Messages

[General Gaming / Re: Your Daily Dose of Gaming.]

I had absolutely nothing to do the other day so I played Neutopia I from start to finish in one sitting. Will probably tackle II here in a few days.

[General Gaming / Re: Your Daily Dose of Gaming.]

Got a Strider 2 PCB for my birthday so I have been jammin' on that. On the PC Engine front I have been working on my Genpei 2 hard mode no death clear. Should be ready soon.

[General Gaming / Re: Your Daily Dose of Gaming.]

I've been playing a lot of Dark Seal and Sengoku Blade lately. Gonna bust out the Duo-R and fire up Dungeon Explorer 2 this weekend.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Obey!!!]

Best costume I've seen in a long time.

[High Score Records / Re: "Legendary Axe" High Scores]

Legendary Axe--No Death--No Leeching--Final Score--948,250

Instead of a pic, here's my vid. You will have to crank up your volume though. I couldn't get a good balance that didn't make the buzzing worse.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: PSone LCD mounted on Tennokoe 2 mod]

That's a really cool mod. I have been meaning to pick up one of those PS1 LCDs for a long time.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / UperGrafx PC Engine 720p DVI Widget]

Just came across this on Twitter and thought I would share. Someone developed a plug in device for 720p PC Engine output. It is completely plug and play and requires no modding. It is currently being demoed at March Rabbit in Akihabara. I have to run and do some errands so I don't have time to translate right now, so I will add more info if necessary when I get home. Here is a link to the article and the developer's Twitter.

akiba-pc.watch.impress.co.jp/news/20160425_754829.html

This is a device that can add a DVI (to-HDMI) output function to the home video game console "PC Engine" released in 1987 without modification. You will be able to play games with higher image quality than the analog AV cable.

https://twitter.com/upergrafx

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: I think I killed my DUO-RX when RGB modding]

I know they have a watch battery inside them. I recall an ancient "repair" thread:

https://www.pcengine-fx.com/forums/index.php?topic=5836.msg101143#msg101143

I should have been clearer. I am talking about the Ten no Koe 2, the thing that clips on the back of the Core Grafx. I remember when I cracked mine open to put an RGB amp in it, there was a chip that looked like the 6260 sitting on the board inside it. I just can't remember what chip it was.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: I think I killed my DUO-RX when RGB modding]

I feel bad about having to sacrifice a Core Grafx system, but I'd rather have my RX back over a system I will never use.

Isn't the 6260 inside the Ten no Koe as well? Unless prices have shifted since I last looked, I think those are cheaper than a Core Grafx.

In closing, I just wanted to say, don't let this experience turn you off from wanting to do mods / repairs. I'm sure everyone has some stories to tell. I finally had my first big fail and killed a Super Famicom. Once you get the hang of it, the feeling of knowing you can do it yourself is really rewarding. So hang in there.

[General Gaming / Re: Your Daily Dose of Gaming.]

I finally got to sit down and play some games after holiday business and being so busy with repairs and building my Super Gun. I have been playing Sonic Wings 2 for the MVS quite a bit. I still can't decide which pilot I want to settle on though. Gotta drop some more credits.

[General Gaming / Re: Your Daily Dose of Gaming.]

It's a Revoltech. They did a line of Buddhist statue figures a few years ago.

http://www.amazon.com/Kaiyodo-Takeya-Revoltech-003-Ashura/dp/B00712Y5FQ

[General Gaming / Re: Your Daily Dose of Gaming.]

This one comes down off the shelf and gets some love at least once a month. Looking at my calendar, it's about that time.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: What PC-Engine Stuff did you get today?]

Must be a bootleg, here's what the real cover art looks like:



...

Just kidding!  Nice pickup!  I think I'd rather have the PCE version myself.

Oh wow. They really did a number on a lot of the cover art didn't they? dude doesn't even look like a proper monk anymore.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: What happened to some of the game prices?]

There is a great video on that page. The narrator, at the very end, mentions "games" as an area of specialty (she lists all the usual stuff, and games are at the end).

I love the employee testimonials! "I work for lunch! The food in the employee cafe is excellent."

I'll have to check out the video later. On the PCB front, BEEP is scheduled to open a physical shop in Akihabara next month. It will be interesting to see how that shakes things up.

***EDIT***

I made a mistake. The BEEP shop isn't just PCBs but everything.

http://www.akihabara-beep.com/

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: What happened to some of the game prices?]

