@species8472 Just buy the bundle now and whenever you get a Steam capable device you will already have a game library. The way things are going it seems most people will have Steam in some way.
@smoreon It most likely plays at 60fps. Most old video games do with the exception of some rarities that do things on alternating frames for special effects. Ys on PC 88 just has very jerky sprite animations.
@KingMike I'm not sure what the issue with that is? It's an old game so "reproduction" carts are pretty common, even in game stores here in the west. It's just a novel way to play a game on the original cartridge rather than an emulator, and of course the cartridges have material cost and they use shelf space. It's not like the port guy had anymore rights to sell the completed port than the shop owners. Of course in Japan the laws are heavy on this kind of stuff, but even there, the law intervened on behalf of the companies that hold the rights to the games IP, they weren't doing it because some guy that ported games was upset.
I personally find it really weird when people get angry over an IP being distributed that they have no rights to. You have to accept that, if you create your own work from scratch you will have the power over that work. If you create a work using someone else's property, you have to let it go to the wind.
This has got to be pressure or funding from Microsoft, or the realization that regulators will force them to provide support for their custom images, that they can’t afford to.
Yeah I am sure there are a few people that want Windows for compatibility with a certain game, but I really doubt the majority of people want Windows 11 on a touchscreen for a gaming device.
@helbertpina I would snatch the bluetooth version up in a second if it came in this new purple color. Just 2.4g is too limited for me. I play on a lot of devices, and I don’t like having to drag around a dongle and sometimes even if I do have the dongle on hand, its not a good choice, like I dont want that sticking out of my tablet or laptop just waiting to snap. And to be fair 2.4g is way overhyped. If a controller uses the latest Bluetooth standards, many times they have less latency than many 2.4g controllers. But sadly 8bitdo has stuck us with boring black and white if we want the full controller, or you can get cool colors on the cheap Bluetooth variant that has a lot of features pulled.
Been watching Friends episodes since I heard the news. One thing I noticed is how much the show was about people. Even though the show started in the 90s you'll rarely see computer or video game. These people had each other and thats all they needed. Now one of them is gone. I don't know exactly what that means, but I'm processing it.
@Razieluigi errant diagonals are definitely an issue. It was a problem on mine. My Life in Gaming also has the same issue on all their units. Their guess is they had help designing the controls from 8bitdo, which tracks because most of their controllers have the same issue.
@Damo yes they both play ROMs, but as I mentioned earlier, everything is “playing ROMs”. Original hardware through cartridges is playing ROMs. Difference of the niches is how the ROMs are played, software emulation, hardware emulation, and original hardware. These three platforms are not rivals, though of course anything in gaming has crossover. It’s a stretch to say my smartphone is a rival to a DMG Game Boy, though they both play ROMs, and some people will use both devices or even debate with themselves about which one they are going to decide to use.
As far as the 3D FPGA stuff, it is my understanding that those are not complete and require additional hardware on MiSTer to really get partially operational. I havent seen any running well except the N64 which is not one of the disc based systems I was replying about. But there could be more advancements I haven’t followed closely enough to and am unaware of. If so, I’d love a full update article on where the MiSTer is now. Its hard to follow these things with the bits and pieces that get released at various places here and there.
As for the screen, it is indeed awesome. I am definitely interested in the product, though I am a general retro gamer that plays across original hardware, software emulation, retail retro collections on Switch, and FPGA enjoying each niche’s unique benefits. In other words I am not specifically in the market for FPGA stuff. I am not a core customer of Analogues niche. If you were to ask Analogue what their niche was, do you think they are most likely to respond “screen technology” or “fpga technology”. I think it is obviously the latter. Though realistically they would probably give a more complex answer like “the digital preservation of hardware experiences”, basically meaning.. where the Pocket is concerned, a combined experience of accuracy with the digital function of the software and display combined. The RGB30 is missing the biggest part of that equation, or at the very least, half of the equation.
Sorry for the rambling. And please… and can we a get a full overview article on the current state of MiSTer. I am still pondering on pulling the trigger there.
Not unless you are talking about Game Boy Advance Video cartridges. It's not a software emulation handheld.
