General Retro Discussion

[lostmario]

Had a good run recently with adding to my retro gaming collection, all off Facebook Marketplace

Picked a Gameboy Micro up for £30 just before Christmas

https://imgur.com/BuP0WeA

Picked up Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze on the Wii U for £5 a few weeks back along with the Super Mario Maker box and book that I was missing for £2

Last week I saw a post on Facebook marketplace with no photo just saying Sega,& Nintendo consoles for sale. I messaged asking what he had and he sent me some photos, next day after agreeing on some prices I bought all this for £140. Nobody had messaged him apart from me. Unbelievable luck to get this deal.

and then this, a master system 2 with 21 master system games. Twenty One games. All for £140.... Crazy.

I don't think I'll get a deal this good ever again.

 

[S.C.G]

@lostmario That is a nice deal indeed, especially considering that a fully complete boxed copy of Pokemon Stadium can cost around £100 on its own.

I'd say that £140 for that bundle is very good. Nicely done.

- - - - -

On the selling front...

I've been going through a lot of games in my collection, deciding which games to keep and which to move on.

I'm still going through Nintendo and Sega games/consoles at the moment.

Halving what I own on most Nintendo consoles seems like a sensible approach, seeing as I genuinely don't play many of the games I own any more.

A fair few GameCube games will still be kept, N64 titles down to the basics, SNES as well as I never owned that many titles, and NES.

Wii games could definitely do with downsizing, Wii U... there isn't much to part with.

Portable games will take a bit more consideration perhaps.

On the Sega front, I only own mostly the staple Sega titles, some racing and shmup games... similar on the Saturn front, though I have the main Sega staple titles again.

Sega Mega-CD has been reduced, 32X is all but gone, aside from the console, Mega Drive and Master System games need to be gone through.

Playstation and Xbox brand games, I'll go through again after the main retro, then I've just got controllers and peripherals to go through.

- - -

On the buying front...

I bought a modded MK1 Sega Saturn, so that I'd have a working machine again, as I discovered that my multiple MK2 Saturns didn't seem to be in the greatest condition.

The MK1 Saturn is great though, it has the "reset" button mod to toggle between regions, full recap, and the RAM switched out so that the saves shouldn't get lost.

I bought a BroadBand adapter for the Sega Dreamcast, along with a small keyboard for playing PSO on.

And some replacement Xbox 360 wired mono headsets, because the one I bought a few years ago, the cable has become unreliable, I don't use the mic on it, but the mono headset is useful for when you want to talk on a proper mic, or just listen to audio on a video in the background without being completely distracted/immersed by using stereo headphones.

Oh, and a load of GameCube controller cable extenders, to get more use out of the Nintendo GameCube Keyboard Controller I bought over a year and a half ago.

That's just about it.

[Dcubed]

That’s a damn good deal you got there @lostmario! That complete boxed copy of Pokémon Stadium alone easily fetches £50-60 on its own!

Nice job 

[Glen-i]

I'm suddenly reminded of that kinda crummy, even for the 90's, render of Blastoise.

And now I'm reminded of that god awful one in Pokkén!

[Dcubed]

1 hour ago, Glen-i said:

I'm suddenly reminded of that kinda crummy, even for the 90's, render of Blastoise.

And now I'm reminded of that god awful one in Pokkén!

Personally, I’m more bothered by that Charizard pose; what the hell is it supposed to be doing? The Thriller dance!?

[Hero-of-Time]

Not watched it yet but by all accounts it's a cracking episode. 

[martinist]

I really want to play the old Smackdown games on the PS1 and PS2, Might take a look on ebay for them later today

[Hero-of-Time]

13 minutes ago, martinist said:

I really want to play the old Smackdown games on the PS1 and PS2, Might take a look on ebay for them later today

They are dirt cheap. You could also just skip the first Smackdown game and jump straight to the second, unless you want them all for collection purposes. In comparison to the sequel, the original was a glorified demo. Looking back at it, you can see it was rushed out of the door.

[Hero-of-Time]

Just finished the Digital Foundry GT episode. Fantastic watch.

I was very pleased that a section of it was dedicated to Omega Boost. Back in the day, I only played the demo given away with the official Playstation magazine but I always wanted to play the full game. Hearing that a member of the Panzer Dragoon team worked on the game was surprising but also made perfect sense.

