CZroe

Analogue has never shied away from “niche” ...or niche + Neo Geo. Ever looked into their past products before the Analogue Nt? ...or the Analogue Nt itself? [emoji6] Anyway, the cost of flash carts and hardware and games could actually be a reason to buy one (*psst* jailbreak). Like PCE/TG16, there is a clear disparity between the system’s past sales and the number of people interested. Actually, even moreso, which is why we get things like Neo Geo X Gold and Neo Geo Mini at GameStop. The fact that it was always so expensive works in favor of this eventually existing. Also, there are piles of MVS carts if you actually look around. The arcade platform had an extremely long life, and they aren’t exactly loading up arcade machines these days. Almost everything else you mention would be irrelevant if they partnered with SNK and bundled built-in games (like when SNK partnered with Tommo) and let’s not forget about the possibility of a JB. It would be MUCH more marketable than their premium wooden consolized MVS machines either way. An SNK partnership would definitely solve the thorny BIOS issue. Universe BIOS wouldn’t help because Razoola only has the copyright to his own work. Raz’s UniBIOS is still based on SNK’s copyrighted BIOS. There is an OpenNeo project mentioned on NeoDev. Furrtek, the main contributor IIRC, has been slowly replicating the various chips in FPGA. Perhaps it could be made even cheaper by being made not to support carts at all. Neo-Geo CD, anyone? ...with instant loading cached to a 700MB disc image in memory that double be very useful if the system were ever, say, jail broken to run cartridge dumps? [emoji6] Furrtek also has an FPGA Neo Geo CD ODE that he’s been working on. He’s demonstrated that it does work, and he did recently ship his Virtual Boy VGA mod/adapter kit.

It already had another one even before that which is even closer to what Kevtris would be able to make: the FPGA-based UpperGrafx / UperGrafx UGX-02 adapter from Japan, which does all that and has DVI/HDMI output without analog conversion. Note: Don’t confuse the UGX-01 GameTechUS featured a couple years ago for the UGX-02. Though these features were originally intended for it, it ended up being for digital video only (like a Plug’n’Play Hi-Def NES). I know I’ve mentioned it many times but, well, when I see SSDSys3 get mentioned where UGX-02 is even more appropriate I have to assume you didn’t know.

They can easily make the slot modular where you pick your configuration when you order and the other one is available separately. That said, I wouldn’t assume it’s next in the list either. By the sound of things, maintaining this pace would likely push Kev too far. The man can’t work himself to death. It may be time to make some smaller stuff. No, I’m not talking about an FPGA 32X adapter or something like that, since it would easily be as difficult or more difficult than an Analogue Ng. The DAC is one good example but they may have more up their sleeve to surprise us.

??? I have said that I would prefer a Genesis if they only made one. My speculation had nothing to do with a preference. That said, I do think that development of the Mega Sg would speed the development of an Analogue Ng, though there is still a lot of complexity if it’s jailbreakable in the traditional way. Just look at something like a NeoSD Pro.

...but the stock consoles have other issues. Genesis in particular, with all the jailbars and audio revisions and incompatible combinations of software and hardware. SNES has issues such as glitches on 1chip and poor-quality filtered RGB on the 2 and 3 chip models, sync jitter, region coding, etc. I think there is enough incentive to make an analog adapter for these even just for the “quality of life” improvements Kevtris has added... ...and, well, you know: the jailbreak.

I recall that Kevtris explained that the output from the HDMI port will be in a proprietary mode such that it will be indistinguishable from native RGB when coming out of the adapter. This was back when he first theorized about making this. Pretty sure it does exactly this. It’s half the reason to make an analog adapter: People can use original speed/timings without worrying about frame dropping, screen tearing, or other visual artifacts since they are on an analog CRT that tolerates it the same as a real Genesis.

To explain the recent name and price tweak to a product that’s out of stock, I can imagine that it will first be re-released in a way that’s largely the same. Dropping $50 sounds like they got rid of the bundled Retro Receiver and NES30, which I already expected since the NES30 has been discontinued. Doesn’t mean they won’t ALSO make a plastic, single-slot, controller-less, and digital-only version. [emoji4] Half the point of the modular DAC is that it can be used across their console range to avoid bundling that cost for all users who may not even need/use/want it. Really hope they do this!

