FPGA Based Videogame System

[genfuyung]

Some games require the Japanese BIOS like Phantasy Star, others don't. Wonder Boy III is just a special case that doesn't work.

Ok. Didn't think the japanese bios was necessary before but now I know better. Thanks.

[kevtris]

Minor question but something I have been curious about. When using the latest firmware and switching to the Cores menu I get a screen that says "Init File System (Y) Try Again (B) Cancel" that flashes briefly onscreen for like a quarter of a second. I generally ignore it because it doesn't seem to cause any obvious side effects, but from watching other YouTube videos it doesn't seem to appear for them. Anyone else see this on their machine, and have an idea what might be causing it?

that's normal. it shows the message while it's trying to access the SD card and initialize the file system.

[phoenixdownita]

....blah blah blah ....

Anyways, what I would like is: Every non-hdmi system in one console without emulation.

We're talking all of sega (Master System, Genesis, 32x, CD, Saturn, Dreamcast, Gamegear), all of Atari (2600, 5200, 7800, Lynx, Jaguar), most of Nintendo (nes, snes, n64, gc, wii, gb, gbc, gba), NeoGeo & NGPC, TG16 & TGCD, PS1, PS2, PSP, Wonderswan, and the original xbox.

 

....blah blah blah....

I believe it would be already more than well worthy with all the 8bits cores, if Kevin can also add PCE, then MD and SNES (maybe only in the Z3K) it would be more than enough.

 

Everything else can wait its good 2 decades or so until we can have commercially inexpensive FPGA (or whatever tech we'll have then) with 10/20 M (yes millions) LEs.

Amazon just launched their EC2 instances with up to 8 2M-LE FPGA cores (Xilinx ultraScale+) so they are getting to be more mainstream as time passes.

 

Not saying that all retro-gamers have not already thought about the "ALL-IN-ONE" .... it's just not gonna happen anytime soon.

Just think about the XBOX original and attempting to make a Pentium III core at 733Mhz and an NV2A capable of 7.3Gflops .... Intel and NVidia will run up and down your ass in no time even if you could just make it work at 100MHz, in 10/20Y maybe they won't care.

 

So let's stay grounded in reality, we don't even have a core for the SA1 and SuperFX chips of the SNES, or even the SVP chip of Virtua Racing for the MD afaik .... let's get those done first and dream of a NeoGeo FPGA ..... ... that'd be all.

[RampantOctopus]

Can't wait for Analogue to get more stock. This project is so cool it's killing me. I don't know if I can make my 30 lives last.

[Wolf_]

I believe it would be already more than well worthy with all the 8bits cores, if Kevin can also add PCE, then MD and SNES (maybe only in the Z3K) it would be more than enough.

 

Everything else can wait its good 2 decades or so until we can have commercially inexpensive FPGA (or whatever tech we'll have then) with 10/20 M (yes millions) LEs.

Amazon just launched their EC2 instances with up to 8 2M-LE FPGA cores (Xilinx ultraScale+) so they are getting to be more mainstream as time passes.

 

Not saying that all retro-gamers have not already thought about the "ALL-IN-ONE" .... it's just not gonna happen anytime soon.

Just think about the XBOX original and attempting to make a Pentium III core at 733Mhz and an NV2A capable of 7.3Gflops .... Intel and NVidia will run up and down your ass in no time even if you could just make it work at 100MHz, in 10/20Y maybe they won't care.

 

So let's stay grounded in reality, we don't even have a core for the SA1 and SuperFX chips of the SNES, or even the SVP of the MD afaik .... let's get those done first and dream of a NeoGeo FPGA ..... ... that'd be all.

At the pricepoint I listed you could take the current console and put a gtx 1080 and i7 6700k in it. I'm pretty sure that would be incredible overkill to make something with support for the original xbox as its most demanding task. So I feel that having an all non-hdmi in one hardware capable could be a very realistic possibility in the near future and spitballing ideas is important because he is already making plans for the Z3K and this kind of feedback could inspire him to maybe take its design a step further. (When he gets around to it. I'm certainly not telling him to stop making the cores he can get done right now)

[phoenixdownita]

At the pricepoint I listed you could take the current console and put a gtx 1080 and i7 6700k in it. I'm pretty sure that would be incredible overkill to make something with support for the original xbox as its most demanding task. So I feel that having an all non-hdmi in one hardware capable could be a very realistic possibility in the near future and spitballing ideas is important because he is already making plans for the Z3K and this kind of feedback could inspire him to maybe take its design a step further. (When he gets around to it. I'm certainly not telling him to stop making the cores he can get done right now)

You just said "no emulation" then you turn around and state "gtx 1080 and i7 6700" ????

