Comments 314

Re: New Xbox 360 Recompilation Tool Will Give Lost Classics Another Chance To Shine

AJB83

@PZT I have my PC and Xbox 360 side-by-side for capture purposes, and Xenia is definitely slower in regards to input lag feel. I can feel it in racing games, at least, most definitely. I've tried many controllers, configurations native and adapters. It is especially felt in any of the 30fps racers. I don't play shmups. EDIT: I do have Radiant Silvergun, though, I might see how that works out? Thanks for the video link

Re: New Xbox 360 Recompilation Tool Will Give Lost Classics Another Chance To Shine

AJB83

@mjparker77 It's not. It's merely OK, and lots of things don't work well. There's also a tonne of input lag right now, owing to the fact it's emulation. And just in general, it uses more power than those games should reasonably demand. Native ports mean lower system requirements, and much less power consumption.

MY ROG Ally X can run the 360 library on Xenia at the native res /frame rate of each Xbox title, and pretty much no more. But with the Sonic Unleased Port, it can do 1440p/60 without even breaking a sweat, uses less power and input lag is non-existent.

Also, city folk may not care, but I live in the country and rely on solar, so lowered power requirements are always something I like to see and always welcome.

Re: This New Unofficial PC Port Of Sonic Unleashed Could Be The Best Version Of The Game Yet

AJB83

This is AWESOME stuff. Automatically, it brings PC requirements for Xbox 360 down, down DOWN - which is amazing stuff. Of course it relies on interest in certain titles, but I'm super excitedat the prospect of being able to play stuff like PGR 4 on PC natively, at much, much higher framerates and resolutions without the hassle of emulation, which still has a ways to go.

That era has some of the best games out there, and there's now a chance that many of those amazing games locked to the Xbox 360 will be available to play in a form that could stomp out all of the performance issues and limitations that the generation was known for.

Amazing work!

Re: WaterMelon Insists Its Terminally Delayed Brawler Paprium Isn't Dead

AJB83

@Hairlesswookiee I was one of the few too. I ended up selling mine copy completely sealed off in COVID... I didn't even play it. By that time, I was kinda over it, and sold it at basically what I purchased it for. Whoever bought it I'm SURE enjoyed it. Or sold it off for a higher price, haha, who knows

Re: The Mega Drive / Genesis Shmup 'ZPF' Gets New Lore Trailer & Release Date

AJB83

@ChromaticDracula @MARl0 Yup, Mega Cat Studios is really bad like that. I'll definitely grab this on Steam, but not having a ROM option for sale is poor form for 2025.

Even if they delayed the ROM release a while to give the physicals a chance would be A-OK with me.

It kinda irks me when these indie publishing houses act like a bigger companies; it feels like it goes against the indie spirit vibe entirely. But the middle-man has to justify his existence, and is always gonna middle-man his way around town

Re: Random: The Gloriously Unhinged SuperSega Saga Now Has Its Own Song

AJB83

There's people out there doing amazing things, who get zero attention and have to work hard for it.

This douche gets all the attention for zero work.

Man, my uBlock filter on my browser is getting a workout blocking every image and article of this guy that goes up, same as my BlockTube filter ...

Re: "The Most Bafflingly Poor Products We Have Ever Reviewed" - Marseille's mClassic RGB Collection Fails To Impress The Experts

AJB83

@Razieluigi I got the red mClassic during the pandemic for my Switch. Most Switch games need all the help they can get in regards to image quality on a monitor, and mine is docked 100% of the time, and it worked as an AA/Sharpening/Saturation pass for it, and worked well.

It didn't work on ANYTHING else I had. My Xbox 360 for example never looked any different - and I sat at my monitor and scrutinized the hell out of it.

Anyways, it broke last year and shows nothing at all, so that is that, haha.

Re: Almost 20 Years After It Ended Production, A Brand-New PS1 Motherboard Is In Development

AJB83

@lorentiobrodesco Super sorry to hear that. I'd hug you if I could!

Yeah, there's plenty of room for things you enjoy. I'm definitely not saying not to do things you like. I also think when you find absolute happiness, there's still room for those things, it just takes a different form. We've got to give our life meaning.

The difference is when people do it out of FOMO and to chase trends. That's disingenuous, and not real. There's a thrill of the chase, the thrill of millions of parcels arriving - all that stuff is a band-aid, and I guarantee those people make it look like they're enjoying stuff by posting about how much they enjoy the things they buy, but it's all for show, and most of that stuff just sits there looking pretty, taking up space, just to be shown off on social media.

Also, when you've got people buying and acquiring building stuff up without actually balancing that out with a bit of giving to their fellow man, then that's what grinds my gears a lot!

And your project isn't meaningless - like I said, it's important for actual repairs and legit preservation. It's not at all like somebody just collecting for approval, likes and out of FOMO.

Keep up the good work, and really sorry to hear about your troubles. All the best to you

Re: Almost 20 Years After It Ended Production, A Brand-New PS1 Motherboard Is In Development

AJB83

@Porco You can emulate on anything, basically, so I get the whole FOMO thing in regards to all those emulation handhelds, trust me, haha. You sound very much like me, and you're preaching to the choir, for sure!

I see this replication motherboard as a bit different, in that it will aid in repairing broken systems. Spare parts isn't the same as an emulation handheld though, although they could very well be used in the creating of yet MORE devices, I totally see that happening.

