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[ILLtown]

It looks pretty awesome for people who have a collection of original games, or are looking to build one.

How does it actually work? Is it ripping the games and then using some kind of emulation to play them, a bit like the 360 backwards compatibility on the Xbox One, or do the games run direct from the CDs/carts?

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

It looks pretty awesome for people who have a collection of original games, or are looking to build one.

How does it actually work? Is it ripping the games and then using some kind of emulation to play them, a bit like the 360 backwards compatibility on the Xbox One, or do the games run direct from the CDs/carts?

The first one. Some of these consoles talk about "hardware emulation" but ultimately they are ripping a copy of the game and emulating the ROM or ISO.

 

[AngularSaxophone]

All I ever wanted to do was pop in my discs and have an emulator run it on PC. Why can this do it but PC can’t?

 

[Spukc]

All I ever wanted to do was pop in my discs and have an emulator run it on PC. Why can this do it but PC can’t?

it's cause you don't know how to

 

[AngularSaxophone]

I guess. Last I checked there were only options for ripping the game into an ISO then running it. I just want to put the disc in the drive and play for any of the emulators.

 

[dirthead]

All I ever wanted to do was pop in my discs and have an emulator run it on PC. Why can this do it but PC can’t?

It can, but why would you want to do that when you could just rip everything and not have to swap discs ever again?

Swapping discs sucks.

 

[AngularSaxophone]

Show me a Sega cd emulator that does this. A Saturn and ps1 one would be great too. Set controls, pop in a disc and play.

 

[dirthead]

Show me a Sega cd emulator that does this. A Saturn and ps1 one would be great too. Set controls, pop in a disc and play.

Kega Fusion played Sega CD games off a CD drive. SSF loads games off CD drives too.

I guess I just don't get why anyone would want to do that, though. PS1, Saturn, and Sega CD games are tiny. It's so much more convenient to just have them on the hard drive.

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

Yeah, D dirthead is right. If you want the experience of swapping discs, just go with original hardware. If you already have a PC that can run the emulators, run it from the harddrive. Literally no reason to put wear-and-tear on your physical copies when you're already emulating the other parts of the hardware.

 

[Redneckerz]

I like how the hardware spec changed completely from an Rockchip RK3288 ARM to an x86 based hardware with linux, making it look more in line with the Atari VCS.

For those of you who aren't aware, here is the current spec:

Spoiler: Specs

Processor: Intel® Pentium Gold G5500T (2 cores/4 threads, 2x 3.2 Ghz)
Graphics: Intel UHD Graphics 630 (24 EU's, 350 Mhz base, 1.05 Ghz turbo)
Memory: 4GB DDR4 RAM
Connectivity: HDMI, 802.11G WiFi, Bluetooth 3.0, USB 2.0, Polymega™ Expansion Bus
On-board Storage: 16GB eMMC Flash Memory
Expansion Storage: Up to 512GB MicroSD via SD Card expansion slot
Optical Drive: 8X CD/DVD Slot-in Optical Disc Drive
Architecture: x86
OS: Proprietary Linux-based.
User Interface: Richter (Proprietary)
Emulators: Mix of Proprietary & Licensed.

Basically its just an emulator with an (admittely nice looking) frontend.

But since its a PC in a custom shell, modding is enticing. This could be an ideal entry level PC for PS360 quality titles at 720p. Atleast the UHD 630 is capable of that much. And atleast it looks pretty unique.

 

[dirthead]

I like how the hardware spec changed completely from an Rockchip RK3288 ARM to an x86 based hardware with linux, making it look more in line with the Atari VCS.

For those of you who aren't aware, here is the current spec:

Spoiler: Specs

Processor: Intel® Pentium Gold G5500T (2 cores/4 threads, 2x 3.2 Ghz)
Graphics: Intel UHD Graphics 630 (24 EU's, 350 Mhz base, 1.05 Ghz turbo)
Memory: 4GB DDR4 RAM
Connectivity: HDMI, 802.11G WiFi, Bluetooth 3.0, USB 2.0, Polymega™ Expansion Bus
On-board Storage: 16GB eMMC Flash Memory
Expansion Storage: Up to 512GB MicroSD via SD Card expansion slot
Optical Drive: 8X CD/DVD Slot-in Optical Disc Drive
Architecture: x86
OS: Proprietary Linux-based.
User Interface: Richter (Proprietary)
Emulators: Mix of Proprietary & Licensed.

