Great interview as always, I’m glad this device is living up to the insane hype from when it got announced. Everyone looked at this thing and immediately decided it’s the best 4:3 handheld ever. And it seems to be just that. The fact that it can perfectly emulate PS2 at 2x resolution on low power settings is wild. I would’ve been frothing at the mouth to get this if I were younger.
Side note: I’ve never been a fan of transparent shells (kind of heresy in this hobby, I know), but I’m really liking the look of these frosted transparent ones. Clear purple looks like it could go hard.
What a great review. I’ve been curious about ‘Snatcher’ for ages…this video essay makes me think it’s worth spinning up.
PS: dunno if emulated or og hardware but that triangular filter is something Reshade does quite well. I was using it in conjunction with PCSX2 to play SoTC and Just Cause 1 some time back and it makes low rez mush look really good
I’ve been buying these since the GP32. I grew up with a Gamegear>GB Pocket>GBA.
There’s always a faster, more capable unit pushing what you’re capable of doing. I’d get whatever the current more affordable, pocketable darling is with the form factor you like (Eg TrimUI Brick) and if you love it and find yourself lusting after higher end emulation and PC game translation gaming after sinking time into your little one, then you’ll know it’s worth it and what you’re looking for.
I have just as much fun with the cute cheaper ones as the more powerful ones once I find a game that gets me hooked. I do like to tinker though.
I’ll give it a read over tea later. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Been wanting a reto handheld for quote some time ever since the miyoo mini v1 days years ago. Never have bought one before. Idk if I want a big capable versatile machine or small easy to pocket little doodad.
I used to have a GBA as a kid and a NSDL as a college kid.
Dunno where I’m going with this comment, I’m just rambling now lol
I love the filter they used for the game itself, seems to be the Retrotink 5X ($325, yikes) with the consumer-1 filter.
(something like this like this is in software is sometimes called ‘triangular filter’, not always available though. Similarly, for me Lottes filter is triangular in one software and a more standard grid with worse settings in another software)
Genuinely surprising, considering the OG -> 360 “backwards compatibility” was ahead-of-time recompilation. Not a proper decomp - more like Dolphin’s shader cache. The hard part of that is ensuring you’ve hit every code-path the game could possibly run.
If they’ve already done that work for a significant chunk of the library, it seems weird to build a proper emulator… and then still lie by calling it “backwards compatibility” that’s “compatible” with four fucking games.
It’s running android, however with PC it’s also the emulator that handles save states. Every emulator I’ve used on android has a save state function, so you should be fine 👍🏾
Oh yeah, I heard they were doing this and adding achievements. Not surprised they’re using emulators, though. I bet it’s a modified version of something fan made, as they tend to do things like that.
The thread I was reading was more about how uninteresting and forced official achievements are though (especially with 1000 pts per game rule making no fucking sense lol). I’m still stuck waiting for an OG Xbox emulator to support RetroAchevements.
Asked a friend to check since he subscribes to Gamepass. Though he was busy, he could at least do a quick check, and while he saw no ISO or xISO files, he did see some suspicious files in the data folder of one of the games. Without further findings, another conjecture is that it’s some sort of decompilation, like some other ports to PC such as the most recent release of Gunbird 1 & 2, the Mega Man Collection, and No More Heroes 1 & 2.
I also don’t know the answer, but adding to the list of educated guesses:
Unless the xbox was doing dynamic shader compilation I would think some level of emulation needs to be done for the graphics?
For example even though the switch 1 and 2 are using basically the same OS and CPU architecture (and both systems use Nvidia SOCs), the switch 2 needs to do GPU shader emulation to get games for the original switch running (which leads to some games not working perfectly)
It kinda still is. It’s just that people who could afford a 486/Pentium beige box in 1996 were a very specific type of person. Even among that bunch Duke being #1 and Quake at #4 shows that a Pentium was out of reach for many. A barrier to entry was lowered substantially since then with everything that brings.
I went back yesterday and saw that some more games had been put some in their CD section. Recovered some discs that missing got several more games. Paid less than $5 (they charge a quarter per CD/DVD). So here’s the total haul:
This is a pretty good question, and I can’t really tell. Based on some research, it looks like the OG Xbox was actually based on Windows 2000/NT, and modern windows is based on NT as well, so it could theoretically be a translation layer. It could also even be a straight port with no emulation.