People lack purpose and meaning, and will collect just about ANYTHING to fill a void. There's a large echo chamber around it these days too, so it's easy to find a million others out there who will seemingly justify one's lack of self control in just constantly consuming; I know, it used to be me, haha! I thought I was happy, but it started to go WELL beyond nostalgia and warm and fuzzy feelings and into territory I wasn't comfortable in.

Sold it all off and stick to emulation on mostly PC. I will get an FPGA solution for my Saturn games eventually, though!

Re: Taki Udon Teases FPGA PS1's "SuperDock"

AJB83

Yeah, this will be my first foray into FPGA gaming. I'm going with the black, so match my recent neGcon acquisition!

I've been wanting a, small dedicated PSX/SAT machine that looks good and this is it. It'll take my DualShocks, neGcon AND my Retro-Bit Saturn controllers

Re: The Genesis Just "Broke Another Myth" By Replicating Classic Castlevania Tunes

AJB83

@UtopiaNemo The Mega Drive FM synth has aged better I think, thanks in no small part due to the abundance of Electronic Music out there. The crisp synth sounds of the YM2612 are easy to listen to, because those very particular sounds are not only out there in 90s music, but also in Synthwave, House.

I really, really dig some SNES music too, but it's gotta be as crisp as the SNES can do for me to still listen to - not all of them sound like Dracula X, CastleVania IV, Super Turrican and PLOK!

I also prefer SR's Theme of Simon - it sounds so arcadey, boomy and meaty

Re: Valve's Unshackling Of SteamOS Could Give Switch 2 Some Welcome Competition

AJB83

@Slobbert You don't have to mess about with a 'PC Handheld' with Steam OS. It just works. Hence the competition

Every empire falls. Once somebody does the handheld thing just as well as Nintendo, without their *****, then they will fall again too.

Nintendo have the hubris right now that Sony does. Because they are popular, they will feel the need to not have to work as hard because everybody worships the ground they walk on. They all do it, unfortunately.

Re: Best Of 2024: Is It Time To Change The Narrative On The Sega Saturn?

AJB83

I'm still playing Saturn in 2025

I grew up with the console, but have since sold my Japanese unit and collection. I kept my OG PAL Saturn unit though, and I plan on fixing it up and modding it for 60hz so I can play my back-ups on it. Until then, Mednafen and the Retro-Bit line of Saturn Controllers are the perfect replacement

I did a video recently playing some originally 30fps Saturn racing games at 60fps on PC via Emulation, if anybody is interested at all! It's mostly just a celebration of Saturn racers in general !!! https://youtu.be/Q1gUTCxaFjQ

Re: Sega's Western CEO Isn't Interested In Saturn And Dreamcast Mini Consoles

AJB83

@KitsuneNight I mean, they could yank games off if they're connected to the internet, right?

But from a preservation point, yeah, I definitely see your point - respect.

I just think of the housing as really nice looking e-waste these days, with the multitudes of ways to play. So personally, I'll stick with Emulation.

Even when that rumoured subscription service rears it's ugly head

Re: Virtua Fighter 2 Is Getting A Physical Release On Xbox

AJB83

@KitsuneNight "VF has always been a bit bare bones in both story and its characters."

That's what makes it awesome for me, though. It's pure gameplay. The characters have a lot of personality without a lot of really generic and average exposition.

I still can't play story-heavy fighting games to this day. They feel slow and super-pretentious to me.

I mean, it's a fighting game, how much preamble do we really need???

Re: Anniversary: Need For Speed Turns 30 This Month

AJB83

@KitsuneNight I second this. It's a lot tighter and more forgiving in Over Drivin', and a really great way to re-experience NFS if you're looking for a quirkier way to celebrate the anniversary.

Road & Track Presents The Need For Speed: Special Edition on PC was one of the first PC games I ever purchased myself. I had a Pentium 133mhz it ran awesome! I could even go the SVGA route!

Unfortunately, it's not too easy to play that version these days unless you have a PC from the time, which I don't. I will have to dedicate some time to getting it up and running again, because although I owned both the PAL NFS:SE and Nissan Presents: Over Drivin' GT-R on the Saturn, my favourite version is still that PC Special Edition.

Re: The Genesis Just "Broke Another Myth" With This Amazing Rendition Of A Classic Castlevania Tune

AJB83

@Deuteros That's amazing to hear! I'm glad that R U Overdrive helped you out in that way! I know it's been adopted into some EVO circles and I've even seen it modded into Dreamcast SF II and a version of Smash Bros too at certain points in time!

And to answer your question, I think I'm a worse musician these days, but a better producer, haha! I've just been getting back into music the last couple of years, but I'm not entirely set up for it yet, so it'll be a while before I can jump back in and do anything too substantial.

But I will definitely let you know when I'm set up again for music production

Re: The Genesis Just "Broke Another Myth" With This Amazing Rendition Of A Classic Castlevania Tune

AJB83

@Deuteros I created the Eurobeat version of the Ryu theme for that album waaaaaay back in 2005 with Braincells on guitar, haha! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sw9FUN-D9so

Crazy to see this come up in conversation, haha! I wish my track could have ended up in the game, but there were stipulations at the time from Capcom on creating different versions of the track with different BPMS at the time (along with some general changes to the BPM) and with a Eurobeat track, it wasn't so flexible!

Also, my mixdown at the time was terrible, I was learning on the fly, and was never entirely with the final outcome.