X-pert74

Seems like a cute idea. I don't expect to get much use out of this, but hopefully it delivers on being a modern HDMI-equipped system that can play original cartridges well.

I'm most interested in seeing how that new CX30 paddle controller turns out 🤔 My remaining 2600 paddle controllers are kinda fucked up and falling apart, lol

The video game industry has by and large failed to keep its older games readily available. I really hope libraries are granted the exemptions they need to be able to let people access games in the same way that they can access books/music/etc.

I have a superslim PS3 in my setup. It fits underneath my monitor riser quite nicely :3

I actually have yet to play Death Stranding, myself 😅

I need this game omg. I love Bennett Foddy's work; GIRP is one of my favorite games, and I also have fun with his other stuff too like QWOP and CLOP and Getting Over It (though the latter two I've never beaten). Really looking forward to Baby Steps

Shadows of the Damned is one of the few 360 games that I got 1000/1000 gamerscore in - and that's saying something, since it was annoyingly the kind of game that doesn't have difficulty achievements stack. So, if you beat the game on Normal, you still need to beat it another time on Easy to get the Easy difficulty achievement, etc. lol

At any rate, I really liked the game a bunch. Haven't played it since it was new, but I remember loving how it felt basically like the attitude of No More Heroes, crossed with the gameplay of Resident Evil 4 or Dead Space. Really curious how this remaster will turn out.

Oh my gosh that is amazing - nice find!

Last year I myself stumbled upon a box filled with old magazines and games that I thought had been lost - it's a nice feeling to recover this kind of stuff :3

You might have fun with games that have either a health bar, or a shield power-up that lets you absorb a few hits without dying. I'm not a shmup expert, but I've had fun with stuff like Gate of Thunder or Soldier Blade, and both of them feature a shield power-up that can help you out of tight situations.

And yeah, Galaga and Xevious are neat too. Xevious I find to be very atypical as far as shmups go, though - it's still one of the only games I've played where the enemies feel like they're trying to not die, so they constantly swerve out of your line of fire when approaching. You really have to approach that game differently from other shmups if you want to land hits on anyone.

On 3/14/2023 at 6:49 AM, Mr.Vic20 said:

Woof! That's a looker... on a semi related note, Smurfs was the greatest Colecovision game ever made! God damn I loved it. The death animation alone made it a thing of unrivaled beauty! It was, in a word, Smurfy. 

I liked Smurf: Rescue in Gargamel's Castle when I was a kid... but I revisited it a couple years ago and I don't think it holds up to my memory of it. There are a million other Colecovision games I prefer over it.

I'm currently waiting for a Fenrir ODE to arrive in the mail.

I do own a handful of Saturn games. Probably the one really notable one I have is PowerSlave, which I got like a decade ago. It's more accessible today in the form of PowerSlave Exhumed from Nightdive Studios, but I'm still happy to have this 🥰

On 12/21/2022 at 9:53 AM, ShreddieMercury said:

I currently have an old CRT computer monitor with VGA that I've been using for my Dreamcast, and it looks amazing.  But I also have a couple of other consoles that I'd like to hook up to have a little retro space in my office, and it makes more sense to only have one screen that I can switch the hookups on.  I don't necessarily need the best possible output, I just want something that I can hookup my OG Xbox and DC maybe Wii to that will look better than the 4K TV I have in my living area.  Are there any solid, affordable options for a monitor or TV that I could get a good picture on?  What do you all use for retro games?

You could hook all of these systems up to the same CRT computer monitor that you're using for the Dreamcast.

I have my Xbox and Wii both set up with ElectronShepherd's HDMI adapters -

They're pretty high-quality, and I've been satisfied with them for the games I've tried on each. With my setup, I have them connected to an HDMI splitter that has one output going into a capture card, while the other output goes into an HDMI to VGA converter (Tendak's converters are good-quality) - https://www.amazon.com/Tendak-Converter-Adapter-Portable-Connector/dp/B01B7CEOVK

Then that now-VGA output goes into a passive VGA switcher that I have - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0881TN9WQ/

Make sure that both the Wii and Xbox are set to output games at 480p, and you should be good to go. You could have both the Wii and Xbox output either to the same VGA port (via an HDMI switcher), or just have them output separately to different HDMI-to-VGA adapters, which then connect to different VGA ports on the VGA switch. Then the Dreamcast could occupy its own separate VGA port on the VGA switcher.

