Retro Gaming Thread!

ErichWK

So I totes haven't seen one of these threads before, and I swear to god..if someone complains that there is one i will blow up this site.

Anyways! This thread is for Retro gaming, and right now I've got a ton of money from my Tax Return and am converting my office into my personal retro gaming haven. I was wondering what kind of TVs are good for non HD classic gaming. There is input lag with newer TVs right? As a lot of you know, I'm a SHMUP fanatic..and I don't want any delay while avoiding 10000000 bullets.

Stinger88

I just bought Magic Carpet from GOG. It was one of the games I got free with my first PC. Can't say i'm disappointed. Its such a classic. Just wish I could invert the mouse Y axis!

If I were you I'd just look into making an emulator cabinet.

http://www.tmsoft.com/article-arcade.htm

Lamont

Get one of those old school Sony CRT's.

Alberto Rdrgz

.lucky. i'm broke, been broke, always broke. FML.

Shadownami92

I know that your probably going to have to get a CRT screen of some sort anyways if you plan to play Duck Hunt.

And I think it's a requirement to have Battletoads in your game library.

seforin

Im a retro collector myself and go to local flea markets and hunt down lost treasures. My collection is ever growing. A shame there going like the way of the dodo

Racer445

ErichWK wrote: »

Anyways! This thread is for Retro gaming, and right now I've got a ton of money from my Tax Return and am converting my office into my personal retro gaming haven. I was wondering what kind of TVs are good for non HD classic gaming. There is input lag with newer TVs right? As a lot of you know, I'm a SHMUP fanatic..and I don't want any delay while avoiding 10000000 bullets.

all LCDs have input lag; how much of it varies by panel type, amount of processing, and the manufacturer. even if the panel has no input lag, the TV will scale retro game signals (240p, 480i, 480p), and do all sorts of bad to make it look terrible unless you have an external scaler...

the ultimate option is an RGB CRT monitor. CRTs have red green and blue guns, so using a direct RGB connection will give the signal much more bandwidth and go right to the guns without having to split signals. europe has RGB SCART on most of their TVs, but we in the states have been stuck with awful composite and svideo until fairly recently. that said, it's still possible to enjoy RGB awesomeness here in america, you just need to do a little work.

if you don't already know, SDTVs and low res games run at a vertical scan rate of 15khz, utilizing abount 240 lines. this is either progressive (240p, low res and crispy) or interlaced (480i, ugly flickery crap). VGA monitors and so-called "EDTV" sets run at 31khz, better known as 480p or 640x480 like computers of old. in america, the problem is that 15khz SDTVs don't use RGB, but while VGA computer monitors are RGB, not many can accept 15khz signals.

here's a list of 15khz RGB monitors (not recently updated)

thankfully, only PCs or recent systems like the dreamcast and xbox can output a 480p signal. if those newer systems are important to you, frequent craigslist and try to find an NEC XP/XV/XM29. they're very popular feature-packed aperture-grill CRTs... some with 720p capability! if you're only interested in older, 15khz systems--pick up a Sony PVM, they're top notch and easy to find. check craigslist and you should be able to pick up one of these pretty easily, and for next to nothing. i picked up my 29 inch mitsubishi RGB monitor for $50 and the tube still looks excellent!

once you have the monitor, the correct adapter and cabling is required. ebay can help you with that. all of this is cheaper than an LCD and going to deliver farrrrrrr superior "retro" quality.

a word of warning: once you get into this stuff you can never go back, and will forever lust for the unbelievable low res performance that an RGB CRT delivers. i'll post a short video of my retro setup later tonight.

duoxan

dear racer445, i love you. i recently found an old SNES and decided to grab it and trying to figure out how im gonna play those old games is a headache. all i have are my lcd computer monitors so ive been trying to find a way of jerry rigging it to those, but i may just fold and get a CRT or something.

pior

It's all relative really : sure, HDTVs and projectors have lag, but a fast and recent 24+ inches flat screen monitor might be just what you need! Some have all kinds of inputs : composite, component, VGA, DVI/HDMI... (I am aware that it wont deliver true retro factor - but sometimes the space saving and the easy setup makes it worth it ...)

Also, setting aside the nostalgia factor almost all SNES and NES games would look a lot better on a regular computer through emulation, than when running from the original hardware, on a 90s CRT TV. I think there is something great about seeing sprites crystal clear (as they were originally painted by the sprite artist back then), instead of seing everything blurred out by scanlines and interlacing effects. Just my opinion!

(however it is true that nothing really beats the feeling of putting a cart in and resume a saved game from there... this, I truly miss.)

Maybe you could also look into some of these "two in one" NES/SNES systems available now - there is a chance that some might offer good progressive video output!

