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Beowulf

Son of The Answer Man
(He/Him)
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.
 

Becksworth

Aging Hipster Dragon Dad
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.
 

Kazin

did i do all of that?
(he/him)
My PC Engine CD-ROM2 isn't working. I did get my HuCARD slot working on the main unit with an Everdrive, so that's good, but when I try to load a CD, the disc doesn't spin and it doesn't look like the laser is moving. I'm not sure what the problem is - I tried a couple fixes. Got some lithium grease on there in case it was old grease; taped the ground ribbon cable where it's supposed to go for the CD, and still, it sounds like it's grinding and not moving. It looks like all the plastic gears are there and are in good shape - though I didn't want to mess with them, so I basically didn't touch them when I had the CD-ROM unit apart. Any ideas? Is it just a dead drive? Interface unit works fine (this is not a Duo, by the way), since I'm able to play HuCARD games.

EDIT: lol, touched the middle gear in the CD area and it fell apart into pieces like it was made of sugar. Apparently that's a known problem area! Going to look into a replacement gear (yet another time I wish I had a 3D printer... oh well).
 
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Patrick

Magic-User
(He/Him)
Last August I hacked my 3DS. This time, I hacked my Vita. I also just went back & moved some things around on my 3DS and added a few games I had missed. My setup:

“Old” 3DS XL​
  • 3DS/DSi games natively
  • DS games on Twilight++
  • GBA games on open_agb_firm (with launcher)
  • GB/GBC games on Gameyob (DSi version)
  • SNES games on SNES 9x
  • NES games on VirtuaNES
Vita 1000​
  • Vita games natively
  • PSX/PSP games on Adrenaline (with bubble manager)
  • Genesis/GG/SMS games on Genesis Plus GX

The GB and GBA games run better now than they did in Twilight’s emulators. I tried out an NGPC emulator, but I think I would need a “New” 3DS to get it to run at a decent speed. I’ll probably just buy a few NGPC games on Switch & call it a day.

I’ve had emulators on computers or whatever before, but they always felt pretty janky. But the games running on these two machines are so much better. Everything newer than SNES/Genesis is running natively on the hardware (I think PSX is just really good emulation, but it feels great). And, most of the older games run well enough and feel good to play on both systems.

I’m super happy with how both of these turned out. The two systems compliment each other very well. Between them, I have access to most console games before 2000, plus like 99% of all handheld games. If anyone has these systems and is considering hacking them, I highly recommend it.
 

Kazin

did i do all of that?
(he/him)
$120 mistake. Already ordered a replacement drive, luckily Twin Famicoms work with whatever drive. I'm hoping the one I get won't need to be modded to rewrite disks - the reason I was even taking that one apart was to see if I'd have had to mod it to do so, and I would have.
 

Kazin

did i do all of that?
(he/him)
Got the drive and - gingerly - took the new drive apart, and hooray, it's the early 7201 model, meaning it has no write protection! I was able to reassemble the drive - which is difficult tbh, you have to put all the screws and such in just so - so now I have to never take that stupid thing apart again (until the drive belt inevitably breaks, which will be awful. The previous owner installed a clear belt, which hopefully lasts longer than the original black ones).

I do, however, have to mod the power supply board on my Twin Famicom, which is supposedly way simpler than modding the disk drive, but I'm sure I'll find a way to screw it up (or, more likely, not be able to find a guide for my exact model of Twin Famicom).
 

Kazin

did i do all of that?
(he/him)
Famicom Disk System update -

I CAN REWRITE FAMICOM DISKS NOW

*ahem*

I bought a cable - this one, though I could have made one myself but didn't feel like it - and after modifying the power board of the disk system I had to order after breaking my last one, it WORKED and now I have disk labels with the correct games on the correct disk (fuck off, crappy Ultraman game on my Metroid disk).

So, you know, if you have some Famicom disks and want them rewritten, lmk lol
 

Beowulf

Son of The Answer Man
(He/Him)
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.
It arrived two days ago. I need to load on roms and test all the different emulators, but so far Steam link works delightfully.
 

