Reaperman rambles on about the classics.

[Reaperman]

A couple 3d Atari games, Final Assault on A8, and Ballblazer on 7800.

The audio on Final Assault was a tad unfortunate, which prompted me to finally pick up the microphone arm seen in the Ballblazer vid. 

I should have done that years ago.

 

 

 

[Reaperman]

For once, I'm looking forward to an Arcade1Up machine.

I'm not a big emulation fan, but I've wanted a permanent driving setup for a while. I have room for this little guy, but not a fullsize driving cab.

 

 

Edited November 22, 2021 by Reaperman

[Draxxon]

That tabletop amidar is pretty cool. Ive never seen it before.

[Reaperman]

So I've bought myself an epicly stupid xmas present, a rush 2049 se cab, which is taking so long to arrive that it may be lost

 

I did this because after getting myself enthused about the arcade1up ridge racer cab (above), the wife reminded me I'd never be happy with that being my first/only driving cab. She wasn't wrong, the 2049 cab is in 'lifetime goal' territory, and considering that, it's a fairly inexpensive one.

 

While I wait, I've been playing atari/midway games of the not-terribly-well-liked Midway Arcade Treasures 3 on gamecube.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 9, 2022 by Reaperman

[Reaperman]

I also decided to do Rush 2, the N64-exclusive game, to complete the original Rush trilogy of videos. So many folks skipped from the first game straight to Rush 2049, (including me) that this game might almost be considered a hidden gem.

 

Video is chaptered out, with a couple random stories in it like how the MGM Grand hotel is responsible for me buying my first arcade cabinet, a Neo Geo MVS, and also a little update and picture of my Rush 2049 cab which is still being freighted to me.

 

Video premiers in a few min--I'm surprised they let little channels hit that button.

 

 

 

Edited January 9, 2022 by Reaperman

[Reaperman]

My Rush 2049 cab is here! The wife was right, the Arcade1up Ridge Racer would never make me happy. It's too much space and money for it to be so far from the right choice--so we rearranged our space, re-homed some disused furniture, and plopped down about 2.5x more money to actually 'get the right thing.'

 

Here's my wheel/force-feedback maintenance vid:

 

 

 

Here's some gameplay:

 

 

 

Don't want your life to revolve around owning a full cab? The next best way I've found to play is the DC version, but emulated at well over the regular resolution. Yes, emulated DC, because the resolution bump is pretty, and yes, reDream emu over the official PC version on midway arcade treasures 3/deluxe. (I don't recommend emulation often, but it is very nice this time)

 

 

DC version is honestly a better game, though the arcade version is a better experience.
DC added:

• tracks tweaked to run both forward and reverse
• upgrade parts
• stunt mode
• championship circuit mode
• battle mode
• survival mode
• downloadable ghost battles in its time trial mode
• Neat visual tweaks like increased transparency effects, (see the hovering start line, etc)

The arcade version has:

• 27" VGA CRT
• 4-channel sound (yes, the music is mixed for 4-channel)
• Woofer in the seat to shake players
• force feedback wheel 
• 8 cars on track vs 6, and all can be human (linked cabinets)
• more detailed track scenery
• one extra track--The Rock
• an extra layer of exploration to its tracks (super-secret paths that open with certain criteria)
• can turn off rubber-banding
• still manages 60fps in time trial mode
• Still saves character progress/unlocks between sessions

[Reaperman]

Getting in some Rush 2049 track 5, and also posting the vid from the NES competition pro thread

 

 

 

[Reaperman]

Since it's a long Mardi Gras weekend for me, I have more new videos:

First up, a FANTASTIC trick for spot-the-differences game, then a Rush 2049 Track 1 vid, and Shark! Shark! on Intellivision

 

 

 

 

 

The spot-the-differences vid was done because it's covered in my one-hour-long coverage of Photo Y2K2, which unfortunately should be age-restricted, though I did clean it up for youtube. I know age-restricted vids tend not to be viewed much  

 

https://youtu.be/DuFDp7nBNRk

 

Edited February 28, 2022 by Reaperman

[Reaperman]

Holy jeez, just go to gamestop.com now. the atgames legends gamer 'mini' (below) is $50, and I'd say we have a new winner for the award for 'best pack-in controller of all time.' This arcade stick handily beats the ones that came with Neo Geo and CPS-Changer's units. *AND* it plugs straight in and just works in windows. There is never a time when this isn't worth $50 for that alone.

 

below is a tour of the externals/internals, but more pressingly, better jump on the gamestop deal while it's still going.

 

 

[Reaperman]

Part of the reason I've been doing the youtube is to build speech confidence. Every so often I get extra-brave and do a livestream or two. No second takes, and the video gaming basically has to become the secondary thing to think about. I don't know how some streamers maintain such a high level of play while still filling that dead air:

 

 

 

Edited March 12, 2022 by Reaperman

[Reaperman]

Another arcade stick video where I look at internals. There are people out there who care what these look like on the inside--at least I keep telling myself that

 

 

[Lord Mushroom]

On 3/12/2022 at 11:05 PM, Reaperman said:

Part of the reason I've been doing the youtube is to build speech confidence.

