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Emulation central - recommendations in 1st post

Joined
Aug 10, 2012
Messages
5,871
metroid-zeromissionu-j9u8f.png


Finished Metroid: Zero Mission last night. It was a fun game but the part after Mother Brain felt like unnecessary padding. The 'true' final boss was lame. I didn't feel like going back for some optional parts after getting the super bomb. Finished with a 67% rating.

Super Metroid is far superior. Still, fun game and reasonably short.
 
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Rolo

Literate
Joined
Feb 19, 2018
Messages
13
Is there any PS1 emulator with touchscreen controls on Windows? Alternatively, a program to display a limited (customisable) virtual keyboard over full-screen games would work. Not saying the Windows version of ePSXe is fuckterrible but the UI is still Auschwitz-worthy.
 
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Messages
5,871
Decided to replay Super Metroid since it's been a very long time since I've last played it.

In retrospect, compared to the games that it spawned, it's incredibly harder and less friendly - in a good way. The game doesn't hold your hand at all. Everything about the world is hostile, enemies are tough and do a lot of damage, and save points are spread pretty far apart. For my money, it's by far the most 'hardcore' game Nintendo has ever put out. It has an amazing oppressive atmosphere, looks and sounds great, and really gets the feeling across that you're exploring an alien and completely unfamiliar world. One of the best games of all time, bar none. Stuff like Symphony of the Night is a casual walk in the park in comparison. :salute:

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jungl

Augur
Joined
Mar 30, 2016
Messages
1,420
Before the internet existed I have to say symphony night still the harder game to complete without a guide super Metroid was hell learning how to do the super jump was a nightmare.
 
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The Internet was pretty popular by 1997, dude. I spent a great deal of time playing Quake and later Ultima Online.

I like SotN, but it's incomparably easier than Super Metroid.
 

Damned Registrations

Furry Weeaboo Nazi Nihilist
Joined
Feb 24, 2007
Messages
14,983
Also, that fucking glass tube you need to powerbomb is easily as obscure as anything in SotN. The whole 200% completion thing is a neat gimmick, but if you got 99%, you got the clues you need to get 200%
 

Desert Fish

Educated
Patron
Joined
May 8, 2010
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95
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rooftop hideout
Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
Decided to replay Super Metroid since it's been a very long time since I've last played it.

In retrospect, compared to the games that it spawned, it's incredibly harder and less friendly -

I thought it was considerably harder to survive in Metroid Fusion. Samus felt relatively fragile in that game. It made some sense, too, with regard to the story. I'm sure you could soak up many more hits in Super Metroid. On the other hand, Fusion told you where to go all the time, with no tough puzzles.

Fusion was also more linear. Overall, major decline. I really liked that you were picking up those parasites, though, rather than random creatures inexplicably dropping missiles.
 
Joined
Aug 10, 2012
Messages
5,871
Retroarch has netplay functionality, though I've never used it and couldn't say how well it works. There's a Higan core for Retroarch and that's the best and most accurate SNES emulator bar none. ZSNES is just ancient stuff.
 

SCO

Arcane
In My Safe Space
Joined
Feb 3, 2009
Messages
16,320
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
Best... if you have a > 1.8 ghz machine. Personally i think higan went through the rabbit-hole of 'simulation' long ago for no good reward. Who cares if some obscure games don't work 'perfectly' and one example locks up (without hacks). Just use the snes9x core and save on hardware and power (if you have it).

It's not very important, because it's just the snes (for now) but whenever i watch byuu complaining on reddit about them damn kids using 1ghz, 5 Watts processors (for phones, RPi etc) instead of 3ghz 120 Watts desktops I just smile. 'Damn industry' he metaphorically says.
 
Joined
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Messages
5,871
Well, yes, I suppose that's an issue especially since Retroarch runs on everything and is especially ubiquitous on Pis. I certainly don't have an issue with Snes9x on less powerful devices such as phones and so on, it's very accurate for the majority of games. In fact, I don't even know if Higan works with Retroarch's netplay. However, even Snes9x is a far cry from old Zsnes.

