Questions that do not deserve a thread

[Bassa-Bassa]

I have another question. In Final Star Force, theres extreme slowdown, if you play with autofire. Especially with 30 Hz. Is it legit to play it with autofire nevertheless? ^^;

You're also making the game easier than it naturally is by using AF even if it didn't slow down. Either, slowed down or not, are equally as legit as you want it to be.

[Angry Hina]

I have another question. In Final Star Force, theres extreme slowdown, if you play with autofire. Especially with 30 Hz. Is it legit to play it with autofire nevertheless? ^^;

You're also making the game easier than it naturally is by using AF even if it didn't slow down. Either, slowed down or not, are equally as legit as you want it to be.

Ok, thats true for most classic games, right? ^^ But for some on games its much more defining compared to others. Another point is, with what modes the arcade machines worked back then. So in the ACA version you can have no/15Hz/30Hz autofire. With 15 the damage output is noticeable lower but the slowdown is there most of the time.

[Bassa-Bassa]

I'm sure you know at this point AF circuits were not added by the game/machine designers but by arcade operators, and quite late at that? And that it was common to add AF options on arcade ports because they knew most people wouldn't be using arcade-style controls with them but control pads, where button mashing is a pain?

So it's a B/W situation - make a game easier than it originally was by using an external tool and it's cheating. No matter how much, does it? You're redesigning the game in the end, and it's as legit as you want it to be. Don't ask the game author, though.

[Angry Hina]

More or less I knew that but I thought, that companies (sometimes) gave operators an advice for AF implementation and programmed for this option in mind as well.

[Bassa-Bassa]

Think about it - if developers had wanted AF on its game, even as an option, they just would have coded it into the game's program. As it was the case in not few instances, on the other hand.

[orange808]

Think about it - if developers had wanted AF on its game, even as an option, they just would have coded it into the game's program. As it was the case in not few instances, on the other hand.

I'm not interested in giving it thought, because it's ridiculous. ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

Any game that doesn't have autofire is backwards and poorly designed. Any operator that disabled the option on the PCB was/is a twat. Beating the button repetitively has proven to be a health hazard.

Games are supposed to be fun.

[Bassa-Bassa]

I'm not interested in giving it thought, because it's ridiculous. ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

Any game that doesn't have autofire is backwards and poorly designed.

That's beyond the point I'm making (which is just that using any form of external tool to make a game easier is cheating and non-intended no matter how much easier it becomes or how much the game is altered so don't fool yourself), but that statement is silly. A lot of games don't have AF and work flawlessly, even considering STG only. Not my opinion, mind - if that weren't the case the genre just would have never evolved for years and years without the feature. Change that with "any button mashing-based game is poorly designed" and there you might find some ground for actual discussion.

Any operator that disabled the option on the PCB was/is a twat.

Operators could not disable the option, though. Save for that odd exception, it was never a game/PCB option.

Beating the button repetitively has proven to be a health hazard.

Playing video games repetitively has proven to be a health hazard. Should we just stop, then?

Games are supposed to be fun.

Same line you read when people defend easy modes/attack arcade games, just saying.

[orange808]

That's beyond the point I'm making (which is just that using any form of external tool to make a game easier is cheating and non-intended no matter how much easier it becomes or how much the game is altered so don't fool yourself), but that statement is silly. A lot of games don't have AF and work flawlessly, even considering STG only. Not my opinion, mind - if that weren't the case the genre just would have never evolved for years and years without the feature. Change that with "any button mashing-based game is poorly designed" and there you might find some ground for actual discussion.

My wrists are shot, so I do what I have to do. I think autofire would have reduced the wear and tear on my body. You are obviously unscathed or young, so you carry on like you do.

A lot of early games (indeed!) are poorly designed. Nothing ridiculous about saying it out loud. From color choices to the screen flashing, we think about a lot of elements of game design now that weren't on the radar when us kids were hacking out our first game on a C64 or Apple2.

Operators could not disable the option, though. Save for that odd exception, it was never a game/PCB option.

Yes. I have a few PCBs that allow me to toggle it and I regularly encountered them on location with the option disabled. It's a thing.

Playing video games repetitively has proven to be a health hazard. Should we just stop, then?

Exercise and diet can be balanced alongside games and there's really no genuine inherent health hazard to playing games. That's silly. Stop. You're not talking about games; that's lifestyle.

The core issue here is that I don't believe my hobby is a sport. We'll have to agree to disagree. In the meantime, I don't care if people make things easy on their hands. In fact, I think it's a good idea.

[Bassa-Bassa]

As it's my rant, I'll say that's not really the core issue, mind. The core issue is that the idea that every video game is a model house kit for you to tweak and customize instead of a self-explanatory piece with authorship, an intent and a self-contained ecosystem is way too popular.

[orange808]

As it's my rant, I'll say that's not really the core issue, mind. The core issue is that the idea that every video game is a model house kit for you to tweak and customize instead of a self-explanatory piece with authorship, an intent and a self-contained ecosystem is way too popular.

