I just looked at the history of my blogs and I was slightly introduced into a stupor what I saw. More than six years have passed since I got carried away with retrogying. August 24, 2012 I published my first material on this topic here. During this time, a lot of interesting things happened, my hobby with varying success gained momentum and recently reached its peak. Now I can say with complete confidence: “An idiot’s dream came true!" “And I’m proud!" But let’s go about everything in order.
Infection with nostalgia
At the beginning of 2012, shortly before the end of the world, I came across Pavel Grinev’s film: “Curse of the Gray Elephant”. Soon after watching, I realized that his creation made an indelible impression on me, as well as many other people. The first wave of domestic retrogying began, into which I was pulled by my ears. Various thematic communities and forums appeared … More precisely, they were before, but they began to be actively visited precisely after the release of PSS. The people discussed old games, recalled past stories and shared the councils for repairing boards and TVs.
The same film
It all started traditionally for me. I loaded myself emulators from childhood (Nes, Mega Drive) and began to go through my favorite games. Alas, my own console from the 90s went to one of my acquaintances and disappeared from the radars. After some time, I firmly decided to get hold of the normal one with joysticks again and went to the nearest shopping center. To my great surprise, I found there the very point of sale of discs and cartridges, which is at the beginning of the 00s. The seller seemed to have spent ten years in conservation and without changing at all, he stood peacefully by the counter. It seemed that I had crossed the temporary portal. Having bought a non -expensive clamp and two cartridges, I went home. Alas, my joy ended pretty quickly. Chinese "remake" turned out to be just disgusting quality and a bunch of built -in games did not save the situation. The worst of all were wooden joysticks, reacting only to strong presses. Having rubbed the corn on my finger, I threw off this shit in the trash and promised myself to continue to contact only the original products, which I advise you and you. As they say: “The stingy pays twice!"
Do not buy this piece of shit!
I’m serious! Do not do this!
Back to the 90s
Having finally got the original Sega Mega Drive 2, I was delighted. The prefix was weighty and high -quality, and joysticks with very soft and sensitive buttons. Play became very pleasant and authentic. Slowly I began to collect my own collection of cartridges. The main goal for me was not to rake as much as possible, but to return only the most important children’s games and put them on the shelf. Ebay and local flea markets were the source of cartridges and consoles.
The beginning of the collection in 2012
Going into the theme of retro games farther, my next step was to buy a lightning TV. (Well, ok, Elt, just “Light” sounds better) At that time I already knew that the picture from the old consoles looks much better on Elt TVs, since they were lurking under them and was hidden under them. I explain why: firstly because of the other structure of the frame, which was poured into a pleasant Scanline effect. Secondly, because new TVs do not know how to normally increase 240r. This often leads to an incredibly soap image from which I want to puke. In addition, most television manufacturers even get rid of analog entrances, including the most important Scart for us, which we will talk about a little lower. Thus, I had the task of finding not very old Alt Telik with a nest under Scart. This was not difficult to do, because ads for the sale of bulky TVs at least butt. The best of the best are Sony Trinitron, especially late models with a flat screen. The only negative of this technology is weight. My small Sony KV-21LT1B with a diagonal of 21 inches weighs proud 45 kilograms! But the picture at the output is simply amazing, provided that the geometry is correctly adjusted. In this regard, it is best to look for iron from the beginning of the 00s, this reduces the chance to catch a bad kinescope and swollen capacitors that affect the colors and actually the geometry of the image.
