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NO SOLDERING REQUIRED! Now that you can buy RAM modules the title is technically inaccurate, but it makes me laugh. MiSTer is an FPGA-based open source platform that emulates classic consoles, arcade games, and computers. Each core aims to fully map and replicate the original hardware so even work-in-progress releases tend to have remarkable compatibility. There's also built-in stuff like cheats, scan lines, LCD effects, and custom Game Boy palettes. Far more accurate than emulation, with no perceptible input delay, the MiSTer currently plays: Nintendo: NES + SNES + Game Boy + Game Boy Color + Game Boy Advance Sega: Master System + Genesis + Sega CD + Game Gear SNK: Neo Geo NEC: Turbo Grafx 16 + Turbo Grafx CD Misc: Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Vectrex, ColecoVision, Astrocade, Odyssey2, C64, Apple II, tons of other old computers Arcade: CPS1, CPS1.5 (The Punisher!), Donkey Kong, Burger Time, Arkanoid, Black Tiger, Tapper, Rampage, Spy Hunter, Centipede, lots more In the Works: PSX, Saturn, CPS3, Jaguar, Lynx What if MAME was hardware-based with a broader scope? What if the Super NT/Mega SG required a bit more tinkering but had the potential to emulate nearly everything up to the Saturn and N64? What if my clunky rhetorical questions painted a decent enough picture of the MiSTer for you to let this paragraph slide? It's not only a great platform for playing a shitload of your ROMs on a single authentic-feeling device with no perceptible input delay, but a genuine ongoing effort to preserve the inner workings of classic hardware. Getting Started I just set mine up this morning, so the process is fresh in my head. Purchase the board, a Terasic DE10-Nano for around $110-140. Slap on any addons you want (more on those below). Format the included SD card and cram it full of cores, ROMs, and the latest system files. Hook it up to your display along with a keyboard and controller. Plug it in and after a few seconds you'll see a menu like this:  Hit ALT+F12 on the keyboard to bring up the Menu core's settings. Here's where you'll define and remap your controller. Be sure to assign a button or combination of buttons to the OSD menu. Now you will no longer need a keyboard. Save your settings. Launch a core, open the OSD to tinker with its settings and define the button mapping, pick your game, and play. Add Ons MisterAddons.com is the go-to seller if you're in the US, and the official forums maintain a list of additional sellers. SDRAM - Most cores require an SDRAM module. 128MB is the biggest you can get, and that's what I recommend. Settling for 64MB means missing out on some Neo Geo titles, and dropping to 32MB means not having access to chunks of the GBA library. Besides, with more cores for more demanding systems on the way you'll want all the memory you can have. USB - The DE10-Nano's mini-USB port won't quite get the job done. You're going to need an otg USB hub for your keyboard/controller/Bluetooth dongle. I got this $7 hub which works perfectly and can be tucked under the MiSTer. There are also addon USB boards/connectors available from the above sellers. Cooling - At the very least you'll want a 22mm x 22mm heatsink for the FPGA chip. I'd recommend this PCB Fan Plate + Heatsink combo for $15. If you need an IO board, it should also come with a heatsink + fan. IO Board - Are you one of those PVM/KVM weirdos with a tv stand that has slowly turned into a drawn bow? I fear and envy you. The IO board has all the analog outputs you're looking for. Links MiSTer Project Wiki and forum Detailed Setup Guide RetroRGB - An excellent source of MiSTer news and retro gaming news in general. If a new core appears it will be covered here within a day or two. Retronauts Episode 261 - The first interview is worth a listen, but the real MiSTer meat (???) starts at 41:30. Corin Tucker's Stalker fucked around with this message at 19:20 on Mar 4, 2021 |
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Nov 30, 2019 15:04
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FAQ & Tips Why isn't this thread subtitled: Tinker, Tailor, Solder, Sprite? gently caress. How do I get rid of the static background? Hit F1 to cycle through different backgrounds. If you want to make a custom background, just name it menu.png or menu.jpg and place it in your SD card's root then cycle to it. FPGA? Huh? Check out this summary or jump to 46:50 in the Retronauts interview from above. How do I add arcade cores? The process will be streamlined in the future, but for now it's a slightly clunky process involving bat files.