Also, something else that I find very nice to have is a bunch of gamepad adapters. I wanted to go back into retro SNES gaming last year, so I got myself an original SNES pad (euro/jap style! Convex, colorful buttons ) and a few USB adapters : SNES to USB and PS1/PS2 to USB. It's great to have for emulation, to play on the go, and so on. The PS1 to USB proved usueful for Third Strike too, since playing it from a ROM through a CPS3 emulator is basically the closest possible to the original tight 60fps arcade experience - (better than the PS2, XBOX, and 360 ports that I all have too )

Keep us updated! And Racer, post pics soon!! Want to see

ErichWK

Excellent responses, guys! this is what I'm talkin about. And yea, Racer..I know what you mean about the addiction of collecting. I've had a small retro collection of about..60 SNES and NES games + consoles..but I feel the older I get the more guilty I am of all those classic consoles I've given away or sold when I was younger. I was an idiot 12 year old kid who didn't understand that I would wanna save my Genesis not give it away. Ugh!

I will say, I made the mistake of not buying the Famicom with the Red/white/yellow input, and bought the original famicom with a fucking adapter I have no idea how it works.

But as far as TVs go, is this what you were talking about?

Racer445

yep that's the XM29. they're very popular and hard to find though, so i'd suggest the sony PVM series as a good starter display. broadcast and TV studios used them a lot in the 90s so they're for sale all over the place. low-res only but that's not a huge deal because they look so good and can be cheap!

sadly with the famicom/nes and other very old systems like the 2600 there are no official ways to get RGB (other than the expensive famicom titler), and very few will hack the playchoice PPU into an NES to get RGB. you're stuck with composite on these unless you're very determined or rich.

pior wrote: »

Also, setting aside the nostalgia factor almost all SNES and NES games would look a lot better on a regular computer through emulation, than when running from the original hardware, on a 90s CRT TV. I think there is something great about seeing sprites crystal clear (as they were originally painted by the sprite artist back then), instead of seing everything blurred out by scanlines and interlacing effects.

scanlines are sick! makes pixely images look really sharp. interlacing, however, is the devil. see, this is why i hate that the US only got god-awful composite as a video standard until just recently, when we got component, then digital formats. since the advent of VCRs, europe had SCART RGB which looks beautiful--just check out the first post here with RGB shots from a pc engine duo hooked up using RGB to a sony PVM.

http://www.assemblergames.com/forums/showthread.php?31657-RGB-on-the-American-continent

direct captures of RGB vs composite: http://www.chrismcovell.com/gotRGB/rgb_compare.html

oh also keep in mind scart ALSO carries composite, so cables need to carry RGB in order for it to look proper.

pior

Oh man, I now the feeling - the PAL SNESes all came with SCART and it sure looked great ... except that most games were badly converted and ran 20% slower than US and JAP hehe

The Euro PS1 came with composite ... but you could get the SCART cable easily - made everything sharper! Even tho my friends thought I was imagining things (Look! The reds are not bleeding anymore!!)

PS2 and GC over component still look very good too... and again, many good monitors accept that. I run my PS2 that way to this day and it looks great on the projector setup.

We had a retro setup at work a while back, with NES plugged to a super tiny CRT screen hehe The nostalgia factor was totally there hehe.

leilei

If you care about DOS gaming but you're on a flatpanel, you could simulate some of the double-scanlined curvatured look of CRTs by using Ykhwong's Dosbox Daum cafe SVN build with the CRT.D3D.FX shader for the Direct3D renderer

It makes VGA text look more wholesome

convincingly works in SVGA modes too

Crappy games will still look crap, though

Joshua Stubbles

Stinger88 wrote: »

I just bought Magic Carpet

Yesssss. Magic Carpet was one of the best damn games that nobody ever heard of. Bullfrog at it's finest. I wish Peter would make a sequel, if he's still got the rights to it. If EA has the rights, I'm sure it will be an FPS with firearms and time travel, set in ancient Egypt. FML

3DKnight

replaying Star Control 2...now has full voice over and new music...

man the memories

Blaisoid

Yesssss. Magic Carpet was one of the best damn games that nobody ever heard of. Bullfrog at it's finest. I wish Peter would make a sequel, if he's still got the rights to it. If EA has the rights, I'm sure it will be an FPS with firearms and time travel, set in ancient Egypt. FML

hmmm.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/295138/ea-we-havent-forgotten-about-road-rash-magic-carpet/

Torch

I remember playing Golden Axe and similar games on the Megadrive ages ago, those games were only around 6-7 stages! Magic Carpet and Dungeon Keeper were awesome as well Then there's all the nes classics, the list just goes on. Sorry kinda derailed the topic there :-S

ErichWK

Dustin, how did that lenkeng work out for ? I'm interested in getting one..

Rilem

As a kid I sold my Megadrive+all my games to a relative for his kids.
Just so I could buy an N64, I was such a noob.

I tried to get the sega back later, only to find out those kids broke it.

ErichWK

Man, Rilem! What a mistake. People tend to give me shit and look at me like some sort of Pariah when i tell them the Nintendo 64 was not a good system in Hindsight and most of the games were terrible. With the exception of a few Nintendo titles..There just aren't that many games that are still playable today. The only third part games I can think of..is Mischief Makers..

P.S.
I've been on a mega huge Classic Turtle's Soundtrack kick lately..and I feel I should share the love.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fH-lLbHbG-A"]Best VGM 354 - TMNT IV: Turtles in Time - Sewer Surfin' - YouTube[/ame]

Lamont

Mischief Makers is awesome.