FPGA Based Videogame System

[cowabunga]

First time post here. Just wanted to see if anybody's order has shipped out yet from the second batch?

[Jagasian]

First time post here. Just wanted to see if anybody's order has shipped out yet from the second batch?

I ordered one from the first batch and received it two days after Analogue announced they started shipping the first batch. I received my shipping notification a couple of days after I received my actual package. Pretty funny.

 

I also ordered another Super NT from the second batch, but I have not been notified that anything has shipped. Has Analogue announced that they have started shipping the second batch?

[Jagasian]

I ordered one from the first batch and received it two days after Analogue announced they started shipping the first batch. I received my shipping notification a couple of days after I received my actual package. Pretty funny.

 

I also ordered another Super NT from the second batch, but I have not been notified that anything has shipped. Has Analogue announced that they have started shipping the second batch?

It looks like they are shipping today:

https://twitter.com/analogue_co/status/969114116890574848?s=21

 

I bet my order arrives this Saturday, and my shipping notification arrives a few days after that ?

[cowabunga]

It looks like they are shipping today:https://twitter.com/analogue_co/status/969114116890574848?s=21

I bet my order arrives this Saturday, and my shipping notification arrives a few days after that

I actually read something about that happening (what you said in your previous post) on another forum. I hope they have fixed that this time. I want to know when it's coming, lol.

 

I read some orders shipped out a little early last time. But yeah, today is supposed to be the day they start shipping. I hope they don't go by alphabetical order, otherwise I'm screwed

[RabidWookie]

You gotta be realistic though; they can't sell them forever and technically they are still helping preserve history by increasing the number of consoles in existence. Others in this thread have noted an increased rate of SNES hardware failures already. Given the nature of the NT Mini I think it's unreasonable to expect them to do another run if there is minimal demand considering the cost of the console. Who knows maybe they can't even order fewer than 5000 at a time. A plastic version makes more sense but if putting their efforts towards an Analogue MD would be more profitable for them then I don't see how I could blame them for making the smarter business decision. Keep in mind there has been a sub $200 HDMI only FPGA NES solution on the market for some time; the demand may not justify the development cost.

Exactly. Everyone had a chance to get an NT Mini last year, and a small company can't afford to produce and warehouse a bunch of consoles that might not sell. There's already a cheaper FPGA NES available, plus NES fpga mods. Analogue would be smart to focus their resources on exciting new projects instead of a saturated NES market they've already served.

[SegaSnatcher]

I know Kevtris has been working on a bunch of stuff lately, but did he ever address the Samurai Showdown issue and why it freezes like 50% of the time during the animated intro? Also, why that issue doesn't seem to happen in 720p?

Sorry, this thread moves at such a rapid rate I might have missed Kevtris comments addressing this issue. Thanks.

[SegaSnatcher]

Exactly. Everyone had a chance to get an NT Mini last year, and a small company can't afford to produce and warehouse a bunch of consoles that might not sell. There's already a cheaper FPGA NES available, plus NES fpga mods. Analogue would be smart to focus their resources on exciting new projects instead of a saturated NES market they've already served.

I just wished Bunnyboy would consider making a upgraded AVS down the road with 1080p support and some features found in the Analogue NT Mini like the ability to load your own palettes.

[cacophony]

I know Kevtris has been working on a bunch of stuff lately, but did he ever address the Samurai Showdown issue and why it freezes like 50% of the time during the animated intro? Also, why that issue doesn't seem to happen in 720p?

 

Sorry, this thread moves at such a rapid rate I might have missed Kevtris comments addressing this issue. Thanks.

 

I believe so:

 

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/242970-fpga-based-videogame-system/page-346?do=findComment&comment=3973257

[SegaSnatcher]

 

I believe so:

 

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/242970-fpga-based-videogame-system/page-346?do=findComment&comment=3973257

Fantastic, thanks.

[CZroe]

You can just press "start" to skip those Zelda cutscenes.

