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Pixelboy

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Posts posted by Pixelboy

  2. Posted

    I just stumbled upon this video from 2018 showcasing a GBA 100-in-1 multicart of SMS and Game Gear games:

     

     

    I noticed that "Wonder Boy in Monster Land" and "Wonder Boy III  - Dragon's Trap" are included in this multicart (see at 4:50 in the video) which made it interesting to me, so I tried to get one on eBay. Turns out that the only SMS multicarts for GBA available nowadays are the 106-in-1 and the "NES versus SMS" combos, and none of those contain those two Wonder Boy games. So John, if you still have your SMS/GG multicart, better hold onto it as it's actually a bit more valuable than the more recent versions, at least in my opinion.  :)

     

    If I can find this multi-cart, I'll surely buy it, since I'd love to be able to play Dragon's Trap on my GBA.

     

  5. Posted

    7 hours ago, Bobby Nelson said:

    Whereas the Sg-1000 can only play that small library of games it's neat that I can get these SG-1000 games to play along with all of the Colecovision games. But like I said, that's just me. 

    Well, although it's not a game I would publish (or even buy as a gamer), I think it would be neat to see this SG-1000 game ported:

     

     

    Translate all the little parts of Japanese text and make other little graphical touch-ups, rework the controls to make good use of the Super Action Controllers, and this could be renamed "Super Action Golf".  :) 

     

    • Like 1
    • Thanks 1

  8. Posted

    Just a quick question that just crossed my mind: If Coleco had released a mouse for the ADAM back in the day, how would one connect it to the ADAM memory console? Via the ADAMNet connector, or perhaps using a "T" adaptor on the connector used for the keyboard (if that makes any sense)?

     

    I know that the joystick ports would not have been a good option, considering the Roller Controller requires external power, and an ADAM mouse would probably generate the same kind of interrupts as the Roller Controller.

     

  10. Posted

    3 minutes ago, Taylor the Gaming Guy said:

    I was wondering if anyone in the Pixelboy team wants to put the game Dynamite Go! Go! on the ColecoVision as an SGM game.

    https://www.msx.org/forum/msx-talk/general-discussion/dynamite-go-go

    That looks quite impressive indeed. With this said, I should point out that I'm down to five Team Pixelboy games I want to release, namely Asteroids, Star Castle, Space Shuttle, Utopia and Arabian. I have no plans to take on any other project after this. So if any other CV homebrewer wants to port this game to the ColecoVision, you don't have to worry about lil' old me.

     

  11. Posted

    Small update for those who are interested: After giving it some thought, I've decided to drop the Armor Attack project. I think I have enough on my plate for the remainder of the year without adding a new last-minute project to it.

     

    If anyone out there wants to make his own version of Armor Attack, you'll get no objections from me.  :) 

     

    • Like 1

  12. Posted

    37 minutes ago, Dominic Giordano Jr said:

    Ok thanks definitely want star castle please let me know how and when I can get it so I don’t miss it and should you come across any xtra asteroids controller or games I be very interested  thanks

    Star Castle will likely be released on Christmas Day 2021. That's the plan for now anyhow.

     

    To pre-order a copy, just send me an e-mail at pixelboy at teampixelboy dot com.

     

  13. Posted

    6 hours ago, Dominic Giordano Jr said:

    Still interested in the asteroids game and Controller and star castle how can I order and do you have a direct link I always seem to miss your products and do you have a picture or link that I can see the controller thanks

    I'm sorry to say that the pre-order period for the Asteroids Controller is long past. Also, I've reached my limit of pre-orders for the Asteroids game. But anyhow, you can see pictures of the controller here:

     

     

    • Like 1

  14. Posted

    6 hours ago, imstarryeyed said:

    Sindbad Mystery is the only one that I only lightly like, however I still need to play it longer than 20 minutes to see if I like it more.

