zetastrike
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Posts posted by zetastrike
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I had to have sunk at least 8 hours into Shining Force Gaiden: The Final Conflict for the Game Gear since last Friday.
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1 hour ago, Mikebloke said:
That's because most of us are Autistic. Social communication difficulties and fixed interests come with the territory. They are manageable aspects and often don't require any skill that challenges the difficulties that come with the condition. Collections of things is manageable, predictable, and ordered. This is probably my true answer to why I collect. Its one thing I never have to be good at in order to succeed, I just need to pump all my disposable income on it. At some point, we all find our limit, and then it's about whether we slow down, stop, or start reducing. I'd say most users on this forum is at some stage or another of this process. I'm definitely still in the slowing down phase. Not everyone will go to reducing their current collections to tailor it, but many will. Various YouTuber game collectors have gone through this process, making it more visible. For some, game collecting becomes like bonsai, clipping out the unwanted and tailoring your own aesthetics.
Whoa Whoa Whoa, put down the broad brush. I resent the **** out of this statement. I'm not autistic and I'd be willing to be most of the users here and other forums aren't either. That's just insulting to everyone here and to people who are actually on the spectrum and live normal, enriching, productive lives.
Being socially awkward isn't an excuse to avoid actually putting in the work to build a more fulfilling life. If someone is so scared of the outside world and lazy to the point where hoarding plastic junk is the only way you're willing to get a dopamine hit, then you have nobody to blame but yourself when you get that 900th game and realize nothing has changed and have to pick another console to complete.
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To each their own, but I will say that I think all the time and money that completionists put towards hoarding games would be better spent towards experiences and fostering social connections and relationships. At the end of the day, it's just a bunch of plastic and cardboard on a shelf, it won't be some life altering event, your life will be exactly the same as it was before you slid the last box or case onto the shelf.
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4 hours ago, vanfanel said:
Now, this is reasoning. Nice answer, thanks.
Let's see. You say "Not everyone plays games for preservation". Nope, but Analogue claims that their products are a way of preservation.
Note that it can be seen in their old page at least (I don't visit Analogue page anymore, and preservation has an actual meaning in public projects where hardware is actually preserved by being reimplemented in a public form).
Now, dithering+proper blending was used by many devs to their advantage, as you said. But not small developers, but SEGA itself: look at Sonic 1, Sonic 2, Sonic 3, Streets of Rage 2, Ristar, Story of Thor, and a long, looooong list of Megadrive games.
Use of dithering + blending on the Megadrive was massive. We're not talking about the SNES here, where it wasn't used so heavily: dithering + blending was a Megadrive typical trick, and ignoring it (even if you are free to do so) visually ruins the games in my opinion (and not only on my opinion).
@Atariboy I have nothing to discuss with you anymore, so I don't mind being in your ignore list.
It's also a fact that RGB cables that provided a sharp picture have been available for the MD from the time it was released and it was designed from the get go to utilize them. Hell, in France RGB would have been the only way to display a MD on a TV, so their baseline of normal would be very different from yours, are they idiots? Just as many developers didn't use dithering or account for it when creating games for the MD. On top of that, dithering was used all over the PC and home computer world where blurry displays were not a thing. The level of anger I'm sensing from your posts here is unhealthy.
And yes, I did grow up in the 90s and 00s playing games over RF and composite. I don't want to go back to that.
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4 hours ago, vanfanel said:
Pixel blending *is* broken.
Did you even play a MegaDrive via RF or RCA back in the day? Did you? Really? I suspect you know MegaDrive from software emulation and just got a MegaSG.
Do you remember having "Sonic 1" or "SOR 2" or "Story Of Thor" having working transparency but horribly deformed fonts? Do you remember that? No you don't.
And do you know why you don't remember that?
Because it did not happen in original hardware.
And before you come out with some stupid reasoning like "it's HDMI, not RCA anymore", take a look at MiSTer's MegaDrive core, enable "pixel blending" and see how it looks: That's how it looked back in the day. And that's how it's supposed to look.
I am tired of Genecyst-level emulation kids by now.
Play the real thing on a real RCA/RF setup (as most games used dithering heavily on the MegaDrive) before expressing an opinion about pixel blending.
And solution is very easy: un-selective pixel blending. There's already a lever for setting the blending depth, but that level doesn't work as expected, because it should adjust to un-selective blending at some position.
MiSTer people got it right because it's easy.
This has been reported years ago, along with some other major bugs. None of these problems or bugs are present in community-driven implementations. As they say: the writing is on the wall...
