Spider-Dan

S.T.U.N. Runner and Steel Talons. The Lynx ports were fun, but the Jaguar could have done justice to the originals.

It seems to me that this position - which is as valid as any other - is fundamentally incompatible with the very idea of an SD cart (as they are currently understood to exist). I can't see why an SD cart would be programmed to allow you to play Battlesphere or Iron Soldier II in 2019 but not let you play (say) Rebooteroids or AstroStorm 20 years from now.

They aren't really numbered "levels" in the sense of beating one to get to the next. Think of it like Mega Man: you can just pick which level you want to play.

I was also thinking of trying out the Best Electronics adapter, so I'm really interested to hear back on the results!

First off: the original Genesis pad has 8 inputs (UDLR ABC Start) and 9 pins, which could mean that the 9th pin is ground and that's how the inputs are activated. But that's not actually how it works; to my knowledge, the only "modern" game system that has direct pin-to-input wiring is the NeoGeo AES. Every other system uses a form of communication over the controller pins, not simply a digital on-off signal. So, for example: the NES has 8 inputs (UDLR BA SelectStart) and a 7-pin controller, the SNES has 12 inputs (add YX LR) and a differently-shaped 7-pin controller, but the SNES and NES are pin compatible, meaning that if you take a NES extension cable and a SNES extension cable, cut them in half and (properly) splice them into two new M-F cables, you would have one cable that allows you to use NES controllers on SNES and another that allows you to use SNES controllers on NES. (NES BA maps to SNES YB, but the other inputs are consistent.) No microchips necessary, just dumb copper. Long story short, it's not about the number of pins or buttons, but rather about getting the controller to speak the correct language. And that would, indeed, require some ICs to do the translation. There's are two company at the forefront of controller adapters right now. For older consoles, it's Raphnet Technologies: https://www.raphnet-tech.com/ For newer consoles, it's Brook: http://www.brookaccessory.com/

Retro gaming is really no different than collecting expensive paintings or vinyl records at this point. If it were just about the experience of playing the game (or having the art on your wall, or listening to the music), emulation/flash carts are widely available, you can get a print of many paintings, and most music is available in some sort of digital form. It seems to be more about the satisfaction of owning the original hardware than the gameplay experience. And that's not to say that I haven't spent money on my retro gaming... but for me personally, it's more about restoring/polishing the collection of games I already have rather than adding to it, so I've spent most of my money on stuff like the HD upscalers & RGB cables, or the Lynx screen replacement. For the most part, I kept my childhood games/systems, and I've never really had an interest in collecting a bunch of cartridges I won't play. But to each their own! The part that somewhat worries me is if the retro gaming market will collapse like the comic book market did in the '90s. I'd hate to see people putting tons of money into "rare" game systems only to have that value go up in smoke when everyone remembers why those systems were rare in the first place...

Awesome update! Not sure if I missed it in the video, but will the CD support also have MemoryTrack emulation, or will all the CD games be unable to save?

My favorite version is TxK on PS Vita (or PSTV, if you can manage it). In fact, I'd say that T2K is to TX3 as TxK is to T4K in several ways; while there is more graphical heft in the later release, some of the gameplay changes are definitely for the worse in my opinion. Both T2K and TxK are games that just hooked me right on release... I had a more mixed experience with TX3, T3K, and T4K.

ABC are concave in the repro. You can see it pretty clearly at 1:15 of the video.

You should try a direct Jaguar cable instead of converters, and see if that resolves your issue. My Jaguar SCART cable is CSYNC, not sync-over-composite.

The primary benefit of 2D developers like Capcom or SNK making games for the Jaguar would have been the deemphasis of RAM relative to the CD-based consoles. At the most basic level, an accessory like a 4MB RAM cart is completely unnecessary for a Jaguar when the entire game is accessible through the cartridge slot (as opposed to just 4MB at a time). Of course, the tradeoff would be the expense of the cartridges. Still, you can see a small example where this could have led with Street Fighter Alpha 2 on SNES: No "load time" per se, but noticeable pauses as the system decompresses data from the cartridge. Would the Jaguar have been significantly better at the same kind of decompression? I can't say. Ultimately, I think the biggest difference between 2D and 3D on the Jaguar is that we have PLENTY of examples of the Jag's 3D capabilities being stretched to the breaking point and beyond, but AFAIK there isn't really an example of the Jag's 2D capabilities being taxed at the same level. I mean, even the mighty Saturn was brought to its 2D knees on occasion: And that's really the heart of my question... what would it take to max out the Jag's 2D capabilities?

