If you want high quality input from classic consoles to a modern flat screen TV, you need to use an HDMI converter like the X-RGB Mini Framemeister. This converter will take high quality RGB or Component video signals and convert them to HDMI-compatible 720p or 1080p with excellent results and minimal lag. I played with a Framemeister some months ago, and wrote up my impressions of the device here : http://nerdlypleasures.blogspot.com/2015/05/fun-with-framemeister.html Unfortunately, some classic consoles have difficulty displaying high quality video signals due to their lack of high quality video outputs. Some enterprising individuals have made mod boards that will directly convert the video to HDMI with less lag than a Framemeister, more features and more reliable results. Here are the projects that, as of the date of this writing, actually have been released in some form to the public.
NES - HiDef NES Mod & the AVS
The NES is one of the most important of the post-crash consoles and one of the few without a native RGB solution. There has been a NESRGB mod board released for two years now, which works wonders with a Framemeister. Before that people harvested 2C03 chips from Playchoice-10 PCBs and made do with the differences in the color palette, compatibility issues with color emphasis and sometimes video jailbars.
Kevtris' HiDefNES mod has already been mentioned in this blog, and it adds a whole host of features over the NESRGB + Framemeister solution. I lay them out in detail here : http://nerdlypleasures.blogspot.com/2015/07/analogue-nt-nes-as-luxury-retro-console.html
It is the board found in the Analogue Nt HDMI version and has been sold in pre-modded systems on ebay and on the http://www.game-tech.us/ website. The kit will be available for purchase so you can attempt to mod it yourself. However, it requires desoldering both the CPU and PPU without destroying either chip or the PCB, so it is not a beginner mod. Virtually all the compatibility issues with the HiDefNES mod and certain MMC5 games and the EverDrive N8 have been eliminated through a firmware update, so now is the time to consider taking the plunge.
The only obvious issue is that its FDS audio emulation is less than perfect. The mod will not work in an original Famicom, a Famicom Twin or an AV Famicom with laser-marked CPU and PPU chips.
The basic principle of how the HiDefNES obtains the color values of each background and sprite pixel is the same as used in the NESRGB. See here for my explanation : http://nerdlypleasures.blogspot.com/2015/06/nes-hardware-explained.html
There is now a 2600RGB board for the Atari 2600. The 2600RGB board uses similar principles to discover the colors of 2600 pixels as the NESRGB board does for NES pixels. Theoretically, it is quite possible for someone to develop an HDMI mod for the 2600.
bunnyboy, who runs the RetroUSB site, has displayed his AVS replica console at the 2015 Portland Retro Gaming Expo. His AVS has a 72-pin and a 60-pin connector for NES and Famicom games, and is designed as a front loader for the former and a top loader for the latter. It uses a completely new board and an FPGA chip to provide hardware emulation for the NES. It only outputs HDMI video and has separate power and reset buttons in the shape of NES front loader buttons. It has built in four NES controller ports that can be set to function as a NES Four Score or Famicom 4-player adapter. It also has a 15-pin Famicom expansion port for Famicom peripherals.
Because the console only supports HDMI output, it will not work with any Zapper or compatible Light Gun device and it will not work with the Famicom 3-D Glasses. The FPGA inside the console does not emulate any cartridge hardware or expansion audio. Expansion audio from Famicom cartridges is digitized and then mixed with the internal audio. However, because the AVS uses an FPGA, it can load updated firmware to fix any compatibility issues. Reports from the Portland Retro Gaming Expo were very positive, one person said the system ran Micro Machines correctly, which is a hard game to get right. bunnyboy is also designing wireless RF controller without lag to go with the console via an controller port adapter.
