[Closed] Retro gaming and emulation

I'm awaiting streets of rage 4 to come out. Takes me back to renegade on the zx spectrum.

Got a ps2 emulator but it's a bit pants (screen not full size etc.)
Big original doom fan though modding plenty of maps etc with my kids.

I've got a SNES Mini - which is hackable to play any SNES game. Love Bomberman.

Also just ordered one of these as recommended by B3ta newsletter -

https://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B07LBG2D5Y/b3ta-21?th=1

looks like fun...

I have about 16 consoles permanently linked up so yes, I like a bit of retro gaming...

SNES

Parodius!

Mr Heli on PC Engine is worth a few 10p coins too.

edit- and New Zealand Story on Megadrive.

I built a table top control box with arcade joysticks and buttons to play old arcade games. It was a proof of concept project really but unfortunatly I haven't got round to building the full arcade cabinet yet.

I have a Raspberry Pi set up as an emulator. It's fun, but I'd forgotten how bloody hard 16 bit games were.

I also have Shenmue 1 and 2 on PC that I picked up for 70p or something that I'll almost certainly never play.

I like the old DOS games - used to have DOSBox with Commander Keen, Crystal Caves etc. Must set that up again...

Bomberman games are great too, fond/hilarious memories of 3 of us playing the insane Atomic Bomberman, all using the same keyboard.

And of course Dink Smallwood

https://www.retrogames.cc/

I bought my daughter a SNES mini for her birthday a few weeks ago. I have to admit I was quite excited about it but hugely disappointed when I got to play it. Did Mariokart really look that bad back in the day? I remember it being much smoother and more detailed.

Not really anymore but used to collect them, got lots of consoles & 8 bit computers (mainly boxed!) in the attic!! Love the Dreamcast, wish I had the maracas but they go for crazy money now!

I built a table top control box with arcade joysticks and buttons to play old arcade games. It was a proof of concept project really but unfortunatly I haven’t got round to building the full arcade cabinet yet.

Did Mariokart really look that bad back in the day?

trailwagger

Member
I have to admit I was quite excited about it but hugely disappointed when I got to play it.

Aye, same experience, retro gaming is alright, for about 10 minutes.

I have a ZX Spectrum Next on it's way to me hopefully in the next couple of months...

https://www.specnext.com/about/

Not perfect emulation plus old games look terrible on modern TV's, need to be played on an old CRT although the Mini can't be used on one without converters which can introduce their own issues with lag etc if you buy cheap

Between me and my brother we've owned most of the old consoles e.g. Commodore 64, NES, Master System, Atari Lynx, Game Boy, Mega Drive, Playstation 1 / 2, Dreamcast, Xbox and Gamecube. I stopped buying games after the Gamecube as that was around the time I started getting into mountain biking and met my future wife who isn't in to games at all.

I sold all my original consoles and games around 2012 and got a small fortune for some of the stuff. I wish I had hung on a few more years though as there is such a big retro gaming revival now I could have sold them for even more. I'd love to buy one of those full size multi-game arcade cabinets some day. So many happy memories of playing on the arcades in the 80s.

Aye, same experience, retro gaming is alright, for about 10 minutes.

The thing I like most about retro gaming is you can pick up a game and learn how to play it in about 5 seconds, plus they actually need real skill whereas modern games require the investment of a huge number of hours and are more about grinding your way through a storyline.

I found my original 1997 Playstation,  a 2000-ish PS2  and my PS3 over the weekend.

Spent a couple of hours last night playing Driver on PS1 and Batman Arkham Origins on PS3.

It was nice.

The thing I like most about retro gaming is you can pick up a game and learn how to play it in about 5 seconds, plus they actually need real skill whereas modern games require the investment of a huge number of hours and are more about grinding your way through a storyline.

This! And also balls to DLC, big fat hairy ones.

If I want a story I'll watch a film or read a book, if I want to play a game I want instant gratification and my arse handed to me on a plate by the first boss.

Still have my Dreamcast and N64. Also have one of the modern SNES mini's.

Goldeneye remains the one game to rule them all (or Mario Kart).

Shenmue on Dreamcast is still a beautiful thing.

Retropie user here. Spent many hours installing/getting games to work, ArcadePunks helped reduce that down ;-). Playing anything from ZX Spectrum to PS1/PC Quake/Doom/DOS games. It comes out a couple of times a year for an evening or two, TNMNT MAME version is still the go to game, along with THPS1/2 on the PS1.

A little. I've got Mame running on a laptop, but went a bit further last year and built a bar top arcade machine, using an i5 computer. Dropped in a front end for Mame.