Sure, but I’m almost offended that it even exists... like, the world is worse off as a result. Reasonable? No, but I do hate it THAT much.

 

I recognize the talent/skill that went into it but it feels like “wasted” is an understatement.

 

I actually read something about that happening (what you said in your previous post) on another forum. I hope they have fixed that this time. I want to know when it's coming, lol.

 

I read some orders shipped out a little early last time. But yeah, today is supposed to be the day they start shipping. I hope they don't go by alphabetical order, otherwise I'm screwed

Alright, Zachary Zappa. I have it on good authority that they accidentally keyed in your name as Zzack Zzappa. You have my sympathies.

[romevi]

I only started looking into MSU-1 games last week and after watching a bunch of videos I kept getting more and more disinterested with each video I watched. The music was way too powerful for the game; not to sound mean, but some of them just didn't fit the aesthetic of the game. It's a neat idea and hopefully will be implemented better, but I haven't come across any games that sounded better with Redbook audio.

 

That racing game was neat, though.

 

I may still order an SD2SNES however, but I'm holding out for now in case there's an "official" jailbreak once kevtris works out all the bugs in the main firmware. I'm content with playing the games I already own.

[DarkkOne]

I only started looking into MSU-1 games last week and after watching a bunch of videos I kept getting more and more disinterested with each video I watched. The music was way too powerful for the game; not to sound mean, but some of them just didn't fit the aesthetic of the game. It's a neat idea and hopefully will be implemented better, but I haven't come across any games that sounded better with Redbook audio.

 

That racing game was neat, though.

 

I may still order an SD2SNES however, but I'm holding out for now in case there's an "official" jailbreak once kevtris works out all the bugs in the main firmware. I'm content with playing the games I already own.

The best ones are usually just actual instruments, or much better synthetic ones, playing the same notes, in my opinion. Many of them, unfortunately, are a collection of OCRemix tracks or similar that just don't quite end up working out.

[CZroe]

I only started looking into MSU-1 games last week and after watching a bunch of videos I kept getting more and more disinterested with each video I watched. The music was way too powerful for the game; not to sound mean, but some of them just didn't fit the aesthetic of the game. It's a neat idea and hopefully will be implemented better, but I haven't come across any games that sounded better with Redbook audio.

 

That racing game was neat, though.

 

I may still order an SD2SNES however, but I'm holding out for now in case there's an "official" jailbreak once kevtris works out all the bugs in the main firmware. I'm content with playing the games I already own.

Yeah. I’m not enthused about the ROM hacks but I am excited about the potential for homebrew. Other than the fan port of Super Road Blasters, homebrew has been pretty slow to arrive.

 

What I’d LOVE to see is SCUMMVM for SNES complete with mouse support but I imagine that the resolution differences might be an issue.

 

One example of a poor implementation of MSU-1 audio:

The original Yoshi’s Island intro music clearly has a music box playing that winds down and stops somewhere during the story. When that happens you next hear a winding sound and the music resumes exactly where it left off (like a real music box). I don’t know what that sound is that they used for winding sound in the MSU-1 hack but it ain’t no music box winding sound! Why would MSU-1 have an inferior winding sound to the original?! Either the author was composing in MIDI and didn’t have the needed sound or they completely didn’t recognize what it was supposed to be and substituted something nonsensical. It wouldn’t have happened if the original game was made for CD so it just smacks of sloppiness.

[infinest]

It looks like they are shipping today:

https://twitter.com/analogue_co/status/969114116890574848?s=21

 

I bet my order arrives this Saturday, and my shipping notification arrives a few days after that

Huh, mine was shipped on the 27th and arrived today. I did order on the second batch.

Edited March 1, 2018 by infinest

[CZroe]

Huh, mine was shipped on the 27th and arrived today.

Surprised I didn’t see any reports that the second wave was shipping early. Analogue was still tweeting about shipping on the 1st (today). Congrats! What color did you order? Edited March 1, 2018 by CZroe

[infinest]

Surprised I didn’t see any reports that the second wave was shipping early. Analogue was still tweeting about shipping on the 1st (today). Congrats! What color did you order?