Grab the latest filter pack release. Put the Gamma and Filters folders in your SD card's root. Once you're inside a core, pull up the OSD and go to the second page. Under HDMI Scaler change the setting from "Filter - Internal" to "Filter - Custom". Now you can choose and apply a filter from the menu option below. Which controller should I use? If you want something with analog sticks and a second pair of triggers the 8Bitdo SN30/SF30 Pro line seems popular. I like the Retrobit 2.4GHz Saturn controller, modeled after the Japanese Saturn pad with included dongles for USB and the original Saturn port. Of course, there are MiSTer addons that let you plug in all sorts of classic controllers. Corin Tucker's Stalker fucked around with this message at 18:26 on Nov 30, 2019 |
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Nov 30, 2019 15:04
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Mr X-8B just released the Food Fight core! https://github.com/MrX-8B/MiSTer-Arcade-FoodFight
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Nov 30, 2019 19:33
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MiSTer rocks, if a game plays on it, that's how I want to play that game now. I love this little thing.
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Nov 30, 2019 21:48
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I bought/assembled a MiSTer this past summer and I love the gently caress out of it. Some stray thoughts on the subject: 1) The authentic Vaseline-smear look of Apple II appears to be by design. Huh. 2) MSX core is a stumble right now. Have not found a way to run Metal Gear 2:Solid Snake reliably, though the original works just fine of course. Vampire Killer is loving silly. Try it once. 3) I wished it were easier to tate my CRT for some of the arcade cores. Once some gorgeous soul does the Gyruss needful, I know I’m going to do it because I am a huge bitch. 4) I asked MrX_8B on Twitter how to get the US loc working on his Green Beret core and he responded by kicking out a script for Rush’n Attack the next day. Dude owns. Also, apparently Atari Tetris is under core development right now. 5) The C64 core, at least for me, only seems to work with carts and prgs. D64s never load. Don’t understand it. 6) Both the Tiger Road and Bionic Commando cores have graphical issues for 32mb users. No understanding as of why yet. I’m planning on upgrading but I’m minspec at present and them’s the breaks, I guess. 7) The variable volumes between the cores can be extremely off-putting if you don’t plan for them in advance. Williams cores like Defender, Joust and Robotron? Sky high. Same with Gun.Smoke and Tiger Road. Then you go for some of the console cores and it’s very quiet, like the Genesis core. 8) Either someone needs to develop save states for the Genesis core, or I need to dream of a day where someone writes an sram-hack of King’s Bounty because I cannot go for that loving password but I have poo poo to do and the Genesis port is the one to play (the Amiga port is sadness). 9) Latency fans: I can usually TKO Mike Tyson by 1:30 in Round 2 (before he gets the blink off) on a normal console without being hit. Not the fastest time in the world, but I can do it consistently. I am garbage in emulation, as the input lag is not constant but variable (2-6 frames), meaning I am missing a dodge when in reality it’s been dropped or is late. On the MiSTer? I got a TKO at 1:32 R2 using my 8bitdo snes controller output to my CRT via VGA->component. Please someone, develop a Gyruss core so I can shut the hell up about it
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Dec 1, 2019 00:17
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One day I'm gonna build one of these fuckers for PC stuff (MSX, PC88, PC98, X68k, Apple 2 etc)..one day..
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Dec 1, 2019 04:07
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kirbysuperstar posted:One day I'm gonna build one of these fuckers for PC stuff (MSX, PC88, PC98, X68k, Apple 2 etc)..one day.. Only 2 of the 5 you’ve mentioned have working cores (the first and the last), so take your time!
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Dec 1, 2019 04:53
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What’s the performance/accuracy of the SNES and Genesis cores like compared to Analogue’s products?