Sony Trinitron KV-21LT1B
He gives out such a picture
In pursuit of quality
Expanding the circle of interests, I got Nintendo Nes, Snes, Sega Dreamcast and Game Gear. The last two were found in a deplorable state at flea markets. After general cleaning and several evenings at Sonic Adventures and Crazy Taxi, I realized that the early 3D games and portables are not mine. Thus, both prefixes were sold. The other three remained. Time passed, and my demands grew. I wanted to squeeze all the juices from my favorite consoles and the first step to this was SCART Cables. The fact is that, unlike the antenna cable and “tulips”, that is, the composite – SCART can transmit a pure RGB signal. This means that all colors (red, green, blue), as well as synchrome -impulse are transmitted by separate posts. This, in turn, gives a head the best image quality, provided that the console itself can give out RGB. Mega Drive and Snes can, nes – no. But here there are its pitfalls. Buying these cables on AliExpress or Ebay, you are likely to risk making yourself additional problems. Due to the low quality of materials and the lack of shielding of the wiring, you most likely have extraneous noises in the image and a light hum from the columns. Therefore, here you can apply the rule: “The stingy pays twice!" Practice has shown that the best cables are made by the English office RetrogamingCables. They initially set out the goal – to give enthusiasts the highest quality for sane money. As an alternative, if hands grow from the right place, you can solder a suitable cable and manually. EMU-LAND and RETRORGB forums will help you with this.
Collection in 2014
RGB Scart RGC cables
So, prefixes – there are games – there are, TV and cables – there is. It would seem, here it is – the happiness of the retroheimer. It was possible to exhale and settle down … but it was still far from complete satisfaction. My main problem was the prefixes themselves, namely their region: PAL. Historically, it happened that in Europe the video station PAL for 576 lines and 50Hz was mainly used in Europe. In itself, he was in many aspects better than the American NTSC standard for 480 lines and 60Hz. But the prefixes and games for them were developed with an eye on NTSC, due to which we had to be content with a slightly compressed picture with colored stripes from below and from above. Moreover, the games themselves worked 17% slower than the plan, giving out 50 frames per second, instead of 60. The developers had to optimize or even completely redo their games for our region, which would have entailed huge losses, so everything was limited to sound optimization in later projects. In early games, like Sonic the Hedgehog, even music plays slower than the original. It’s just kapets. But then we did not suspect anything yet and halled what was.
Visual comparison Pal vs NTSC
Changing the prefixes https://spacewincasino.uk/ and all the games for the Americans would be stupid and very expensive. Fortunately, everything turned out to be much easier. Iron of all prefixes (except NES) was identical to the region. This made it possible to fall to the board and install jumpers for adjusting the region and personnel frequency. In order not to spoil the appearance of the prefixes, I took advantage of the more advanced guides from Wolfsoft and installed the so -called Switchless mod on both consoles. The essence is to install a microcontroller responding to the duration of the Reset button on the console. Thus, the switching of the region and the deployment is carried out by the same button.
This is what a modification looks like
But how everything works. The video recorded himself. Pay attention to the sound!
The result is heaven and earth. A pleasant bonus of this modification is the ability to play all cartridges, any region. JAP, EUR, US, AU – our combine is all on the teeth and no protection will stop it. Some games of the region of the region can inadequately behave in 60hz, but most work like a clock. Having reached the border in 45-50 cartridges, I stopped buying them. Firstly, I’m not a video blogger and not a collector. I already had almost all the games that I was looking for and even more. Secondly, over the past few years, prices have risen to indecent heights, and some rare specimens and during the day with fire cannot be found. So it was decided to stop immediately. About a year nothing else happened. Sometimes I even thought to sell the whole collection, given that the prices of some of my games reached ebay in 175-200 euros. This despite the fact that in 2013 I bought them for $ 25-30. But I could not part with these treasures. =)
Collection in 2016
For this New Year, I made a small gift for myself and ordered Igor Golubovsky (aka krikzz) from my countryman, the Mega Everdrive X5 Cartridge Cartridge. His cartridges have long been known abroad as the best in the market. They are more expensive than Chinese analogues, but they are made very high quality and constantly updated. The firmware can be loaded from the manufacturer’s website and rolled on SD card in a couple of minutes. Such a flash cartridge is essentially completely eliminates the need to buy individual games. I downloaded the archive with all Roman, dragged on a memory card and you can play everything that the soul wishes. You can download not only official games, but also amateur translations of Japanese works, khaki, as well as completely new games.
