The retro thread

[Ambrose Burnside]

My mate sold me a copy of GTAIII a couple of days before release. I don't know how but I knew nothing about it at the time, had no idea how it would blow up. Think I sold my PS2 shortly after.

I bought it on a whim on the way home from work after the infamous garden stunt. Knew nothing about the game other than there was some buzz, figured I was about to lose my job, and just went "fuck it" and picked up a copy on release. More than once I've looked up the release date of GTAIII as a point of reference when working out the timeline for my resume. 2001. What a year.

Not sure what the garden stunt is, but my GTAIII story was as follows:

I was 17, last year of high school, and I didn't have a job at the time. My Grandad (RIP) would always send me gift cards for Christmas (back in the days when gift cards at Kmart were actual paper vouchers. Back in the days when Kmart sold games). GTAIII had a bit of hype at the time, but for me anyway I barely used the internet back then so the hype was from magazines etc. I saw it in Kmart in a bundle with a really crappy third party PS2 controller, but I needed a second controller, I knew vouchers were imminent, so I whacked it on laybuy.

Then I read in the newspaper that it was being pulled from the shelves. Newspaper. It's the little details that date this story.

Convinced my parents to lend me the cash (in exchange for my Grandad's gift vouchers when they arrived ) and raced down to the shops. And by raced I mean I jumped on the bus.

Joined the laybuy queue. Finally got to the front. Old lady at the counter. Asked to pick up my laybuy. She went out the back and was out there for AGES. Finally came back to tell me my laybuy was wrapped up (ready to be sent back to the supplier, but she didn't know that). Then out of nowhere my mate, who worked at Kmart at the time (and is now a high-flying lawyer), appeared at my side and came up with an absolute bs story (see, lawyer) that I'd called up earlier that day to say I'll be coming in to pick it up, and that's why it was all wrapped up for me. She bought it, and handed me the package. My mate just grins at me, and tells me to leave.

I felt like the most hardcore criminal ever on my way home

GTAIII was an absolute game changer for me. Not sure I could go back to it now, but it still had pride of place on my shelf.

GTAV was also a good one. On launch day me and a couple of mates from work popped down to EB Games on our lunch break. Absolute Jabba the Hutt behind the counter. Initially refused to price match Target. Didn't believe we'd go "all the way there" to buy it. Pointed out to the silly fat bastard that Target was all of 100m away. The girl behind the counter rolled her eyes at Jabba and told him to price match. We could have bought a 4th copy of the game with our combined savings

Preloading games on Steam just isn't the same

[klee123]

My only issue with these disc drive emulators is that you remove the disc drive on the system rendering your physical library useless.

I actually much prefer a solution like the Satiator for the Saturn which utilizes a plug and play solution via the VCD port to load Saturn ISOs, but still keeping the cd drive for physical titles.

[unfnknblvbl]

yeah, the Satiator is where it's at, but I can understand why the other systems wouldn't have an equivalent. I love that the concept behind the Satiator was discovered by accident!

[Gamma]

Then I read in the newspaper that it was being pulled from the shelves. Newspaper. It's the little details that date this story.

Haha, yes, I remember this was how I found out too. I briefly worried about "them" (?) tracking me down somehow for my illegal copy.

The TL;DR for the garden story was I got too pissed at an on-premises work function to drive, so I left my car there. Returned to get it later and it the car park gates were locked, so I very conspicuously ploughed through a garden to escape. Was sent home when I arrived for work the next day, which happened to be the launch of GTAIII.

[Candy Arse]

I just looked it up and the Satiator sounds 1000x better than the MODE.

[Hercy]

The TL;DR for the garden story was I got too pissed at an on-premises work function to drive, so I left my car there. Returned to get it later and it the car park gates were locked, so I very conspicuously ploughed through a garden to escape. Was sent home when I arrived for work the next day, which happened to be the launch of GTAIII.

http://poolroom.4bitterguys.com/playnow ... 00721.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[unfnknblvbl]

I'm so glad the poolroom is still up.

On my way out, I went to a really remote phone extension, entered the override code, rung a random 1900 number and left the phone off the hook

[Froggy]

Zarevz = GameHed?

[t0mby]

There's some gold in that Pool room, like when a certain someone was asked why they didn't like the PS2 then replied saying Smackdown 3 was awesome.

[Rorschach]

Damn, Playnow/ODWF era was over 20 years ago now...

[klee123]

Wow, those forums brings me back.

[Candy Arse]

The Satiator is out of stock with no updates on when it might be back in stock, so I went ahead and ordered the MODE for my Saturn.

Took the modded Dreamcast for a spin at a local FGC event over the weekend. I ordered a pair of Brook converters that accepts Xbox/PS3/PS4 sticks and lets you use them on DC and the Saturn so playing various DC fighting games using modern TE sticks was a real pleasure.

[BOOMY]

I havent been to an FGC meetup in years, i almost forgot that was still a thing. Maybe I'll drop in sometime this year, with my tekken sparring partner; we need to level up. is it still CCH at the library or are there all sorts of new groups i dont know about?

[Candy Arse]

Yes CCH is currently at the Richmond Library as the Collingwood one is under renovations I believe.

Next event is next Saturday (27th) and every second Saturday after that.

[Candy Arse]

After some fucking around (had to order a new ribbon cable) I finally have the MODE up and running in the Saturn and there's no going back.

Have loaded up with a pile of my fav Saturn games as well as English translations of Policenauts, Shining Force 3 Scenarios 1/2/3 and Dragon Force 2.

Saturn is video out via RGB Scart into OSSC into my Samsung Q80T and the games look MINT. Happy camper.

