Retro Gaming

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Post by Pettytyrant101 Thu Mar 16, 2017 2:58 am

{{ So you want to play some classic retro games, re-live your youth with computers and consoles long ago consigned to history? Or if you are too young and missed the golden era of the arcades in person, or the computer wars, or the first console wars and the best games those eras produced then here's a chance to partake of a little gaming history and fun. But where do you start you might be wondering?  scratch Is it complicated?  study  Do I need to know how to do lots of technical things?   pale Will it cost me anything?!  affraid
Lucky you came here to ask then isn't it! Nod  What do you mean no one asked?!!!  Mad

Anyway a very good place to start and the key site I will be coming back to is this one- https://www.emuparadise.me/  - but don't worry I will also provide links to the various emulators required.

note- I will do this sort of in historical order- so first will be classic Arcade machines, then classic early computers, then classic consoles.
Wherever a game appeared across multiple platforms I will only include what I consider to be the best version of that game on whichever system that might be.


1. Arcade classics.

Retro Gaming Outrundx_zpsuuxeyveh

What you need-

1. a pc, ideally one capable of handling modern games then you know you should be ok for most retro games.

2. An arcade machine emulator. In this case we will be using MAME- Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator.

3. Game roms to play!

4. Winzip or Winrar (recommended) to handle zip files. Get Winrar here if your pc does not already have one of these programs - http://www.rarlab.com/download.htm

5. Optional- a games pad or joystick or HOTAS.

Retro Gaming Sharrier_zps53fw3ioz

What you need to do-

1. First we need MAME which you can download from here - https://www.emuparadise.me/M.A.M.E._-_Multiple_Arcade_Machine_Emulator_Emulators/Windows/7  
Scroll down to the bottom of the page and download - MAME 0.172 (64-bit) [0.172]

Ok now install that once its downloaded.

There are two things MAME needs to work, a game rom and a system rom for the arcade machine being emulated. You will have neither.
If you open the folder where you installed MAME you will see that you have a folder in there called ROMS, open that and keep it open somewhere- this is where both game and system roms are going to go when you download them.

Handily the emulator website can provide us with both.

2. Download roms.
I will use an example here- lets say we want to play the arcade classic vector graphics original of Star Wars.
First go to the roms section for MAME, here - https://www.emuparadise.me/M.A.M.E._-_Multiple_Arcade_Machine_Emulator_ROMs/7  -

1. Click on S, scroll down till you find Star Wars.
2. You will notice there are quite a few of them. For now just click on 'Star Wars revision 2'.
3. On the new page scroll down to the 'Direct Download Links.'
4. Download the rom for the game (its a whopping 48k) now scroll down a little further in the same section to 'other extras'.
Here you will see optional game extras like controls or manual but importantly you will also see the system rom you need to run the game. In this case MAME 0.133 BIOS Pack which is 26M.

5. Once downloaded simply move the zip files you downloaded into the MAME roms folder. Do not extract the files, MAME reads the zip files themselves and needs them in zip format.

6. Start up Mame go to 'all system' or, 'available' and you should see Star Wars there ready to play.

Right clicking on it and selecting properties will let you change settings just for that game, such as controls (I recommend mouse control for this one).

And that's you, play and enjoy.

Retro Gaming Starwars_zpslzri6vpy

Just repeat this process for any game you want, remembering to check you have the system rom necessary in the download extras section, and if not download whatever one is recommended for that game. Sometimes this information will also be directly beneath the game rom you are downloading, but not always.

Retro Gaming 16167-Rolling_Thunder_new_version-1481846670-thumb_zpsrkw61zex

3. Recommended Arcade Games.

https://www.emuparadise.me/M.A.M.E._-_Multiple_Arcade_Machine_Emulator_ROMs/Games-Starting-With-Numbers/7

Retro Gaming 16090-Robocop_World_revision_4-1481815760-thumb_zpsnk6jnho3

Spoiler:

Retro Gaming 11649-Bubble_Bobble-1-thumb_zpskfvnywyj

There are hundreds of games listed but these are all tested and all I think still have something to them that make them good arcade game experiences.

Next up if there is any interest computer emulators- 8 bit and 16bit! }}}

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Post by halfwise Thu Mar 16, 2017 12:00 pm

All but the last one look too modern to me. My favorite was tank battalion: with classic dual joystick controls and the simple object of shooting your opponent while navigating a maze. And there were drones to make life interesting.

Retro Gaming Tankba10

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Post by Pettytyrant101 Thu Mar 16, 2017 12:15 pm

{{That looks more like the games of the early 8-bit home computers Halfy than arcade golden era games.

Manic Miner on the zx spectrum home computer-

Retro Gaming Manic_Miner_Screenshot_zpsvnwumllk

I will cover that era in the 8-bit emulators section.

The emu site I use above though will give you classic arcade games right back to pong, or the very first arcade driving games like Night Driver-

Retro Gaming Nitedrvr_zpstwpl7s7r

I did include some from that era of early games, notably Space Invaders. But most of the games I have recommended come from the following waves of arcade machines- pac-man, galaxians, star wars ect, and then the golden era of 'scaled sprites' that gave us Outrun, Afterburner, Space Harrier ect.

But my main criteria for the recommended list was not history but playability and which games I consider still worth the time as games and still stand up to scrutiny.

Sadly whilst many of the earliest arcade games were pioneering they are not exactly enjoyable playable experiences now.

But they are all available on that site if you wish to try them out for yourself.

Including Tank Battalion which you can find right here-

https://www.emuparadise.me/M.A.M.E._-_Multiple_Arcade_Machine_Emulator_ROMs/Tank_Battalion/17299 }}}

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Post by halfwise Thu Mar 16, 2017 1:01 pm

Unfortunately it's not just plug and play; have to do some reading and jiggering to make it work. I'll get to it later.

