elmer

There's a typo at the end of Pipercub's link, try this ... http://famicomdojo.tv/podcast/124 <edit> Whoops ... late to the game, you've already posted the link! Sorry.

The Turbo Everdrive v2 is especially nice in that it can act as a Super System Card on a Briefcase or a TG-16CD console. It also means that you don't need to remove it when you want to run CD games on a DUO or SuperCDROM console. Just download and run the modified System Card image to let it do that without causing problems. There's a patch for that on KRIKzz's forum ... http://krikzz.com/forum/index.php?topic=3640.msg34306#msg34306 The Briefcase is the most iconic of the PC Engine systems ... but, as a 1st-generation CD-ROM drive, it is far less forgiving of CD-R discs than the later DUO/SuperCDROM/DUO-R/DUO-RX consoles.

You don't need to wish, NEC actually did use all the main Tetsujin chipset in the PC-FX. The press at the time didn't know it, and did their usual poor job of investigative journalism. The PC-FX does use the HuC6230, HuC6261, HuC6271, and HuC6272. The only one of those original Tetsujin chips that were listed that wasn't used was the HuC62320 CPU ... because it was deemed too under-powered and was replaced by the faster NEC V810 instead. The biggest difference was with the sprite chip. They couldn't get their 3D-chip upgraded enough in time for shipping, so they just threw in two of the original HuC6270 VDC chips from the PC Engine. That gave it a big jump from the original PCE, but the shipping PC-FX's sprite capabilities were still far-below the PlayStation or the Saturn. That would have been fixed by selling an add-on with the HuC6273 3D-chip, which is comparable to the Saturn's VDP1 ... but, of course, that never happened. But one year after the launch of the PC-FX, NEC shipped the retail-available PC-FXGA development board for the NEC PC-98 and IBM PC, and those development boards do actually contain the HuC6273. So anyone can develop software on one of those boards, and see just how good, or how bad, the 3D add-on would have been. The documentation for the whole PC-FX, including the 3D chip, is all available on the internet in the PC-FXGA SDK, if you can read Japanese.

Absolutely! All the MEGA-POLLY folks have done so far is basically talk-up a dream ... a bit like the Shop Owner in Monty Python's Parrot sketch. We all agree on that. I thought that we were just taking a slight topic-detour into trying to figure out what-on-earth the libretro guys are ranting about now.

It looks pretty much as though they're talking about things like the RetroFreak and Poly-Retro-Mega-Blox here. Consoles that have real hardware cartridge slots, and make it look like you're running on a some semi-real old-fashioned console, but ... you're not. We don't know *exactly* what the MEGA-POLLY's "Hybrid Emulation" is, but it's pretty clear from what they've said already that it is software-emulation, like RetroArch/libretro, but just tied up with some way of reading the physical cartridge. Kevtris doesn't believe that they could get the timings right for that on a pure ARM chip, but it shouldn't take much more than a small FPGA to simulate the original machine's bus cycle and then pass on the data to the ARM CPU. After all, that's exactly what the RetroFreak does ... it just doesn't do it while running the console emulator at the same time. So ... there's an FPGA in there, that can be referred to for marketing purposes to make it sound new-fangled and wonderful, but it's really just a traditional software emulator that does all the real work.

<YAWN> <STRETCH> He had a lot of enthusiasm for the Retro VGS, too. I couldn't care less whether he is enthusiastic about something at this point. He's a marketing-droid with no technical background. And I'm not really concerned with the cost, yet. I assume that it will be as much as they think that they can get away with. Remember, these guys aren't doing this to give back something wonderful to the gaming community ... they're trying to start a profitable business. I'm more concerned with whether it ... a) really exists, b) does all that they claim that it does, c) does it legally and without ripping off other developer's emulators or BIOS software, d) doesn't break after 3 months because of a shoddy physical design and components. The POLYMEGA guys still haven't released any real information that would satisfy me on any of those counts. They're heavily in marketing-mode instead. OK, that's their choice. As long as they're not out there asking for people's money, then I think that they have the right to play the game however they want. <BACK-TO-SLEEP>

<YAWN> Wow, a system so obscure and unloved, that there must be literally only a couple of dozen collectors in the world with actual physical Neo Geo CD games. This announcement only seems to make the slightest sense if, as I've said before, they expect people to buy ROM and CD downloads from their online store. The current owners of SNK seem to be very happy to license out their library, and they're actually a good pick for POLYMEGA for just that reason. Certainly more so than Nintendo, who would be incredibly unlikely to allow the POLYMEGA folks to re-sell any of Nintendo's games. Anyway, more "marketing", and still no real technical details. <BACK-TO-SLEEP>

