Comments 831

Re: GameStop Is Selling An Exclusive ModRetro Chromatic

RetroGames

Very cool. I'm so close to ordering one of these.

There's just something special about old consoles that are so pure and that cuts out all the faff and fuss of modern systems: No day-one patches, no online accounts, no setting up avatars, no EULAs, no "social" media integration, no long load times for the games to simply start, no over-designed home environments and menus to navigate, no having to install and link up to smartphone apps just to get some things working properly (I'm looking at you Meta Quest 3), no micro transactions or loot crates, physical boxes and manuals you can actually touch and smell, you actually get to own your games properly for all time, etc.

Now all the guy needs to do is make some ModRetro SNES console like this, as well as support it with proper brand new SNES titles too as he has done for the Chromatic, and I'd be all over that in a heartbeat. 😃🤤

Re: Castlevania: Bloodlines Is Being Unofficially Ported To SNES

RetroGames

@Hexapus Yup, agreed.

Honestly though, although I expect it's some of the other stuff that will be updated and I'm fine with that too, I actually think a tweak of all the colours throughout would make the biggest impact. And, if you combine that with the other stuff, it really could almost look like a remaster at that point imo,

I guess we'll see just how far the dev takes things, and possibly the wider SNES community can then expand on that further down the line too with a full colour patch or something.

Re: Sega Forever, Sega's Dedicated Retro Channel, Appears To Be Dead

RetroGames

What is it with some people online. We need to name and call these people out and then remove them from the discourse. Assuming it's real bullying and not just being annoying, stuff like using actual deranged unrelenting trolling, attacking, lying behaviour and basically stalking and doxing and that kind of thing, they are not contributing anything of worth and don't need or deserve to be part of the conversation anymore.

Re: Here's Super Mario 64 Running On Dreamcast

RetroGames

@Steel76 It's not that they hate fans, but they certainly ain't as supportive as they could be of fan projects that use their IP and such. Often they'll let things be if literally no money is involved, although not as much as I'd like, but they come down like a tonne of bricks if money is exchanging hands. I can understand them being strict about people monetizing their IP, but I think they need to take a chill pill on non-commercial fan works and maybe even show proper support for them at times. There's potentially a whole resource of cheap ports and remakes and spin-offs and so on that they could even finance and see released officially if they were being really smart about it imo.

Re: ROMHacking.net Is Winding Down After Almost 20 Years

RetroGames

@BulkSlash Do you recall what happened there, as I'm very interested in finding out a little more about who in general potentially f'd this up for everyone?

I have my suspicions that it was a certain crowd, but it would be best to get the details before I jump to any unfounded and possibly very unfair conclusions based on my own experience of such things.

But my main interest here being that we should really find out who these people are causing this kind of actual abuse and doxing and such, expose them and make them accountable for their actions, and get them out of the community.

These people are unstable, toxic, they're not contributing anything of worth, and they don't need or deserve to be part of the community.

Re: ROMHacking.net Is Winding Down After Almost 20 Years

RetroGames

This is not good news. The community now just needs to make sure there's another place that properly serves the same function then, and also that we don't lose any of the current ROM hacks at all. As we need to make sure people still feel incentivized to keep making all these awesome ROM hacks for classic systems and have a place they know they can list and show them off where basically anyone who's interested in such things knows is the place to go to find them. It will be a total loss if that isn't done properly imo.

Re: Hoonigans Is A Mix Of Project Gotham Racing And Micro Machines For Your Game Boy Color

RetroGames

@nocdaes Yeah, I want a new version of the SNES "Mini" that actually takes real physical cartridges. And then modern indie/homebrew developers could release brand new games for it and know there's a pretty sizeable audience of potential new customers right there. Not sure if it should be a real Mini that takes new and re-released mini versions of all the classic SNES games (possibly in compilation form like the Evercade), or more like a SNES Model 3 basically (which could still be smaller than the original and even SNES Jr. but still have the full size working cartridge slot), or even just literally a re-release of the original SNES. Just a brand new official SNES models of some kind that would encourage developers to release a lot more new games for the though. That would be awesome imo.

Re: SNK Vs. Capcom's Promotional Artwork Has Been Censored To Cover Mai's Modesty

RetroGames

We have a game where two people can physically beat the crap out of each other, and literally some line between two boobs on the cover of the box is considered by some to be far too taboo/sexist/offensive/sexualised/abusive/toxic/whatever.