 

Are you proposing a monster with the actual hardware (or FPGA where it exists) of all the existing consoles until 7th gen excluded crammed in a small space?

Anyway as I said every collector/retro-gamer and his significant other already dreamt at least once of the all-in-one thing-a-majingā to regain control of the game-room, the closet(s), the basement .....

 

 

PS: out of topic, anyone ever noticed how different the various mechas/super-robots were wrt their size?

Check here:

http://kotaku.com/super-robots-and-giant-mecha-sized-up-1677935292

[phoenixdownita]

For the people with the JB fw, can anyone validate if the sg1000 palette is the correct one or the SMS based one?

 

If Galaga SG1000 shoots dark blue projectiles (on a black background) then it's the SMS, if it's instead light blue it's correct, check here:

http://www.smspower.org/Development/Palette#MasterSystemMarkIII

 

PS: This is just for my info, I'm pretty sure kevtris got it right given it's the same VDP for the Coleco and how meticulously he reproduced all the nuances of the NES PPU analog out, but just double checking for confirmation.

[Namdor]

For the people with the JB fw, can anyone validate if the sg1000 palette is the correct one or the SMS based one?

 

If Galaga SG1000 shoots dark blue projectiles (on a black background) then it's the SMS, if it's instead light blue it's correct, check here:

http://www.smspower.org/Development/Palette#MasterSystemMarkIII

 

PS: This is just for my info, I'm pretty sure kevtris got it right given it's the same VDP for the Coleco and how meticulously he reproduced all the nuances of the NES PPU analog out, but just double checking for confirmation.

I just checked and I could be wrong but I zoomed in and held my phone next to my TV which I paused with a projectile on screen and it appears to be #5D4EFF. In order for me to play the ROM it required the Japanese SMS BIOS to be selected.my TV or phone colors could be wrong though so I'm not sure how accurate that test is. I bet kevtris will jump in and state what it is though. Edited February 16, 2017 by Namdor

[kevtris]

For the people with the JB fw, can anyone validate if the sg1000 palette is the correct one or the SMS based one?

 

If Galaga SG1000 shoots dark blue projectiles (on a black background) then it's the SMS, if it's instead light blue it's correct, check here:

http://www.smspower.org/Development/Palette#MasterSystemMarkIII

 

PS: This is just for my info, I'm pretty sure kevtris got it right given it's the same VDP for the Coleco and how meticulously he reproduced all the nuances of the NES PPU analog out, but just double checking for confirmation.

I use the TMS9918a palette for SG-1000 vs. the SMS one since it isn't the same. I could've used the SMS one though.

[phoenixdownita]

I just checked and I could be wrong but I zoomed in and held my phone next to my TV which I paused with a projectile on screen and it appears to be #5D4EFF. In order for me to play the ROM it required the Japanese SMS BIOS to be selected.

Thanks for confirming the right palette.

 

I use the TMS9918a palette for SG-1000 vs. the SMS one since it isn't the same. I could've used the SMS one though.

Noooooooooooooooooo, you did the right thing, I hate the SMS palette when playing SG1000, I have to play Galaga with the brightness turned to "are you f...ing blind" level to play, let alone for other SG1000 games when the chromatic choices of the artist become dubious because of the SMS palette.

Thank god you are a very thorough individual and did not take a shortcut.

[Andromeda Stardust]

Firstly, let me just say that this is a big ask and would probably require years of dev time, but I think it would be the hands down ultimate in retro gaming and while probably closer to the thousand dollar range it would be incredibly worth it because even if someone was only interested in 2 or 3 of the systems then they would break even, but if they use more than that it would be hundreds in savings.

