Discussion Do you like retro games?

[Ren Elsie Jewelria]

8-bit Atari games, that was something.

 

[Flippy]

8-bit Atari games, that was something.

You mean Atari VCS or the Atari XE/XL (I think I have that right)?

 

[Ren Elsie Jewelria]

You mean Atari VCS or the Atari XE/XL (I think I have that right)?

Atari 65 XE, Sir.

 

[Flippy]

I see! Cool! I've not had much experience with those machines, though I used to own one briefly, with only one game lol! They certainly had an impressive colour pallet! I believe they could produce 256 colours and had quite impressive sound capabilities :-) I prefer the Amstrad CPC, not maybe as fancy in the colour producing department but a hell of a good all round machine! If you are curious, there are plenty of good emulators and the Dizzy series of games was usually always entertaining! :-)

 

[Manaaja]

I played Tomb Raider in DOS on a DOS website just a few days ago. Something was wrong with the graphics because they were so pixelated I had a really hard time knowing what was what. I saw a brown thing in the distance and I had no idea if it was an item or animal or what before I went right next to it and it turned out to be a skeleton. And in Lara's manor I saw something in distance and it turned out to be a door. Really bad draw distance. It was kinda funny. Definitely made the experience harder when you didn't know what was what unless you were really close. But fun nonetheless. It would have been nice to try and play the whole game like that. Like a challenge run. The colors were beautiful too.

I then played the same game on another DOS site and the graphics were much better and not a pixel mess. I guess the first website wanted to save on bandwidth or something.

I once played the best DOS game imo, One must fall 2097, on a dos website too. Now that's the only fighting game I like. You can even customize the robots colors. The robots were so cool. I used to fear the flame robot as a kid because it looked like the scariest thing ever. XD I always lost against it.

I said I don't like any other fighting games but I just remembered Little Fighter 2. I never beat the last mission no matter how many times I tried. And there was this guy who could take off his armor but I had no idea how to do it so I just pressed buttons and got lucky sometimes.

Btw, Wings (a Finnish game) now that was the best thing ever. I played it so much. It was for DOS too. Probably no-one outside of Finland has played it, but it was so great. Liero (a Finnish game) was good too. I used to make maps in it. Oh and Areena was good, all versions of it. Triplane turmoil was the dark souls of the past. Really hard. Do not go and watch the video on ytube about the dos game invataxi. I repeat do not watch it. If you want to know why, then watch it. Then there was Joulupukin jouluhiprakka. And of course Death Rally. I play through Death Rally every other year, always in one day.

Then there were a few games I don't remember the names anymore.

I love all sorts of games of all ages. I could write a looooot more but I need to sleep and eat.

 

[FromGermany]

I grew up with the Atari 2600 and later Arcade machines in the gambling halls.

This is still my personal all time Arcade favorit.

 

[Flippy]

I grew up with the Atari 2600 and later Arcade machines in the gambling halls.

This is still my personal all time Arcade favorit.

Ah yes, Phoenix. I remember that one, the first time I played it I was so small I had no idea what was going on lol! It's a classic though!

Do you still play on the 2600 or maybe emulate stuff? I have a VCS/2600, it's been quite some time since I used it. I keep promising myself that I will but it keeps getting pushed back. :-/

 

[FromGermany]

I had problems with running Stella on this computer, would love to play Missile Command again.

MAME is working. I still play Phoenix, Moon Cresta, Pooyan, Moon Patrol and Elevator Action for some minutes.

 

[Flippy]

I had problems with running Stella on this computer, would love to play Missile Command again.

MAME is working. I still play Phoenix, Moon Cresta, Pooyan, Moon Patrol and Elevator Action for some minutes.

That's a shame :-( Do you know why it wouldn't run?

MAME is pretty amazing these days! It's cool that you have access to some good classics and don't have to have a stack of coins to enjoy the games like back in the day! I am lucky enough to have a MisterFPGA system so I essentially have pretty much any system you can imagine up to the mid 90s a couple of key presses away. I really should use it more often than I do.

If you enjoy your retro games and have the spare cash, an FPGA system is a bit closer to plug and play. It's hardware simulation so it tends to be more like the real machines. Emulators can be a bit of a mystery when they don't work. On the other hand, RetroArch is a bit more user friendly and usually sorts itself out so trouble shooting isn't something you have to do often :-)

 

[callme]

That's a shame :-( Do you know why it wouldn't run?

MAME is pretty amazing these days! It's cool that you have access to some good classics and don't have to have a stack of coins to enjoy the games like back in the day! I am lucky enough to have a MisterFPGA system so I essentially have pretty much any system you can imagine up to the mid 90s a couple of key presses away. I really should use it more often than I do.

