Retro gaming

[Flabyo]

The Analogue Sg has scan line stuff but I don’t bother with it. It does a really nice job of scaling for my 1080p tv though, so I think it looks a lot nicer than just plugging in the original Megadrive via scart. So my MD is still hooked to my 14” portable in the bedroom, the Sg is in the lounge on the big HD screen.

[Suits]

Of late, for no real reason I've been playing an awful lot of Castlevania games. Than usual anyway.

I'm currently well towards the end of Dawn of Sorrow on the DS, I've been playing my old GameBoy games and I've been messing with the Castlevania 64 I picked up at a convention a while ago.

I've got a special thing for the GameBoy games especially, as these were games that very much wow'd me as a child when I first borrowed my mates, Dad's, copy of Adventure when I was 9.

As hard and non-understandable as it was at the time, it felt special - like an adults game, and was compelling.

Turns out Adventure is pretty bad, incredibly slow and a bit rough in places but I still love it as it was a peek at the the serious side of gaming for me and seems to feel significant.

Then theres Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge, which is much better and the best of the GameBoy games bar far.

Both Castlevania and Belmont's Revenge, I own, on loose cart.


The final of the Castlevania games GameBoy Is Legends.

Released 1997, (the same year as Symphony of the Night), it was a late run game for the original DMG-01 GameBoy and reviewed very poorly - primarily as it was directly compared to its bigger brother, SotN (daft really).

A combination of these factors resulted in a small sales.

Then, being a KONAMI game and being a Castlevania game, it does have a bit of a lineage.

The perfect storm for an expensive game.

I didn't have this game at all, it's just too hard to come across and often too expensive. Even for a cart only.

Until this week.

An opportunity presented itself and I took it, and the thing that tipped me over the edge into going for it ? - the condition.

I won't go into too much detail but this is by far the most expensive game I have bought. It's not silly money, but it's significant.













I've had a quick mess about with it and its fine, sure it's not SotN, nor is anything like it in too many ways but it's a good Castlevania on the Gameboy. Too early to say if its better then Belmont's Revenge but its feels OK so far.

Interestingly, this isn't on the new Castlevania Collection that realised last week, the other GameBoy games are but not this one, too late a release perhaps, maybe on a part 2 of the collection or something.

I also picked this up as part of the deal, nothing like as expensive but still a solidly priced game and I'm well pleased to have a boxed version of this game.

[Michiel K]

^^^^ Great stuff. The game is a dud, but that Castlevania The Adventure boxart is as hype as hype gets.

[Simonsloth]

So I did something that put me in my wife’s bad books. I’ve added a CRT tv to my otherwise extremely cluttered “office” but I couldn’t resist. The Donkey Konga bongos were so wildly off on my flatscreen I had to get one sooner or later.

It’s a design and model I would have scoffed at back in the day as it’s pretty small and has a built in VCR. However it does the job. It’s not going to be any good for 4 player multiplayer but for the odd light gun or rhythm action game it’s perfect.

So rhythm paradise, donkey konga and point blank will be dusted off very soon. Maybe even dance dance revolution if I can tolerate Boyzone which is the beginner track.

A little update.

I’ve got my first day off in a long while with my wife back at work and both kids at nursery. So I’ve hooked up the tv with my n64 to play pilotwings 64. I had tried it on my LED flatscreen and it looked so washed out and terrible I had to stop playing.

It is insane how beautiful it looks on the CRT tv. It’s almost like a painting where the paint is still wet. It’s gorgeous. Excited.

[Simonsloth]

Worth noting that outside of Goldeneye and the odd couch multiplayer this is the first N64 game I’ve played myself.

I played a few other N64 games on Wii virtual console and found them difficult to control. However on original hardware they feel really good. The stick is lovely.

[Suits]

I played a few other N64 games on Wii virtual console and found them difficult to control. However, on original hardware they feel really good. The stick is lovely.

I’ve been playing an awful lot of N64 lately.

Mainly Pilot Wings, Castlevania and Doom 64.

I had fond memories of the N64 controller but never really thought much of it until recently and started comparing to what else was around at the time.

I think it’s a great controller, it’s pleasant to hold and gives great engagement with the Z button tucked around the back, set up in a certain way you can almost use it like a dual analogue pad (which I use for Doom 64).