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I saw a few 'professional' bar top machines at a retro gaming event, but the prices were incredible, so I pondered about it, and decided last Christmas to build one up. I already had the mini PC (about £100 from re-cycling company), so set about getting the biggest 4:3 screen I could find within reason, which is 20" - and cost about £25 delivered. Buttons were around £50, then wood and vinyl wrap. Took quite a number of weekends, without rushing as this was supposed to be fun. Speakers are some stand alone Logitechs mounted in the top, custom cut perspex with the 'Arcade' sign back lit with USB powered colour changing LEDs.

The main emulator is Mame, but also have a Spectrum, Megadrive and a SNES emulator.

kayla1

This! And also balls to DLC, big fat hairy ones.

I think dlc is great.

Looks awesome 😀

after Discworld/sam and max/monkey islands on android but dont know where to look, any suggestions?

We have a NES Mini, SNES Mini, and a Megadrive Mini that we all use regularly.  We also have a RetroPie and MacBook that both run emulation and a variety of ROMS.

We have a few original consoles too - that we use to run the original discs/cartridges.  Master System, Megadrive/32x and Dreamcast from Sega.  NES, SNES, N64 and GameCube from Nintendo. We also have more modern 21st Century stuff like Wii and XBOX 360, on top of the current consoles - Switch and PS4.

I’m probably a bit odd that I prefer the retro stuff to the modern games. Easy to play for short periods, not too expansive in size, really ingenious secrets etc. All served up with a huge order of nostalgia too!  I don’t believe there have been games that surpass the brilliance of Super Mario 3, Ocarina of Time, Wonderboy 3 etc.

I wouldn’t have half of them without my boys loving them though!

I think dlc is great.

Well, yeah, some of it can be I suppose, like a whole new level or whatever, but when it's just a car or something or you have to buy a track to finish a section (I'm looking at you, Dirt 3) it's a bit bobbins.

DLC (amongst other things) has removed the artistry from games. It's all about maximising revenue, keeping people salivating like dogs waiting to be tossed scraps of new - yet not original or innovative - content.

edit- and New Zealand Story on Megadrive

How would I get to play NZS (Amiga version of possible).

I have a spare A500 I can sell you 😃

Depends on yer view point, and I guess the games, likes of battlefield v only sell you the cosmetic stuff, meh to that, but some point like it, the maps they've been releasing are free, and awesome, plenty of creativity in there, gt sport new tracks are free, need to buy some cars mind you if you aren't building up enough points. cod mw is the same just selling you the cosmetic stuff.

dirt 2.0, want ye to buy the seasons, but they are very good, and just wait 6 months to a year and you get everything for buttons. cost me £25 for dirt 2 + s1-4.

I guess it's more of a pain if you need to buy stuff when it immediately comes out mind you, but you really don't need to wait long for prices to drop.

I like the idea of just charging you for the cosemtic stuff..But overall my experience of dlc is great, keeps the games fresh, imo.

Canny agree with the idea that the games industry is lacking originality, artistry or innovation, I've no long just bought a ps4, last year, barely played anything since the ps3 days around 2012/13, the jump since then is awesome.

after Discworld/sam and max/monkey islands on android but dont know where to look, any suggestions?

ScummVM. https://wiki.scummvm.org/index.php/Android/Guide

Also, take a look at Thimbleweed Park - it's a modern game done in 16-bit arcade-adventure style. Oh, and Kathy Rain, I completed that recently and enjoyed it a lot.

How would I get to play NZS (Amiga version of possible).

WinUAE.

WinUAE

Sweet.

I have a spare A500 I can sell you

I *did* always want an A500! Coincided with getting a Raleigh Lizard for my birthday, though...

I'm a big fan of retro gaming. I've tried various little projects over the years my favourite one was probably converting a PSP into a portable SNES emulator.

I've got a mini SNES (hacked) hooked up in the living room and a lot of the new games I play have a retro feel, the recent trend of "metroidvania" games has been great, Dead Cells and Hollow Knight are both fantastic and really feel like they could have been SNES games.

But I still enjoy new games. Retro games are different, not better. What matters is whether they are any good or not, not how old they are. There was lots of absolutely unplayable dross back in the day. I'd even argue that the good to bad ratio is a lot better these days.

But I still enjoy new games. Retro games are different, not better. What matters is whether they are any good or not, not how old they are. There was lots of absolutely unplayable dross back in the day. I’d even argue that the good to bad ratio is a lot better these days.

There’s a lot in that. Seeing retro as ‘better’ is clouding the fact that great games are great games. The thing is that you cherry pick games you knew you loved and that you will still enjoy.

I have to also agree that a return of ’Metroidvania’ games is brilliant. I have found several of them in the Switch store - and they can be superb.

