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Folks here may be interested in following this project: https://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=52172 It's taking a cheap $20 cga/vga scaler (gbs8200/gbs8220/newer HDMI version) and tacking on a rpi/Arduino to directly control the underlying Trueview 5725 scaler chip via i2c bus. It has fixes to some PAL bugs, allegedly scales better in a more pixel perfect way, reduces original 36ms latency in half (around where xrgb mini is) and a few other things. The thread itsself has been around for like 3 years but just this week the now currently active Dev/hacker released some code To make it all work automatically with an Arduino attached instead of having to muck w controls manually via a rpi. https://github.com/ramapcsx2/gbs-control I have the scaler already but not an Arduino but intend to get one to test. Seems like a decent $40 total alternative to the things that cost 10x that.
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Nov 19, 2017 22:13
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I just installed an NESRGB this week and the hardest part was removing the PPU. It took about 40 minutes but I was being really careful having never removed a chip from anything but a socket before. Everything else was pretty simple. I have one question though. I installed the palette switch and configured it for natural, garish, and improved. It says natural is the same as the default palette for the NES but later in the instructions it says the natural palette comes from an emulator. Is there any reason why it needs an external palette while the unmodded NES can just use the built in one which I assume is in the PPU, and since the PPU is still in use with the NESRGB board I just don't understand it.
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Nov 20, 2017 02:45
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The colors on the NES aren't generated digitally, so you have to use an emulator sourced palette of some fashion.
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Nov 20, 2017 02:47
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GutBomb posted:I just installed an NESRGB this week and the hardest part was removing the PPU. It took about 40 minutes but I was being really careful having never removed a chip from anything but a socket before. Everything else was pretty simple. I have one question though. I installed the palette switch and configured it for natural, garish, and improved. It says natural is the same as the default palette for the NES but later in the instructions it says the natural palette comes from an emulator. Is there any reason why it needs an external palette while the unmodded NES can just use the built in one which I assume is in the PPU, and since the PPU is still in use with the NESRGB board I just don't understand it. what did you use to remove the ppu? wick, solder sucker, a desoldering gun?
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Nov 20, 2017 02:49
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I would blow Dane Cook posted:what did you use to remove the ppu? wick, solder sucker, a desoldering gun? A 40w temperature adjustable soldering iron and a cheap solder sucker. I held the board up vertically with a quad-hands and heated up each pin on the top side of the board and sucked the solder off the pins on the bottom side. I didn't have much trouble with the pins in the middle that are supposed to be difficult. Figuring out the technique is what took the bulk of the time. After I got the first one the rest were easy. The button on the top of the plunger on the solder sucker kept flying off when I'd trigger it. I need a better one. GutBomb fucked around with this message at 03:07 on Nov 20, 2017 |
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Nov 20, 2017 02:56
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GutBomb posted:I just installed an NESRGB this week and the hardest part was removing the PPU. It took about 40 minutes but I was being really careful having never removed a chip from anything but a socket before. Everything else was pretty simple. I have one question though. I installed the palette switch and configured it for natural, garish, and improved. It says natural is the same as the default palette for the NES but later in the instructions it says the natural palette comes from an emulator. Is there any reason why it needs an external palette while the unmodded NES can just use the built in one which I assume is in the PPU, and since the PPU is still in use with the NESRGB board I just don't understand it. The NES literally does not think in RGB digital colors - it's built for composite analogue video and the resultant color output is determined in large part by the monitor it's hooked up to. The PPU can jump that gap but you still have to create defined RGB values for the ~86 colors the NES supports.
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Nov 20, 2017 03:52
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DoctorWhat posted:The NES literally does not think in RGB digital colors - it's built for composite analogue video and the resultant color output is determined in large part by the monitor it's hooked up to. The PPU can jump that gap but you still have to create defined RGB values for the ~86 colors the NES supports. That makes sense. Also explains why it needs a board more than a simple amplifier/buffer like most consoles that require modding for RGB.
