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Emulation

Podcast: Vertical Hold – The Retro Gaming Special Episode

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Being invited to guest appear (or should that be speak?) on a podcast is always humbling, very cool and a bit nerve-racking. It is exceptionally cool when invited by two of our good friends, Alex Kidman and Adam Turner to come on their Vertical Hold: Behind The Tech News podcast.

Episode 254 of Vertical Hold goes all retro in the modern era, from revived Nintendo and Sega classic mini consoles, huge arcade control decks from Capcom that hook up to your TV, to questionable emulation and some iffy jailbreaking – this episode has it all!

Thanks again to Alex and Adam for having us on their podcast – we make a great triple AAA* team!

*Triple AAA team = Alex, Adam and Alex 😉

Title image source: Fordham IPLJ
Slider image source: Vertical Hold

 

Hit That Perfect BittBoy – Review

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Remember Bronski Beat’s “Hit that perfect Beat”? You know the one, “I’ve got that feeling, That perfect feeling, That perfect feeling all over me. Beat boy, Beat boy, Hit that perfect beat boy, Beat boy, Beat boy” – yeah, it’s a great 80s electropop tune.

We have no idea why we started this review with Bronski Beat, perhaps it’s due to the name of the new little portable games player, BittBoy! We can’t seem to get the bloody tune out of our head now! Let’s cut this diversion and get back on track! The New BittBoy – is a little Game Boy lookalike that allows you to play your legally owned NES/Famicom, GB and GBC roms from your own microSD card via its built-in NES/Famicom, GB and GBC emulators. That’s it in a nutshell.

Cool specs and features right on the box!

Before we go into how it plays, let us tell you how it looks and feels. The cuteness of this little player is striking and familiar. It’s familiar in the sense that if you ever held a Game Boy (or its many variants, like the Game Boy Pocket), then you’ll feel at home holding the new BittBoy, albeit at a shrunken level. Since it is small (and cute), if you have large-ish hands, then you may experience some cramping. If however your hands aren’t the size of a lion’s paw, you’ll find that BittBoy’s D-pad and buttons feel almost as good as Nintendo’s Game Boy, which is a good thing. The layout of the buttons borrow heavily from the SNES pad, which is a great blueprint to assimilate. The click of the buttons feel good, but they aren’t exactly Nintendo quality, but still good enough as we expected them to feel cheap. Oddly, the black fire buttons feel the best to press for us. So far so good! Oh yeah, don’t be fooled by the screen either, the 2.4″ IPS screen is vivid, bright, and displays games in either LCD (16:9) or CRT (4:3) format, without any stretching or distortion in either of these aspect ratios.

Looks and feels good

We now know that it looks good and feels ok, but how does it work and play? With its built-in emulators, all you need to do is ensure the BittBoy is fully charged and then insert your microSD loaded with your legally owned NES/Fami, GB and/or GBC roms and you are good to play.

Once you turn on the BittBoy, you are greeted by one of the three built-in emulators. Selecting the emulators is as easy as flicking the D-pad to the right (and left). The next step is to select a game by using the D-pad by going up and down the list and pressing the select button to load the game. Exiting back to the emulator menu is an easy one button press on the round R (reset) button. Since there are no separate volume and brightness buttons or dials, BittBoy has cleverly interfaced these controls by using specific button pressing sequences – a very clever design. Another neat feature is the save and load, so you can save your progress and then load it back to kick off where you left off. If you don’t want to bother peeps next to you on the bus, then the 3.5mm headphone jack is there for you to immerse yourself with some 8-bit ditties.

Let’s play – NES/Fami, GB and GBC games!

Playing our handful of NES games we found that the emulation was accurate without any noticeable lag. We thought that the small form factor would hamper gameplay, but to our surprise, we were running Mario from left to right, jumping on blocks, collecting mushrooms and stomping on Goombas with gleeful ease. The GB games were just as good (Tetris is still a killerapp!), however, the emulation couldn’t display that distinct ‘green hue’ from the original Game Boy – a minor gripe really.

Playing some sweet (NES) Super Mario Bros!

The new BittBoy provides around 3 hrs of gaming via its 700 mAh lithium battery before it needs recharging using its packed-in USB cable. Charge time is fairly quick, so you will be back gaming in no time. The package also includes an AV/composite cable to connect the BittBoy player to your TV (via the 3.5mm headphone jack). This is quite novel and a great feature, however we loved using the BittBoy as a portable game player.

There are plenty of handheld systems that can play your old video games, however these usually require some level of hacking and tweaking to make them work. The new BittBoy fills this void by offering folks a pocket-friendly handheld system straight out of the box that can emulate the NES/Famicom, Game Boy and Game Boy Color. If you want a player to emulate other systems, then the BittBoy is not for you, but on the other hand if you are in need of a reasonably priced portable emulator that looks great, feels good and doesn’t pretend to be more than just a NES/Famicom/GB/GBC player, then the New BittBoy is for you.

Product: New BittBoy
Price: US$39.99 / AU$59.99
Available: Now via RetroMini
Package:

  • BittBoy handheld system
  • USB charging cable
  • AV cable

LCD vs CRT – it’s your choice!

Before we play some Tetris, it’s Super Mario Land time!

