FPGA Based Videogame System

[spoonman]

37 minutes ago, roots.genoa said:

I'm already surprised the ColecoVision didn't arrive 'bundled' with the SG-1000, so I doubt it will be released alone anyway.

Yeah, same. It's why I feel it might be next. The ColecoVision was one of my favorite consoles so I'd love to see it on the Pocket. 🤞 I also have a strong feeling that "Spiritualized 1997" has access to a polished ColecoVision core.

[roots.genoa]

Yes, the ones we might get later imho, at least from Spiritualized 1997, are the Lynx and PC Engine cores because it could hurt the future adapters (and even the Analogue Duo). Also I think Spiritualized 1997's "good friend" is not in charge of the PC Engine core, if you catch my drift. 😉

[blzmarcel]

13 hours ago, roots.genoa said:

I'm already surprised the ColecoVision didn't arrive 'bundled' with the SG-1000, so I doubt it will be released alone anyway.

It is surprising as usually CV, SG-1000, and MSX tend to be developed and bundled together due to how similar the hardware was between them.

[bikerspade]

On 6/6/2022 at 6:07 PM, Atariboy said:

Those don't get looked at and addressed, so there's no point.

 

I mostly posted out of surprise that a once fixed bug is now rebroken (Digital Foundry Retro found it on the lead up to the Super Nt launch and it was quickly fixed).

What is the the best current place to post issues so they get looked at and addressed by Analogue support and development staff? Is there a different GitHub or other place where they track and ultimately tackle outstanding issues?

 

Did something change with this topic? I can no longer view it unless logged in?

[Atariboy]

I don't believe that there is a place where you can rest assured that it's seen by the right eyes and hopefully one day be addressed. Kevtris is the creator of this thread and the programmer of most of their FPGA cores, but who knows if he pays any attention in here anymore (And he rarely has acknowledged issues in here even back when he was actively posting).

 

Your best bet is if a major YouTube channel like My Life in Gaming takes note of the same issue. They then sometimes will push a beta firmware out on the same day to address it. But if you're just a lowly customer, it's best to just be annoyed briefly, maybe whine for a post in here like I'm doing, and then go back to enjoying your Analogue system that does the vast majority of what it's advertised to do (Even if it's not 100% perfect and authentic like their marketing would lead you to believe).

 

Assuming you're largely satisfied with your purchase, don't let one annoyance drag it down and ruin it for you. And who knows, just maybe it will get addressed one of these days.

Edited August 22, 2022 by Atariboy

[Razzie.P]

Anyone have any success using guns with Mega SG > DAC > CRT?  Documentation says it should work, but I'm having no luck, so not sure if there's a setting I'm missing or what's the deal.

 

Genesis -  Tried Justifier with both Lethal Enforcer games.  The system doesn't seem to detect the gun at all.

 

Master System -- It detects the gun and lets me pull the trigger, but doesn't register any shots.

 

 

Both of these work 100% on real Genesis system, same TV, but can't seem to solve it on Mega SG.

 

 

Thanks in advance for any info!

 

 

[Great Hierophant]

6 hours ago, Razzie.P said:

Anyone have any success using guns with Mega SG > DAC > CRT?  Documentation says it should work, but I'm having no luck, so not sure if there's a setting I'm missing or what's the deal.

 

Genesis -  Tried Justifier with both Lethal Enforcer games.  The system doesn't seem to detect the gun at all.

 

Master System -- It detects the gun and lets me pull the trigger, but doesn't register any shots.

 

 

Both of these work 100% on real Genesis system, same TV, but can't seem to solve it on Mega SG.

 

 

Thanks in advance for any info!

 

 

I don't have a Sega Genesis light gun (Menacer or Justifier), but my Master System's Phaser worked well for me with my Hang On/Safari Hunt cartridge.  I made sure the gun was plugged into port 1 and that passthrough mode was enabled.

[Razzie.P]

1 hour ago, Great Hierophant said:

I don't have a Sega Genesis light gun (Menacer or Justifier), but my Master System's Phaser worked well for me with my Hang On/Safari Hunt cartridge.  I made sure the gun was plugged into port 1 and that passthrough mode was enabled.

Thanks.  I tried that and enabling passthough mode freezes the console, so not sure what's going on.  🤔

[Razzie.P]

23 hours ago, Razzie.P said:

Anyone have any success using guns with Mega SG > DAC > CRT?  Documentation says it should work, but I'm having no luck, so not sure if there's a setting I'm missing or what's the deal.

 

 

 

17 hours ago, Great Hierophant said:

I don't have a Sega Genesis light gun (Menacer or Justifier), but my Master System's Phaser worked well for me with my Hang On/Safari Hunt cartridge.  I made sure the gun was plugged into port 1 and that passthrough mode was enabled.

