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Retro-GAF unite!

Vespa

Member
Street Fighter EX3.

I've just imported EX3 because the Japanese version has Ikeno's amazing artwork on it! I got to disagree with you on the western cover, it looks like it's using the in-game model and has this weird texture and blurring going on that looks awful.

cWltLYL.jpg
 

Danny Dudekisser

I paid good money for this Dynex!
I've just imported EX3 because the Japanese version has Ikeno's amazing artwork on it! I got to disagree with you on the western cover, it looks like it's using the in-game model and has this weird texture and blurring going on that looks awful.

cWltLYL.jpg

I remember it being cooler :(
 
This is somewhat tangential and not (yet) super retro, but I've been musing about this for a while:

I wonder what will happen with the preservation of old MMOs? I mean quite a few have private servers these days, which is fantastic, but they're not universal. I've gotten back in to Guild Wars (for the millionth time) and every time I log in I worry a bit about the servers vanishing on NCSoft's whim.
 

Laws00

Member
Meh game, I wanted a street fighter game for my ps2 soooo bad.

Got this was happy with it but then I realized when I got my PS2 on launch day that Tekken Tag was the best fighting game to come out on that system
 

Peltz

Member
This is somewhat tangential and not (yet) super retro, but I've been musing about this for a while:

I wonder what will happen with the preservation of old MMOs? I mean quite a few have private servers these days, which is fantastic, but they're not universal. I've gotten back in to Guild Wars (for the millionth time) and every time I log in I worry a bit about the servers vanishing on NCSoft's whim.
I've still never played an MMO. It's the one major genre I've never even attempted.
 

D.Lo

Member
I've just imported EX3 because the Japanese version has Ikeno's amazing artwork on it! I got to disagree with you on the western cover, it looks like it's using the in-game model and has this weird texture and blurring going on that looks awful.

cWltLYL.jpg
Lol that looks like a straight photoshop texture
 
I've still never played an MMO. It's the one major genre I've never even attempted.
Worth a try, I think. If multiplayer games aren't your thing, then obviously it might not be a good fit, but MMOs offer a lot of emergent gameplay that other genres just can't even hope to match.
I played some...you pretty much need to be heavily invested in them to get anywhere.
Not really. Especially in contemporary MMOs, it's extremely easy to just hop in. WoW and GW2 are the modern MMOs I'm at all in touch with and both are extremely approachable and don't take any more time investment that any other game without an end (MOBAs, PvP FPS, RTS, Sims, etc.) to get in to beyond just playing a few games and fumbling around.
 
Got my Turbo Duo back and we're making some progress!

I was able to complete the prologue and stage 1 of Rondo of Blood, but my console is having a hard time playing most of the backups I'm making. I ordered a different make of CDR, so hopefully that solves it. This machine is probably the most picky with CDs that I've experienced yet.

Still got some pics of Rondo and such.


Anybody have any similar issues with backups on the TurboDuo? Any tips?

I've previously made backups ("backups") for Saturn, Sega CD, and Dreamcast with little issue. The only other console that has been finicky, though to a somewhat lesser extent, has been PSOne.
 

Timu

Member
Not really. Especially in contemporary MMOs, it's extremely easy to just hop in. WoW and GW2 are the modern MMOs I'm at all in touch with and both are extremely approachable and don't take any more time investment that any other game without an end (MOBAs, PvP FPS, RTS, Sims, etc.) to get in to beyond just playing a few games and fumbling around.
I'm talking about leveling up, unlocking stuff, going to new worlds, doing tons of quests and such!!!=O
 
I'm talking about leveling up, unlocking stuff, going to new worlds, doing tons of quests and such!!!=O
Yeah, and my point is that the current MMO market streamlines that in a huge way. GW2, for example, gives you a totally free max level character when you buy the expansion to skip leveling. WoW has a similar offer. XP rates, quest markers, travel, etc. have all trended towards simplicity and accessibility to the point that most modern MMOs are extremely quick to run through things. If you want to play seriously, gear grinds and achievement hunting is there for you, but it's really easy to just pick up and play casually.
 