Super Mario Land in LCD (16:9) aspect ratio

Super Mario Land in CRT (4:3) aspect ratio

The New BittBoy has some beautiful lines

The top of the unit has the microSD slot and ON/OFF switch

The bottom of the BittBoy reveals the 3.5mm jack (headphones + AV/TV out) and USB-C connector for charging

Oo’er, this is one gorgeous little handheld

Disclosure: The New BittBoy system was kindly provided by BittBoy for this review.

 

Ultimate Dream Station

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I am not much of an emulation fan. I prefer to play the classics on their original hardware. Then along comes the Multi Video Games System Two cabinet (MVGS2-Dream-Station) by PAT47200.

It is at times like these that even I, a staunch retro gamer has to concede that this is one awesome setup. Please take my order now!


source: PAT47200

From 8-bit to 64-bit: The Rise of Classic Games for Mobile

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NES--Still-the-Best
image source: NES–still-the-best

The “Atari Shock” or also known as ‘The Great Video Game Crash of 1983’ brought the American video gaming industry to a halt. With revenues that almost reached $3.2 billion dollars, it almost destroyed a lot of emerging game development companies during that time. Analysts feared that video game consoles were not viable in the long run. However, with the North American launch of the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985, it forever changed the gaming industry.

With unforgettable game titles like Super Mario Bros, Metal Gear Solid, the Mega Man series, Castlevania, The Legend of Zelda, Dragon Quest, and Final Fantasy, these games not only entertained people; they also influenced future video game designers and pop culture. It also opened doors to other console manufacturers like Sega with their 16-bit Mega Drive. During the late 80’s and early 90’s, people saw the dawn of portable gaming devices such as the Nintendo Game Boy, Sega Game Gear, and the Atari Lynx. With these advancements in technology, it gave rise to a whole new market: the on-the-go gamers.

Although we still enjoy our favorite classic or retro games on our beloved Sony PlayStation Portables (PSPs) and Nintendo DS, a new contender is entering the gaming arena: the smart devices. With mobile phones and tablets becoming smarter and more advanced, they are fast-becoming the platforms of choice. Companies like O2 have collaborated with manufacturers Sony, Apple, and Samsung to bring mobile gaming to the mass market. But, how can these smart devices help bring back the love for classic games?

Accessories Galore

According to an article published on Nintendolife.com: smartphones and tablets will be the “primary screen” for gamers by 2017. With traditional gaming consoles and handhelds slowly being eclipsed by these devices, manufacturers like Nintendo have decreased their sales forecast from 27% to 14% respectively. Since devices like the tablet are very accessible to all consumer segments, they are becoming the best gaming platforms. Take the iCade for example; it gives gamers a portable arcade cabinet. Classic arcade games like Centipede, Asteriods, Pac-Man, and Missile Command can now be played with your iCade, without inserting a coin. But if you want to relive your 8-bit glory days, try the iCade 8-Bitty – Retro Wireless Game Controller for iPhone/iPad/Android. It features a classic D-PAD and button layout similar to your old retro consoles. Using Bluetooth technology to connect wirelessly, it connects seamlessly with your Android and iOS devices. Now, you can never run out of lives while playing Contra: Evolution on your mobile device.

Powered-Up for Gaming

With popular game titles like Infinity Blade and XCOM®: Enemy Unknown dominating the mobile gaming charts, it clearly shows the power of your average smart device. Most smartphones and tablets are designed with powerful chips or processors to properly launch applications. These gadgets also boast of a 10-hour battery life, which is more than enough for playing games, watching videos, and some light reading. Most of these gadgets also adapted display technologies like a Retina Display and Super AMOLED (Active Matrix OLED) to give users the best visual experience possible. Aside from ultra-fast processors and crystal-clear displays, they have various connection options like Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and 4th Generation Internet connectivity. This is important, especially if they need to back-up their game’s data on their existing cloud storage services. Aside from cloud storage, gamers can also save data on other storage media like microSD cards. Losing data won’t be a nightmare, thanks to these storage options.

A Definite Blast from the Past

Thanks to technology, vintage game enthusiasts can now enjoy their favourite games on their mobile phones. Pacific Wings or 1941 Air Combat makes a comeback on the iOS platform. It’s basically the same thing and you control your plane with your finger. For gamers who want to visit the 16-bit era, check out Sonic the Hedgehog, and collect all the rings you’ll need to defeat Dr. Robotnik. For the Mega Man fans, check out the Mega Man X and battle every stage boss to come face-to-face with Sigma. For those who want to play the greatest RPG of all time, get Chrono Trigger and see why it was the most revolutionary game of its time. Now you can carry all of these classic games with you, any time.

With all the intense and graphic-heavy games coming out on the mobile gaming market, one may wonder why some are looking for older games. It’s because gamers want to recapture the experience of playing a game for the first time. They want to experience the joy of immersing into another world, knowing the contrast between it and reality. Also, most of these old games didn’t have save points; people really had to play them until the end, and that’s where they get their satisfaction. It was like mastering the hardest subject in class and showing everyone that they could do it.

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Nadia_HyeongNadia Hyeong usually writes about gadgets, apps and games. During her free time, she appreciates classic rock and art. Follow her on Twitter and Twitter.