[Twiztid Elf]

While the retro thread is bumped, it reminded me.
In line with my povvo, no-clutter, cheap knock off, retro consumerism, I picked up a Super Console X Pro.
I also picked up an 8bitdo SF30 Pro (and the 8bitdo wireless receiver) to go with it.
And I have to say I'm really, really impressed with it all.
I've only played SNES, Megadrive, and Arcade/MAME stuff so far, and wow it is fantastic. Everything is absolutely perfect.
For example, Mat Mania / Exciting Hour is one of my favourite arcade games of all time. I've played this game thousands of times over dozens of systems and emulators. On the Super Console X Pro, the timing of this game is absolutely spot on. For the first time, this is the true experience I remember from playing the real thing.

[BOOMY]

My boss found such a good load in hard rubbish and he knows i'm into old junk so it came my way. I got....

-n64, 2 pads, perfect dark, winback
-snes, 2 pads, mario kart
-wii, 2 wiimotes and some shovel ware
-psx, 2 pads and various junk games.

Megadrive and gameboy are the big things I collect for (250+ games) and have various bits and bobs from other platforms but this was an awesome little booster shot to get cracking on some ninty stuff i normally emulate.

just wanted to mention winback is well ahead of its time. Basically playing like gears of war or some cover shooter from 5-10 years later than its release.

[F for Fake]

Do you guys still use CRT TVs or monitors?

I had to dust off an old 19" CRT monitor that I had in the shed for working from home that I was originally saving for potential retro gaming. It booted up fine, but after a couple of hours the picture is just getting blurrier and blurrier.
Was just going to toss it, but given their rarity, I didn't want to if it was an easy fix?
I've tried degassing and playing around with the settings etc.
I read there might be some sharpness controls inside, but if the problem is continuing to get worse, I don't think that will fix it for long (and I'd rather not get in there and fry my self if it wasn't worth it).

[unfnknblvbl]

it's worth seeing if it's fixable. It might be something like a dead capacitor.

I'd like to get my hands on a couple of good old CRTs, both PC monitor and TV. There's really only so much that filters can do to replicate the visual experience of playing games on CRTs. Just check out this tweet:

[Ambrose Burnside]

PlayStation 5 and Series X tested on a CRT - a game-changer for image quality?

So with our CRT testing with PlayStation 5 and Series X complete, what have we learned? Well, as fascinating as it is and as fantastic as the results are, modern day gaming on a CRT is very much a niche endeavour - the Sony GDM-FW900 works beautifully because it is a widescreen display and it's relatively easy to convert HDMI across to work with it. In terms of a precision look, with astonishing contrast and a crystal-clear image, it is still peerless - but it's not living room friendly to say the least, and if you do spend thousands to get one, the chances are you'll need to put the screen through an extensive calibration process to get the best results from it. It's not easy. The truth is that the popularity of CRTs with enthusiast gamers is very much in the retro space and that is very definitely the best fit for this kind of technology - the games machines and the titles on them were specifically designed for this technology.

[Ambrose Burnside]

I doubt I'll get it, especially for the $50 EB are charging, but I LOVE the Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX case.

[unfnknblvbl]

Aww yis.

This game is easy harder than it was originally. Continuing after losing all your lives removes all your money and items, which is really annoying when it comes to the boss fights. Some of the trucks to get past bosses and enemies no longer work, and one of the fancier jumping mechanics is entirely broken.

And I still fucking suck at the forest level.

[Ambrose Burnside]

I know for most here retro = console (and a console focus does make for the most epic retro set-ups), but for me retro = PC, and here's what I've been up too lately.

Quake

I tend to play through the campaign once a year or so. Just love it. But I've only just started looking at mods. For my most recent playthrough I've been using Quakespasm, which patches a bunch of bugs, adds support for modern resolutions etc. etc. etc. It just makes the game more enjoyable on modern hardware, without replacing any of the textures so it still "feels" like the Quake I grew up with.

But It also lets you play the original soundtrack when playing the Steam version (like I do).

Quake's soundtrack has never been available on any digital release. But MP3s (for both the original soundtrack and the two expansions) are available, and with a mod like Quakespasm installed, you just have to create a music folder in your Quake directory, whack the MP3s in, and you're good to go.

This is literally the first time I've played through Quake with the soundtrack since I was a kid playing my Dad's copy of the game when I was 12 or so.

Duke Nukem 3D

Haven't really played Duke at all since it first came out, but I had a GOG copy I must have picked up for free at some point, so I did a bit of research into the mod scene. Installed EDuke32. Wow. Like Quakespasm, it adds support for modern resolutions etc, and adds a bunch of other graphical tweaks like dynamic lighting and real-time shadows etc to make things look nicer, but still Duke Nukem 3D (enemies are still sprites for example). Also better mouse controls, a more modern HUD etc. It basically controls like a modern FPS. Forgot how hard Duke was compared to Doom and Quake, the aliens pack a punch!

There's also the High Resolution Pack which does make things proper 3D, but I haven't bothered with that because that's not Duke, damn it

Doom

Have yet to play Brutal Doom (I will at some point), but I feel the modern Bethesda version does do a pretty good job of making Doom feel good on modern hardware (modern resolutions and better mouse support etc) without changing what Doom is.

[t0mby]

Speaking of Duke 3D, here's a little known fact about the PSone version. Everyone knew you could only save your progress to the memory card after each level, quite a slog on the longer, more difficult stages, but there was also a quick save option anywhere through the level that was stored on the ram. If you turned the system off that quick save was lost, but leave the console on and you could pause it and come back to it later. You die? Load the quick save.

[unfnknblvbl]

How fucking great is Quake? It's just so pure. Yes it's brown with brown highlights, but there's nothing like it with that atmosphere or even anything that pays as well.

Make sure you check out some of the other sourceports. Dark Places even backports Doom 3's lighting techniques, and it looks amazing