Krikzz Mega Everdrive X5
“New games? What new games?" – you ask, because the consoles stopped releasing 20 years ago. In 2010, a game called Pier Solar came to Mega Drive and created a small splash. After that, a team of developers took up an even more ambitious project. They decided to make the largest and most colorful Beat-EM-UP, the heir to the deceased Streets of Rage series, which everyone dreamed about so long. The game is called Paprium and should go on cartridges this year. In addition, at least two other games are being prepared: Tanglewood and Xeno Crisis.
Full minced meat
As soon as I thought that I squeezed out the maximum from the old electronics and achieved what I wanted, how a new hype flashed on the horizon. The mass chase of professional video monitors began. “That’s it?" – you ask. While all mortals were sitting at home and watching TV – on television, in the installation studios and in medicine, “professional video monitors” were used to the whole coil. The most famous of them were the Sony PVM and BVM line, deciphered: Professional Video Monitor and Broadcast Video Monitor. They never showed them or advertised them, but there were reasons for that. These monsters have even more advanced kinescopes, more expensive details and are nicknamed in the common people "indestructible". The price of such a monitor varied depending on the model in the framework of $ 2000 and up to 40’000 $ per copy. The video inputs of such a beast were also not standard, mainly used byonets (BNC). Therefore, to connect the consoles, you will need an adapter – Scart to BNC.
Scart to BNC Breakout
After a long search, I was lucky enough to snatch from the archive of one institute Sony PVM-14L2. The monitor was practically not used and looked like new. Yes, only 14 inches, but in my room it is an excellent size. Having rustled the service instruction and setting the geometry for my prefixes, the image quality has reached a new level. I could not imagine that the games of the early 90s could look so good. As if my childhood began to play new colors. Make sure for yourself!
Streets of Rage 2
Contra Hard Corps
Contra Hard Corps
Summing up
In the era of photorealism, retro games and the “pixel art” associated with them, this is not just a relic of the past. This is something more … This is a separate layer of art. Many indie developers return to the origins and focus on pixel graphics, which also knows how to amaze. Take, for example, Hyper Light Drifter, Axiom Verge, Fez or Shovel Knight. You can continue for a long time. It is all the more pleasant to see that even projects of 25 years ago with the right approach can surprise with their graphics and design solutions, carried out regardless of the catastrophically low power of the consoles. It is definitely worth respect.
So what does the ideal set of retro -income enthusiast look like in the end? Let’s make a list:
1.) The original console, with a modification for launching games of all regions.
2.) Качественные SCART/BNC кабели для вывода чистого RGB сигнала.
3.) Sony Trinitron / PVM / BVM Monitor with RGB entrance.
4.) High-quality flash cartridge for downloading games.
5.) Stereo or columns.
6.) For Nintendo Nes, you will first have to install a very expensive Nesrgb modification, since the console does not know how to display RGB.
That’s all, in fact. This peak of retrogying and above is simply nowhere to see. Of course, it would be nice to get more powerful consoles, like Neo GEO, but it will be too expensive. And I do not feel any nostalgic feelings for them. It is better to dwell on what has been achieved and "return to the future". After all, the doors of virtual reality began to break in front of us. This time no longer jokingly, as it was in the 90s-but for real. Oculus Rift and HTC Vive took the first step in this direction and the devil knows what awaits us next.
On this I leave. Thanks for your attention and keep your pixels sharp like a razor. =)
EarthWorm Jim
The best comments
PRubbound TOartillene can take a little time from you. I decided to throw the originals for clarity and they are damn huge!
"This is the peak of retrogying and there is simply nowhere to go above" ""
What kind of peak is it when there are arcade rooms.
Also demolished the tower against the background of mass hysteria regarding video monitors. True, behind the twenty-inch Sony PVM did not have time to keep up with great stupidity (or perhaps, with great happiness, because it was already more than 10 kilo-rubles), so I stopped at the video monitor from the JVC, limited by the presence of only S-Video, since I quickly realized for myself that a significant difference was between RGB and S-VIDEO, which costs a significant overpayment, it is still a matterI do not see. As for the monitor, he is cool, really a very good picture from the old consoles gives out. The picture is slightly disturbed by the slightly disturbed image geometry (the picture seems a little “retracted” deep into the screen), but we must very hard to notice this flaw.