GT2 was an absolute beast of a sequel. Looking at what was on offer, it puts modern day gaming to shame. The game was crammed with content across two discs and it just highlights just how far gaming has fallen in this modern era. This type of content is now cut away and sold as DLC rather than being on the disc on day 1.

I can't wait for the next episode. GT3 is my favourite in the series.

[Dcubed]

Very good video.  I'm not a GT fan by any measure (Always been an arcade racing guy myself), but that was a great watch and super interesting! Had no idea that they pulled a Sonic CD with GT1 & GT2! I can sort of see why they felt the need to do this at the time mind you... Wipeout was huge during the PS1 era, and that was in no small part due to its licensed music; while the Japanese soundtracks were somewhat out of sync with the music that was popular during the late 90s... though the move comes across as a bit cringeworthy nowadays? I can certainly see the logic for the time.

I can't believe that those cars are only 150 odd polygons though! That's crazy low, even for the time! Remarkable artistry on demonstration there!  And that UI is still remarkable modern; doesn't feel out of place compared even to GT7! They really nailed the series signature look, feel and identity right away!

Really nice that they give some historical context with comparisons to other contemporary releases too; you can really see how GT1 & GT2 especially looked like they came from the future in comparison to the competition!

Looking forward to the follow-up episodes

Edited April 17, 2022 by Dcubed

[Hero-of-Time]

Yeah, the soundtracks were huge parts of the GT experience back in the day. The opening for GT3 featuring Feeder was amazing.

 

[Jonnas]

So I came across this video on youtube

A retrospective on the development of the Sonic franchise, from Adventure to Shadow, through Sega's most troubling times. It's comprehensive and quite the interesting watch, even if the author lets his personal conclusion get in the way a bit (though it's believable, there's no solid proof that Jak II or Ratchet&Clank inspired Shadow the Hedgehog. Nevertheless, he brings this up a handful of times as though it's fact)

I had heard of Sega of Japan having their heads buried in the sand for a decade or so, but this is the first time I'm hearing that Peter Moore story! It's hilarious.

[Dcubed]

Sounds interesting… I do loves me some internal SEGA drama.  Will have to give it a watch later

[Julius]

Digital Foundry's video on the PS2 era of Gran Turismo games is up 

(aka the best Gran Turismo era, totally no bias here )

Edited April 24, 2022 by Julius

[Hero-of-Time]

Watched both the Sonic and GT videos this evening. Good viewing.

Sega's idiotic decisions never fail to surprise and amuse me. That Peter Moore quote had me in stitches. Sega of Japan really had no clue how to run the business.

I've had Sonic Heroes and Shadow the Hedgehog sat on the shelf since they were first released. I should really play them at some point.  

Watching the GT3 footage got me very nostalgic. I remember buying my PS2 for Onimusha and Escape from Monkey Island. It just so happened that GT3 released a couple of weeks later. Me and the lads from work went and bought copies on launch day and spent the following months discussing the game whilst at work. I miss having deep gaming discussions like that, where loads of people are playing the game at the same time. Hell, you don't even get those kind of discussions on here very often anymore. 

It was great seeing all the car games that were released during that generation. The market had room enough for all the different types, with the cream of the crop, such as Burnout, Project Gotham, GT, Forza and Need for Speed games all delivering in different ways. 

I need to stop watching DF Retro. I always get the urge to go on an eBay spree after watching the show but also get bummed out with how things are now within the industry.  

[Dcubed]

Thoroughly enjoyed both videos! I actually learnt a few new things about Sonic Heroes' development that I didn't know about before! Good stuff! Will be keeping an eye on that channel going forward.

The 2nd DF Retro GT video is also excellent.  Really appreciate the historical context and comparisons against the series' contemporaries.  Had never even heard of Enthusia, but it's an enormously impressive effort from Konami! Especially considering that it was their first go at a sim-racer! Real shame that they never followed up with it, as they clearly had a good thing going there... but that's just the way the industry went when it made the jump to HD.  The racing genre basically just completely collapsed, where literally only about four different series and developers were able to survive, and where everyone else just got culled.

Also, that Volvo game section was hilarious 

Edited April 25, 2022 by Dcubed

[Hero-of-Time]

After watching that Sonic video @Jonnas posted, I went back and had a look at the other videos that the guy had made. I sat and watched his thoughts on both Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2. I was never big (the cat) on the sequel but the first Adventure game holds a special place in my heart and I got very nostalgic watching footage of the game.

