The Official Analogue Pocket Thread!

[Glorkbot]

53 minutes ago, roots.genoa said:

They're the same. 🙂

The same person?

[Video]

2600? I'd love a cart adapter for that. I've still not tried the dock yet. What controllers are good for it? Its pretty supportive (self stated) but doesn't work well in practice according to the AA group. I thought about some of the wired USB super Nintendo style pads, probably 8bit$o but haven't gotten around to it yet.

 

I thought you were referring to Activision anthology or Atari collection for gba, pretty sure those don't support two play at all.

[Atariboy]

1 hour ago, Glorkbot said:

The same person?

Yes. It's no coincidence that openFPGA launched with the full slate of Nt Mini Noir cores and a GBA core.

 

Analogue has wanted to distance themselves from SD rom loading and such. So such features have become unofficial and released anonymously after the original Nt Mini and its core store.

[dudeguy]

Problems with my Pocket as of 1-28-24, and running firmware version 2.1:

 

- Click on "Play Cartridge">"Play>black screen

(I have to exit back to the GUI and try it again and it usually works on the second try)

 

- Still can't adjust Size/Position of screen when it's in any display mode beside "Analogue GB".

(I know there's a work around but it's annoying to get to and once you switch to a different display mode and come back to the mode you wanted to be in, it reverts back to the the default size/position)

 

- Still no display mode for what a real Game Boy Color/GBA would display if you would insert a gray GB cart into it. i.e. Link's Awakening- red background and green sprites. I see now I have the option for the red background, but sprites are red (well light red)

 

GUI is still clunky, IMO. it just seems like options could be grouped better. the way you switch between GB, GBC, GBA, and GG just seems goofy and youre not always sure which system the Pocket is trying to emulate. maybe a word up in the corner that says "Game Boy"/"Game Gear"/etc because when I enter the menu, it says nothing. You have to try switch display modes to realize youre playing a GBC and not a GBA.

 

I'm still not a fan of the font and the overall look of the GUI. Ive seen emulators on the PSP that were more aesthetically pleasing.

 

this thing's been out for 3 years and still have these basic issues

[NE146]

5 hours ago, dudeguy said:

- Still no display mode for what a real Game Boy Color/GBA would display if you would insert a gray GB cart into it. i.e. Link's Awaken ing- red background and green sprites. I see now I have the option for the red background, but sprites are red (well light red)

You mean this? :)

 

 

[roots.genoa]

7 hours ago, dudeguy said:

the way you switch between GB, GBC, GBA, and GG just seems goofy and youre not always sure which system the Pocket is trying to emulate. maybe a word up in the corner that says "Game Boy"/"Game Gear"/etc because when I enter the menu, it says nothing.

I don't understand. The Pocket emulates the console the game you launch is supported to work for. Either you play a cart and you should know for what console it's for, or you use openFPGA and you're supposed to choose the system first, so I don't get your problem. 🤨

[dudeguy]

2 hours ago, NE146 said:

You mean this?

 

 

are you playing an actual cartridge?

[dudeguy]

52 minutes ago, roots.genoa said:

I don't understand. The Pocket emulates the console the game you launch is supported to work for. Either you play a cart and you should know for what console it's for, or you use openFPGA and you're supposed to choose the system first, so I don't get your problem. 🤨

that isn't necessarily true. GB games work on 3 different systems, some GBC games work on the GB (black cartridges), and GBC clear cartridges work on 2 different systems. so you're not always sure which system you're in

[NE146]

9 minutes ago, dudeguy said:

are you playing an actual cartridge?

lol yes on the left and no on the right.. and yeah I actually just realized the entire 2nd half of what I typed earlier was entirely missing. i.e.:

 

You're only ever going to get the actual GBC palette if you use the Nintendo BIOS, which for obvious reasons is only going to be found in the OPENFPGA GBC core (i.e. yes, via playing a ROM). It will also have all the "baked-in" color palettes for the special 1st party games like Metroid 2, Donkey Kong, Kirby, Pokemons, etc, and the 12 selectable palettes when you hold down a direction and a button upon startup. Things can always change of course.. but it is how it is now. 

 

When you play a cart it uses the Analogue BIOS which has Analogue's version of default colors which does not match an actual GBC fully. It looks great as well of course, but it's just something to be aware of that it differs. 

Also don't forget for even more palette options, there's the Super Gameboy core as well

[roots.genoa]

10 hours ago, dudeguy said:

that isn't necessarily true. GB games work on 3 different systems, some GBC games work on the GB (black cartridges), and GBC clear cartridges work on 2 different systems. so you're not always sure which system you're in

Yes, you are. The Pocket plays GB games in GB mode, GBC games in GBC mode, and GBA games in GBA mode, since it has no way of guess what you want, silly. If you want to play a GB game in GBC mode, you have to force that mode in the menu. It has nothing to do with filters.

