RetroGames

Man, there be a LOT of Mario ROM hacks.

I'd honestly like to see every single FX game get support for the FX3.

In fact, if possible, I'd like to see both the "FX3" and the chip the Bitmap Bureau have used in Xeno Crisis be made available for other homebrew developers to use too.

Same goes for a whole bunch of old and new SNES games getting rumble support added as well if possible.

Loving the pixel art here.

@MARl0 Maybe send him a wee message on Twitter, as he'll likely look into this if it's possible to fix.

@angel68 Yeah, it seems like it's about to really come into its own now. It's on track to become the reto-centric equivalent of GameMaker. Maybe it will even spur on the GameMaker team to add support for beloved retro consoles like the SNES too. That would be very cool as well.

@angel68 He's done a bunch of top quality NES to SNES ports thus far, so we know this is in good hands.

Totally excited for this one. I'm hoping it helps spur on some really cool new homebrew development for SNES. If it works as expected, I'll definitely be giving it a go to see what's possible there.

A pretty cool announcement, right.

I'm looking forward to seeing how this develops.

Now make a SNES Super Mario World ROM hack with most of this in it.

@Bunkerneath It's a new controller they've made specifically for this release, or that at least coincides with it.

Well this is an interesting development.

@GravyThief I also didn't realise the article went back that far.

@Azuris Ah, okay. Thanks.

@Azuris Can you use this service without the original system. I didn't quite read up on that part.

@GravyThief At least they're actually re-releasing SNES games and helping keep the system alive. Their recent Doom re-release that comes with multiple improvements is pretty dang impressive. I'd love to see a lot more stuff like that for the system, alongside more brand new homebrew games too.

One of the most graphically impressive games on SNES, and even more so when you realise it is stock hardware doing this, no add-on chips, while also running in SlowROM, so artificially throttled to only 70% of the system's full CPU speed. And, just to clarify, it's pushing out stunning full-screen intense run 'n' gun and shmup action with lots of gun fire and enemies and explosions and other stuff going on, in full SNES pre-rendered colour, with multiple layers of parallax, using lots of the system's cool effects like transparency and Mode 7 in places, etc, and it never drops a frame from 60fps even in the most intense action moments. This is what a stock SNES running in its most gimped configuration can do when simply used properly.

Such an interesting thing there. I hope they get a good amount of support from the SNES development community.

@VGScrapbook And my SNES never got even remotely yellow in the two decades or so I owned it. So I 100% do not have nostalgia for those horrible yellowed models. I think they look terrible. And I don't think a well designed trainer that's meant to represent the SNES should be using the yellowed colour either; that's just a bad design choice.

I feel like more than the Genesis version, whomever the designer was, they completely half-assed and flubbed the SNES design. I mocked up a much better representation in a matter of minutes. I should be getting paid whatever that random got paid.

@smoreon Yeah, that sounds about right. No pun intended.

I remember my as I recall launch SNES had a cable with the stereo capable red/yellow/white connectors on the end. And, after the first basic TV I owned for a little while where I think I just had it plugged in directly like that, I had it plugged into a 21-pin EuroSCART connector and port on my TV for the rest of the time I owned it. I always thought it both looked and sounded great. Don't know if I ever upgraded to a proper RGB SCART at some point, but it's possible.

So, out of those systems, it seems like the SNES was the most practically stereo ready and most likely to actually be used as such at that time then. And that would be for all models of the system I presume.

I expect the PC Engine was possibly somewhere in between the NES/Master System and Genesis when it came to audio connections and stereo output as standard. And I'd have to imagine the Neo Geo was proper stereo with appropriate cables in the box given how expensive and cutting-edge it was for the time.

If they did a Nintendo version where the stripes and one other part were the four colours of Japan/Europe SNES, I think that would be very cool. And the stripes should have had the purple accent for the US variation too.

How hard would it have been to do something like this:

https://i.postimg.cc/xjgjXQZv/Purple-Gray.png

https://i.postimg.cc/pVgvhdZn/RGYBGray.png

@KingMike So, were you playing all your old consoles in crappy mono, such that this mod would be quite representative of the audio quality you were getting at the time from your games.

@KitsuneNight Yeah, something like that. And, yeah, I think they could make the system a bit wider horizontally for overall comfort. I also still expect they could pull off a SNES version where the carts could sit fully flush with the top of the system (so the connector part would be as close to the bottom as possible without being too fragile there). And I think they could bring the overall thickness down quite a bit by having basically the screen then the cart with nothing extraneous in between, so the overall thickness would be a SNES cart plus maybe half a centimeter or whatever. And the control grip areas at the back would be the full thickness there so the cart lies flush with them on the back too.

Edit: Something like this maybe: https://i.ibb.co/DwT4yxL/20240807-140728.jpg

And, I guess, because the centre section would be kinda hollow without a cart inserted, maybe it could come with a faux cart that holds an SD slot, a bit like those Everdrive carts, so you can have either that in there when not using an original cartridge or an original cartridge. I think that would be a cool way to go.

I didn't draw this in the image, but I think the inside edge of those grip sections could actually curve too, so they really do act like grips. And the system would be design so it can take both US and Japan/European carts, so there'd even be a little additional gap between the curve of the grips and carts that might even serve that function further.

Edit 2: Just found a video showing a design that's almost exactly what I was talking about: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RicLNAz70O0

Another example here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pc0S9AZ_64o

Make it something like that but a tiny bit smaller and tighter and with much better injection moulding or something, plus styled in either or both the Super Famicom and Super NES looks, and sorted.