My guess is that it’s a translation/compatibility layer + game specific optimizations/fixes. If it was a solution that worked more generally, then why wouldn’t they put more games on there?
Or, it could be that those games are easiest to support under the emulation/translation layer, and maybe it will be expanded to all games shortly like Wine is?
Just as update — I managed to compile it on linux, by replacing couple of libs and removing most of win depended calls. It crashes on game launch due to memory allocation problem. I think core part with how memory allocated needs to be redone in order to go in game.
And I think all what I’ve done so far makes no sense to continue, cause there another actually working crossplatform emulator — SharpEmu (also based on Kyty)
Upd. Also, new emulator have exact same problem, so I’m not so sure if it really emulator problem or demo that I use for testing.
I had it, got it included with a PC gaming magazine.
It looked very intriguing but I could never get very far into it. I remember the snall dinosaurs from the beginning, spying on a conversation through a keyhole, and most of all that eerie dialogue with the poor ghost girl from the well.
To me this stopped at the PS3. It was the last time anything significant happened. Still love it all, but every generation since I get less and less excited. At this point there isnt even anything else a system can offer thats worth wild.
Formative years come with micro transactions and subscription paywalls now. Single player games that require internet. And games that shut down when the corporation deems it unprofitable.
Heck yeah! I still read my game manuals. Its enjoyable and teaches you some secrets. And the backstorues are fun. Its like reading album liner notes. Yet another art gone forever.
Veeery true. Nothing has been exciting in tech since the mid 00s.
This word describes it perfectly :
adomania
n. the sense that the future is arriving ahead of schedule, that all those years
with fantastical names like ‘2025’ are bursting from their hypothetical cages
into the arena of the present, furiously bucking the grip of your expectations
while you lean and slip in your saddle, one hand reaching for reins, the other
waving up high like a schoolkid who finally knows the answer to the question
Was in the Steam sale recently - bought it, completed it. It’s pretty good - revisits a lot of MI1 and 2 with the hindsight that comes with age. There’s a lot to like, but it’s also fairly blatantly unfinished, some of the puzzles seem like placeholders for the much bigger puzzles that ought to be there, if you see what I mean?
It’s not quite as good as any of the original trilogy, but it’s not far off. Massively better than 4, obviously. I quite enjoyed the Telltale ones, tho - the episodic structure forced them to keep the puzzles tight, and they had some really good moments.
Erm…but the manuals are all online, though? So, I feel you, that it would be cooler with the actual manuals, but still having the bricks…is cool, I guess.
Mine didnt throw away my lego, they just dumped them all into one box.. then threw away the boxes and the manuals, which.. to me at least, was worse. I’d have prefered if the legos had been thrown away in addition to the boxes and manuals.
and they did it while i was a kid and still actively playing with them.
I cant even remember what lego sets I had anymore, outside of like.. one big set. So I cant even search for manuals online.
Mom tossed out all my early 90s legos by mistake including all my older brother original 80s sets (including the train set).
I had two or three of the big pirate ships, the pirate castle with the soldiers and glow in the dark ghost, the space shuttle+launch pad, the marina with the red crane pieces that are super rare, the fucking awesome ice planet explorer dudes with the bright orange visors and antennas.
And…fuck me…this really hurts I had almost of the the undersea explorer series, the dudes with submarines and the shiny silver knives, coolest lego sets ever made.
I think this is why I dumpster dive. I’m still looking for them.
there’s historical value in the games as physical objects
I don’t understand; does this suddenly become untrue just because they are accessible by other means? Especially with what Sony’s been trying to pull as of late…
See, I had to take em so the older sibling couldn’t get rid of them lol like when he sold his entire Star Wars collection of figures and ships and creatures. I kept the AT-AT and Rancor since those were my favorite and I refused to let him sell them for pennies on the dollar.
Probably not. More likely some old nerd wanting old stuff. It was like 10 years ago, so they were practically relics. Just makes it sadder really though.