I think Byuu is feeling pressed to push farther and farther into 100% accuracy territory due to the advent of FPGAs and how they're usually being perceived by laymen (and in fact sold and shilled by the ~gaming media~) to be 'the real thing' and not at all comparable to emulation, which isn't really true. I feel like he has a bone to pick and wants to prove Higan can be as accurate if not more than an FPGA based solution such as the Super NT, and is superior from a lifetime perspective.

Other than specific stuff about technology, preservation and emulation I don't read what he writes as he is a nevertrump liberal faggot furry. But that's ok since unlike the vast majority of his peers, he has accomplished something.
 
Joined
Aug 10, 2012
Messages
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As far as I'm aware of the single only unplayable game on SNES9X in the entirety of its library is Dark Law - The Meaning of Death.

And even that might be playable nowadays in last November's 1.55 version, gonna check that later

It's playable on the latest Snex9x Retroarch core, I just tested it. Is it good?

darklaw-meaningofdeatt7svu.png
 

Vorark

Erudite
Joined
Mar 2, 2017
Messages
1,394
Fusion was also more linear. Overall, major decline. I really liked that you were picking up those parasites, though, rather than random creatures inexplicably dropping missiles.

Fusion shines in boss encounters, though. Serris, Yakuza, BOX, Nightmare... It's the one area Super is rather weak. There's Phantoon and that's it, others are pretty run of the mill.
 

Jacob

Pronouns: Nick/Her
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Grab the Codex by the pussy
Before the internet existed I have to say symphony night still the harder game to complete without a guide super Metroid was hell learning how to do the super jump was a nightmare.
gaming magazine walkthrough dude, that's back when gaming journalism still have a place in society.
 

Hirato

Purse-Owner
Patron
Joined
Oct 16, 2010
Messages
3,935
Location
Australia
Codex 2012 Codex USB, 2014 Shadorwun: Hong Kong
the RPCS3 team put out a new video, no blogpost yet.


Someone made this game with that ridiculous level of depth of field,
and they thought "this looks good, ship it"
Let that sink in for a moment...

:prosper:
 

ghostdog

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Dec 31, 2007
Messages
11,079
As far as I'm aware of the single only unplayable game on SNES9X in the entirety of its library is Dark Law - The Meaning of Death.

And even that might be playable nowadays in last November's 1.55 version, gonna check that later

It's playable on the latest Snex9x Retroarch core, I just tested it. Is it good?

Yeah dark law was perfectly playable the last time I checked it with snes9x.

Now as far as its quality, it's one of those overly ambitious games, with great ideas, but poor execution. It's a strange adventure/RPG/strategy(for lack of a better world) hybrid with different game modes that don't mesh quite well together. It had pretty good graphics for an snes game. You might as well check it out as an snes obscurity.
 
Joined
Aug 10, 2012
Messages
5,871
Finally beat Super Metroid. This game was harder than I remembered, and a lot of amenities present in later variations of the formula aren't present here. In a way, you're required to find what would be considered optional secrets in other games to progress through the game normally. There are quite a few mindblowing moments in game design and how levels are constructed, and how you learn to use your abilities in a creative manner.

It's an amazing game, but I feel it's a little too long in the tooth all these years later and the boss fights are almost all pretty lame (with the exception of the very last boss and maybe the phantom in the abandoned ship). 2nd round Ridley is the lamest boss fight in the entire series, I think.

Anyway, here's to Gunpei Yokoi, Samus, and to when women in games weren't shit. :salute:


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RIP :salute::salute::salute::salute::salute::salute::salute:
 

Vorark

Erudite
Joined
Mar 2, 2017
Messages
1,394
Citra received a nice boost.

Hardware Renderer Updates
https://citra-emu.org/entry/improvements-to-hardware-renderer/

Cut to the chase, how fast is this?

Very fast. Test results across various computers show that it averages out to be a 2x speed boost. With the new update, Citra will use much more of your GPU, removing some of the dependence on a CPU with high single-core performance. As always, the actual difference will vary by game and by your specific hardware configuration! In celebration of this massive improvement, we wanted to share some of the successes and struggles we’ve had over the years with the hardware renderer.