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Post by Pettytyrant101 Thu Mar 16, 2017 1:08 pm

{{For MAME it really is straightforward- its just downloading 1 program, installing and running it- then going to the games rom list and downloading what you want to play plus its system rom. Thats it. 3 things in total. No jiggering required. }}

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Post by halfwise Thu Mar 16, 2017 1:51 pm

The installation did not happen automatically, and I see no installation directions in the package. It may be set up to install automatically for windows but not mac. It will not run from the command line as advertised, so there's some jiggering to do.

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Post by Pettytyrant101 Thu Mar 16, 2017 1:57 pm

{{Ah forgot you were a Mac user Halfy! Not having a MAC I was unaware it doesnt have an installer. So let me rephrase- there is no jiggering if you use windows!

This might help-

http://bamf2048.github.io/sdl_mame_tut/ }}}

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Post by halfwise Thu Mar 16, 2017 2:17 pm

Ah, that's much better. Still some jiggering to do, but at least there's instructions. Unlike most github documents, the instructions actually make some sense (mostly). None of this "fork the committed disk image to the runtime path" type of github gibberish. (gitterish?)

I should get around to it this weekend.

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Post by Forest Shepherd Thu Mar 16, 2017 4:03 pm

Thanks for sharing Petty! Do you have an emulator for Doom?

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Post by Pettytyrant101 Thu Mar 16, 2017 6:13 pm

{{ I do indeed Forest- that will be in the 16bit console section- though which console I think has the best version of the original game I shall leave for speculation right now! }}}

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Post by azriel Thu Mar 16, 2017 9:50 pm

I remember my no.2 daughter loving this game Smile


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Post by Pettytyrant101 Fri Mar 17, 2017 12:30 am

{{ I never played that one. DOS games I wasn't going to cover, being pc games they are strictly speaking not emulated. Having said that these days you do need a program like DOS-box to run a game like that now- so I might cover it at the end. Anyhow here's part 2.

*Oh I should point out in case anyone is wondering I am leaving Japan and in fact the whole Asian scene out of this in general save where they made consoles big in the west too- one because I dont know enough about it, two there were a ton of machines no one in the west has ever heard of that came and went over there, three the bulk of the games were never translated into English and as many, I mean many of them, are rpg's this is problematic.


Ok now we come to the 8-bit era, and this is where things get a little more complicated but sets a pattern that will stay for years. A divide, between which systems are popular where.

If you were an American then you probably remember the 8 bit era as that of the Nintendo NES.
In Europe things were a bit busier.

The NES was there but was soon outgunned by the SEGA Master System, which though it did enjoy some success in America never overtook the NES there whereas Sega came to dominate in Europe.

To further complicate matters the 8 bit era also saw the dawn of home computers appearing as popular features of the modern home.
Again this was a far bigger phenomenon in Europe where the two main contenders where originally the zx spectrum 16k, soon followed by the massively popular 48k spectrum and on the other side, and with success in America too, was Commodore with the VIC 20 then shortly afterwards the very popular Commodore 64.
So we will be looking to emulate two consoles and two computers therefore- the NES and Master System, and the zx spectrum and commodore 64.

Lets do the 2 consoles first. Even though they came later than the 8bit computers, but its less complicated!

Retro Gaming NintendoNES_zpsnhmehsrb

So lets go back to our goto website-  

https://www.emuparadise.me/Nintendo_Entertainment_System_Emulators/13

and pick up the NES emulator first. Just select windows or mac then pick an emulator- I am using Mesen.

Unzip mesen and run it- it might ask to update if so let it.

Ok make a new folder, call it NES roms, or games or something, and place it in your mesen folder (this isn't necessary but makes it easy to find)
Now all you need are games for it, so pop over to the NES roms section -

Retro Gaming NES_Super_Mario_Bros_zpsw4yl0ikf

https://www.emuparadise.me/Nintendo_Entertainment_System_ROMs/13

and pick a game, say, as its a NES, super mario bros.- simply click on it, download it and pop the zip file into the folder you just made. In Mesen simply click on 'file' then open from the drop down menu, navigate to where you put the games folder, select your game and that's you.

Retro Gaming 250px-Sega-Master-System-Set_zpstd6hjzjv

Now for the contender the Sega Master System.
Go here, pick your system, windows or mac and then download Regen.

https://www.emuparadise.me/Sega_Master_System_Emulators/15

Now just extract it and run it, it will tell you as its first time you are running it that it will create some folders. Let it do its thing.

Now pop back to the roms page for master system games -

https://www.emuparadise.me/Sega_Master_System_ROMs/15

Retro Gaming Sonicsms_zpsqbgjbquf

and this time as its SEGA, we will nab sonic the hedgehog.

Once more make a new folder somewhere for the games, pop the sonic zip into, go back to your emulator program click on 'file' and then 'load' from the drop down menu, browse to your game folder and select your game and that is it.

So there you have it, the two big consoles of the 8bit era and the first true console war.

Sadly when it comes to games I cant really make a recommended list as I have played little of either of these consoles, I went the route of the 8 bit computers of the day.

