FPGA Based Videogame System

[Tusecsy]

double post please delete

Edited October 16, 2017 by Tusecsy

[cfillak]

I think I'm going to wait a little bit before ordering this thing, if I decide to buy it at all. While I expect that Kevtris will port over all his NT cores to the Super NT in all deliberate speed (assuming there are no technical hurdles to overcome in such core ports) I don't think it's a good idea to assume that we'll see new "jailbreak cores" for the Genesis, Turbografx-16, Game Boy Advance, Neo-Geo, etc. released every couple of weeks like we (amazingly) saw with the NT Mini.

 

Of course, I believe Kev will want to do those new cores now that he has a bigger FPGA sandbox to work with, but these 16(+)-bit cores are going to take a while to become reality. There's also the fact that Kevtris may decide to work on other cores first, like perhaps a Vectrex core, an Intellivision core (which we know is already mostly done), a Commodore 64 core, or something else than the highly-anticipated ones everyone will be keeping their fingers crossed for. It's really up to him, what he's in the mood for.

 

So I'm going to monitor the situation with the Super NT over the next few months. If I like what I see, I'll definitely put my money on a Super NT, even though I already have an NT Mini, especially if a Game Boy Advance jailbreak core becomes available.

 

EDIT: Almost forgot to say "NICE WORK" to Kevtris for the new Super NT! :thumbsup:

 

Sorry to burst your bubble but I highly doubt a GBA core is in the cards at any time in the forseeable future. Just because the GBA is widely considered a portable SNES doesn't mean its architecturally similar to the SNES at all.

[simbin]

While I expect that Kevtris will port over all his NT cores to the Super NT in all deliberate speed (assuming there are no technical hurdles to overcome in such core ports) I don't think it's a good idea to assume that we'll see new "jailbreak cores" for the Genesis, Turbografx-16, Game Boy Advance, Neo-Geo, etc. released every couple of weeks like we (amazingly) saw with the NT Mini.

 

Good question, but I wonder if Analogue would even allow Kevtris to do that since they're still selling the Nt mini.

Edited October 16, 2017 by simbin

[cacophony]

I'm really excited for this and just preordered the Classic color one. Congratulations Kevin!

 

I just read on twitter that the Super Everdrive and SD2NES are supported. Also, it sounds like there will likely be a similar jailbreak to play roms off SD card post release, but like before Analogue just leaves it up to Kevin.

Edited October 16, 2017 by cacophony

[cfillak]

 

Good question, but I wonder if Analog would allow Kevtris to do that since they're still selling the Nt mini.

I think they're just going to continue their don't ask don't tell policy regarding all this jailbreak stuff. As far as Analogue is concerned, the NT Mini is a NES/Famicom. I could see them maybe not wanting him to port the actual NES/Famicom core but I doubt they'll stop him. The NT Mini still offers value to people who want to use their original NES/Famicom carts, controllers and Famicom Disk Systems without adapters.

[cacophony]

 

Good question, but I wonder if Analogue would even allow Kevtris to do that since they're still selling the Nt mini.

 

They've said that it's an open system and they encourage people to do what they want with it, so it sounds like they wouldn't prevent it.

[Namdor]

Regardless of extra core support (which I am very much hoping occurs) the price for this just for SNES alone is amazing. I really hope they announce what if any limitations exist. I want to play marvelous (super Famicom) and can't even on sd2snes. If the currently unsupported games are now playable I'm going to be very happy.

[Pixelboy]

Sorry to burst your bubble but I highly doubt a GBA core is in the cards at any time in the forseeable future. Just because the GBA is widely considered a portable SNES doesn't mean its architecturally similar to the SNES at all.

Sure, I know that. But it really comes down to the FPGA's capabilities. If the Super NT's FPGA setup cannot handle the 32-bit architecture of the Game Boy Advance, well, all the more reason for me to keep my NT Mini, since I have very little interest in the Genesis, Turbografx-16 and Neo-Geo.

[HammR25]

It's $189 but that price doesn't include a controller. I guess they figured not everyone wants to buy a controller.

 

My bank also rejected my order but immediately sent me a text asking me if I had ordered it. When I responded with "YES" I was able to resubmit the charge.

[simbin]

I think they're just going to continue their don't ask don't tell policy regarding all this jailbreak stuff. As far as Analogue is concerned, the NT Mini is a NES/Famicom. I could see them maybe not wanting him to port the actual NES/Famicom core but I doubt they'll stop him. The NT Mini still offers value to people who want to use their original NES/Famicom carts, controllers and Famicom Disk Systems without adapters.

 

Good point, I wasn't thinking about the cart slots.

 

 

They've said that it's an open system and they encourage people to do what they want with it, so it sounds like they wouldn't prevent it.

 

That sounds like good news then. I'll be happy just playing SNES games from SD, so I don't have to steal the SD2SNES from my RGB modded SNES

[cfillak]

Frank Cifaldi said on twitter that Kevin has been hired on Analogue full-time. I hope that doesn't mean they want to stop him from releasing cores....

[TheRedEye]

Frank Cifaldi said on twitter that Kevin has been hired on Analogue full-time. I hope that doesn't mean they want to stop him from releasing cores....

