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Ambitious Spider
Feb 13, 2012



Lipstick Apathy
anybody have any experience with this thing:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06WP5MP12/ref=nav_timeline_asin?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

I thought I read about on here a few pages back, but maybe not. I can't find it again, and I'm not sure where I heard about it if not here.

Anyway, I've got a pvm, and a giant sony crt, but they're not going to last forever, honestly, I'm probably moving in the near future and don't feel like lugging them with me. Well, maybe the pvm is worth lugging, but only my toploader famicom is rgb. everything else is svideo.

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Karasu Tengu
Feb 16, 2011

Humble Tengu Newspaper Reporter

Veotax posted:

Boo. How hard would something like that be to install if I haven't soldered in like 15 years?

If you have a model 1 Mega Drive it's possibly the easiest mod in the world to actually do.

anothergod
Apr 11, 2016

Two of my wired 360 controllers broke, and I'm looking for replacements. Amazon has them for $35 which is crazy because I'm pretty sure I was buying them for $25 before. I'm guessing retro gaming knows a thing or two about getting cheap/good PC controllers?

falz
Jan 29, 2005

01100110 01100001 01101100 01111010
Anyone know if this trickles down to Master System mode? I would guess yes.

widespread
Aug 5, 2013

I believe I am now no longer in the presence of nice people.


Dave Angel posted:

Yep, there's a tool called Hakchi2 that lets you load your own roms onto it. Was previously made for the NES Classic, the SNES Classic version has had a couple of release candidates appearing in the last day or two.

Well this upped the value of one of them for me.

But then again, I'm wagering it's gonna require some mechanical knowhow.

fishmech
Jul 16, 2006

by VideoGames
Salad Prong

anothergod posted:

Two of my wired 360 controllers broke, and I'm looking for replacements. Amazon has them for $35 which is crazy because I'm pretty sure I was buying them for $25 before. I'm guessing retro gaming knows a thing or two about getting cheap/good PC controllers?

Are you looking for a controller to use on the PC? Buy Xbox One controllers and simply use standard Micro USB cables to connect them to your PC, it's basically like having a wired 360 controller with a functional d-pad.

TVs Ian
Jun 1, 2000

Such graceful, delicate creatures.

widespread posted:

Well this upped the value of one of them for me.

But then again, I'm wagering it's gonna require some mechanical knowhow.

Not really, it's all pretty self-explanatory, and there are tutorials for anything weird. Sometimes the Retroarch-based emulators can be a little fiddly, but there are people tweaking them specifically for the Classics.

Karasu Tengu
Feb 16, 2011

Humble Tengu Newspaper Reporter

falz posted:

Anyone know if this trickles down to Master System mode? I would guess yes.

The Master System's region protection was cart shape and bios, so it should probably work.

Beve Stuscemi
Jun 6, 2001




Yeah in this day and age don't buy new 360 controllers for any purpose aside from using them on a real 360

Xbone and PS4 controllers are much better.

FilthyImp
Sep 30, 2002

Anime Deviant

widespread posted:

But then again, I'm wagering it's gonna require some mechanical knowhow.
The tool is really easy to use and dumps a copy of what was on the mini originally (in case you want to revert).

If you can download a program and hook a usb into your PC/Mini, you can get it working. The hard part there is finding the roms you want, the correct Box Art and date of release.

If you want the mini to play NES and GameBoy and Genesis games then yeah that gets more intricate.

widespread
Aug 5, 2013

I believe I am now no longer in the presence of nice people.


FilthyImp posted:

The tool is really easy to use and dumps a copy of what was on the mini originally (in case you want to revert).

If you can download a program and hook a usb into your PC/Mini, you can get it working. The hard part there is finding the roms you want, the correct Box Art and date of release.

If you want the mini to play NES and GameBoy and Genesis games then yeah that gets more intricate.

Like how much more work to be exact? Or is it better to track down one of them weird Genesis things rhymes released a few years back if I were to do that.

Also yeah I'll prob grab a mini then or something.

Karasu Tengu
Feb 16, 2011

Humble Tengu Newspaper Reporter
Never buy a Genesis clone console.

FilthyImp
Sep 30, 2002

Anime Deviant
It's not too bad to just add more roms. Like I said it's mostly some data entry for the dates and finding the cover art image you want.

Adding NES support means fiddling with Retroarch cores. It's pretty well documented as far as I know.

I dont think the thing supports actual Genesis games but gently caress me cuz stranger things have happened.

Elliotw2 posted:

Never buy a Genesis clone console.
Yeah those things are a step below the Atari all in one joystick systems. Just get the emulated released off of Steam.

TVs Ian
Jun 1, 2000

Such graceful, delicate creatures.

FilthyImp posted:

I dont think the thing supports actual Genesis games but gently caress me cuz stranger things have happened.

I ran Genesis games on the NES Classic, so it should be fine.

It basically supports all the stuff that Retroarch on other platforms supports, but N64 is especially flaky and CD-based systems don't really have room for games unless they're super compressed.

But Genesis, MAME (older versions, anyway), Game Boy/GBC, etc. all work fine. They just may need updating for the SNES classic.