 

16 hours ago, Razzie.P said:

Thanks.  I tried that and enabling passthough mode freezes the console, so not sure what's going on.  🤔

 

Got it!  I was being a dumbass with using the passthrough option, I suppose, and trying to change it before load it before the game, which I guess isn't the way.  In case anyone else has issues with this, here's the thing that worked for me --

 

Start the game as normal

After the game loads, go back to the menu (down + start)

Choose the passthrough option from there

 

 

Thanks a bunch for pointing me in the right direction!

 

 

 

[Punisher5.0]

The Pocket got a SNES core today. Even supports many enhancement chips like SFX and SA1. Forth quarter cant come soon enough!

[konradklaus]

7 hours ago, Punisher5.0 said:

The Pocket got a SNES core today. Even supports many enhancement chips like SFX and SA1. Forth quarter cant come soon enough!

 

Ya know, its true.  I was really bummed to be so far in the queue to get my pocket, I too am 4th quarter, even though I was all over that website right when the time came.  However, I probably wouldn't have used the pocket very much until now that these cores are coming out.  I suspect the pocket will be exactly what I hoped it would be by the time it is finally in my hands.

[Tanooki]

I would have definitely used it, and the NGPC adapter if they'd bother releasing the thing.  Despite it being a portable, it likely never will be the more time I put into thinking about it and the observation of scum balls online.  Go look up what equally dumb sellers and buys are pushing them for because analogue can't get their act together.  That to me is way way too much of a dangerous liability to be carrying around, anywhere.  I'm thankful I bought the dock and stuff, less so the shell, since that's meant for carrying unless it can dock with it?  I'm all about having that pure HDMI experience on my tv, less useful but some for GB-GBA due to the player on the Cube, but the NGPC, PCE(I'd re-buy an everdrive), and I may even consider the SMS/GG one and its flash kit as well.  They'd be utterly fantastic on the TV.

[Punisher5.0]

The Pocket got a NES core today. These are getting cranked out lately.

[AtariNerd]

Yup, quite a few, including an SNES and some individual coin-ops. 

https://retrododo.com/all-analogue-pocket-openfpga-cores/

 

 

[Punisher5.0]

Analogue did an announcement today. I thought for sure there was going to be a delay but thankfully they are on time for group B and maybe even early for most of C. Also released info on TG16 and Neo Geo Pocket adapters.

[Ricdeau]

Final run of Super Nt and Mega Sg were announced too. Here's a link to the full announcement for the Pocket info and older consoles.

 

https://www.analogue.co/announcements/pocket-preorder-shipping-analogue-pocket-adapters-preorder-super-nt-mega-sg-final

[Toth]

I wish they would communicate their reasons for what they do.  I would like to know why it is a final run when the products seem to be very popular and in demand (The Super Nt seems to be anyway).  Is it because of end of life components?  Cost to produce isn't worth the profit?  They could raise the price by $50 and still sell out of the Super Nt so it doesn't seem like it would be the cost to produce them but I have no idea.  Is there a future product that will take their place?

Edited October 17, 2022 by Toth

[roots.genoa]

3 hours ago, Toth said:

I wish they would communicate their reasons for what they do.  I would like to know why it is a final run when the products seem to be very popular and in demand (The Super Nt seems to be anyway).  Is it because of end of life components?  Cost to produce isn't worth the profit?  They could raise the price by $50 and still sell out of the Super Nt so it doesn't seem like it would be the cost to produce them but I have no idea.  Is there a future product that will take their place?

We can only speculate indeed, but I don't think they can add Analogue OS to these consoles, so that's probably why they feel they should focus now on new systems. So it's possible they will replace them with new, better models, or try another approach like a single console with multiple cart adapters for instance. We'll see.

 

I understand people get frustrated by the lack of communication, but I don't understand why people complain about the final run. The last time they were in stock, they stayed so for several months (except maybe some models of the Mega Sg). If you want to buy one, do it when it's available. If you don't, don't complain it's not available anymore.

[Atariboy]

Now that this retro gaming niche of high end clone systems is well established, I think it's safe to say that we've not likely seen the last where popular platforms like the NES, SNES, and Genesis are concerned when the final AVS (also slated to disappear after one last run, with Retro USB struggling to source key components), Mega Sg, and Super Nt are manufactured.

 

Someone somewhere will come up with an better clones of these, I'm sure. Quite possibly from Analogue themselves. The Sega Genesis in particular seems to be an obvious one for moving ahead eventually with a successor to the soon to be discontinued Mega Sg. The twin FPGA layout of the Pocket and the integrated CD drive of the upcoming Duo demonstrate a potentially viable path that they could go down if they wished to integrate Sega CD and 32X support to refresh the Mega Sg and market a successor.

Edited October 17, 2022 by Atariboy

[Pixelboy]

1 hour ago, Atariboy said:

The twin FPGA layout of the Pocket and the integrated CD drive of the upcoming Duo demonstrate a potentially viable path that they could go down if they wished to integrate Sega CD and 32X support to refresh the Mega Sg and market a successor.

I think it would be more likely for Analogue to simply implement Sega CD support in the Duo. And if we're lucky, perhaps we'll see PlayStation support too (but it's not something I would explicitely expect).