However the mascot games for each Mario and Sonic both play fine to this day that I can say.
But if either of these consoles were part of your childhood then I am sure you have games and memories of your own to choose from. }}}


Last edited by Pettytyrant101 on Fri Mar 17, 2017 4:23 pm; edited 1 time in total

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Post by azriel Fri Mar 17, 2017 11:11 am

That's cos I know fook'all about games Smile I just saw the word "Retro"........ Smile

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Post by Pettytyrant101 Fri Mar 17, 2017 11:17 am

{{ Not to worry Azriel- there is a case to be made for including retro pc games, as 99.9% of them wont run natively on a modern pc any more. Nod So I will probably cover pc classic gaming and dos-box at the very end.
However having said that just about any pc game of that era that was any good is now available for very reasonable prices on the GOG label (Good Old Games) where dos-box is included and all the jiggery -pokery required to make them run done for you, so you just run it like a modern game and away you go, no hassles. I do recommend them for classic era PC gaming. Getting stuff to work on dos-box otherwise can be, frustrating! Mad }}}}}}

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Post by azriel Fri Mar 17, 2017 11:35 am

Thanks for that Smile IL let daughter No.2 know Smile She also liked a game from way back that had all these little babies & you had to get hold of them & put them back into cribs but they kept popping out. It drove me nuts, but she liked it ( why ? ) Daughter No2 is 32 yrs old this April, Its all going too fast sweety darrrrrling !!!! pale

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Post by Pettytyrant101 Fri Mar 24, 2017 3:08 pm

{{{ Ok now we get to the two big 8-bit computers of the 80's battling it out in Europe.

On one side we have the zx spectrum 48k, and a few years later the 128k. There were other models - the +2 with a built in tape deck for example. Yes this was the 80's you still loaded games from tape!
In the other corner we had the Commodore 64, which was big in the US where it had little competition in the home computing market in its price range.
It was more expensive however than the spectrum in Europe and the spectrum hit the stores first gaining a lead it never lost.

Arguments still rage to this day over which was the better system. They offered different things I would say.
In terms of games the c64 had better sound and better use of colour. But its graphics were also a bit 'fuzzy' a bit less defined.

The spectrum on the otherhand was not great at scrolling, had very basic sound capabilities and suffered from something known in the day as colour clash- where sprites of two different colours could not move over each other without causing nasty effects.
But it has excellently defined graphics, crisp and clear.

When it comes to emulators its perhaps telling that here we get to our first system where the best emulators are behind a pay wall- such is the popularity of the zx spectrum and perhaps speaks to which is most fondly remembered today.

So where to start then if your budget is say, nothing at all?

Well for the c64 we will go to

https://www.emuparadise.me/Commodore_64_(Tapes)_Emulators/34

Install it. Ok lets go get a game-

https://www.emuparadise.me/Commodore_64_(Tapes)_ROMs/34

Retro Gaming Ghosts_n_goblins_02_zpsqptnelgt

Now unlike the other emulators so far you do need to extract the contents of the zip file this time.

Once you've downloaded your game run the emulator and go to the drop down menu for 'tape' and 'insert'- direct it to your game and then from the same drop down menu select 'play'.
Now go to the file tab and select 'autoload' which saves you having to type in the commands you would need to otherwise.
And thats it- wait for the game to load and play!


Now we come to the tricky spectrum version- tricky because the best emulators still cost real money.  Mad

But we still have a good free one, sadly just not for those on MAC (sorry Halfy- however there are online options for the speccy-  http://jsspeccy.zxdemo.org/  - will let you play speccy games in your browser for free, though as an emulator its not 100% accurate but its damn close most of the time from what I can tell).

For Windows users who want a full emulator on their pc go here-

https://www.emuparadise.me/ZX_Spectrum_(Tapes)_Emulators/36

When you download this one you will see it has an installer and will install the emulator like a normal game install.

Once you've got it installed lets grab a game, say Manic Miner a speccy classic, from here-

https://www.emuparadise.me/ZX_Spectrum_(Tapes)_ROMs/36

Retro Gaming Manic_Miner_Screenshot_zpsmkplkr2b

You can run these by either double clicking the game you just downloaded or loading it through the emulator via the 'open' drop down menu.
And thats it.

When it comes to games many of the favourite games of the period appeared on both machines and it really is sometimes just down to which presentation you prefer more- the more colourful better sounding, but less well defined c64 version, or the poorer sounding, less colourful but well defined speccy version.

So the following list applies to both computers-

Retro Gaming Extra_lire_fichier.php_zpsxjpkoszc (Sentinel c64)

Manic Miner, Skool Daze/Back to skool, Chuckie Egg, Ghosts and Goblins, Jest Set Willy, Fantasy World Dizzy, The Hobbit, Way of the Exploding Fist, Daley Thompsons Decathlon, Great Escape, Knight Lore, Head Over Heels, The Sentinel, Manic Mansion, Turrican, Wizball.

Retro Gaming 98949.jpg_zpsqwiqhqcn (Wizball zx spectrum)

But there are literally hundreds of games for these two systems to pick from.


Next installment we move into the era of the 16 bit machines, the intensifying of the console war between Sega and Nintendo with introduction of the Megadrive and the SuperNES.
And in Europe the home computer wars go equally hostile with the emergence of the Atari ST and the Commodore Amiga. }}}

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Post by Pettytyrant101 Sun Mar 26, 2017 12:52 pm

{{ Hurrah  cheers  its the 16bit era and we are moving into the latter half of the 1980's.

This time I will start with the two big computer systems of the day to duke it out.

In one corner we have the Atari ST  and in the other the Commodore Amiga.

This starts as far as games go as an American tale between two American companies, but ends in a big scrap in Europe.
Now this was a real rivalry in that it was personal. To cut a very long story shortish the Amiga and oddly enough the ST both have their roots in the same small group of people and their idea for a machine, the prototype they created, and their subsequent attempts to get either Commodore or Atari to pick it up- fast forward a few personal fall outs and lawsuits later and it ends up at Commodore with most, but crucially not all of its original team- the other bit of the original creative team going to Atari, where they built the Atari St and got it to the market first wherein Europe in particular it soon became the most popular games platform as the only affordable 16bit computer system on the market.