An awful lot of early CD games would let you do that. Track 1 was the data and tracks 2-whatever were individual songs from the ST, because that’s how the game played the soundtrack audio, by treating it like an audio CD. That really only changed once audio compression got better and other assets got larger so there was a better way to use the space.
But when CDs first landed your storage media moved from 1.44MB disks (PC) or <= 6MB cartridges (SNES) to 640-700 MB it took a while before code and graphical assets started using a lot of that and well, you are paying for the whole CD either way, may as well use all the space.
The thing I Rembert most about this game is picking a light mech jumping and immediately destroying both of my legs when landing on the ground. 10/10 would love to play again.
I get what you’re saying, but saying nothing works under wine is a bit disingenuous 😅 I wish I had the skill set understand what it is that breaks when wine doesn’t work. Unless someone has figured it out before hand I would have no clue bow to figure out what libraries to override or additional dotnet versions to install etc.
I think most of what I’ve got are things I uh..borrowed and never returned from my brother, friends, and brother in law or copies that were made at LAN parties. Or saved from said brother/brother in law/friends when they were looking to get rid of them.
Should’ve worded it better, will fix. It’s not directed to you (cause you clearly answered). Just annoyed that some people silently downvote, while never providing any reason. “You right and I hate you for this” type of mentality.
Upd. Also trying to make it work on linux now. I have little to none skills with C++ tho, so don’t expect much.
Unrelated to StarCraft, but this triggered a memory from my childhood that I had to go research to figure out what the hell it was, so I thought I’d share.
I got to play StarCraft at a friends house, never owned it until I had a job and bought my own copy of SC2, my version of ‘StarCraft at home’ was “Battle Realms” if I got the game right. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHP3xUZ6ifc&t=2793s
I’m pretty sure the Lotus Clan had some corrupting/stealing mechanic that I abused, where I could take over enemy buildings and make my own version of their units. I remember turtling against the CPU players as being incredibly satisfying when I swept over them with their own units.
Might just be every RTS game where you can abuse economy in general when facing CPU players, but rolling across the map is always fun.
RetroFed
Great interview as always, I’m glad this device is living up to the insane hype from when it got announced. Everyone looked at this thing and immediately decided it’s the best 4:3 handheld ever. And it seems to be just that. The fact that it can perfectly emulate PS2 at 2x resolution on low power settings is wild. I would’ve been frothing at the mouth to get this if I were younger.
Side note: I’ve never been a fan of transparent shells (kind of heresy in this hobby, I know), but I’m really liking the look of these frosted transparent ones. Clear purple looks like it could go hard.
What a great review. I’ve been curious about ‘Snatcher’ for ages…this video essay makes me think it’s worth spinning up.
PS: dunno if emulated or og hardware but that triangular filter is something Reshade does quite well. I was using it in conjunction with PCSX2 to play SoTC and Just Cause 1 some time back and it makes low rez mush look really good
I’ve been buying these since the GP32. I grew up with a Gamegear>GB Pocket>GBA.
There’s always a faster, more capable unit pushing what you’re capable of doing. I’d get whatever the current more affordable, pocketable darling is with the form factor you like (Eg TrimUI Brick) and if you love it and find yourself lusting after higher end emulation and PC game translation gaming after sinking time into your little one, then you’ll know it’s worth it and what you’re looking for.
I have just as much fun with the cute cheaper ones as the more powerful ones once I find a game that gets me hooked. I do like to tinker though.
Those thumb sticks look painfully low
I’ll give it a read over tea later. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Been wanting a reto handheld for quote some time ever since the miyoo mini v1 days years ago. Never have bought one before. Idk if I want a big capable versatile machine or small easy to pocket little doodad.
I used to have a GBA as a kid and a NSDL as a college kid.
Dunno where I’m going with this comment, I’m just rambling now lol
I love the filter they used for the game itself, seems to be the Retrotink 5X ($325, yikes) with the consumer-1 filter.
(something like this like this is in software is sometimes called ‘triangular filter’, not always available though. Similarly, for me Lottes filter is triangular in one software and a more standard grid with worse settings in another software)
Genuinely surprising, considering the OG -> 360 “backwards compatibility” was ahead-of-time recompilation. Not a proper decomp - more like Dolphin’s shader cache. The hard part of that is ensuring you’ve hit every code-path the game could possibly run.