 

Anyways, what I would like is: Every non-hdmi system in one console without emulation.

We're talking all of sega (Master System, Genesis, 32x, CD, Saturn, Dreamcast, Gamegear), all of Atari (2600, 5200, 7800, Lynx, Jaguar), most of Nintendo (nes, snes, n64, gc, wii, gb, gbc, gba), NeoGeo & NGPC, TG16 & TGCD, PS1, PS2, PSP, Wonderswan, and the original xbox.

 

To save costs some immediate features to cut down on could be: Only a sd card reader included and maybe a port of some kind for people that want to plug in extensions to play physical games. And built in bluetooth for running the wii would hopefully mean you could do some kind of internal workaround where classic consoles could accept bluetooth controller input because the console would accept the signal and then send the hardware the inputs the systems were expecting. Also support for the bliss box for people that want to use wired controllers would be huge. This way you could completely avoid any cartridge connectors or controller ports except 1 for the cartridge connector addons (so people only pay for the ones they want) and a usb controller input for the bliss box (or any other adapter people prefer, but seriously get a blissbox) and that should reduce a lot of the costs.

 

Features I would like:

Bluetooth support (needed for Wii)

Ethernet port

Bliss box compatibility

2tb sd card compatibility

nas (network attached storage) compatibility (requiring specific folder structures to make this work would be fine)

4k @60fps hdmi 2.0 support for 0 lag upscaling would be my wetdream if you could pull it off

 

 

I'm just going to assume you can't pull off native rendering in 4k @60fps and 1080p is the max that would work. That means each console you could replicate in this system would still be rendering with improved graphics not supported by the console itself, many of which hdmi mods don't even exist for and almost none of which have 0 lag native rendering increases to 1080p... boom hundreds of dollars saved right there alone. Now factor in the fact you can pull backups off a sd card, usb drive, or nas and how much everdrives and optical drive emulators cost (and how rarely they go up for sale, good friggen luck trying to get a psio) And if people are willing to spend ~$200 to have a hdmi mod, drop another $500 on a xrgb mini, and spend $100-$200 on an everdrive, not to mention the cost of the console itself to have a SINGLE CONSOLE work like this (with 1-2 frames of lag added from the mini, and screen blackouts every time the resolution changes) and I think a $1,000-$1,200 price tag is completely justified to high end enthusiasts for an all in one product.

Pie in the Sky bro... But I like it! Call me back when you've built one...

[Schizophretard]

You're forgetting consoles like the Apple II, C64, Vic-20, Vectrex, Astrocade, TRS-80 I, II, III, and IV, Coco1, Coco2, Coco3, Amiga 500/1000/2000, Atari ST series, Intellivision, and a whole hella lot more.

 

I'm glad that I'm not alone in considering many retro computers as consoles.

[+grips03]

any idea when they will have more consoles in stock?

[veelk55]

Pie in the Sky bro... But I like it! Call me back when you've built one...

He forgot WiiU and PS Vita a multi console is incomplete without WiiU. Super Mario 3D World ain't gonna play itself.

Edited February 16, 2017 by veelk55

[Andromeda Stardust]

He forgot WiiU and PS Vita a multi console is incomplete without WiiU. Super Mario 3D Land ain't gonna play itself.

Wii-U is an HD system last I checked. Well like the 360 and PS3 before it, you could technically plug it into an CRT with the composite cable but I don't recommend it...

[veelk55]

Wii-U is an HD system last I checked. Well like the 360 and PS3 before it, you could technically plug it into an CRT with the composite cable but I don't recommend it...

You're right. It is HD and it can be connected to a CRT. I have mine connected to the CRT too. But wait........ he said non-HDMI systems... does the Vita still count since it doesn't have an HDMI-out? (pretends the PS TV doesnt exist cause it is semi terrible)

Also, I meant Super Mario 3D World -.- I can't believe I mistook the names of my favorite games.

[Namdor]

any idea when they will have more consoles in stock?

Angalogue posted on Twitter on February 11th 7-10 days before new stock.

[Newsdee]

I'm glad that I'm not alone in considering many retro computers as consoles.

Computers are very well represented between the MiST and ZxUno. The big difference with consoles is that a lot of people had tons of copied floppies or tapes so would mind less switching to an SD card with disk images.