So usually in these types of threads, people talk about Gouraud-shading and texture mapping... in other words, what kind of 3D could the Jaguar have put out. What I consider a more interesting question is: what could the Jaguar have done as a 2D machine? Rayman is a great looking game. Raiden has swarms full of sprites with no slowdown. Super Burnout has arguably the best 2D SuperScaler-style graphics ever. So what was the upper limit of the Jag's 2D capabilities? Could we have something like this? Or this? Or maybe even this? I feel like the Jaguar's 3D capabilities have been thoroughly explored, but the 2D capabilities have barely been scratched. What have 2D homebrewers been able to squeeze out of the Jag in its afterlife?

I'm not referring to games that could exist, only ones that do. Just because the Pro Controller has the keypad buttons 46789 remapped, that doesn't mean they are all frequently used by games that support the Pro Controller. But even if that were the case: holding a shift button is still significantly faster than reaching over to a daisy-chained Jag controller to push a keypad button. And again, if you use the default config, you would have immediate access to CBA46789 with no shift button. So I'm not sure what your objection is.

There is no fighting game on Jaguar, 5200, Colecovision, or Intellivision that has a 3P or 3K function. Excluding the Pro Controller buttons of 46789, about zero percent. Just because all the keys are mapped does not make the game "keypad heavy"; AVP has a lot of functions on the keypad, but they are relatively rarely used. Game devs understand how games work. They are aware that the keypad buttons are clumsy and insufficient to use as primary action buttons, which is the reason why the Pro Controller was created: to give the Jaguar more primary action buttons. You would hold a button as the converter powers on. That can be when powering on the system, or when plugging it in.

When are the first batch of these expected to start shipping? Or have they already started?

Correct. The fightstick layouts are almost exclusively for Primal Rage and Double Dragon V, neither of which need access to 4 or 6; 789CBA takes care of those games. But I still include 4/6 on the layout because I figure it's more valuable (and future-proof) to have access to every button just in case, and relying on an external keypad introduces more complexity and cost. If you want immediate access to 4/6 on a fightstick, and you're NOT playing PR/DDV, just use the default layout instead of the fightstick alternate. You will have immediate access to all 8 ProController face & shoulder buttons, and (because you're not playing a 6-button fighting game) the layout isn't as critical. While a physical switch would probably work just fine, I prefer a solid-state design where possible. The way I have designed this would be pretty easy to remember - simply hold the "light punch" button when you plug in the controller - but ultimately, I'd rather place my confidence in documentation being available somewhere on the internet than trying to fix a broken switch.

Some of the information in this thread is inaccurate: ZYX on the Pro Controller map to 789, not 123. I have previously thought about trying to make an adapter to convert a PlayStation Dual Shock (or DS2) controller for use with a Jaguar. With a modifier button, all the keypad buttons would be available. Here is the configuration I envisioned: L2(4) Select(Option) R2(6) L1(7) Start(Pause) R1(9) ∆( [](C) O(A) X(B) L3(~) R3(0) while holding L3(~): L2(*) Select(0) R2(#) ∆(2) [](1) O(3) X(5) I also thought about two alternate layouts for use with PS-compatible fightsticks, so the buttons map properly for a 6-button fighting game like Primal Rage or Double Dragon V. These would be accessed by holding [] or L1 as you plug the adapter in: Fightstick layout α (hold [] when plugging in): Select(Option) Start(Pause) [](7) ∆( R1(9) L1(4) X(C) O(B) R2(A) L2(~) While holding L2(~): Select(0) [](1) ∆(2) R1(3) L1(6) X(*) O(5) R2(#) Fightstick layout β (hold L1 when plugging in): Select(Option) Start(Pause) L1(7) []( ∆(9) R1(4) L2(C) X(B) O(A) R2(~) While holding R2(~): Select(0) L1(1) [](2) ∆(3) R1(6) L2(*) X(5) O(#) Stone, if you have some schematics for a Saturn-to-Jag adapter, I'd love to see them. I'm hoping to find someone interested in making this adapter.

I'm going to try replacing the microSD card with another 2GB card I have as a first step. If I still get errors, I'll PM you.

I've been having a few issues with my SD cart, and just wondering if there were any suggestions. The first issue was that I have occasionally received an INSERT GAME message that would not go away. Given that the SD cart has brand new connectors, it seems obvious that the connectors on that side don't need cleaning (and furthermore, I've gotten this message in between sessions when I haven't removed the SD cart). And on my Lynx itself, I can throw in my 25-year-old game cards and they boot right up. So I'm inclined to think that it's something else... which brings me to my next point. The SD cart has locked up several times while loading the menu. At one point I had to wipe the micro SD card and re-copy all the files back over, because the LynxSD simply would not boot past the "Menu v1.8 reading..." screen. Is this a known issue?

I posted some of this to the Lynx SD card thread, but I just wanted to mention it here as well: McWill was nice enough to offer services of installing his LCD mod + VGA connector (and do a Best Electronics speaker install while it was open). I am extremely happy with the new LCD, and I've been having a lot of fun with my revitalized Lynx and SD card. It seems that the battery life is significantly improved too!