The games can look however you want them to. They're not supposed to look one way or the other. Please stop projecting your preference on everyone as if it's the only way. It's not incorrect to want everything sharp and clear any more than it's incorrect to want it blurry. I never use fake blur on any emulator. I don't understand why dithering triggers some people so much. I like sharp clear pixels, seeing a checkerboard doesn't bother me. RGB cables have been a thing for the Megadrive as long as it has existed, so the capability and option was always there. Please stop talking to us like we're idiots because we aren't fretting about this.
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I prefer the first one. The older I get, the more I appreciate the simplicity in it's design compared to the other big SNES platformers. All you have to do is run left to right and avoid hazards, the bonus rooms don't get you anything so you can ignore them. The two sequels over complicated it with too many things to collect in each level. I think it nails it with the tropical island atmosphere, whereas the second one was too dark/dreary and the third one took place in Canada.
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14 minutes ago, CZroe said:
The Nt Mini jailbreak was official, from Kevtris, so it was the only one that ever promised multiple consoles until the Nt Mini Noir when Kevtris confirmed that it would work with the original jailbreak. At first we were told it would be the same except for an updated cartridge slot and color. Expectations were set.
It seems plans changed since they ended up completely redoing the Noir... no doubt, incorporating some of the work that is going into Analogue 8 along with a more powerful FPGA. That meant it was not going to work with the old jailbreak and that the FPGA could now do things like interpolation... and Genesis. I never expected Super Nt or Mega Sg to become multi-consoles beyond the obvious (Master System, Game Gear, and Colecovision make sense considering the base hardware of a Genesis).
Just seems weird to me for anyone to expect Super Nt, Mega Sg, etc to get all the other cores in a Jailbreak when we know that's the domain of the Nt Mini line. Analogue 8 sure sounds like it wants to be a multi-consoles for 8-bit systems but maybe they are planning for it to replicate microcomputers and have a built-in keyboard or something... who knows... but it sounds like a multi-consoles too with a vague name like that.The NT Mini is a NES/Famicom system and marketed as such. It makes no more sense for it to have Atari/Intellivision/Gameboy/Mega Duck/etc than it would for the Super NT or Mega SG. I think it's a crappy way to keep people on the hook. They're showing off what they're products can do, but keeping it gated behind a very expensive machine produced in small quantities. I don't like Analogue or the Mister community for different reasons, but at least with Mister you know where it stands.
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Does anyone else feel a little bit miffed that NT Mini Noir users already got a massive jailbreak with a lot of extra/unrelated cores, including a Genesis core? It doesn't really matter to me as I have a retroarch setup and a mister so I'm not short of options for playing most of these games, but the powers that be don't seem to think all of Analogue's customers are created equal. I've never bothered jailbreaking my Super NT as I already have a flashcart. I will give them a little credit with the Mega SG as the Colecovision core is a true bonus.
I know all of this stuff isn't official or supported or acknowledged by Analogue, but we're not stupid and anyone who only ever bought a Super NT might be justifiably frustrated.
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I'm in need of a working recapped Game Gear board revision VA0 or VA1 for a mod I have on order.
This is what I have for trade.
Gameboy Color with IPS screen mod (brightness control is attached to the IR port, I'll throw in my small loose cart collection as well)Everdrive N8 Famicom (with blank 4GB micro SD card)
Everdrive N8 NES
Mega Everdrive X5Mega Everdrive V1 deluxe edition (with blank 8GB SD card)
I'm in North Carolina 27707
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I have to post this here because it's a big deal for me. After about 6 years of owning the game, I finally cleared level 10 of Monster Manor on the 3DO. It's a notoriously frustrating map with a ton of enemies and hardly any ammo to deal with them. Worse still, there are many dead ends that will unleash hordes of spiders and grim reapers that you won't be able to defend yourself against due to the sparse ammo dumps. This took me roughly an hour to complete. Here's the map in case anyone else out there is struggling with this level. Even the game's developer couldn't finish it during his playthrough on youtube.
@thegoldenband you might appreciate this one!
The yellow dot is the location of the talisman piece you need to exit the level and the exit is marked by the white X in the bottom left corner, just above the red + sign which is me.
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Fenrir now allows exporting the internal memory to the SD card!
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Shining Wisdom (Saturn) 90 minutes
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8 minutes ago, Atariboy said:
These systems are in the public domain. There's nothing an outfit like Nintendo can do. Patents are expired and no copyrights are being violated.