The 200-ish megabyte limit is the real problem with it.

Veotax
May 16, 2006



Huh, I do indeed.

I'll keep this in mind, thanks.

univbee
Jun 3, 2004





Now this video is just fun.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wNIAnmzgk8

SCheeseman
Apr 23, 2003

Elliotw2 posted:

Never buy a Genesis clone console.

There's a few Genesis SoCs that aren't too terrible, but all the commercially available emulated genesis clones seems to suck real bad.

repiv
Aug 13, 2009

univbee posted:

Now this video is just fun.

I remember reading on TCRF about a game that detected switches like that. If you booted it in the wrong region it would show an error, but then if you changed to the correct region on the fly it would acknowledge that with a message like "this systems region has mysteriously changed" and then run normally.

Anyone know which game that is? I can't find it now 🤔

univbee
Jun 3, 2004




A Mickey Mouse game I'm pretty sure. Castle of Illusion maybe?

The Kins
Oct 2, 2004

repiv posted:

I remember reading on TCRF about a game that detected switches like that. If you booted it in the wrong region it would show an error, but then if you changed to the correct region on the fly it would acknowledge that with a message like "this systems region has mysteriously changed" and then run normally.

Anyone know which game that is? I can't find it now 🤔
Mickey Mania.

repiv
Aug 13, 2009

That's the one. Traveller's Tales were really thinking ahead :v:

kirbysuperstar
Nov 11, 2012

Let the fools who stand before us be destroyed by the power you and I possess.
Speaking of Traveller's Tales, the founder has started up a Youtube channel where he shows off some old prototypes that he's found kicking around (and occasionally supplies the ROMs for, like an early proto of Puggsy) and talks about how they pulled off some of the wild poo poo they managed, especially on the Mega Drive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lHDsXMwBwk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBEA9KmPw1I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEl508T02qY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEBDwP9DRds

Zaphod42
Sep 13, 2012

If there's anything more important than my ego around, I want it caught and shot now.

The Kins posted:

Mickey Mania.



This loving rules lmao

Random Stranger
Nov 27, 2009



repiv posted:

That's the one. Traveller's Tales were really thinking ahead :v:

That's definitely a cute debug message because people were leaving test systems in the wrong state. It's just kind of funny that it managed to get through where people could see it.

mycophobia
May 7, 2008

The Kins posted:

Mickey Mania.



cool

anothergod
Apr 11, 2016

Jim Silly-Balls posted:

Yeah in this day and age don't buy new 360 controllers for any purpose aside from using them on a real 360

Xbone and PS4 controllers are much better.

I totally agree (and I have more than I can count of those guys). But those are cost prohibitive, and the people who are going to play these controllers tend to bend/break micro USB connections. I might end up ponying up for a XB1 wireless receiver and two (six?) more XB1 controllers, buuuut.... that's like 2x the price of what I initially paid for the XB1 controllers.

fishmech
Jul 16, 2006

by VideoGames
Salad Prong

anothergod posted:

I totally agree (and I have more than I can count of those guys). But those are cost prohibitive, and the people who are going to play these controllers tend to bend/break micro USB connections. I might end up ponying up for a XB1 wireless receiver and two (six?) more XB1 controllers, buuuut.... that's like 2x the price of what I initially paid for the XB1 controllers.

Micro USB cables are dirt cheap, buy a pack of like 20 and you'll be good for a while for like $15.

Karasu Tengu
Feb 16, 2011

Humble Tengu Newspaper Reporter

anothergod posted:

I totally agree (and I have more than I can count of those guys). But those are cost prohibitive, and the people who are going to play these controllers tend to bend/break micro USB connections. I might end up ponying up for a XB1 wireless receiver and two (six?) more XB1 controllers, buuuut.... that's like 2x the price of what I initially paid for the XB1 controllers.

If they're new enough and you have Windows 10 you can connect 1 or 2 via bluetooth.

Zaphod42
Sep 13, 2012

If there's anything more important than my ego around, I want it caught and shot now.

anothergod posted:

I totally agree (and I have more than I can count of those guys). But those are cost prohibitive, and the people who are going to play these controllers tend to bend/break micro USB connections. I might end up ponying up for a XB1 wireless receiver and two (six?) more XB1 controllers, buuuut.... that's like 2x the price of what I initially paid for the XB1 controllers.

Yeah the physical connectors on the Xbone controller are weak as poo poo, (lots of electronics designers make the same mistake to be fair) MicroUSB must be reinforced or you WILL destroy the chip just by plugging and unplugging it naturally. They're poo poo designs.

fishmech posted:

Micro USB cables are dirt cheap, buy a pack of like 20 and you'll be good for a while for like $15.

Having 20 cables does gently caress-all when the port is broken.

Elliotw2 posted:

If they're new enough and you have Windows 10 you can connect 1 or 2 via bluetooth.

Or just buy the wireless USB dongle.

fishmech
Jul 16, 2006

by VideoGames
Salad Prong

Zaphod42 posted:

Having 20 cables does gently caress-all when the port is broken.