This kind of censorship is just insane.

Every sane person can see that, right?

Where's that Zoolander clip where he talks about taking crazy pills. . . .

https://youtu.be/ilcRS5eUpwk?si=ReeLJJlrtJ_tzdmE

Re: Ninja Action Game 'Shadow Gangs Zero' Heading To Neo Geo, Dreamcast, & Sega Mega Drive

RetroGames

Looks like a pretty cool game.

Make a version for SNES too and I'll definitely be interested.

"I will make a Sega Megadrive/Genesis version! ... many people asked for this version, so now it's time!! - developer

And I also encourage any/all SNES fans to request it for that console as well, as that's clearly one of the ways you can encourage people to bring more new indie/homebrew games like this to the system alongside those other consoles, which it absolutely deserves.

The SNES community needs to be speaking up just as much as other console communities clearly are.

Re: Castlevania: Bloodlines Is Being Unofficially Ported To SNES

RetroGames

@CocktailCabinet Although this will almost certainly never happen, what I think would be interesting would be getting first the core game ported across with the changes made to accomodate the lower horizontal resolution, then some of the more obvious added elements like proper transparency effects and some extra backgrounds layers in places, and finally at some point for the community to come in and update all the art to use the full colour range of the SNES. I think the three main additions of a lot more and nicer colours throughout, the proper multi-coloured transparency effects, and some more overlapping parallax could really take the game to the next level, assuming all the rest is solid first to act as a good foundation to build on. Realistically, I doubt even the base game will ever get properly ported across to be honest, and instead we'll just get a couple of sample levels with rough gameplay that hints at what could be, but that's my dream for this project anyway.

Re: Ranma 1/2: Chougi Ranbu Hen SNES Patch Fixes Game's "Catastrophic" Frame Rate

RetroGames

"The hack consists on optimizing the code of the most expensive tasks (this is not a SA1 or FastROM hack). The result is a game that now runs with a rock stable 60 fps framerate. There is no longer any frame drop even in the most extreme situations. It completely changes the pacing of the game. The input lag is also improved and the frame pacing is now perfect." - Upsilandre

And this just goes to show that good code optimization alone can make a huge difference in a whole load of SNES games.

It's great to see this fighting game running at a rock solid 60fps. Excellent job there.

Re: Interview: ModRetro CEO On What Makes Chromatic The Ultimate Game Boy In 2024

RetroGames

@MeloMan And on that note, I'd 100% love to see Palmer create a SNES Chromatic. I'm not sure how it would differ from the Analogue NT, but with the quality and accuracy of the current Chromatic to the original Game Boy and Game Boy Colour handhelds, I imagine it could be rather special, and very much so if he actually secures some brand new games for this SNES Chromatic as he has done for the current Chromatic. Now that could be a very big deal indeed imo. With that kind of approach, it's possible he could create a mini revival of the SNES development scene. I would be so up for that, you wouldn't believe--or you possibly would.

Re: Talking Point: Does Video Game History Have A "Nintendo Problem"?

RetroGames

Kool-Aid for sale! Cheap price for the handful of Kool-Aid lovers happening by! If you're drinking bubble tea you're living in a bubble! Get your fresh Kool-Aid here!

I'll just follow up on my previous comments, which you can go back and read, and say it's not Nintendo fans that are "living in a bubble". And it's not Nintendo fans that are stuck living in the past either, as most of them are not even visiting some niche retro site like Time Extension and certainly not trying to rewrite history for their own misguided agenda, but rather out actually enjoying their Nintendo Switch consoles en masse as I type, and possibly even enjoying the new Xbox and PlayStation consoles too.

So, maybe consider which people and fans are trying to convince everyone "Nintendo fans live in a bubble", and indeed why, and you'll possibly figure out who's living in the real bubble and likely stuck very much in the past here.

Re: Dragonyhm Is A Promising New Title For Your Game Boy Color (And ModRetro Chromatic)

RetroGames

Another cool looking game for the GB/GBC.

Has anyone else noticed a trend that the retro systems that are easiest for people to develop for, which is a combination of both how easy it is to understand and get to grips with the system's internal capabilities and features plus the user friendliness of any modern development tools that are available and whatever guides for using them, the more new games coming out for it in modern times.

