Retro action games & shmups [SNES] [MD] (Stealth PVM/BVM/CRT thread) - Now with bad photos!

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Green Gecko
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PostRe: Affordable side scrolling action games & shmups? (SNES) (MD) (Stealth PVM/BVM thread)
by Green Gecko » Wed Aug 03, 2016 7:38 pm

It's not just that, it's technically better too. The composite picture on my HDTV is hilariously bad, and that's not just because of the flickering problem. There are rainbow artefacts, over-saturation, dithering, wave effects, jailbars and noise. Samsung tellies are supposed to support 240p signals now so it should work (and it does) but the sooner I get an RGB cable the better. The CRT will inherently smooth out much of these artifacts though. If I can fix the flickering problem, it'll be OK.

One thing I found surprising was that despite Sonic 2 being PAL, neither the music or the speed of the game are really that bad. When Sonic is at full speed it's still a very smooth gameplay experience.

There is slowdown in some places in both games so I probably will try the 10Mhz overclock mod at some point.

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Johnny Ryall
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PostRe: Affordable side scrolling action games & shmups? (SNES) (MD) (Stealth PVM/BVM thread)
by Johnny Ryall » Wed Aug 03, 2016 7:39 pm

Do you have your consoles modded for 60hz? While EU had rgb scart it would bug me going back to slow 50hz after years of good emulation

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Green Gecko
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PostRe: Affordable side scrolling action games & shmups? (SNES) (MD) (Stealth PVM/BVM thread)
by Green Gecko » Wed Aug 03, 2016 7:40 pm

I'm going to mod the MD but my girlfriend won't let me touch the SNES.

Which pretty much automatically makes the MD superior once it's modded.

"It should be common sense to just accept the message Nintendo are sending out through their actions."
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PostRe: Affordable side scrolling action games & shmups? (SNES) (MD) (Stealth PVM/BVM thread)
by Preezy » Wed Aug 03, 2016 7:49 pm

jawafour wrote:
Preezy wrote:Sol Deace on the Megadrive...

Y'know, I read this and I gotta admit that my immediate reaction was "Preezy, man, it's actually Sol-Feace!". But... you're right. The game *was* originally called Sol-Feace when it launched for Mega-CD, but subsequently it gained a cart release (losing the CD soundtrack) in the USA and it was re-badged as Sol-Deace. I never knew that!

I wasn't aware of that either. I've only ever known it as Sol Deace, I got it with my Mega Drive for Xmas when I was a nipper, must've been 1991/92 I reckon. It was too hard for me to play but my dad really enjoyed it :lol:

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Johnny Ryall
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PostRe: Affordable side scrolling action games & shmups? (SNES) (MD) (Stealth PVM/BVM thread)
by Johnny Ryall » Wed Aug 03, 2016 7:51 pm

The idea of this really appeals to me. Until I figure that the cleanest image out of one of those consoles pretty much looks like an emulator and emulation is pretty great now, SNES in particular is pretty much machine perfect if you use bsnes (though SNES 9x is good enough for me I hate the folder format the bsnes dev insists on using).

Still if I won the lottery I would do this fo sho.

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PostRe: Affordable side scrolling action games & shmups? (SNES) (MD) (Stealth PVM/BVM thread)
by Green Gecko » Wed Aug 03, 2016 9:05 pm

The Sega classics collection on Steam is really good, it has a great CRT filter including wonky geometry. :wub:

It was really nice playing with a proper MD pad, unresponsive buttons and all. I'm gonna pick up this same third party controller I had when I was a kid that's more responsive than the official pad.

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The monitor only set me back £28 - a good price plus £12 delivery. It's only 9". It's the RGB cables that are expensive as they were never officially made. About £20.

And yes, that's a SNES pad with a button missing (they didn't even bother removing the circuit it's just covered up by a piece of plastic film). This one is better but only available stateside:

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It has programmable shoulder buttons which including the 4th button brought back makes it a 6 button without a stupid layout.

I have a Raspberry PI running EmulationStation front-end on RetroPi but the audio in games like Sonic are strawberry floated and using a DualShock 3 controller is a bit weird. I know a Pi2 improves matters, but then you're just spending money again. I always find that a real collection makes you value the games themselves more - I've hoarded pirated games and emus in the past and just never played them because it takes something away from the experience, I think.

"It should be common sense to just accept the message Nintendo are sending out through their actions."
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PostRe: Affordable side scrolling action games & shmups? (SNES) (MD) (Stealth PVM/BVM thread)
by Ironhide » Wed Aug 03, 2016 10:10 pm

Those pads are horrific, have a word with yourself.

Sadly I too often had to use 3rd party controllers growing up as it was me who bought them with pocket money, I had some unofficial 6-button MD ones that despite being terrible were far better than attempting to play SFII using official 3-button ones (you had to press start to switch between punches and kicks *shudder*).