Retro Gaming Atari-520st_zpsz78dpg8b

Commodore on the otherhand were making an arse of hings- they had pitched the Amiga range to niche business markets- its amazing graphical capabilities and video editing for its day meant it was aimed at the small business end of the market. And it was over $1100. But to give an idea of how good it was compared to the competition the best IBM of the time offered four colours on screen at once- the Commodore machine had 256 out of a pallette of 4096 for static images and up to 32 on moving stuff (later 64). And the IBM was twice the price.

But whilst commodore were selling the Amiga as business machine the Atari St was less than half the price and was being sold in high street stores. Commodore in their wisdom even turned down offers from retailers to sell their machine, even when sales began floundering in the business market and the same stores were profitably selling St's, simply because it did not fit with their marketing vision or market for the machine.

Eventually something had to give and what emerged was a splitting of the franchise as it were. A new expensive machine was created for the business end, and at a slightly higher price than the ST the Amiga 500 was born.

Retro Gaming Amiga_500_zpscx59khnz

The business machine would be the face of Commodore in the US and still going by the Commodore name. The 500 on the other-hand was marketed as a system from Commodore to distinguish it as a separate product line from the business end. And it was aimed primarily at Europe where the Atari St was raking in the cash as the first and only 16-bit computer on the market in a price range of less than £500.
The St was the leading games machine- but Commodores European division ditched the US packaging for the A500, which was corporate and dull and bundled the computer with sensible education software, and replaced it with a game pack.
In the US however the games market was still dominated by the 8-bit systems, primarily by Nintendo and the NES which neither ST or Amiga could make much impact on.

By the time the Amiga hit the markets in '87 the ST had a solid lead in Europe and  a large back catalogue of games.
As with the 8-bit era Europe had got quite used to plugging computers in and out of their tv's and a real appetite for new better systems than the now dating spectrum and c64's was in the air and led to the success of the Atari ST.

The Amiga, born of a machine designed for graphics, brought a whole new level to games of the day. Lush productions values for the day, and groundbreaking graphics like those of Defender of the Crown, or Shadow of the Beast, simply not able to be equaled on anything else wooed consumers, despite an initial higher price tag than the St by a clear £100.

Retro Gaming Djpg_zpssuqstzgo (Defender of the Crown- Amiga)

Retro Gaming Maxresdefault_zpsap2xkyk8 (Shadow of the Beast 2's cinematic intro- Amiga)

Initially the Amiga had a slow burn start, but as gamers began to notice that even their favourite St games, when ported to the Amiga, tended to look a little better, scroll a lot better, and sound way, way better the Amiga slowly but surely, as the 1990's began, became the dominant 16 bit computer system and the best gaming platform of its day.

And if you want to know how a decade that began with Nintendo and Sega dominating on consoles, and Atari and Commodore on computers ended with only Nintendo left standing you'll have to come back for the dawn of the 32bit era! Oh the calamity!!


Anyhow onto the practical bit- how do get hold of these machines of yore?

And this is where we get to the bad news.

Things are a bit more complicated than before and our old site will not avail us here and sporrans may have to open!  affraid

So first the St as it was first out the gate.

The emulator we will use here is called Steem SSE and you can download it from here -

https://sourceforge.net/projects/steemsse/

Now it wont work on its own, for that you need an image of the operating system.


Fortunately we can go back to our original trusty site for those-

https://www.emuparadise.me/Atari_ST_ROMs/63

So lets download a game, say Dungeon Master. Now before you download the game you will notice directly below the game download there is a section headed 'Operating System'. And two files there. You will need these for the emulator to work at all. So make sure you download the one suitable to your region.

Retro Gaming Dungeon-master-atari-st-screenshot-combat_zpsbahzahdo (Dungeon Master- Atari ST )

Now run Steem, it will take you through a set process for game folders, virtual HD's if you want them ect and it will ask to be directed to the operating system image you just downloaded. Load your game and off you go!


Ok now we come to the Amiga.There is no two ways about this, but if you want to play Amiga games you are going to have dip into your sporran if you want to do so legally.

Whilst the emulator is no problem, simply go here for it-

http://www.winuae.net/

its system roms are another matter, the necessary kickstart roms to get the emulator to work have never, for some reason, been put in the public domain. You can however buy them from somewhere like this-

http://www.amigaforever.com/

If you do get from there you will not need Winaue as it comes with its own emulator (plus $30  plus taxes and shipping!) or they can be found for free where other stuff like that would be expected to be found- you can always pm me for the info. ps the roms themselves, your $30 plus dollars worth of near 30 year old tech is just 40MB of info!

Anyhow once the kickstart roms are obtained you will need to use the settings in the emulator to direct to the kickstart folder. WinUAE has a meaty interface with a lot to change or set- you will have to select which Amiga system you're emulating- as the roms will cover all the various Amiga incarnations- if your are gaming you want the A500 as it was by far the most common machine and has the least compatibility issues (Commodore tinkered under the A500 hood its entire lifetime, without ever telling the consumer, the end result was occasionally some games for A500 but published early in its cycle will not work on A500's made later in the cycle). Some games may require the A1200 the upgraded A500 that came a few years later, and most games will work on both with added extra bells and whistles for the A1200 version.

And thats it. The slightly complex two big hitters of the 1980's 16-bit computer revolution and another advance towards today's gaming landscape.

Retro Gaming Captain_blood_15_zpsaeybftfj (Captain Blood- Atari ST)

Heres my recommended list-

Atari St- Dungeon Master, Oids, Captain Blood, Starglider, Damocles.



Amiga- (there are more here because many of them are also on ST but are the better version on Amiga,but if you cant get roms for the Amiga you will find many of these games listed in the games section for the ST)

Another World, Agony, Cruise for a Corpse, Flashback, Defender of the Crown, Rocket Ranger, It Came from the Desert, Lemmings, Knights of the Sky, Moonstone, Nebulus, Renegade, Rick Dangerous, The Secret of Monkey Island, Operation Stealth, Shadow of the Beast, Sidewinder, Speedball II, Stunt Car Racer, Walker, SWIV, Weird Dreams, Wizkid, IK+,Lotus II.



