General Arcade & Retro Chat' Special Championship Edition

KeRbDoG

Steve X2 wrote: »

To be honest, the HDMI is annoying when you have to use dongles etc. But the real missed opportunity is allowing an internal USB 3 storage device. It's so much faster to run the OS/Games/whatever on a fast USB key or SSD compared to the microsd.

I foresee many case mods upcoming for this to allow the internal media option, taking over one of the USB3 ports maybe

Retr0gamer

So I'm playing urban strike and the story is about a madman who on losing the presidential election amassed his own army to enforce the law and tries to take over america....

Satire is truly dead.

Skerries

do they still say "over here!" repeatedly?

Retr0gamer

Skerries wrote: »

do they still say "over here!" repeatedly?

They've never said it in the Megadrive versions I just played. Might just be a snes version addition or amiga due to the increased sampled sound channels.

Tom Mann Centuria

KeRbDoG wrote: »

I foresee many case mods upcoming for this to allow the internal media option, taking over one of the USB3 ports maybe

I'm thinking additional storage/memory/something Sinclair rampack style. Gpio pins made for the job!

Bring on the wobble.

o1s1n

Retr0gamer wrote: »

So I'm playing urban strike and the story is about a madman who on losing the presidential election amassed his own army to enforce the law and tries to take over america....

Satire is truly dead.

I decided to give Desert Strike a bash last night to see if I could finish the whole thing in one go. It only has four levels but its longer than I remember it being to do in one sitting!

Managed to get to the end of level 3 without failing a mission. Did some silly stuff on 'The Madman's Yacht' which cost me a couple of lives and then lost it.
(fired off a load of hellfires at Saddam escaping the yacht only to realise you can't blow up his escape boat!)

I tell you what though, I didn't remember how close it can get with fuel. Towards the end of level 2 I only had 20 fuel left and there weren't any barrels on the map at all. Had the bleeping countdown going while I frantically blew up any building I could find for some oil. Think I managed to find a barrel when it was down to 4.

Also some of the tracking around the map really takes a lot of consideration to conserve fuel.

Such a fantastic game though, I want to try doing it again from the start but it takes a bit too long to get back up to where I was (I think I'd been playing it for an hour and a half at that stage?), so I may use a password to hop to level 3 and try it again from there.

Skerries

Retr0gamer wrote: »

They've never said it in the Megadrive versions I just played. Might just be a snes version addition or amiga due to the increased sampled sound channels.

yeah I played it back on the Amiga with its glorious explosions compared to the console

o1s1n

Skerries wrote: »

yeah I played it back on the Amiga with its glorious explosions compared to the console

Hah, I remember when I got my A1200 a few years back now and played Desert Strike for the first time on it. Such a 'WTF?!!?' moment when I saw one of those explosions! Mad seeing something new in a game you've played a million times before

CiDeRmAn

I must see if I have it on one of my "compilations" for the CD32... that or emulate it...
Yet another game, taken from the overall pile of games and put, instead, into the must-play pile...

Retr0gamer

I remember seeing the A500 version of Desert Strike and being really impressed by the improvements over the megadrive release.

o1s1n wrote: »

I decided to give Desert Strike a bash last night to see if I could finish the whole thing in one go. It only has four levels but its longer than I remember it being to do in one sitting!

Managed to get to the end of level 3 without failing a mission. Did some silly stuff on 'The Madman's Yacht' which cost me a couple of lives and then lost it.
(fired off a load of hellfires at Saddam escaping the yacht only to realise you can't blow up his escape boat!)

I tell you what though, I didn't remember how close it can get with fuel. Towards the end of level 2 I only had 20 fuel left and there weren't any barrels on the map at all. Had the bleeping countdown going while I frantically blew up any building I could find for some oil. Think I managed to find a barrel when it was down to 4.

Also some of the tracking around the map really takes a lot of consideration to conserve fuel.

Such a fantastic game though, I want to try doing it again from the start but it takes a bit too long to get back up to where I was (I think I'd been playing it for an hour and a half at that stage?), so I may use a password to hop to level 3 and try it again from there.

What I learned is that if you come across an area with loads of buildings that you aren't penalised for then take your time to blow them up. You will usually be rewarded with at least 1 fuel drum so you aren't wasting fuel and will have an area to go back to to resupply.

The third and the final level can seem daunting but there's areas you can do this in that also contain extra lives.

Missions usually can take about 30 minutes to complete. Can be a bit nerve wracking when you are coming near the end and don't want to **** it up!

Currently stuck on the san francisco level of urban strike. Seems to be a severe lack of resources on the map and I keep getting killed just before I get an armour refill (Literally twice I was killed by an enemy that gave an armour refill on defeat!)