I can add a little to this since I am seeing it happen in real time. Another factor, besides what has been mentioned, is that many players have dropped out. Around 2005, you could get the old console and cart based stuff at many places beyond the specialty stores. Yodobashi Camera, Bic Camera, Sofmap, Book Off, the stuff was everywhere. Moving into the latter part of 2005, everyone seemed to liquidate at the same time. There was absolutely nothing gradual about it. I remember going into Book Off and getting Steam Hearts on the Saturn for 500 yen. A still sealed copy of Samurai Shodown 2 for the Neo fetched the same price from Sofmap. It was crazy. But like I said, they all seemed to do it suddenly, at the same time. Stuff from the PS1 era forward is still available at a lot of those places, but if you find some carts they are thrown together in a bin.

While I am sure the internet is one of the biggest factors, I would like to toss out another theory. I think Mandarake is trying to corner the market. I can't prove it, but I am sure that games in showcases at places like Trader are finding their way to ManD's. I keep seeing too many games with the same condition issues "moving around" to be a coincidence. Oh, and then there is this:

http://www.mandarake.co.jp/company/recruit/em_sahra.html

That was completed, if I remember correctly the end of last year or so. It doesn't specifically mention games, but it says toys, comics, anime, and other collector's items. It wouldn't surprise if they are moving games out of there as well.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: What PC-Engine Stuff did you get today?]

It was actually a couple of days ago but I snatched this one up:

[General Gaming / Re: Any Master System games that either don't suck or don't have cheap difficulty?]

Spellcaster. Probably my favorite game on the system.

[Fighting Street / Re: Pro tips for 10 post noobs who just joined here]

Yooooooo that is kick ass. I'm going to have to archive that.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: ROM AMP for SALE]

tokyotoyfactory is Laurent a known scammer and AES bootlegger avoid at all costs. this guy has two store one ships from France one shipped from japan. same guy

If I'm not mistaken, Tokyo Toy Factory is a guy named Christophe and Laurent's company is called Neo Ayato. There was an old thread on NG.com about it. At one point that piece of shit STV even chimed in asking people to translate the messages into Japanese and warn the shops in Tokyo about him. Of course, that was a little while before STV's mask was pulled off.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: ROM AMP for SALE]

Never, and I mean never buy from someone that lives in Japan but is selling in Euros. They are making an absolute killing buying in Yen, doubling and sometimes even tripling the price, then selling in the stronger Euro.

As for this particular dirt bag, everyone knows who that is right?

[Off-Topic / Re: The Video Game Years]

I can't sit through these anymore. Half the people on the show remind me of these hipster douchebags pretending to be gaming experts who tried doing this shit a few years back:

After clicking that link and viewing roughly 10 seconds of what was contained within, I can say that I am finally able to understand the growing number of people running around the internet hysterically caterwauling about "trigger warnings." HOLY. SHIT. You would have to invent new words to describe that, like "retardiculous" or "digi-smeg." Damn that was bad.

[General Gaming / Re: Your Daily Dose of Gaming.]

Hit the arcade yesterday and finally got to play the arcade version of Ninja Spirit. The music blasting the speakers was sweeeeeet. Today I think I will break out the CoreGrafx and play some Cadash.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: "UGH!!! FFS!!!" moments in your favorite Turbo games...]

Although it is one of my favorite games, the last level of Legendary Axe gets on my nerves. I don't mind the whole labyrinth thing, I hate that every time the screen changes my axe powers down and I have to wait for the damn thing to charge back up. It slows the game down to a crawl. Lately I have been playing it and just charging in without waiting, but in the rooms with those spear guys...It isn't a huge gripe, I just feel like it really harms the flow of the game.

[Off-Topic / Re: What are YOU watching on YouTube.com?]

People are still having fun with the trailers for the new Star Wars movie:

Star Wars: The Binks Awakens

[General Gaming / Re: Your Daily Dose of Gaming.]

Hopped between Mutation Nation (MVS), Midnight Resistance (MD), and Gaiares (MD). I think tomorrow I want to jam out on some Ninja Spirit.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Metal Jesus ruins my faith in humanity]

This is definitely a thing on YouTube and on Podcasts.  You get these shows run by a member of this new generation of kids who are into old games, and they just try too hard to establish credibility. 