I received my Lynx SD cart a few weeks ago, but I was waiting to receive my Lynx II back from the McWill LCD installation (and Best Electronics speaker upgrade) service that McWill was nice enough to provide. The combination of the McWill LCD and Lynx SD cart is just amazing; it's everything I could have hoped for. Obviously emulators have been around for years, but getting a chance to play unreleased Lynx games like Raiden on actual hardware with a MUCH better display is incredible. I've been having a ton of fun with my "new" Lynx, especially now that I can use AA batteries at a more reasonable clip (when I was a kid, I almost always played my Lynx on AC power or used the D cell battery pack). Big thanks to both SainT and McWill for revitalizing my Lynx!

One more thing: This is actually a really good idea, even for an adapter that does not require an original controller in-line. One of the issues I was struggling with was a way to map buttons that is conducive to everyday Jaguar games (that rely heavily on CBA as primary buttons, with intermittent use of keypad) and ProController games, particularly the fighting games like Primal Rage and Double Dragon V (which rely heavily on all six ProController face buttons). I've pretty much settled on this as my preferred PS2 converter layout: L2(4) Select(Option) R2(6) L1(7) Start(Pause) R1(9) /\( [](C) O(A) X(B) L3 (modifier) R3(0) while holding L3: L2(*) R2(#) /\(2) [](1) O(3) X(5) This works great for most games, including games like Atari Karts where the ProController shoulder buttons are used. C/B/A are all easily accessible face buttons, and the button layout is about as intuitive as you can get given the limitations. However, when it comes to fighting games, this mapping just doesn't work. Fightsticks are popular input methods for fighting games (yet regrettably absent from Jaguar peripheral options), and for the PS2, the most common fightstick button layout is: [](LP) /\(MP) R1(HP) L1(none) X(LK) O(MK) R2(HK) L2(none) (where LP/MP/HP are light/medium/heavy punch, and LK/MK/HK are light/medium/heavy kick) But if we have a PS2 fightstick with that layout, and we connect it to our new adapter, here's how the mapping shakes out: C(LK) 8(MP) 9(HP) 7(LP) B(MK) A(HK) R(none) L(none) It's broken and unusable. And unlike newer fighting games, Jaguar fighting games don't always have the option of manual button reassignment; for example, Primal Rage simply allows you to pick from a dozen or so preset button configurations (none of which solve this problem). So instead, I propose the same kind of switch that you mentioned above. That switch would toggle between a general layout (the first one I listed): L2(4) Select(Option) R2(6) L1(7) Start(Pause) R1(9) /\( [](C) O(A) X(B) L3 (modifier) R3(0) while holding L3: L2(*) R2(#) /\(2) [](1) O(3) X(5) and a joystick/fightstick layout: Select(Option) Start(Pause) [](7) /\( R1(9) L1(4) X(C) O(B) R2(A) L2(6) L3 (modifier) R3(0) While holding L3: [](1) /\(2) R1(3) L1(none) X(*) O(5) R2(#) L2(none) I think this would cover all the bases and be the most future-proof solution, especially when you consider that converters that allow you to use PS4 controllers on PS2 are still being made today.

Received my LynxSD today, just waiting to get my modded Lynx back so I can test it! A couple of quick questions: 1) Is the newest menu version already loaded on these, and if not, where can I find it? (The first post in this thread links to version 1.8 but I've seen people referring to 1.9 several times.) 2) Is there a list somewhere that translates each filename in the preview set to a game? Some of them have stumped me.

As I mentioned in my original post, there are enough inputs on the PS2 controller to handle all the keypad buttons. After the Pro Controller mappings are taken care of, you're missing 1,2,3,5,*,0,#; my first thought (above) was to map 1-2-3-5 to right analog stick left-up-right-down (respectively), with * and # being respectively mapped to L3 and R3 - this also makes soft reset super easy! As far as I can tell, across all games 0 is only ever used for music toggle, and can be left off the controller with little fanfare (though for completionist's sake, you could map it to any direction on left analog since we are no longer using that for Battlesphere joystick input). But upon further reflection, given the potential shenanigans with mapping analog directions to buttons, there's a simpler solution: use L3 as a button modifier. In other words, while holding L3: L2(*) R2(#) /\(2) [](1) O(3) X(5) And R3 would be 0.

Hmmm, sounds like the Battlesphere analog inputs are more trouble than they are worth. Are you talking about A and H versions of the Jaguar controller, or the PS2 controller? I'm not sure why the Jaguar controller version would matter, as a Jaguar controller shouldn't be part of the process. I was envisioning a standalone adapter that would connect the PS2 controller directly to the Jaguar, not a Jaguar controller modified for passthrough or anything like that.