What Retro Console Activity did you get up to today

I haven't played a game in weeks. Between work and projects, it's getting a little depressing.

 

The sega rally challenge beckons

 

Are there analog equivalents of the Sanwa JLF sticks? That would be a cool cab, I'd make one of those.

 

There are analogue arcade sticks out there, but more light flight sticks than JLF. I'll list some tomorrow.

Unrelated, this popped up on my feed today:

 

I tried to get a bit of 1942 in...

 

Got back from Japan yesterday and picked up a decent amount of stuff, but hopefully not coronavirus!

Unfortunately I won't have everything I purchased until this Sunday when I catch up with one of my friends who was over there at the same time skiing, I went over my 30KG bag allowance so had to offload some of the gear lol.

This kind of post is completely useless without pictures of course so I'll post an update with them next week.

In the meantime...I actually only ended up visiting two Hard Offs out in the sticks...Hanakoganei and RetroGamerGirl's "secret" favourite Inagi Yanoguchi, both were quite good. The reason is I ended up finding pretty much all of the stuff I was looking for in Tokyo at "acceptable" prices and/or condition and I had a lot of other things to do on my schedule.

In the end I decided to leave getting the PC Engine Duo R/RX for another time as they were kind of expensive at the current exchange rate which wasn't unsurprising. Most that were in a reasonable condition I saw were going in the 30000 to 45000 yen range.

I instead focused on getting a SEGA Saturn Model 2 (Retro Game Camp) and a Dreamcast Revision 1 (Trader HQ) in non faded "stellar" condition. Of note if you are hunting for particularly a Dreamcast "Revision 1" like I was, this page has very useful information to assist.

In terms of what else I picked up:

1 x Nintendo GameCube Game Boy Player (DOL-017) - Indigo with the Boot CD.​

1 x Nintendo GameCube Microphone Holder (DOL-025) - Was in a boxed copy of Odama along with the GameCube Microphone (DOL-022) itself...both were factory sealed/unused. It may sound crazy but I am super happy I got one of these as they are relatively hard to find.
2 x Sega Saturn standard controllers (HSS-0101) - White.
2 x Sega Saturn 6 player adapters (HSS-0103) - I would love to play 10 player "Saturn Bomberman" one day, this however could be a pipe dream. More info on this page.
1 x Sega Saturn Hori Fighting Stick SS (HSS-07) - I know the Virtua Stick Arcade (HSS-0136) is more desirable but they are expensive plus potentially need to be modded/repaired and this was super cheap. More info on this page.

2 x Sega Saturn Extended RAM Cartridges - 1MB (HSS-0150) and 4MB (HSS-0167), more info on this page.
1 x Sega Saturn Backup Memory - 512K (HSS-0138) - Green in colour, more info on this page.
5 x Sega Saturn Visual Memory Units - Two are Aqua Blue and three are Clear. More info on this page.​

4 x Sega Dreamcast standard controllers...one standard white, two Aqua Blue and one brand new in box Pearl Blue which is absolutely beautiful/stunning (I will probably keep it sealed/not use it). For more info on the controller colours refer to this page.
2 x Sega Dreamcast ASCII Pad FT (ASC-1301P) - One was brand new in box/old stock and the other is in perfect condition. Pretty happy about finding these as they are fairly rare, expensive and sought after for fighting games. More info on this page.
1 x Sega Dreamcast ASCII Stick FT (ASC-1302S) - Once again pretty happy about finding one of these as I believe they are quite desirable and rare. More info on this page.
2 x Sega Dreamcast Vibration Packs - Standard white. More info on this page.

1 x Panasonic 3DO FZ-EM256 Save Memory Expansion - These go for a ton of money on eBay (300 AU+) and I picked it up for 6000 yen. I was very much after one of these for a reasonable price so am super happy.​

1 x Deathsmiles II for XBOX 360 from Cave - More info on this page.
1 x Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse for Nintendo Wii from Tecmo - More info on this page.

I also picked up 10 x Sega Saturn and 10 x Sega Dreamcast non filler titles that interest me the most (mainly at low cost from the two Hard Offs I visited) and will actually play (photos to come). I also managed to find about 8 x 3DO decent titles that I was after and hadn't been able to find for a reasonable price earlier (once again photos to come).

I also picked up some Nintendo 64 cartridges that I was wanting and missing. I actually should have got more but couldn't remember if I had them already or not (it wasn't really a concern or priority, I will pick them up next trip...we are talking like 300 yen items in Hard Off).