Retro Gaming Rocket_Ranger_2_zpsdh30rxr7}}}

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Post by azriel Sun Mar 26, 2017 5:02 pm

Tell you what, you really like computers & you seem to know all your onions ! Smile I'm finding this very interesting considering the ONLY game Ive played is Tekken on the PS1 Smile

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Retro Gaming Th_cat%20blink_zpsesmrb2cl

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Post by Pettytyrant101 Sun Mar 26, 2017 10:05 pm

{{{ Thanks Azriel- I appreciate that. I know there might not be a huge amount of interest here in retro gaming, but I try to make it an interesting read even if you're not into games of yore- bit like Top Gear- entertaining even if you dont actually like cars- hopefully this is an interesting read even if you dont play games Nod }}

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Post by Pettytyrant101 Thu Mar 30, 2017 5:43 pm

{{ So lets take a look at the emerging 16bit consoles of the day.
The two main contenders we will look at and emulate are the contributions from SEGA and Nintendo.

Nintendo start this tale with a huge lead over all their rivals in the game market with the NES having being dominant for some time.

The new machine from Nintendo would capitalise on this by retaining the NES name and just sticking the word 'Super' in front of it and so the SNES was born.

Retro Gaming SNES_Console_lg._V344019168__zpsuoqqloa7

Like its predecessor it quickly came to be the gaming platform in North America.

But Nintendo had a rival in their rear view mirror fast approaching in the form of SEGA.
The 8 bit Master system had never exactly set the world on fire but now SEGA were ready to unleash their new machine, the SEGA Mega-drive.

Retro Gaming Sega-Mega-Drive-JP-Mk1-Console-Set_zpsw5ta800t

Now if you are American you might be wondering just what the blinking heck a mega-drive is. And this is because America got a name change to Sega Genesis.
Why? Well two reasons- the first was they didn't have much of a choice, the name mega-drive was already trademarked in the US. Secondly the name was thought by the marketing people to be good for the US market as it implied both a new beginning and God- both of which they thought sold well there. Not sure what that says about late 80's America but there you go.

For the sake of this though I will be calling it the mega-drive like the rest of the civilised world!

To start with the mega-drive was no threat to the SNES. Though it did outsell it in Europe but then Nintendo had never been dominant there as the 16bit computers of Amiga and St were the gaming systems of choice still there, and though the mega-drive dented that it never overtook the Amiga in Europe as the games platform to have.

But then SEGA America hit upon something Nintendo America had been at for a long time- selling off the back of a mascot. Nintendo had Mario and now SEGA had Sonic the Hedgehog.

Combined with aggressive marketing pitched directly at making the mega-drive seem like the coolest, wildest thing ever a super fast seemingly amphetamine fueled spiky blue hedgehog was more in line with the early 90's target audience than a short fat Italian plumber was. Nintendo took particular umbrage at SEGA's advertising, as the US law allowed for forms of advertising that they had no idea how to compete with.

Heres a SNES ad for example-



and the aggressive Genesis ad-



SEGA had suddenly gained a huge advantage over Nintendo- it was simply cooler to own a mega-drive.

Soon the SNES was no longer the sole-player and it was going head to head with eh mega-drive in a neck to neck race.

As with all machines games were the main factor in success.
Nintendo had a ready back catalogue of already popular franchises to expand on- so the SNES got Mario again, and Mario kart, it got Donkey King sequels and Zelda games.

SEGA had no such home console franchises to draw from, but they did have a large back catalogue of classic arcade games from their previous life as one of the worlds top arcade game maker. So the mega-drive got sequels to the classic of the arcades- space harrier, golden axe, Altered Beast, Double Dragon and the like. And they took what they knew worked form the arcades in games like Renegade and made their own exclusive to console games in those styles such as Streets of Rage.

Retro Gaming Streets_of_rage_02_zpsjxb1jcpw

So who won in the end? Well the mega-drive dominated in Europe and eventually pipped Nintendo in the US too on sales thought he SNES remained popular to the very end.

What happened next though was calamitous, not just for SEGA but for ATARI too in the disastrous attempt at the 32bit era consoles and the the emergence of the first 64bit machine. But that tale of woe and terrible decision making will be for next installment when we also see the emergence of a bright new thing on the console scene from a new contender, Sony.

So how to get and play these two warrior consoles?

First the SNES.

Go here -  https://www.emuparadise.me/Super_Nintendo_Entertainment_System_(SNES)_Emulators/5  

- select your option, mac support here as well as android and linux and ps2 and 3 surprisingly and even the psp!

Anyhow grab the latest version of ZSNES download and install and you are ready to play once you got some games to play.

Pop over here- https://www.emuparadise.me/Super_Nintendo_Entertainment_System_(SNES)_ROMs/5

Lets grab Super Mario World and then download that. No need to unzip with this one. Just pop in a folder where you can find it, run the emulator, select the game you downloaded and off you go.

Retro Gaming 35759-Super_Mario_World_Europe-13_zpschgwnoln

For the Megadrive go here -

https://www.emuparadise.me/Sega_Genesis_-_Sega_Megadrive_Emulators/6

and grab Regen. Download it and run it.

Now lets go get a game-

https://www.emuparadise.me/Sega_Genesis_-_Sega_Megadrive_ROMs/6

Lets catch Sonic say download that and then po it into a folder to find later, again n o need to unzip the file.
Go back to your emulator, drop down menu file and select 'load Genesis rom' and direct it your game and that's you ready to play.