Excellent! I'm definitely a fanboy, having played ASO for many hours as a student when it came out. ASO comes from the days when arcade games didn't come with 30-pages manuals, and you had to figure things out as you played. It's an unusually complex shooter, and most videos just really badly miss the point, and end up dismissing it as a bad Xevious clone. If you watch this Japanese play-through, you'll see some of the strategy as the player hordes his Energy bar and grinds on levels to boost up his ship and collect extra lives and armor. ASO II on the Neo Geo took the formula and ramped it up with beautiful graphics, excellent sound, huge bosses, and 2 players. Magical! But again, if you treat it like a normal shooter, you'll get slaughtered.

I'm really looking forward to seeing you review of ASO II soon. It's the game that made my buy a Neo Geo BITD, so I'm rather biased. Since you seem to like the history of the games, I hope that you mention the original ASO ... which is what I loved so much that I had to buy ASO II. The pick-up-3-parts system to get a ship was brilliant, especially the frustration as a player when you start collecting a particular ship, and begin ignoring other ship-parts, only to realize that you're not going to get the last part that you need and should have collected something else instead. It was a great coin-sucker that rewarded learning both the map, and which ships it was going to offer you at any particular time.

I can only repeat ... <YAWN> Any new information? ... nope. <BACK-TO-SLEEP>

Actually, the PCE-CD came out 3 full years before the Sega-CD in Japan. The PCE had an overwhelming lead over the MD in the Japanese market ... and by the time that the Sega-CD came out, it just wasn't a big-enough technological improvement to reverse that market position in Japan. The smaller installed-base meant that fewer Japanese RPG developers wanted to develop for it, especially exclusively. Game Arts (Lunar) seems to be one of the few. Telenet (Cosmic Fantasy Stories) developed for both systems. There's an interesting Japanese magazine article from Sep 1991 with developer quotes from both Game Arts and NEC Avenue, about the Sega-CD and PCE-CD.

For the 1980s ... absolutely, computers all the way. Once you get to the 1990 and beyond, then you need to look at Japan, and not the US, to really see the start of the change. The release of "Tengai Makyou" and "Ys I&II" in 1989 on the PC Engine CD really started to show what developers could do if the restrictions of ROM space were lifted from them. Then in 1991 the Super System Card was released for the PC Engine, and the RPG floodgates burst open. Nearly all of those PC Engine RPG games were only ever released in Japan. Of the few that did come to the failing TurboGrafx16 in America, there was only one that wasn't butchered by suffering a cheap-and-quick translation. YouTube celebrities still talk about it. That was 3 years before the PlayStation and Saturn came along to pick up the reins and blow away Western gamers.

<YAWN> Any new information? ... nope. <BACK-TO-SLEEP> In the meantime, ASUS has actually started shipping their SBC board with the same core hardware as the RetroBlox POLYMEGA. http://www.amazon.com/Tinker-board-RK3288-1-8GHz-Mali-T764/dp/B06VSBVQWS

Finally, someone that seems to understand the situation!

Don't forget the Sharp X1 Twin, too.

If they've just packed-up-and-gone-home, then I would actually have a little more respect for them. Better that, than to get people's money on Kickstarter and then fail to deliver. What amazes me, is that despite their failure to come up with any more hard information, and the complete (and IMHO insulting) silence, there are still a couple of people posting on their forum "I'm so excited, when is the Kickstarter!". But ... I wouldn't be at all surprised if we hear from these guys again, at some point in the future.

