Retrogaming Hardware

[ShakeWell]

Yeah, I was going to say, the Saturn d-pad is so good because it ISN'T on a central pivot.

But Purple, the problem here is going to be that it all comes down to preference. Like, I could spin you a yarn about how rad the Neo-Geo CD clicky thumbstick is, but you might just not like it, some people don't. I love the d-pad on the Xbox Series X/S controller, but some people don't. I think you really should home in on what you like in a controller and build that way.

Button-wise, I really do like concave buttons that have good, tactile action, and relatively shallow travel distance, for maximum mashing. But, again, it's going to be a matter of preference. I know a lot of people who HATE concave buttons, and finding them for arcade sticks is a surprising pain in the ass, because so many people prefer convex. To the point that I had to settle on flat plungers when I made my arcade stick, because I just couldn't find concave ones that fit in the shell I used (Happ buttons, the frequent choice of American arcade manufacturers/operators in the day, are too tall to fit in a lot of home sticks).

 

[Yimothy]

Personally, while I have had a good time with the NGPC and other clicky controllers, I prefer as little controller noise as possible.

 

[Purple]

But Purple, the problem here is going to be that it all comes down to preference.

I mean, yeah. In all honesty I was really looking more for like "oh yeah, check out donsdiscountdpads.com you can just get a dozen nice injection-molded buttons for $2," but realistically I'm probably going to have to seriously look into just getting a 3D printer by the end of this ridiculous project anyway.

 

[ShakeWell]

Personally, while I have had a good time with the NGPC and other clicky controllers, I prefer as little controller noise as possible.

The clicky thumbstick is ASMR.

 

[Sprite]

The PC Engine Mini is nearly identical to the Turbografx Mini in selection, correct? I really regret not picking up the Turbografx Mini before the price skyrocketed, but it looks like the PC Engine Mini is still hovering around $110, and I like how it looks more anyway. I dread wading into eBay, though.

 

[Sarge]

Yeah, they're almost identical. The PC Engine Mini misses Salamander but has the uncensored version of Splatterhouse, as well as Tokimeki Memorial and Tengai Makyou II. It also has the advantage of being much smaller - the TG-16 Mini is still pretty chonky.

 

[Kazin]

Speaking of the PC Engine - I just ordered one from Japan (it's the PC Engine and CD attachment with the interface unit)! I won't have it for a long time, but I got a great deal on it - the only thing that's missing is an A/V cable. Composite is fine - any cheap suggestions? I see this one on eBay, which says it'll work with a PC Engine and Duo, but I'm not sure if it'll work with the interface unit. Anyone know?

 

[Sarge]

It looks like the IFU has standard RCA connectors for audio/video from the eBay listings I've glanced at.

 

[Kazin]

Oh, rad, I think I have some of those from an old DVD player. I'm good then! Thanks! Just gotta get a Turbo Everdrive and Rondo... lol

 

[Sarge]

Whatever happened to Limited Run reissuing Rondo? Still waiting on that one.

 

[Kazin]

I wasn't even aware of that - I was just going to spring for an old copy. I might get that! ...Assuming it works on a Japanese console, ofc

 

[Sarge]

PC Engine CDs are region-free, thankfully.

 

[Kazin]

Oh, right, duh - there's no copy protection anyway, so worst case scenario I can just burn a CD lol. And yeah, it appears Limited Run announced Rondo like a year ago, and nothing since - I wonder if either the deal fell through, or they're waiting on that Requiem rerelease to stop selling or something?

 

[Sarge]

No idea. I assume they have to work with Konami on it, and they may not be ready to roll yet, maybe for the reason you mentioned.

As far as burning goes, definitely find some good media. I had quite the journey finding CD-Rs that played nicely with mine, but finally settled on Verbatim Data Life Plus discs. They ended up better than the Taiyo Yudens I bought for my system.

 

[ShakeWell]

It took a long time for them to get the Contra collection up for sale, too. I'm sure they're still working on it.