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jawafour
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PostRe: Affordable side scrolling action games & shmups? (SNES) (MD) (Stealth PVM/BVM thread)
by jawafour » Wed Aug 03, 2016 10:16 pm

I had the SNES version of those SG pads and I thought it was pretty good! The only problem is that the circuit board turned yellow over the years and, with the translucent casing, it looked awful :lol: . I dunno what it was* about the SNES, but everything seemed to yellow!

* I do really; fire retardant chemicals etc

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Cheeky Devlin
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PostRe: Affordable side scrolling action games & shmups? (SNES) (MD) (Stealth PVM/BVM thread)
by Cheeky Devlin » Wed Aug 03, 2016 10:22 pm

jawafour wrote:I had the SNES version of those SG pads and I thought it was pretty good! The only problem is that the circuit board turned yellow over the years and, with the translucent casing, it looked awful :lol: . I dunno what it was* about the SNES, but everything seemed to yellow!

* I do really; fire retardant chemicals etc

My mate had that pad. I hated it. Always thought it felt really awkward in your hands. But then I can't think of any third party controller that's ever been as nice as a 1st party one.

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PostRe: Affordable side scrolling action games & shmups? (SNES) (MD) (Stealth PVM/BVM thread)
by jawafour » Wed Aug 03, 2016 10:25 pm

Cheeky Devlin wrote:...But then I can't think of any third party controller that's ever been as nice as a 1st party one.

Yeah, I think you're generally right about that, dude - although I've never had a Hori pad and they're meant to be high quality. I'd like to have one of the Hori N64 controllers but they're a bit rich for my blood nowdays.

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Green Gecko
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PostRe: Affordable side scrolling action games & shmups? (SNES) (MD) (Stealth PVM/BVM thread)
by Green Gecko » Wed Aug 03, 2016 10:39 pm

I definitely remember the face buttons being more responsive that the official md pad that goes spongey and you have to press hard. Also the dpad while good is designed like a rocker and squeaks.

They look ridiculous but honestly they're good for third party pads.

Anyway I went with the original one for now. I'm sure it'll be better with an internal clean and a bit of lubricant.

"It should be common sense to just accept the message Nintendo are sending out through their actions."
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PostRe: Retro action games & shmups [SNES] [MD] (Stealth PVM/BVM/CRT thread) - Now with bad photos!
by Green Gecko » Thu Aug 04, 2016 4:22 pm

I made a 2 page thread! The PVM arrived! I was gutted at first because when I turned it on nothing happened. After googling a bit, I found the manual and it turned out none of the buttons at the front should be pressed for normal input. And the set is just so quiet and low noise (no big thwwump and whine when you turn it on) I thought the screen was broken. Ie this set produced absolutely no screen noise whatsoever. Also, I forgot to turn my MD on..

Here's some bad mobile photos. It looks awesome, and the horrendous colour flicker and jailbars on my HDTV have disappeared! It really was the HDTV being totally incapable of handling 240p signal without distorting it to strawberry float.

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

That's a composite video signal!!

Also, there is xero lag. I just did way better than usual in one session of Thunder Force, even with the tiny screen

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Cheeky Devlin
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PostRe: Retro action games & shmups [SNES] [MD] (Stealth PVM/BVM/CRT thread) - Now with bad photos!
by Cheeky Devlin » Thu Aug 04, 2016 4:23 pm

Green Gecko wrote:I made a 2 page thread! The PVM arrived! I was gutted at first because when I turned it on nothing happened. After googling a bit, I found the manual and it turned out none of the buttons at the front should be pressed for normal input. And the set is just so quiet and low noise (no big thwwump and whine when you turn it on) I thought the screen was broken. Ie this set produced absolutely no screen noise whatsoever. Also, I forgot to turn my MD on..

Here's some bad mobile photos. It looks awesome, and the horrendous colour flicker and jailbars on my HDTV have disappeared! It really was the HDTV being totally incapable of handling 240p signal without distorting it to strawberry float.

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

That's a composite video signal!!

Nice stuff man.

I really need to dig my MD out. I've only got three games for it (Sonic, Sonic 2 and Micro Machines) but it's a great system. All these retro threads recently have got me wanting to go buy a load of stuff. :lol:

Might go different and pick up some GameBoy games. :datass:

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Green Gecko
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PostRe: Retro action games & shmups [SNES] [MD] (Stealth PVM/BVM/CRT thread) - Now with bad photos!
by Green Gecko » Thu Aug 04, 2016 4:28 pm

Gameboy player is where it's at. gooseberry fool, I've got to hook that up too! (it has 2 composite inputs plus component/rgb and s-video) as that also looks like ass on the HDTV (mainly due to component signal - I'll get a gamecube rgb cable eventually. I'll never forgive myself for walking by the official one for £2.50 in Dixons :fp:).