Retro Gaming Images_zps4u76osyi


Retro Gaming 35896-Super_Star_Wars_Europe-1458962256_zpszkorpjud (Super Star Wars SNES)

Recommended games - SNES - The Super Star Wars Trilogy, F-Zero, Mario World, Mario Kart, Legend of Zelda, Super Metroid, Donkey Kong Country, Fina Fantasy VI, Street Fighter World Edition

Retro Gaming Snes23_zpsj6b6uxn8 (F-Zero, SNES)

Retro Gaming Mickey_mouse-castle_of_illusion_zpsv7zxosp5 (Castle of Illusions Mega-drive )

Mega-Drive- Sonic 2, Space Harrier 2, golden axe, Streets of Rage 2, Earthworm Jim 1 and 2, Castlevania, Mickey Castle of Illusions.

Retro Gaming Goldenaxe-genesis_zpsjokjudak (Golden Axe Mega-drive)

As with the 16bit computers there is an absolute ton of games to choose from these are just a small sample selection off the top of my head.

Next time- 32bit disasters, the hardware add-on madness, and 64 bit gambles and bye bye to the old companies hello to the new!  }}

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Post by Pettytyrant101 Sun Apr 02, 2017 2:23 pm

{{{ Oh dear. The sad tale to unfold.

We will start with SEGA.

SEGA had a hit on their hands- the mega-drive was the top selling console in Europe and in North America, finally piping the SNES in sales. And a reputation as being the coolest machine to own.

What could go wrong? Well to understand that we have to temporarily shift focus eastwards to the home of SEGA in Japan.

There things had long taken a slightly different path from in the west- one of the more obvious ways it had done so was in the plethora of things you could plug into your console. In Japan you had modems for online gaming, you had memory expansions, you had special chips that came with games for just that game. In short to SEGA the idea of marketing things you plugged into your existing console to expand its capabilities was a perfectly good winning marketing strategy.

So thats what they did, in the West. Where it had never been done before and the idea was new.

Oh one other thing that is pertinent to everything that happens in this generation and the following- everyone's R&D departments were telling them the same thing- the future was shiny and disk shaped- the CD was going to rule the future (sadly for them and almost every other existing manufacturer they were dead wrong about that).

And so SEGA launched the Sega CD- a CD plug in that you attached to the top of your mega-drive. It gave it a little extra computing power and of course cd-rom access. But it was still essentially a 16bit system.

And so SEGA then launched the 32x- another addon that plugged onto the top of your mega-drive, this time however it turned your 16bit machine in to a 32 bit machine.

Retro Gaming Images_zpshry3dewz

This launch was further confused by a simultaneous launch of their new machine- the true 32bit Saturn.

The upshot of this was confusion in both the consumers over which product did what and what they could afford, and with the games companies who had to decide which version to support, or to put out a version that would work on all but not take full advantage of the new tech. Or should they abandon the mega-drive altogether and all its extras and concentrate on the new Saturn?

SEGA's confusing line up of addons and machines-

Retro Gaming Segacd-int_1224113255%20-%20Copy_zpslfihb1nb

Retro Gaming 320px-32X_US%20-%20Copy_zpsoivplwew

Retro Gaming SegaSaturn_zpsogw9ts9u

Retro Gaming 320px-Dreamcast_zpshcooz6gc

But the biggest problem for the later lineup of SEGA machines was the competition. In '99 they ditched their previous lineup and launched the Dreamcast

Retro Gaming Dx_zpsedliqyk5

- but it was too little to late as by this time the playstation, which had hammered sales of SEGA machines, was reaching the end of its cycle and Sony were touting the playstation 2. It, like the playstation before it, blew away the competition commercially squeezing almost everyone else out of the picture.

SEGA's confusing line up, multiple launches of different additions and new console all in a short space of time killed the brand. It had gone from the coolest machine to own to the most confusing and it users abandoned SEGA in droves for SONY.

So what of that other giant of the scene ATARI?

Well the atari st though still popular in Europe, particualry in the rave/dance scene where its midi capabilities were put to good use, was on its last legs.
As a games machine it had long been superseded on the computer side by Commodore and the Amiga and by SEGA's mega-drive on the console side. It was simply squeezed out the market.

A lot changed behind the scenes at ATARI in this period and the upshot of it was they decided to leave the computer scene where the pc was on steady rise, as games on that platform finally began to equal and surpass the old home computers, and Atari entered the console market- and they would do so in a way that would they believed blow everything else away- their machine would not be 16 bit, nor 32, but a colossal 64. It was called the Jaguar.

ATARI launched it a full year before the 32 bit playstation even hit the markets. They were putting out a 64bit machine before the 32 bit era had even begun. In theory it was the most powerful console yet created. And it sunk almost without trace almost immediately.

Why? It wasn't a good looking machine- and whilst its controllers were actually very comfortable to use and had some notable ideas they also looked cumbersome and awkward to the eye. But its biggest problem was the games line up. They were terrible.
It lacked a killer game a big name exclusive to it that would capture the public imagination.
And there were not many games at launch either, publishers had not been given early access to the machine and its architecture was difficult to program for. For most companies it was cheaper and easier to concentrate on writing for the existing machines.
Atari tried to bolster sales by quickly releasing a cd addon similar in idea to the SEGA or Commodore versions for their machines- but it too had poor game support and the jaguar system died.

Retro Gaming Jaguar_zps2see5wpr

The Jaguar, just as the Dreamcast was for SEGA, was their last foray into the hardware market. Neither company would make another machine and both went on to become solely publishers of games.

Of commodore there is even less to say- like everyone else they believed the future was on cd, so they followed up the AMIGA by moving away from computers and making their first console the CD-TV, but it was basically an A-500 with  cd drive in a box, sold poorly and was quickly replaced in the line up by the CD-32. Unfortunately for Amiga by that time the playstation had arrived and there was simply not a market to sustain the cd-32 whose games line up consisted almost entirely of amiga 1200 games ported with a cd-rom style intro slapped on and maybe some extra music or levels.

