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2 hours ago, Julius said:

Analogue have announced a special and limited Glow in the Dark version of the Analogue Pocket:

 

Looks nice, but it’s also kinda rich of them to introduce this new model after making their existing customers wait more than a year for their current pre-orders…

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Oh this is badass!

https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/8027/

Wario Land 4 now has native Game Boy Player rumble support! Works on real Game Boy Player hardware as well as other devices like the MiSTer and certain emulators (as well as the Analogue Pocket + DS Rumble Pak with an additional included patch).

This is awesome! First time that rumble has ever been newly added into a GBA game that didn't originally have it.

Hope the author of this patch now starts adding rumble to other GBA games, this is so cool! :D

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58 minutes ago, Dcubed said:

Oh this is badass!

https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/8027/

Wario Land 4 now has native Game Boy Player rumble support! Works on real Game Boy Player hardware as well as other devices like the MiSTer and certain emulators (as well as the Analogue Pocket + DS Rumble Pak with an additional included patch).

This is awesome! First time that rumble has ever been newly added into a GBA game that didn't originally have it.

Hope the author of this patch now starts adding rumble to other GBA games, this is so cool! :D

Just tried this on my Pocket and I love it!  Will try on Game Boy Player or MiSTer at some point too.

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On 29/08/2023 at 7:13 PM, Ike said:

Not a fan of that colour myself. Seems like it might be a little distracting to me.

I'm a fan of the colour, but I agree that it would probably be distracting.

I got a new game controller a while back that has hall effect sticks on it, but it also has other "features" that I'm not interested in, one of which is internal LED lighting. :heh: Anyway, every time you plug the controller in the whole thing (it has transparent casing) lights up like a bloody Christmas tree! :laughing: Even when you're not looking directly at it it's distracting as hell.

Luckily there's a shortcut to quickly turn the lights off. :hehe:

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28 minutes ago, RedShell said:

I'm a fan of the colour, but I agree that it would probably be distracting.

I got a new game controller a while back that has hall effect sticks on it, but it also has other "features" that I'm not interested in, one of which is internal LED lighting. :heh: Anyway, every time you plug the controller in the whole thing (it has transparent casing) lights up like a bloody Christmas tree! :laughing: Even when you're not looking directly at it it's distracting as hell.

Luckily there's a shortcut to quickly turn the lights off. :hehe:

God I hate that gaudy RGB "Gamer" shite!

You basically can't buy any decent PC gaming hardware these days without it being covered in tacky rainbow lights!

Edited by Dcubed
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23 minutes ago, Dcubed said:

God I hate that gaudy RGB "Gamer" shite!

You basically can't buy any decent PC gaming hardware these days without it being covered in tacky rainbow lights!

Yeah, it's absolutely ridiculous. I remember being so perplexed by this rainbow light trend when I got my current PC. I ended up with the most modest one that I could, but it's still pretty stupid looking. :laughing: And there's no way to turn the damn lights off while it's running either! :shakehead
On the plus side, it made finding a spot to place it in easy... anywhere where I can't see the damn thing! :heh:

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  • 2 weeks later...

I think some of you might like this, someone has made a website and a magazine that covers old video game magazines that a lot of us grew up reading:

https://www.forgottenworlds.net/

one of the most recent articles is about Ngamer, which was the follow up to N64 magazine with an interview with the editor at the time. It's quite interesting hearing about being in games journalist during the height of the Wii and DS and also making a magazine as the internet side of game coverage becomes more established: https://www.forgottenworlds.net/ngamer-magazine

Edited by Helmsly
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I got myself a goodie…

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He’s on fire!

It may just be an Arcade1up, but I have my first Arcade cabinet! Was going for £400 (down from the usual £700 it goes for), so I couldn’t let it slip by me!

Have upgraded it with a better screen and proper Suzohapp buttons, very happy with it! :D
 

Was gonna wait until I moved into my new place before I started buying proper arcade cabinets (real Candy Cabinet ones, not Arcade1ups), but this one offers a four player control deck that the ones I’m eventually going to buy will not; so it will still have a unique use in my new place when I do move.  That was my excuse for jumping on that deal :hehe:

Edited by Dcubed
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As I'm posting my James Bond games, I'm now playing though all N64 games. Some of these are Japanese only, which is a language I have zero understanding of. There are some translation guides (and even translation patches) for some games, but I'll be relying on my phone for some of them:

 

strongshobi-lens.jpg

 

I'm sure it will be a very botch job for any dialogue-heavy games, but for menus and stuff like that, it's pretty good - translating old retro games live from your phone is pretty sweet. 

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On 28/09/2023 at 1:24 PM, Cube said:

As I'm posting my James Bond games, I'm now playing though all N64 games. Some of these are Japanese only, which is a language I have zero understanding of. There are some translation guides (and even translation patches) for some games, but I'll be relying on my phone for some of them:

 

strongshobi-lens.jpg

 

I'm sure it will be a very botch job for any dialogue-heavy games, but for menus and stuff like that, it's pretty good - translating old retro games live from your phone is pretty sweet. 

I used this feature quite a lot in Japan, particularly to check menus/food labels because veggie and that was how I remembered that in Japan "bukkake" is an actual word and not just...you know.

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This Mario Kart 64 texture packs is one of the nicest I've encountered. Keeps the aesthetic of the original game, just in higher detail - the people that made it created new 3D models in the style used originally then took images of them at all angles and animations to match the original sprites.

 

mk64-002.jpg

mk64-018.jpg

mk64-022.jpg

mk64-017-1920x1076.jpg

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Christ, the only thing that would make me buy an Analogue console and they actually go ahead and make it. Not looking forward to the pricing, will surely be their most expensive system yet, but I'm going to have to order one, aren't I?