"Can you play SNES/MD/NES carts on your Pocket or are you playing ROM files?"
Neither. It's not a software emulation handheld. It's a portable that plays cartridges made for handhelds. (you could hack it with custom firmware and play ROMs on the FPGA (however you can't software emulate those ROMs)) Also... original hardware using real cartridges is "Playing ROM files" too.
"How about PSX/Saturn or other disc based systems?"
Doesn't play those at all, even if you hack OpenFPGA onto it. The system uses an FPGA which recreates the original hardware of consoles on a chip that can mimic the arrangement of the original chips. There is currently not an FPGA complex enough to do 3D game systems. It's not a software emulation handheld.
I think it's pretty clear that Analogue only creates and sells FPGA consoles, and caters to the FPGA niche. PowKiddy creates software emulation handhelds and caters to that niche. They aren't rivals, they are two different things. I mean if you are going that far out, you could make the headline "Powkiddy RGB30 - A $90 Asus ROG Phone 7 Rival? You'd Better Believe It". They are both gaming devices and they both run software emulators. How about the $90 Steam Deck? Seems farfetched like the original eye grabbing title.
I think the main thing to come away with here is "It's not a software emulation handheld". It's silly to say this is a $90 Analogue Pocket.
Couple of bizarre things in this article. First being the clickbait headline. If it isn’t an FPGA, it isn’t an Analogue competitor. FPGA is why the Analogues cost is what it is and why it doesn’t have a competitor on the market.
Second being the praise of being sent pirated games from China from a professional journalist. I mean yeah most of us do download and play ROMs and it’s pretty accepted. Still head scratching to see a major gaming media company say “yeah China! Break them international laws, we love you for it!”.
Honestly, I have bought almost all of their controllers, starting way back when they introduced their first, a Famicom style controller with mini USB (yes mini, not micro), and almost all of them suffer from bad dpads with the same issue as the Switch Pro controller, where they sometimes output a diagonal when you press a cardinal direction. So if you are a retro gamer that likes Contra or Tetris, you might want to pass on most of these.
The exception is the Pro 2 which on the 3 I have owned, all function well. Their Lite controllers have functional Dpads too, but the original Lite as such little depth to press in the dpad that its hard to get a feel for what you are doing. I haven't tried their Ultimate yet, so I can't speak on that. The M30 has noticeable input lag and doesn't have the diagonal problem, but when doing fighting game circle motions, it sometimes drops input directions.
Its really a shame they have really let the dpad issue plague them, because all of their controllers feel amazing in the hand. They seem not to care about fixing it either, because they just released a third revision of the SN30 Pro, now in translucent colors, and they still have that dpad issue.
Take this former Sega boss’s words with a grain of salt. Sega America was pushing for a 3D console, and Sega of Japan wanted none of it, which is why they came up with the stupid stop gap idea of the 32x to try to appease people expecting 3D. Sega America had come to Sega of Japan with partnership plan with SGI. Sega of Japan shot the partnership down, and SGI went to Nintendo instead, and Nintendo’s 3D SGI console ended up burying the Saturn. Sony developed their system from the ground up and was able to launch at $299. Due to Sega of Japan’s blunder in skipping 3D, and with their idea to last minute compensate with extra chips to produce 3D, they had to launch at $399.
The returned stock? Notice 2 of those years are during the Saturn launch period. Sega America announced a September 95 launch. Sega of Japan forced them to change it to May 95 surprising retailers. KB Toys was so upset that they pulled out of selling Sega stuff completely… so guess where that stock went? Back to Japan. An entire national chain’s Sega inventory got returned. You darned right they lost a lot of money there. The other return year was 94, the year of the botched 32x, that should have never been released in the first place.
@Tasuki The Cowabunga Collection is a ROM in an emulator. The Arcade Game has been playable for decades in an emulator. Every game that runs on MiSTer is already available to play as a ROM in an emulator. The point of MiSTer, is that it will be an FPGA version. So you can expect, near perfect arcade accuracy. Not everyone cares about perfectly preserving gameplay, but for those who do, this is news.
@Serpenterror The game was in planning before Shredder's Revenge was revealed, so that's probably why it wasn't designed to compete on features. It's just a happy coincidence that they seem similar.
