T w e n t y S i d e d
This will probably be a short update. I’ve done some re-configuring and reassessing of goals. Plus, my WiiU SD card spontaneously de-formatted itself (surely the fact that I was non-stop transferring Wii games 25GB at a time for three days straight had NOTHING to do with it). I had all my 8-16bit games on the SD card, so at this very moment I’m working on re-doing those systems through RetroArch for WiiU, which will hopefully allow me to transfer all the ROMS to the hard drive instead of keeping them on the SD Card. You guys should have the answer by the time I get to the end of this week’s article.
Things I was previously waiting for:
1) The Sony Composite AV breakout cable. Got the second one I ordered; and despite being wired incorrectly, it worked. This led to discovering my Sega Saturn won’t spin up discs. I could have tested this at any point without it hooked up to a TV, but that’s just not how my brain works. However, what doubly sucks is that I ran across an old AV-HDMI adapter last week and tested it out with the Saturn. Video worked, but not audio…so I could have tried a disc THEN, too. But I didn’t. However, I then made THIS discovery:
This is the Fenrir Duo Optical Drive Emulator. You pull out your Saturn’s CD-drive and put this in its place. It is specifically designed for it. Plugs right in. Put a 256GB SD card in the slot, load every Saturn Game you own (the disc image) onto it, and you’re golden.
So…we know what we’ll be doing with the Saturn. Although, on that note, I would like to share that I got several Saturn disc images to work on the BizHawk emulator package. I don’t know a lot about BizHawk, but I gather it’s actually being designed as an alternative to RetroArch…that is, it’s a front end for emulators. However, just the basic package loads Saturn games, so far, with no problems. I may look into it some more in the future.
2) I also received the Component TV adapter for the PSP 3000. It works fine, and as I have previously stated, PSP games play natively in HD, so the visuals are on par with the first generation of full HD consoles. After some research, it looks like getting full TV playability will require either a PSP GO or a PlayStation TV, which is a VITA designed for connecting to a TV with HDMI, and pairing to a DualShock controller. I’m watching a few auctions on eBay to get a feel for pricing.
Except for 8-16bit systems, console emulation has pretty much broken along the lines of “the best console to play a single manufacturer’s titles. That is, play Nintendo games on a Nintendo console (the WiiU in our case) and Sony games on the PS3, etc. Sega throws a wrench in that; as, while 8 and 16 bit titles can be run on the Dreamcast, easily…you still can’t do Saturn emulation. And as far as I can tell, there is NO support for running 8 and 16 bit emulators on the Saturn. I don’t really care that much about Dreamcast games themselves, I already mentioned that almost all worthwhile Dreamcast games eventually received a release on other systems. There *is* an optical drive emulator mod for the Dreamcast, much like the Saturn, but considering it would be limited to the SMS, Genesis, and Game Gear; and other random older systems, I don’t see that as a solution as much as a “fun experiment.” So Sega is still stuck on other systems. Xbox, as I’ve discussed a couple of times, really only does digital releases of Xbox and 360 games, and not all of them have been made available (and if they aren’t by now, it’s unlikely they ever will be released.) So Xbox remains its own ecosystem. Except, intriguingly, I’ve heard and read enough about doing emulation on a Series S to make me want to give it a try. I *have* heard that Microsoft has locked it down quite a bit, and it takes a quite a bit of work, but the challenge might be fun.
Updating everyone on how the RetroArch WiiU install goes will have to wait until next week, because I still have college stuff and carpet cleaning waiting. But, to tide everyone over, here’s the current plans for where I’m going to get started on game-playing completionism. This should give everyone plenty to talk about. Note that unless the Edition/System is blank, I already own the game and version listed:
Final Fantasy 1: Origins PS1
Final Fantasy 2: Anniversary Edition PSP
Final Fantasy 3: PSP
Final Fantasy 4: Advance GBA, 3D DS, FF II NA SNES
Final Fantasy 5: Advance GBA
Final Fantasy 6: Final Fantasy III NA SNES
Final Fantasy 7: PS1
Final Fantasy 8: PS1
Final Fantasy 9: PS1
Final Fantasy 10: Remaster PS3
Final Fantasy 10-2: Remaster PS3
Final Fantasy 12: PS2
Final Fantasy 13: PS3
Final Fantasy 13-2: PS3
Final Fantasy Lightning Returns: PS3
Final Fantasy 15: PS4
Final Fantasy 16:
Dragon Quest 1: SNES
Dragon Quest 2: SNES
Dragon Quest 3: SNES
Dragon Quest 4: NDS
Dragon Quest 5: NDS
Dragon Quest 6: NDS
Dragon Quest 7: PS1
Dragon Quest 8: PS2
Dragon Quest 9: NDS
Metal Gear: HD Collection PS3
Metal Gear 2: HD Collection PS3
Metal Gear Solid 1: Twin Snakes GC
Metal Gear Solid 2 Sons of Liberty: HD Collection PS3
Metal Gear Solid 3 Snake Eater: HD Collection PS3
Metal Gear Solid 3-2 Peace Walker: HD Collection PS3
Metal Gear Solid 3-2-2 Rising Reveangence: PS3
Metal Gear Solid 4 Guns of the Patriots: PS3
Metal Gear Solid 5 Ground Zeroes: PS3
Metal Gear Solid 5 The Phantom Pain: PS3
The Legend of Zelda – Collector’s Edition Gamecube
The Legend of Zelda: The Adventure of Link – Collector’s Edition Gamecube
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past – SNES original
The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening – Switch remake
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time – Collector’s Edition Gamecube
The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask – Collector’s Edition Gamecube
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages/Seasons – Gameboy Color
The Legend of Zelda: The Windwaker – WWHD WiiU/Gamecube
The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap – GBA
The Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess – TPHD WiiU/Gamecube
The Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass – DS
The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks – DS
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword – Wii
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds – 3DS only
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – Switch/WiiU
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom –
See you next week!
