RetroBlox : Another new Play-Everything "Retro" Console

[Gredler]

Psst. That can also be done with a Raspberry Pi.

wwwwhat?  I need to research this. How difficult is it, and how well does it work? I think every Raspberry Pi I've encountered has been crippled or setup incorrectly, because I did not see anything like this and the visual quality of the emulation was a mess. Links would be appreciated, thanks!

[sirhcman]

I heard the Polymega can stream your games live to Twitch as well. Might not be for everyone but a nice feature nonetheless

[roflmao]

wwwwhat?  I need to research this. How difficult is it, and how well does it work? I think every Raspberry Pi I've encountered has been crippled or setup incorrectly, because I did not see anything like this and the visual quality of the emulation was a mess. Links would be appreciated, thanks!

Here's the wiki page on it.
https://github.com/retropie/retropie-setup/wiki/Netplay

I haven't played around with it, but it doesn't look very complicated. Reminds me of getting games online back in the early Windows days.

I don't know how long ago you checked out RetroPie, or what type of Raspberry Pi you were using, but on a Pi3 all the emulators I've tried run flawlessly (minus N64 - some games play fine, some don't). PS1 games run fine on it.

It can even run Dreamcast games, though I haven't installed that emulator yet:

[SignOfZeta]

You're not listening. Nobody is questioning the quality of the emulation because they're more concerned with getting the f*cker running. All the power and accuracy in the world is useless if I can't work it myself. See: Linux, Mednafen, or any other "simple" thing that meganerds don't have any issues understanding.

Is it as easy to use as a PC Engine? That's the question. If the answer is "no" then it can rot in a stack of Gamepark 32s for all I care.

[Necromancer]

Don't bring logic into it, zeta.  The dipshit troll wants to believe a pi is equal or better in every way.

[roflmao]

Setting up a RetroPie is dead simple, though.

1. Go to the RetroPie website and download the image.
2. Put the image on an SD card.
3. Plug SD card into Raspberry Pi and turn Pi on.

You're done. All the most common emulators are already configured and run intuitively with whatever controller you have plugged in.

Adding roms is just as simple.

1. While RetroPie is running plug a USB flash drive into the Pi. It'll automatically create a folder structure on the drive.
2. Plug the flash drive into your computer and copy your roms to it. Put the Turbografx-16 roms in the folder labeled "Turbografx-16" etc.
3. Plug the flash drive back into the Pi and it'll automatically add all the games to the Pi.

That's it. In probably less than an hour you have it ready to go.

There's all sorts of other stuff you can tinker with if you want, but it doesn't take a "meganerd" to get up and running.

[SignOfZeta]

How about CDs?

[roflmao]

How about CDs?

You put the bin/cue or iso files in the folders it creates on the flash drive, just like the roms.

If you're a "meganerd" you can also ftp into the Pi and transfer them that way.

EDIT: Just to clarify, I think the Polymega is a very slick-looking console and it's interface is gorgeous. I'm definitely going to want to play around with it when Null gets his. But there isn't word yet on pricing, and I imagine it won't be cheap. I'm just trying to point out that there's already something out there that's super cheap, easy to set up, and does almost everything this thing does. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if Polymega is using Retroarch for its emulation on the backend.

[Gredler]

I don't have a Raspberry Pi, but my friend brought one over to show me and it ran fine but had terrible (I am assumimg were default) graphical settings. The picture was stretched 16x9 for some systems, and all seemed blurry (not point sample scaled). I do want to get one and try it, but haven't taken the money and time to do so yet.

It's hard to argue that hooking this thing up and playing it will be a lot different experience than plugging in a AC, HDMI, a controller, and a cart/cd. The steps to use the Retromegabox will be a lot different for non-pc/emulation enthusiasts.

[SignOfZeta]

How about CDs?

You put the bin/cue or iso files in the folders it creates on the flash drive, just like the roms.

If you're a "meganerd" you can also ftp into the Pi and transfer them that way.

EDIT: Just to clarify, I think the Polymega is a very slick-looking console and it's interface is gorgeous. I'm definitely going to want to play around with it when Null gets his. But there isn't word yet on pricing, and I imagine it won't be cheap. I'm just trying to point out that there's already something out there that's super cheap, easy to set up, and does almost everything this thing does. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if Polymega is using Retroarch for its emulation on the backend.

Where do you put the CD BIOS?

Also, how do you get it to f*ck right the f*ck off with 16:9?

[roflmao]

Where do you put the CD BIOS?

Also, how do you get it to f*ck right the f*ck off with 16:9?

By default, it plays in 4:3. You have to mess with it to make it 16:9.

You're right, for CD games you do need to add bios so it's not simply plug and play. There's an exhaustive wiki that clearly defines where bios go for each console: https://github.com/retropie/retropie-setup/wiki/Playstation-1

[roflmao]

Can i call Geek Squad to perform this rocket surgery?

If you do they might call the F.B.I. for the porn they find.

[elmer]

So, nullity ... is Neo Geo CD support really their big E3 announcement?

Or can we expect something more interesting later on this week?

[DragonmasterDan]

Even a Dreamcast can play Neo CD games with one of those emulator boot discs, not too surprising.

[SignOfZeta]

The DC doesn't do a very good job of Neo, IIRC. I can't remember.

I do remember the DS ran Neo surprisingly well. So this thing has to be WAY more powerful than the DS, and also more powerful than my 133mhz Pentium 1 with 128MB of RAM which ran every Neo game flawlessley.

Can they can pull this off!?!?