[Atariboy]

My point isn't so much as to speculate on the features of future products from Analogue or competitors as it was to stress that we've not seen the last of these three platforms where high-end clone systems are concerned. The AVS, Nt Mini, Super Nt, and Mega Sg were the beginning, not the end.

 

The NES, SNES, and Genesis are far too big of a component of the retro gaming scene to disappear where high end clones are concerned. And there's obviously still demand for these and it's not difficult to come up with ideas that seem like a natural for expanding their feature set to potentially get existing customers wanting to upgrade.

 

What path these do go down, what companies may produce them, and so on isn't of any importance to speculate on at the moment. We'll just have to wait and see, but I feel a high degree of confidence that we'll have some appealing new options down the road after these excellent systems exit production. 

Edited October 17, 2022 by Atariboy

[Tanooki]

I'm going to throw the 100% nod there to roots, he's likely right.

 

Analogue seems to have slipped into this v2 of their ultimate machinations of what they want from their devices, what they do, what they can control, and keep others from controlling bound around that Analogue OS.  I remember when they came up with it a huge PR pitch was seemingly reaching out to classic and modern (indie too) developers who put out and re-put out old games.  I think they wanted to try and sell some hardware and a service, like a less shitty afterhthought that the bungling losers with OUYA caused and imploded over in a couple short years.  They seem pretty vested in staying above board, allowing the OS to allow legit media, signed media, authorized this and that, at least on paper, and why not in practice too if need be?

 

The old consoles can't have this, NES, SNES, Genesis devices, they'd need to be reconstructed entirely from the ground up to support this style of firmware, potential store front, online (wired/wifi) presence to do this.  I think they're seeing what evercade has done in the last 2-3 years and think, maybe we can do this, we have a far superior less sketchy product and well those guys bit, so why not us too?  They could dump what we have now, and in 1-2 years out make those systems again for/around the same price point and have ultimate control through the OS.  They'd make more money, third parties could cash in stupid cheap and make more money, etc.  Win Win, even consumer mixed Win/Loss on that depending how you use the devices.

[spoonman]

My guess FWIW is that Analogue will announce a single home system, with modular cart adapter + controller port design. Sort of like the PolyMega, which I believe may have been inspired by Kevin's Zimba 3000. An add-on disc drive could also handle TG-16 CD, Sega CD, Neo•Geo CDs, PSX, SAT, Amiga CD32, Philips CD-i (!) CDs. Maybe they'll release a Neo•Geo AES/MVS/NGP/NGCD console (Analogue•Neo) I'd be interested in that, possibly. 

 

I just can't see them re-releasing individual consoles yet again. Not with the Analogue Pocket + Dock (eventually) covering so much. I love the Mega Sg + Super Nt, though I'd like to see them as polished as possible before they are discontinued. Adding CopyGEN/CopySMS/CopyGG to Mega Sg would make sense. Fix any existing bugs, etc.. That's sort of another reason why I'm more comfortable sticking with the Analogue Pocket. OpenFPGA cores can continue to be updated by people until they are perfected. Where as Analogue will have limited resources, and time to work on this. It just is what it is. 

 

So yeah, the only two Analogue products I'd personally be excited about now would be a Neo•Geo console, with physical AES/MVS/NGCD/NGPC cart/CD support, and a Zomba 3000 type console which has, cart, and maybe controller adapters for as many consoles as humanly possible. 

[spoonman]

Also, I forgot mention that the official Analogue NES core was released. I'm pretty certain that's what it is anyway, as Kevtr.. er "Spiritualized1997" has released it on his Github. It's pretty full featured, with FDS (Famicom Disk System, PC-10, VS. Arcade support, Kevin's awesome NFS player (that shows the channels+notes being played), tons of mappers, special support for older Chinese multi-cart (from SuperVision, MegaCom, etc..), and so on. I only hope it supports Memories (save states) some day. 

 

Spiritualized NES Core (read the Changelog for complete details)

https://github.com/spiritualized1997/openFPGA-NES

 

Other new things from the past few days....

 

Q*Bert Arcade Core From Eric Lewis.

https://github.com/ericlewis/openfpga-qbert

This is fitting since it's his 40th anniversary. I loved this game as a 10 year old kid, when it first showed up at our local Barrel of Fun arcade. So it's nice to have on the Pocket! The core still needs work, but it's off to a great start. 

 

Watara SuperVision Portable System Core From Boogermann "Booger!"

https://github.com/opengateware/console-supervision

It was obviously heavily influenced by the Game Boy, but still has some interesting games on it. Any new cores are always welcome. 

 

Also, here's my updated, but useless Analogue Pocket Flyer. I just keep updating it with systems supported, dates, and logos, and it's usually already out of date by the time I save the file. I'll update it every so often and add it here, along with core links, etc.. http://www.videogameobsession.com/videogame/electronicgames/analoguepocket/

😅

[NE146]

You need to update that with PCE/TG16 as of a few hours ago.