@Nua I would definitely be more likely to hit a raised button, since it's in line with where my fingers would be moving. My fingers never hit the surface area of any controllers.
I would note, that when it comes to 80s and 90s arcade games that have never been rereleased, many people call this abandonware and consider it ethical emulation. There are many ethical abandonware websites, that will pull a game from their servers if it becomes available for purchase from the rights holders.
This is ultimately a bad look for Sega and it's unfortunate this project can't be completed.
However I agree with the decision of the books creator. Even with the necessary funds, it would be a near impossible case to win. Even though these books use some text, and commission some custom art, the bulk of these books are made of up of art captures.
These aren't something like their "Secret History of Mac Gaming" where the book has a journalistic text heavy approach with images used in a fair use manner. These are intended as coffee table art books, where the owners of the bulk of the art are not being paid.
Though I would love personally to see this be created, Sega are being butts about it. These kinds of things are always risky, especially these compendiums, where multiple companies and artists assets are being used. There is always a chance in the future, other rights holders could come forward and ask for compensation on previous works. Even on the Unofficial SNES Visual Compendium, where Bitmap made a deal with Nintendo, Nintendo doesn't own the art of third party games, and anyone of those companies or artists could come forward one day. So I really hope Sega is not setting precedent for others.
I don't remember the screen being that bad, yikes. I wonder if the full rpg leveling system, equipment, relics, transformations, summons, magic, and items are all still present. Or if not, I wonder if they were planned? Perhaps it was a pared down non-Igavania?
This is exciting news and I’m curious to see what comes of all this. I do have some concerns though. The budget model is supposed to support 8k displays? Most modern and powerful computers still struggle with 4k programs. 8k requires 4 times the power of 4k. And it’s supposed to include a disk drive, which is seen by most manufacturers as to expensive these days to include on even high end PCs. Then there’s the personal super computer?
The MSX was a mass market machine. This seems like it’s going to be targeted at computer scientists.
Either way it’ll be cool, however I would have liked the MSX 3 to be a keyboard with modern hardware inside, an emulator for old MSX software and games, and a platform for new software.
I was an NES kid, and this for sure was in my system all the time. It's probably still my favorite Zelda game. It was almost perfection. The graphics gave you just enough to know what things were supposed to be, but not enough visual information that it would override your own imagined world and characters. The free exploration really made you feel like you were on an adventure.
Comments 178
Re: Insane Bundle Includes 70 Capcom Classics Worth $200 For Just 20 Bucks
@species8472 Just buy the bundle now and whenever you get a Steam capable device you will already have a game library. The way things are going it seems most people will have Steam in some way.
Re: The Original Version Of Nihon Falcom's 'Ys' Is Coming To Switch
@smoreon It most likely plays at 60fps. Most old video games do with the exception of some rarities that do things on alternating frames for special effects. Ys on PC 88 just has very jerky sprite animations.
Re: A Fanmade Mega Man Port For SNES Has Just Been Released
@KingMike I'm not sure what the issue with that is? It's an old game so "reproduction" carts are pretty common, even in game stores here in the west. It's just a novel way to play a game on the original cartridge rather than an emulator, and of course the cartridges have material cost and they use shelf space. It's not like the port guy had anymore rights to sell the completed port than the shop owners. Of course in Japan the laws are heavy on this kind of stuff, but even there, the law intervened on behalf of the companies that hold the rights to the games IP, they weren't doing it because some guy that ported games was upset.
I personally find it really weird when people get angry over an IP being distributed that they have no rights to. You have to accept that, if you create your own work from scratch you will have the power over that work. If you create a work using someone else's property, you have to let it go to the wind.
Re: The $300 AYANEO Next Lite Will Launch With Windows 11 And Not The Steam-Style HololSO
This has got to be pressure or funding from Microsoft, or the realization that regulators will force them to provide support for their custom images, that they can’t afford to.
Yeah I am sure there are a few people that want Windows for compatibility with a certain game, but I really doubt the majority of people want Windows 11 on a touchscreen for a gaming device.