So, what's the secret here, given no one can change the internal hardware and features of these old consoles: Make simple intuitive development tools that any budding game developers can get to grips with, and provide them with clear guides, instructions, and even working examples that are extremely easy and intuitive to follow too.

This is one of the reasons we're seeing so many new games for the likes of GB/GBC and NES for example--and that's a great thing on net.

Now, I think this is what the SNES indie/homebrew community should really put much more of a focus on, as it's nowhere near matured and genuinely democratised and user friendly enough in those areas currently imo. And we'll start to see the fruits of that too.

Re: Castlemania Is Super Mario World With Castlevania's Bite

RetroGames

@nocdaes Yeah, it's obviously a LOt easier to edit and update an already existing game, so I totally understand why most people in the SNES ROM scene are currently doing that, but it will be very interesting to see what they can do when it's entirely their own idea with all the freedom for it to be whatever they, which comes with its own benefits but also challenges.

Re: Castlemania Is Super Mario World With Castlevania's Bite

RetroGames

Pretty cool.

I'm really hoping that all these people wetting their appetites on the likes of Super Mario World ROM hacks for the SNES--and there are a LOT of them (also Castlevania IV, Super Metroid, Super Mario Kart, Donkey Kong Coutry, Zombie Ate my Neibors, A Link to the Past, etc)--are working up to eventually making their own original games for SNES too.

Just imagine how many cool new SNES games we could have if/when these people graduate to the next level of indie/homebrew development.

Re: Sunsoft Announces Remake Of The SNES Racer 'Hashire Hebereke'

RetroGames

@gingerbeardman Yeah, nothing's really hidden these days to be fair. It's great that all these games are out there for everyone to discover a lot more easily now. There's so many Japanese SNES games I didn't even know existed back in the day, and many of them are actually really good. Lots to play.

Re: Has Your SNES Pad Seen Better Days? Don't Worry, A Fix Is Coming

RetroGames

@Ziondood It's when you try all the third party stuff that you realise the quality of the first party Nintendo products for the most part. No other controller of that era even touched the default SNES controller imo. Although, for certain uses, some third party options were definitely well worth trying. Like if you wanted to play Street Fighter II in a manner closer to the arcade, you might try the best-in-class C&L Championship Joystick for example. But, outside of actually quite niche situations like that, I've always found Nintendo's first party controllers genuinely great in almost every instance. And the SNES controller was/is kinda peak for me.

Re: The Dev Behind Mega Man Fangame 'The Sequel Wars' Is Working On A SNES Game

RetroGames

I'm looking forward to finding out more about this one.

If he puts as much love and effort into making the SNES shine as he did using pretty much every trick it the Genesis' book on the Mega Man: The Sequel Wars game he worked on there, this could be very cool on SNES.

I'm seeing some decent stuff in the clip already, nothing quite system pushing yet, as there's no copious use of row/line scrolling for lots of faux parallax in the backgrounds, no use of the spare 2/3rds of BG3 for a proper third overlapping layer of parallax (be it something distant in the scene or something like foreground objects or fog or rain or whatever), no transparency in the actual in-game action vs the HUD (actually very cool us of it there though), no use of animated tiles to fake further parallax, no use of some spare sprites to fake even more background parallax, no use of palette cycling for some additional sense of motion in the levels (like waterfalls or animated lights, etc), and so on--almost all of this was employed in most stages in his Genesis Mega Man: The Sequel Wars game, so I'm hoping he'll do the same here on SNES too--but it's a very solid start.

Loads of potential there.

And, even if it's just a simple well made SNES action platform game, that too will be great. Already it has a nice solid visual appeal of its own.

Re: Review: TapTo NFC Loading System - Gives MiSTer FPGA A Vital Physical Connection

RetroGames

Put this directly in a real console like the Switch 2 or something, make the whole thing slick and seamless, and then I'll probably be interested. It could be future of buying those physical games that don't actually have discs/cards but just the digital codes, where instead you could get a little credit card that you tap on the console to get access to the game properly. That would certainly be a lot cheaper than putting actual games in the boxes, while also giving us back a little bit of that tactile experience again. Then, ideally, they just need to find a way that grants you ownership of and access to that digital version for all time basically.