I have a few tired pads with loose sticks but I also have a few (almost new) boxed pads, which are really stiff and springy, which are a joy to use. Makes the fiddly jetpack on Pilot wings easier to handle I find.


Going back to what you were saying regards how the N64 looks on the CRT, I have to agree it looks good, but I find the difference between games is massive in a number of way.

For instance, I find Pilotwings (initially), rather rough looking and fuzzy, after a while like all things you just get used to it and it’s perfectly fine and isn’t really set up to be a looker anyway. On the other end of the scale, Doom 64 looks incredible.

The colouring and depth of colour is lovely. From the charred walls of the corridors and fire red burnt sky to the bright crackling neon of the plasma gun – it’s easily the best-looking game on the console I’ve seen, especially on a well calibrated, high contrast CRT.

Which brings me to Doom 64, its brilliant, an absolute dream of an original Doom game. The proper Doom 3.

It sounds incredible and with a bit of controller config fiddling you can get it feeling wonderful. I really enjoy the level-based gameplay, traditional traps and set up of the first two Doom games – this is very much that, with little added extra but a grittier look.

I have a spare cart if you want to borrow one. I’d most certainly encourage it.

[Flabyo]

I’ve got several n64 controllers with broken Z triggers, that seems to have been the main point of failure for me, no idea why.

[Simonsloth]

For instance, I find Pilotwings (initially), rather rough looking and fuzzy, after a while like all things you just get used to it and it’s perfectly fine and isn’t really set up to be a looker anyway. On the other end of the scale, Doom 64 looks incredible.

The colouring and depth of colour is lovely. From the charred walls of the corridors and fire red burnt sky to the bright crackling neon of the plasma gun – it’s easily the best-looking game on the console I’ve seen, especially on a well calibrated, high contrast CRT.

Which brings me to Doom 64, its brilliant, an absolute dream of an original Doom game. The proper Doom 3.

It sounds incredible and with a bit of controller config fiddling you can get it feeling wonderful. I really enjoy the level-based gameplay, traditional traps and set up of the first two Doom games – this is very much that, with little added extra but a grittier look.

I have a spare cart if you want to borrow one. I’d most certainly encourage it.

Now I’m bidding on a copy of Doom 64 on eBay!

Re:pilotwings the main thing that stood out was the difference compared to my modern TV which the made the whole thing borderline unplayable. On the CRT it looks incredibly rich I’m colour and texture comparatively.

[Chopper]

I’ve got several n64 controllers with broken Z triggers

Throw them out, man! De-clutter your life

[Suits]

I’ve got several n64 controllers with broken Z triggers

Throw them out, man! De-clutter your life

No, send them to me !!!

I can fix them .

[Suits]

Picked up a few bits this morning.

I went to my mates shop and traded in a few spares and swaps.

Came out with this lot.

Just a few interesting things I wanted. Eliet Beat Agents I've not played and am looking forward to playing it.

These are my first Neo Geo Pocket and Atari Jaguar carts, so that's nice to have - they are very cool, with really neat little details and form that make them unique.

The NGP comes with a cool GameBoy style case and has great cartridge markings and is very high quality. Plus its Turf Masters which is rad.

The Jaguar cart has a curved handle which should be mandatory on all carts, its wicked and again unique.

[Suits]

Mildly linked I suppose but fun to type out and show anyway.

A member of the community reached out and asked if I’d take a look a few newly acquired items, with the idea that I could give them a freshen up and a bit of TLC.

A couple of GameBoy Advance carts (Final Fantasy Tactics and Zone of the Enders) and a Nintendo GameCube Wavebird controller.

Clearly, I was dead keen to get my screwdrivers out and take a look.


Firstly the games.

The boards and pins were actually in very condition. No signs of any corrosion, or physical damaged to either.

Although by the looks of things the Final Fantasy cart had once been stepped on I'd say, as the inside of the outer case has some white stress marks, but the board was untouched.

Both were cleaned thoroughly with Isopropanol, polishing clothes and a fibreglass pen.

I had some fresh batteries ready to be soldered in but neither game has the use or need for battery back-up due to the EEPROM memory used in the GBA carts game data can be saved to the memory.