Retro Gaming Cd32_zps1spplgzu

Commodore, like SEGA and ATARI were knocked out the ring by the new boys on the scene; Sony's playstation, which unlike the cd based systems it was competing against had a new fangled dvd drive, and the rise of the pc as a serious gaming platform, particularly the emergence of the early days of online gaming.

But the playstation and the later emergence of the xbox and the all new console war that sparked I will cover in the second half of the 32 bit era. As they are a topic all to themselves.

So time to sample the 32 bit revolution, or at least the attempts at it that ended most of the leading manufacturers of the day.

We will start with the Amiga CD-tv and CD-32- because the good news is you should already have that as the roms for those should be included in the Amiga emulator- simply select the appropriate rom from the drop down menu and thats you.

For games go here for the CD-TV-

https://www.emuparadise.me/Amiga_CD_ISOs/52

For the CD32 here-

https://www.emuparadise.me/Amiga_CD32_ISOs/22


Now onto SEGA and their mix of machines and addons from the era.

For the 32x go here-

https://www.emuparadise.me/Sega_32X_Emulators/61

For the Sega CD here-

https://www.emuparadise.me/Sega_CD_Emulators/10

For the SEGA Saturn-

https://www.emuparadise.me/Sega_Saturn_Emulators/3

And lastly for the Dreamcast here-

https://www.emuparadise.me/Sega_Dreamcast_Emulators/1

32x game roms-

https://www.emuparadise.me/Sega_32X_ROMs/61

Sega CD game roms-

https://www.emuparadise.me/Sega_CD_ISOs/10

Saturn game roms-

https://www.emuparadise.me/Sega_Saturn_ISOs/3

Dreamcast game roms-

https://www.emuparadise.me/Sega_Dreamcast_ISOs/1


And lastly, out on its own as the only 64bit system in a 32bit age was the poor old jaguar.

You can get the emulator here -

https://www.emuparadise.me/Atari_Jaguar_Emulators/Windows/50

(I suggest Project Tempest- Ive never got the other one working properly, though that might just me!)

Despite saying above that the poor games line up and lack of support from games companies was largely what killed the Jaguar on arrival it did have 3 games in particular that are worthy of your time.

Retro Gaming S_AlienVsPredator_5_zpsicww3n1r

The first I mention more as a curio- the game style as been hugely improved on since as its a fps from the doom era of fps- but this as something a little special for its time and spawned a whole franchise line that survived the death of the Jaguar- Alien v Predator- the first of them. Worth a look.

Retro Gaming 232310-doom-jaguar-screenshot-nice-detail-on-the-cacodemon_zpsnu7kh9qj

Secondly is Doom. The jaguar quite simply has the best version of original Doom on any platform of its day.
If you like Doom, if you want to play the original game in its best form- then you need this version.

Lastly is a gem dear to my heart. A game I count as the purest form of the art of old skool arcade gameplay.
From the magic keyboard of llama herding hippy psychedelic retro game loving coding legend Jeff Minter- Tempest 2000. An update of the classic atari arcade game of yester year (you can play the original Tempest using MAME) that is pure addictive gameplay genius. The tightest piece of arcade game coding in existence in my view- simply stunning gameplay,presentation, just everything- damn near a perfect game. And the jaguar version was the original, the machine Minter programmed it for and still to this day the best version available. Just go play it. You can thank me later.

Retro Gaming Superzapperrecharge_zpsnvhwkcsx

Next time part two of the 32 era- the Playstation arrives to slay all in its path- we will look at why. And microsoft throw their hat in the console manufacturing ring with the xbox igniting a whole new console war! }}}}

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A Green And Pleasant Land

Compiled and annotated by Eldy.

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Post by Pettytyrant101 Tue Apr 11, 2017 4:03 pm

{{Anyone at all following this? Anyone? Ho hum- plow on regardless Petty!! Twisted Evil



So we come to the console that ended so many others.

When Sony entered the console arena with their playstation the year was 1994.
Their timing could not have been better- the old guard of the 16bit era were fading as consumers looked to new consoles.

SEGA were the undisputed leaders at this time with Nintendo a close second in the North American marketplace.
In Europe SEGA largely reigned supreme with the last of the 16 bits computer systems lead by commodore hanging on in there just about.

That promised CD revolution also saw several cd based systems briefly come and briefly go, such as the forgotten philips-cdi. But even bigger companies like Commodore suffered with the CD32 failing to capture the imagination and Sega's cd add on failing to sell in numbers.

Sony came into things with a new machine the public were hungry for at a time when their competitors had nothing to offer in opposition.

SEGA had lost a lot of good will with its users with its confusing array of addons to the mega-drive/genesis- and its supposed Sony beater, the Saturn, was more than a year away from shipping.

Whilst the playstation sold well in North America it was in Europe where it instantly exploded.
This was a Europe of the rave scene, of thumping Ibiza club tracks, of ecstasy and love under the sun. It was the era of the Prodigy and the Chemical Brother-both of whose music would feature in ps1 release games.

And Sony shameless jumped onto that rave/drug bandwagon in its European marketing. But it was also clever marketing- a mix of high concept, quality cinematography and quick cutting game visuals set to thumping dance music. Unlike the past this was not advertising aimed at children, but at young adults- previous generations had targeted under 18's. Sony targeted those who had grown up playing games but were now becoming adults. It was a stroke of genius.





Like all consoles the playstation would live and die on games and at launch one of the the biggest games was wipeout- combing all the elements of the new machines aesthetic and position in the market- it was futuristic, balls to the wall, dance music pounding, high speed, high concept adrenaline pumping mayhem.