There you go - then you could have the Xbox, Dreamcast, and Wii all connected to the same CRT monitor, and be able to easily switch between them without needing to unplug anything.

Does it matter? Not like we'll be getting a new Smash Bros. game or DLC anytime soon. 🥺

Wherever I can, really. Sometimes through ebay or Amazon. Sometimes from local shops IRL. Sometimes through buying them via someone on a message board or Discord server who's selling off stuff. It depends.

I suppose so. Hopefully the wait doesn't take too long 😅

On 11/25/2022 at 12:55 PM, chakoo said:

So update on the system, it powers up but can't read the disc.  When powering it on for the first time there was a strong increase smell of fish which means the caps need to be replaced. So I've ordered a replacement kit that will be here in a few weeks. I did check the PCB and other than cleaning up a little fluid around the power caps I didn't see any damage on the PCB. The system does try to read the disc and is able to move the laser and spin the disc. So hopefully after a recap the system will be working order. 

Oh no I'm sorry to hear that. I have heard the CD systems in particular tend to have high failure rates - hopefully recapping it will improve it.

I'm still pretty disappointed this doesn't have Snatcher D: I got the first Genesis Mini, but don't use it much, especially since I now have a MiSTer. I doubt I'd use the Genesis Mini 2 all that much either.

I'm still wondering what's up with Comcept's Red Ash: The Indelible Legend, and also what happened to High Voltage Software's The Grinder. The former IIRC found a publisher despite the Kickstarter campaign failing. The latter hasn't had any news to my knowledge in over a decade, lmao. Assuming it wasn't silently canceled, I doubt it would be coming out on the Wii at this point in time.

Ys Book I & II are incredible, as is Ys IV: The Dawn of Ys (has an English patch + English fandub available). Also, Gate of Thunder is a really fun shmup with rocking music. mwehe

Twitter is one of the main sites I use, and I link to it multiple times a day, so this will be inconvenient for me. I do agree that Elon Musk is garbage though.

I gave up on the US version of Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse because it was bullshit hard (couldn't get past the sunken ship stage). I recently went back to it, but with a patched Famicom version of the game instead. That ended up being a relatively playable experience, thankfully.

I beat the third and final path in Ys Origin. Glad that's taken care of.

Overall my thoughts are still the same as before, when I beat the previous two paths. I do think each of the protagonists has a fairly strong character arc, and I appreciate that story-wise, they all feel distinct from each other as far as their overall motive/journeys are concerned.

That said, I still don't think it was necessary to require players to beat the game 3 times to get the full story. 95% of the level design and boss encounters are the same in every single playthrough, so it's repetitive as hecc to play it that much to see everything. I'm glad it's over, and overall I would say I like the game... but that fact drags it down for me. Overall I would still consider my favorite Napishtim-engine game to be The Oath in Felghana.

Now... the next time I play an Ys game, it will be Ys Seven 👀 The first in a new style of Ys game entirely. Curious how I'll end up feeling about it.

9 hours ago, Phaseknox said:

This comes out December 2nd of this year.

It does?

Huh... that's weird. I had it marked in my list as a 2023 game. Thanks for the heads-up.

Most anticipated by far is The Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie - I need to find out what happens next in the story, and I generally hear people describe Reverie as an improvement over Cold Steel IV (good), so I'm looking forward to experiencing it for myself at last.

Aside from that, I'm interested in the following:

- The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails

- Resident Evil 4 (REmake 4)

- The Callisto Protocol

- Long Live The Queen: Galaxy Princess Zorana

- Fire Emblem Engage

hmm... what else

I wanna see what new thing Ville Callio's working on, but no idea if that'll be released in 2023, given it's still clearly in an early alpha state. I adore Cruelty Squad, so it's basically a must for me to check this new project out when it's done.

She was a pretty key part of many of Sega's games throughout the years, from Phantasy Star to Sonic the Hedgehog. She will be missed.

Out of these games I have beaten

- BioShock
- BioShock Infinite
- Tomb Raider 2013

- Fallout: New Vegas

- Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

- Half-Life 2

That's it. I've also played a decent chunk of Fallout 4, but haven't beaten it yet. Kinda put it on hold for the past year or so, lol.