VideoGame_Discussion

Topic School me on modded and after market retro consoles

Chad

31-Dec(#1)

I've been getting the itch to do a retro binge. But I no longer want to collect a bunch of old cartridge games that are basically display pieces. Pirating is the name of the game. I'm also on a 65" OLED, when I moved I gave away my 30" CRT HDTV. I'm wanting HDMI or component video if possible on all consoles.

So it looks like for cartridge based games they now now have dummy carts with SD cards filled with all the games. In particular I am looking at NES, SNES, N64, Genesis and 32x, Turbografx 16 (or turbo duo), Neo Geo AES. Some of those ROM carts are expensive, but do all of them work generally?

For disc drive games, it looks like they use "optical drive emulators" that generally replace the disc drive, but some of them appear to leave the disc drive still operable. In particular I am looking at Saturn, Dreamcast, Gamecube, PS1, PS2, Xbox, maybe Neo Geo CD if the Neo Geo AES stuff doesn't work, maybe Sega CD, Turbografx CD, 3DO.

So questions so far:
Are there any cheap (e.g. aliexpress versions) of the ROM Carts that are cheap? It looks like maybe NES starts at like $100 and Neo Geo AES is up to like $550 for the new version. Stuff like SNES has $250 versions which seems a bit much. Neo Geo AES I get, there are barely any of those running around. But NES/SNES/Genesis, I've been hoping to find cheap stuff given how many of those sold. ODE generally seems cheaper.

After market consoles some of these are really cheap, like Old Skool Classiq 2 HD plays both NES and SNES from cartridge, with HDMI output and thats $70. Seems like a steal, if that can play the ROM carts I am wanting to get. Then you have like the AVS NES which is $209. Is it functionally any better than the Old Skool Classic 2 HD?

Meanwhile disc based games, seems like soldering is going to be required to get it to HDMI/component video. Is that generally accurate? Or are there any somehow plug and play upgrades?

Lunar

* 31-Dec(#2)

Emulation is the way to go.

I have nearly all of these systems you speak of, and have gotten nearly all of the Everdrives/ODEs.

Most of the time I just emulate, because I rarely have the time in front of the retro set up.

Just get a nice front end like LaunchBox and set up a good emulation Big Box.

Maybe a Pi, or if you're fancy, a MiSTer.

To answer some of your questions: yes, there are bootleg versions of Everdrives, they are dirt cheap, they work nearly just as well.

Don't get those cheap after market emulation boxes, they are generally worse than emulation and don't work with everdrives.

For HDMI, all of the good solutions require soldering. I've sent my systems to a modder to have it done.

Chad

31-Dec(#3)

Emulation worries me. I thought the Neo Geo Gold was complete crap. Sound was bad, controller would sometimes randomly not work, and it would seem to bog down easily when it shouldnt dropping frame rate. The NES classic was maybe a bit better but had similar issues with sound, everything sounded harsh on the NES classic to me.
Are the PC emulators that much better than the stand alone?

Lunar

* 31-Dec(#4)

Neo Geo Gold is crap. NES Classic is crap.

PC/Android/Linux, even MacOS, emulation are all 100% up to 16bit, 32bit and beyond are maybe 95-99% good. It's very very good.

I recently beat Shadow of the Damned 4K120fps on a PS3 emulator, better than original.

Analogue Pocket is a nice choice to start IMO. FPGA. And cheaper than MiSTer. Jailbreak it and use a dock, you can play GB/C/A/NES/SNES/GEN/GG/PCE/PCE CD/Neo Geo/CPS1+2, and more added going forward.

Chad

31-Dec(#5)

thanks for the info, i'm going to be youtubing the stuff you mentioned for a while now...

Renaissance2K

31-Dec(#6)

As somebody who's spent a ton of money on FPGA machines, original consoles, and mods for original consoles, @Lunar is right. Start with high quality emulation on your PC. It's essentially free, and if - for whatever reason - the experience isn't up to part with your expectations, you can always take the next step and invest in an Analogue Pocket, a MiSTer, or some original hardware.

Mini consoles are adorable and novel, but they all have accuracy issues that could hurt your play experience, if you're sensitive to that stuff. Nearly every commercial product has both input latency (delay between when you press a button and when it's reflected on screen) and audio latency (the sounds happen later than the visuals). You may not notice it at all, but if you do, it's going to bug you every time you mess up or fall to your death.

Slickriven

1-Jan(#7)

PC emulation can be solid and Lunar's suggestion on LaunchBox is smart, that software is excellent. You have to buy a license to use the BigBox option, but it's worth it IMO and you can get an Android version as well which could work nicely if you opt for an Android based handheld. If you think you want to go that route, take a look at the Ayn Odin 2, it will emulate up to the GC more/less and can be used with a dock if you want to game on that 65" OLED vs. the 6+" screen on the device (it can output to a TV w/o the dock, but that would likely feel strange - like playing with a tethered WiiU).

ryanflucas

1-Jan(#8)

I have the AVSNES, SuperNT, MegaSG and then everdrives in each of them. I'm already starting to trim my retro physical cartridge collections back since it's easier to emulate.

You could try another route. Pair a Apple MacMini with the TV and emulate. Go with say a MacMini (late 2018 model with the i5 processor). You can go older on the model but I wouldn't go past 2014. The 2018 generation was the first to come with SSD as standard. Then download the free openemu app. Pair with 8bitdo controllers since it has built in Bluetooth. You can play games and also stream.

http://openemu.org/

https://everymac.com/ultimate-mac-lookup/?search_k...

loztdogs

1-Jan(#9)

Go big or go home - Legion Go FTW. Emulate anything and everything. Plus cloud gaming. Plus Steam. Stream your consoles. It’s a gaming Swiss Army knife.

Yoshi

15-Jan(#10)

A very large percentage of 8 and 16-bit games are available digitally. That should be your first option 100% of the time. If you then want to play that game in some other way, more power to you.

Chad

18-Jan(#11)

Buying retro games is for suckers. Pirating is what the cool kids do.

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VideoGame_Discussion

Topic School me on modded and after market retro consoles

Topic School me on modded and after market retro consoles