That's something to care about in like 9 years when that actually happens. In the meantime some tweezers to bend the shield metal back in the place usually does the trick.

Karasu Tengu
Feb 16, 2011

Humble Tengu Newspaper Reporter
Also the design of MicroUSB is considerably more solid on the port end than the connector end, in a nice change from MiniUSB

GutBomb
Jun 15, 2005

Dude?

Zaphod42 posted:

Or just buy the wireless USB dongle.

Unless some progress has been made the wireless dongle only works in Windows (the protocol is encrypted so you have to use ms software) and a lot of retro emulation is done on Linux like retropie and stuff. Just something to keep in mind.

Only Shallow
Nov 12, 2005

show

Elliotw2 posted:

Also the design of MicroUSB is considerably more solid on the port end than the connector end, in a nice change from MiniUSB

I've always thought it was the other way around. Micro USB ports have broken for me on a few devices, but never a Mini.

That's my favorite difference about the prototype Dual Shock 4 over the final design.

Queen_Combat
Jan 15, 2011
It's Diddy's Kong Quest not Diddy Kong's Quest :cripes:

fishmech
Jul 16, 2006

by VideoGames
Salad Prong

Only Shallow posted:

I've always thought it was the other way around. Micro USB ports have broken for me on a few devices, but never a Mini.

That's my favorite difference about the prototype Dual Shock 4 over the final design.



Mini USB was designed in the late 90s with the assumption devices you'd connect would be cheap (think, wireless keyboards and mice that need occasional charging, drive enclosures where the expensive hard drive could go in something else), the cable expensive, and you wouldn't need to do too many plug/unplug cycles. So it's designed that the port should fail first and in all the whole thing need only be able to handle 500-1000 cycles.

Micro USB gets developed in the mid 2000s with benefit of hindsight. All sorts of expensive devices are using USB for primary or sole charging/sync method now. And it's very difficult and expensive to replace ports in things like high end cameras, smartphones, even regular dumbphones, and all these things are getting much more plug/unplug cycles. So they design things off a robust port/cheap cable method so that you're much more likely to break a 5 dollar cable than the plug in your 500 dollar device. It's also designed to handle being plugged up to like 10,000 times, and so on.

USB-C of course takes the lessons learned from both to make a reversible design that's even more durable and can handle more cycles, but it's nowhere near as widespread yet. It's also finally designed to be used for devices that have stuck with the plain USB device huge plug for years like your printer or whatever. Maybe a true next generation of consoles will use USB-C for controllers and poo poo. It's already catching on in phones.

Of course, device builders can choose to reinforce a Mini USB port better than specs and really cheap out on Micro USB ports, and leave you with stuff that never breaks on mini and stuff that does constantly on micro.

Side note: Original Xbox controller ports are full fledged USB 1.1 ports and the Memory Cards for it are USB flash drives using normal mass storage like any flash drive on your computer does. There's just special port connectors slapped on both things for robustness and so people would buy the MS stuff.

DoctorWhat
Nov 18, 2011

A little privacy, please?
The Switch uses USB-C for charging and connecting its Pro Controllers.

Pretty good
Apr 16, 2007



Only Shallow posted:

I've always thought it was the other way around. Micro USB ports have broken for me on a few devices, but never a Mini.

That's my favorite difference about the prototype Dual Shock 4 over the final design.


Thanks for the comparison photo, I think this might actually be the best one of its kind full stop :v: Seriously, I haven't had much luck finding detailed shots of the DS4 proto.

Triggers certainly got a lot better by the time they finalised the design, I can't imagine playing PS4 games with squishy PS3 style L2/R2 buttons.

Dr. Spitesworth
Dec 31, 2007
Yoink.

DoctorWhat posted:

The Switch uses USB-C for charging and connecting its Pro Controllers.

Yep. Being able to charge my Switch and MacBook with the same charging cable has slightly reduced my travel tech burden, which is a pleasant reversal of the usual trend.

Ofecks
May 4, 2009

A portly feline wizard waddles forth, muttering something about conjured food.

I am likely going to buy an Xbone pad on Tuesday. They are expensive ($60 for the wired version [which is just the wireless version + USB cable, from what I understand]) but I really can't stand the clickety-clack-clack loud-rear end face buttons on my Logitech. The circular d-pad sure is nice for being able to tap diagonals, though. Saved my rear end a couple times in MD Zero Wing (squeezing through slanted gaps).

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Zaphod42
Sep 13, 2012

If there's anything more important than my ego around, I want it caught and shot now.

fishmech posted:

That's something to care about in like 9 years when that actually happens. In the meantime some tweezers to bend the shield metal back in the place usually does the trick.

9 years? already happened to me on 2 devices. I'm using PS4 controllers now because xbone ports break way to easy.

Even before they break they get loose and they'll disconnect and re-connect mid-game which fucks up Windows big time.

GutBomb posted:

Unless some progress has been made the wireless dongle only works in Windows (the protocol is encrypted so you have to use ms software) and a lot of retro emulation is done on Linux like retropie and stuff. Just something to keep in mind.

Ah yeah that sucks. All the more reason to use PS4 controllers instead.

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