Now we're getting somewhere...
Just recently I was searching for a Wizard of Wor video for a 3-D modelling project. For the record, I used to jam on some Wizard of Wor, and it was one of the games I used to play co-op with my dad. So in my search results, a Wor video pops up authored by AVGN's bottom bitch. The first thing he says is something like, "Back in my day WoW meant Wizard of Wor, not World of Warcraft" or some shit like that. If the info on his age is correct, that fool was 1 year old when Wor came out. The frequency with which they changed out arcade machines at the time, meant that when he was finally old enough to go to an arcade and remember the experience, the odds of Wor still being there were almost nil.

Don't get me wrong. If some snot nose comes along, picks up an old copy of Contra and really enjoys it, well that's just fine. What the "come lately's" and the posers need to realize, however, is that their opinions will always be worth less than the opinion of someone who was there. Like music, movies, t.v. shows, and toys, video games are cultural artifacts. They are products of a specific time that encapsulated the trends, fads, and attitudes contained within. I can pick up a CD of Vietnam War era protest music, and maybe even enjoy it. I am, however, unable to enjoy or understand it the same way someone from that era is able to understand it. Their connection will always be by default, much stronger than mine. For me to stomp around grousing about Ho Chi Minh and LBJ would be comically stupid.

Just in case, if anyone is thinking about throwing out the word "elitist" after reading this, I suggest you don't. Elitist is another word that has been ruined by the internet because dummies don't understand what it means. My position is neither elitist nor even exclusionary. To clarify, I am not saying the kiddies can't play. I am saying that they cannot understand these things the way that I do and they shouldn't pretend that they can. 

The people who talk about their torment and how they were ostracized for being nerds for playing video games are probably mostly exaggerating as well. I am not saying it didn't happen, I just don't think it was as widespread or severe as a lot of people say it was. You can see evidence in the news reports and sales figures from the time. Arcades were always packed, the home console and PC gaming market were huge for the time. I was in junior high when Zelda came out, and the person who told me about the hidden rupee island was the quarterback for the football team. I am willing to bet that a good number of these "tormented" cut off and segregated themselves, rather than the other way around.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Metal Jesus ruins my faith in humanity]

There is a reason I don't watch much video game stuff...I am far too finicky about video games.

I don't watch too much video game stuff because I am around the same age as most of those guys, and there is very little they can tell me that I don't already know. Game Sack's regional differences episode is an exception. The Genesis Batman shadows had me all like 

I would like to ask some YouTube questions if anyone can help me out. I am only subscribed to maybe 15 channels. However, a lot of times new videos won't make it into my feed. Also, I will look at someone I am subbed to, and it will say 10 new videos, but none of them are new. Is YT just slow, broken, or is it something I am doing? I don't always log in when I watch stuff, but even when I do, logging in later will lead to the same results. It constantly says that old videos are new. Any ideas?

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Metal Jesus ruins my faith in humanity]

There are two phenomena associated with the internet that have always baffled me. One, is the sheer number of people willing to work for free. I'm not talking about labor of love kind of stuff. I am talking about people who will put insane amounts of time and effort into a project so someone else can get rich. For an example, many bloggers and wikipedia drones.

The second, is what we see unfolding here with Aluminum Jeebus. That is, there are scores of people from all economic levels who simply enjoy giving away money, even when it is obvious the person they are giving it to doesn't really "need it." It took the internet to make me realize we live in a world where a guy can ask people to pay for his month long party, and people would actually want to do that. It really is truly fascinating.

[General Gaming / Re: Your Daily Dose of Gaming.]

I felt guilty for ignoring the Duo R as of late, so I fired it up and played some Valis IV. I need to hurry up and grab Rondo. Some YouTube hoarders must have been talking about it because the price shot up about thirty bucks. 

[Off-Topic / Re: What are YOU watching on YouTube.com?]

I expected more crying in the comments.

"Every YouTube Gamer Ever"

[General Gaming / Re: Worst video game mispronunciations/bungles you've ever heard]

My friend came back from the mall one day and started telling me about this cool game he played at the arcade called Alerted Beast.

[General Gaming / Re: Your Daily Dose of Gaming.]

And I saved that picture...not in the fap folder...

Stop lyin.'

Anyway I have been playing Gaiares on the MegaDrive and some Dungeon Explorer on the PC Engine. Thinking about firing up the MVS tomorrow night for some 8 Man and Ninja Commando.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Metal Jesus ruins my faith in humanity]

As much as I rag on unboxing and pickup videos, in all honestly, I don't really have much of a problem with them. If people want to show off their crap, do it. When I get irritated is when people take a "look at all my shit" video and disguise it as an information / commentary video. Someone standing with a big pile of expensive crap and spitting a bunch of uninformed nonsense is usually a dead giveaway.

