GRcade Retro Gaming Chat

[Corazon de Leon]

One day I must do a charity shop run of the entire Greater Glasgow area - Kirkintilloch, Paisley, Clydebank, Glasgow's West End/City Centre, the whole shebang. I've managed a few great picks in the past - couple of PS1 games, Mega Drive Aladdin - would be interesting to see what else I can pick up.

[Drumstick]

To satisfy my curiosity, the next time you go on one of your trips can you log everything you see?

[kerr9000]

To satisfy my curiosity, the next time you go on one of your trips can you log everything you see?

I have a pretty good mental log of everything that was on my last trip.

I got all the games I mentioned from a sense charity shop, I also picked up Starwars Force Unleashed 2 for xbox360 for 50p but didnt mention it as I didnt consider it retro , what i didnt get was a copy of fifa 12 and fifa 14 for xbox360 as well its fifa isent it. I was a little annoyed as they had a blue ray of Terminator 2 under the counter and I wanted to get it but apparently under the counter is stuff quarantined waiting to be deemed covid safe.

I went in a air ambulandce, salvation army, treetops and sue rider charity shops and they had nothing, I dont just mean no games they had nothing much good in general.

I went in a light house which had lots of games but all very expensive, Killzone for ps3 4 quid, one of the singstar games for ps3 for 4quid there was also a fair few bits at 3quid which I ignored one was a copy of half life 2 for xbox which looked like a dog had attempted to eat it which was a shame as in a good condition id have wanted it for that, then there were a bunch of PS2 Fifa games , a return to castle wolfenstein for xbox missing manual and with a hyper scratched disc, a moto gp game for original xbox also missing disc and looking worse for wear.... I did grab a copy of Pangya Golf with Style for Wii for 2quid in good condition but again didnt list it here because its not that retro.

I also looked at a lot of dvd's and blue rays but all I grabbed was a set of The SnowMan and The SnowMan and Snowdog on Blue ray for 2quid mostly because my mum loved the Snowman when she was alive and it made me think of her, figured id watch it close to christmas

[OrangeRKN]

I just want to know where this mythical charity shop is. There are 7 charity shops in my town and not one of them ever has anything other than 20 copies of FIFA and a couple of versions of Just Dance.

Same and I am both impressed and upset by Kerr's constant finds

When I volunteered at my local RSPCA shop when I was at school they did straight up gift me an N64 and a few games that came in because they couldn't sell them. So that was pretty great (even though I already owned 3 N64s at that point )

[kerr9000]

I went on another charity shop expedition today and got

Halo 2 complete for Xbox for £1
Harry Potter Quidditch World Cup complete for Xbox for £1
Time Splitters 2 (classics version) complete for Xbox for £1

I also went in an Indy game shop and got Rise of the Robots for SNES cart only for £3 a Japanese loose cart of Streets of Rage 2 for Megadrive for £10, a complete Japanese copy of Super Real Basketball complete for Megadrive for £10 and a complete copy of Jersey Devil for PS1 for £8.

I have a bit of a thing for Japanese Megadrive stuff.

[Choclet-Milk]

I've been tinkering with a couple of PS2s the past few days, trying to get them softmodded. One for my mum's partner, the other just for a giggle. I ended up buying a cheapo component cable and bloody hell, I feel like Tobey Maguire!

[Cheeky Devlin]

I've been tinkering with a couple of PS2s the past few days, trying to get them softmodded. One for my mum's partner, the other just for a giggle. I ended up buying a cheapo component cable and bloody hell, I feel like Tobey Maguire!

It's really astounding the difference even a cheap component cable can make over the basic Composite output, especially for PS2, XBox and GameCube stuff.

Composite is generally fine for small to medium sized CRTs (Tube TVs by their nature hide a lot of the flaws), but bigger CRT's and modern flat panels really benefit from the higher quality of Component or RGB SCART signals.

I would warn though that once you start to notice things like this, it's really easy to fall down the rabbit hole of trying to get the best picture quality you can out of every system which can get real expensive real quick.

https://www.retrorgb.com/ - This is pretty much my go-to site for details on how to get the best out of just about every system you can think of. Always worth looking into, plus they cover a lot of the goings on in the modding and retro-hardware scene.

[Choclet-Milk]

I would warn though that once you start to notice things like this, it's really easy to fall down the rabbit hole of trying to get the best picture quality you can out of every system which can get real expensive real quick.

https://www.retrorgb.com/ - This is pretty much my go-to site for details on how to get the best out of just about every system you can think of. Always worth looking into, plus they cover a lot of the goings on in the modding and retro-hardware scene.

I'm beginning to realise that! I've already got a GCHD on my shopping list, and the pile of MegaDrives in the spare room are starting to look at me funny!

[Cheeky Devlin]

I would warn though that once you start to notice things like this, it's really easy to fall down the rabbit hole of trying to get the best picture quality you can out of every system which can get real expensive real quick.

https://www.retrorgb.com/ - This is pretty much my go-to site for details on how to get the best out of just about every system you can think of. Always worth looking into, plus they cover a lot of the goings on in the modding and retro-hardware scene.

I'm beginning to realise that! I've already got a GCHD on my shopping list, and the pile of MegaDrives in the spare room are starting to look at me funny!

It always starts small and before you know it you've spent hundreds on cables and upscalers.

If you have several Nintendo systems the RAD2X cables from https://www.retrogamingcables.co.uk/ are a good place to start. The Nintendo one is compatible with anything that has the old Multi-AV connector and takes the best signal it can from each system (Which is RGB in all but one case), line doubles it to 480p and outputs through Mini-HDMI. So SNES, N64, GC and the AV famicom can all be easily played on modern TVs at their best picture quality with one cable. Only downside is that N64 doesn't output in RGB (Unless modded), so you only get composite from it. It's a great value prospect as it costs the same as the other RAD2X cables, but works on 4 different systems. There are other RAD2X cables for other systems, but they generally support fewer systems each.