 

On consoles connecting the real cart is more of a big deal, so projects like this NT mini, the Z3K, or even the Retro Freak are a much better fit.

 

I'm really enjoying my MiST. It was amazing when a developer (Sorgelig) suddenly appeared with a bunch of Russian 8-bit computer cores, and these days some guys are looking at getting sound going on the Genesis core.

 

So for anybody interested in computers I suggest checking out those two boards. The cores are open source too, so in principle they would benefit the eventual Z3K as well assuming dev tools are available for it.

[Andromeda Stardust]

You're right. It is HD and it can be connected to a CRT. I have mine connected to the CRT too. But wait........ he said non-HDMI systems... does the Vita still count since it doesn't have an HDMI-out? (pretends the PS TV doesnt exist cause it is semi terrible)

Also, I meant Super Mario 3D World -.- I can't believe I mistook the names of my favorite games.

You need to experience this game in HD. The level details are gorgeous, especially the Bowser Circus world, a fresh take compared to the usual lava-themed worlds.

[Schizophretard]

Computers are very well represented between the MiST and ZxUno. The big difference with consoles is that a lot of people had tons of copied floppies or tapes so would mind less switching to an SD card with disk images.

 

On consoles connecting the real cart is more of a big deal, so projects like this NT mini, the Z3K, or even the Retro Freak are a much better fit.

 

I'm really enjoying my MiST. It was amazing when a developer (Sorgelig) suddenly appeared with a bunch of Russian 8-bit computer cores, and these days some guys are looking at getting sound going on the Genesis core.

 

So for anybody interested in computers I suggest checking out those two boards. The cores are open source too, so in principle they would benefit the eventual Z3K as well assuming dev tools are available for it.

 

I was interested in the Nt Mini before the "jailbreak" and if I would have got it like that then there is no way I would put used carts in it. I would have picked from one of the flash carts available, filled it up, inserted it, and never removed the cart again to keep it pristine. I hope to eventually move my entire collection onto flash carts so I can just collect the carts. Anyway, at least for me, carts aren't important for being played when flashcarts are available which allows me to keep the carts and consoles in more pristine collectible condition. I would treat 8-bit computers the same way. Carts are like baseball cards. Flashcarts are like playing baseball.

[veelk55]

You need to experience this game in HD. The level details are gorgeous, especially the Bowser Circus world, a fresh take compared to the usual lava-themed worlds.

You can rest easy i do play this and other HD games in HD. Just that I use CRT as well for other games which feel better in that screen, like VC.

However, there's no 240p.. -_____-

This is one of many reasons I'm so eager for the Z3k. For every minute I played a 240p game in anything other than that, I owe myself over an hour of the same thing being made correctly.

 

 

Carts are like baseball cards. Flashcarts are like playing baseball.

 

LOL!

Edited February 16, 2017 by veelk55

[rezb1t]

Loving my NT Mini quite a bit! Found some issues, all minor stuff.

 

There's a chinese pirate of Pokemon Yellow for Famicom which actually loads in the NES core, and the intro of the game plays out, but the moment you step outside your house, the game immediately jumps back to the title screen as if it reset. I saw earlier in the thread that someone reported a Final Fantasy 7 rom doing the same thing when entering the game, and from what I can tell, both use the exact same board! Certainly not a big deal but it'd be cool to play.

 

Next is (maybe?) a minor visual bug with Battletoads. This was loaded with a checksum verified No-intro ROM in the NES core. I noticed during the ending sequence the ship glitches out for a few frames, you can see the effect on my stream here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/122438610?t=01h05m11s. I skipped to the relevant time, just wait a few seconds into the clip I've played through the game very many times on a Hi-Def modded AV Famicom and on an NES + CRT TV and haven't seen it do that before. Maybe it can happen on an NES though? I'll play through it again on the NT Mini tomorrow and see if it happens again.

 

Lastly, Huge Insect has graphical garbage while the bugs are flying around in game. I know that this is due to the game depending on rev G specific behavior that corrupts the OAMADDR register on writes, and it's definitely not behavior we 'want' 99.9999% of the time. Maybe a switch could be added for it? I'm probably not going to play Huge Insect much so I don't care much, but I figured it deserves to be documented

 

Thanks for everything kevtris! This is my favorite console by far now, been playing it hours every day.

