GravyThief

Polygon Man 🤣 Back in the 90s, the Japanese truly were much better at coming up with mascots. Polygon Man just sounds so… naff.

I’ve had an Everdrive 64 v3 (pre-cursor to the X7) for nearly 10 years now, and even though it was expensive I have no regrets whatsoever. It’s still going strong and I expect it to be still going strong in another 10 years.

This Summercart looks to be good value, and if I was buying an N64 flash cart today I’d seriously consider it. However, we’ll have to wait and see if they prove as reliable as Everdrives are, only time will tell. Not sure if I’d ever buy a flash cart from AliExpress either, even MVG says in his video that the link to where he bought it probably won’t work after a few weeks!

I must have seen this ad at the time, but I have no distinct memory of it. I do, however, have distinct memories of the GameCube TV ads in the UK a couple of years ago.

They were, I think, the right mix of ‘edgy/artistic’ and showing the gameplay. In particular I recall seeing the advert for Eternal Darkness as it effectively got me to buy a GameCube in the first place.

Didn’t help their sales though, the PS2 destroyed the GameCube in terms of sales 🤣

If we can get more players in the FGPA retro console market alongside Analogue, that can only be a good thing.

@GhaleonUnlimited I completely agree with your N64 comment. I started playing Ocarina of Time on NSO to show my daughters what Daddy’s favourite Zelda game looks like. I quickly realised it looked way too clear and sharp on NSO, and just didn’t look right.

So I did what any good parent would do and I subjected my daughters to Ocarina of Time on real hardware via composite and a 15” CRT and they loved it! Blurriness and fog reinstated, we played it all the way through it to the end. It was great.

I guess anything like this on YouTube just needs censoring. It’s better to have the video up, making the creator money, with some bits censored, than for it to be taken down entirely and making the creator no money.

Most viewers probably wouldn’t care, and for those who do, couldn’t they just find the uncensored footage elsewhere on the internet? Or am I being naive with my understanding of the issue?

Can uncensored footage be hosted elsewhere on a different site, for those interested to go and seek out if they want to? YouTube obviously has the mass market covered and most reach, and it would only be a minority who would then want to seek out full footage elsewhere.

Again, maybe I’m being naive. Ultimately you just have the play to the system, I can’t see YouTube ever changing in this regard.

I’ve never planned to have a Saturn, as I never had one back in the day so I don’t have any nostalgia for it. However, I am acutely aware there are some bangers for the system, they’re just really expensive.

Does this cart work like an Everdrive i.e. you can just play ROMs directly from it? How reliable is that given games normally play from the CD drive?

And I see you mention you can use it to play copied CDs, is that a more reliable way to use this flashcart?

I think I may be talking myself into getting a Saturn 🤣

@sdelfin yes I can see the pixels when up close on my consumer CRT, there’re just none of the scanlines everybody goes on about. I agree about preference for scanlines, they really do look great on retro games, I just don’t believe it’s actually an authentic look (for most people) despite the rhetoric around the internet.

@BulkSlash I play both PAL and NTSC consoles on my consumer CRT and there are no scanlines for either. However, on the PVM, the scanlines are noticeably thicker for NTSC games because of the line resolution as you say, so it does have an impact on the PVM.

Both TVs look great to me. The consumer CRT definitely gives me the most nostalgia (especially when using RF or composite!), but there’s no doubt the PVM looks great, even if it’s less authentic.

I do wonder if people really, truly want scanlines because that’s what they remember?

I have a Consumer CRT and a PVM, and there are literally no scanlines visible on the Consumer CRT. They are visible on the PVM, but nobody was playing their consoles on PVMs back in the day.

Also, hardly any of us were playing these consoles with RGB cables. We were using RF or composite, and scanlines are even less visible with these signals.

Scanlines look nice on the PVM, absolutely. I just feel like some revisionist history has taken place in the retro videogame scene.

Thank you for setting up and running this site. I really love the retro and videogame history angle you’ve adopted here, I can’t think of another site that covers the same subjects in the same way you do. Also a big thanks to John and Jack, you have written some excellent pieces that are a joy to read, and they’ve clearly had a lot of time and effort put into them with research, interviews, tracking down whatever nuggets of info you can find etc. Long may they continue into 2025 and beyond!

This is awesome. Always wondered who ‘Nasir’ was when it mentioned him on the title screen of Secret of Mana. It certainly didn’t sound like a Japanese name and I’d never seen a programmer quoted on the title screen before or since.

Great to hear he made enough money to travel the world afterwards. Did he get back into programming work (outside of videogames) afterwards or did he effectively retire?

Shame the interview is in Japanese. If ever it gets translated I’d certainly give it a read.