So yeah the Sega Saturn and Dreamcast will be a long term projects (although I think I have made a damn fine start). I will definitely grab a RAD2X for the Saturn and a DCHDMI for the Dreamcast at some point...and potentially USB mods for both at some point. I might also get an Action Replay for the Saturn and some more controllers if and when I see them cheap (for the 10 player "Saturn Bomberman" pipe dream). The Retro Fighters BrawlerGen for Sega Saturn controllers also look interesting, not sure if anyone has experience/thoughts on these.

In terms of the stores in Tokyo, I visited all of the Beep, Friends, Mandarake, Retro Game Camp, Super Potato (Akihabara plus Ikebukuro), Suruga-ya (both stores in Akihabara plus Shinjuku) and Trader locations plus around ten Book Offs. I had the most wins at the Suruga-ya and Trader locations (in terms of hardware)...overall I am really happy with what I picked up.

 

Indeed you did! Did you head over naked with an empty suitcase to fit it all on the way back? What a score!

 

What a shopping trip. Look forward to some pics!

 

I remember reading game mags like Hyper during the early days of 3d gaming and being amazed by screenshots like this, with the magazine talking up how awesome they look.

Checking out these old mags now... it's hard to imagine we ever thought that was good!

 

Don't forget it's always the same - each generation thinks they've hit the peak of whatever visual standard, only to be eclipsed by the next. Something easily forgotten when you browse the modern gaming subforums here, or worse on places like Steam and Reddit, where all retrospective is lost on those audiences.

Change is the only constant, things always improve. Whatever we think is amazing today will be boring tomorrow. Best to be happy with it - appreciate it for what it is when it is. That goes for whether you're playing modern stuff or retro stuff, I feel.

 

Actually I have just gone for a Sega Dreamcast PACKAPUNCH RGB 480p SCART cable and Sega Saturn RGB SCART PACKAPUNCH PRO CABLE for the moment, as it's the easiest/cheapest solution for me to connect my new SEGA consoles (this will consume the two remaining scart slots on my gwscartsw attached to my Framemeister XRGB-Mini).

 

I've decided that there's a gross shortage of awareness of the cool / cheap / interesting things AliExpress has in stock that can help retro gaming enthusiasts. I'm going to start a "random AliExpress of the moment (RAEOTM)" post in this and the computer equivalent threads, apropos to nothing at all.

Today's RAEOTM: PlayStation 2 memory cards pre-loaded with FreeMCBoot:
https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?SearchText=freemcboot

You will need a compatible PS2, see the list here:
https://www.ps2-home.com/forum/app.php/page/fmcb-compatible-ps2-models-chart

With that, you can boot homebrew software on your PS2. What can you do from there? Fat PS2s can have a IDE or SATA HDD installed with a HDD adaptor (bonus: also available on AliExpress - although be warned that despite being called a "network adaptor", many don't have the network port attached, so check carefully if you want that) to load your games from. Slim PS2s with a built in network port can load games via SMB from another computer, file server or NAS. In either case, no more disc swapping, and a great way to revive a PS2 with a dead laser.

Another cool feature of FreeMCBoot is GSM - Graphics Synthesizer Modeselector:
https://www.psx-place.com/resources/graphics-synthesizer-mode-selector-gsm.678/

It gives you complete control over the PS2's native graphics output, and you can force 480p, 720p and 16:9 video modes out of your PS2. Compatibility is dependent on the game - some work well, some not at all, videos sometimes break. So you'll need to play around with it. But if you're playing a PS2 out to a high def TV, at least forcing 480p out of games is a great way to lower scaling lag and remove interlacing ugliness. Combine that with some component cables (hint - also on AliExpress, and its the same cables for the PS2 and PS3, so buy for either console) and it's not a bad way to get your PS2 connected to a modern flatscreen telly.

 

Quick photos of some of the gear from my Japan 2020 trip to Tokyo are below. Most of the hardware is displayed here (without some of the duplicate items):



The SEGA Dreamcast games I picked up are as follows:

The SEGA Saturn games I picked up are as follows. Not pictured are Dead or Alive, Street Fighter Zero 2 and the "Circuit Edition" of Daytona USA that I picked up cheap online:​

Here are the additional 3DO games that I picked up:



Here is my existing 3DO Japanese collection:



Here are the Wii and XBOX360 game that I picked up:



Here is the Panasonic FZ-EM256 Memory Unit and some of the N64 cartridges that I picked up:



As said previously, quite happy with this haul.

 

look at all that sweet loot. Are the dreamcast controllers new??

 

The Pearl Blue one is and I believe it's a rare colour. The boxed ASCII Pad FT also looks like it's new old stock (EDIT: It is definitely new).

 

Nice score there bester! I want that 6 button DC pad so bad!

 

Still not sure if this is a joke or not...

https://twitter.com/LimitedRunJosh/status/1237797723161661443?s=19

 

Pretty sure it is

 

It'd be a joke even if they produced it.