Which system to Homebrew?

[godslabrat]

Hi all...

 

Every once in a while, I get the bug up my ass to "get serious" about homebrewing, and I decide to jump in. Usually, I get as far as deciding what system to play with, and I lose my momentum trying to make that decision. So, maybe if I put the decision in a public forum, I could get more inspiration. My knee-jerk reaction is to choose a system I have a long love affair with, like the NES, SNES, or 2600... but those systems seem to be notoriously difficult to program. I have SOME programming experience, both personally and professionally, but I'm not a guru and I'd like something with at least a little bit of a learning curve. For that reason, I've looked at more recent systems that have higher-level dev tools and/or flashcarts.

 

Here's how I see my current crop of choices:

 

Dreamcast

PRO: It's everybody's darling, and with like-new systems being dirt cheap, I don't have to feel bad about grabbing a few to experiment on if I find I want to get into hardware.

CON: Has anyone ever confirmed that not all US units play CD-Rs?

 

SegaCD

PRO: Media is dirt cheap (plain old CD-Rs at 7 cents each).

CON: Supposed to be tough to program. Also, not a well liked system at all... limited market for homebrews.

 

N64

PRO: Dedicated following, capable hardware. Personal attachment to Nintendo hardware

CON: Mass production of carts likely to be expensive

 

Gameboy

PRO: Original GB games playable on semi-recent hardware, up to the GBA SP. Games can be made fairly cheaply.

CON: Many of the flashcarts are parallel-port, and the system is only moderately easier than the NES.

 

I'm sure there are some contradictions in my logic here, but there's so many ways to go about doing this that I just never seem to get started. So, have some fun with this poll, toss some ideas around, we'll see what happens.

[Mirage]

On the DC, I don't know if it's been confirmed that some exist, but according to some sources, DC's made after a certain date will not play CD-R's. But in practice, I don't think it's an issue at all. If not all of them do, pretty much all of them do. Either way, if you distribute via download and user-burn, those are enthusiasts who will already have a CD-R compatible DC.

 

I would go for the DreamCast, based on the popularity, ease of distribution (download and burn themselves), and ease of programming compared to the others. Seems a pretty easy choice the way I'm looking at it, but then I'm not going to be programming for any of them!

 

Good luck, can't wait to see what you come up with.

[+atari2600land]

I think with the choices provided, I'd go with the N64. Seeing someone make a homebrew for that system would be totally awesome! And, with all the Madden 64 carts just begging to be pulled out and have another game that's better put in them, there'd be no need to make new carts. If you were to create a N64 homebrew, do a pinball one. N64 is the only Nintendo system with no pinball games.

[BrianC]

On the DC, I don't know if it's been confirmed that some exist, but according to some sources, DC's made after a certain date will not play CD-R's. But in practice, I don't think it's an issue at all. If not all of them do, pretty much all of them do. Either way, if you distribute via download and user-burn, those are enthusiasts who will already have a CD-R compatible DC.

 

I read the news on multiple game sites back when the DC was still going, so I think the info is reliable, but only later models near the end of the DC's US run have this issue.

[+5-11under]

Trying to stay on topic, but I have to ask...

 

Are there some good sites for N64 programming... tools, samples, anything?

 

Thanks,

5-11under

Edited March 11, 2010 by 5-11under

[Mirage]

On the DC, I don't know if it's been confirmed that some exist, but according to some sources, DC's made after a certain date will not play CD-R's. But in practice, I don't think it's an issue at all. If not all of them do, pretty much all of them do. Either way, if you distribute via download and user-burn, those are enthusiasts who will already have a CD-R compatible DC.

 

I read the news on multiple game sites back when the DC was still going, so I think the info is reliable, but only later models near the end of the DC's US run have this issue.

 

I don't doubt that it's true, but the consensus I've read is that it's such a minor issue (meaning most DC's are CD-R compatible, and the CD-R compatible ones are so easy to find) that it's pretty much a non-issue. I certainly wouldn't worry about it in deciding whether to homebrew for the DC in any case.

[godslabrat]

Well, a quick cruise around eBay made me the proud parent of a DC with six games for $40 shipped. I'll take that. I'd still really like to get into the N64, but maybe I should spend a year fiddling with the DC and seeing what trouble I can get into with that.

[BrianC]

On the DC, I don't know if it's been confirmed that some exist, but according to some sources, DC's made after a certain date will not play CD-R's. But in practice, I don't think it's an issue at all. If not all of them do, pretty much all of them do. Either way, if you distribute via download and user-burn, those are enthusiasts who will already have a CD-R compatible DC.

 

I read the news on multiple game sites back when the DC was still going, so I think the info is reliable, but only later models near the end of the DC's US run have this issue.

 

I don't doubt that it's true, but the consensus I've read is that it's such a minor issue (meaning most DC's are CD-R compatible, and the CD-R compatible ones are so easy to find) that it's pretty much a non-issue. I certainly wouldn't worry about it in deciding whether to homebrew for the DC in any case.

 

I understood. I agree it's a minor issue, but the last post was simply saying that the information has been confirmed.

Edited April 22, 2010 by BrianC

[ApolloBoy]

I think with the choices provided, I'd go with the N64. Seeing someone make a homebrew for that system would be totally awesome! And, with all the Madden 64 carts just begging to be pulled out and have another game that's better put in them, there'd be no need to make new carts. If you were to create a N64 homebrew, do a pinball one. N64 is the only Nintendo system with no pinball games.

Agreed. I've yet to see any N64 homebrews, and there's a boatload of donor carts just waiting to be turned into homebrew carts.

[tremoloman2006]

I'd say go with the Dreamcast. CD-Rs work in just about all of them and the system can run Windows apps which helps.

[Player 3]

I attempted with N64 homebrew. 3D programming is more difficult than 2D, if you know your C language.

Hope you have better luck with it than I did.

[edweird13]

I would say Dreamcast. I have 3 and all play CD-R. My second choice would be SegaCD. I would love to see a new RPG for either one of these systems.

[+GroovyBee]

Nah! I say 7800 (even though its not on the list) and ask as many questions as you want in the programmers forum when you get stuck .