I don't care about what people do in their living rooms or bedrooms when they aren't hurting anyone else.

Furthermore, as you discovered in our interaction, people have their own reasons for the things they do. Outside of outright cheating, players have more time to experience and "test" software than any dev could. It's flattering that someone would love the core of the game enough to keep playing--especially after a number of years go by. People could have turned it off and walked away.

But, again, we'll have to agree to disagree. I have a much larger gripe with the fact that almost all of you believe that legacy games are free downloads and the original devs or IP owners don't deserve any coin. Instead, you make assumptions about developer intentions and attitudes as a group that I guarantee are not universal. The games have all this deep "value" and meaning for you: until someone asks you to pay for the intellectual property you're playing. Then, it's just an old game thing and something something corpos.

[Bassa-Bassa]

Oh, so you just were looking for strawmen and I bit like a fool. Anyway,

I don't care about what people do in their living rooms or bedrooms when they aren't hurting anyone else.

Save for themselves? Did you even read the posts I was replying to before you decided to chime in? There's undoubtedly an issue of culture and misinformation these days when new players can't even tell that AF circuits are unofficial devices that retool a game in totally unintended ways, i. e., its core. A subproduct of too many people quickly calling that idea "ridiculous" because anything goes to justify themselves, I guess?

[orange808]

Oh, so you just were looking for strawmen and I bit like a fool. Anyway,

I don't care about what people do in their living rooms or bedrooms when they aren't hurting anyone else.

Save for themselves? Did you even read the posts I was replying to before you decided to chime in? There's undoubtedly an issue of culture and misinformation these days when new players can't even tell that AF circuits are unofficial devices that retool a game in totally unintended ways, i. e., its core. A subproduct of too many people quickly calling that idea "ridiculous" because anything goes to justify themselves, I guess?

It's not a sport. You said you weren't promoting that idea; you clearly are.

Don't be silly. Everyone can tell the difference, but these aren't PvP games. Track and Field was the first offender I recall, by the way. It was impossible to compete within a week (of the cabinet's arrival) without a pencil or a ruler in hand. I just quit playing and moved along.

I got fed up with cheaters and cord pullers on X-Band and Ultima Online when that got started. I shrugged and walked away from online gaming and I have rarely looked back. Although, I did host a few PS2 game servers back in the day. Fortunately, the console format kept a lid on the cheaters in that era.

I suppose I'm in the minority. Full disclosure, I never gave a shit about Twin Galaxies and I openly mock people that say games are sport to this day. I don't believe they are and I'm probably never going to be swayed. I don't often watch videos of people playing games and I don't give a shit about your high scores. I don't want to watch, I want to play.

If you cheated, you cheated yourself. Congratulations, you missed out and watched some credits scroll by. The game is the point, not the credit roll. That's the heart of it, I don't care if you bent the rules. It doesn't affect me. What other people do with their games doesn't touch my world at all. I still refuse to play most multiplayer games that aren't locally hosted as well. I just don't care.

Finally, I can't physically beat the buttons like I used to anymore.

[Angry Hina]

Were Capcom vertical STGs at any time influential for the genre after the year 1984 (1942)?

[Bassa-Bassa]

Not sure this is the place for that subject or if you mean it from a hardware's perspective, but Senjou no Ookami/Commando is from 1985, and I'd even say the sequel was influential.

1941's setpieces and pixel art must have been a model for many.

[vol.2]

Not sure this is the place for that subject or if you mean it from a hardware's perspective

This is a very long-running thread, intended to answer questions for people troubleshooting hardware.

It would be a shame if the focus drifted and it was no longer a convenient place for random lurkers to venture a question they wanted help with. Just saying.

[Xan]

Here's something curious I've realized a while back...

The back of the Japanese Mega Drive Model 1 says "Rating: 13W" and "Use SA-160A AC adaptor only". Now the output specs of that adaptor are 9V 1.2A, so it's rated for 10.8W maximum. I don't have the SA-160A, but I have a Roland adaptor with those exact specs and using it with the Mega Drive, it works but the adaptor will eventually get pretty damn warm, and even worse, will emit a kind of burnt plastic smell, neither of which happen when using the adaptor with any other device. Needless to say, not really a good idea. So the question is, how did they mess up this bad, suggesting an adaptor that doesn't fit the rating they printed on there?

I have just looked on ebay and am seeing a MD1 console being sold from Japan that comes with a Sega 10V 850mA adaptor. I don't know if that could already be a fire hazard, but it seems careless at best to package that with this console.

[bobrocks95]

Anyone have thoughts on how the Switch 2 handles upscaling of non-updated Switch 1 games? I'd assume it does a standard bilinear upscale and will look worse than my Switch 1 -> RetroTink 4K setup. Would suck to have to run two cables and swap between them like I already have to do on my Xbox One X for backwards compatible 720p titles.