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Nov 20, 2017 03:58
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DoctorWhat posted:The NES literally does not think in RGB digital colors - it's built for composite analogue video and the resultant color output is determined in large part by the monitor it's hooked up to. The PPU can jump that gap but you still have to create defined RGB values for the ~86 colors the NES supports. this is pretty much why I'm never going to RGB mod an NES, composite looks "right" on a good CRT and it's really not bad at all. if I was hooking to an HDTV though yeah, would have to mod it
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Nov 20, 2017 04:00
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There is no such thing as an RGB NES, except for the Famicom Titler, which is what I use to subtitle my anime.
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Nov 20, 2017 04:07
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https://twitter.com/MyLifeInGaming/status/930633070381797381
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Nov 20, 2017 06:36
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HKR posted:Projects I'm starting to eye are RGB mods for the rest of my consoles. I'm a bit overwhelmed by a lot of the GC options. Any suggestions on the best GCVideo mod to output analog RGB on a US system (with digital video port)? I saw this but the site doesn't have any instructions on it for installation and I'd like to review those before purchasing. Gamecubes to this day still seem to be a pain in the rear end. European GC's have native RGB output (via the standard nintendo video port) and can be region modded, which may end up being easier than hacking RGB onto a US unit, but I don't think those units are equipped for 480p. The installation guide is obscured on the site for some reason, it's here: http://www.badassconsoles.com/product_images/manuals/GCVideo-InstallationGuide-BadAssConsoles.pdf Also this dude made a video for the HDMI version that desolders the digital port, but it may provide a decent frame of reference as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Hw_XQdugI4
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Nov 20, 2017 07:02
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Seems like it would be much much easier to use a hacked Wii U
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Nov 20, 2017 07:04
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I'll just jump in to the conversation and say that I finally got a chance to sit down and start Albert Odyssey on the Saturn. I have heard good things about this game and have been meaning to play it for the last year or so. I have a pretty long backlog of games, so after finishing Red Dead Redemption I chose my next game at random and AO was the winner. This game is loving boring. I wasn't as familiar with the game as I could have been because I like to go into any new media with a clean slate and open mind, and that strategy has generally worked well- but this time it bit me. The 16-bit legacy of this game shows, but that's not an excuse. Even if this game had been released on the SNES this would have been a forgettable RPG, but its release on the Saturn seems to have simultaneously over-inflated its reputation, while exposing its elementary gameplay and story. The Saturn in North America was so deprived of games that anything was better than nothing, on top of that AO is a Working Design game, and you have a recipe that results in AO being regarded well. In reality the story and game mechanics are primitive, even by 1997 standards. I'm not joking when I say that this game could be played with an NES controller, just keep pressing A through the whole game and you win. Battles have little to no strategy, enemies are very weak and straightforward, and magic is boring to cast and usually not worth the cost. Dungeons are short, pretty linear, and exploration is crippled by random battles that sometimes literally occur within two steps of eachother. Working Design said that they re-worked the random battles to be less intrusive, if that's correct then I shudder to think what they must have been like before. The story is (so far) cliche and boring. I can't even really tell you what is happening because you as the player just don't give a poo poo. It feels as though the story was written by a child, not by adults who were paid. I'm not expecting dark complicated stories from all my RPGs, especially early ones, but the story in this game is almost non-existent. I wish I had been older when this game came out and had witnessed its reception in real time, because 20 years later my feeling is that it should have been canceled. A game so boring and primitive would not see a major release today outside of the indy community. It would be like a FPS being released today that didn't make use of both analog sticks, or if it only used the arrow keys for movement, yea it's playable but no one would want to. As it is, Albert Odyssey feels like a game that should have been released on the Game Boy or Game Gear but was shifted over to the Saturn...without any effort to make use of the additional resources of the system. SpitztheGreat fucked around with this message at 08:38 on Nov 20, 2017 |
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Nov 20, 2017 08:34
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Wait Albert Odyssey is highly regarded? I don't think I've ever heard any praise for it, ever. Also it's by Sunsoft who were hacks so it's not surprising it sucks, and Working Designs basically specialized in making good games mediocre and mediocre games terrible
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Nov 20, 2017 09:28
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For those wanting to check any game that was unfortunately tainted by Working Designs and don't mind burning it on CD, please click this link: https://www.romhacking.net/forum/index.php?topic=23436.0 I really like their dub of Popful Mail, though. I guess they kept it.