And back at ya! Why? A lot of the the original companies either don't exist anymore, or barely develop anything anymore. Look at Atari and Intellivision ... they were even willing to get into bed with Mike Kennedy if there was some upfront cash involved! Sega are already putting stuff on Steam, and SNK Playmore are whoring-out all of classic-SNK's games in any way that they can. As for the Japanese developers like Konami, and those publishing stuff on Nintendo or Sony's Virtual Consoles ... That's because those are DRM-protected platforms, with enough users out-there to justify the development costs (for some games). You do understand, don't you, that it actually costs a publisher a significant chunk-of-change to actually license an emulator to run on one of the modern consoles, add all the extra social-networking and "achievements" features, and then package everything up into a console-standards-compliant package? They don't just dump an old ROM image on Nintendo or Sony's doorstep and then just sit back and watch the dollars roll in. Which is precisely what they could do if they licensed certain game rights to a "company", in the way that I'm suspecting that the RetroBlox ThingySomething folks are dreaming of. Heck ... the rights-holders wouldn't even need to supply the ROM or CD images ... those can already be downloaded from hundreds of pirate sites. Why? From day 1 they've talked about having DRM-protected sales of homebrew games on their system. Sure, there's also the whole run-your-physical-cart-or-CD aspect, and there's nothing that I've just said that would stop them from wanting to allow that. It would be a way to get people to buy the system, and then use the digital storefront to buy additional games that they didn't already own in physical form. There are a limited number of physical games out there, and the prices keep on rising, and working copies of the original hardware gets older and more expensive to run (no HDMI output on the older consoles). If they could establish themselves as the "affordable-but-legal-and-convenient" way for folks to play "classic" games, then there *might* be a long-term small-but-profitable business there. Well ... that's what I can imagine them thinking, anyway. It's just a speculation in order to try to figure-out why they're so busy emphasizing certain things, and ignoring others. As we've all pointed-out, multiple times, they still haven't shown any hardware that actually plays games using their super-duper-incredible-patent-pending technology, and a lot of folks don't even believe that it would work. QFT ...

Does anyone else get the impression that what these Retroblox ThingySomething guys really want to do ... with all their talk of branding and future-products and investors and copy-protected downloads and the app-store-like interface they showed ... ... Is to actually try to set themselves up as the Retro-Gaming-Kings and produce some "branded" hardware that eventually emulates all the popular and out-of-production machines, and lets Publishers/Rights-Holders sell DRM-protected ROMs and CD images of their back-catalog titles on the RetroBlox ThingySomething digital storefront (for an Apple-like 30% fee, of course)? Kinda like Mike Kennedy, but without his idiotic idea that established companies would want to develop new games for some underfunded niche console.

There's a guy on the PCEFX forums asking about buying a Marty ... I'm sending him over here to this thread. Good luck!

Yeah, it just *stinks* of the kind of thing that Mike Kennedy would pull, doesn't it! OTOH, I'm a little less dissmissive than you, and wouldn't be at all surprised if one of the many, many "Blox-this" or "Blox-that" trademark holders didn't manage to scare them off. Whether true or not, they still come out of this looking bad, either for not doing due-diligence on their desired name, or in stalling for time. And when I see ... ... then, if we're willing to give them the benefit of the doubt and accept this as true ... Gawd knows what DRM-infected and subscription-based online-connected monstrosity they're planning to try to sell in order to justify the "investment".

Well, I hope that you'll at-least play the English translation of Zeroigar before you sell the PC-FX! But once again, you're talking about some beautiful console hardware that's of limited-or-no-appeal to most folks, but highly-sought-after by some. The NeoSD has probably put a dent in the perceived-value of the NeoGeo CD systems, unfortunately. I'd go for a NeoSD myself, but since I've only turned on my AES a few times in the last couple of decades, I should probably just sell it instead. Good luck with the sales!

Yep, those are really "specialist" items. As much as it's really sad to see a working Marty going unsold for this long, it's just a platform that I've never had an interest in owning. And that's from someone that paid a fortune to import a X68000, and even the obscure-and-unloved NEC PC-FX (and PC-FXGA development card). Have you considered posting it on the NFGgames forum? They have a specialist section devoted to the FM Towns. http://nfggames.com/forum2/

Then you'd have loved this, if it hadn't died so quickly ... It was the best-designed 8-bit home computer that I know of. https://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/10/24/elan_flan_enterprise_micro_is_30_years_old/ Just for amusement ... "yes", the David Levy whose company designed the Enterprise, is the same one now involved in the Sinclair ZX Spectrum Vega+ debacle.

The Plus's extra capabilities would have been welcome in 1986 ... but it would have split the CPC software market, which would really hurt the willingness of software developers to make games for it. By 1986/1987, the Atari ST was becoming the "hot" gaming machine, and even with the launch of the Amiga 500 and its quick drop in price, it still took a while in the UK for that to become the "top" gaming computer. Even then ... with the Gaming Press drooling over the PC Engine in late 1987, and the rise of the UK's grey-import shops, it showed that consoles were soon to take over gaming from Home Computers.

Sometimes I miss my old 6128, it was a really nice machine. I had an external 3.5" floppy drive for it so that it could share files with other machines that were around at time. Being able to switch from 16-colour-160-wide to 4-colour-320-wide on any scanline was nice for games. But ... it was a real pity (for game developers) that it didn't support a smooth horizontal hardware-scroll.