[orange808]

Anyone have thoughts on how the Switch 2 handles upscaling of non-updated Switch 1 games? I'd assume it does a standard bilinear upscale and will look worse than my Switch 1 -> RetroTink 4K setup. Would suck to have to run two cables and swap between them like I already have to do on my Xbox One X for backwards compatible 720p titles.

Is it really a big difference on your display? I'd try it out and see first.

For myself, I would miss the RT4K blurbusters BFI with 720p input and the option to add a Darbee in the chain between the Switch and the RT4K, but YMMV.

[bobrocks95]

Anyone have thoughts on how the Switch 2 handles upscaling of non-updated Switch 1 games? I'd assume it does a standard bilinear upscale and will look worse than my Switch 1 -> RetroTink 4K setup. Would suck to have to run two cables and swap between them like I already have to do on my Xbox One X for backwards compatible 720p titles.

Is it really a big difference on your display? I'd try it out and see first.

For myself, I would miss the RT4K blurbusters BFI with 720p input and the option to add a Darbee in the chain between the Switch and the RT4K, but YMMV.

Don't have a Switch 2 yet, was more wondering if I need to plan in advance to run two HDMI cables to it and swap between them. Looking at comparisons someone pointed me to in the RT4K Discord, I unfortunately might want to.

[Steven]

Anybody know a safe way to clean my Mega Drive without massacring the AV INTELLIGENT TERMINAL HIGH GRADE MULTIPURPOSE USE text? It's had a film of grime and filth on it since before I got it and I've wanted to clean it for years now. Just don't want to kill the text during the process, which is why I've left it as is the whole time.

[vol.2]

Anybody know a safe way to clean my Mega Drive without massacring the AV INTELLIGENT TERMINAL HIGH GRADE MULTIPURPOSE USE text? It's had a film of grime and filth on it since before I got it and I've wanted to clean it for years now. Just don't want to kill the text during the process, which is why I've left it as is the whole time.

After taking it apart, the ring around the cartridge port pops off from the back. Do that and remove the LED. Set the ring aside and carefully clean it up with qtips and water, with maybe a little soap added in. You can avoid the text how you feel comfortable.

Then you can soak the remaining plastic parts in warm water with a little blue Dawn soap dissolved in it for about 20 minutes or so. Clean it with a microfiber and avoid rubbing on the text areas.

[SavagePencil]

Can anyone recommend an EDID emulator that does precisely 1440p @ 120hz? The Switch 2 greys out the option when connected to my 4K LG TV. Apparently this is a common problem, so looking for a workaround.

[SavagePencil]

Can anyone recommend an EDID emulator that does precisely 1440p @ 120hz? The Switch 2 greys out the option when connected to my 4K LG TV. Apparently this is a common problem, so looking for a workaround.

Can confirm that this EDID passthru emulator lets me select 1440p@120Hz for my Switch 2 connected to LG TV:

amazon.com/dp/B0FL8QG813?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

[bobrocks95]

Just curious, do any Switch 2 titles offer that framerate + resolution combo or is it more for convenience/input lag? Highest-profile 120 FPS title I know of is Prime 4 and I believe that's 1080p.

[SavagePencil]

Just curious, do any Switch 2 titles offer that framerate + resolution combo or is it more for convenience/input lag? Highest-profile 120 FPS title I know of is Prime 4 and I believe that's 1080p.

Me too! I thought I read in the Arcade Archives thread that some of the games support VRR? Which I thought required being NOT locked at 60?

My real goal here was "use higher frame rate when available" and never go into that stupid settings page ever again.

[Xan]

Does anybody know how long the Xbox controller replacement cables on Ali have been out of stock? Only other source I can find is Etsy and shipping alone apparently costs as much as four used controllers.

I actually had one of those lying around from last year, but botched the crimping when I finally got around to it, and the wires are already so short that they may just barely fit even without cutting anything. Crimping is annoying when doing it for the first time, need to be very precise with how far to insert the wire. I think the only way to do it "by the book" with cheap tools is to somehow fixate the wire in a spare terminal, then put it into the crimping tool and mark where it touches the edge of the tool, and only then do the crimping part with another terminal.

[Bassa-Bassa]

Is this amplifier for RGB a good solution, even if just theoretically?

https://github.com/KabukiFlux/Duplicana ... uplicator/


Also, any recommendations for quality 5 V USB-C power supplies?

[SavagePencil]

Is this amplifier for RGB a good solution, even if just theoretically?

https://github.com/KabukiFlux/Duplicana ... uplicator/


Also, any recommendations for quality 5 V USB-C power supplies?

Can’t speak to the amplifier but these are great for power:


USB C Charger, Anker 65W PIQ 3.0... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08F28BH7C?re ... b_ap_share

[Bassa-Bassa]

Thks, SavagePencil.

[Jonpachi]

EDIT: NM found it