 

18 hours ago, dudeguy said:

this thing's been out for 3 years and still have these basic issues

Btw this is wrong, it has been out for two years.

[Atariboy]

Do the Spiritualized GB/GBC cores (or the new cores from budude2) come with the official Nintendo bios files when using the popular auto updaters? Or does the end user have to supply that and select it (like on the Mega Sg for instance)?

[dudeguy]

14 hours ago, roots.genoa said:

Yes, you are. The Pocket plays GB games in GB mode, GBC games in GBC mode, and GBA games in GBA mode, since it has no way of guess what you want, silly. If you want to play a GB game in GBC mode, you have to force that mode in the menu. It has nothing to do with filters.

 

Btw this is wrong, it has been out for two years.

ok. you don't always remember if you're in GB mode or GBC and you can't always trust that you entered a different mode like you tried to, based on the fact that it doesn't register a lot of the inputs half the time.

 

and you were mum on my complaint about the thing not saving your screen size preferences so I'll take it that you concede that is a minor annoyance 

Edited January 29 by dudeguy

[Atariboy]

While I can't help with your missed inputs (sounds like something's wrong with your particular system), there's absolutely no ambiguity if you're forcing a particular mode. The check box is either filled in if you're selected to force a different mode (such as if you want to play a GBC rom by way of the GBA core) or it isn't. There's no in-between or guesswork involved.

[roots.genoa]

I guess he meant you might not remember in which mode you are after you left the menu... Even though GB and GBC modes look vastly different anyway. So yeah, those are minor annoyances at best.

[+jgkspsx]

I was hoping to use the Analogue Pocket 2600 core to comfortably play this year's 2600 Atari Homebrew Awards nominees on the go, and... yeah, compatibility is atrocious. It seems like any bankswitching tanks it.

 

The limited set of cores and the lack of updates for most of them is really disappointing. I know people had complained about it but I didn't know how bad it was until I actually tried to use them.

[Reaperman]

So last night I was checking out the Amiga core with Amigavision/MegaAGS, now that the pocket supports big files. (PCN's vid on it, can be found at the usual archive, etc.) This is great, lots of new-to-me software and an easy launcher, so I've started chewing through it on both pocket and MiSTer. 

 

But what I'm most surprised at, is how good the Pocket has been sounding with it. It seems the amiga's stereo handling is crude enough that it does little/no stereo mixing and it made me realize how well the pocket's built-in, side-firing speakers do for making it feel like a much wider handheld. It gives me the sound experience I expect from more like a 3ds or psp, and I guess I never noticed it before.

Edited February 3 by Reaperman

[Atariboy]

2 hours ago, jgkspsx said:

I was hoping to use the Analogue Pocket 2600 core to comfortably play this year's 2600 Atari Homebrew Awards nominees on the go, and... yeah, compatibility is atrocious. It seems like any bankswitching tanks it.

 

The limited set of cores and the lack of updates for most of them is really disappointing. I know people had complained about it but I didn't know how bad it was until I actually tried to use them.

That's unfortunate.

 

Melody enhanced games will never work so if any of them are, that's to be expected. But it has played every commercial rom that I've ever tossed at it (well over 100 unique titles at this point, I bet). You do need to change certain file extensions though so that the core knows what bankswitching scheme is in use.

 

I've not put much time into the many great homebrews with the Pocket's 2600 core, but I've not encountered issues in the handful that I have played on it like Juno First.

[+jgkspsx]

Most of them were named either a26 or bin. It was just a majority of the games in the major competitions so I gave up on it.

[Atariboy]

If it's a new bankswitching scheme that came out since the October 2022 release of the Pocket core, it's going to be problematic. But if they're not doing anything particularly special, I suspect they just need a file extension rename (Kovi Kovi in the competition is for instance using the E7 banking scheme and wouldn't of worked on the Pocket core unless you changed the extension to .MN).

 

*.ACT - Activision 8K FE banking

*.PB - Parker Bros. E0 mapping

*.TV - Tigervision 3F mapping
*.TVR - Tigervision 3E (with RAM) mapping

*.MN - M-network E7 mapping

*.CV - Commavid extra RAM

*.EB - Econobanking

*.EF - EF Bankswitching *.EFR - EF with RAM

*.UA - UA bankswitching

*.X07 - X07 bankswitching

*.SB - Superbanking

 

That last bankswitching scheme in particular seems to be getting taken advantage of by several newer homebrews like Circus Convoy and won't work as a .bin or .a26 on the Pocket core, only as a .sd.