It's only a matter of time before most of these guys run out of things to talk about. There are only so many times the same Wikipedia level factoids about release dates and shit like that can be repackaged and re-uploaded before people realize they are watching different people say the same things. Hidden gems? Nothing is hidden anymore and it's been that way for a long time.

I want to make it clear that although metal guy is the topic of the thread, I am just talking about YT Gaming in general here.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Metal Jesus ruins my faith in humanity]

Yeah Operation Logic Bomb was one of my earlier videos.  Fun game though.  I had never heard of it when I bought it, but it's definitely a keeper.  Thanks for watching.

I usually don't pay attention to people's sigs, so I didn't know that was your channel either. Let's give it a quick once over.

No pickups videos.
No "Yo! Look at all my shit!" videos.
No Loot Box or Crap Box or whatever it is called unboxings.
No thumbnails of you making a goofy face for no reason at all.
No "Let's Play" videos of you screaming like a little girl at screen savers like Five Nights at Freddy Got Fingered.
No Mine Craft videos.
You actually talk about the games, instead of using the games to trick people into watching your videos and then only talking about yourself.

Talk about doing it completely fucking wrong. Now you know why you are only clocking $9.40.     (Will sub later O:))

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: Duo: Please Set Disc]

Okay. I should have been clearer about exactly what I did in my post. Sorry about that.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: Duo: Please Set Disc]

on a DUO never move the laser by hand
this will damage the gears

Really? I didn't know that. What I did was I oiled the gears and greased the rails. Then I slowly turned the big gear until the assembly was all the way to the right. Can that cause damage as well?

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: Duo: Please Set Disc]

I don't know if you have tried this yet or not, but try moving your laser assembly all the way to the right, then try to load a game. After I installed my RGB amp, I got the set disc error and this worked for me. If your laser assembly is stuck or frozen well, that's a different story.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Metal Jesus ruins my faith in humanity]

John Hancock?  The dude markets a DVD set that you can buy that basically just shows off his collection.  It's some kind of "how to collect for..."

A lot of these jokers have some kind of "How to collect for X system" videos and frankly, I find it absolutely baffling. Not simply that someone would make such a video, but that others would actually watch it. What could possibly need to be explained? "Uhhhhh, so like, that system you want. Yeah, first you buy that, then you buy the games." I don't get it.

As for Luke Morse, well, that's a whole other wad of WTF. The guy will drop stupid amounts of money on PCBs, games, systems, and then he goes at them with a shitty, corroded $20 soldering iron. I used to watch his videos when I first got into modding about a year ago, but I knew immediately there were better examples to follow. If you search for his "final video" on YouTube, someone else re-upped it with a lulzy description.

[Off-Topic / Re: That Tobias f--k went after Xak III and SO II as pressed CD-ROM releases!]

Wait, so the guy doing those PCE pressings is Fudoh? Or is he just running ads for the guy doing the pressings on his site?

[General Gaming / Re: Your Daily Dose of Gaming.]

Been on a bit of an MVS kick lately. Mostly continuing to duke it out in Crossed Swords. Next month I will probably finally pick up Rondo, so the other stuff will definitely get put away for some time.

[Buy/Sell/Trade / Re: WTB Little Samson]

I will, of course, many here will, but we aren't the ones making deals like these:

http://m.ebay.com.au/itm/331424224478?_mwBanner=1&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649#

The number of Euros camped out here selling stuff on E-Bay is insane. More seem to be popping up all the time. By "here" I mean here in Japan, not the forums.

[Off-Topic / Re: Game capture and the variable frame rate abyss. Any video experts here?]

So here's a little update. I spent a number of hours messing around with various codecs and programs. I managed to get some fairly decent results. I still kept having various hangups with the conversion of a file from variable frame rate to constant frame rate. Mostly, I had trouble finding settings that would preserve transparency effects. I kept getting results where the flickering sprite would be solid for a little bit, then turn completely solid, then disappear altogether. Since I am still in the "just messing around" stage, a high powered capture card like the SC-512-N1 isn't on the menu yet. A card like that would necessitate a raft of upgrades that I don't want to deal with right now either.

I noticed that the new ElGato HD60 records in constant frame rate. I have one of the old Live Gamer Portables from Avermedia that I used to mess around with, which is okay. The PC free recording mode was kind of cool. The software is kind of crappy though. I had an Amazon gift card laying around so I went ahead and grabbed the HD60.