Well, here's a question I have, how many people were listening to their games in mono vs stereo back then?

I know the SNES had stereo output as standard, as it was literally a choice in pretty much every single game and there were official first party cables that supported it (it even supported Dolby Surround sound too, although not quite sure what connectors you needed to get that), but I don't know how it was with other consoles.

Which of these systems came with the connection points and standard first party cables that let you plug them directly into and then output your games to a typical CRT in stereo:

Famicom/NES
Master System
PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16 (standard version)
Genesis/Mega Drive
Neo Geo
Etc

Can anyone answer for those systems, including the various models (as I know there were at least a couple of different main official models for most of those systems). That would be interesting to know.

" It goes without saying that the television sets in the '80s and '90s didn't offer the best aural experience; you'd often be saddled with low-quality mono sound."

Also, I just want to mention that my TV was outputting Dolby Pro-Logic surround sound back in the '90s and came with the five speaker setup in the box that was vastly superior to any TV or audio setup I've ever had since. My 50" 4K TV now is just boring ass stereo with crappy voice separation and is utterly underwhelming. So you could definitely get brilliant audio experiences in the '90s if you wanted to. And similarly, it's not like all modern TV are just amazing in that department out the box.

This looks very cool.

With the reveal trailer now released, I can see he's using a few the cool SNES graphical tricks, which is great.

Actually looks pretty cool.

@KitsuneNight Yeah, I get what you're saying. I still think there's gotta be a way to make it work. In my head I visualise it being the height of the cart plus connector pin section basically, and the depth of cart plus screen basically, and then the control sections basically stuck on the sides. So, really, without the cart plugged in the centre section of the console would be pretty thin really. I'd have to see a mockup or something, but I think it could work.

Looks pretty decent. And nice to see it's with pretty much exactly the SNES button layout and such, right down to the names, Start and Select, and even a similar d-pad design. I'm going to assume it has shoulder buttons somewhere too.

Edit: Ah, the image at the top of the article is confusing/misleading, as that's not his system. Well, apply what I said to the device in the image at the top of the article.

Not the slickest looking device, but still cool to see a new piece of SNES hardware.

I do wonder if there would be some way to make a device like this where the cartridge connecter could just be exposed and at the bottom back of the device pointing up, such that when you connect the cart it basically sits flush with both the back and top of the system. And you could even have the cartridge label facing outwards from the back of the machine too, so you could see it nice and clearly there. You can think of it basically similar to how the cartridge connector is on the back of the Analogue Pocket for example.

@wiiware It would be great if Nintendo would do stuff like that. Sadly, I think we know it almost certainly won't.

@Bonggon5 Well, that's my take on it based on how it looks. It is what it is.

@gingerbeardman That's fine and your opinion.

I'd certainly be totally fine owning the black model, which I think has a great balance of a more retro "toy" gaming device like those old handhelds were and a modern take on that.

For example, I actually think the Analogue Pocket looks too bland and clean, such that it come across more like some poncy businessman PDA or hipster Apple device than a fun handheld games console imo. I'd be scared of getting fingerprints on the Analogue Pocket and that the screen might shatter at the slightest drop. But I would be able to play a device like the Chromatic with no such worries. And I'm really not a fan of none of the buttons having any labels and everything being a single colour on the Analogue Pocket either, which makes it almost look like an unfinished prototype mold to me, even as clearly slick and expensive as it looks.

So the ModRetro Chromatic appeals to me because it feels more whimsical and playful yet still clearly very well put together and high quality at the same time, and also because of how just simple and pure it is as a device and experience. That's something I miss from classic games consoles like the SNES, Genesis, GB/GBC/GBA, etc.

But that's just my personal take.

@gingerbeardman Me too with the coloured ones, and even this white one a little. But I think the black model looks totally fine. They do give it more of an '80s/'90s retro vibe though, I guess.

@Azuris I don't quite get what that means?

@wiiware The thing I like about this getting directly ported to SNES, other than I want as many games put on SNES in modern times as possible, is that it now opens the door for someone to go in and do a full 16-bit colour makeover at some point there. I'm hoping this happens to most of these direct NES to SNES ports at some point, and I think it would be very cool to see that happen. A whole bunch of "All-Stars" version of NES games on SNES would just be a total bonus imo.

Cool. I know this is a well regarded NES game, and especially the NES version specifically, so this is another very solid choice.

A totally random one I saw the other day that I actually think would now make a great choice to directly port to SNES would be the fan hack of Sunman game on NES, now titled Superman 2 - General Zod Edition:

https://youtu.be/T3SCP7QGg2U

If ported, it could end up being the best Superman game on SNES, especially if it ever got an update to proper 16-bit colours too.

But, before that, I really want to see Batman: Return of the Joker get a direct NES to SNES port:

https://youtu.be/M0iCZ9-FbG0?si=JLWyqAa4N8b62tXT

@Peteykins Kinda makes sense given then website's entire schtick is all things retro gaming in modern times. If the ModRetro Chromatic doesn't epitomize the idea of "Time Extension", nothing really does.

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. 😃🤤

Not great news on the preservation front.

@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.

A simple and cool looking little puzzle game.

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.

@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.

@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.

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.

@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.

This looks rather cool. And I appreciate how they've both zoomed out the view enough to let you actually see a decent view of the action, plus have a dynamic camera that adjusts to show you more of the view ahead based on the direction the car is driving. It's little stuff like this that earns bonus points from me.

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

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.

@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.