Timu

Member
Yeah, and my point is that the current MMO market streamlines that in a huge way. GW2, for example, gives you a totally free max level character when you buy the expansion to skip leveling. WoW has a similar offer. XP rates, quest markers, travel, etc. have all trended towards simplicity and accessibility to the point that most modern MMOs are extremely quick to run through things. If you want to play seriously, gear grinds and achievement hunting is there for you, but it's really easy to just pick up and play casually.
Yeah, you're right, though it's been years since I played them so a lot has changed basically.
 

Tain

Member
What's the way to go for emulating PSX these days? I don't want to render at higher native resolutions or any of that silliness.

I really like MAME's set of options and CRT simulation, so while I'd like to use MAME's PSX emulation (brought from MESS), I think I remember running into unsupported games kinda quickly last time I tried.

So I'm guessing Mednafen is where it's at? Or the Mednafen core in Retroarch if Mednafen itself doesn't have any nice CRT simulation options? I hated Retroarch last I tried it, but I'm on gsync now so my big issues with it should be gone.
 

IrishNinja

Member

hahahaha

yeah, we'll reach a point in the coming decade where
a) the experiments of that gen
b) the dying efforts of some JP studios
c) the craziness of watching MS try for JP stuff and producing sakaghuchi/etc shit

will really shine. we clearly still need distance from easily one of the longest gens, but meantime? i'm still waiting on gamestop to dump their stock of those systems, it's quite literally gonna be the best time to buy in when they do (im guessing early 2018)

don't believe me? i got gitaroo man from them a few years back for a buck or two. fire emblem: path of radiance for less than $10 or so when they dumped GC stuff a while ago.

betta ask somebody
 

Danny Dudekisser

I paid good money for this Dynex!
hahahaha

yeah, we'll reach a point in the coming decade where
a) the experiments of that gen
b) the dying efforts of some JP studios
c) the craziness of watching MS try for JP stuff and producing sakaghuchi/etc shit

will really shine.

Sorry, Irish. Dog shit doesn't shine.
 

Galdelico

Member
Retrogaf, what's the best way to play DS games? NDS Lite? Regular NDSi?
I owned a DSi XL for a while but I ended up hating it, those screens were pants in my opinion. Still, I don't want to give up, especially since using my N3DSXL is less than ideal.

Thanks in advance for any tip, guys.
 

Laws00

Member
Got my Turbo Duo back and we're making some progress!

I was able to complete the prologue and stage 1 of Rondo of Blood, but my console is having a hard time playing most of the backups I'm making. I ordered a different make of CDR, so hopefully that solves it. This machine is probably the most picky with CDs that I've experienced yet.

Still got some pics of Rondo and such.



Anybody have any similar issues with backups on the TurboDuo? Any tips?

I've previously made backups ("backups") for Saturn, Sega CD, and Dreamcast with little issue. The only other console that has been finicky, though to a somewhat lesser extent, has been PSOne.

i know it's been said countless times but what Speed, burner, program and CDs are you using?

I've used two types of burners and i've never had a problem with playing cds.

berkley jensen cd-rs
memorex cd-rs

burning at 4x

and I use ImgBurn

I have LG burner
 
i know it's been said countless times but what Speed, burner, program and CDs are you using?

I've used two types of burners and i've never had a problem with playing cds.

berkley jensen cd-rs
memorex cd-rs

burning at 4x

and I use ImgBurn

I have LG burner

I have used both Alcohol 120% and ImgBurn, have had more success with PC Engine CD games via Alcohol.

The lowest speed my burner allows is 16x, so I use RimhillEx to slow it to the 4x-10x range.

I use Memorex and JVC Taiyo Yuden CDRs.