I much preferred Lego when it had the generic themes of Castle, Pirate, City and Space (and the ‘Legoland’ branding). It’s all licensed nonsense now (except for City), and seems to use so many bespoke pieces it’s hardly Lego anymore.

Of course, it probably helped that I was about 7 years old back then, and now it’s just nostalgia clouding my preference. I’ll have to check out for more detail on this game, as it looks interesting on the face of it.

I’ve tried various analogue switch boxes in my time for my CRT and every single one of them has introduced issues with video quality, sound quality, or both.

In the end I’ve found the best solution is also the cheapest. I bought a male to female Scart adapter cable that you can run to the front of the TV (hidden in a cabinet) and just plug your console into this when you want to use it. No reaching around the back of the TV. No spending loads of money on switch boxes that could be spent on other stuff. No degradation of signal quality. Simple.

I had and played the second game when it released in the UK (as just King’s Field of course). I loved the atmosphere but I was only about 14 and with no guidance I didn’t have a clue what to do or where to go so eventually traded it in. I remember me, my brother and Dad deciding there must be a game-breaking bug as we couldn’t get anywhere!

Obviously now I know you’re just supposed to explore, and slowly build up your experience and gold to make progress in small steps. I may have to revisit it again.

It always reminded me more of Dungeon Master on the SNES. The slow pace, brooding atmosphere, ambient sounds rather than full blown music. Shame I never got further with it back in the 90s.

Could someone explain this to me in laymen’s terms please? I think have some understanding of Mister in general - I believe it’s a DIY FPGA thing that you have to build yourself and add ‘cores’ which are effectively all the different consoles and systems.

So is this effectively just a pre-built version of that in a special case, to make it more console like and ready to go out of the box? If so, what cores/consoles come with it?

And what do these ‘cartridges’ do? Are they for using your real game cartridges with the system or something else?

What I find ironic is that a good few of Koji Kondo’s iconic melodies (and other Nintendo music) sound like they have sections outright copied from other pieces. I know there’s the “interpolation” argument, but they go way beyond that to my ear. I forget what exactly, there was a good YouTube video demonstrating loads of examples. I suppose it’s one rule for Nintendo, a different rule for everyone else!

It’s no exaggeration to say this game had a profound impact on me as an 11/12 year old. And the main reason for that was the soundtrack.

At the time I’d never played such an epic adventure, nor heard such realistic sounding music on my SNES. Playing it again recently, the story and dialogue certainly doesn’t hold up anymore through an adult’s point of view (I can see now the translation was rushed out and bits of the game cut out from transition from CD to cartridge), but the music absolutely does.

I played music from this game to my daughters when they were babies and I was bathing them.

I can only imagine what the game would have been like had it been able to release to its full potential on CD as it was first envisaged.

Thanks for the interview.

@occamyDG yeah I’d like to understand what this means in practical terms. Or maybe that is the big change? I know my login details got exposed from emuparadise when that got hacked, so maybe most people would think twice about creating a login on a rom site again.

I haven’t used CD romance in well over a year, but I always see it as a reliable place to get ROMs and pre-patched translated ROMs, so if this was to go away fully it would be a sad day indeed.

So was the SNES version not 60fps? Most 2D pixel games of this era were typically 60fps as standard I thought?

@DanijoEX-the-Pierrot I’m guessing their point was that as this is a UK site and the writer is from the UK, it seems odd they would use the US name for the console. I would agree. I’m British and would never refer to the console as the Genesis, even though I know what the Genesis is.

I remember finding the SNES Pixel book difficult to read. I can’t remember why exactly but I didn’t enjoy it and stopped reading the text. Obviously I could still enjoy the pictures. I totally forgot about it until seeing mention of it in this review, maybe I’ll have to try it again.

@LuigiBlood I did look at the User Guide, as I was struggling to work out the default button mapping. I just didn’t notice (or understand) the toggle you mention.

Yes I also remapped R to ZR so it matches ZL for Z, feels more natural.

Although what this is telling me is that it’s just better to play them with the official N64 NSO controller, which alleviates all of these issues.

@LuigiBlood I didn’t know about that trick of holding down ZR to then use XYAB as C buttons. I’ll have to give it a try. Although I think I’ll have a problem. I’ve changed the button mapping on the right Joycon for N64 games, so A is mapped to B and B is mapped to Y. This mimics the original N64 layout for A and B more closely, but will mess up this little trick I suspect for the C button.

To be honest I mainly use the N64 NSO controller for N64 games as it really does feel like a genuine controller. It’s just sometimes it would be nice to play in handheld with the joycons as normal.