That's not what I mean. The games are not public domain. The OP was referring to ROM support as a standard feature. I think Nintendo would take notice and act if a small company like Analogue was selling and profiting off of a device that openly allows playing illegal copies of NES/SNES/whatever games. In the case of the PC Engine, I think Konami owns all of that. I agree with the OP that ROM support is a necessary feature, but we're not the ones taking on the risk of incorporating it into a commercial product.
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12 minutes ago, blzmarcel said:
I honestly feel that Analogue has places an overemphasis on using game cartridges. It's great to have that option, but they seem to be missing a very important reason to have ROM file support, which is preservation. It's (near the end of) 2020, a lot of game cartridges from the 90s, 80s, and 70s are quite old now, and putting them back into constant use can wear them out. For example, a lot of NES/Famicom, and SMS/SG-1000 games are approaching 40 years old.
This is why I have dumped all the games I originally owned and have held onto over the years, and generally play their ROM counter parts while keeping the originals in a safe, cool, and dry place. This is very similar to how people have ripped DVD and CD libraries over the past couple decades.
Preservation should not be under estimated. It is my humble opinion that any modern retro gaming system that has cartridge slots, should have the ability to dump the cartridges to ROM files that can then be loaded instead of the cartridges, out of the box, without any need to "jail break." This feels especially true for something like the Pocket. While I don't mind using real cartridges, it's much nicer to be able to choose from a menu containing my whole library, while keeping my original cartridges safe.
It's also 2020, where huge corporations like Nintendo have the power to nuke small outfits like Analogue if they feel that their products are encouraging piracy of their back catalog. It's a very fine line to straddle.
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This is one of the reasons I don't like discord at all. There's a lot of information now that's only found there and can't just be googled. You're kind of forced to join it or be entirely out of the loop.
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So how does it handle the BIOS? Does the user need to supply the proper system cards? If so, that would blow.
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30 minutes ago, jhd said:
This game was also included in the Midway Arcade Treasures 2 collection for the PS 2. Does that version have the same limitations?
Yes
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I know Primal Rage is not properly emulated in MAME due to some proprietary anti-piracy hardware on the board.
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SNES:
Mega Man X3: New Zero Project v4.1 - 90 minutes
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Saturday 10/3/20:
NES: Pac-Man Championship Edition - 2hrs
NES: SMB 3 - 45 minutes
Sunday 10/4/20:
Atari 8 bit: Pac-Man Arcade (tep392) - 90 minutes
Apple II: Ms. Pac-Man - 15 minutes
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1 minute ago, GoldenWheels said:
Jeez...I wondered if my subscription ran out. Hadn't even considered there might be an issue.
I love the mag, mostly because I am UK gaming ignorant, especially PC gaming. Every issue is new stuff to me!
That's why I love it too, I always learn about something new with each issue. I don't think a US-based retro gaming magazine would be nearly as interesting, it would just be a NES love-fest.
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I've tried to enjoy the A8bit version of Super Pac-Man, but something about the controls feel off. Changing directions feels unresponsive or maybe inputs are being missed. Pac-Man feels like he has some weird speed changes. Regular or Ms Pac-Man using the same joystick feel fine.
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Just use emulation, god almighty. I don't understand the way some pigeonhole themselves into "FPGA or real hardware, no exceptions".
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4 hours ago, seastalker said:
Question about the MODE. However unlikely, if the Sega Saturn has the same two RISC chips as the 32x, what are the technical hurdles of 32x game support on the MODE when used on a Saturn? Of course, some of us wish the Saturn's cartridge slot would have been backwards compatible with the 32x and genesis (and therefore Master System), but if one were to look at FPGA options for a 32x core, if the Saturn already has SOME of the 32x hardware, what a dream it would be to have even patched 32x roms to run as Saturn games on a MODE, or just plain old support for 32x titles. What an advantage an ODE maker would have over the other options!
The 32X and Saturn hardware are nothing alike. All the 32X is are the two CPUs, a framebuffer, and some RAM + the Genesis underneath it. The Saturn is the Saturn. Not to mention that 32X emulation (via software or FPGA) requires the mixing of the Genesis video signal with the 32X's, so you'd need to have a Genesis core on the MODE as well. It's not a reasonable or feasible ask.
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What have you actually PLAYED tracker for 2020 (Season 13)
in Classic Console Discussion
Posted
Saturn:
Policenauts - 6hrs 48min on Friday 12/18/20