There are a whole load of crap games on my Mame bar top, but I just downloaded a huge repository as it didn't take much space. I just use a front end for my favourites.

They are just easy to pick up for 30 minutes or so.

Found a decent Speccy Elite clone for Android (cunningly titled Alite) that I'm really enjoying - if I can find similar for Stunt Car Racer, I may never leave home again. 🙂

Got one of these for the family at Christmas. Amazingly well done and loving it. Full size working keyboard and basic mode so you can properly program it, just like back in 1984. Part of my childhood, but now with all the games and instant loading.

https://retrogames.biz/thec64

Also got a retro arcade compendium for the Xbox 360 with gauntlet, joust and defender, etc. Perfect arcade clones and great games.

Ready Player One.

if I can find similar for Stunt Car Racer, I may never leave home again.

Oh, I loved Stunt Car Racer. More usually known by its Spoonerism in my circles though.

Ready Player One

If anyone enjoying this thread hasn't read 'Ready Player One' by Ernest Cline, you really should 🙂

Chris Brookmyre's "Bedlam" is in a similar vein too, I enjoyed that.

I've spent a lot of time on the internet recently..

https://www.reddit.com/r/Damnthatsinteresting/comments/ep9efw/the_original_voice_of_ea_sports_classic_intro/

Bought my game mad 12 year old a pi with retropie for Christmas (well really for me to relive my youth). He is enjoying it but I cannot phantom how to play the zx spectrum games. They need the keyboard but I cannot configure it. I tried googling but it looked behind my capabilities so we just play the other games now.

if anyone has a simple step by step of how to configure retropie to play the spectrum games That would be great. I am desperate to play jet set willy but need the keyboard to enter the color code and play it.

We need Atari XL recruits over here...

https://atariage.com/forums/forum/60-8-bit-high-score-club/

Its round one and its JOUST 🙂

Waiting for a pi that plays n64 etc smoothly.

Currently:

Got a switch for son. I play the free nes and snes emulators that are included. Awesome.

Got a megadrive and a everdrive cart. Great fun.

Did have a dreamcast with a sd card reader but sold that.

Still have an og ps3 that plays ps1, ps2 games.

Still have a ps1 and ps3! Ps1 is chipped and plays any burnt games.

Just want more sega and more n64.

If I buy a mini megadrive classic you can mod to play megadrive and mega CD.

A mini ps1 can be modded to play more ps1 games.

A great buy is an old Wii. They can be soft modded in less than half an hour and play spectrum, c64, megadrive, master system, nes, snes via emulators. Got one for free and its awesome

My claim to fame is that I am in the O’Reilly Retro Gaming Hacks book because of this project I did many years ago

https://www.phased.co.uk/xmame/

Great thread. I was brought up with my dad heavily into playing with his C64 - had twin disk drives and always ranted on about GEOS (Graphic Environment Operating System). At the time I wasn't bothered about that and just wanted to play games.

Progressed onto Amiga (bought one with my first ever pay check) and then in Playstations. Never bothered with other consoles so all my retro nostalgia orientates around the above.

I'd love to get into retro emulation and have a few toys to do so but every time it turns into a faff with things not working or need loads of configuring so I give up.

Must give it another go - what's considered the best nowadays for things like the above?
I have a raspberry pi (latest one), old PS3 soft modded for emulation and spare i5 old laptop.

Arcade Club now in Leeds (as well as Bury) for anyone that didn't know. Fill your Moon Boots.

I was playing Stunt Car Racer last night as it happens. Someone has converted the ST version to the Jaguar and it runs smoother.

I’ve spent a lot of time on the internet recently..

So have I, but that is comfortably the most awesome thing I've seen this year. Thanks for linking.

I’d love to get into retro emulation and have a few toys to do so but every time it turns into a faff with things not working or need loads of configuring so I give up.

Must give it another go – what’s considered the best nowadays for things like the above?
I have a raspberry pi (latest one), old PS3 soft modded for emulation and spare i5 old laptop.

I bought a cheap-ish (about £150) reconditioned PC off ebay a while ago (graphics card, decent processor and 8GB RAM) which is fast enough to run Sega Dreamcast and Saturn games through Retroarch which is dead easy to set up (it's pretty much plug and play now- I'd certainly struggle to get going if it was any more involved than just downloading stuff!). The 8-year old laptop I'm typing on now will happily run PS1 games and will just about wheeze it's way through Dreamcast games if it absolutely must but has a nervous breakdown if I ask it to run Saturn games.

My parents still have my thirty year old Amiga 500 in their loft.

