GRcade Retro Gaming Chat

[The Doom Spoon]

The guy making it was ill for a while and no one heard from him for ages, then he basically sent out and email saying what had happened and gave really good updates from that point onwards. Once he managed to start working on it again properly it was a pretty quick production schedule.

I tried it in a couple of scenarios last night, each time it's been on a Philips 4K TV. I do plan on trying it out on a 2012 Sony that handles 1080p and lower resolutions much better but haven't had a chance yet.

Firstly, normal PAL 50hz game straight from the console to my receiver....meh. It really doesn't look great. It outputs an interlaced image and is a jaggy mess that tears all over the place.

I'm glad he's made a recovery and is back in it!

Maybe it's possibly the fact it was a 4k TV? All cube hdmi adapters use the exact same open source coding so there shouldn't be any difference in images quality between each of them. I'm using mine on an older (2012ish) 32 inch Sony HD tv and both 50 and 60hz look great on it! Everything is crisp, clear and full of colour. Played Rogue Squadron 2 on stream in 50z and it looked awesome! I would of thought your older Sony will do a great job.

The GCHD gives you loads of options in its menus and allows you to have full control on how you want your scan lines too. Also it's got a pass through to use the Wiis component cables so you can stream using the HDMI port but still play your games on a proper crt (which I plan to do at some point!)

[The Doom Spoon]

This arrived yesterday. You know tlwhat that means! My regular Skies stream will be regular once again! Also I was able to pick up this NTSC version for significantly less whan the PAL version. Sellers want up to £80 for PAL when I got this one for £42 purely because most people can't play it. Price of older games is ridiculous...

Anyway as you can see its in great condition! All paperwork with it and disc is basically scratch free. Looks like it's had very little use.

[Drumstick]

Nice. I got my PAL copy in December for 50 snoops.

[The Doom Spoon]

Nice. I got my PAL copy in December for 50 snoops.

Nice I would ideally like the PAL version but I can't justify the current prices. If I find it for a better price I may still pick it up!

[Dig Dug]

I got the PAL version with Ikaruga back in the day 2 for £20 at GameStation.
How I miss those times.

[Green Gecko]

NTSC renders in full screen 640x480 and supports progressive scan but no 60Hz mode, right?

As sometimes PAL is displayed with borders, but I can't remember if that was more a gen 5 and 6 thing.

I honestly find that with a good overscan option on a CRT (PVM for the win) or if you're going through a flatpanel just different zoom options, it's rarely a problem. But it sure is tempting to get some NTSC cube games for cheap. There's probably no reason I can't mod my original box either but there's always Freeloader which can be picked up cheap (or homebrew).

[The Doom Spoon]

NTSC renders in full screen 640x480 and supports progressive scan but no 60Hz mode, right?

As sometimes PAL is displayed with borders, but I can't remember if that was more a gen 5 and 6 thing.

I honestly find that with a good overscan option on a CRT (PVM for the win) or if you're going through a flatpanel just different zoom options, it's rarely a problem. But it sure is tempting to get some NTSC cube games for cheap. There's probably no reason I can't mod my original box either but there's always Freeloader which can be picked up cheap (or homebrew).

I believe NTSC is 480p at 60hHz so is the "superior" option I guess? Yea I have a action replay freeloader but I have so many cubes laying around I'm tempted to hard mod one. The chips are very cheap and usually can be soldered in without adding any extra wires.

[Green Gecko]

Yeah actually NTSC is 30fps or 60Hz. With PAL you get more lines of resolution plus 60Hz response rate but the image is interlaced producing more scan line artefacts. The problem was instead of making use of the extra lines and addressing the extra performance overhead caused by that, developers would just add horizontal bars or stretch the image, but I think with the GameCube at least there were some better PAL ports.

With NTSC you get the original version I suppose but with 60Hz making the old speed difference a moot point, ideally you'd want a higher resolution image. Progressive scan in the states sort of offset the resolution difference with a clearer and smoother image reproduction if not high resolution.

It didn't matter with the 240 line output of the previous generations but with the hardware able to match the higher resolution PAL standard we should have seen that, but rarely was it actually the case.

PAL is 720x576 so it doesn't sound like much but it's considerably closer to 720p and native flatscreen resolutions than NTSC was, especially if the game had true widescreen support making it around 920x576.

[Drumstick]

They're all fine for the most part, some PAL games don't support 60Hz which is annoying, but all of my collection is PAL and a random NTSC copy would really bug me.

[Dig Dug]

[The Doom Spoon]

They're all fine for the most part, some PAL games don't support 60Hz which is annoying, but all of my collection is PAL and a random NTSC copy would really bug me.

Yea it makes my ocd so a bit crazy but my sensible head won't allow me to buy a game for £75 when the same one can be found for about £40 for a different region

[Corazon de Leon]

Almost bought Superman 64 from CEX this afternoon on a whim. If it's still there when I get back to Glasgow, it's mine.

[Drumstick]

Almost bought Superman 64 from CEX this afternoon on a whim. If it's still there when I get back to Glasgow, it's mine.

If you get it, what number N64 game will that be?

[Drumstick]

Almost bought Superman 64 from CEX this afternoon on a whim. If it's still there when I get back to Glasgow, it's mine.

If you get it, what number N64 game will that be?

[Corazon de Leon]

About 120-ish. Sadly my funds have taken a huge hit in the past six months with getting married and the missus needing to save for her visa and citizenship applications, so the N64 fund has depleted itself for now.

[Ploiper]

a good day at the mcm expo got me sonic 1 and 2, japanese versions on the mega drive. ducktales on the gameboy and harry potter and the chamber of secrets on the gamecube. not to shabby.

[Green Gecko]

I found an official Megadrive arcade stick (megafire version) in decent condition for only a tenner at the flea market, just needs a clean. Tried a few shmups and streets of rage which it. So much fun. The buttons and stick are really pretty good. And of course it's easier to move eight ways and less cramp on my lap.

Such a good find for somewhere that very rarely ever has stuff like that, just for popping in on a Sunday. One of those things I never knew I wanted and I've never really used one before.

There was also an n64 no controller for £20 but already have two.

[Trelliz]

I got a mini-haul of games at a carboot sale yesterday:
Gran Turismo 2 black label (box is knackered and no manual though)
Command and Conquer First Decade
Star Trek Commander's Edition (box with Starfleet Command, Starfleet Command 2 and Star Trek New Worlds)
Star Trek Starfleet Command 3

Getting them to work on a modern PC may be tricky, but i was prepared to gamble for a couple of pounds.

[Ecno]

How much are copies of Chibi Robo going for now days? I bought a mint copy about 5 years ago and never played it and probably never will.

Anyone interested in it?

[Drumstick]

How much are copies of Chibi Robo going for now days? I bought a mint copy about 5 years ago and never played it and probably never will.

Anyone interested in it?

If you sell on eBay you'd probably be looking at close to £100.