Edited February 16, 2017 by rezb1t

[F34R]

Can someone recommend what I would be good to use so I can play some games on my Sony CRT? It has Composite/Component and RF. I'd rather not use RF, but if that's the only option... also, what would I change as far as the video options to make sure the picture is fitting the screen properly?

 

Love my NT Mini, and I am very appreciative of the work Kevtris is putting out for it.

[Newsdee]

Anyway, at least for me, carts aren't important for being played when flashcarts are available which allows me to keep the carts and consoles in more pristine collectible condition. I would treat 8-bit computers the same way. Carts are like baseball cards. Flashcarts are like playing baseball.

In that case, I do suggest having a look at these two:

https://github.com/mist-devel/mist-board/wiki

http://zxuno.speccy.org/index_e.shtml

 

Computers are quite well supported there.

Consoles are hit and miss though, so the NT is a safer choice for the short term.

Edited February 16, 2017 by Newsdee

[Kismet]

Firstly, let me just say that this is a big ask and would probably require years of dev time, but I think it would be the hands down ultimate in retro gaming and while probably closer to the thousand dollar range it would be incredibly worth it because even if someone was only interested in 2 or 3 of the systems then they would break even, but if they use more than that it would be hundreds in savings.

 

Anyways, what I would like is: Every non-hdmi system in one console without emulation.

We're talking all of sega (Master System, Genesis, 32x, CD, Saturn, Dreamcast, Gamegear), all of Atari (2600, 5200, 7800, Lynx, Jaguar), most of Nintendo (nes, snes, n64, gc, wii, gb, gbc, gba), NeoGeo & NGPC, TG16 & TGCD, PS1, PS2, PSP, Wonderswan, and the original xbox.

 

To save costs some immediate features to cut down on could be: Only a sd card reader included and maybe a port of some kind for people that want to plug in extensions to play physical games. And built in bluetooth for running the wii would hopefully mean you could do some kind of internal workaround where classic consoles could accept bluetooth controller input because the console would accept the signal and then send the hardware the inputs the systems were expecting. Also support for the bliss box for people that want to use wired controllers would be huge. This way you could completely avoid any cartridge connectors or controller ports except 1 for the cartridge connector addons (so people only pay for the ones they want) and a usb controller input for the bliss box (or any other adapter people prefer, but seriously get a blissbox) and that should reduce a lot of the costs.

 

Features I would like:

Bluetooth support (needed for Wii)

Ethernet port

Bliss box compatibility

2tb sd card compatibility

nas (network attached storage) compatibility (requiring specific folder structures to make this work would be fine)

4k @60fps hdmi 2.0 support for 0 lag upscaling would be my wetdream if you could pull it off

 

 

I'm just going to assume you can't pull off native rendering in 4k @60fps and 1080p is the max that would work. That means each console you could replicate in this system would still be rendering with improved graphics not supported by the console itself, many of which hdmi mods don't even exist for and almost none of which have 0 lag native rendering increases to 1080p... boom hundreds of dollars saved right there alone. Now factor in the fact you can pull backups off a sd card, usb drive, or nas and how much everdrives and optical drive emulators cost (and how rarely they go up for sale, good friggen luck trying to get a psio) And if people are willing to spend ~$200 to have a hdmi mod, drop another $500 on a xrgb mini, and spend $100-$200 on an everdrive, not to mention the cost of the console itself to have a SINGLE CONSOLE work like this (with 1-2 frames of lag added from the mini, and screen blackouts every time the resolution changes) and I think a $1,000-$1,200 price tag is completely justified to high end enthusiasts for an all in one product.

 

Long post ahead

 

Most of that is impossible for various reasons. I'll divide them into two categories

A) Stuff that can be implemented in FPGA (now)

B) Stuff that can not be implemented in a single FPGA

 

A - Systems that could be implemented in FPGA now:

 

All 8-bit systems are theoretically doable up to the PCE I believe on the NT Mini.