Re: 8BitDo's 2.4G Ultimate Controller Now Has Drift-Free Hall Effect Sticks
@helbertpina I would snatch the bluetooth version up in a second if it came in this new purple color. Just 2.4g is too limited for me. I play on a lot of devices, and I don’t like having to drag around a dongle and sometimes even if I do have the dongle on hand, its not a good choice, like I dont want that sticking out of my tablet or laptop just waiting to snap. And to be fair 2.4g is way overhyped. If a controller uses the latest Bluetooth standards, many times they have less latency than many 2.4g controllers. But sadly 8bitdo has stuck us with boring black and white if we want the full controller, or you can get cool colors on the cheap Bluetooth variant that has a lot of features pulled.
Re: AYANEO's NES-Style Mini PC Has A Built-In 4-Inch Touchscreen
Would be nice if this came with HoloISO. Would be a perfect living room console.
Re: Twin Galaxies Restores Billy Mitchell's Donkey Kong High Scores
@Duffman92 He was going to lose... but then there was a settlement. When money is involved, it doesn't matter who is right or wrong.
Re: Streets Of Rage 2, ActRaiser And Story Of Thor - Ayano Koshiro On Her Career In Games
I love Japanese developer interviews. Thank you for doing this
Re: A Bunch Of Data East Games Have Vanished From The Switch eShop
@MetalKingShield That's weird. Was that something Data East did on their games? Most all arcade games are 4:3 in that period.
Re: ROM Hacking Website No Longer Accepting Homebrew Games "Of Any Kind"
@-wc- It's the UK version of the NES. It doesn't work with some cartridges from other European countries.
Re: A Tribute To Matthew Perry, Actor, Playwright And Video Gamer
Been watching Friends episodes since I heard the news. One thing I noticed is how much the show was about people. Even though the show started in the 90s you'll rarely see computer or video game. These people had each other and thats all they needed. Now one of them is gone. I don't know exactly what that means, but I'm processing it.
Re: Analogue Pocket OS 2.0 Adds A Much-Requested Feature
@Razieluigi errant diagonals are definitely an issue. It was a problem on mine. My Life in Gaming also has the same issue on all their units. Their guess is they had help designing the controls from 8bitdo, which tracks because most of their controllers have the same issue.
Re: Powkiddy RGB30 - A $90 Analogue Pocket Rival? You'd Better Believe It
@Damo yes they both play ROMs, but as I mentioned earlier, everything is “playing ROMs”. Original hardware through cartridges is playing ROMs. Difference of the niches is how the ROMs are played, software emulation, hardware emulation, and original hardware. These three platforms are not rivals, though of course anything in gaming has crossover. It’s a stretch to say my smartphone is a rival to a DMG Game Boy, though they both play ROMs, and some people will use both devices or even debate with themselves about which one they are going to decide to use.
As far as the 3D FPGA stuff, it is my understanding that those are not complete and require additional hardware on MiSTer to really get partially operational. I havent seen any running well except the N64 which is not one of the disc based systems I was replying about. But there could be more advancements I haven’t followed closely enough to and am unaware of. If so, I’d love a full update article on where the MiSTer is now. Its hard to follow these things with the bits and pieces that get released at various places here and there.
As for the screen, it is indeed awesome. I am definitely interested in the product, though I am a general retro gamer that plays across original hardware, software emulation, retail retro collections on Switch, and FPGA enjoying each niche’s unique benefits. In other words I am not specifically in the market for FPGA stuff. I am not a core customer of Analogues niche. If you were to ask Analogue what their niche was, do you think they are most likely to respond “screen technology” or “fpga technology”. I think it is obviously the latter. Though realistically they would probably give a more complex answer like “the digital preservation of hardware experiences”, basically meaning.. where the Pocket is concerned, a combined experience of accuracy with the digital function of the software and display combined. The RGB30 is missing the biggest part of that equation, or at the very least, half of the equation.
Sorry for the rambling. And please… and can we a get a full overview article on the current state of MiSTer. I am still pondering on pulling the trigger there.
Re: Powkiddy RGB30 - A $90 Analogue Pocket Rival? You'd Better Believe It
@Hexapus "Can you add art/video to the Pocket?"
Not unless you are talking about Game Boy Advance Video cartridges. It's not a software emulation handheld.