Apparently, you can buy accelerator cards for it - here which will endow your 7.14mhz Amiga with USB, 128Mb of RAM, an IDE controller, 32 bit graphics and CPU performance way beyond anything envisaged with the 680x0 line of processors.

It's very cool but TBH WinUAE is more than enough for me.

Also just ordered one of these as recommended by B3ta newsletter –

https://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B07LBG2D5Y/b3ta-21?th=1

looks like fun…

It is fun 🙂 Nowhere near 400 games as there are a lot of repeats, but definitely worth a £17 punt. Was playing Paperboy last night, as well as the original Bomberman.

I also didn't know the Switch had an emulator. Definitely on my birthday list now...

Also just ordered one of these as recommended by B3ta newsletter –
> https://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B07LBG2D5Y/b3ta-21?th=1 < looks like fun…

Apparently, you can buy accelerator cards for it – here which will endow your 7.14mhz Amiga with USB, 128Mb of RAM, an IDE controller, 32 bit graphics and CPU performance way beyond anything envisaged with the 680×0 line of processors.

I am desperate to play jet set willy

Prepare to be disappointed. Most 8 bit stuff is really just shite, bad graphics and nostalgia. For every Super Mario Bros there are about 100 inferior versions that had bad controls and buggy gameplay. Colour clash isn't worth celebrating either!

Jet Set Willy 2019

https://atariage.com/forums/topic/296869-new-game-released-jet-set-willy-2019/

I have an A1200 with an original Blizzard accelerator which bumps the CPU up to an incredible 40 MHz IIRC but also adds an FPU which was very rare at the time for a home computer.

Once upon a time, I had an A1200 with an '040 and whatnot, built into a Power Tower and with a PCI breakout board. As bragging rights went it was up there, but constantly swapping monitors and working around compatibility issues was a PITA, hence WinUAE. Am genuinely impressed that someone has gone to the trouble of designing and building a board that gives a thirty-three year old A500 AGA compatibility and CPU capacity beyond the wildest dreams of the machine's designers though. I had no idea that there was still a market for it.

There was a bit of skill and timing with 8 bit games, and pixel sharp button presses. My kids, despite playing things that look virtually real, really think these games are really hard. No save progress....

Thing is, they are easy to pick up and put down. Shouting kids now for tea, in the middle of a GT race, or battle..... "I'll be kicked off the servers if I don't finish".

I am desperate to play jet set willy

Easiest way to get a JSW fix (aside from many, many Speccy emulators), a chap by the name of Andy Noble did a sterling PC conversion a few years back. He did Manic Miner also.

Jet Set Willy 2019

On an Atari! Burn the heretic!

Looks like a decent conversion to be fair, that's pretty impressive.

My kids... really think these games are really hard.

Thing is, they're not wrong.

In 8-bit days, many games had to be hard because the severe resource restrictions meant they couldn't always make them particularly lengthy. Granted, as time went one games got more ambitious as programming skills improved.

Eg, I've played Manic Miner till my fingers bled, it's my go-to game when I get a new emulator or platform (like getting it running on a tablet). I can do the first few levels in my sleep and I've completed it with infinite lives, but to this day I cannot complete it in one bounce. Either Solar Power Generator or Skylab Landing is almost certain to do for me, bastard hard rooms both.

Sega Mega Drive classics, now on sale at Humble Bundle/Steam. 50 games for £8.50. Looks like some good stuff.
https://www.humblebundle.com/store/sega-mega-drive-and-genesis-classics

I have the NES, SNES and Mega Drive Classic consoles.
More retro loveliness than I'll ever need, tbh.

I can't be arsed with emulation and the mini consoles function and look great under the TV in the spare room.

Sometimes I wish I'd kept my original Gameboy, SNES,N64 and Dreamcast but they live on with my niece and her husband who have a couple of rooms dedicated to retro consoles.

Don't miss the PS1, still have a PS2, PS3, Gameboy Advance, DS, Gamecube and Wii.

Massive Nintendo and Shigsy fanboy, tbh.

I loved the Dreamcast, absolutely superb underrated roster of games that kept me enthralled for years (Jet Set Radio, Metropolis Street Racer, Crazy Taxi, Shenmue, Ferrari 355, Daytona etc etc), but....

.....for innovation and gameplay, for the sheer joy of it all, it has to be Nintendo for me.

It's true, 8 bit games were

really

bloody difficult. Screen resolutions of 256x192 meant that you had to be pixel perfect with your (digital!) inputs. Don't forget that arcade coin-op games were intentionally difficult so that you had to keep feeding them with 10 pence pieces, so a faithful conversion to a home computer resulted in a very difficult game.

It’s true, 8 bit games were

really
bloody difficult.