Using the combination of RimhillEx and Alcohol, I've been able to get Rondo of Blood and Wonderboy 3 to boot up and play through the first levels or so, but the games freeze up soon after.

With audio CDs, they play through fine with no issue, so my laser is working fine now.
 

Peltz

Member
Retrogaf, what's the best way to play DS games? NDS Lite? Regular NDSi?
I owned a DSi XL for a while but I ended up hating it, those screens were pants in my opinion. Still, I don't want to give up, especially since using my N3DSXL is less than ideal.

Thanks in advance for any tip, guys.

I spent some time on this a few months back. I was playing through phantom hourglass and the control scheme was too awkward with my N3dsxl.

og ds - comfy but shit ass screen

ds lite - mushy screen and buttons. It feels like the screen has a layer of plastic over it that pushes down to touch the screen.

dsi - good screen, tight buttons

dsi XL - same as dsi but bigger screen. Also heavier and not good for Phantom Hourglass

3ds - Best screen and buttons but too small for ds without stretching(dont)

3dsxl- Best screen and buttons and the screen is an acceptable size w/o stretching. Unfortunately it's too heavy for 1 handed games.

N3ds - Same as 3ds

N3dsxl - Same as 3dsxl

2ds - comfiest options but no portability and tiny screens in ds mode

Overall I prefer the dsi. The build is great and the screens are slighty bigger then the dslite. The dsiXL gives you the biggest screen but it's too pixelated at that point IMO.
 

Galdelico

Member
I spent some time on this a few months back. I was playing through phantom hourglass and the control scheme was too awkward with my N3dsxl.

og ds - comfy but shit ass screen

ds lite - mushy screen and buttons. It feels like the screen has a layer of plastic over it that pushes down to touch the screen.

dsi - good screen, tight buttons

dsi XL - same as dsi but bigger screen. Also heavier and not good for Phantom Hourglass

3ds - Best screen and buttons but too small for ds without stretching(dont)

3dsxl- Best screen and buttons and the screen is an acceptable size w/o stretching. Unfortunately it's too heavy for 1 handed games.

N3ds - Same as 3ds

N3dsxl - Same as 3dsxl

2ds - comfiest options but no portability and tiny screens in ds mode
Yeah, agree on all that. The stretched option on the N3DSXL looks pretty awful, especially with 2D games, while 1:1 is still a bit too tiny.

Overall I prefer the dsi. The build is great and the screens are slighty bigger then the dslite. The dsiXL gives you the biggest screen but it's too pixelated at that point IMO.

I like my DSi a lot.

Seems like the way to go, then. Thanks guys.

One last question... Would it still be possible to transfer DSiWare games from my N3DSXL back to a Nintendo DSi, at this point?
 

Vespa

Member
I wish there wasn't such a panel lottery with the n3dsXL screens, there's a chance you'd get a TN panel or a miscalibrated temp.

I take it it's the large pixels on the DSi XL that you don't like, Galdelico?
 
I wish there wasn't such a panel lottery with the n3dsXL screens, there's a chance you'd get a TN panel or a miscalibrated temp.

I take it it's the large pixels on the DSi XL that you don't like, Galdelico?

I was under the impression the screen lottery was mostly with the normal n3DS, not the XL, but I could be confused.
 
One last question... Would it still be possible to transfer DSiWare games from my N3DSXL back to a Nintendo DSi, at this point?


I'm pretty sure you cannot go backwards with system transfers. But at this point there's many options to get all your games on all your devices without transferring anything.
 
The d-pad on the DSi XL also is not good. Diagnoals are super hard to press. I'm not sure if the original DSi has the same problem.

I keep a DS Lite around for games that really need a lot of diagnoal movement (DQ9, FF4, that sort of thing) wheras games that don't (Pokemon being a good example) are perfect on the XL.
 

Galdelico

Member
I wish there wasn't such a panel lottery with the n3dsXL screens, there's a chance you'd get a TN panel or a miscalibrated temp.

