Necroed !

Hidup balik thread ni! Anyone have any recent loot to share? I'm semi-retired these days, so I don't really go all out looking for retro stuff anymore. I do still continue with my Japan adventures looking for games (sometimes), but I don't look for rare stuff too much these days. The only thing I got last year was a loose copy of TMNT the arcade game for Famicom. I also got the 'A Certain Magical Virtual On' game (とある魔術の 電脳戦機 バーチャロン) for PS4. The best thing from that trip was actually playing The House of the Dead Crimson Dawn in the arcades. Twice!

Finally completed Sega Saturn JP Shmups after almost 3 years of hunting. Moving to Dreamcast and 360 shmups now.

Last haul :

Recently, craved for NES games. So i set up an old laptop to run those roms. So much fun playing with my kids. Old games are still great

Games from the 8 bit and 16 bit era are still great, but I sure appreciate save state support in modern re-releases. My old current self is just not as responsive as I was during my youth haha.

Oh wow, resurrected

https://playclassic.games/games/role-playin...ar-online/play/

found a website can play old games online but the color mcm diff

Colour is correct la, maybe last time you play in 256 or 16 colour ?

maybe my memory and actual diff alot

That game has a good midi soundtrack.

one of the few RPG i played and enjoyed a few times.
i think ff7 was the other.
most others just 1 time play thru.

Hey folks. Long time no see. I guess we all got busy in the last couple of years. Today I just received a package from China. It's a power board for the Sega Dreamcast. I bought it earlier in June, because I wanted to repair one of my Dreamcasts that had a blown power board. Unfortunately it seems I have misplaced it somewhere, so that's a bummer. The power board works fantastically though, so that's a relief.

Since I already had it hooked up, I might as well play some Dreamcast games again. I've forgotten how gaming was like back then. We used wired controllers and analogue AV cables, and we liked it! Funny how quality of life stuff changed us. Anyway, now I'm faced with a challenge. How to connect the Dreamcast to my current setup. I usually run all my AV devices to an AV receiver, which thankfully still has composite video input. Unfortunately I can no longer look at the composite video output without being repelled by the blurriness. Out of curiosity, has anyone tried one of those HDMI adapters for Dreamcast? Something like this?

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/40011659099...3c00uMKN0u&mp=1

For Xbox and PS2, I can at least run them with component video, then get audio via optical out. But for Dreamcast I don't have anything better at the moment. This seems like a practical solution for me. But I'm just wondering how does it compare to a Dreamcast VGA box? I do have one, but I thought it would be cleaner to just connect HDMI directly from Dreamcast to the receiver, instead of doing Dreamcast>VGA box>HDMI converter>HDMI cable>AV receiver. Thoughts and opinions are welcome.

You could look at https://www.beharbros.com/product-page/akura.
or you can get proper cables from here. https://www.retrogamingcables.co.uk/sega/SE...GB-SCART-CABLES
and run it through OSSC or Framemeister.
I have a DCDigital mod done for the best HDMI output. https://shop.dansprojects.com/dcdigital.html
Pricey but worth it.
another solution is https://www.poundtechnology.com/dreamcast
but the quality is not that good. still, its better than the alixpress solution.
composite output is really ugly even on older 1080p TVs. modern 4k tvs dont even have the inputs for component input.
I run all my retro consoles through RGB cables into an OSSC. for those consoles that don't have RGB outputs, I RGB mod them. some I HDMI mod them if those mods are available.
they are expensive since i have to buy the kits from overseas and send the consoles overseas for the mod job. all worth it in the end for pure crystal clear raw pixels output.
https://www.retrorgb.com/ is a very good site to read up on getting the best video output from retro consoles.
There are a few mods you can do on the Dreamcast. Notably, replacing the power supply with PicoPSU, Noctua fan replacement, F1 fuse replacement, GD drive replacement, clock battery replacement and replacing the capacitors on the mainboard.
http://blog.kazade.co.uk/p/dreamcast-contr...-right-way.html
https://retrofighters.com/our-collection/st...ast-controller/
https://gdemu.wordpress.com/
https://console5.com/store/cap-kits/console...c-cap-kits.html
https://shop.terraonion.com/en/home/17-Terr...Saturn_ODE.html
http://8bitplus.co.uk/projects/dreamcast-u...drom-ode-board/
https://laserbear.net/shop/ols/products/dre...a-fan-mount-kit
https://laserbear.net/shop/ols/products/pico-dreamcast-v11
once the drive assembly and fan are replaced, the dreamcast can be whisper quiet.
for xbox, there's a hdmi solution https://www.chimericsystems.com/product/hdmi-video-adapter
for ps2, HD retrovision component cables are said to be the best.

This post has been edited by deathninjax: Jul 5 2020, 10:48 PM

Thanks for the write up! I read bit about that Pound HD Link, and yeah, quality wise it's not that great. But it is very easy to use, so that's one thing it has. That DC Digital thing looks highly impressive. I wasn't aware there were such things for Dreamcast. Back then VGA was the way to go for Dreamcast gaming. I actually tried to get a VGA + RCA to HDMI adapter, which I then setup like this:

Dreamcast - VGA box - VGA to HDMI adapter - 4K TV

It was not satisfactory at all. Running it this way, I experienced significant lag while playing games. Not to mention the constant buzzing sound I can hear coming out from my speakers. I guess the solution was sort of a Frankenstein's monster, and it looked ugly too. I'll take a look into the Akura box more in depth.