But yeah, you can find the ISO of the PSP American translation *gestures* out there somewhere, and put it on a good burned disc, if you want to check it out. I have a bootleg of the PCE Works someone who really doesn't like the PCE Works people sent me, which is really nice, but I'm still going to buy the LRG version when it hits. Can't pass a brand new officially licensed TurboDuo game in the 21st century!

 

[Kazin]

Okay what exactly *is* PCE Works? There are a couple listings of sealed, "new" copies of Rondo listed on Japanese auction sites, ostensibly from PCE Works, but was that an authorized Konami rerelease or something, or a fan thing somehow, or what? The packaging seems slightly different.

 

[ArugulaZ]

I hear "Works" and I think Jeremy Parish, thanks to his long-running YouTube series.

 

[Kazin]

Which is only going to get further tangled up as the company he works for is eventually supposed to rerelease Rondo! lol

 

[Sarge]

PCE Works is basically a high-quality bootleg version. They're not legit. I gather folks don't like them because they used several fan translations without permission.

 

[ShakeWell]

Yes, what Sarge said.

 

[Kazin]

I don't know what to google here - I want an adapter that can play North American NES games on the Sharp Twin Famicom I've got eventually coming my way. I see a lot of 72 to 60 pin convertors that let me do the reverse, but not what I actually need. Willing to wait for one from AliExpress if I need to, no big rush. Any ideas?

 

[Yimothy]

I googled “nes to fc adapter” and got quite a few results, e.g. this one, which looks like it should do what you want.

 

[Kazin]

Oh, derp. Thanks! lol

 

[Beowulf]

PowKiddy X2 Review ($80 on AliExpress)

Another big handheld, but better than those that came before.

It’s clearly intended to mimic the Switch, with not just the same size (and 7” screen) and same button/stick layout, but the same color scheme and fake joycon sides. It’s a little skinnier and lighter, but generally the same form-factor. It’s not quite as awkward as the X40 Pro (and lacks the softer plastic around the edges), but is still a little clunky. The B button wasn’t perfectly responsive, but it didn’t seem to have the issues of mystery inputs. The X40 Pro has L2/R2 triggers that this doesn’t, but to be fair, it doesn’t actually do anything with them. The start and select buttons are on the left and the reset button is on the right under the ABYX buttons, which is problematic for my muscle memory. (The power button is on the top; it won’t be hit accidentally but navigating to save-states isn’t exactly easy either.)

The SNES emulation is very good, and it saves SRAM data. Playstation emulation is a little choppy, but seems playable. There’s a dedicated “reset” button that pops you back to the general select screen, but you can also tap the Power button to pull up the RetroArch menu to save states and reassign buttons. (You don’t seem to be able to change the screen size, though, so plenty of systems still get stretched. That’s irritating.)

The UI for selecting games is the biggest improvement by far. The controls are displayed on screen (and in English, no less!). There’s a full game list, but also lists by system, a recents menu, a favorites menu, a search function, and a file select. There are “cheats” folders available (though they’re empty) so I may try testing dropping cht files into them to see what happens.

It appears set up to do HDMI output, and when I tested it (you need a mini-HDMI cable) it displayed very nicely and played well on my portable monitor. It has two micro-USB and one USB-C ports on the bottom, which makes me suspect that I could plug in multiple additional controllers if I had the right adaptors.

(As a side note, I tried plugging the X40 Pro into the monitor at the same time, and it looked beautiful, but suddenly wouldn’t recognize controller inputs for arcade games. I had to reboot it and futz a bunch to remind it what inputs were supposed to be. Interestingly, the X40 Pro came with a mini-HDMI cable, headphones, a charger cable and an inexplicable component cable. The X2 only came with a USB-C charger cable.)

The best thing about this, though, is that game names in the display, which are just magical. They were clearly machine-translated, and are virtually all nonsensical. Examples from the GBA list include: Demon city – white night (Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance), Gem Square (Columns Crown), Super box Warrior 2 (Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo) and Ancient confused wolf XS (Crash Bandicoot XS). I’m thinking I’ll make a Talking Time thread of just the amusing game names.