If they’ve already done that work for a significant chunk of the library, it seems weird to build a proper emulator… and then still lie by calling it “backwards compatibility” that’s “compatible” with four fucking games.
Man played retro games for 6 months and this is what happened to his brain.
It’s on like Donkey Kong
I can’t wait for the Fitgirl repacks.
🫡
Thank you!
It’s running android, however with PC it’s also the emulator that handles save states. Every emulator I’ve used on android has a save state function, so you should be fine 👍🏾
Probably a port of Xenon Fusion I’d imagine so similiar if not identical compatibility would be my assumption:
Community made a compatbility list: https://consolemods.org/wiki/Xbox_360:Original_Xbox_Games_Compatibility_List
XEMU fares much better: https://xemu.app/#compatibility
“Not surprised they’re using emulators, though.”
Reminds me of this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLWY7fCXUwE
Glad it’s picking up to the point even Microslop is using across platforms. =D
Oh yeah, I heard they were doing this and adding achievements. Not surprised they’re using emulators, though. I bet it’s a modified version of something fan made, as they tend to do things like that.
The thread I was reading was more about how uninteresting and forced official achievements are though (especially with 1000 pts per game rule making no fucking sense lol). I’m still stuck waiting for an OG Xbox emulator to support RetroAchevements.
Where’s Sneak King?
Asked a friend to check since he subscribes to Gamepass. Though he was busy, he could at least do a quick check, and while he saw no ISO or xISO files, he did see some suspicious files in the data folder of one of the games. Without further findings, another conjecture is that it’s some sort of decompilation, like some other ports to PC such as the most recent release of Gunbird 1 & 2, the Mega Man Collection, and No More Heroes 1 & 2.
I also don’t know the answer, but adding to the list of educated guesses:
Unless the xbox was doing dynamic shader compilation I would think some level of emulation needs to be done for the graphics?
For example even though the switch 1 and 2 are using basically the same OS and CPU architecture (and both systems use Nvidia SOCs), the switch 2 needs to do GPU shader emulation to get games for the original switch running (which leads to some games not working perfectly)
It kinda still is. It’s just that people who could afford a 486/Pentium beige box in 1996 were a very specific type of person. Even among that bunch Duke being #1 and Quake at #4 shows that a Pentium was out of reach for many. A barrier to entry was lowered substantially since then with everything that brings.
Elite list, played them all except the fight sim as that wasn’t something that interested me when I was younger
Why do you think I bought Mina the Hollower?
Member when games reputation was what sold them? 🥲
Pretty damn solid list!
I went back yesterday and saw that some more games had been put some in their CD section. Recovered some discs that missing got several more games. Paid less than $5 (they charge a quarter per CD/DVD). So here’s the total haul:
This is a pretty good question, and I can’t really tell. Based on some research, it looks like the OG Xbox was actually based on Windows 2000/NT, and modern windows is based on NT as well, so it could theoretically be a translation layer. It could also even be a straight port with no emulation.
My guess is that it’s a translation/compatibility layer + game specific optimizations/fixes. If it was a solution that worked more generally, then why wouldn’t they put more games on there?
Or, it could be that those games are easiest to support under the emulation/translation layer, and maybe it will be expanded to all games shortly like Wine is?
All the games that had a case or a sleeve/insert had the codes on them. I know some of them won’t work if they’ve been registered before.
Just as update — I managed to compile it on linux, by replacing couple of libs and removing most of win depended calls. It crashes on game launch due to memory allocation problem. I think core part with how memory allocated needs to be redone in order to go in game.
And I think all what I’ve done so far makes no sense to continue, cause there another actually working crossplatform emulator — SharpEmu (also based on Kyty)
Upd. Also, new emulator have exact same problem, so I’m not so sure if it really emulator problem or demo that I use for testing.
I agree. Things still felt pretty fresh and exciting into the early-to-mid 2010s but by 2016 we were firmly on the road to enshittification
Agree with the others! It was fun and I loved the art style.
I had it, got it included with a PC gaming magazine.