Thank you. Maybe it's because I ordered internationally, I dunno.

Anyways, I only really had the choice between transparent and black since I waited it out for too long (JB). I don't really like the transparent design so nothing else but black to choose.

The black one does look pretty nice but had I had the choice I definitely would've gone with the SF or the SNES design.

 

By the way, was there any ETA on when the Jailbreak will update to the newest firmware as well?

Edited March 1, 2018 by infinest

[Keatah]

Tuesday.

[cacophony]

Thank you. Maybe it's because I ordered internationally, I dunno.

Anyways, I only really had the choice between transparent and black since I waited it out for too long (JB). I don't really like the transparent design so nothing else but black to choose.

The black one does look pretty nice but had I had the choice I definitely would've gone with the SF or the SNES design.

 

By the way, was there any ETA on when the Jailbreak will update to the newest firmware as well?

No ETA but hopefully soon. A lot of the games I want to play involve saving so Im hoping the save bug gets fixed.

[cacophony]

Tuesday.

Where did you hear that?

[Keatah]

Tuesday seems to be the day most new software & media are released. Throw in a little bit of statistical analysis and there you go. Tuesday!

[Andromeda Stardust]

There are a lot of good MSU-1 hacks that don't add FMV (or add FMV from official other releases of the game), but include some pretty nice PCM music. Especially the ones that make use of actual re-orchestrations of the original songs.

 

There's also Super Road Blaster, which is pretty impressive homebrew. There's definitely something interesting about playing that on an original SNES attached to a CRT. And I think using for music doesn't seem terribly out of place on an SNES or anything.

 

I mean, realistically speaking, this is basically nearly what we'd have if the Playstation had ever come out as a disc extension to the SNES.

 

 

Just for kicks, I watched (and more importantly listened) to the MSU1-enhanced version of Super Metroid on YouTube yesterday evening. The enhanced music in itself is great, but there was this part of my brain that kept saying "overkill" practically the whole time.

 

If this music was used in a remake of Super Metroid (with visuals like Metroid : Samus Returns on 3DS) then it would feel perfect, but slapping this music onto the original Super-NES game feels to me like slapping a muscle car engine on a 1998 Toyota Corolla.

 

I guess I'm more of a purist than I care to admit.

 

 

 

That's basically how I feel. I'm impressed by the effort and like how it sounds, but if I'm playing a Super Nintendo classic, I want it to sound like a Super Nintendo classic. There's a timeless quality to good music on the Super Nintendo and how it sounds is a major reason why I still enjoy the console.

 

I wonder if there are any Super Nintendo games that forced the player to choose between music and sound effects? I can name several Sega Genesis games off hand that did just that (Like the Lotus ports from the Amiga), but if there are any Super Nintendo games that did likewise, I'd love to see this feature be taken advantage of in a different way by allowing sound effects and the original in-game audio to be enjoyed simultaneously for such games.

 

With the console's dedicated sound hardware, I can't imagine that more than a game or two did this. But I bet there's at least one out there.

I'm glad some people are enjoying the injected music and cutscenes, but IMO this is not how the games were developed and injecting these additional audio/visual features into the game is kind of garing. The cutscenes don't serve to to enhance the game experience but rather remove the feel of playing an actual SNES game.

 

Cutscenes in games are largely an invention of 5th generation and beyond. Injecting them into 4th gen games that were never meant to have them just seems out of place. Like suppose I'm reading a novel, ie harry potter, lord of the rings, or whatever, and someone just inserts random snippets of fan fiction in between the individual chapters in the book. The author of the fan fiction neither has the same writing style as the original author nor doe these injected stories make sense.

 

This is basically what injecting cutscenes into vintage games using romhacks feels like. If someone wants to create an original homebrew game with injected scenes specifically designed for said game, that would be fine. It would be no different than say a Sega CD game that had cutscenes built in and incorporated into the game by the original developers.