Overall: After all was said and done, this cost about twice what the X40 Pro did. And for that cost, it fixes most of the problems the X40 Pro had, with the same size screen and basically the same set of features. I’m now torn whether to take the X40 apart and fiddle with it, or just give it away.

 

[Beowulf]

PowKiddy X39 Pro Review ($45 on AliExpress)

This is a mid-sized handheld that I had mid-sized hopes for.

To start, this is a little bigger than many of the devices but still would fit in a cargo pants pocket. It has a 4.3” screen, which I believe is the screen size of the PS Vita, but this is slimmer and has a similar handfeel to the RG350. It’s running almost the same RetroArch frontend the X2 does, with some improvements: You can press the Menu button to bring up a proper menu, which gives you save state access but also the ability to remap keys, turn off the sound, and switch the screen from full to scaled. But it also has some issues: It does not save SRAM. The search function is hilariously terrible—I have to assume that it isn’t actually set up for English letters.

Like many such devices, you can’t directly connect it to your PC, or at least I couldn’t. I needed to pop the SD card and arrange files that way. I had some issues adding new content, but eventually figured out there was a “sync” button that added all of the new games to the end of each list. (And then I could assign them as favorites so they were easy to find. Woo!)

The SNES emulation clearly has some frameskip going on, and there’s a “scratchiness” to the sound particularly for SNES and PS1. It’s playable but not perfect, and unfortunately it doesn’t give you access to the settings that would let me optimize that. Oddly, Donkey Kong Country runs better than Super Mario World, when I would have expected the reverse. I’m going to guess it’s less about the device’s power and more about the software optimization.

It only comes with a USB-C charging cable, but it has a lot of ports: A headphone jack, a mini-HDMI port, and two full USB ports on the bottom, presumably for controllers. This was clearly designed for the “plug into the TV and play with your friends” mode. (A review I found online actually calls it a hybrid handheld and game box.)

Interestingly, while most of the PowKiddy handhelds are either clones of mainstream hardware or other retro handhelds (The X90 is the retromimi PocketGo and the X80 is the retromimi PocketGo 2; the X6 was a PSP shell and the X9-S was a Vita shell; the X2 is a Switch clone; and the X350 is a knockoff Anbernic RG350) I have no idea what this one is based on. It bears a mild resemblance to the PocketGo 2, but it’s bigger and wider with a slightly different button layout.

Overall: This is a decent compromise $45 device. It’s not as effortlessly portable as the Q90, but the tradeoff is the larger, nicer screen. It’s definitely no RG350, but it’s also less than half the price. Fortunately, I think it fits the bill for the person I had planned to give it to.

 

[Tegan]

The Retroid Pocket 3 is now available for pre-order. Specs aren't that much different from the 2+ but I hear there's some kind of optimization improvements or something that might make certain PS2 and Gamecube titles viable. Also the display (and the whole handheld itself) is quite a bit larger and has a PlayStation-style control layout. Also it has HDMI-out and you can stream PC games to it. Neat!

 

[Beowulf]

The Retroid Pocket 3 is now available for pre-order. Specs aren't that much different from the 2+ but I hear there's some kind of optimization improvements or something that might make certain PS2 and Gamecube titles viable. Also the display (and the whole handheld itself) is quite a bit larger and has a PlayStation-style control layout. Also it has HDMI-out and you can stream PC games to it. Neat!

...I may have preordered it yesterday.

 

[Tegan]

Let me know how it is! I kinda want one but can't really justify it. Dying to know what the state of handheld N64 emulation is in 2022.

 

[Octopus Prime]

I’m pretty tempted myself and I only just got (and ❤️Wuv❤️) The 2+ Recently.

 

[Becksworth]

Was thinking of maybe getting my son one for his birthday. He's starting to want to play mario and sonic on my phone. I try to steer him towards using a tablet, but I think he wants something smaller he can more easily hold. It being Android based seems like a good fit for him as I can put retro games on it and Mario Run, YouTube Kids and educational apps on it as well.