youxia

I guess you could do some racing in Carmageddon too ?

Cool, I stand corrected then

I'm not sure it does indeed prove that meaningful free look is possible, but if it is then I'll be first to admit it's not just "more of a Doom (horizontal) only" game and even more impressive for that. As it is, the ability to look up and down was not just some cosmetic change but the single most important thing about Quake. It has completely rewritten the gameplay rules, especially for deathmach. The use of fully 3D geometry was great too, but if you remove the free look then you're left with a 2D-plane game with 3D models, which for me is "more of a Doom". EDIT: yeah, I guess "try it yourself" was a good advice, so I did. Much more impressive than the vid, it really does have that Quake feel...especially feedback from weapons and sounds. But I couldn't find the freelook, did anybody manage?

Did you actually play Quake?

You've just proven my point about old experienced users Do you really think OP is a kind of person who wants to use "Non standard controllers from the early eighties" ? And there is nothing simple about the zillion options in standalone emulators, and you will often need to use them, and then learn again how to do it in other standalone emus. Once you setup Retroarch it's as simple as anything else out there, if not simpler, because you just pick a system/game from a list, plus you only have to learn it once. And it's as useful on a PC as on a TV.

I'd say probably Retroarch. It is kinda infamous for its seemingly complicated interface, but it's also so popular that I'm sure there are some decent videos or guides for beginners, which will lead you by the setup/operations process step by step. It's also truly all-in-one, so once you learn how to handle it you will have access to nearly all the retro platforms. Individual emulators are great, but often not really that easy to operate - especially the ones for microcomputers. People say it's easy because they have been using them for ages, but beginners are often bewildered by countless options available in them and differnet ways of doing things.

People being proud of using Google in 2022 sound really quaint...

groundhogday.jpg

This seems to be a problem on all the other forums I use too.

It's anything but superficial. Adding another dimension has allowed for multum of new gameplay possibilities, not to mention the aesthetic ones. And it's not because of some pointless trend that these games have been both a huge critical and commercial success. Discussing "proportionality of fun" seems indeed hugely pointless, but as my personal anecdote I can say that for somebody who doesn't really dig the platforming genre, for me it was the move to 3D that elevated it from kinda-fun-but-too-simplistic, to something awe inducing and immensely playable. I've never got anywhere far in Mario 64 but still like to fire it up now and then and just goof around because running around and do all kinds of stunts is simply joyous. This is not always the case, of course, because sometimes transition to 3D is indeed pointless, or even harmful, as already pointed out above in many examples. For example, I doubt anybody can ever make Monkey Island as gorgeous in 3D as it was in its 2D heyday, and in this case the added dimension brings nothing new to gameplay. Other examples might be bit more in-between: I will probably always prefer the 2D Gradius and R-Type, but must admit that their 3D outings were top notch too, not only regarding the fun factor but also visually (well, bar the latest R-Type maybe).

Maybe, but speedruns aren't really good indicators of a game's real length. Apparently you can finish Zelda: Ocarina Of Time under 4 hours, but that's not how it was for most people...

I'm no console expert, but hasn't Sega Master System got a relatively big number of Europe-only (ok, Europe & Brazil) releases? Even including such bizarre cases as... I mean, I can understand Fantastic Dizzy or Great Soccer being European exclusives, but this...from Sega Of America, no less... I guess SMS really wasn't big in USA, then.

I've bought quite a few flashcarts, cables, and other bits and bobs over the last year. All of them bar one were perfectly fine and delivery surpisingly quick (2-3 weeks to Poland). At some point I had a parcel coming from Spain over 1.5 months and got 3 things from China in that period. The dodgy one was a super cheap GDemu board (14USD) which I bought kinda on a chance, and no surprise, the seller sent me only an SD card, claiming that this was what the ad was for. But his page had a description totally for the board itself, with exact wording and measurements. I opened a dispute for total refund (including the postage) without returning the goods and won, kinda surprisingly, because I had heard that "Ali sides with sellers". And that's the thing, a lot of bad rep Ali gets is from people hating on China in general and just repeating the somethin somethin cheap chinese junk mantra. In reality, it's an online marketplace same as all the other ones, and the same rules apply. It's not like there are no dishonest people on ebay, Amazon or - especially! - Craiglists or the bloody Gumtree. So, read the feedback, filter by "orders" - the more sold the better- don't buy too-good-to-be-true stuff, and you should be fine.