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Dec 1, 2019 05:17
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Wise Fwom Yo Gwave posted:Only 2 of the 5 you’ve mentioned have working cores (the first and the last), so take your time! Yeah, I've got a while yet. Which is good because I need more projects like I need holes in the head.
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Dec 1, 2019 05:34
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Mode 7 posted:What’s the performance/accuracy of the SNES and Genesis cores like compared to Analogue’s products? It is a 100% replica of the hardware state with the same timing, so it should be exactly the same.
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Dec 1, 2019 06:06
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There’s also a beta core for SNES that has preliminary MSU1 support (audio only, not the other fun poo poo).
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Dec 1, 2019 09:38
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Wise Fwom Yo Gwave posted:Only 2 of the 5 you’ve mentioned have working cores (the first and the last), so take your time! I thought there was a semi-solid x68k (maybe x68030) core. Personally, I reallllllly want one (bunch) of these, but it's still a tough sell for 200+ price point. I was also wondering if there is anybody working on porting over old graphics and sound cards over to mister? Seems like something that should be going on considering how scarce and expensive some of the older (AGP, ISA and PCI) cards are getting.
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Dec 1, 2019 13:57
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Afaik any heavily documented chips like the Motorola 68000 are much more easily translated onto a fpga chip. Which is nice because a poo poo Load of stuff uses that as well as the zilog z80.
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Dec 1, 2019 16:24
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Mode 7 posted:What’s the performance/accuracy of the SNES and Genesis cores like compared to Analogue’s products? they're both using the same general idea of FPGA "emulation" rather than traditional emulation, so you should get 100% perfect accuracy either way MiSTer is just the more techie way to get to that result basically
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Dec 1, 2019 17:30
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They aren't 100% perfect, neither is (yet) https://github.com/SmokeMonsterPacks/Super-NT-Jailbreak/issues https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/SNES_MiSTer/issues But, you'll likely notice no issues from either. Plus, the MiSTer SNES core can play all the special chip games (minus only a shogi game or two) and the Genesis core supports Virtua Racing, and Sega CD very soon. Fun fact: the TerraOnion MegaSD can load Virtua Racing... thanks to getting permission to use the SVP chip implementation created for the MiSTer Genesis core.
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Dec 1, 2019 17:45
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How hard is it to change cores on one of these things?
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Dec 1, 2019 18:13
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ItBreathes posted:How hard is it to change cores on one of these things? At any time in any core, you can bring up a OSD menu, to select roms/disk/files and adjust various settings, there's a Cores menu option in there and you can just select any other core you want. It's as easy as picking a rom.
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Dec 1, 2019 18:38
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I'll be sure to keep the OP updated with new cores. I do have a question. I've seen some videos in which people organize their cores in folders, like Arcade, Console, etc. I created an Arcade folder in my SD card's root and put all my arcade rbfs+roms in there, but when I pull up the Core menu that folder doesn't appear. Is there anything I'm missing?
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Dec 1, 2019 21:57
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Corin Tucker's Stalker posted:I'll be sure to keep the OP updated with new cores. Name the folders with an underscore in front for them to appear in the core menu, like _Arcade, _Console, _Computer Or even better, make a folder called Scripts, put this file in the folder, and then run it from the Scripts menu in the home menu. It'll download all of the cores and put them in those folders.
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Dec 2, 2019 00:06
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Thanks, that worked perfectly. I'm having fun tinkering with the settings to get this set up exactly how I want. Tweaking the Mister.ini to enable 1080p and try integer scaling, finding the best scan line settings, etc. Honestly, the image looked great to begin with so I don't need to do much.
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Dec 2, 2019 02:07
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Two things! Thing one: This core dropped this morning, courtesy of MiSTer-X. Thing two: One of the more fascinating things to witness in the active development community is HOW FREQUENT the Minimig core sees updates. That is some dedication I wished someone had for the Atari ST. Lol
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Dec 2, 2019 22:30
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It's great that so many cores are being made. On the other hand, I'm worried about them because of this rate. Surely most of these arcade ones are no more than high-level implementations based on MAME's logic? When one ostensible FPGA advantage is thrown out the window, it does tint the project for me in an unfavorable way.