Basically its just an emulator with an (admittely nice looking) frontend.

But since its a PC in a custom shell, modding is enticing. This could be an ideal entry level PC for PS360 quality titles at 720p. Atleast the UHD 630 is capable of that much. And atleast it looks pretty unique.

Problem is that it's a wimpy CPU and a bad GPU, so you can't really do any of the nice CRT shaders with it. Would have been more interesting if they made 5.25" drive bays with cartridge ports on them so you could plug real cartridges into a PC and play games on PC emulators that way, but I guess that would have been admitting that their "tech" was nothing special. Like you said, it's just emulation. They're probably just using MAME or Retroarch cores even. There's no way they actually wrote new emulators for all those platforms from scratch.

 

[Redneckerz]

Problem is that it's a wimpy CPU and a bad GPU, so you can't really do any of the nice CRT shaders with it. Would have been more interesting if they made 5.25" drive bays with cartridge ports on them so you could plug real cartridges into a PC and play games on PC emulators that way, but I guess that would have been admitting that their "tech" was nothing special. Like you said, it's just emulation. They're probably just using MAME or Retroarch cores even. There's no way they actually wrote new emulators for all those platforms from scratch.

The way i see it is just a small custom PC running emulators (And apparently some hybrid emulation?) The Saturn cores likely wont go full speed.

So really, i see way more potential as a nice entry level console to enjoy last-gen titles to - Provided you can get Windows on it. Considering it also a DVD drive, this could be sitting nicely next to your PS360 (And play more games than either of them).

But that's just my look on it, which is completely different from the intended pitch that Polymega is pursuing.

 

[dirthead]

The way i see it is just a small custom PC running emulators (And apparently some hybrid emulation?) The Saturn cores likely wont go full speed.

So really, i see way more potential as a nice entry level console to enjoy last-gen titles to - Provided you can get Windows on it. Considering it also a DVD drive, this could be sitting nicely next to your PS360 (And play more games than either of them).

But that's just my look on it, which is completely different from the intended pitch that Polymega is pursuing.

I think the Saturn might go at full speed. Retroarch has a Saturn core that runs at full speed on Android devices. I bet it's their plan to use that one.

 

[Redneckerz]

I think the Saturn might go at full speed. Retroarch has a Saturn core that runs at full speed on Android devices. I bet it's their plan to use that one.

They have been working along with the Mednafen authors, which has a Saturn core and a hefty CPU intensive one at that.
That does not say they will actually use that core, but they haven't said much else either.

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

I thought this was a pretty good critique of the current issues with the system and why it may be worth holding off:

 

[IbizaPocholo]

You've been waiting for this! We're proud to share with everyone 25 minutes of unedited Sega Saturn direct feed footage played on the new Polymega™ Modular Game Console.

We recently included the incorrect footage of Saturn Sega Rally Championship in one of our trailers. That was our mistake, and we hope this makes up for it! Please note this video is of a product in development, and is subject to change.

FAQ: The last game says "Unknown Game" because House of the Dead (Japan Version) has yet to be added to the Polymega Game Database. It will appear as the other games do prior to the systems launch.

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/20...5_minutes_of_sega_saturn_gameplay_footage#nnn

 

[Monado Blade]

Heh MAME's Neo Geo emulation is probably more accurate than the SNES FPGA box.

Being an FPGA has nothing to do with whether it's going to be good. The whole FPGA thing is overrated. Look at all the bugs that snuck into the Super NT. Software emulation can be just as good as any FPGA and it has the added benefit of actual video/sound output options whereas basically any FPGA hardware is going to be too underpowered for good CRT shaders or even native 4k resolution.

I don't what's funnier about this comment: the fact that he responded to a more than one year old comment, the whole "whoosh-went-straight-over-his-head"-ness of his response, or the fact that he's someone called "dirthead" and is now banned. I'm sorry I didn't notice this comment earlier.

 

[dirthead]

I don't what's funnier about this comment: the fact that he responded to a more than one year old comment, the whole "whoosh-went-straight-over-his-head"-ness of his response, or the fact that he's someone called "dirthead" and is now banned. I'm sorry I didn't notice this comment earlier.

None of those things are funny. People actually looking at the dates of post is kind of funny, though (people do that?).

 

[Bullet Club]

 

[Trimesh]

I'm amazed - I wrote this thing off as being somewhere between bullshit and a scam years ago, but it looks like it's somehow turned into a real product.

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

SEGA Saturn emulation sounds wonderful.