It was what I started with and I've since graduated to an OSSC (Open Source Scan Converter) which takes RGB SCART and Component inputs and does mostly the same thing. It's universal though so I can plug just about anything into it as long as I can get RGB or Component from it. That cost me about £145, but it's been worth every penny and I'm very impressed with the results. It can also take the 480i signal that PS2, GC and Xbox sometimes output and convert it to 480p, which removes a lot of the really annoying "flickering" that you sometimes get with those 480i signals.

My whole retro AV setup is pretty convoluted at this point now, but I've got it mostly plug and play.

The only other thing I would add is that unlike HDMI cables where a cheap cable is going to give you as good a signal as an expensive one (HDMI versions not withstanding), analogue cables are far more variable. They can be prone to interference from other cables, power sources, wireless signals etc. So in most cases you get what you pay for and a lot of the cheaper cables you find on Amazon/eBay can be pretty shitty. In the worst cases they can even damage the hardware. Definitely look at reviews for the items and if you can afford better cables, go for them.

https://www.retrogamingcables.co.uk/ is a fantastic source of high-quality cables and they're well worth the higher cost you might pay.

[Choclet-Milk]

You're killing me here, Dev!

[Cheeky Devlin]

You're killing me here, Dev!

I've not even started on the everdrives and modding yet.

EDIT: I would add that the GC output from the RAD2X isn't the best. All the reviews of it stated that the GC support should be considered a bonus rather than a main selling point and I would agree with that. It's not the best picture you can get from it, but for the price it's not bad.

[Choclet-Milk]

You're killing me here, Dev!

I've not even started on the everdrives and modding yet.

EDIT: I would add that the GC output from the RAD2X isn't the best. All the reviews of it stated that the GC support should be considered a bonus rather than a main selling point and I would agree with that. It's not the best picture you can get from it, but for the price it's not bad.

I daren't even go down the everdrive rabbithole, the prices I've seen were eye-watering! I've got my GC loader and my FreeHDBoot for now, everything else is getting emulated until I win the lottery!

I'll take the hit on quality for the convenience of a £50 catch-all cable, though. A £120 adapter is a bit mad for just one console, and anything's better than the composite pish I've got now!

[jawa]

Now this is interesting... from out of the blue, a company called IntecGaming has launched a Kickstarter for Warrior 64, a console capable of running Nintendo 64 carts and outputting them via HDMI to modern screens. It sounds pretty impressive for around £120 .

But... it is seemingly only compatible with NTSC (Japanese and American) carts. Still sounds like a great product but personally I'd want it to be compatible with PAL carts, too.

[Corazon de Leon]

I must not click on all the links on this page. I must not click on all the links on this page.

[Green Gecko]

For those that can't justify the fancy HDMI stuff. I strongly strongly recommend picking up a small Sony PVM on eBay for about £40-60 instead. Then, even the original cables, or even better the composite versions from Retro Game Cables, look really damn good. Sure, you have to sit about 2 foot away from the screen to be able to see anything, but that's how it used to be anyway, and it saves so much space versus a conventional set up so you can have more consoles out and hooked up. Most PVMs have at least 2 or 3 inputs plus you can always add an input selector.

This is because those screens have double line resolution and an aperture (focusing) control, so you can fine tune the amount of "blur"/CRT effect you want per system, as well as the brightness, contrast, and colour intensity (chroma). For example, for mega drive games like sonic that simulate transparencies, I play the game with a softer focus so that effect looks really convincing as designed, together with the dithered bushes in the background of Green Hill Zone, for example. Streets of Rage also does similar things. I sharpen up the SNES and NES pictures, but I pretty much tune it per game.

You can then upgrade this to RGB plus sync which is essentially component video with the necessary cables/inputs.

It varies from panel to panel, but RGB Scart is also much better for flat panels that support it, than standard composite.

[Dig Dug]

I've not made a youtube video in a long time so I figured I'd do something about that.
I've been learning Gradius using save states so I can hopefully one day get a one credit clear on it.
Thus I was inspired to make this video.

[kerr9000]

I've not made a youtube video in a long time so I figured I'd do something about that.
I've been learning Gradius using save states so I can hopefully one day get a one credit clear on it.
Thus I was inspired to make this video.

I was using something modern to play an old game earlier myself. I was playing Alien Storm on the switch (part of the megadrive collection) and there is a save state function and a rewind... I was occasionally using the rewind to go like 3 seconds back and change my mind on how I was going to handle a hand full of aliens... Usually on the middle difficulty on the game with the 3 credits it gives you I get to the last level but die before I can finish it, this morning I finished it for the first time in ages because of this rewind function, yeah it was kind of cheating but I could see how it would help me improve by allowing me to replay bits without having to play through the whole game again and again just to practice a little bit of it.

[kerr9000]

I just grabbed two boxes SNES games from a pawn store £15 each both pal Both with manuals Mystic Quest (with map as well) and Donkey Kong Country 2.

[kerr9000]

Grabbed a boxed complete SuperGameboy for £15 , I wonder if it will work on my Retro Trio + console as my SNES is currently put away.

[Ironhide]

Grabbed a boxed complete SuperGameboy for £15 , I wonder if it will work on my Retro Trio + console as my SNES is currently put away.

Depends if the Super Gameboy used hardware or software to run GB games.

You'd be basically using an emulator to emulate an emulator [/xibit.gif]