First, it does indeed record constant frame rate, which meant I no longer have any audio de-sync issues with Light Works. At first I was surprised that the files didn't seem to be too much larger, but the way the ElGato software handles the bitrate is different than the other software I was using.

So I wanted to make a test clip to see how well the transparencies are preserved. In the source clip, there is only one instance where the sprite of the old man flashes a little brightly, but other than that, the effect is preserved perfectly. After being rendered in Light Works and uploaded to YouTube however, things got a little messy. You can see what I am talking about during the cut scene. Be sure to watch in 60fps if you are on Chrome.

As you can see, there is quite a bit of flashing and drop out going on there. I haven't really done any tweaking of Light Works settings, so I am going to look at that next.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: PCE Audio Amplification]

Buffering, I would assume.

I see. I was curious about that because I saw someone on another forum say they amped their audio "with a cap", so I thought that might have been what he was talking about. Before I built that RGB amp, I asked The Steve if those caps on the audio lines were necessary and he said no. So I never bothered finding out their purpose. I am going to e-mail the blog owner who made that circuit later and ask him some questions about it. The blog post was made mid 2014 so hopefully he is still around. Thank you for your input.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: PCE Audio Amplification]

Can anyone read Japanese well enough to understand what the point of this modification is?

I can. The audio amp was part of an RGB mod installation into a Ten no Koe 2. You can see the whole thing here: http://fc2canned.blog54.fc2.com/blog-entry-1031.html

As for the audio amp itself, he says that he installed it because the PC Engine audio output is extremely low. He only gives details about a few parts of it. He ran a 10uf cap between 1 and 8 to increase voltage output. The 10uf cap on the #7 bypass reduces noise. If the 220uf, 47uf, and 0.1uf caps aren't placed on the voltage line, the shortage in electricity will cause picture distortions. Beneath that he states that while the capacitor placement can cause changes to the sound, the placement he has in the schematic produces low noise and good sound detail.

As far as my reasons for asking about audio amplification, they have to do with my capture, compression, and editing experiments. I wanted to know if anyone had any experience amplifying the audio, and what their results were. That being said, I would like to restate one of my initial questions if anyone knows the answer. In the old RGB amp schematic, it shows each of the audio lines running through a capacitor. What was the purpose of those?

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: PCE Audio Amplification]

Yeah, you can build that circuit, or you can just turn up your stereo. I prefer the later method since it works perfectly for every system.

Really? Turn up my stereo you say? Works for every system you say? Well, my reasons for asking go beyond just volume.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / PCE Audio Amplification]

I did a search of threads here and found a little info, but not exactly what I was looking for. I knew the audio from the PCE was a little weak, but I had no idea how weak until I looked at the wave forms in a video editor. For my original RGB mod, I used the old schematic from the Japanese "All About PC Engine" book. On the schematic, it shows both audio lines going through a capacitor. Will that help boost the audio, because I left that off. Also, I was rummaging around on some Japanese blogs and found a guy that made an audio amp that you can see here:

http://fc2canned.blog54.fc2.com/blog-entry-1031.html


Two of those would have to be made, one for each line. Would something like that be good? Just to clear up any possible confusion, I am not talking about low audio due to bad capacitors.

[Fighting Street / Re: DickfaceTAS, to be continued here....]

After reading this thread I guess I can add this guy to the list of people that flame out, in most spectacular fashion, everywhere they post. It doesn't matter if months, even years pass. If they show up somewhere and start posting, it's crash and burn. A few months ago, one such individual showed up on the Neo-Geo forums and did not fail to disappoint. But such is the burden of the "Japanese High Collector."

[Off-Topic / Re: Game Sack]

Kether. Fucking Kether. Yes, many years ago one of my co-workers was getting rid of his CD-i so I bought it off him. I think I paid about a hundred bucks or so. The only game he had with it was some golf game, so I went to the local electronics store to check out the wares. I picked up Kether thinking it was a shooter. I mean, the damn ship has guns all over it. But no, no shooting. After I played Burn Cycle, I pawned that twenty pound P.O.S. onto someone else. Goddamn CD-i.

[General Gaming / Re: Your Daily Dose of Gaming.]

Hopping between Valis III on the Duo R, Super Shinobi on the Mega Drive, and Crossed Swords on the MVS.

[Off-Topic / Re: Show us your pussy!]

In a perfect world. . .

Is that a forum member or something? Guess I haven't been around long enough to get the reference.