GRcade Retro Gaming Chat

[Cheeky Devlin]

Wasnt me guv.

I’ve ordered mine as well! Can’t wait. You got an RGB N64? I’m intrigued to see how much nicer that would be compared to big standard.

Not yet, but I've been looking into it. Might prioritise that over moving into my NES set up I think.

Reckon the Rad2x will even be a big improvement with a big standard one then? I’ve been playing mind recently with a composite cable into a scart block and it looks atrocious, so hoping it cleans things up considerably.


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Honestly I'm not sure how much of an improvement it will be as it's still the composite signal that it takes from the N64. Footage i've seen of it makes it look ok, but it still has the same issues as all composite images.

Certainly RGB modded systems will be better, but N64 in general has a really wooly, blurry output, especially for 3D games.

So if you're getting it just for N64 then it might be a disappointment.

[Green Gecko]

Got my RAD2X cable pre-ordered and its weird to say just how much I'm looking forward to a cable.

Gonna pick up a few other bits n pieces with my Christmas money I think. Got my eye on a game boy player.

EDIT: Yup, just got a loose Silver Game Boy player and a GC Action Replay. Gonna use my Wii to download the GB Interface app to my GC memory card so I can use it without having to get a GBP Disc (At least until I can afford one or find a better way).

Action replay has the freeloader included and will let me play the three or four NTSC GC games I've got (Both Rogue Leader games, Wind Waker).

Also finally got myself an 8BitDo Retro Receiver coming, so I can use wireless pads on my Super Famicom and SNES.
Once my RAD2X arrives I think my SFC/SNES has been sufficiently future proofed for the foreseeable future.

I have the disk (in fact I had two so bought a gameboy player on eBay just to sell that one together with), but I would suggest downloading Swiss instead. For example the latency is lower and the filtering and aspect ratio are better. The super gameboy is ironically actually a better option for playing non colour games as it scales the image to the right ratio with a sharper picture and I think slightly larger overall, together with the nice themed borders. But for legit playing gba games and gameboy colour as if pretending they are snes/NES games (of which some literally are) the Gameboy player is hard to beat. The nicest thing is pretty much all gameboy games are 60fps. And the gameboy player runs in 60Hz.

[Gemini73]

Once I've moved into my new flat I'll no longer have a gaming room, but not all is lost! I'm going to put my PS2 running through an old HDTV via composite on a unit next to my bed for those lazy days off, cozy quiet nights. Quite like the idea of slowly dozing off whilst revisiting my favourite PS2/PS1 games.

[Green Gecko]

Found God of War 3 for PS3 with a mint disk for 99p in British Heart Foundation which I'm happy with as I've never played one.

As well as Link's Crossbow Training mint, no label so I paid £1.99. I know it's basically only worth postage but a curio nonetheless and it's in good condition. Both have manuals.

Might go back for Dues Ex Human Evolution (PS3) for £1.50 even though I already own it on PC, as I just don't tend to game on PC at the moment and as it's technically a first person RPG it's a bit different.

[Christopher]

What’s the best emulator for N64 on Mac? Also what pads would be good for a Mac?

[Green Gecko]

I seem to have acquired two pretty decent RGB cables for PS1 and Megadrive for just £7 in Brighton flea market (snooper's paradise); they are thick so probably shielded (don't think they're double shielded though) and I've cracked them open and they appear to be correctly wired with capacitors and resistors including c-sync (or sync via luma, not sure). Easy to modify myself if not, as all the pins are present and they easily open up, so a good starting point. They probably came from eBay at some point but no need to pay postage - someone has made them up without cheaping out by missing out half the pins or only wiring up RGB and ground or fitting the right resistors/caps. I'll probably replace the caps for better quality Japanese ones.

The PS1 cable is grey, which none on eBay are, but suggests it was made by someone who didn't make a hash job of it. There aren't any bare unsheathed traces and they even used some heat-shrink to isolate the connection, anyway.

Trying PS1 now on my HDTV and it's almost as sharp as HDMI on the backwards compatible PS3. Picture only a tad dark - have put put contrast up to 75% (this usually hurts my eyes so keep it at 50) and saturation boosted to 55 (I like my images looking natural). I tend to get variable levels or brightness and gamma across consoles with RGB SCART - same with the Dreamcast.

Given the RGC cables are a bit out of my price bracket (those two would cost over £50), and the originals got for £50-80 each, I'm pretty pleased with that. I should be able to use the female SCART to RGB BNC + SYNC cable from RetroGameCables for just £24 to use those cables, and eventually buy their SNES and GameCube cables (or find third party ones that aren't shite). That would give me RGB over CRT which is probably the best.