I take it it's the large pixels on the DSi XL that you don't like, Galdelico?

Exactly. It just didn't look as sharp and bright as I though. To my eyes, of course.
I'll admit, I went for the XL a bit blindly, mainly taking the chance of a great deal. I used it for a few months, then I sold it back without regrets.

I'm pretty sure you cannot go backwards with system transfers. But at this point there's many options to get all your games on all your devices without transferring anything.

You're right. It was just for the convenience of moving back those 4/5 DSiWare games I bought back then to a more suited system, without having to mess around with hacks and soft mods just because of that.


Yep. At least, I believe it's easier - today - to get a mixed XL, with top IPS screen and TN touch.
 
Got my Turbo Duo back and we're making some progress!

I was able to complete the prologue and stage 1 of Rondo of Blood, but my console is having a hard time playing most of the backups I'm making. I ordered a different make of CDR, so hopefully that solves it. This machine is probably the most picky with CDs that I've experienced yet.

Still got some pics of Rondo and such.



Anybody have any similar issues with backups on the TurboDuo? Any tips?

I've previously made backups ("backups") for Saturn, Sega CD, and Dreamcast with little issue. The only other console that has been finicky, though to a somewhat lesser extent, has been PSOne.

Make sure you're burning the discs at the slowest speed your burner will let you. Also could be the laser itself needing some adjustment. Are you making the backups from your own discs? TurboRip is probably the best program to use for that, if not it could be a bad image you're trying to burn.
 
.



You're right. It was just for the convenience of moving back those 4/5 DSiWare games I bought back then to a more suited system, without having to mess around with hacks and soft mods just because of that.


It's Nintendo though. I'm used to having to resort to homebrew for basic functions that should have been standard features.
 
Make sure you're burning the discs at the slowest speed your burner will let you. Also could be the laser itself needing some adjustment. Are you making the backups from your own discs? TurboRip is probably the best program to use for that, if not it could be a bad image you're trying to burn.

It's very strange.

For Rondo of Blood, the game would lock up after completing the first level. However, today I made it all the way through stage 4.


¯\_(ツ)_/¯

It seems like it's getting better, but I've changed nothing on my end.
 

D.Lo

Member
Tbh, while I'm sure it'll have a massive collectors market in 12 years or so, I don't think I'll ever really consider PS360 retro as long as modern games still play under the paradigms set in that generation. I'm not even sure what big games this generation don't count as derivative of steps made during that era. Maybe Zelda bucks it a bit but is totally a follower in other aspects.
Agree, part of the retro thing was about paradigm change. And now there is very little.

Hence Vanquish and Bayonetta on PC being a big deal despite being old games. Same thing, more pixels, fits right into everything else released now.
 
AAA games moving on very little from the PS3 and 360 days is more a testament to the general shittiness of the current generation than any problems with the previous.

Anyway I think they're retro because the early days of those systems were a very long time ago and have a lot of interesting stuff that don't get made any more. I could almost draw a line somewhere in 2009 before which things are retro vs after not retro.
 
Current gen is great, IMHO.

Every generation has their highs and lows. There was way more generic, uninspired shit in the 8-16 bit day than there is now, as far as I can see. Hell, with the Round 1s popping up over the US (a second one in my area is opening soon!) even arcades are coming back. Two-three years ago, I wouldn't have dreamt of being able to play Tetris TGM, Elevator Action Returns, Guilty Gear XX Accent Core +R, Tekken 7, VF5: Final Showdown, Gunslinger Stratos, Beatmania, Groove Coaster, DoDonPachi, etc. within feet of each other outside of Japan.

You can play Battle Garrega and Windjammers on PS4 for crying out loud. There isn't a better time to be gaming than now.
 