The console can only be powered through its USB port. The console has a scoreboard reporting function via the USB port, it will save high scores for certain known games and report them to NintendoAge. The idea is that you play a supported game, the high score is saved and then you plug in the system to your PC and it send the score to NintendoAge. The AVS only supports 720p while the HiDefNES can do either 720p or 1080p. The AVS is not for sale at the moment, but bunnyboy is aiming for a just under $200 price point. The best place for updates seems to be here : http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=7&threadid=92557
N64 - Ultra HDMI
No N64 natively outputs RGB, but some early consoles can be modded with a simple amplifier board. Most consoles, however, have a video encoder chip that only outputs composite and s-video. These consoles require the N64RGB board. This board acts like a custom DAC, taking the digital signals from the N64 and turning them into analog RGB video. This will make it truly Framemeister worthy, although the s-video output from the N64 is pretty good compared to composite video. PAL N64s need a special cable to boost the S-Video signal from the console, NTSC N64s can use standard Nintendo or 3rd Party cables.
Today, if you want to bypass the Framemeister option, you can have an UltraHDMI board installed in your system. It works with NTSC and PAL framerates (up to 1080p for both) and not unlike the HiDefNES it comes with filters. The Ultra HDMI filters can simulate a CRT TV. Without the filters the lag is truly negligible, with them there is about a frame of lag. It supports all standard digital SD and HD resolutions, as shown here : http://ultrahdmi.retroactive.be/
The mod is very involved because you have to solder a flexible mylar-like ribbon cable to the finely spaced pins of the surface mounted graphics chip, the Reality Co-Processor (RCP). The RCP sends out 7-bit digital RGB values along with sync information. This allows for direct digital to digital conversion to the 8-bit RGB values HDMI supports without quality loss. The kit uses a mini-HDMI cable and only needs a small hole cut into the back of the N64. Because the mod is very tricky and not for the beginner, the board and kit is being sold only experienced mod kit installers. If you want your N64 modded with the Ultra HDMI, you need to send it to someone. This site is authorized to perform the mod : http://www.badassconsoles.com/ultrahdmi/
Game Boy - hdmyboy
In one sense, it is not too difficult to obtain a good quality HDMI image from a Gameboy. You use a Super Gameboy or a Super Gameboy 2 (for accurate speed) on a SNES that supports RGB and send the video and audio through a Framemeister. Alternatively, you can use a Game Boy Player and a Gamecube with the component video cables through the Framemeister, but that requires running custom software to make the Game Boy Player output at a true 240p speed.
Some time ago, there was a Kickstarter for a product called the hdmyboy. The campaign is archived here : https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/507669971/hdmyboy-a-full-hd-power-up-for-your-game-boy-class
This is a fully assembled kit that you insert between the two halves of a DMG-01 Game Boy. It adds half an inch or so to the height of the console when laid flat. It has an HDMI cable port and can support 720p or (preferred) 1080p.
Unlike the NES and N64 mods, this mod is easy to install. It requires no soldering. All you have to do is unscrew the shell, remove the ribbon cable that attaches the LCD PCB to the CPU PCB and insert that ribbon cable into the hdmyboy. The hdmyboy comes with a NES controller attached internally so you can control your Game Boy. It essentially becomes a consolized Game Boy at this point.
The Game Boy's LCD can only support four shades of one color, its video signal is fundamentally 2-bit digital monochrome signal with sync information. This information, along with mono audio, is available through the ribbon cable. The hdmyboy converts the digital video and the analog audio and sends it through the HDMI cable to the TV. The hdmyboy only supports mono audio because only a mono audio signal is necessary for the single speaker connected to the LCD PCB.
Unfortunately the Kickstarter campaign was not successful. However, the hdmyboy team still has some prototypes left here : http://www.hdmyboy.com/play/. They are very expensive however, (a bit too expensive for what it does) but should represent the best solution to obtain true Game Boy output without using an emulator. If they try another Kickstarter campaign again, then hopefully more people would be willing to contribute and get the price of this fine idea down.
Given a 1080p display, the hdmyboy can by default do 7x nearest neighbor scaling to give razor sharp graphics at the Game Boy's original aspect ratio. It can also do 12:7 scaling to give razor sharp widescreen graphics and occupy almost the whole screen if you prefer. Like the Super Game Boy it has 32 color palettes available to colorize the graphics. While the Game Boy's sprite and background tiles have 10 valid palette selections to choose from, the Super Game Boy (unless the game is enhanced) and hdmyboy only apply colors based on the actual color value of the outputted pixel.