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Dec 2, 2019 23:35
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Thanks for making this thread OP I had been thinking about getting things like the TG-16 mini and a Consolized MVS, but really this is probably the way to go. Going to get into it sometime next year. The only thing stopping me a handful of times already is it seems nobody ever has any cases in stock. Is there anybody in the US who sells MiSTer's pre-built who a goon would vouch for? In regards to the MiSTer cores vs Analogue cores, I have no real knowledge on the subject but I'm curious as well. I see a lot of people saying since it's FPGA they are the same, but then I also see people saying Kevtris is a god and the quality of the MiSTer cores aren't necessarily going to be on par to his. I'm guessing the average person probably won't know the difference, but curious if anyone has anything in depth to add.
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Dec 2, 2019 23:39
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Analogue stuff is like they are selling a fpga with one core. They were the first in on the action. Depending on which core we are talking about, they'd be nearly identical, in that they emulate the hardware state of the system. Different addons are slowly being made for MiSTer, but it's mostly at an enthusiast level, so you get to wait a bit for stock. I put together different single board computers into handheld form factors, or slim cases that are retroesque. Later this year I'll start working on more MiSTer projects once the demand picks up a bit. FPGA is truly the future of emulation, but right now it's not as plug and play and tried and true as using different operating system on a single board computer. Mostly, your basic gaming person doesn't give too much of a poo poo about 100% pixel/timing perfect poo poo, and still won't care until it;s cost effective.
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Dec 3, 2019 00:02
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Mega/Sega CD core just went up. Haven't tested it myself, but holy cow this project's progress is wild.
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Dec 4, 2019 21:53
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Corin Tucker's Stalker posted:Mega/Sega CD core just went up. Haven't tested it myself, but holy cow this project's progress is wild. It’s heckin good, folks. Also, update your GBA core and check your VGA/rgb options. It looks real good.
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Dec 5, 2019 04:42
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katkillad2 posted:In regards to the MiSTer cores vs Analogue cores, I have no real knowledge on the subject but I'm curious as well. I see a lot of people saying since it's FPGA they are the same, but then I also see people saying Kevtris is a god and the quality of the MiSTer cores aren't necessarily going to be on par to his. In contrast, higher-level emulation will often compromise accuracy of the emulation in order to optimize speed/power, and then implement system- or even game-specific fixes for the edge cases affected by emulation inaccuracies. Sometimes emulation doesn't even operate at the "chip" level and instead interprets OS/SDK calls made by the emulated software--this is how it's feasible to emulate sixth-generation consoles and newer, where CPUs aren't fast enough to emulate at the chip level, and current FPGAs don't have enough logic units to fully reimplement them. ExcessBLarg! fucked around with this message at 06:00 on Dec 5, 2019 |
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Dec 5, 2019 05:55
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I've been going pretty hardcore on the Sega CD library lately. Most recently playing Novastorm. edit: Actually the game is pretty dope and the difficulty more reasonable once I figured out the weapon upgrades. ExcessBLarg! posted:words Thanks for the explanation! katkillad2 fucked around with this message at 10:57 on Dec 6, 2019 |
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Dec 6, 2019 09:43
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https://twitter.com/SmokeMonsterTWI/status/1202825895167188992 Well, this will be nice for Sega CD. And if this other project pans out. https://twitter.com/Laxer3A/status/1201880251816710150
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Dec 6, 2019 16:53
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You can also mount a network drive to "/cifs" and cores will check there for files. I've got my Sega CD games on my NAS while my other games are on the SD card, very slick.
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Dec 6, 2019 17:02
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I'm currently waiting for parts for mine to arrive, but I have a question for folks who currently have theirs up and running. Where does MiSTer store save files? Is it different per-core, is it in the same directory as the game, or is it something else?