Tain

Member
I've been surprised at how tangible the signs of age are when I go back to some titles from earlier parts of last-gen. That said, for the most part (excepting VR basically) more powerful hardware isn't opening the doors to massively different types of game design, so these shifts are in design trends that happen over the years instead of anything directly spurred by new hardware.

I think that the upsides of modern gaming are a different subject (and on that there's so much good going on), though.
 
AAA games moving on very little from the PS3 and 360 days is more a testament to the general shittiness of the current generation than any problems with the previous.

Anyway I think they're retro because the early days of those systems were a very long time ago and have a lot of interesting stuff that don't get made any more. I could almost draw a line somewhere in 2009 before which things are retro vs after not retro.
My comment wasn't trying to take a stab at PS360 quality or anything. I just don't feel like the current gen systems have done anything new. Just more of the same with better fidelity and more expansive systems. The difference between Snes -> N64 -> NGC -> Wii was all pretty apparent, but the jump from PS3 or X360 to PS4 or XBO has been negligible outside of the aforementioned power.
 

Glowsquid

Member
Tbh, while I'm sure it'll have a massive collectors market in 12 years or so, I don't think I'll ever really consider PS360 retro as long as modern games still play under the paradigms set in that generation.

I've seen people use the same reasoning with PS2/GC era games. I don't agree due to the longevity of the HD twin's run: "big" games from 2006 to 2010 feel quite different from 2010 to now. To take an example (that'll likely only make sense to myself), the first Army of Two was an AAA game from 2008 that I don't think could exist today.

edit: argh pagetoper :x
 
I've seen people use the same reasoning with PS2/GC era games. I don't agree due to the longevity of the HD twin's run: "big" games from 2006 to 2010 feel quite different from 2010 to now. To take an example (that'll likely only make sense to myself), the first Army of Two was an AAA game from 2008 that I don't think could exist today.

edit: argh pagetoper :x
There are definitely exceptions, but I think in general the trend has been derivation over innovation. I hear you about PS2/GC/Xbox games feeling similar but I think, due in no small part due to them being the first 3D systems with "modern" games (the PS1, Saturn, N64 weren't quite there), meant that there was a lot of experimentation. Moreover, the market wasn't quite so top heavy compared to their successors which allowed for a lot more off-beat or atypical titles from bigger studios. The number of new IPs was pretty staggering and something that only the DS can really compare with.
 
I spent some time on this a few months back. I was playing through phantom hourglass and the control scheme was too awkward with my N3dsxl.

og ds - comfy but shit ass screen

ds lite - mushy screen and buttons. It feels like the screen has a layer of plastic over it that pushes down to touch the screen.

dsi - good screen, tight buttons

dsi XL - same as dsi but bigger screen. Also heavier and not good for Phantom Hourglass

3ds - Best screen and buttons but too small for ds without stretching(dont)

3dsxl- Best screen and buttons and the screen is an acceptable size w/o stretching. Unfortunately it's too heavy for 1 handed games.

N3ds - Same as 3ds

N3dsxl - Same as 3dsxl

2ds - comfiest options but no portability and tiny screens in ds mode

Overall I prefer the dsi. The build is great and the screens are slighty bigger then the dslite. The dsiXL gives you the biggest screen but it's too pixelated at that point IMO.

Good info. I like my DS Lite.

Been wondering about the New 2DS coming up. What are the chances that ends up as a good DS player? I missed out on 3DS and it seems like a good way to catch up and also use it for DS games. I figure I won't miss the 3D effect too awful much because it's been so de-emphasized since the early days of its life cycle.
 
Good info. I like my DS Lite.

Been wondering about the New 2DS coming up. What are the chances that ends up as a good DS player? I missed out on 3DS and it seems like a good way to catch up and also use it for DS games. I figure I won't miss the 3D effect too awful much because it's been so de-emphasized since the early days of its life cycle.


It looks like it'll be more or less the same as the N3DSXL but the reduced weight will be welcome for those stylus games. I still dislike the black borders though
 
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