It looked very intriguing but I could never get very far into it. I remember the snall dinosaurs from the beginning, spying on a conversation through a keyhole, and most of all that eerie dialogue with the poor ghost girl from the well.
I know they’re planning on playable Zero, but man, if they did a Maverick Hunter X and included a Vile mode I’d be So Fucking Hyped
Have to agree, it’s been a law of diminishing returns since then.
To me this stopped at the PS3. It was the last time anything significant happened. Still love it all, but every generation since I get less and less excited. At this point there isnt even anything else a system can offer thats worth wild.
Monkey island, this is from the second game.
But at least we had fun
Formative years come with micro transactions and subscription paywalls now. Single player games that require internet. And games that shut down when the corporation deems it unprofitable.
Wow how it must suck to be a 20s kid.
Heck yeah! I still read my game manuals. Its enjoyable and teaches you some secrets. And the backstorues are fun. Its like reading album liner notes. Yet another art gone forever.
Thats awful!!!
Veeery true. Nothing has been exciting in tech since the mid 00s.
This word describes it perfectly :
adomania n. the sense that the future is arriving ahead of schedule, that all those years with fantastical names like ‘2025’ are bursting from their hypothetical cages into the arena of the present, furiously bucking the grip of your expectations while you lean and slip in your saddle, one hand reaching for reins, the other waving up high like a schoolkid who finally knows the answer to the question
Genuinely worth it for that alone :p
Watch it for the intro 🫶
Oh, that’s what you meant. But there’s nothing to suggest that death didn’t happen either way.
I put it there just yesterday.
Was in the Steam sale recently - bought it, completed it. It’s pretty good - revisits a lot of MI1 and 2 with the hindsight that comes with age. There’s a lot to like, but it’s also fairly blatantly unfinished, some of the puzzles seem like placeholders for the much bigger puzzles that ought to be there, if you see what I mean?
It’s not quite as good as any of the original trilogy, but it’s not far off. Massively better than 4, obviously. I quite enjoyed the Telltale ones, tho - the episodic structure forced them to keep the puzzles tight, and they had some really good moments.
I was in a kinda similar position. Browse Lego sets of that time, a lot came back to me that way.
Oh thats good to hear! Ill have to give it a go then!
Erm…but the manuals are all online, though? So, I feel you, that it would be cooler with the actual manuals, but still having the bricks…is cool, I guess.
I think you fight like a cow
The post telltale one is a return to form.
This made me sad. Hope bro is okay
I share your lego trauma.
Mine didnt throw away my lego, they just dumped them all into one box.. then threw away the boxes and the manuals, which.. to me at least, was worse. I’d have prefered if the legos had been thrown away in addition to the boxes and manuals.
and they did it while i was a kid and still actively playing with them.
I cant even remember what lego sets I had anymore, outside of like.. one big set. So I cant even search for manuals online.
Damn, that’s heartbreaking.
Was the last one decent too? After the telltale game i didnt dare touch it
I am rubber, you are glue, what bounces off me sticks to you.
Kiss me, I’ve got scurvy.
how appropriate. you fight like a cow!
I found some ique games on archive.org but only wario land 4 and idk what game is this.
if you’re going to insult him, it has to be done as a rhyme.
You fight like a dairy farmer!
hah
What kinda stupid name is that?
Oh wow I wasn’t expecting to see guybrush threepwood today.
My absolute favorite game series. Even the later ones, which aren’t as good as 1-3 are still pretty decent.
Nostalgia hits hard with this one
Mouthwash!? We don’t need no stinking mouthwash!
Monkey island.
What series?
One of my favorite series 🏴☠️
Mom tossed out all my early 90s legos by mistake including all my older brother original 80s sets (including the train set).
I had two or three of the big pirate ships, the pirate castle with the soldiers and glow in the dark ghost, the space shuttle+launch pad, the marina with the red crane pieces that are super rare, the fucking awesome ice planet explorer dudes with the bright orange visors and antennas.
And…fuck me…this really hurts I had almost of the the undersea explorer series, the dudes with submarines and the shiny silver knives, coolest lego sets ever made.
I think this is why I dumpster dive. I’m still looking for them.