It felt like just a short while ago that I was using S-Video and component output to get the "best" video output. Now most TVs or AV receivers don't even have those. I've been meaning to get a Frame Meister or OSSC for a while, but haven't really taken the plunge. Btw what do you think of these two?

https://www.lazada.com.my/products/ossc-sca...ASABEgIFHfD_BwE

https://www.lazada.com.my/products/ossc-hdm...BCABEgLOyvD_BwE

i bought my ossc here
https://videogameperfection.com/products/op...scan-converter/
i don't trust things from china. prefer doing business with westerners as they are more honest and the quality is better. buying from videogameperfection is around the same price and it's high quality with peace of mind when updating the firmware for new features. there's warranty too. china stuff are usually clones with poor quality and you can't update the firmware since they are not the developers and there's risk of bricking the device. if anything happens, good luck chasing the seller for warranty or refund.
framemeister is too expensive since it's out of production. Ossc Pro is in development so you might want to wait for that.
if you want to use consoles with svideo, composite or component cables instead of rgb cables, you can try retrotink
https://www.retrotink.com/product-page/retrotink-2x-pro

xbox can be modded using tsop to replace the harddisk and games to be played from the harddisk. an asian mechassault game and modified memory card is needed to install the homebrew. i was lucky to find the asian mechassault disc for my asian xbox locally as the mod needs the correct region game and it's a rare game to be found. i fitted a 2tb hdd in my xbox with all the xbox games and coinops emulator.
https://gbatemp.net/threads/microsoft-xbox-...g-guide.462308/

if you havent opened up your xbox, you might want to open it and have a look. the clock capacitor and the capacitors near the cpu are prone to leak and damage the motherboard.
https://www.reddit.com/r/originalxbox/comme...box_remove_the/

xbox can be modded with more ram to play chihiro games such as virtua cop 3 and outrun 2. it's expensive and it depends on whether you are willing to spend that much for a few arcade games. considering that game was not released for home consoles, some people think it's worth it. replacing the intel cpu can be done but many games are not compatible with it.

This post has been edited by deathninjax: Jul 6 2020, 08:11 PM

That Retrotink looks very interesting! Composite, S-video and component input makes it a very easy fix for me! I think I'll hold off on OSSC and wait for the Pro. For now I guess I'll get the Akura for Dreamcast, and get the Retrotink 2X Pro for my clone Famicom/Super Famicom/Megadrive. Thanks a lot for sharing!

Hey bro, my Akura HDMI box just arrived today! I immediately tested it with Virtual On Oratorio Tangram. Out of the box, it was already looking great in VGA mode. For some reason I never noticed the Dreamcast at the back of the Virtuaroids even had the word "Dreamcast" written on it, but it's now legible when using the Akura. Then I played around with scanlines enabled. It now looks even closer to how I remember it when playing on my old VGA monitor. But I didn't notice any difference between RGB mode and VGA mode. Probably because VOOT does already support VGA mode. I'll try to run it with a game that doesn't support VGA later. Thanks a lot for sharing your knowledge about Dreamcast and other retro stuff! Looks like my Dreamcast has a renewed lease of life.

My Brook Wingman SD just came in the mail today!

https://www.brookaccessory.com/detail/62472958/

After getting the Akura HDMI box in July, I've been on again / off again playing Dreamcast games. Mostly the fighting games. But after years of using only arcade sticks for fighting games, I can't use the Dreamcast controller for anything except Soul Calibur and maybe Project Justice. Anything like the 2D fighters will require an arcade stick. And since I only had a crappy 3rd party stick for Dreamcast, I explored other options. It turns out Brook had something just for this exact use case. It converts PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One and Switch controller to be used on Dreamcast and Saturn! I might eventually test out using an Xbox controller with it, but for now I'm using it with a PS3 Hori Real Arcade Pro V3 SA.

Setup is pretty much plug and play. I didn't even need to do any profile configuration or anything. Just plug the arcade stick to the USB port on the adapter, then connect the other end to a Dreamcast controller port. That's it! It even has a built in 200 block Dreamcast memory unit! No LCD or anything though. It's not a VMU.

There's no lag or anything, something that used to be a problem with some controller adapters. The only thing that puzzled me is the button layout for the fighting games. On Marvel VS Capcom, the L trigger is mapped to L2, and the R trigger is mapped to R2. That means on the Hori arcade stick, Hard Punch is mapped to button 6, and Hard Kick is mapped to button 8. Fortunately there is a mode for using arcade sticks. Just press the Select button on the stick + the X button, and it will switch to the correct profile. On Xbox controllers, press the Back button + the A button. Simple.

I'll try it out on Saturn some time in the next week or so. First I'll need to dig out the Saturn and some Capcom 4MB games.

new stuff are released for those interested.

https://8bitmods.com/fenrir/ ODE for Sega Saturn with 20pin drives. 21 pin version on the way.

https://makemhz.com/products/xboxhdmi HDMI mod for OG Xbox.

anyone bought a classic console lately?