PS1 looks fine though despite being a 240p console so may not even need to sit in front of a 9" PVM anymore. I wasn't expecting my HDTV to handle a 240p signal that well (it goes nuts using composite). There's no flicker I can see whatsoever. The picture isn't centred, but it seems that's intentional - when composite sync is being detected correctly, part of the "delay" it introduces pushed the image further up the screen, but doesn't clip it. Which indicates it's working. at

I don't think there's any checkerboarding I can see (which is supposed to be an issue if you don't have a good sync signal, and even sometimes if you do), just the dithering you would expect from the low 5bit colour depth (apparently newer versions of the PS1 might output 8bit colour textures). Sat a normal distance it looks really good.

I could use this to retrofit into the cables for sync over luma (which is cleaner as it removes the pointless and crappy composite video signal unused in RGB mode) instead, this can remove some distortion but worsen other aspects. For now it's probably fine. I'm not going to notice any of this on a 9" monitor when I come to that.

I'll post some pics sometime.

Also picked up Electroplankton for DS complete in good nick for £4 at CEX as I've always wanted that curiosity (it's made by a Japanese "media artist"), was tempted by Hyrule Warriors for Wii U (not exactly retro) for just £5 but artwork was wobbly. Price seems to have bombed everywhere (just £7 new on Amazon) but as I have a New 3DS the included DLC might be a better option... Pokemon Colosseum for GC was £15, not sure if that's a good price. Condition was fair.

Edit: Ah strawberry float it's an MD2 cable, better find an MD2 then (maybe an NTSC one).

[kerr9000]

I seem to have acquired two pretty decent RGB cables for PS1 and Megadrive for just £7 in Brighton flea market (snooper's paradise); they are thick so probably shielded (don't think they're double shielded though) and I've cracked them open and they appear to be correctly wired with capacitors and resistors including c-sync (or sync via luma, not sure). Easy to modify myself if not, as all the pins are present and they easily open up, so a good starting point. They probably came from eBay at some point but no need to pay postage - someone has made them up without cheaping out by missing out half the pins or only wiring up RGB and ground or fitting the right resistors/caps. I'll probably replace the caps for better quality Japanese ones.

The PS1 cable is grey, which none on eBay are, but suggests it was made by someone who didn't make a hash job of it. There aren't any bare unsheathed traces and they even used some heat-shrink to isolate the connection, anyway.

Trying PS1 now on my HDTV and it's almost as sharp as HDMI on the backwards compatible PS3. Picture only a tad dark - have put put contrast up to 75% (this usually hurts my eyes so keep it at 50) and saturation boosted to 55 (I like my images looking natural). I tend to get variable levels or brightness and gamma across consoles with RGB SCART - same with the Dreamcast.

Given the RGC cables are a bit out of my price bracket (those two would cost over £50), and the originals got for £50-80 each, I'm pretty pleased with that. I should be able to use the female SCART to RGB BNC + SYNC cable from RetroGameCables for just £24 to use those cables, and eventually buy their SNES and GameCube cables (or find third party ones that aren't shite). That would give me RGB over CRT which is probably the best.

PS1 looks fine though despite being a 240p console so may not even need to sit in front of a 9" PVM anymore. I wasn't expecting my HDTV to handle a 240p signal that well (it goes nuts using composite). There's no flicker I can see whatsoever. The picture isn't centred, but it seems that's intentional - when composite sync is being detected correctly, part of the "delay" it introduces pushed the image further up the screen, but doesn't clip it. Which indicates it's working. at

I don't think there's any checkerboarding I can see (which is supposed to be an issue if you don't have a good sync signal, and even sometimes if you do), just the dithering you would expect from the low 5bit colour depth (apparently newer versions of the PS1 might output 8bit colour textures). Sat a normal distance it looks really good.

I could use this to retrofit into the cables for sync over luma (which is cleaner as it removes the pointless and crappy composite video signal unused in RGB mode) instead, this can remove some distortion but worsen other aspects. For now it's probably fine. I'm not going to notice any of this on a 9" monitor when I come to that.

I'll post some pics sometime.

Also picked up Electroplankton for DS complete in good nick for £4 at CEX as I've always wanted that curiosity (it's made by a Japanese "media artist"), was tempted by Hyrule Warriors for Wii U (not exactly retro) for just £5 but artwork was wobbly. Price seems to have bombed everywhere (just £7 new on Amazon) but as I have a New 3DS the included DLC might be a better option... Pokemon Colosseum for GC was £15, not sure if that's a good price. Condition was fair.