 

6502-based (Atari 2600 (is a 6507 but otherwise the same), Atari 5200, Atari 400/600/800/XL/XE, Atari Lynx, Apple I/II/IIe/iic+, NES/Famicom, Commodore VIC20/PET/C64/CBM-II, BBC Micro, KIM-1, Acorn Atom, Acorn Electron, and the PCE/TG16) There are quite literately 27 computers alone on Wikipedia, not including hobbykits.

 

The *T65 core is maybe 1200 LE

 

Z80-based (Amstrad CPC 464/664/6128/+,Bally Brain/Astrocade,Lynx(UK),MSX, Coleco Adam, Colecovision,Exidy,MattelAquarius,Microbee, NEC PC-8801, Tandy TRS-80, Sinclair ZX80/ZX81/Spectrum,Timex Sinclair 1000/1500/2048/2068, Sharp MZ/X1, Sega SG-1000/3000/SMS, Gameboy/Gameboy Color), 51 systems listed with Z80.

 

Plus there are arcade games, good luck (I've seen Galaxian (3100 LE and Galaga 8000LE)

 

The *T80 core is maybe 1600 LE

 

Other 8-bit CPU types would of course require more engineering. Pretty much the limitation to doing them on the NT Mini is connecting a keyboard and mouse, which could probably be done with the USB port on the back, but that would require a hub too, and there goes more FPGA programming space.

 

The 16-bit CPU's would require the Z3K as even if you could emulate them on the NT Mini, you'd not have enough RAM in the FPGA to do anything with video and sound. Plus the computers often require FPU's, MMU's, Serial port controllers, floppy/hard drive controllers and such.

 

The *TG68 core requires about 3100 LE

 

A Sega Genesis(Megadrive) requires a Z80 and a 68K (and the VDP and a sound chip)

A NeoGeo requires a Z80 and a 68K (and I wouldn't know where to begin describing the video, and a sound chip)

an Amiga (Minimig) needs at least *14000 with All three (68K, Z80 and 6502.)

A Sharp X68000 requires a 68K

An Atari ST requires a 68K

A Super Nintendo requires a 65816 which is abourt 2200 LE for the CPU alone. 7100 for PPU1, 400 for PPU2, 13500 for the APU based on one project fitting report.

 

A 8088 (Tandy 1000/IBM PCjr/IBM 5150/XT) requires about *4500 LE, systems based off the 8088 like the V20/V30 (used in the PC9801 and the Wonderswan)

 

*geez I wish publicized FPGA cores would list the fitting reports for their cores, I pretty much cribbed these numbers from projects using them talking about what dev board to use.

 

Add into the equation the need to output HDMI, and the FPGA is going to be full. The NT Mini has a 25K LE FPGA, and it swaps out the 6502 and Z80 cores (AFAIK) to switch emulators instead of having all of them in the FPGA at boot.

 

That leads us to 32-bit CPU's, and the Z3K is not going to reach that far IMO. At 49K target FPGA, that might squeak in a SNES or Neo Geo, but kevtris would need to actually have working cores for those + expansion chips in the SNES before you could just straight up say it will fit those. One FPGA SNES project requires 28500 LE alone for the SNES, forget expansion chips and HDMI.

Sega CD uses a faster 68K and could likely be emulated within the Z3K, given a cd-emulator. The CD-i also uses a 68K (the vast majority of MPEG decoder chips for computers and multimedia boxes assume a 68K host CPU as well, even ones that weren't on a Mac or Amiga.) The Commodore CDTV (basically an Amiga) also used a 68K

 

An Atari TT requires a 68030, a FM Towns requires a 80386sx

 

 

B - Systems that could theoretically be implemented in FPGA now, but so far nobody I know of has successfully got that far:

 

 

From what I researched, most 32-bit cpu's can be done in FPGA, but you're looking at 33Mhz, maybe 50Mhz at most, which might be enough to do the PS1, but nothing later or more complicated (like the N64) as the length of the internal wires becomes hard to deal with

 

However once you're doing the PSX or N64, those are already framebuffered(eg it draws using 3D geometry,) so you don't really need the FPGA-based emulator for the entire thing, as you may be able to use off the shelf HDMI and SD-card cores, maybe even find stand-alone GPU cores that can be loaded into a second FPGA. (There is one student N64 project out there that built a minimal CPU, audio and framebuffer on a 101K LE FPGA, they didn't build a full N64, and didn't touch the RCP. $165 FPGA. Another student project tried to build a PSX but couldn't fit it on a DE2-115 (160%) and the GPU would only run at 5Mhz and then they ran out of time. Neither of these projects would be considered more than "hello world" level.)