"Can you play SNES/MD/NES carts on your Pocket or are you playing ROM files?"
Neither. It's not a software emulation handheld. It's a portable that plays cartridges made for handhelds. (you could hack it with custom firmware and play ROMs on the FPGA (however you can't software emulate those ROMs)) Also... original hardware using real cartridges is "Playing ROM files" too.
"How about PSX/Saturn or other disc based systems?"
Doesn't play those at all, even if you hack OpenFPGA onto it. The system uses an FPGA which recreates the original hardware of consoles on a chip that can mimic the arrangement of the original chips. There is currently not an FPGA complex enough to do 3D game systems. It's not a software emulation handheld.
I think it's pretty clear that Analogue only creates and sells FPGA consoles, and caters to the FPGA niche. PowKiddy creates software emulation handhelds and caters to that niche. They aren't rivals, they are two different things. I mean if you are going that far out, you could make the headline "Powkiddy RGB30 - A $90 Asus ROG Phone 7 Rival? You'd Better Believe It". They are both gaming devices and they both run software emulators. How about the $90 Steam Deck? Seems farfetched like the original eye grabbing title.
I think the main thing to come away with here is "It's not a software emulation handheld". It's silly to say this is a $90 Analogue Pocket.
Re: Powkiddy RGB30 - A $90 Analogue Pocket Rival? You'd Better Believe It
Couple of bizarre things in this article. First being the clickbait headline. If it isn’t an FPGA, it isn’t an Analogue competitor. FPGA is why the Analogues cost is what it is and why it doesn’t have a competitor on the market.
Second being the praise of being sent pirated games from China from a professional journalist. I mean yeah most of us do download and play ROMs and it’s pretty accepted. Still head scratching to see a major gaming media company say “yeah China! Break them international laws, we love you for it!”.
Re: Guide: All 8BitDo Controllers & Accessories - Which Should I Buy?
Honestly, I have bought almost all of their controllers, starting way back when they introduced their first, a Famicom style controller with mini USB (yes mini, not micro), and almost all of them suffer from bad dpads with the same issue as the Switch Pro controller, where they sometimes output a diagonal when you press a cardinal direction. So if you are a retro gamer that likes Contra or Tetris, you might want to pass on most of these.
The exception is the Pro 2 which on the 3 I have owned, all function well. Their Lite controllers have functional Dpads too, but the original Lite as such little depth to press in the dpad that its hard to get a feel for what you are doing. I haven't tried their Ultimate yet, so I can't speak on that. The M30 has noticeable input lag and doesn't have the diagonal problem, but when doing fighting game circle motions, it sometimes drops input directions.
Its really a shame they have really let the dpad issue plague them, because all of their controllers feel amazing in the hand. They seem not to care about fixing it either, because they just released a third revision of the SN30 Pro, now in translucent colors, and they still have that dpad issue.
Re: Ghostbusters: Special Edition Hack Gets Incredible Glow-In-The-Dark Physical Release
“Days_danilo” is the creator of Blazing Chrome, Odallus, Moonrider, and Oniken. Quite the dude!
Re: Former Sega Boss On The "Huge Strategic Blunder" Of 32X And Saturn
Take this former Sega boss’s words with a grain of salt. Sega America was pushing for a 3D console, and Sega of Japan wanted none of it, which is why they came up with the stupid stop gap idea of the 32x to try to appease people expecting 3D. Sega America had come to Sega of Japan with partnership plan with SGI. Sega of Japan shot the partnership down, and SGI went to Nintendo instead, and Nintendo’s 3D SGI console ended up burying the Saturn. Sony developed their system from the ground up and was able to launch at $299. Due to Sega of Japan’s blunder in skipping 3D, and with their idea to last minute compensate with extra chips to produce 3D, they had to launch at $399.
The returned stock? Notice 2 of those years are during the Saturn launch period. Sega America announced a September 95 launch. Sega of Japan forced them to change it to May 95 surprising retailers. KB Toys was so upset that they pulled out of selling Sega stuff completely… so guess where that stock went? Back to Japan. An entire national chain’s Sega inventory got returned. You darned right they lost a lot of money there. The other return year was 94, the year of the botched 32x, that should have never been released in the first place.