I have just seen a little bit from a couple of videos of yours, and there is no sign of anything wrong with the speech. You are doing a thousand times better than I would have.

[Lord Mushroom]

On 1/30/2022 at 5:30 PM, Reaperman said:

My Rush 2049 cab is here! The wife was right, the Arcade1up Ridge Racer would never make me happy. It's too much space and money for it to be so far from the right choice--so we rearranged our space, re-homed some disused furniture, and plopped down about 2.5x more money to actually 'get the right thing.'

You picked a winner.

[Lord Mushroom]

On 3/8/2022 at 3:37 AM, Reaperman said:

 

 

I had to laugh at your excitement when you started clicking the buttons. "They click!"

[Reaperman]

New videos:

 

Looking inside a cheap NES arcade controller:

 

 

A bit of a SNES racing hidden gem, Exhaust Heat II (F1 ROC II in USA)

 

On 3/20/2022 at 2:04 PM, Lord Mushroom said:

I have just seen a little bit from a couple of videos of yours, and there is no sign of anything wrong with the speech. You are doing a thousand times better than I would have.

Yeah, but I've been working on improving that presentation for over a decade.

I sound comparatively okay now, but go back ten years or so--not so much:

 

[Slikatel]

I recently picked up an edge joystick on amazon for 15 bucks. after a 25 dollar sanwa joystick and a couple red sanwa buttons i had an awesome stick for just at 50 bucks! I also drilled a hole in the bottom of the case to I can access the joystick shaft bottom and change the ball/bat tops easily.

[Reaperman]

Okay, now I'm trying to work on 'cheesing up' my thumbnails in ways that don't involve the 'surprised beard-gape' facial expression.

I'm hoping the oversized thumbsup does a similar job of displaying emotion with a recognizable object, because I don't think I can bring myself to play the youtube-thumbnail game any harder than this.

 

There was once a time on youtube where to get 1000 subscribers, all you had to do was drink your own pee. 

My pride is somehow probably more okay with that than the beard gape.

 

 

[Slikatel]

[Reaperman]

Today I have a look at 'Gates of the Ancient,' a 2021 homebrew for C64.

 

I have a bit of a blind spot for Commodore stuff--probably because I was an Atari kid--but I grabbed this one as soon as I heard about it, and recommend you do the same. (https://drmortalwombat.itch.io/gates-of-the-ancient)

 

 

 

[Reaperman]

Well, somehow my MiSTer PSX livestream became pretty popular (after the fact), but then I came down with the COVID and did a video update about that with my updated favorite PSX core settings--also below. (and spoilers: it appears as though I'll turn out okay)

 

And I'm getting dangerously close to 'standard youtube gape-face thumbnail' territory these days. 

 

 

 

My current PSX core settings look like:

V-integer scaling, normal aspect
Horizontal sharp interpolation
MG-stripe shadow mask
HDMI 480i sync
Dithering on (default)
Weave deinterlace (default)
Data Cache Enabled
CD Fast Seek
PS4 controller w/ 1ms polling

[Chris+++]

I hope you get better soon.

 

 

[Keatah]

On 4/11/2022 at 1:57 PM, Reaperman said:

Okay, now I'm trying to work on 'cheesing up' my thumbnails in ways that don't involve the 'surprised beard-gape' facial expression.

Indeed.

 

I don't like all that over exaggerated youtube stuff. It's just dumb. Just as bad as JWST thumbs showing it shooting lasers. Or those C17s landing on carriers! But I suppose the worst offender is that Santa freako.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Reaperman]

Just a little video about a ps4 chatpad that works with MiSTer and has F-Keys.

Why would a ps4 chatpad ever have F-keys?

 

Works great with the a8 core, but no '*' key for the c64  . 

It's about as good at being a keyboard as the ps4's touchpad is at being a mouse--meaning it's best for menus and occasional use things in games. Games that are truly keyboard/mouse driven are better with something like a logitech k400.

 

 

Edited June 11, 2022 by Reaperman

[Reaperman]

I always wondered how far I could get in this game if I felt obligated to continue, and didn't just quit when I got bored.  Turns out the answer is 2 3/4 hours, and level 21. I'm sure I'll revisit this one eventually, but this stream totally tapped me out, and I'm probably 'good' on playing it for the next decade. I got to the point where about half the rescued pilots were aliens, and it was requiring me to pick up a dozen legit pilots--that's ~24 landings-per-level.

 

1:39:56--that was the moment in the stream when the game threw the first white-helmet alien at me (as opposed to their distinct green one). After that it became a bit of a slog.

 

 

Edited June 18, 2022 by Reaperman

[Reaperman]

My steam deck take. When I started assembling my thoughts I had thought that my negativity on it was out of place, but looking at more recent reviews that didn't get it free at launch, my opinions seem pretty equivalent. When the deck works on a game, it's a 9/10-awesome system. But even being charitable, that's maybe 1/10 of the time.