Retro Gaming Gallery_gaming-wipeout-ps1-screenshot_zpsy6pctefo

Sony had got everything right- a machine people wanted, the game support to back it up with titles which caught the public mood, a perfectly pitched advertising campaign (of morally questionable content) and no serious competitor in the marketplace.

In desperate response Sega pulled the release of their Saturn forward as much as they could but by the time it was released in July the following year it was already too late- it sold poorly in Europe and in the US and before long SEGA were forced to discontinue the production of it.

Retro Gaming 369-Panzer_Dragoon_2_Zwei_U-3_zpsvwmbkwqh

Shortly after that SEGA tried a last roll of the dice to compete with the ps2- the Dreamcast, but it too was too little to late and in the end SEGA announced they were out the console market. It was over.

They would be joined by Commodore and Atari. All giving way to the mighty PlayStation.



But you may be asking, what of Nintendo, last seen on the market with their 16bit SNES?

Well they had doggedly stuck by the SNES whilst developing their own next generation console. And like the Atari system it was to boast of being 64bit.
The N64 as it became known hit the markets in 1996. A full two years into Sony's dominance of the market. It sold well initially in North America, did reasonable business in Europe but was a failure in its home territory were even the Saturn outsold it.

The N64 did however have several games that made its name, Mario World64 and Goldeneye not least among them, and this kept the machine afloat and Nintendo in the game through this generation of consoles, although it exceeded sales of the Saturn worldwide it never got close to the playstations figures.

Retro Gaming Super-mario-64-star-locations-guide-walkthrough-screenshot_zpst35ruvej

But it was enough to keep Nintendo with a stake in the game going forward.

But this generation belonged to Sony and playstation- and its dominance in the console realm would remain unchallenged for the machines lifespan. Not until the arrival of it successor the ps2 would a serious rival appear on the scene to challenge them in the shape of Microsoft's first foray into the ring with its xbox.

note- you may be getting the impression sony had the market to themselves, and they did, on consoles. But a generation who grew up with the versatility of a home computer had not gone away either, and they were gravitating toward pc and to a lesser extent mac.
Pc's were at this time beginning to close the gap on consoles in the gaming stakes, and offered some advantages, such as online play.
But the pc games market is a topic for another day. As are its classic game.


So onto the emulators.

Nice and straightforward for the playstation fortunately- just pop along here-

https://www.emuparadise.me/Sony_Playstation_Emulators/2

I recommend ePSXe if your on windows.

You will need to download the bios for the playstation separately, I got mine from here-

https://www.loveroms.com/extras/psx-bios.php

Pop the bios into the roms folder of the emulator and you are good to go.

All you need are games and those are right here-

https://www.emuparadise.me/Sony_Playstation_ISOs/2

For the SEGA Saturn go here-

https://www.emuparadise.me/Sega_Saturn_Emulators/3

I used Yabause.

You will also need to get the bios for it from here-

https://www.emuparadise.me/links-and-downloads/BIOS_Files/Sega_Saturn_BIOS_Pack/1295

When you run the emulator you will get a setup window to direct it to the bios location.

For games head here-

https://www.emuparadise.me/Sega_Saturn_ISOs/3

And lastly the Nintendo 64

https://www.emuparadise.me/Nintendo_64_Emulators/9

I use project64.

Then head here for some gaming fun-

https://www.emuparadise.me/Nintendo_64_ROMs/9


Recommended games-

Retro Gaming Images_zpsyz6tfwih

Retro Gaming Silenthillbeta01_zpscu3zkfua

ps1- Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy VII, Silent Hill, Resident Evil 1-3, Tekken, Parappa the Rapper, Wipeout, Crash Bandicoot, Tony Hawks Pro Skater, Tomb Raider

Retro Gaming Nights-into-dreams-sega-saturn-review_zpslzrcjils

Saturn- panzer dragoon saga, nights into Dreams, Sega Rally Championship, Virtua Cop, Daytona USA, Virtua Fighter

Retro Gaming Goldeneye-multiplayer_zpsinfgdxus

Retro Gaming Mario-Kart-64_zpsdjhnfhc6

N64- Super MArio64, The Legend of Zelda, Goldeneye, Mario Kart64, Star Fox64, Donkey Kong64.

Next up- the final installment- the last generation old enough to be counted as retro, the ps2 arrives to carry the Sony flag and Microsoft crash the party with their xbox. SEGA make their final contribution before crashing and burning and Nintendo remember they used to make toys! }}}

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Post by Eldorion Tue Apr 11, 2017 7:30 pm

I know a bit about video game history, largely stuff I've picked up by osmosis, but there's a lot of interesting stuff here that was new to me. Smile I'm curious to hear your take on the original Xbox since that was the first console I owned (well, my family owned) and is by far the one I logged the most hours playing. Though if you feel like discussing the history of PC gaming I'd happily read that as well since I played a lot of Civ III and IV back in the day (although "back in the day" for me was not that long ago in the grand scheme of things Razz).
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Post by Pettytyrant101 Tue Apr 11, 2017 10:58 pm

{{{ Thanks Eldo, glad you found something new in it. I think I will cover retro pc games but its a bugger of a subject because of the numerous compatibility issues between various incarnations of windows. }}}

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*Pure Publications reserves the right to track your usage of this publication, snoop on your home address, go through your bins and sell personal information on to the highest bidder.
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Post by Orwell Wed Apr 12, 2017 7:29 am

I remember around 1978 to 1982 getting drunk often down the pub playing space cadets, it was that, playing space invaders getting drunk... can't quite remember now... there was lots of space invaders... and lots of getting drunk... that's all I know... I think it was a game... but I can't remember it being retro... getting drunk always stays up to date and is never retro....

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