I’m a big retro gamer. I have all the main original consoles for Nintendo, Sega and PlayStation, and two CRTs to play them on (got to have a back-up!). I do play on original hardware a lot, but I also find the convenience of NSO to be too tempting to resist. I completed Super Metroid recently and played Ocarina of Time over the weekend (to show my daughters what Daddy’s favourite Zelda game looks like). And I must say I haven’t really noticed any major input lag. I’m sure if I played them side by side at the same time I would, but to just casually play them it feels absolutely fine. Admittedly I will never play shmups, but platformers need decent response times and I can play them fine.

The main thing I noticed was with Zelda: it looks way too clear and clean for my tastes! I know this is a result of the upscale to HD, which does look very clean, but I like my N64 games blurry and foggy. That’s how they were originally made and it loses so much atmosphere as a result of being so clean.

I definitely see the usage of AA batteries as a massive plus point. I have lots of handhelds from the past 20 years (GBA SPs, DS Lites and 3DSes), and I have to make sure I charge them up every 6 months if I haven’t used them in a while, just to try and keep the batteries going as long as possible.

Until manufacturers work together to create a set of standard sized lithium ion batteries to be used by all mobile and handheld devices, I’ll always prefer AA/AAA batteries.

As for this device, I’m glad it seems to be reviewing well. I really like the look of it. The only thing putting me off are the postage and import prices into the UK. It’s too expensive. Unless they arrange a deal with a UK based distributor, I won’t be buying this unfortunately.

These marketplace sites are idiotic, with idiots working for them. Before I had an eBay account, I used their guest checkout over the course of a few years. I eventually decided to open an account properly. After 6 months to a year they banned me saying I’d set up loads of different accounts. Unbeknownst to me, everytime I’d used their guest checkout, they set up an eBay account with my name and address. They never told me this, so it looked like I had loads of accounts. I tried explaining this to the idiots who work there, but they couldn’t understand this simple situation and decided I’d set them all up myself in order to defraud their precious community. Morons.

They then banned my wife because she had the same address. I’m glad eBay has had to drop seller fees because they’ve been performing so poorly. I keep my fingers crossed that they will one day go bust. I don’t hold grudges 🤣

I have a 1 chip PAL SNES and a 2 chip Super Famicom. The 1 chip PAL SNES definitely looks sharper, without a doubt. But do I play it the most? Do I heck! My Super Famicom can play NTSC versions of games, and that far outweighs having sharper pixels for me. I literally cannot play PAL versions of SNES games after playing the NTSC versions. Not just the speed difference, the borders on PAL games are MASSIVE!

I feel sorry for my 90s self. Not only did I only play PAL games, it would have been a 2 chip console too 🤣

I could never get into Killer Instinct. I loved the look of it, and hearing it in the arcades back in the day. But I could never string the combos together.

Batteries for ALL mobile and handheld devices needs standardisation fast! We wouldn’t have any of these issues (and waste) if manufacturers stopped using proprietary batteries for every single variant of every single device. There can be various sizes and capacities, but they need to be standardised.

And yes you can buy new batteries for your PSP, GBA, DS Lite etc, but these batteries are rubbish. They don’t last half as long as the originals, and half the time they don’t even fit properly.

@Sketcz so does the story make a lot more sense with the English re-translation? I remember not following the story completely back in the day. I haven’t played it since then so I don’t know if it was my young teenage brain not making full sense of the story, or because of the poor translation job. I still loved the game regardless!

I don’t know. Clubbing baby seals seems much more in line with Donald’s personality. He’s a right grumpy old sod.

Will this be heading to Switch? I don’t use Steam but love the look of this game.

I’d also love some kind of sequel to Shadowgate 64, or another Shadowgate game in the same vein as it. I thought it was a great game, the atmosphere was amazing. I had to use a guide to complete it but that didn’t stop me enjoying it. I only played it a few years ago so it isn’t nostalgia clouding my judgement either.

@JackGYarwood that sounds awesome, I hope you manage to get enough to publish something.

I really like the soundtracks for Sim City and Pilotwings, they’re very relaxing and nostalgic!

I’d love to hear an interview with the guy who did the original Starwing/Star Fox soundtrack. It’s very unique for a Nintendo game, sounding almost like it’s from a film soundtrack. Easily the best soundtrack of any Star Fox game since. The guy who did it left Nintendo afterwards as he didn’t realise he wouldn’t own the IP/rights to the music, which he wasn’t happy about.

I don’t recall seeing rainbows back in the day, but I may have just forgotten.

I know I don’t see them on my PVM via RGB, but that’s not how me (or anyone) played these games back then. I do have a small consumer CRT that accepts RF so I’ll have to try it. That’s how most of us played it back then.