The way I see it, a further revised and cost-reduced Nt would have a speedy development cycle. If they do that instead for the next product cycle it would probably give Kevin more time to work on the firmware side of things for the existing products. Not sure it would be well-received from the fans who already have an Nt Mini though. From that perspective, there would not be anything to get excited about. All signs point to a slightly revised Nt Mini instead (or first?), so I don’t think it would happen that way.

You’re forgetting that it also needs analog video from the Genesis.

This bodes well. They wouldn’t bother if they didn’t have plans to do something with it! Actually, I used my bank card (Visa Debit with Bank of America). Still, I would have picked a different card with no fee if there were any way to know it was going to be processed internationally. No disclaimer (“ONLY $190 USD + S&H!”), US customer (me), US payment network (Visa), US bank (BofA), to a US company (Analogue) = SURPRISE! Unavoidable international transaction fee. I have cards without the fee but I had no reason not to use my debit since I had the money and there was absolutely no indication that there was anything international about the transaction at all. I also order from abroad with abandon (just got my Male to Female DuPont jumpers from Thailand earlier today). Though I had heard of these fees before, ordering from Analogue is the first and only time I’ve even seen such a fee outside of PayPal. Most of my payments even for random eBay / Amazon international orders are billed in USD and I don’t pay a fee. I’ve ordered from AliExpress without a fee as well (well, none I’ve noticed). The real problem isn’t my card. It’s that there is no way for any US customer to see this coming if they didn’t hear it from someone like me, even if they are totally aware of their card policies and fees. That’s because there was never any mention of Hong Kong or Causeway Bay. Here’s hoping they addressed it on the back end, since I’m not hearing anything about a new disclaimer. Nah. You were suspiciously sure. You had to have inside information. Cheat! Glad Genesis got the treatment it deserves.

Namdor seems to have caught this from Chris Taber (Analogue) somewhere (Twitter?):

...and presumably a flawless digital image that never existed as analog. Since the DAC seems to have been confirmed, I now have to wonder if you can use that with a 32X for analog output, at least. Very curious!

Not that I don’t want an FPGA TG16/PCE from Analogue and Kevtris, but with the UpperGrafx / UperGrafx UGX-02 out there, there’s significantly less a PCE/TG16 FPGA clone can bring that we don’t already have. UGX-02 already uses an FPGA to replicate NEC’s VDC for perfect digital video (never exists as analog). It’s almost exactly like an Plug & Play Hi-Def NES for PCE/TG16 except that it samples analog for some of the audio. It does generate perfect digital CDDA from the SD card images it runs. Not going to ignore the elephant in the room: yes, it is also an ODE. Supports emulating HuCard/TurboChip games and Super System Cards too. It even dumps games, overlays a grid (great for shooters) and saves digital screenshots. Other than Arcade Card support, it’s everything the Super SD System 3 wasn’t (no RGB fiasco here). It does let you use a cheaper Arcade Card Duo with hardware that originally required an expensive Arcade Card Pro instead, so there’s that. If anyone wants more info, most of the extra functionality is only reported on their twitter feed and hasn’t been translated for their English website. The 2016 GameTechUS video is of the UGX-01, which was video only. A well-known ROM hacker, David Shadoff, recently got his hands on one. I’m eagerly waiting awaiting his impressions. Reasons I would prefer a product from Analogue / Kevtris instead: 1080p (and up? UGX is 720p) SuperGrafx support (just a second VDC) Price (yes, Analogue’s product would be cheaper) Refined (UGX-02 launched w/out a game menu) UGX-01 and UGX-02 were both half-baked when they were introduced and especially overpriced considering that they hadn’t yet added all the really attractive features. It was just an expensive digital video adapter at first. They actually intended to add these features to the UGX-01 but later realized that they required hardware upgrades.

It would be a bigger, more empty tray with the front-loader. The side-by-side, flip-top, top-loader unit had a removable block that shortens it when used with a model 2.

Mine doesn’t but this will finally convince me to replace the fuse that’s been blown since before I bought it nearly 15 years ago! [emoji4] I never said you did. Yes, there is “a very big difference” between a SEGA CD FPGA core and an expansion slot for a real Sega CD. Doesn’t change the fact that they said something about the feasibility of an FPGA Sega CD. That was the only minor thing I corrected you about, which allowed me to support everything else you said by bringing up where the creator previously talked about it. I even explained that it was just a small correction in support of the rest of what you said and you STILL behave as if I’m disagreeing with you about the rest. Maybe you don’t want me to support the rest of what you said? :/ That’s... weird. Well, it was more to answer the guy you were responding to more correctly and conclusively than you did, since I know you already know. [emoji6] You didn’t just leave the creator’s past statements on the matter out, you implied that they didn’t exist. Now do you see why I corrected something so minor? It was the perfect segue into something more conclusive. Stop taking it so personally!