 

The Dreamcast (SH-4), 32X (2 x SH-2) and Saturn (2x SH-2) use SH-series CPU's.

The N64 and PSX, PS2, and PSP use MIPS cpu's,

The PS3, Xbox 360, Gamecube, Wii and Wii U use PPC cpu's, These also likely have patents to deal with

GBA, DS, 3DS, 3DO, PS Vita all use ARM cpu's, and are likely cheaper to just get a ARM SoC+FPGA to build.

 

The GPU parts on all of these are what is likely to require a second FPGA, and even then, I don't think there is much point, as a modern GPU is far more programmable than these old fixed-function GPU's, so it may be viable to actually use an existing GPU by the time those become viable, if ever. You mainly need the FPGA to run the program code, the GPU doesn't care about what CPU is connected to it. That said, all of these consoles also have BIOS and/or OS's that might think otherwise. At this current point in time, I don't see FPGA emulation of any of those being viable by one person, let alone with existing FPGA tech.

 

Other stuff requested:

Ethernet or Wifi - probably won't happen due to licencing, May be viable to just use an off-the-shelf part.

NAS support - Unlikely as that requires both ethernet, and a full TCP/IP stack, thus requiring being able to manage the state of it. To give you an idea, usable NAS devices cost at least $800, and they all run embedded Linux or FreeBSD, so configuring something to connect to it would be a huge pain in without it's own OS. I suppose it's possible to just create a filesystem bridge (which is what some external hard drives do over ethernet) which just talks directly to the data link layer (non routing.)

Bluetooth - probably won't happen due to licencing, most BT chips in computers are USB bridged anyway, so what you're really asking for is a USB port

Blissbox - Hmm, this actually looks dangerous because they chose to use HDMI connectors, as the adapter to a USB box. I suppose supporting the USB end might be something viable, but if you start putting HDMI-that-isn't-hdmi ports all over the place, someone is going to fry that PCB when the controller gets plugged into the real HDMI port.

2tb SDcard - Probably a nope. 64GB due to licencing requirements of the exFAT filesystem. Submarine patent http://www.google.com/patents/US20140149344 expires around 2030

4Kp60 HDMI support - As far as I can tell, this is viable, but requires a very large FPGA to pull off. That said, it's only likely to be useful for the systems before the PS1. The PS1 and later all use framebuffers, so "zero lag" isn't a viable target as the games were designed to have that 1-frame buffered.

 

Basically half of these things would require a SoC with it's own OS so FPGA space isn't wasted on implementing things like ethernet controllers. Unless you're going to connect 4 of these systems together for local player, there's not much point trying to implement ethernet in FPGA. Not even the PS2 (conexant) or Gamecube (maconix) used proprietary Ethernet solutions, they just used basic Ethernet parts on their own expansion bus.

 

 

TL;DNR version (omg sorry this is so long):

IMO... The 8-bit machines seem all possible with the NT Mini, the Z3K based only on what we already know is likely going to be able to do all 8-bit and 16-bit machines. 32-bit machines are very likely out of the question for various reasons including the cost of the FPGA. Some of the features you suggested kinda go into "nobody would have to time to develop that, even if we wanted to." Many of the student projects that I read (SNES, Sega Genesis, PSX, N64) FPGA projects only had about a weeks worth of time and none of them get more than half of the console working, and they even use existing CPU cores.

 

Past a certain point, you have to be realistic and remember that the entire point of these devices is to play old stuff on HDMI monitors and televisions, not a be-all-end-all game console. FPGA's have limits, and anything that isn't at least 20 years old is still likely protected by patents. So realistically kevtris has to draw the line at equipment older than 1997 to be clear of that, putting the PS1 and N64 right on the edge of that.

Edited February 16, 2017 by Kismet