This is nonsensical. How are you supposed to "solve it yourself"? Your options are either to eat it up, respond in kind, or disconnect - and none of these is a good solution. To put it simple, if you think that saying "naughty phrases" - and we all know these are not as cute and innocent as that description suggests - is okay, then you are a part of the problem. People who behave like assholes online and ruin the experience for others should be banned without a question, and trying to build a thinly veiled SJW strawman here in regard to that is not an answer.

The 3D Contra and Castlevania aren't actually that bad at all (at least the PS2 versions), it's just that the 2D ones are better. The first GTAs were also very good.

So I got one of these last week, in order to feed my newly acquired hardware addiction and because it's probably the closest I will ever get to something resembling TRS-80. I don't usually get into these obscure machines since I can't do electronics, but this one has been shown working, from reputable seller, who also let himself to be persuaded to let it go for a reasonable price (~150 USD). One shift is missing, but apart from that it's looking brand new, must've been cleaned or retrobrit or sumthink. It turns on and displays text via composite on my CRT, which I must say is a bit "weird" looking - a bit as if it had oddly coloured (greeney) artifacting - not 100% sure if that's how it should be, seeing as there is no comparable CRT footage I could find. Now, I bought it under the impression that tape loading is possible, but I don't really know how to go about it yet. I need a cable for the tape deck - I asked a guy selling one of these computers on ebay, who has games shown working, and he recommended this adapter. If anybody has some hands-on experience with one of these machines and could share it, it'd be most appreciated.

Ahh, elementary, my dear youxia! Should've remembered it from my recent crtemudriver adventures. Glad you got it sorted.

Yeah, there are some nice games on NDS. Played a lot of them in my first year or so. Then I tried Izuna: The Legend Of Unemployed Ninja, and it became my gateway drug to a roguelike addiction. Not long after, my beloved JRPGs started gathering binary dust, never to be played again, and only one game mattered: the homebrew port of Linley's Dungeon Crawl, called DSCrawl. This is a mindbogglngly complex, addictive, and replayable game on PC as it is, but the DS port is tailored perfectly to dual screens/d-pad and a match made in gaming heaven. I've been playing it nearly everyday since 2012 and didn't touch a single DS commercial game. I know they are good, but why bother when I could be playing Crawl? Some other NDS highlights are the amazing PC 286/386 MSDOS emulator, Dsx86 and one for ZX Spectrum, called ZXDS.

I think I'd rather hear about A8 having 64Kbs of RAM than Jaguar being a 64 bit console

It was easier to blame pirates than openly say that the market is shrinking for these platforms and they can't be bothered, because big money is elsewhere.

There really is no one size fits all template for these games, there are too many ways to skin the cat and also too many player types who enjoy different styles. Personally I prefer games with detailed, tactical combat and heavy on realistic features, but many others, not so much. But that's why we have so many different games in the genre, and if you don't like particular system used in one you can just move on to another. The "modern sensibilities" trope is also somewhat meaningless, since often it means actually dumbing down and getting rid of good, working ideas for the sake of "accessibility" and "casual" players - who possibly could like them anyway, but never had a chance to try. Also, we've seen a massive resurgence of roguelikes and soulslikes in modern times, plus return to old templates in CRPGS in general (eg huge success of Divinity: Original Sin, with its best-in-class-combat, which is a direct descendant of the Goldbox style).

Technically impressive, but it's more of a Doom (horizontal only) with Quake's gfx.

Possibly the laptop's resolution is too high for the monitor. Compare the video specs for both (what's the top range of the monitor). Or just try choosing lower resolution on your laptop (eg 800x600) and see if it works.

Encumbrance is often there to make these games a bit more realistic and also balance the economy. If you could always load up and sell everything then after a few battles you could buy all the pricey stuff thus killing the game loop. Games with no encumbrance would then employ some other tricks, like diminishing prices in shops or random loot drops. The beauty of the Goldbox series is that it's actually not necessary to live by looting, as it is in most modern CRPGs. This series doesn't rely on endlessly upgrading your gear, but on using your wits and strategy in combat. You're pretty much sorted out with decent stuff quite early on and then can concentrate on using tactics. You need some cash for IDing and leveling up, but that's what the jewelry system is in place for.