Sarge

hardcore retro gamin'
Now that's super cool. Always wanted an FDS. I've got an FDS Stick, though, but I need the RAM adapter.
 

ArugulaZ

Fearful asymmetry
I'm just remembering the crude teenage era of video game emulators for PCs. You know how they had NESticle and GeneCYST? Someone released a tool for modifying Famicom Disc System games called FDS Spray (a popular feminine odor spray in the mid 1990s). Oh, but then the makers of emulators had to fly too close to the sun by naming that Neo-Geo Pocket emulator... what they named it.
 

Phantoon

I cuss you bad
I'm just remembering the crude teenage era of video game emulators for PCs. You know how they had NESticle and GeneCYST? Someone released a tool for modifying Famicom Disc System games called FDS Spray (a popular feminine odor spray in the mid 1990s). Oh, but then the makers of emulators had to fly too close to the sun by naming that Neo-Geo Pocket emulator... what they named it.
*googles*

oh no

why???
 

Kazin

did i do all of that?
(he/him)
I can't figure out what the Neo Geo Pocket emulator was called even after googling (and if I did see it, I didn't get the reference). What is it?
 

Beowulf

Son of The Answer Man
(He/Him)
I can't figure out what the Neo Geo Pocket emulator was called even after googling (and if I did see it, I didn't get the reference). What is it?
It was called R.A.P.E.? (complete with question mark, as far as I can tell). Not quite H.P. Lovecraft's cat, but still really bad.
 

Sarge

hardcore retro gamin'
Ohhh, right. I almost forgot about that one. I remember being embarrassed to use it.
 

ArugulaZ

Fearful asymmetry
This just in, for the small fraction of nerds who care! Two of the games in the Sega Saturn library that required a ROM cart along with a disc to play no longer require that ROM cart! These hacks use the Pro Action Replay or another 4MB RAM cartridge as a substitute, loading all of the data onto the cart before the game begins. This makes it way easier to run these games on a US Saturn, provided that system has been hacked with a mod chip or Pseudo Saturn KAI.

 

Becksworth

Aging Hipster Dragon Dad
Man Logitech, $350 for an underpowered Android handheld? Did they do ANY research on competing products?
 

ArugulaZ

Fearful asymmetry
Maybe people will bitch less about the limited power of the Switch after they see this. Hey, at least the Switch can run most of its games on its own, without borrowing a cup of horsepower from a server hundreds of miles away.
 

Beowulf

Son of The Answer Man
(He/Him)
I'm going to guess that Logitech just doesn't even have the Chinese handheld market on their radar and has decided "cheaper Steam deck" is the entire value proposition they need. Never mind that for $100 you can get a Retroid Pocket 3 and stream things/run Android games just as well.
 

Becksworth

Aging Hipster Dragon Dad
I'm going to guess that Logitech just doesn't even have the Chinese handheld market on their radar and has decided "cheaper Steam deck" is the entire value proposition they need. Never mind that for $100 you can get a Retroid Pocket 3 and stream things/run Android games just as well.

Note, they partnered with Tencent on this, making said oversight of the Chinese handheld market even more glaring.
 

Sarge

hardcore retro gamin'
This is definitely a "but why?" product for me. Maybe I'll get one when they inevitably go on clearance.
 

ArugulaZ

Fearful asymmetry
Maybe it can be hacked into something useful later, depending on the specs. I'm looking at this and thinking "dumb terminal," unfortunately. Even my Vita can stream using Moonlight. Unfortunately, with internet as slow as it is out here, that doesn't do me much good.
 

Sarge

hardcore retro gamin'
It's using a Snapdragon 720G. From what I'm reading it's enough to do most Wii/3DS games, and I assume most PS2 as well. That's about it, though, so it honestly doesn't make any sense to go with it over a Steam Deck at that price point. And the Deck obviously gives you way, way more options on the AAA/indie gaming side of things.
 

Kazin

did i do all of that?
(he/him)
The only thing preventing me from going and setting that up right this second is having to split games larger than 4gb into smaller files. That sucks. Freaking FAT32
 
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