Showing posts with label Game Counting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Game Counting. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 11, 2015
Sunday, December 28, 2014
Atari 2600 - Just How Many Games?
The Atari 2600 was the most successful of all the pre-crash consoles, but unfortunately its game library is somewhat inflated. The 2600, even though it games were sold for it in North America from 1977-1990, , had far fewer games than the NES, with games available from 1985-1995. However, the number of unique NES games available in North America, licensed and unlicensed, reached 750. Unique for the NES means no cartridge label variations, re-releases prototypes, contest only-games or multi-cartridges where single carts exist. Atari 2600 games only approached 400, but often numbers of 600-700 games are quoted in places around the internet.
Atari itself bears much of the blame here. It marketed its console as the Atari Video Computer System (VCS) and later as the Atari 2600. In Sears' department stores the console was called the Sears Video Arcade, and while the label covering the switches may have been different, underneath they were exactly the same system as the Atari-branded system being sold in non-Sears stores.
Similarly, Atari allowed Sears to sell Atari's cartridges under the Sears Tele-games label. Thus each game would have two releases, and the names would not be the same but the ROMs would be identical. Thus the game Atari called Breakout, Sears called Breakaway IV, Circus Atari was shortened to Circus, and Outlaw became Gunslinger. Sears' actual contribution are three games Atari never released under its own label.
In addition to the Sears license, Atari kept most of its early titles in circulation with corresponding differences in labels. Space Invaders has a text, picture, silver and red label, but it should always be counted as one game. Sometimes games would be renamed, as Hunt & Score was renamed to A Game of Concentration and also released by Sears as Memory Match. Finally, Atari did release games in its Red Label era originally published by rivals in the pre-crash era such as Coleco's Donkey Kong & Donkey Kong Jr.
Pepsi Invaders and Atlantis II are variations on the originals and were provided only to a select few, so I consider them as to prototypes, and they should not be counted in an official list of a system's games. However, there are several other extremely rare games like CommaVid's Video Life, only available to people who purchased the MagiCard. Essentially it would have been purchased only by the few of the few. And then there were games like Birthday Mania, sold only in a limited geographic area and so rare that the ROM has not been dumped. Unlike Pepsi Invaders and Atlantis II, they are not hacks of existing games, so they are included. While there are several games that are very rare, they were at least available to the general public, usually only via mail order. However, even if included, the final number would not significantly change.
Two issues with a list of North American Atari games is that games only released in PAL territories must be weeded out. Prototypes and reproductions should also be filtered out. The final number is focused on games released during the console's lifespan, so homebrew games are not counted. What games were released in North America is mostly well-known, but when you go to the many European countries, South America and Taiwan, the titles really start to become difficult to manage. If pirate cartridges are considered, the PAL territories probably had more games released than the U.S. and Canada, where relatively little piracy occurred.
Finally, games released by pirate labels, which frequently only rename the game, should also be left out unless that has been confirmed as the only a game found a North American release. Thus most, but not all, releases by Zellers should not be counted. Cartridges that are not games like diagnostic carts, copy carts, rewritable cartridges. Nor are the Gameline Master Module or the Starpath Supercharger counted, but the former allowed exclusive access to Save the Whales (included under 20th Century Fox) and the latter came with Phaser Control. The term "game" is liberally interpreted to include any kind of cartridge or cassette software intended to have some kind of entertainment or edutainment purpose. Carts like Basic Programming, Music Machine and MagiCard are thus included. Double-ended cartridges are always counted as one game so long as one-half of the cartridge was not released as a single game. Virtually all the games so released were also released as single cartridges. Here is the Tally :
Atari itself bears much of the blame here. It marketed its console as the Atari Video Computer System (VCS) and later as the Atari 2600. In Sears' department stores the console was called the Sears Video Arcade, and while the label covering the switches may have been different, underneath they were exactly the same system as the Atari-branded system being sold in non-Sears stores.