    The goal is always to find the hidden lamp as quickly as possible, and picking up the least number of "?" symbols. That's how you rack up the points in this game. It's both a challenge and sometimes dumb luck. It's actually my favorite game of the Mystery Man Collection.  :)

     

    • Like 1

  16. Posted

    5 hours ago, Metal Jesus said:

    I saw your comment about the GBA "beta" support on the Hyperkin RetroN Sq... well... I got a review unit and you can see the results for yourself. Sadly, not great. Maybe they can improve it by the time they are in consumer's hands? 

    I may be overthinking this, but their bad GBA support may be done slightly on purpose, because it's visibly so bad that people who will buy the Retron Sq will definitely go through the trouble of tracking down and downloading the latest firmware. The guys at Hyperkin are perfectly aware that their GBA emulation leaves much to be desired and they know that they need to fix it otherwise their product is going to go to the same landfill where they buried those E.T. Atari 2600 carts all those years ago.  :P  In fact, I would expect that new firmware with slightly better GBA support will be available right on release day, or not long after. And once people get used to installing new firmware, they will release firmware updates as they work out the kinks in their GBA support.

     

    Anyway, I'm so glad I bought a GBA Consolizer a few months ago. It's one of the later models with the better power switch button. It was pricy, but looking at the price of the Analogue Pocket (and the Dock device sold separately) I feel it was worth it because with the Consolizer, I don't have to worry about game compatibility, since it's an actual Game Boy Advance under the hood. 

     

    Anyway, thanks for the video, Metal Jesus, it was very informative.  :)

     

  18. Posted

    I recall having similar problems with the SG-1000 port of Pitfall II a decade ago. Essentially, the programmer who did the port needed to do something specific (like inserting a couple of NO-OPs somewhere in the joystick read routine, or something of the sort) in order to make it work properly on the ADAM. Otherwise, it works on the ColecoVision but not on the ADAM. Hope this helps...

     

  19. Posted

    4 minutes ago, blzmarcel said:

    Even if it were possible to use NES cartridges with a Pocket, NES cartridges were fairly large, about twice as tall as a Famicom or Genesis/Mega Drive game and wider too. You would need some kind of adapter that either holds the game under the Pocket, or have it stick way out in the air, both of which likely wouldn't be very comfortable, practical, or be able to fit in any but the largest cargo pockets.

     

    Sega was able to make the Nomad that used Genesis cartridges due to their rather compact size for a home console cartridge and NEC was able to make a portable that could run PC-Engine/TG-16 HuCards, which again was feasible mainly due to being relatively compact, though neither of those were pocket-able systems, as they both had a bit of bulk to them.

     

    Famicom (and maybe SNES/SFC) games might be more workable, as they are short like a Genesis cartridge, but still a bit wider, so it would still be a rather bulky set up. But NA/EU style NES cartridges? It's hard to see a practical way to implement that. They were simply never meant to be used in a portable system.

    I don't think you understood what I was talking about. Please go back and read the other posts around the one you quoted.

     

  23. Posted

    5 minutes ago, Kaide said:

    I see what you are getting at with the idea, but it has some trade offs that aren’t necessarily ones that make a lot of sense to me. Unless you are thinking of the Pocket itself as the target architecture, versus say, a game meant for a retro console running on the Pocket.

    Well, releasing homebrew games from other systems (ColecoVision, Atari 2600, NES, etc.) can be seen as as a bonus outlet for homebrewers. Tons of Atari 2600 homebrews were released over the last decade or so, and I think it would be cool to have many of them on GameBoy-sized carts. Just the Champ Games would be great, but there are many worthy others.

     

    9 minutes ago, Kaide said:

    That said, if we are talking about retro consoles on the Pocket, then it seems like home brew as ROM files make more sense to me. Either done via a specialized flash cart with the “adapter” embedded into it, or through direct support of the SD card (like it apparently has for GB Studio). Physical carts for games are nice collectibles, but I’d at least personally tend to prefer those be in the format of the original system so it’s compatible with original hardware.