If you enjoy your retro games and have the spare cash, an FPGA system is a bit closer to plug and play. It's hardware simulation so it tends to be more like the real machines. Emulators can be a bit of a mystery when they don't work. On the other hand, RetroArch is a bit more user friendly and usually sorts itself out so trouble shooting isn't something you have to do often :-)

Minus the most important parts themselves. Suppose you have to smash the controller and the console, now since you physically have neither, you have nothing to get angry at. The PC will have to take the punishment.

Are arcades and coin pushers still worth getting?

 

[Flippy]

Minus the most important parts themselves. Suppose you have to smash the controller and the console, now since you physically have neither, you have nothing to get angry at. The PC will have to take the punishment.

Are arcades and coin pushers still worth getting?

You mean in the case of emulators? The FPGA systems are, if the developer had access to the original hardware and schematics essentially functionally identical to the original hardware. Each transistor should be recreated inside the FPGA. But yeah, if you want the plastic shell that the hardware was built into it's not quite the same. I guess it depends on what elements are important to you.

But as far as arcades go, yeah, there's still a good market for the cabinets and PCBs etc. There's some odd weird things with the capcom boards being a bit prone to lunching their own programming due to anti piracy measures. So its a market I haven't delved into much.

That being said, if you likes yourself a bit of NeoGeo or SNK, you can snag a MVS-1B (that's from memory just in case I have it wrong!). You can get a pretty good multi cartridge from eBay or Ali Express and with a few extra bits and bobs you have your own personal arcade at home. The whole setup can be pretty cheap considering.

Getting a complete machine, may be pretty expensive and there's lots of stuff you need to be aware of so research is a must before you buy.

 

[FromGermany]

@Flippy

"That's a shame :-( Do you know why it wouldn't run?"

The window with Stella was so small. I should try it again.

 

[Flippy]

@Flippy

"That's a shame :-( Do you know why it wouldn't run?"

The window with Stella was so small. I should try it again.

I see, it sounds like it's probably in its native resolution which is around 240p. If you have a fancy 4k monitor that's going to show it at postage stamp size. Even on a 1080p screen it would be a bit of a tiny size. You could try hitting ALT and f4 or possibly CTL f4 to see if it goes fullscreen. There may be some configuration settings you could tweak in the menus.

 

[callme]

Some games were pretty advanced for their time, like this real-time simulatior.

 

[4eyebiped]

I go back to the days of text adventures. Games were cruel back then. They did their best to fuck you over at every possible turn. That is, often, after having to do a lot of configurations to get them to run in DOS.

I used to enjoy the older graphical adventure games like Monkey Island and The Dig, turn base ones like HOMM 3 and Civ IV, RPGs like Wasteland and Fallout, real time ones like Empire Earth and Total Annihilation or getting together with friends to play Quake and Unreal. That is to name a very few.

I currently have older MMORPG server emulators for Everquest and Asheron's Call running here, with some custom settings, but I can no longer play games due to some weird issue with my arms. Constant minor movements are too uncomfortable. Doesn't take a minute to trigger it for either arm. Luckily enough this doesn't take away my ability to play with my, um... joystick.

 

[Flippy]

Some games were pretty advanced for their time, like this real-time simulatior.

Don't think I've seen this one before. There was loads of "one-upmanship" in the 80s and 90s. Companies would through ridiculous amounts of silicon at arcade games as the more whiz bang the visuals and sound, the more coins it would guzzle. I've seen a Sega Outrun board and the guy who maintained it showed me the dozens of single operation processors it had on there that would process the sprite scaling. You think "huh? What use is a chip like that?" But you combine them and you achieve the impossible lol! The engineering that went into these things could be ridiculous!

I go back to the days of text adventures. Games were cruel back then. They did their best to fuck you over at every possible turn. That is, often, after having to do a lot of configurations to get them to run in DOS.

I used to enjoy the older graphical adventure games like Monkey Island and The Dig, turn base ones like HOMM 3 and Civ IV, RPGs like Wasteland and Fallout, real time ones like Empire Earth and Total Annihilation or getting together with friends to play Quake and Unreal. That is to name a very few.

I currently have older MMORPG server emulators for Everquest and Asheron's Call running here, with some custom settings, but I can no longer play games due to some weird issue with my arms. Constant minor movements are too uncomfortable. Doesn't take a minute to trigger it for either arm. Luckily enough this doesn't take away my ability to play with my, um... joystick.

Sounds like you are keeping some history alive! That's pretty awesome! Have you ever considered setting up a BBS system? I have been visiting a few on my retro machines, it's fun to see these 8bit wonders access the internet, for me at least! Lol!

I'm sorry to hear about the problems with your arms :-( I have a similar problem, my arms are fatigued and sloppy after a short time, so even if I'm mentally in a place that I feel like enjoying some games, it tends to be a physically uncomfortable situation if not very painful :-( Do you know what causes it for you? Every time I ask a doctor, they mutter something about nerve damage and run for the door :-(