On a side note, I tested a Master System via RF a while back on the small CRT. And while the quality of the picture was obviously poor, it was infinitely more nostalgic than playing via RGB and I still think it looked great!

Have the voice actors all been identified? The voice actors for Barry Burton and Raz Karcy (from Overblood) are the best voice actors ever to grace videogames. Still haven’t been beaten nearly 3 decades later.

I’ve kept a lot of my collection in the loft. But I ensured the loft was ventilated (vent tiles), and each game is individually stored in a grip seal bag with at least one silica gel pouch (sometimes more). My wife thinks I’m crazy, but it’s stories like this that drive why I do it. Even then, I’ve been selling a lot of my collection off in recent years. I just don’t want stuff like this to make it worthless. I much prefer having a leaner collection which means more to me and has more games I actually want to play. Everdrives and modded CD based consoles help too, allowing me to play most games on original hardware regardless of whether I own the original or not. I’ll probably continue to sell off more of my collection as the years go by, especially as I read more stories like this 🤣

Wow. Someone really LIKES saying the word LIKE don’t they? Quick search on my phone… it appears over 50 times 🤣

I had to, like, stop reading after a bit. It was, like, doing my head in.

What I like best about this is that it’s OLED, 4K and under 40”. If only you could get a normal 4K OLED TV that isn’t a stupid size. 40” is plenty big enough, and you get better pixel density.

I would love a version of Ridge Racer Type 4 where it expands the story/progression aspect of it. I liked what was there but you only did one ‘season’ with a team and that was it. You either repeated it again with the same team or did it with a different team as if you were never part of the other team before. Regardless, the music, aesthetic, atmosphere and feel of RR Type 4 still make it the best one.

I’ve completed the first game a few years ago, after having it back in the 90s but getting stuck on a certain bit and giving up. I won’t pretend I follow the story, but I enjoyed it none the less.

I still need to play the second game. I should get around to it at some point.

I hadn’t played a Goemon game until about 3 years ago, and this was my first one. I think it’s a great game, even without any nostalgia, and I’m happy to overlook its jankyness as that’s just to be expected from this era of early 3D games.

I’ve since played the SNES game, and while I enjoyed it I didn’t enjoy it as much as this one.

I need to get around to playing the second Goemon game on N64. I understand that’s supposed to be the better the game. I did have the original PAL version but decided to sell it after realising I could get £350 for it! Thankfully I have an Everdrive so can still play it regardless. It’s just finding the time to fit it around all the other great games I still want to play.

Is there any Amiga ‘Classic Mini’ type console available that lets you play Amiga games easily? And is easy to load Amiga games into it? I never had an Amiga growing up but a friend did and there are a few games I’d like to play. I want something hassle free. I tried an emulator on my laptop and while I got some games to work, it was super fiddly and not all games worked. In the end I couldn’t be ar*ed.

Hopefully the FX PAK Pro build is also compatible with the SD2SNES. There’s no way I’ll be buying another flash cart for my SNES.

I played Starfox recently on my SNES. While it obviously has a sub-30fps frame rate, it’s perfectly playable and I had a blast!

@BulkSlash I know what you mean. The whole MSU stuff for the SNES falls into that category in my opinion. All those ‘enhanced’ soundtracks and FMVs just feel like you’re not playing a SNES game anymore. And they really don’t go with the games at all. Just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should.

@RetroGames I didn’t remember writing my comment a few days ago, I was really confused. Then I realised my comment’s from August 2022 🤣

I do like the idea of this, but I won’t be preordering one until I see real reviews, by which point they may be unavailable. Oh well.

Those wondering what’s the point of this compared to the Anologue Pocket, I’d say it has its own niche. It actually looks and (I guess) feels like a real Game Boy, and the screen sounds like it will look like an idealised version of the original. We don’t all want ultra super HD 4K screens for playing retro games, I’d much prefer one that’s more authentic. And the batteries. More modern gaming devices should take AA or AAA batteries. I have a few original GBA SPs and their battery life is rubbish. I’ve bought brand new after market ones and they’re just as rubbish brand new, and they don’t even fit properly. Same with my DS Lites. All the batteries in our Switches, Anologue Pockets and so on are going to be rubbish in 10 years time and we’re not going to be able to replace them. AA and AAA batteries have stayed the same for decades!

Rant over.

@PigmaskFan £50k would be more important to me than preservation to make some random internet people happy.

@Missingno128 if the value wouldn’t go down from releasing the rom, then sure. However, I wouldn’t risk it and let the new owner decide that.

To be fair if I owned it I’d sell it to the highest bidder at that sort of value. I wouldn’t release the rom for it either as it would likely devalue it.