Right. He commented on the feasibility of doing it in FPGA and openly said it wasn’t going to happen... but that still means they (Kevtris and Analogue) said something about it. Saying it isn’t feasible for an FPGA Genesis clone is still saying something about it. By correcting that tiny little part I’m able to bring it up in support of everything else you said. They said it works with the original Sega CD. They never implied that Mega Sg had an FPGA Sega CD core. In fact, they did quite the opposite by focusing on the connector for a real Sega CD / Mega CD in the tweet where they said it was fully Sega CD / Mega CD compatible. The creator did openly comment on the feasibility of a Sega CD FPGA core and what he said supports the notion that the Mega Sg does not include an FPGA Sega CD, nor will any jailbreak.

Good answer! [emoji6] I got charged about $40 last time (East coast) but it looks like people who are closer can get under $29. I’m still not satisfied with their response regarding the unexpected Foreign Transaction Fee that no US customer could possibly anticipate. It seems like they just ignored the problem. US card from a US bank to a US company with no warning about a Causeway Bay (Hong Kong) payment processor. If anyone sees any kind of warning about this when preordering, please let me know. There was nothing when I preordered my Super Nt until I was looking at my statements and found a rude surprise.

Well, there has been something said. Kevtris himself said something about it way back when he implied SegaCD and 32X cores just weren’t going to happen if he made a Genesis FPGA clone (theoretical at the time). He felt that we would be disappointed without those things which made it sound like he didn’t think it was a good, marketable, product to put his efforts into. At least he did acknowledge that he has been wrong about such things so it sounds like he let Chris make the call on that one or he listened to the Sega fans saying “give it to me anyway!” [emoji4] So, yeah, the only thing previously said about FPGA Sega CD and FPGA 32X cores was the man himself shooting down the possibility.

They didn’t limit the Super Nt preorders before the first manufacturing run. Kinda defeats the purpose of a preorder.

Mega Sg cartridge adapters for FC/NES and everything the Nt Mini unofficially supported? One can dream!

The meaning of “Nt” was always undeniable... except that people denied it anyway *slaps forehead* IMO, it was settled back then.

That’s exactly what I was doing early last year. I found it in a Japanese speedrun from well over a decade earlier. Hi-Def NES definitely makes it more frequent/common. Once you see it, it’s hard to un-see, especially in the perfect digital clarity of the Hi-Def NES. Soldering without sockets on the NES board and interposers definitely reduces it. I ended up moving kits between systems and reinstalling with and without sockets a ridiculous number of times trying to isolate this. Wish Jason would just add a note to the GameTechUS website or something to let people know that it’s normal. Didn’t the Nt Mini? Well, it’s a given that light gun games aren’t going to work without the DAC/analog adapter. 32X is going to require it since it needs to overlay it’s own analog video. Hopefully their analog adapter will support this. Probably talking about the proposed analog adapter.

Did you notice the L button? That tells me that it was engineered for more than just the proprietary RF *and* more than just Genesis. It all but confirms that there is going to be a BT version that pairs with other devices. Also, it’s as close to Saturn as it is to Genesis, but I’m trying not to get too excited about that possibility since I know a Saturn FPGA clone would be more difficult than a PlayStation FPGA clone. Kevtris already said that PlayStation was about the maximum of what he could achieve with FPGAs but perhaps he considers Saturn equivalent. Regardless, it has a lot more custom and complex and poorly-understood logic chips to reverse-engineer.

Marqs, the creator of OSSC, designed a dejitter mod for NES and SNES which Borti is implementing on some mod boards but I think they are intended for NESRGB users. With NESRGB, you already have low-latency analog options that avoid composite NTSC dot crawl. I don’t know if they’d play well with Hi-Def NES.

Looks like sync jitter (known issue with NES and SNES video) and/or dot crawl (an artifact of composite video). TVs with good 3D comb filters will usually correct some amount of dot crawl but they may also introduce artifacts when sync jitter causes the beginning and end on a line to vary position.