 

I think cutscenes can be great, especially if they match the graphical style of the original system. But inserting B class material into a triple-AAA game, just breaks the flow and continuity of the game. It ceases to be an individual great work of art, and instead feels like a patchwork quilt of hodge podge.

[Andromeda Stardust]

Crotchety rants incoming. You have been warned!

 

You mean the awkwardly forced exposition and horribly clichéd (and pointless) dialog didn’t make your eyeballs roll out of your head? It’s everything I’ve ever hated about the most insipid, pointless, annoying anime condensed down into a couple minutes. The characterization of Link as some clueless self aggrandizing child is counter-intuitive. They made him the butt of a joke in the very first scene.

 

Even those two minutes were full of cliché filler. Link mentions how good the apples look so his uncle stops everything to check one out for a few extra seconds that they don’t even have to animate. “Hmm... let me see...” Seriously?! I can’t imaging storyboarding that but perhaps that was lifted from the manga too.

 

Maybe I’m just a cynic who can’t enjoy anything without a point but that was insipidly stupid, a waste of time, and I genuinely feel like it insults our intelligence.

 

I mean, I’ve seen worse in actual games, like Richter meeting Maria in Castlevania Dracula X Rondo of Blood, but I’m pretty vocal about that hot garbage too. The rest of the game is great though, just like Zelda.

 

Thank you.

[NE146]

lol you guys act like you have to pay for the MSU1 stuff.

 

As something entirely optional & extra to shove on my sd2snes (in addition to the various other hacks of LttP), I for one like that it's around.

Edited March 1, 2018 by NE146

[kevtris]

 

On their Super Nt page it says,"We're preserving video game history.","We're preserving history with FPGA hardware.",and,"The Super Nt is designed to preserve video game history, with the respect it deserves."

 

It isn't preserving video game history if after the Nt Mini and Super Nt are discontinued they are so rare that most are still playing on the original NES and Super NES while waiting for someone to actually preserve video game history with long term solutions for both for the majority and not just collectors with limited edition clone consoles.

Without analogue, my FPGA stuff might never have saw the light of day. They provided an outlet for my cores and other work so that thousands of people can use it, so I think that counts for something. What's a "long term solution"? emulators and ROMs?

[GreenMonkey]

 

 

 

 

I'm glad some people are enjoying the injected music and cutscenes, but IMO this is not how the games were developed and injecting these additional audio/visual features into the game is kind of garing. The cutscenes don't serve to to enhance the game experience but rather remove the feel of playing an actual SNES game.

 

Cutscenes in games are largely an invention of 5th generation and beyond. Injecting them into 4th gen games that were never meant to have them just seems out of place. Like suppose I'm reading a novel, ie harry potter, lord of the rings, or whatever, and someone just inserts random snippets of fan fiction in between the individual chapters in the book. The author of the fan fiction neither has the same writing style as the original author nor doe these injected stories make sense.

 

This is basically what injecting cutscenes into vintage games using romhacks feels like. If someone wants to create an original homebrew game with injected scenes specifically designed for said game, that would be fine. It would be no different than say a Sega CD game that had cutscenes built in and incorporated into the game by the original developers.

 

I think cutscenes can be great, especially if they match the graphical style of the original system. But inserting B class material into a triple-AAA game, just breaks the flow and continuity of the game. It ceases to be an individual great work of art, and instead feels like a patchwork quilt of hodge podge.

 

I think of the MSU-1 more of an alternate-reality version of the game. One where Nintendo released a SNES add-on like they planned, kinda like the Sega CD.

 

Sega CD games can come off like this too - Lunar/Lunar 2, for example, definitely looks like a 16 bit game with voice acting and cutscenes dropped into it. Because it pretty much is.

 

In the case of Chrono Trigger, the cutscenes are from the PS1 version of the game, which is great except for the horrible lag times. It's kinda like retrofitting the PS1 video to the superior SNES performance.

Edited March 1, 2018 by GreenMonkey