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Nov 20, 2017 12:48
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Albert Odyssey was seen as mediocre even back in the 1990s. Working Designs improved a few things (the walking speed) and crammed the dialogue with more goofy jokes than usual, but that couldn't help it much. The humor was the only reason I finished it back then. As you noted, the game actually started off as a Super Famicom RPG and moved to the Saturn. It's pricey now due to relative scarcity and the RPG/WD effect, but I recall the general reaction to it being "Why'd they translate THIS instead of going straight to Lunar?"
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Nov 20, 2017 14:12
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When it comes to Gamecube/PS2 era gaming, my sacrilegious opinion is that I feel more than OK with emulating them if only because 3D games can be improved in ways that actually make them far more aesthetically pleasing by upping the internal resolutions and/or applying various hacks that are only possible via something like Dolphin. But with sprite-based systems (NES, SNES) or systems that can't be emulated well (N64), either it only looks/feels "right" or emulating introduces all kinds of unpleasant problems/issues/artifacts (that are much more noticeable than when it happens in their 3D older siblings) that I obviously prefer original hardware.
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Nov 20, 2017 14:19
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Nate RFB posted:When it comes to Gamecube/PS2 era gaming, my sacrilegious opinion is that I feel more than OK with emulating them if only because 3D games can be improved in ways that actually make them far more aesthetically pleasing by upping the internal resolutions and/or applying various hacks that are only possible via something like Dolphin. I can definitely understand that but I think 6th gen consoles over RGB or Component into a nice CRT look amazing. They definitely don't scale very well and interlaced video looks bad on progressive displays but they look great on the displays they were designed for.
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Nov 20, 2017 14:37
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It also sort of comes down to me feeling that sprites are basically timeless, and look "just as good" now as they did when they first came out and it's just a matter of linearly scaling (and RGB modding) to get them to work on modern TVs, whereas 3D gaming gets worse and worse the more generations removed from it and the more upscaling required to get it to display on a modern television. Things like upping the internal resolution is one of the only bandaids to this problem; it's why in all honesty the Virtual Console versions of N64 games look so much better.
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Nov 20, 2017 14:48
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Nate RFB posted:It also sort of comes down to me feeling that sprites are basically timeless, and look "just as good" now as they did when they first came out and it's just a matter of linearly scaling (and RGB modding) to get them to work on modern TVs, whereas 3D gaming gets worse and worse the more generations removed from it and the more upscaling required to get it to display on a modern television. Things like upping the internal resolution is one of the only bandaids to this problem; it's why in all honesty the Virtual Console versions of N64 games look so much better. I'm less sure about that. There's a lot of terrible pixel art from the early eras of video games and also a good number of older 3D games where the presentation holds up. It really comes down to how effectively the art style works within whatever limitations it's given, whether polygon or pixel art.
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Nov 20, 2017 14:56
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Mostly I just remember Albert Odyssey being delayed forever because WD needed a very specific Japanese PC setup to work on it for some reason.
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Nov 20, 2017 15:33
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SpitztheGreat posted:I'll just jump in to the conversation and say that I finally got a chance to sit down and start Albert Odyssey on the Saturn. I have heard good things about this game and have been meaning to play it for the last year or so. I have a pretty long backlog of games, so after finishing Red Dead Redemption I chose my next game at random and AO was the winner. I had Albert Odyssey when it came out because I got a Saturn when I was 12 and I loved RPGs. It really wasn't very good and I don't remember much except there was a dragon man in your party and the encounter rate was horrible
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Nov 20, 2017 15:46
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Looks like those Retro-Bit SNES and NES novelty collection carts are up on Amazon Data East Classics SNES Cart Jaleco Brawlers Pack SNES Cart Joe and Mac Collection SNES Cart Data East Collection NES Cart
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Nov 20, 2017 15:46
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kirbysuperstar posted:Mostly I just remember Albert Odyssey being delayed forever because WD needed a very specific Japanese PC setup to work on it for some reason. Knowing how hard it is to get Japanese PC software to work the way it's meant to, especially in that era, I fully believe this.
