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Post by Xeogred on Jul 28, 2020 18:06:27 GMT -5
I think if I spent coin on spare systems or got some of these clones for myself (I did get the mini SNES and Genesis for my nephew), I'd have fun tinkering with them. Realistically though, wouldn't a small PC/RetroPie be superior? Or it sounds like that's what you could do here and just fill in the shell of these little clones with new hardware. I forgot what the controller ports were like for all of these... USB/USB-C, or custom inputs like the old hardware?
The Mini NES seems like it would be the most ideal to work with shell wise. Strong enclosed little toaster haha.
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Post by Sarge on Jul 28, 2020 18:25:46 GMT -5
Small PC, yeah. It loses some of the form-factor appeal, but much more versatile. The RetroPie setups are... okay. They tend to be quite laggy, though, although I'd bet the Pi4 stuff is a lot better on that front - you can probably throw run-ahead on now in some cores. From a specs perspective, the PSX one is the most powerful: basically a Fire Stick 4K clocked slightly lower. The NES/SNES/Genesis/TG-16 are quite literally the same hardware in each, just with a slightly different layout or name. (Also, the TG-16/Genesis ones are underclocked, although you can bump that up with hacks.)
They're different for every system. SNES/NES uses the Wii nunchuck-style attachment, Genesis/TG-16/PSX uses full-size USB. Pretty sure you can use the latter on a PC.
The rabbit hole I really want to jump down is the MiSTer project. FPGA-based hardware emulation, and apparently some of those cores have gotten very good.
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Post by Xeogred on Jul 28, 2020 18:38:59 GMT -5
Aquas (think you know the name?) streams with the MiSTer a fair bit. He seems to use arcades sticks with it frequently too, I believe. I love hearing Jeff Gerstmann talk about it on podcasts every once and awhile. I'm not sure if either of the two have tried out arcade games yet though. Think that was a newer addition over time? Honestly the entire thing is over my head, but it seems neat. lol
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Post by Sarge on Jul 28, 2020 18:40:35 GMT -5
Yeah, there are people that are adding arcade cores as well. It's pretty slick. While I know there's a lot of custom hardware in them, at least a ton of them use a 68000 CPU. In a lot of ways, it's a little like the early days of emulation. It's probably one heck of a ride for the folks following in real time.
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dreamgazer
HRG Experienced
Nostalgia Addict
Posts: 27
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Post by dreamgazer on Jul 29, 2020 21:18:43 GMT -5
If Nintendo released a GB/GBC classic with a backlight and ROMs of all their old first party games they would make bank. Bonus points if it was actually compatible with cartridges.
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Post by Sarge on Jul 29, 2020 21:25:15 GMT -5
I think you might be right. Of course, there is the Analogue Pocket coming next year that I'm assuming you've seen. Looks pretty sweet, although the only way I could justify it is if it gets a jailbreak and I can run other cores like SNES/Genesis on it. www.analogue.co/pocket/
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Jul 29, 2020 23:05:27 GMT -5
Can someone breakdown the pros and cons of the Analogue consoles? Why would someone who has component modded consoles go for this?
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Post by Sarge on Jul 30, 2020 16:51:08 GMT -5
Can someone breakdown the pros and cons of the Analogue consoles? Why would someone who has component modded consoles go for this? Honestly, I probably wouldn't. If you have a component-modded console, you've probably also gotten them recapped, so you're set for a while. Especially if you have a good flash cart. That being said, if you don't have one of those (and most won't), they're a great choice for getting a system that puts out clean, native HDMI. The FPGA core for both the Mega Sg and Super Nt are incredibly accurate, almost to the level of bsnes, and also don't incur any input latency penalty. In addition, if you put the jailbreak firmware on there, you can load ROMs from the SD card, so you've got something practically as accurate as a real system with the native ability to load ROMs.
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Post by Sarge on Dec 12, 2020 21:58:43 GMT -5
I'm not sure this should go here, but it looks like I'm joining the MiSTer parade. github.com/MiSTer-devel/Main_MiSTer/wikiBasically, it's a project that recreates many old computers and consoles on the DE10-Nano FPGA board. Some of the cores are already extremely accurate, and there's massive development still happening in the community. There's even a PSX core coming (although that looks to be the extent of what it may be able to pull off). I think this will be more interesting to tinker with than the Super Nt/Mega Sg I mulled over briefly.
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Post by Ex on Dec 13, 2020 1:13:25 GMT -5
FPGA is always fun tech to play with. I endorse your curiosity. The possibility of FPGA producing more accurate representation of vintage video gaming tech, VS software emulation, is of considerable magnitude.
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