Retr0gamer

Wouldn't be appreciated in the main games forum but there's a new japanese game heavily influenced by jumping flash coming to steam

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1187870/FORZA_POLPO/

o1s1n

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Wouldn't be appreciated in the main games forum but there's a new japanese game heavily influenced by jumping flash coming to steam

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1187870/FORZA_POLPO/

That looks absolutely gorgeous, would love a Switch release.

Inviere

o1s1n wrote: »

That looks absolutely gorgeous, would love a Switch release.

Is it safe to click? No pigeon dating stuff?

Inviere

Thoroughly enjoyed this (as with all his docu-vids). There's an Irish connection in there for those paying attention...I wonder who Lacey is??

Retr0gamer

I saw that as well.

Maybe its a younger Sparks or a time travelling Sparks

Nerdkiller1991

Medium article where some lad details his porting of Donkey Kong to the 2600.



https://garrykitchen.medium.com/how-i-spent-my-summer-of-1982-59638293f358

Inviere

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I saw that as well.

Maybe its a younger Sparks or a time travelling Sparks

Steve X2

For those that use the OSSC, the latest firmware really cleans up the menu system and makes it a lot more user friendly. I just flashed it and re-imported my presets and it's much quicker to nip around the menus now.

gif from retrorgb.com

DaveyDave

I must give Jungle Strike a go. I found Desert Strike to be quite difficult...

Colonel Panic

God I wish I'd saved my OSSC presets. I'm going to have to go through the menus and note them down so I can key them into that online tool.

Retr0gamer

DaveyDave wrote: »

I must give Jungle Strike a go. I found Desert Strike to be quite difficult...

Tis grand. Once you stop tear arsing around and actually think about the objectives and resources it's pretty manageable

Jungle strike gets just as hard, there's just more missions before you get to that stage!

Retr0gamer

So Urban Strike takes a turn for the creepy again. A 1994 game, set in 2001 and the new york level features a terror attack on the World Trade Center. You have to defuse a bomb in the world trade center and... eh... rescue the mafia from it.

Steve X2

I took a risk and ordered one of these scart switches a couple months back. It's still on the slow boat from China, but looks like it wont be touching any of my cables/consoles/upscalers when it does arrive if the below review is anything to go by.

https://www.retrorgb.com/otaku-6in3out-amplified-auto-scart-switch-review.html

CosmicSmash

I read that review earlier this morning, is there any possibility of sending it back?

Steve X2

CosmicSmash wrote: »

I read that review earlier this morning, is there any possibility of sending it back?

I'm sure i could return it. But with the hassle I've had getting info out of the guy it's not worth it.
It was in stock on the site at the time I purchased it(only reason I did), but then he said he'd none left and I'd have to wait 4-6 weeks on top of the 2-3 months delivery time.
Apparently its an ok switch for someone with standard consoles with standard cables. But with my setup I wouldn't even chance connecting it up. I'll just stick to the gwscarts and get another one when they're available(up to 4 of them already).

CosmicSmash

Probably the best option, at least the delays prevented any potential damage being done.

KeRbDoG

I would hope that it could be modded to maybe limit the sync output voltage

Steve X2

KeRbDoG wrote: »

I would hope that it could be modded to maybe limit the sync output voltage

I'm sure it can be, and the guy will probably change his design for any others that are manufactured. But, I have zero trust in this thing and it wont be getting a look at my retro AV setup.

Edit:
I got a reply from the guy who makes these.

I have seen Bob's review as i have worked closely with him during his review. The issue he encountered in regards to PS1 i was not able to replicate and seems very rare and the issue he has with CSYNC cables i was not able to replicate as well. Overall there is always a possibility that there might be incompatibilities when it comes to Scart products which have auto switching involved. The switch has no firmware. This is simply not possible for a product at that price point.

Edit 2:
He's made a change on the product page as well to cover himself. So, best to avoid these things for sure.

This 6in3out Amplified RGB Scart Auto Switch is fully RGB capable and can output via either Euro Scart Out or RCA RGB Out for use with for example PVM/BVM CRT's. It has auto swichting inputs so no more hassle to switch between the different channels. Be aware not to keep multiple inputs on at the same time to avoid signal interference. This version includes triple amplified output, which means you can simultaneously output to 3 outputs at the same time without picture quality loss. This is great for example for streamers which want to play on a CRT and at the same time record via a capture card at same quality and without any extra lag. For PS1 use make sure to use a proper PS1 scart cable with 220uf caps and it might be neccessary to use a power supply for the switch. Any 9-12V DC power supply can be used (both center negative or positive). It is not recommended to use Scart cables with built in Sync stripper with this variant of our Scart switches when using OSSC's, RetroTINK 2x SCART's and Framemeisters.

eddhorse

Wasn't sure where to put this, but I'm not sure whats happening in these photos.

http://www.adverts.ie/22088599

Optimus Prime

3 in the morning, he must have been p*ssed! He is giving away Jaffa cakes in a plastic bag and a bunch of pot noodles too.