beginning levels, but become much harder at the later levels. Robotron can have so many enemies on screen at once that all cannot be moved in one video frame. So the game moves as many as possible, then moves the rest in the next frame. With an "instantaneous blitter", all the enemies can be moved in one video frame, making the game play much faster. ... About 13% of the blits had different results in MAME than on the real game, and about 11% of the blits took a different amount of time in MAME than on the real game. I'm sure that these blits represent a very small proportion of blits done in actual game play, but they may still contribute to game play anomalies. http://seanriddle.com/blitter.html ​ Defender and Stargate are included in the cabinet too, although those two don't actually implement blitter code.

An XBOX controller with a number jack and a spinner.

Thanks for the feedback. It should be an okay platform once I get it working. I'm really only interested in using it for the stuff from around 1979 to 1984 (Zaxxon, The Glob, Subroc, MouseTrap, Q*Bert, Strategy X, Rolling Thunder, etc...). And details on how the actual setup works -- starting from the start? Someone just gave me one of these and it's still likely just a factory config. So I'm wondering how to get it prepped for running an emulator. And tips on what BIOS to use, how to get the BIOS running, how not to brick it, ...? I guess I'm looking for the total noob's guide to modding the PSP.

Moon Cresta Gorf Moon Shuttle All Arcaaaaaaaade!

Of course, that would involve upgrading the TI with a F18A video chip.

I suppose the other possibility is a cracked trace somewhere (like where the socket meets the board).

I'm usually the one giving people instructions on how to get MAME running. Looks like I've met my match with the PSP version of MAME. I am stuck and I've tried just about everything. I've tried both "PSP MAME 0.4" and "PSP MAME 4 ALL v 4.9 r1" The PSP I'm using is a fat model (i.e. PSP 1000). It's running a modded version of 6.39 (since the PSP I have came with 6.39 installed). ROMs are zipped and in 0.34 format. The EBOOT.PBP executable is in the GAME directory. I tried the GAME105 folder as well, but nothing that I put in that folder ever shows up on the PSP's file list. As for the GAME folder, I've tried EBOOT.PBP files for psp_mame4all_v4.9r1, psp_mame4all_v4.9r1-fat-noneogeo-nocps1, PSP MAME 0.4 KN, PSP MAME 0.4 NM, PSP MAME 0.4 SG, and PSP MAME 0.4 TT. All of the PSP MAME 0.4 executables start to load and then the screen goes blank and the PSP eventually goes to sleep. As for the mame4all_v4.9r1 executables, they issue the error: "The game could not be started. (8002013C)" I tried all the ISO modes available. No go. This PSP's stats are: Kernel version: 6.39 (0x006030910) Motherboard model: TA-081 Motherboard type: Fat 1001 (01g) PSP version: Fat v2.0

You should try it on the D-Pad on the Sony PSP. That controller has the buttons separated instead of connected, so no way to rock the controller with your thumb. Now that's impossible.

I'm thinking about getting a DriveWire cable (as opposed to building one myself). Has anyone used one of these. If so, what's the process for transferring a file to the CoCo? Does anyone know how to use one with a CoCoFlash unit? (I see the CoCoFlash includes the DriveWire software).

Logo goooood!