The only games that require battery back-up are games that require in game clocks for things, or that use older RAM. Pokemon, Castlevanias, Warioland, etc...

I did what I could with the labels.

Etsy actually do very good replacement labels but didn't go for those, as I expected that the owner would prefer the original(even if bad) label to a replacement, as good as it would be - I'd be the same.


The Wavebird.

So, this was in pretty good condition too really. The sticks were still tight, and the buttons still had some punch.

The only real note of word was that there was quite a bit of dust, grime hair and what looked like Wotsit dust around the analogue stick bases on the board.

I took apart the whole pad, (apart from the detail on the board as it was really clean anyway - if you can, you don't really want to take apart things like that as they'll never go back quite as they were.)

Washed, cleaned and polished all of the plastics. They came up real nice.

I then gave the board, analogue bases and contacts a detailed clean with Isopropanol, a lot of grime and grease came off them.

I was going to change the rubbers for a good OEM replacement set that I have in my spares, but honesty, these were better than my spares, so I cleaned those and used those again - nice and punchy.

It was a similar story with the sticks, both were very good. I have a set of brand-new replacements, but they're not OEM. They are good, but not the same as OEM, so I stuck with originals. It's what I would have done if this was own unit.

Battery connectors, radio, lights, all cleaned too and tip top.

Both were in fairly good condition really. The carts, one more so than the other looked as if it had had a bit of a rough time cosmetically but other than that was very good.

The controller was great, I’d say a pretty low use unit, it just needed a damn good clean and responded well to it I think.

All were tested and checked over with instant boot ups and button input responses.

I only took a few photos of progress and didn’t think to take a photo of them as I sent them back home to their owner.

I hope the owner is happy with the work and knowledge that their possessions should now perform for perhaps a little longer as they age further.

If nothing more, they have had an excellent clean which will certainly protect them from any bit rot for a while longer and if used with new batteries should keep nasty corrosion away.

[Simonsloth]

Honestly I love these posts you do Suits. Great stuff.

[Suits]

Honestly I love these posts you do Suits. Great stuff.

Cheers man .

[Simonsloth]

I’m going to dredge it up again but Antstream went live today and it’s pretty fantastic.
I’m sitting playing perfect versions of old classics. There are multiple places to play but I’m opting for Xbox one. It has a Netflix style library with a few hundred games already. I’ve treated myself to a bit of speedball, paradroid, paradroid 90 and Dizzy already. Absolutely phenomenal stuff.

Not for everyone clearly but for me it hits the spot perfectly rather than having to dig out the Amiga and resort to copious disc swapping and pray it works.

[Stanshall]

I am tempted but I'll have to wait for a potential console app unless I can run it via Chromecast or Fire Stick. After all the doubts in the build up, it sounds like they've nailed the performance side of things for the most part.

[Suits]

Anyway to play old games, (well), should be embraced.

The rigmarole of finding correct SCART cables and controllers is often a genuine barrier to entry - I get that completely.

[Flabyo]

In other news, the reason I was struggling to get my Master System copy of Choplifter to work on my Analogue Sg was because I’d ignored the label on the converter that said ‘front’.

Doh.

In other news, the Master System version of Dynamite Dux is probably the easiest home console game I’ve ever played. Shame it lacks the two player mode, it’s not a if the master system can’t do two player belt scrollers so I’m not really sure why. (I like Dynamite Dux, but it’s this weird anomaly in the SEGA catalogue where they’ve never done any decent ports of it themselves, I think the Amiga version is the closest you can get without firing up Mame)

[Michiel K]

Yeah, I played Dynamite Dux on the Amiga. Highly memorable game, with tons of weirdness.

Suits, I took a small risk and bought a SNES controller for 5 eurobucks at the charity shop. Predictably, only half the buttons are working, but I'll see if I can do something about it.

[Suits]

Suits, I took a small risk and bought a SNES controller for 5 eurobucks at the charity shop. Predictably, only half the buttons are working, but I'll see if I can do something about it.

Which means half the buttons are working !!



Should be simple enough, unless these pads have had some serious physical damage and the traces are broken - then they’re normally pretty easy to fix.

Take the case and show us what you’ve got, might be simple to identify and fix .