Btw, here's the image quality on my HDTV.

Image

:lol: it looks like someone compressed a JPEG about 10 times.

"It should be common sense to just accept the message Nintendo are sending out through their actions."
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Cheeky Devlin
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PostRe: Retro action games & shmups [SNES] [MD] (Stealth PVM/BVM/CRT thread) - Now with bad photos!
by Cheeky Devlin » Thu Aug 04, 2016 4:39 pm

Green Gecko wrote:Gameboy player is where it's at. gooseberry fool, I've got to hook that up too! (it has 2 composite inputs plus component/rgb and s-video) as that also looks like ass on the HDTV (mainly due to component signal - I'll get a gamecube rgb cable eventually. I'll never forgive myself for walking by the official one for £2.50 in Dixons :fp:).

Btw, here's the image quality on my HDTV.

Image

:lol: it looks like someone compressed a JPEG about 10 times.

Don't have a GameBoy player as I don't have a GameCube but my Super GameBoy does me for everything except GameBoy Color games.

Just remembered that I've only got an RF cable for my MD. :dread:

Last edited by Cheeky Devlin on Thu Aug 04, 2016 4:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Cumberdanes
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PostRe: Retro action games & shmups [SNES] [MD] (Stealth PVM/BVM/CRT thread) - Now with bad photos!
by Cumberdanes » Thu Aug 04, 2016 4:45 pm

I used to have a couple of the SNES versions of those pads and while not looking very good they worked pretty well.

Last edited by Cumberdanes on Fri Aug 05, 2016 2:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Green Gecko
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PostRe: Retro action games & shmups [SNES] [MD] (Stealth PVM/BVM/CRT thread) - Now with bad photos!
by Green Gecko » Thu Aug 04, 2016 5:36 pm

Cheeky Devlin wrote:
Green Gecko wrote:Gameboy player is where it's at. gooseberry fool, I've got to hook that up too! (it has 2 composite inputs plus component/rgb and s-video) as that also looks like ass on the HDTV (mainly due to component signal - I'll get a gamecube rgb cable eventually. I'll never forgive myself for walking by the official one for £2.50 in Dixons :fp:).

Btw, here's the image quality on my HDTV.

Image

:lol: it looks like someone compressed a JPEG about 10 times.

Don't have a GameBoy player as I don't have a GameCube but my Super GameBoy does me for everything except GameBoy Color games.

Just remembered that I've only got an RF cable for my MD. :dread:

I'm trying gameboy stuff on the monitor now and it looks great. So colourful and the small size gives an amazing sense of sharpness (as well as having about 4 times the Humber of vertical lines than the picture) while still being perfectly playable and super bright (unlike the actual gameboy screen), about the same as holding up a gameboy. Provided you're not short sighted. It's cool knowing its real hardware running.

Get this md cable https://www.retrogamingcables.co.uk/seg ... d-for-sale

They're hand made and mine looks great. Don't expect anything from an HDTV though. 5 snoops including free shipping, mine came in 2 days.

£13 for rgb.

"It should be common sense to just accept the message Nintendo are sending out through their actions."
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PostRe: Retro action games & shmups [SNES] [MD] (Stealth PVM/BVM/CRT thread) - Now with bad photos!
by Dig Dug » Fri Aug 05, 2016 8:26 am

On the subject of mega drive controllers how good they are depend on which ones you get. The originals from the original Mega Drive were gooseberry fool but the 6 button pads and the pads from the Mega Drive II were perfectly fine. The quality of Mega Drive pads in general do tend to be tied to what year they were produced, years ago I got a MD2 from a carboot, the console was a 95/96 pack and the controllers were the best MD controllers I've ever used, in terms of response and feel they were up there with some of the best.

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Green Gecko
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PostRe: Retro action games & shmups [SNES] [MD] (Stealth PVM/BVM/CRT thread) - Now with bad photos!
by Green Gecko » Fri Aug 05, 2016 2:39 pm

The 6 button pads are sometimes very small and there are loads of variations, do you know any good ones in particular?

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PostRe: Retro action games & shmups [SNES] [MD] (Stealth PVM/BVM/CRT thread) - Now with bad photos!
by Ironhide » Fri Aug 05, 2016 2:50 pm

Dig Dug wrote:On the subject of mega drive controllers how good they are depend on which ones you get. The originals from the original Mega Drive were gooseberry fool but the 6 button pads and the pads from the Mega Drive II were perfectly fine. The quality of Mega Drive pads in general do tend to be tied to what year they were produced, years ago I got a MD2 from a carboot, the console was a 95/96 pack and the controllers were the best MD controllers I've ever used, in terms of response and feel they were up there with some of the best.


I liked the matte finish of the MDII pads, much better than the slippery original ones.

My 6-button pads were unofficial ones that looked like this

Image

I'm sure mine didn't say Mad Catz on them through.

Image

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