An excellent article, looking at Contra and the streets of rage, launched a nostalgic tear. I still remember some of the problems described here. The author, collected an excellent collection!
I received my segu only in 2011-12 (my acquaintances sent the original from America). Before that, only in childhood he played on the seam of cousins. But almost immediately he was severely broken off that the cables and the Nifiga power adapter did not fit our teliks. I thought I could buy everything at flea markets, but it turned out that not. Having bought several different Chinese remodels (all terribly thoroughly), including one Chinese craft that was in the original Japanese corps (yes I rummaged through a million Internet to find guides how to distinguish the original segus in the corps), I decided to temporarily abandon. Then, in the 13th, I finally got the opportunity to buy for fucking myself and here the heat went: I bought all the necessary cables and a bunch of games in full boxes (game, box, manual), as well as game Gini to play any games without fingering in the console console there. The biggest problem for me was joysticks. The fact is that acquaintances did not rummage in the topic in general and bought a segus with three -button joysticks (I myself went nuts when I saw such, they are very convenient, but you drive such figs in Mortal). In most cases, there is quite a fir in the new joysticks. It was possible to find good only in the "store from the 90s" that in Moscow near the Kolomenskaya station. And damn it there really were good Joeies.
Now, alas, I have no opportunity to play, because I am not in my hometown, but the prefix stayed at home. Therefore, I decided to buy myself an adapter for Joy and new Joeies to play on the Emule of Segi on the computer. I ordered a Mayflash usb adapter for the New Joevs and went bought Joev in that store in Moscow. But this time, something went wrong and the fi adapter, or Joey good ended, but playing is far from so convenient.
In general, this is my story. I really still look at the cartridges to the sege (in particular, I am very looking for a good dune for the sega, because the slag that is selling pirates is constantly playing at double speed like demolish men from the same shown pirates), but the toad always strangles (I want the maximum set, but it is worth it expensive), and it does not replace the pride of the collection of originalBox with beautiful covers.
Here, Mr. Gleb, you got to the very point.
Despite the fact that I live in relative proximity to Japan, you can hardly find such equipment, except to order directly from the country of the rising sun, which looks a little wildly.
I work in the studio, we have 2 verification monitors, sent us from Kazakhstan and they are both SIP. Broken, vague! And each of them really costs $ 3,500
Can be asked on regional television channels. There is probably something lying around … if no one has taken away yet.
Cool, I also examined options from JVC, NEC and BARCO, but they were expensive and battered. But this PVM got it almost for nothing. And how is JVC about service with service menus? Surely the geometry can be corrected a little. Settings usually darkness, you need to sit sort.
In addition to Dendy Junior, there was also a more sophisticated version called Dendy Classic – she had exits to the tulip, maybe you can get hold of this version to complete the collection?)
Thank you.For a great post.Nostalgia.My prefixes.It is a pity that I gave it out.The one where the wolf catches eggs.Tetris.Rimbo.Dandy.Sega.PS1/2/3/ .PSP/Xbox 360/PC/
Eh, I had a branded megarave2, a friendly for a day I pupied for myself. But the Chinese clone was lucky, everything works well, without distortion of the image, without extraneous noise, and reads all cartridges: Palovsky, Enteesian, relatives and non -native. I was lucky with the joysticks, they are my relatives, only with isolen cords are wiped, after all, they are more than twenty years old … "Krikzz Mega Everdrive X5" was very interested in me, this is a cool thing for the old-time gamers.
Damn, seeing so many games from childhood, even smiled. Aladdin, Streets of Rage (the third part of which was called Bare Knuckle), the first Jurassic Park, Road Rash 2 and Demolition Man. Damn how much heat in these memories! I remember how with friends, for some reason they dismantled the cartridge with Light Crusader, and what was the surprise when they saw a battery in it.
I read the article with pleasure and received my portion of nostalgia. Thank you.