Emulation central - recommendations in 1st post

[Clockwork Knight]

Any idea how to make GBA games don't look/sound like utter shit? I've never touch original hardware so dunno if that horrible, messy colour palette and awfully compressed sound are native or just connected with emulation issues. I used Visual Boy Advance emulator.

It wasn't horrible at all, most GB/GBA games look amazing for the hardware.

http://emulation.gametechwiki.com/index.php/Game_Boy/Game_Boy_Color_emulators#Oversaturation

http://emulation.gametechwiki.com/index.php/Game_Boy_Advance_emulators#Oversaturation

fake edit:

https://warosu.org/vr/thread/1840573

(edit: "real colors" is a slightly misleading name, it means the colors the emulator normally puts out on the screen, "gameboy colors" is the emulator trying to...emulate what a real gameboy would look like)

 

[aweigh]

wait, so what does one do to get the good color scheme? what emu do I use for GBC games?

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Gambatte is the most accurate one for GB/GBC as far as I know, but VBA will do nicely as long as you fiddle with the graphics settings a little. The wiki links provide detailed instructions. (i.e., go to Options and turn desaturation off)

 

[deuxhero]

chances are that many of these ROMs will reappear in their overpriced virtual market at some point.

Which hasn't been even introduced for their most recent platform, Switch (I mean their Virtual Console service), and Nintendo Switch Online subscription is going to give you only NES games at this point... There are also NES mini and SNES mini retro consoles, but I'm not sure if they can run games other than those they're supplied with. Sad, there were quite a few good old games for ps1 and ps2 and snes I wanted to play (and EmuParadise was such a convenient place to get those), fortunately there are other sites that continue to provide downloads for them. Probably should already start (should have started, long time ago) collecting roms and isos of older games for myself before it's too late.

I've read the SNES mini emulation, besides the games it comes bundled with, is hit or miss.

People could grab a fullset for 16bit era consoles, SNES one is around 3gb, not much if you consider games these days are 30gb+.

2.94 GB, including bios, unlicensed games and a few prototypes. That's not even giving it a meta-zip.

 

[aweigh]

3gb? You couldn't even fit Noctis' hair-do inside 3gb's!

 

[Tito Anic]

Aaand IsoZone is gone, no download links.

Emuparadise is gone too - Copyright Mafia is taking over.

 

[Walden]

Aaand IsoZone is gone, no download links.

Emuparadise is gone too - Copyright Mafia is taking over.

Nintendo, you mean.

 

[oddech_wymarlych_swiatow]

Damn, Isozone had unique collection of original Xbox homebrew stuff, they removed even that?!

 

[Don Peste]

Damn, Isozone had unique collection of original Xbox homebrew stuff, they removed even that?!

Try here:

thanks to TigerKnee for informing that isozone database was moved to retrozone.co

 

[Rahdulan]

Like someone said this is a far problem bigger problem for future archival more than just "I can't pirate my old games anymore". If there was ever a time to get a 1TB external HDD and store them games you care about from torrents out there it's now. At least until you get to PS2 and upwards.

 

[Don Peste]

At least until you get to PS2 and upwards.

It's dangerous to go alone. Take these:
https://daddarulekonge.itch.io/the-playstation-2-encyclopedia-book
https://daddarulekonge.itch.io/

 

[pakoito]

Breh that link was gold. Thanks!

 

[Dreed]

Damn, Isozone had unique collection of original Xbox homebrew stuff, they removed even that?!

Try here:

thanks to TigerKnee for informing that isozone database was moved to retrozone.co

And Retrozone is now dead too

 

[Rahdulan]

Is there still any PS2 dump torrent alive out there? There's no way I'm downloading individual games when we're talking hundreds of titles.

 

[aweigh]

thank gawd i downloaded all the wizardry roms/isos i wanted off retrozone before they too went down.

EDIT: Rahdulan i dunno about an 'archive' but i was downloading PS2 iso's a few days ago off c o o l r o m s no problem. for PSP, NDS, 3DS and PS1 and PS2 you should also try p o r t a l r o m s, they have a smaller selection of stuff for each system but all the stuff they do have is hosted on t o r r e n t s instead of being direct downloads.

 

[lightbane]

And Retrozone is now dead too

Damn, Nintendo is working overtime to kill the emulation sector.
Not that they'll re-sell a fraction of those ROMs anyway, if at all.

Is there still any PS2 dump torrent alive out there? There's no way I'm downloading individual games when we're talking hundreds of titles.

I hope so, I won't have time to start saving up stuff before Friday.

 

[Tse Tse Fly]

And I purchased an external HDD for storing roms just two days ago... With retrozone though, it looks more like a temporary shutdown. Is there any news about what has happened?

Not that they'll re-sell a fraction of those ROMs anyway, if at all.

This is a point I've been struggling to understand myself lately... If they don't port old games for their most recent platforms, it may well be that there just isn't high demand for these games nowadays, like they aren't going to make huge profits off these games and it doesn't seem like they care about it much. If so, why wouldn't they just leave us emulator enthusiasts alone?

OR maybe they just want to make extra money from selling their retro-consoles (NES mini etc) and think emulators pose danger to their business, only then it makes some sense to me.

 

[Tse Tse Fly]

LEMME EDIT THAT POST-

They want to show that they really care about retrogaming, but it's not true. What they are doing is outright vandalism, they deliberately cripple our ability to experience good old games and don't do anything to equally compensate for it.

 

[Great Deceiver]

I think it's overreacting to think that these databases will be lost in time indefinitely. They can just be moved from server to server, the hardest step has already been accomplished (archival), if one particular site drops or is taken down something else will just crop up awhile later, indefinitely.

Don't buy into this doomsday shit. However, emuparadise was very convenient (mainly because speeds were very quick), not gonna lie.

 

[aweigh]

of course these type of sites won't go away, but it is problematic for the niche-within-a-niche ones like tokugawa forums (they're not a rom site but rather a specialty forum concerning rare japanese products in which SOMETIMES roms float around) can or may become scared enough to go down or lock out discussion/trade.

 

[Great Deceiver]

thank gawd i downloaded all the wizardry roms/isos i wanted off retrozone before they too went down.

EDIT: Rahdulan i dunno about an 'archive' but i was downloading PS2 iso's a few days ago off c o o l r o m s no problem. for PSP, NDS, 3DS and PS1 and PS2 you should also try p o r t a l r o m s, they have a smaller selection of stuff for each system but all the stuff they do have is hosted on t o r r e n t s instead of being direct downloads.

r o m h u s t l e r is worth a try too

 

[aweigh]

Oh, that seems a good site. Sadly they don't have windows PC native games.

 

[Great Deceiver]

Played some Keio Flying Squadron today. It's a pretty cool Mega CD shmup that reminded me of Parodious somewhat. Nice bright sprites and fun music, controls well and is quite hard too.

Also played some GB Donkey Kong, which I didn't realize is actually a very good puzzle game and a precursor to the (weaker) Mario vs. Donkey Kong series on GBA/DS/etc.

 

[DJOGamer PT]

Well Portal Roms is not super extensive in it's database but I've been doing alright with it.

 

[lightbane]

Don't buy into this doomsday shit. However, emuparadise was very convenient (mainly because speeds were very quick), not gonna lie.

I think it also has to do with the fact that Nintendo destroyed a veteran webpage with tons of content (Emuparadise), then immediately followed with many, many others in the following days in an obvious shock tactics display, which is quite effective to cause fear.