Similarly, Atari allowed Sears to sell Atari's cartridges under the Sears Tele-games label. Thus each game would have two releases, and the names would not be the same but the ROMs would be identical. Thus the game Atari called Breakout, Sears called Breakaway IV, Circus Atari was shortened to Circus, and Outlaw became Gunslinger. Sears' actual contribution are three games Atari never released under its own label.
In addition to the Sears license, Atari kept most of its early titles in circulation with corresponding differences in labels. Space Invaders has a text, picture, silver and red label, but it should always be counted as one game. Sometimes games would be renamed, as Hunt & Score was renamed to A Game of Concentration and also released by Sears as Memory Match. Finally, Atari did release games in its Red Label era originally published by rivals in the pre-crash era such as Coleco's Donkey Kong & Donkey Kong Jr.
Pepsi Invaders and Atlantis II are variations on the originals and were provided only to a select few, so I consider them as to prototypes, and they should not be counted in an official list of a system's games. However, there are several other extremely rare games like CommaVid's Video Life, only available to people who purchased the MagiCard. Essentially it would have been purchased only by the few of the few. And then there were games like Birthday Mania, sold only in a limited geographic area and so rare that the ROM has not been dumped. Unlike Pepsi Invaders and Atlantis II, they are not hacks of existing games, so they are included. While there are several games that are very rare, they were at least available to the general public, usually only via mail order. However, even if included, the final number would not significantly change.
Two issues with a list of North American Atari games is that games only released in PAL territories must be weeded out. Prototypes and reproductions should also be filtered out. The final number is focused on games released during the console's lifespan, so homebrew games are not counted. What games were released in North America is mostly well-known, but when you go to the many European countries, South America and Taiwan, the titles really start to become difficult to manage. If pirate cartridges are considered, the PAL territories probably had more games released than the U.S. and Canada, where relatively little piracy occurred.
Finally, games released by pirate labels, which frequently only rename the game, should also be left out unless that has been confirmed as the only a game found a North American release. Thus most, but not all, releases by Zellers should not be counted. Cartridges that are not games like diagnostic carts, copy carts, rewritable cartridges. Nor are the Gameline Master Module or the Starpath Supercharger counted, but the former allowed exclusive access to Save the Whales (included under 20th Century Fox) and the latter came with Phaser Control. The term "game" is liberally interpreted to include any kind of cartridge or cassette software intended to have some kind of entertainment or edutainment purpose. Carts like Basic Programming, Music Machine and MagiCard are thus included. Double-ended cartridges are always counted as one game so long as one-half of the cartridge was not released as a single game. Virtually all the games so released were also released as single cartridges. Here is the Tally :
| Company | Unique Games |
| Atari, Inc. / Sears | 101 |
| Activision | 44 |
| Parker Brothers | 21 |
| Atari Corp | 19 |
| M Network | 17 |
| 20th Century Fox | 18 |
| Imagic | 16 |
| U.S. Games | 14 |
| Coleco | 13 |
| Spectravision | 11 |
| Arcadia / Starpath | 11 |
| Apollo | 11 |
| Tigervision | 10 |
| Telegames | 10 |
| Sega | 9 |
| CBS Electronics | 9 |
| Xonox | 8 |
| Panda | 8 |
| Data Age | 8 |
| CommaVid | 7 |
| Telesys | 6 |
| Playaround | 5 |
| Avalon Hill | 5 |
| Zimag | 4 |
| Bomb | 4 |
| Absolute Entertainment | 4 |
| Zellers | 3 |
| Mythicon | 3 |
| Mystique | 3 |
| Konami | 3 |
| Epyx | 3 |
| Wizard Video | 2 |
| Ultravision | 2 |
| Puzzy | 2 |
| Milton Bradley | 2 |
| Exus | 2 |
| Answer Software | 2 |
| Amiga | 2 |
| VentureVision | 1 |
| Universal Gamex | 1 |
| TNT Games | 1 |
| Sunrise | 1 |
| Sparrow | 1 |
| Simage | 1 |
| Selchow & Righter | 1 |
| Personal Games Company | 1 |
| MenAvision | 1 |
| K-Tel Vision | 1 |
| Gammation | 1 |
| First Star Software | 1 |
| DSD/Camelot | 1 |
| American Videogame | 1 |
| Total Unique Games | 436 |
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
Killer Computer Gaming Apps
There are many successful games, and many great games. Some games are so successful that they helped establish the gaming suitability of a particular home computer, were extremely influential or have withstood the test of time. For each home computer system, I have selected one game which fits the following criteria :
The system had to have some measure of success
The game was successful game that sold many units
The game was widely acknowledged to be a groundbreaking game or one of the best available for that system
The game was ported to many systems, remade or has fan sites or is still remembered today
Most of these games were original to the computer indicated. All were released fairly early in the computer's lifespan.