Re: Konami's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Coin-Op Is Coming To MiSTer
@Tasuki The Cowabunga Collection is a ROM in an emulator. The Arcade Game has been playable for decades in an emulator. Every game that runs on MiSTer is already available to play as a ROM in an emulator. The point of MiSTer, is that it will be an FPGA version. So you can expect, near perfect arcade accuracy. Not everyone cares about perfectly preserving gameplay, but for those who do, this is news.
Re: Site News: Love What We Do? Become A Time Extension Supporter!
An option to sort article comments from newest to oldest or by most likes would be a nice premium feature. Or even reddit style for everyone.
Re: The Toxic Crusaders Are Back In An All-New Beat 'Em Up Adventure
@Serpenterror The game was in planning before Shredder's Revenge was revealed, so that's probably why it wasn't designed to compete on features. It's just a happy coincidence that they seem similar.
Re: Random: These KOF '97 Soft Drinks Reimagine The Characters As Soda Flavours
@BulkSlash its just a salt, like sea salt chocolate bars.
I bought the set of KOF sodas at a local asian supermarket, but haven’t tried them yet. Got a DBZ one too.
Re: Review: Retro-Bit 'BIG6' Sega Genesis / Mega Drive Controller - Bigger Is Better
@Nua I would definitely be more likely to hit a raised button, since it's in line with where my fingers would be moving. My fingers never hit the surface area of any controllers.
Re: Talking Point: Where Do You Stand On "Ethical Emulation"?
I would note, that when it comes to 80s and 90s arcade games that have never been rereleased, many people call this abandonware and consider it ethical emulation. There are many ethical abandonware websites, that will pull a game from their servers if it becomes available for purchase from the rights holders.
Re: Bitmap Books Pulls Mega Drive / Genesis 'Visual Compendium' After Legal Threat From Sega
This is ultimately a bad look for Sega and it's unfortunate this project can't be completed.
However I agree with the decision of the books creator. Even with the necessary funds, it would be a near impossible case to win. Even though these books use some text, and commission some custom art, the bulk of these books are made of up of art captures.
These aren't something like their "Secret History of Mac Gaming" where the book has a journalistic text heavy approach with images used in a fair use manner. These are intended as coffee table art books, where the owners of the bulk of the art are not being paid.
Though I would love personally to see this be created, Sega are being butts about it. These kinds of things are always risky, especially these compendiums, where multiple companies and artists assets are being used. There is always a chance in the future, other rights holders could come forward and ask for compensation on previous works. Even on the Unofficial SNES Visual Compendium, where Bitmap made a deal with Nintendo, Nintendo doesn't own the art of third party games, and anyone of those companies or artists could come forward one day. So I really hope Sega is not setting precedent for others.
Re: Unseen Prototype For Castlevania: Symphony Of The Night On Game.com Is Unearthed
I don't remember the screen being that bad, yikes. I wonder if the full rpg leveling system, equipment, relics, transformations, summons, magic, and items are all still present. Or if not, I wonder if they were planned? Perhaps it was a pared down non-Igavania?
Re: An MSX 3 Is On The Way, According To MSX Co-Creator Kazuhiko Nishi
This is exciting news and I’m curious to see what comes of all this. I do have some concerns though. The budget model is supposed to support 8k displays? Most modern and powerful computers still struggle with 4k programs. 8k requires 4 times the power of 4k. And it’s supposed to include a disk drive, which is seen by most manufacturers as to expensive these days to include on even high end PCs. Then there’s the personal super computer?
The MSX was a mass market machine. This seems like it’s going to be targeted at computer scientists.
Either way it’ll be cool, however I would have liked the MSX 3 to be a keyboard with modern hardware inside, an emulator for old MSX software and games, and a platform for new software.
Re: Anniversary: The Legend Of Zelda Released On NES 35 Years Ago In North America
I was an NES kid, and this for sure was in my system all the time. It's probably still my favorite Zelda game. It was almost perfection. The graphics gave you just enough to know what things were supposed to be, but not enough visual information that it would override your own imagined world and characters. The free exploration really made you feel like you were on an adventure.