I then went down the YouTube rabbit hole and started watching videos about various Dreamcast and PS1 games. 

I really need to sort out some HDMI options for my retro consoles so I can play them on a HDTV. I'd love to play through Sonic Adventure again and i've also got a hankering to play PSO for some reason. 

[Dcubed]

35 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

After watching that Sonic video @Jonnas posted, I went back and had a look at the other videos that the guy had made. I sat and watched his thoughts on both Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2. I was never big (the cat) on the sequel but the first Adventure game holds a special place in my heart and I got very nostalgic watching footage of the game.

I then went down the YouTube rabbit hole and started watching videos about various Dreamcast and PS1 games. 

I really need to sort out some HDMI options for my retro consoles so I can play them on a HDTV. I'd love to play through Sonic Adventure again and i've also got a hankering to play PSO for some reason. 

If you want a decent solution that doesn't break the bank, might I recommend the Retrotink 2x Scart?

Upscales any 240p/480i RGB SCART source to 480p over HDMI and does a great job at doing so! (I have one of these myself and I'm very pleased with how it upscales N64/Saturn/Dreamcast).  Do note that you MUST use an RGB SCART signal with this thing though, as it will not accept Composite/S-Video over SCART.  This isn't a problem with Dreamcast since it supports RGB SCART natively, but N64 will require an RGB mod for instance.

Another nice thing about the Retrotink 2x compared to its more expensive (and higher-end) contemporaries is that the 2x is a completely plug n' play solution.  No settings or anything that you need to mess around with; you just plug it in and It Just Works  (There is a button on the back that you can use to cycle between a couple of filters though if you want to... the smoothing filter actually looks pretty good for N64 content in particular, and while I'd normally avoid these sorts of things, I actually do use the smoothing filter with N64 games!)

Edited April 26, 2022 by Dcubed

[Hero-of-Time]

I'd love to buy one but I'm not willing to import.

Getting a HDMI option for the GameCube seems pretty easy. The EON adapter and Kaico option seem readily available in the UK. I just need to pull the trigger.

[Dcubed]

9 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

I'd love to buy one but I'm not willing to import.

Getting a HDMI option for the GameCube seems pretty easy. The EON adapter and Kaico option seem readily available in the UK. I just need to pull the trigger.

FWIW, there’s an Irish store that’s selling the Retrotink 2x SCART… https://videogameperfection.com/products/retrotink-2x-scart/

Still technically an import, but should be cheaper in terms of shipping than the US-based sellers

Oh and yes, the EON HD adapter for the GameCube comes highly recommended! I’ve got one (as does @Glen-i) and it’s brill! Every bit as good as the official GCN Component cables in terms of quality (and even better in that it carries audio through the Digital Out port, which the official Component cables can’t do!).  Of course, if you want to get the most out of it with its 480p support though, you’d need to be either be using NTSC software, or some way to run the Swiss Homebrew app that can force 480p output with PAL games.

[Hero-of-Time]

Yeah, I'm not too fussed about the 480p resolution. I just want to play on my retro consoles with a half decent picture and without too much hassle.

[Dcubed]

2 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Yeah, I'm not too fussed about the 480p resolution. I just want to play on my retro consoles with a half decent picture and without too much hassle.

Then the Retrotink 2x SCART will be perfect for you.  Plug n’ play, dead simple

I’d actually probably recommend forgoing the GCN EON HD then and to just get a GCN RGB SCART cable alongside the Retrotink 2x SCART.

Couple it with a good ol’ SCART switcher (so you can have multiple consoles plugged in at the same time) and you’re golden.

Edited April 26, 2022 by Dcubed

[Julius]

Woah. Here's 1 hour of footage from Arkane's cancelled Half-Life game courtesy of NoClip:

Always love stuff like this! 

Edited May 4, 2022 by Julius

[Happenstance]

Anyone got the 8bitdo Pro 2 controller? I’m just looking for a new bluetooth controller for my new tablet and it looked like that might be the way to go. Liking the idea of having profiles setup that I can switch between for different controller layouts.

[Happenstance]

On 05/05/2022 at 8:12 AM, Happenstance said:

Anyone got the 8bitdo Pro 2 controller? I’m just looking for a new bluetooth controller for my new tablet and it looked like that might be the way to go. Liking the idea of having profiles setup that I can switch between for different controller layouts.

I got the controller and it's pretty good. Comfortable, nice triggers and very customisable in the software/android app which is helpful.