Shame MH3U is still slow, be it on Citra or Cemu. :|
 

spekkio

Arcane
Joined
Sep 16, 2009
Messages
8,278
^
Tested newest Canary build. Shit's fast inedeed, yo!
Cia installation works flawless as well - was borked last time I checked (regular build ~ 2 months ago).

:incline:
 
Joined
Aug 10, 2012
Messages
5,871
Yep, also tested Canary build and it's at least as fast as the last Chinese build I had been using, probably faster. Metroid: Samus Returns runs at fullspeed with no drops. I also tried Fire Emblem Fates but that had some slowdown. I also don't like the direction Fire Emblem has taken since the GBA games - they went too overboard with the animu cinematic shit, gameplay is very slow.

Also, that fucking glass tube you need to powerbomb is easily as obscure as anything in SotN. The whole 200% completion thing is a neat gimmick, but if you got 99%, you got the clues you need to get 200%

It's actually a rocket, not a powerbomb, but yeah. However, it is not required to blow up the tube - there is an alternate (secret) route in Maridia that gets you where you need to go. The smashed tube is a great shortcut, though.

Speaking of SotN, I had been playing it on and off and after finishing Super Metroid I cleared the first castle - I did the 'bad' ending just to remember what it was like:

castlevania-180311-18m3uf1.png

castlevania-180311-18zsu85.png

Very odd choice for the credit song - it's a sort of elevator soft jazz vocal piece. It actually reminded me of Coppola's 1992 Dracula, which had one of the best soundtracks of all time by Wojciech Kilar only to be capped off during the credits by an awful fucking Annie Lennox love song. :negative:
castlevania-180311-18w0uka.png


Anyway, went back to kill Shaft instead of poor possessed Richter and now I'm onto the inverted castle:
castlevania-180311-18gcul8.png

castlevania-180311-18q1ujq.png

castlevania-180311-18xgut7.png

castlevania-180311-18gfusc.png


An odd tidbit to this game is that it actually runs on PSX's lowest resolution mode (256x240) instead of a regular 320x240. This means there are horizontal black bars on top and below the 4:3 frame which were probably hidden under the overscan of most CRT tvs of the time (I certainly didn't remember noticing any bars when I played it 20 years ago). The upside to this is that you can zoom in the frame to eliminate the borders and since the ratio is closer to widescreen, you can get almost fullscreen without stretching on modern 16:9 displays.

Since it had been over 15 years since I last played this, I remembered almost nothing. The succubus dream, for example... also, item drops are much less prevalent here than in later games that followed the formula, and it's much better this way. The unique weapons that are hidden away are pretty much all cool. It all goes to confirm that Igavanias have declined sharply over time, with the sole exception being Order of Ecclesia, which is pretty great.

Will finish the 2nd castle. I remember it going much faster than the first round (which took me around 3 hours according to the save file). :outrage:
 
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tet666

Augur
Joined
Apr 13, 2012
Messages
396
^
Tested newest Canary build. Shit's fast inedeed, yo!
Cia installation works flawless as well - was borked last time I checked (regular build ~ 2 months ago).

:incline:

Yeah it's great a shame DLCs are still not working but we are getting there.
 

SCO

Arcane
In My Safe Space
Joined
Feb 3, 2009
Messages
16,320
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
An odd tidbit to this game is that it actually runs on PSX's lowest resolution mode (256x240) instead of a regular 320x240. This means there are horizontal black bars on top and below the 4:3 frame which were probably hidden under the overscan of most CRT tvs of the time (I certainly didn't remember noticing any bars when I played it 20 years ago). The upside to this is that you can zoom in the frame to eliminate the borders and since the ratio is closer to widescreen, you can get almost fullscreen without stretching on modern 16:9 displays.
https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/3606/
 

Nirvash

Liturgist
Joined
Jan 20, 2017
Messages
1,108
Yep, also tested Canary build and it's at least as fast as the last Chinese build I had been using, probably faster. Metroid: Samus Returns runs at fullspeed with no drops. I also tried Fire Emblem Fates but that had some slowdown. I also don't like the direction Fire Emblem has taken since the GBA games - they went too overboard with the animu cinematic shit, gameplay is very slow.

There are still some slows at cinematic cutscenes, but run very well for most games.
Citra used to melt my good i5 cpu but now is like nothing.
 

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