Apple II - Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord
This game really helped bring Role Playing Games to home computers. Programs were made how to hack this game and beef up your characters. Sir-Tech released a program called Wizprint to print out your character's statistics. Defeating its copy protection was frequently the subject of computer magazine articles.
TRS-80 - Zork: The Great Underground Empire
Separate versions of Zork were released for the Model I and Model III , but this system was the first home microcomputer to receive a version of the mainframe game Zork. All subsequent interactive fiction games would be judged in relation to this game.
Commodore PET - Temple of Apshai
Although Apshai was originally released for the TRS-80, this platform has so few notable games that I decided to put it here. Mainframe-style dungeon crawling brought to the home computer.
Atari 8-bit - Star Raiders
No more advanced looking or sounding game was released in the 1970s. This is what stores displayed when demoing the Atari computers.
Commodore VIC-20 - Gridrunner
Jeff Minter's brand of game, the frenetic paced arcade-like game, begins here.
Sinclair ZX-81 - 3D Monster Maze
A groundbreaking 3D maze game, notable especially for a system with no color and no dedicated sound hardware.
IBM PC - Microsoft Flight Simulator
Showed that there was some advantage to using an 8088, as this version ran much faster than the versions on other home computers. Also famous as a compatibility tester for PC clones.
TI 99/4A - Tunnels of Doom
While the TI software library is rather limited, this gave a first person maze perspective for exploring the dungeon and a third person perspective for fighting monsters before Ultima III.
Commodore 64 - Impossible Mission
"Another visitor...Stay awhile, stay FOREVERRR..." One of the best non-sidescrolling action adventure games ever made.
Sinclair ZX Spectrum - Jet Set Willy
According to the BBC TV Movie Micro Men, this game gave Sir Clive Sinclair fits because it seemed to him that people weren't taking his cheap computer seriously. Did it really matter when the game helped him sell sold millions of his little home computer?
BBC Micro - Elite
Pioneered the 4x Space Exploration Genre, one of the very few British or European computer games to cross the pond stateside in the 1980s.
TRS 80 CoCo - Dungeons of Daggorath
Oh be still my beating heart. Real time 3D dungeoneering providing some extremely intense gameplay.
IBM PCjr.& Tandy 1000 - King's Quest
Graphical adventure games are invented and kept Sierra Online from bankruptcy.
Apple Macintosh - Dark Castle
Very popular adventure game for this platform, showed that even the monochrome Mac could play action games.
Atari ST - Dungeon Master
Most Atari ST owners had a copy of this game, and for good reasons.
Commodore Amiga - Defender of the Crown
Another "Wow" game, the sort of software that Commodore should have included with every Amiga sold.
Apple IIgs - Will Harvey's Zany Golf
The IIgs had very few exclusive games, but this one is superb and was widely ported.
PC Clones - King's Quest IV & King's Quest V
The first was a very persuasive in persuading people to buy or upgrade to the 286, EGA, a sound card, and a hard drive, the second helped drive 386 sales and VGA cards. KQIV originally came on an insane, for the time, nine disks.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)