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Nov 20, 2017 15:52
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Negrostrike posted:For those wanting to check any game that was unfortunately tainted by Working Designs and don't mind burning it on CD, please click this link: Shame while they were doing this they didn't get the Saturn version of Lunar 1 and 2 working since those are just untranslated.
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Nov 20, 2017 16:53
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I'm playing Elevator Action Returns and it's incredible but I was looking up videos of it and I saw in some of them a thing where if you shoot out lights or power boxes you can cause blackouts? Is that only in the Saturn port, or maybe some specific version of the arcade game?
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Nov 20, 2017 17:03
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I've cleared the arcade version a number of times and that's never happened to me at all, so maybe it is a Saturn thing
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Nov 20, 2017 17:33
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lets hang out posted:I'm playing Elevator Action Returns and it's incredible but I was looking up videos of it and I saw in some of them a thing where if you shoot out lights or power boxes you can cause blackouts? Is that only in the Saturn port, or maybe some specific version of the arcade game? Pretty sure you can do that in the original if you shoot a light.
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Nov 20, 2017 17:50
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SpitztheGreat posted:I'll just jump in to the conversation and say that I finally got a chance to sit down and start Albert Odyssey on the Saturn. I have heard good things about this game and have been meaning to play it for the last year or so. I have a pretty long backlog of games, so after finishing Red Dead Redemption I chose my next game at random and AO was the winner. I'm not sure I've ever heard anything good about Albert Odyssey from someone who's actually played it. It looks decent in screenshots, and it's an anime Saturn RPG translated by Working Designs at their peak, so I think all the collectors—myself included—assumed it was something of Lunar caliber, or at least that there was something there. It's easily their worst Saturn release, if not their worst release altogether. Rollersnake fucked around with this message at 18:07 on Nov 20, 2017 |
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Nov 20, 2017 18:01
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Albert Odyssey ain't good, but I'd say Exile II and Silhouette Mirage are the worst Working Designs releases. Contrary to what some people will tell you, they're the only ones where the gameplay is actively worse than the Japanese version. More Albert Odyssey info: the Saturn RPG is called Albert Odyssey Gaiden in Japan, since it's a spin-off of a Super Famicom strategy series. Here's a look at the canceled SFC Albert Odyssey Gaiden. https://www.unseen64.net/2009/12/09/albert-odyssey-gaiden-snes-cancelled/ And here's how Zach Meston (former game journalist and WD localizer) remembers Albert Odyssey: quote:The first hintline call I ever fielded at WD was from a very obviously drunk woman playing through Albert Odyssey, and having trouble defeating the female boss who was armed with a whip. "She's my favorite boss," Drunk Lady rambled. "She reminds me of me." "And, uh, why is that?" I asked. "Oh, I'm a dominatrix," Drunk Lady replied, and I proceeded to ask her a series of questions about her profession until Victor shooed me off the line.
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Nov 20, 2017 19:44
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Pokemon OH SNAP! posted:Pretty sure you can do that in the original if you shoot a light. Yeah I was thinking they took it out but every description of the game mentions it and there's lots of video showing it. Maybe it's because the rom dump is incomplete.
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Nov 20, 2017 19:47
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My Albert Odyssey experience is limited to seeing a CIB copy at MAGfest for like $120 and balking at the price. Apparently it wasn't inaccurate, though, and it probably goes for much more now.