 

I was just quoting Retronauts, I have no inside knowledge:

 

https://retronauts.com/article/622/the-ultimate-nes-gets-a-super-follow-up-mdash-and-this-ones-priced-to-sell

[cacophony]

 

I was just quoting Retronauts, I have no inside knowledge:

 

https://retronauts.com/article/622/the-ultimate-nes-gets-a-super-follow-up-mdash-and-this-ones-priced-to-sell

 

"Full time" for a typical employee is only half time for Kevtris, the man who designs FPGA in his sleep.

[Wolf_]

Frank Cifaldi said on twitter that Kevin has been hired on Analogue full-time. I hope that doesn't mean they want to stop him from releasing cores....

 

Considering cores are perhaps the second biggest selling point of their consoles after the main core I seriously doubt Analogue would cripple themselves like that.

 

Also the interview in one of those articles asked them about the jailbroken firmware and they responded that "They want people to be able to do what they want" with their consoles. So they sound completely open to the idea.

 

 

Sorry to burst your bubble but I highly doubt a GBA core is in the cards at any time in the forseeable future. Just because the GBA is widely considered a portable SNES doesn't mean its architecturally similar to the SNES at all.

I too doubt it would come out any time soon. The only reason I think it may be possible at all on the super nt is because Kevtris said earlier that on a snes fpga core the genesis would be possible and maybe a 32x core. As the gba is also 32 bits it makes sense to me if one were possible the other should be. That's just an assumption on my part based on a maybe though.

[Flojomojo]

Dat shipping doe.....

Yeah, it's $33 for me. Ah well, it's not like I'm going to make a FPGA SNES on my own.

 

You're gonna be kicking yourself if you don't preorder, these things will all sell out soon. This is gonna be the single most talked about item in gaming for the next 4 months.

That's how I see it. Also ...

 

1. this company has proven itself with 2 high quality products now
2. Kevtris is the real thing
3. the price of the SuperNT is not crazyballs high

 

I'm excited!

[Tusecsy]

The price is the same as an AVS, kinda makes the AVS a joke now no?

 

The NT Mini cores will be available for this after release, 100%. The only question is what 16-bit ones are in the pipeline.

 

Analogue knows the hacked firmwares are what sells 80% of their product, no way they're gonna put any kind of stop to it.

 

The NT mini is still the best/only option if you wanna use a CRT/PVM. I see absolutely no other reason for it now (FDS core will prob come out eventually as well).

[emubastard]

No RGB output.... I can't image an HDMI to RGB converter, a good one, would be any worse off. Any recommendations? Something that can handle a 240p HDMI signal for sure.

[Tusecsy]

No RGB output.... I can't image an HDMI to RGB converter, a good one, would be any worse off. Any recommendations? Something that can handle a 240p HDMI signal for sure.

 

I think it's actually really hard to do that accurately/lag free. I heard someone talking about a reverse ossc/framemeister type thing but the market is way too niche I think.

Edited October 16, 2017 by Tusecsy

[Guspaz]

 

I think it's actually really hard to do that accurately/lag free. I heard someone talking about a reverse ossc/framemeister type thing but the market is way too niche I think.

 

Most HDMI-to-VGA adapters (including the very cheap ones) are lag-free if they're doing a straight-up conversion with no scaling. There are often other issues (crushed blacks and blown out whites are common), but latency is not typically one of them. At some point, if you're just doing a straight-up conversion, adding a framebuffer (where the lag would come from) only adds cost.

 

All that said, the Super Nt lists 480p as the minimum output resolution, which means you're not going to be able to use that sort of adapter to get 15 kHz output for a CRT, and even if they did do 480i, you're not going to be able to get 240p.

[Daschewie]

I think the Super-NT price is an incredible value. It is only $20 more than a Cyclone-V dev board: https://www.altera.com/products/fpga/cyclone-series/cyclone-v/overview.html

[Keatah]

 

Mmmm interesting, but only digital output.

 

That's all that's required.

 

They advertise it as main selling point, to play SNES games on your modern TV.

Edited October 16, 2017 by Keatah

[Gandor]

Was going to wait but I am very happy with my Nt mini so I couldn’t resist and ordered one too.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Toth]

It's really interesting to me they announced this before the Nt Mini is sold out. I have a Mini pre-ordered right now and they say you can cancel at any time. I wonder if or how many people are cancelling that Nt Mini in the hopes this will play nes games and all those cores?

Edited October 16, 2017 by Toth

[Keatah]

Dat shipping doe.....

 

A little extra padding for profit on shipping isn't a big deal these days. If it keeps the company in the green I'm all for it.

[Tusecsy]

It's really interesting to me they announced this before the Nt Mini is sold out. I have a Mini pre-ordered right now and they say you can cancel at any time. I wonder if or how many people are cancelling that Nt Mini in the hopes this will play nes games and all those cores?

It's not a hope so much as a guarantee.

 

If you don't want an aluminum shell, a crappy 8bitdo controller, and don't need the analog outputs, I think cancelling it is a no-brainer.

 

The weird part about the shipping is the cost doesn't change if you order more than 1. Added scalper incentives I guess lol.

Edited October 16, 2017 by Tusecsy