Blistering Stupidity of Fallout 3
Yeah, this game is a classic. But the story is idiotic, incoherent, thematically confused, and patronizing.
The Best of 2015
My picks for what was important, awesome, or worth talking about in 2015.
I Was Wrong About Borderlands 3
I really thought one thing, but then something else. There's a bunch more to it, but you'll have to read the article.
Batman v. Superman Wasn't All Bad
It's not a good movie, but it was made with good intentions and if you look closely you can find a few interesting ideas.
Netscape 1997
What did web browsers look like 20 years ago, and what kind of crazy features did they have?
I am intrigued to see support for Final Fantasy 13-2-and-3, and no support for Final Fantasy 7 Dirge of Cerberus or Crisis Core.
That’s on me. FFVII isn’t my favorite generation of Final Fantasy, and I forgot to put them on the list. They are available, and I’ll be adding them by the time I get to the Final Fantasy VII timeline.
I have a PlayStation TV I can send you.
From Denmark, mind; but air mailing a letter can’t be that expensive or time consuming.
Just checked. Shipping is 96DKK/14 kr as an untracked letter; triple that as a parcel.
If that’s at all interesting, shoot me an email and we’ll figure out something.
Email sent! Hope we can do something!
I think I mentioned this in the previous post, but really the only thing you need to do to get emulation running on the Series S/X these days is to pay to put your console in developer mode, and it’s a one-time payment of $20, so it’s not really much of a challenge. Microsoft has only really locked down emulation in retail mode (surely due to pressure from the likes of Nintendo and Sony). You still don’t need to mod your console in any way to use emulators, though, which is certainly a positive.
Question: is there a particular reason why are you going with Final Fantasy VI’s SNES version rather than the GBA, which is more complete? Also on the same vein, for FFIV you might wanna get the “Complete Collection” for the PSP, since it has a couple of sequels to it included.
Also somewhat related, are you planning on touching the non-mainline games? I mean stuff like Final Fantasy Christal Chronicles or Hyrule Warriors. I’d understand not getting into spinoffs if you only care about a particular gameplay style, but I’m curious.
Final Fantasy VI: the sound. GBA version had the complete script, but worse sound. The pixel master version has the retouched script and the original sound, but I really don’t like the sprite design used for the pixel master games. All three versions, therefore, have about equal pros and cons, but I have to give sound the priority. The soundtrack to VI was one of the best of all Final Fantasy game…the opening theme is the only Final Fantasy music I know of other than “chocobo racing” that is a meme.
I do intend to play Final Fantasy IV Complete Edition on PSP; that’s the main motivation for getting a TV- and controller-capable PSP. I literally forgot to edit the list to make that clear. When I made the list, I was still working under the assumption that the Complete Edition wouldn’t be accessible, since it didn’t work in emulation.
Some spinoffs and sequels haven’t made the list yet. Syal pointed out that I hadn’t included some FFVII games, as well. Some of these are because I forgot about them, some because I hadn’t actually considered them, and some (like the FFVII games) because I’m genuinely not much of a fan. A lot of the games listed here are speculative. For instance…I have NEVER played a Metal Gear game. Ever. None of them. That’s going to be a new experience for me.
Ah. I honestly didn’t remember the soundtrack thing, though, in case you don’t know, there’s at least one rom hack that replaces the sound of the GBA version with the SNES one, which would theoretically give you the better experience (you can see the comparisons here between the SNES, original GBA and patched GBA versions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-aQB_IYEE8).
Also, you might wanna include Metal Gear: Ghost Babel in that list. It’s for the Gameboy Color and it’s technically not canon, but it’s still a very good entry in the series. Don’t know about the Metal Gear Ac!d games for the PSP, as I’ve never played them.