    My thoughts are grounded in the idea of physical carts, and there are many out there who love to collect such novelty items, especially if they're not too expensive. Of course, Analogue Pocket owners who prefer to play games via SD card are not the target audience.

     

    But my sentiment is that the real potential of the Pocket lies in becoming an FPGA version of MAME, and I think arcade games on GameBoy-sized carts would be hot items, especially if they're officially-licensed products. The Pocket may not be able to run more recent arcade machines, but without knowing the technical limits of the Pocket, I like to believe it could replicate many "relatively early" arcade games from the 80s, and personally, I'd like to own "real" arcade games on carts.  :)

     

    I realize this may be far easier said than done, but hey, if you're going to make a platform open to homebrew game programmers, may as well set up the community with ways to make hard work shine in a rewarding way.

     

  24. Posted · Edited by Pixelboy

    19 minutes ago, Kaide said:

    2) Possible, but you’d need a bridge to accomplish it. One reason there’s so many pins is because you’ve got two address buses and two data buses. So your adapter needs to effectively change how data is passed along the 32-pin connector, and then present the expected buses to the cartridge. There’s a few ways to do it, but I think my naive concern would be over getting the timings right.

    And then there's the question of NES mappers, which is a can of worms all by itself. Still, if just the most-used mappers could be supported, I suppose it would be enough for most NES homebrewers. Some could even go out of their way to release Pocket-cart versions of existing commercial NES games, but that could be a difficult technical endeavor depending on the game, and also be risky legally if done without proper licensing, although licensing deals are never impossible.

     

    Anyway, if this could be made to work as intended, then the community could be more easily split between those who make FPGA cores for the Pocket, and those who just want to make games for the handheld: If an FPGA core designer makes a core for a specific Pocket-cart PCB, then homebrewers just craft their games around that PCB's given architecture and features. Then you don't need to be a jack-of-all-trades (knowing both FPGA core programming and game programming) to make cool stuff on the Analogue Pocket, people with specific expertise can just get together and make things happen.  :) 

     

  25. Posted · Edited by Pixelboy

    1 hour ago, Mattelot said:

    I only speak for myself but I would only use such a thing if it were from Kevtris/Smokemonster.  This is just due to how many garbage (hate saying that) things people have developed for Mister.  While I appreciate people working for free to help preserve retro content like this, rushed products tend to leave lingering bad tastes in my mouth.

    There is another possible quality-driven option: Make GB-like cartridges designed specifically for the Pocket (i.e. carts that do not fit in a GB/GBC/GBA, but do fit in the Pocket's cart slot). If a generic cartridge casing could be designed, produced, and offered to the community, then all that remains is designing PCBs with 32 edge pins that are designed to be associated with custom FPGA cores. For example, one could do a PCB that contains a ColecoVision game (following the ColecoVision's cartridge pinout) and a custom ColecoVision FPGA core could be designed so that the Pocket properly interacts with the inserted cartridge. When you have those kinds of homebrew product solutions (like actual cartridges that can be sold) homebrewers tend to put more efforts into their projects.

     

    This brings up some questions though:

     

    1) Could the Pocket be somehow configured to automatically switch to the proper FPGA core if I switch cartridges of different types? For example, playing a ColecoVision cart right after a regular GB cart? Could the FPGA core be integrated into the cart itself and installed automatically at boot?

     

    2) Could an NES/Famicom game (designed for carts with 72/60 pins) be shoehorned into a 32-pin setup? Given that Turbografx-16 HuCards have more than 32 pins and Analogue actually created an adaptor for such HuCards, perhaps it's possible to do the same with NES games. Or maybe not, I dunno.

     

    EDIT: Another possible use for Pocket-only cartridges: Arcade games! Imagine playing the actual Moon Patrol arcade game on your Pocket, thanks to a custom FPGA core and the arcade ROM set loaded on the cart!  :D 

     

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