 

Other games don't need a special extension. 4k games like the Armor Ambush Reloaded homebrew for instance don't require a special extension

Edited February 4 by Atariboy

[Glorkbot]

 

Atari 2600 Phoenix is not working correctly for me on Analogue Pocket. It starts with the boss screen, then if you beat the boss it goes to the runway scene...and if you beat that it gives you another runway screen, and then another. I haven't gotten further than that, but that is not the correct order for things to occur in the game. 

[Glorkbot]

On 2/3/2024 at 7:00 PM, Atariboy said:

If it's a new bankswitching scheme that came out since the October 2022 release of the Pocket core, it's going to be problematic. But if they're not doing anything particularly special, I suspect they just need a file extension rename (Kovi Kovi in the competition is for instance using the E7 banking scheme and wouldn't of worked on the Pocket core unless you changed the extension to .MN).

 

*.ACT - Activision 8K FE banking

*.PB - Parker Bros. E0 mapping

*.TV - Tigervision 3F mapping
*.TVR - Tigervision 3E (with RAM) mapping

*.MN - M-network E7 mapping

*.CV - Commavid extra RAM

*.EB - Econobanking

*.EF - EF Bankswitching *.EFR - EF with RAM

*.UA - UA bankswitching

*.X07 - X07 bankswitching

*.SB - Superbanking

 

That last bankswitching scheme in particular seems to be getting taken advantage of by several newer homebrews like Circus Convoy and won't work as a .bin or .a26 on the Pocket core, only as a .sd.

 

Other games don't need a special extension. 4k games like the Armor Ambush Reloaded homebrew for instance don't require a special extension

Here's a google doc of what Atari games work on FPGA and what banking scheme they use:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11XjIRX_cLhTF5Jau-hnYHHVP6LG1Af_G9J4_5fjr--I/edit#gid=0

[Glorkbot]

2 hours ago, Glorkbot said:

 

Atari 2600 Phoenix is not working correctly for me on Analogue Pocket. It starts with the boss screen, then if you beat the boss it goes to the runway scene...and if you beat that it gives you another runway screen, and then another. I haven't gotten further than that, but that is not the correct order for things to occur in the game. 

I just found another version of the rom and it worked fine. I must've had a bad dump or something.

[Atariboy]

On 2/8/2024 at 2:13 PM, Glorkbot said:

Here's a google doc of what Atari games work on FPGA and what banking scheme they use:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11XjIRX_cLhTF5Jau-hnYHHVP6LG1Af_G9J4_5fjr--I/edit#gid=0

The Pocket's core is completely unrelated to that one. And if that's for the old 2600 core on MiSTer, it's now obsolete with the far superior 7800 core having superseded it for 2600 gaming.

[Glorkbot]

3 hours ago, Atariboy said:

The Pocket's core is completely unrelated to that one. And if that's for the old 2600 core on MiSTer, it's now obsolete with the far superior 7800 core having superseded it for 2600 gaming.

Oh.

 

Well, is there a better spreadsheet then? I used this one to rename the extensions on my unworking roms, and every one I renamed then worked (except for DPC+ games, which apparently aren't supported). So, it was definitely helpful and not "completely unrelated". And I couldn't find anything else anywhere that better explained what bankswitching methods and extension went with which games, by name.

 

Also, the 7800 core on the Analogue Pocket doesn't even seem to see 2600 games. The github page says it only plays .a78 files. If I point mine at my 2600 folder it looks blank.

Edited February 10 by Glorkbot

[Atariboy]

The Pocket's 7800 core only works with 7800 games. It's only the MiSTer where it's highly recommended to use the 7800 core these days for 2600 games.

 

And I don't see any reason why you can't use that spreadsheet to identify what bankswitching scheme is in use by a particular game and then reference the readme file for the Pocket's 2600 core to see what you should rename the extension to in order to get it working on the Pocket's 2600 core (although I'd suggest a different route and track down the Nt Mini Noir romset off the Internet Archive, which will have the work already done that's needed for the Pocket's 2600 core).

 

What I simply meant with my reply is that if Game A doesn't work on the MiSTer's 2600 core (or these days the far superior 7800 core that includes 2600 support), one shouldn't infer that it's going to be incompatible with the Pocket's core. They're different developers, different code, etc.  The Pocket core is based off the Kevtris Nt Mini and Noir 2600 cores and isn't related to any MiSTer project and as a result their limitations, bugs, and such aren't going to be fully shared. Thus a compatibility list for the MiSTer core isn't going to necessarily mean that the situation is going to be the same for Game A on the Pocket's 2600 core.

 

That said, there's certainly some commonality there on what they don't support like the ARM based Melody hardware not being replicated in any current FPGA core (which eliminates most of the amazing work published by Champ Games, unfortunately).

Edited February 10 by Atariboy