Did they go out of their way to stress 'physical only' when they announced their other systems? Just wondering if the rule on being able to run backup ROMs is something that they'll change their minds on eventually.

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8 minutes ago, killthenet said:

Christ, the only thing that would make me buy an Analogue console and they actually go ahead and make it. Not looking forward to the pricing, will surely be their most expensive system yet, but I'm going to have to order one, aren't I?

Did they go out of their way to stress 'physical only' when they announced their other systems? Just wondering if the rule on being able to run backup ROMs is something that they'll change their minds on eventually.

They always do.  Officially, the systems only run original carts and not ROMs, but every single Analogue system has eventually gotten some sort of "unofficial" jailbreak from an un-named source (who totally isn't Kevtris; Analogue's main engineer ;)). 

Basically they don't want to get themselves into trouble with the likes of Nintendo, but they always end up releasing some sort of backdoor method on the sly.

Speaking of which...

Analogue Pocket's Open FPGA will get the display modes at the end of the year :D

I'd be very interested to see what FPGA hardware they're using for the Analogue 3D here, considering that the MiSTer's DE10 nano (which has more than twice the FPGA logic capacity of Analogue's past products, and where complete systems retail for a much higher price) is only just barely able to handle Robert's currently in-development N64 core...

Edited by Dcubed
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Some deets about the upcoming Analogue 3D from the horse's mouth...

https://www.pastemagazine.com/games/analogue/analogues-next-retro-game-console-is-a-4k-nintendo-64

TLDR?

Quote

● Anything that connects to the N64 via its cartridge expansion slot (cartridge pak, rumble pak, transfer pak, or even the very rare Bio-Sensor that came with Tetris 64 in Japan) will work with Analogue 3D, so long as players connect an original N64 gamepad to the system. Modern gamepad manufacturer 8BitDo is creating a wireless N64-styled controller in honor of the Analogue 3D, but it does not appear to include its own cartridge expansion slot.

● In the event that you need to save with a cartridge pak but don’t have one, Taber says that Analogue 3D will have your back in the form of “save states.” This computationally expensive feature isn’t always a given on FPGA systems, so it will be interesting to see how it works here.

● The relatively rare 64DD add-on, exclusive to Japan, will not natively connect to Analogue 3D. Taber suggests that “community developed” connection options will work instead.

● Analogue 3D will include a ton of gamepad options. Four original N64 controllers can connect via the system’s four built-in ports. On top of that, the system will include two USB Type-A ports and will support four additional wireless controllers via either Bluetooth or 2.4 GHz wireless. “Wireless controller support will be everything Analogue Dock supports and more,” Taber says.

● Select system-level visual effects can be disabled on a menu level if users would like, particularly the N64’s infamous anti-aliasing glaze.

● By default, Analogue 3D will run N64 games at their native speeds, complete with frame rate slowdowns (we’re looking at you, Goldeneye 007 four-player split-screen). Taber suggests that optional toggles will enable “overclocking, running smoother, eliminating native frame dips,” and other performance-specific tweaks.

● The N64’s optional 4MB RAM “expansion pak” will be built into Analogue 3D and enabled by default. Users can go into a menu to disable the expansion pak if they want to disable its features in select games.

● Analogue 3D will support the same firmware-update process as prior Analogue systems, via a microSD port. Taber suggests that “some new methods of updating” will be announced at a later date. (Analogue has never formally announced “jailbreak” support for its older systems, which have allowed system owners to load ROM files via microSD cards instead of physical cartridges to play games, but each has eventually received a jailbreak of some kind.)

● Taber says the Analogue 3D will only support “pure N64 and the original legacy ecosystem surrounding it, nothing else.” It will not include any fork of the “openFPGA” system found on Analogue Pocket.

Taber also confirms that they're using all new and much higher specced FPGA hardware, as expected (I bet they're using the Efinix Ti180; the same FPGA chip as what the upcoming MARS FPGA system is supposed to be using).

Transfer Pak support, Overclocking and Save States are some pretty dang lofty promises for an N64 FPGA solution... But Analogue do tend to deliver on their promises (even if after lengthy delays), so I do believe him.  This hardware gonna be expensive!

Edited by Dcubed
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  • 3 weeks later...

I've been enjoying what little PS1/PSP scraps Sony have thrown our way on PS+. I was excited when the service as first announced but, like all of these online services, the offerings have been few and far between. There are loads of games I would like to play but with publishers wanting to release their own collections or just not wanting to play ball at all, it's pretty clear that I'm never going to get the games I want on these types of services. That being the case...

thanos-infinity-gauntlet.gif

I picked up some JRPGs that I never played back in the day. I dabbled with Grandia on the Vita but that's about it. 

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Very happy with the condition they are in, especially Alundra. That came with the hints and tips book and the map.

Also picked up Spider-Man 2. It wasn't high on my list but there were no bids on it and it was pretty cheap for the condition it was in.

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The PS1 cases are a bit of a nightmare to find in decent condition. I have found some brand new replacements on ebay that I may purchase and give a try. It's been a while since I've been down the Retro rabbit hole but I figure I best pick up some of these games that I want now before they get even further out of reach. Thankfully, a lot of games on my list aren't that expensive. 

 

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1 hour ago, Hero-of-Time said:

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I still have my copy somewhere around here. I really need to play this one again, but my PS1 is at my mom's house.
Maybe some good old emulation on my soon to be here Steam Deck will do the trick :D

That's a pretty sweet haul. Haven't played any of those aside from Grandia but I've read numerous times that these are some classic gems! They are in great condition, too :peace:

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