It is always frustrating to see a repo like this with zero pictures or videos.
https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/3233d915-d443-4698-9447-9950bf6612df.jpeg
https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/4d4f0c8f-ab35-4d35-8e2a-42dba9015bb6.jpeg
my last big trash score
Definitely no two player. It was a pretty butchered port.
I don’t understand; does this suddenly become untrue just because they are accessible by other means? Especially with what Sony’s been trying to pull as of late…
Yeah i guess death is preferable my bad
Wouldn’t it be better the other way around?
Lol. I lost my ATAT when I joined the Army at and my mom gave it to my cousin when she decided to move before I got back. He, of course, broke it.
Otherwise it would be downstairs with my 1982 MOBAT (Gi Joe Motorized Battle Tank.)
It was too big to make it in the box with my other stuff sadly.
That’s how the pros play, turn down everything except textures. Personally I’m too much a glutton for FX.
You ain’t too poor to stretch and bend, homie.
It came out in July 2010, so almost exactly 2 years ago.
See, I had to take em so the older sibling couldn’t get rid of them lol like when he sold his entire Star Wars collection of figures and ships and creatures. I kept the AT-AT and Rancor since those were my favorite and I refused to let him sell them for pennies on the dollar.
Probably not. More likely some old nerd wanting old stuff. It was like 10 years ago, so they were practically relics. Just makes it sadder really though.
Nooooo! Hopefully you made some broke kids very happy, at least.
Didn’t SC2 come out like a couple years ago?
An awful lot of early CD games would let you do that. Track 1 was the data and tracks 2-whatever were individual songs from the ST, because that’s how the game played the soundtrack audio, by treating it like an audio CD. That really only changed once audio compression got better and other assets got larger so there was a better way to use the space.
But when CDs first landed your storage media moved from 1.44MB disks (PC) or <= 6MB cartridges (SNES) to 640-700 MB it took a while before code and graphical assets started using a lot of that and well, you are paying for the whole CD either way, may as well use all the space.
As the older brother, I have lost many items to the void of my younger siblings. I had to pave the way, lol.
Thankfully my parents were divorced and I could hide the good stuff at my single moms house. ;)
So I still have the stuff I was too selfish to let them loose/break/keep forever.
The thing I Rembert most about this game is picking a light mech jumping and immediately destroying both of my legs when landing on the ground. 10/10 would love to play again.
This person has gaming taste quite similar to mine
I get what you’re saying, but saying nothing works under wine is a bit disingenuous 😅 I wish I had the skill set understand what it is that breaks when wine doesn’t work. Unless someone has figured it out before hand I would have no clue bow to figure out what libraries to override or additional dotnet versions to install etc.
Bro, you actually went through the effort to type and hit send on this. Maybe try to sit back and relax, not all things need your commentary
Yeah! And power supplies that could power our monitors too!
I think most of what I’ve got are things I uh..borrowed and never returned from my brother, friends, and brother in law or copies that were made at LAN parties. Or saved from said brother/brother in law/friends when they were looking to get rid of them.
ok
Should’ve worded it better, will fix. It’s not directed to you (cause you clearly answered). Just annoyed that some people silently downvote, while never providing any reason. “You right and I hate you for this” type of mentality.
Upd. Also trying to make it work on linux now. I have little to none skills with C++ tho, so don’t expect much.
Who shit in your cereal this morning?
I can confirm starcraft still works on my computer without emulation
You should talk less about things you know little about. You seem smarter that way
Unrelated to StarCraft, but this triggered a memory from my childhood that I had to go research to figure out what the hell it was, so I thought I’d share.
I got to play StarCraft at a friends house, never owned it until I had a job and bought my own copy of SC2, my version of ‘StarCraft at home’ was “Battle Realms” if I got the game right. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHP3xUZ6ifc&t=2793s
I’m pretty sure the Lotus Clan had some corrupting/stealing mechanic that I abused, where I could take over enemy buildings and make my own version of their units. I remember turtling against the CPU players as being incredibly satisfying when I swept over them with their own units.
Might just be every RTS game where you can abuse economy in general when facing CPU players, but rolling across the map is always fun.