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Dec 7, 2019 06:35
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Kreeblah posted:I'm currently waiting for parts for mine to arrive, but I have a question for folks who currently have theirs up and running. Where does MiSTer store save files? Is it different per-core, is it in the same directory as the game, or is it something else? Saves folder, separated by core, for the consoles.
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Dec 7, 2019 19:54
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Wise Fwom Yo Gwave posted:Saves folder, separated by core, for the consoles. Awesome. Sounds like I might be able to use a read-only user for it to connect to my NAS with, then, and just have the cores and saves on my SD card.
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Dec 8, 2019 11:32
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Kreeblah posted:Awesome. Sounds like I might be able to use a read-only user for it to connect to my NAS with, then, and just have the cores and saves on my SD card. That works, but keep in mind some of the computer cores do save to the hard drive or disk image, which also lives in the Games folder. But, you can have individual games folders live on your NAS or sd card as desired.
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Dec 8, 2019 16:27
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elf help book posted:That works, but keep in mind some of the computer cores do save to the hard drive or disk image, which also lives in the Games folder. But, you can have individual games folders live on your NAS or sd card as desired. To add to this: I did specify “for consoles” because those are all sram files that wouldn’t normally be seen by a “computer” core. But you probably wanna keep your computer cores and files on the device anyway. That would save a ton of grief.
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Dec 8, 2019 19:32
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I know that I already have an outlandish pet project that I absolutely need to finish in next year (new year's resolutions), but how is it difficult to hack the cores for MiSTer or to use the Terasic DE10-Nano by itself vs programming against some smaller FPGA if my target is to learn verilog and FPGA? (My belief is that since the MiSTer already has a starting point and cores with source I believe it should be easier to start by hacking already published cores).
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Dec 9, 2019 14:35
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limaCAT posted:I know that I already have an outlandish pet project that I absolutely need to finish in next year (new year's resolutions), but how is it difficult to hack the cores for MiSTer or to use the Terasic DE10-Nano by itself vs programming against some smaller FPGA if my target is to learn verilog and FPGA? I think you'd have a good time starting with an empty "Mister" project so you've got access to their amazing framework for all the house-keeping stuff and then re-implemented a simple FPGA core (most university courses start with a home-grown Pong I have heard) from the schematics, resisting the urge to look at the existing implementation unless you get really stuck. This is just hypothetical, I know nothing about Verilog or FPGA.
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Dec 17, 2019 15:35
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Hey champs - some really good poo poo coming through for the MiSTer. Flicky, Wonder Boy, and other Sega System 1 boards are either out or on their way. If you’re on the Jotego patreon, be on the lookout for the Double Dragon core. Also: the arcade rom storage method is changing, and once completely introduced to all cores, will thereby render the guide in the op obsolete. That’s a good thing, because it should be easier now! Lastly, MegaCD emulation now has working internal ram and ram cart, and the GBA core outputs to VGA/RGB/component and looks extremely good on CRT.
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Dec 21, 2019 04:08
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Jotego just put out a public release of another Capcom arcade title: F1 Dream I'll be updating the OP this week with all the latest + upcoming cores at the top. Glad to hear arcade games will be easier to set up.
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Dec 24, 2019 19:06
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Corin Tucker's Stalker posted:Jotego just put out a public release of another Capcom arcade title: F1 Dream Jotego and MrX-8B have been on fire lately. The only thing wrong with Jotego’s last two public releases had to do with sprites doing funky poo poo (bionic commando and tiger road), but you apparently only see this if you have 32mb winbond memory. MrX-8B is working on Sega System 1 right now, which means more than Flicky, we would see that entire stable available. Wonderboy, Pitfall II, Choplifter, and loads more. It’s taking him quite a bit of time, but considering his output, who could blame him! I gotta play it a little close to the vest here, but 2020 is gonna be update-rich on the arcade core front. I have offered up one of my Gyruss PCBs as well as my “still got it” QA chops in lieu of a Patreon contribution for one of the devs. I want a portable 1:1 Gyruss.
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Dec 25, 2019 02:15
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