Pokemon Colosseum for GC for £15 in fair condition is a fair price. I have seen loose discs go for that but ive also seen good condition copies go for only £20

[Green Gecko]

Yeah, it seems pretty up and down that one. I'd expect the price to increase in the future so I'd think about it seeing as the n64 games go for a lot more and this one does have an ovefworld and a fleshed out story.

Shame about the md2 cable guff, but only £3. Can get a bare md2 delivered on eBay for 14.50 but then it has worse audio and a different power supply requirement so not really worth going down that rabbit whole.

I'm really surprised how inexpensive the mod kit for n64 (including standard non-French PAL!) is direct from the maker, it's only about £30. I'll definitely have a think about doing that myself in the future too. It's the one that also has a "deblur" switch.

Been comparing composite ps1 on the CRT and RGB on the HDTV (which is 37" so about 5x the size lol). Definitely don't miss the horrible compression and rainbow / halo artifacfs on that one, but CRT almost completely eliminates the dithering that the PS1 graphics setup is designed to take advantage of. But sat at a reasonable distance from HDTV, the RGB signal really is so much sharper. Looking forward to getting the breakout cable to get a virtually perfect, if tiny, image on the PVM.

Just saw Dino Crisis goes for £20 these days. Another game I need to play through that I'm lucky to have. My ps1 library is somewhere 35-40 games strong and none of them awful.

[Cheeky Devlin]

Had a bit of a GameCubey evening.

My Game Boy Player, Action Replay and DK Jungle Beat (+ Bongos) all came today.

GB Player is a bit finnicky. No disc so I have to use the Wind Waker glitched save to launch the homebrew GB Interface app, which is really cool. Shame my copy of WW is the US version so I need to use the Freeloader in the Action Replay to launch Wind Waker. Pain in the arse.

[kerr9000]

I got two sets of Donkey Konga Bongos today from a charity shop for £5 each, I already have one set, wasn't sure if the game even allows for 3 players or if its 2 player only as its years since I've played it.

[Green Gecko]

That is one of the few things I forget that I even own because they are, well, completely useless for anything else

[Vermilion]

https://shop.royalmail.com/special-stam ... _BAU_SB_07

Thought you guys might find this interesting.

[Cheeky Devlin]

I saw them. The framed set would look great in my office/games room.

[Lazy Fair]

What’s the best emulator for N64 on Mac? Also what pads would be good for a Mac?

I use retroarch and just whatever core is the default in that.

In terms of pads, I bought an 8bitdo wireless adapter then use a PS4 or WiiU pro controller and both work nicely connected to that.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Cheeky Devlin]

What’s the best emulator for N64 on Mac? Also what pads would be good for a Mac?

I use retroarch and just whatever core is the default in that.

In terms of pads, I bought an 8bitdo wireless adapter then use a PS4 or WiiU pro controller and both work nicely connected to that.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Just got a notification that my 8BitDo Retro Receiver for SNES/SFC has arrived. I'll be pairing that with my SNES 8BitDo controller and playing wireless from now on.

I'm so close to being finished with my SNES/SFC set up and collection. Just my RAD2X cable and a couple of choice boxed Super Famicom games (Super Metroid, F-Zero) and I think I'm done with it.

Feels good.

[Cumberdanes]

I got two sets of Donkey Konga Bongos today from a charity shop for £5 each, I already have one set, wasn't sure if the game even allows for 3 players or if its 2 player only as its years since I've played it.

Watched a vid of a guy playing Dark Souls with DK Bongos the other day, he killed Ornstein and Smough solo.

As far as non-ridiculous applications I believe they could be used to play Odama on Gamecube too.

EDIT: Wait, that was just the version shown at E3 2004. In a later build shown the following year the feature was absent and it wasn't included in the full release either.

[Christopher]

What’s the best emulator for N64 on Mac? Also what pads would be good for a Mac?

I use retroarch and just whatever core is the default in that.

In terms of pads, I bought an 8bitdo wireless adapter then use a PS4 or WiiU pro controller and both work nicely connected to that.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks.

[KK]

https://shop.royalmail.com/special-stamp-issues/video-games?cid=CM0120_BAU_SB_07

Thought you guys might find this interesting.

I purchased the Video Games Presentation Pack and Tomb Raider Collector's Sheet. Worst case scenario, they're stamps that (on the most part) look brilliant. Best case, they actually increase in value.

I see the framed one has already sold out.

[Vermilion]

I won't bother pre-ordering, as my post office usually has plenty whenever a new set is released.

[kerr9000]

I got two Xbox 360 slim's today all wires and power supplies but no pads one with a 250gig hardrive and one with a 320gig hardrive. I'm proberbly keeping one and giving the other to my girlfriends niece and nephews.