FPGA 'SuperStation One' PS1 Will Be Super Easy To Repair

“Hey, this isn’t even shipping, but when it fails, try this! Super easy—barely an inconvenience!!”

-Taki Udon and Ryan George

(Yes, I’m joking!)

I want this to be a great product. Might have to get one myself someday 👍

Junk. Like every FPGA. just because you say it's not emulation it is in fact emulation.
Just buy an official ps1 for £10. Nothing wrong with old tech.

And what makes it junk? Did an FPGA system fail you or kick your puppy or something?

@Crabbitsteve you don't really understand FPGA and that's fine. I still prefer to play on original hardware to however the PS1 I've found is incredibly fragile and approaching and age where the failure rates of original lasers in these units are having issues.

It's inevitable all our original hardware will fail FPGA replicatibg that hardware is inevitably the future so that if a game traditionally ran at 28 frames at a certain spot the FPGA won't brute force it like emulation it will stutter and perform identically.

It's like listening to a Vinal record I know I can buy that album in FLAC or CD but I want to hear the scratches of the record playing as much as I want to hear to record itself.

If by replicating you mean emulating then yes, and yes although the architecture is almost identical it's emulating original chip sets, I do fully understand FPGA. However the people who buy it don't, they just think it's 'cool' because 'emulation bad' but they're all suckers who fell for a flawed advertising campaign and pay silly costs for something you can play authentic hardware for one hell of a lot less, all the nostalgia is there , ofc certain things may fail as you have said, there are very simple replacement parts for buttons.

@Crabbitsteve: you've got a point with getting original hardware-it's cheaper and it's the real deal, so there's no potential compatibility issue. However, elder systems can look like crap on a modern television or monitor. If you want to get an image that's (supposedly) decent, you'd have to get some sort of upscaler type device like a Retrotink or something along those lines. The price of those devices will then add to your Total Cost of Ownership (yes, I used a finance/marketing buzz word...ugh..).

The FPGA side of things does create a great middle ground. In a lot of the popular FPGA consoles (like Analogue's or RetroUSB's AVS system for NES), you have the connectors for the original peripherals that will work (save for the obvious, light guns and such) AND it should look decent on your modern TV. Plus you can use your original cartridges in the system. That's pretty much the big selling point of the "big" console specific FPGA consoles: plug and play. No supposed fiddling around like you might need to do on a MiSTER (from what I read).

As for "emulation bad"....I guess it depends what the majority says makes it bad or better yet, what are the expectations of folks who want to delve into it and on what type of system (phone, old handheld, computer, tablet, "hacked" old console like a DS, 3DS, PS Vita or a handheld PC like a Steam Deck) you're going to use to get your emu on. It seems for a lot of folks, futzing with setting up the emu of your choice to get it running like Goldilocks likes her porridge can be a turn off. On top of that, getting your hands on the ROMs and such could also be off putting. That's a lot of hoops for a casual retro enthusiasts who just wanna throw down in "Streets of Rage" or some Sonic. On top of that...how well is the emulation going to play on your system of choice? Is it up to the person's expectations or will it be a turn off? At least with FPGA, there's typically no worry about the operating system, drivers for video being potentially incompatible (or worse, not ENOUGH video power for more intensive systems), controller connectivity, etc. as the specific console has everything you need.

This console sounds really good on paper, being an easy to use MiSTER console. My concern is how will OTHER classic controllers function on this device? USB dongles? Will there be some sort of mapping or configuration issue, like when using Atari 2600 paddle controllers?

@Crabbitsteve
PS1 isn't even worth collecting for imo. 95%+ of it's library consists of ugly first wave 3D polygon graphics which in most cases simply don't stand the test of time, at all. They were Awesome in 95', and a clear step up over what Sega Saturn was cooking, but in most cases they're jarring to go back to.

It's got a small collection of solid 2D games though > Castelvania SOTN, Rayman, Mega Man X4, Metal Slug X, Strider 2, Allundra, Mega Man 8, DarkStalkers, Street Fighter Alpha 2 etc.

I dont know, it's in a weird spot for me. You just can't recapture that feeling of playing PS1 at launch in 95 nearly 30 years ago when it was cutting edge, new and revolutionary. Saturn, PS1 & N64 have aged like crud compared to SNES, NES & Genesis, or 16 bit arcade games. Which all boasted timeless cartoony' sprite work clocked at 60fps.

But ya, I was hoping to get this SuperStation One and use it as a MiSTer with any retro console core, but it seems like it's only compatible with PlayStation 1 controllers...