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Nov 20, 2017 20:02
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Shadow Hog posted:My Albert Odyssey experience is limited to seeing a CIB copy at MAGfest for like $120 and balking at the price. Apparently it wasn't inaccurate, though, and it probably goes for much more now. working designs logo makes a certain kind of retro game fan empty their wallets, who knows why e: lets hang out posted:I'm playing Elevator Action Returns and it's incredible but I was looking up videos of it and I saw in some of them a thing where if you shoot out lights or power boxes you can cause blackouts? Is that only in the Saturn port, or maybe some specific version of the arcade game? yeah thats def in the original arcade game and the saturn port d0s fucked around with this message at 21:10 on Nov 20, 2017 |
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Nov 20, 2017 21:07
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AO got decent reviews at the time but so did a lot of not great RPGs both pre- and post-FF7
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Nov 20, 2017 21:33
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Phantasium posted:Looks like those Retro-Bit SNES and NES novelty collection carts are up on Amazon I'm not really familiar with most of these games, outside of (i think) playing Joe and Mac 1 at a friend's house when I was a kid. Well, and Burgertime and Bad Dudes. Are any of these worth getting? Beyond the novelty of having a brand-new officially licenced SNES or NES multigame cart I mean.
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Nov 20, 2017 23:21
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Pablo Gigante posted:AO got decent reviews at the time but so did a lot of not great RPGs both pre- and post-FF7 I feel like if we got RPG's at the same rate that Japan did, we'd have a lot more realistic view on the quality of them. There's nothing like a flood of raw sewage to make you tell the turds from the gems. Speaking of which, I've started playing the DS port of DQ4 and I'm feeling like I probably should have gone with the actual NES version. Whoever did the translation packed it with people whose dialog is accented more poorly than Chris Claremont characters. And they also apparently didn't know what some of the words they're using for the language swapping emphasis actually mean which just makes it even more confusing to read. The game is also pretty grindy to start with, which is par for the course for the time, naturally. Kelp Plankton posted:I'm not really familiar with most of these games, outside of (i think) playing Joe and Mac 1 at a friend's house when I was a kid. Well, and Bad Dudes. Are any of these worth getting? Beyond the novelty of having a brand-new officially licenced SNES or NES multigame cart I mean. Not really. The Jaleco brawlers might be politely described as "mid-range". The other carts generally have one or two good games on them and then the rest is filler. Magical Drop is good on the Data East SNES cart and Burger Time is good on the NES cart. Magical Drop 2 does go for about $25 online so if you want those games, it's a very slight discount to get that version. Past that? I wouldn't bother. Random Stranger fucked around with this message at 23:25 on Nov 20, 2017 |
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Nov 20, 2017 23:21
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Kelp Plankton posted:I'm not really familiar with most of these games, outside of (i think) playing Joe and Mac 1 at a friend's house when I was a kid. Well, and Burgertime and Bad Dudes. Are any of these worth getting? Beyond the novelty of having a brand-new officially licenced SNES or NES multigame cart I mean. tbh, not really. None of the SNES games have any issue playing on even the cheapest SNES flashcart (which will be on sale on Friday btw for less than all of those combined) and the NES games are really bad (ignoring that most of the SNES games are bad, too). I'm all about the novelty, though.
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Nov 20, 2017 23:25
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Random Stranger posted:Speaking of which, I've started playing the DS port of DQ4 and I'm feeling like I probably should have gone with the actual NES version. Whoever did the translation packed it with people whose dialog is accented more poorly than Chris Claremont characters. And they also apparently didn't know what some of the words they're using for the language swapping emphasis actually mean which just makes it even more confusing to read. The same British company has done localizations for all the DQ games since 8. I've heard lots of complaints similar to yours but I've thoroughly enjoyed all of their work. I found that it helped to quietly mouth out some of the trickier phrases as if I were imitating it and then it made sense. I think in 5 and 6 it's less of an issue, or nonexistant. No BreakThru on that NES cart 
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Nov 20, 2017 23:31
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It's only really an issue in 4DS.
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Nov 20, 2017 23:33
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It’s especially noticeable in DQ4 because you’re switching between different main characters from different areas that have different accents every chapter for a while. I like it but I can understand why it might grate on some people
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Nov 21, 2017 00:19
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