The UKFF Retro Gaming Thread

[Retro Red]

43 minutes ago, Dr. Alan Grant said:

I had a bunch of 2D beat-em-ups in my favourites section already, which made me think that the console had a previous owner. Was your favourites folder the same or empty?

I’d love to know how to (easily) add games to it. Especially with later gen consoles like N64 and Dreamcast where there are a lot of omissions. I want to play Jet Set Radio.

Mine had the same favourite wise, I think they’re just using the same image to flash the SD card rather than it being used.

in theory it should be easy to add games, if you remove the SD and put it into your pc (usb reader would be needed if you don’t have one built in) then downloading games and transferring it to the right folder is all you need to do.

You could also buy a cheap 2nd SD card because there is another slot on the left hand side to expand the memory, there’s instructions online to set that up. That’s your better option if you want to add more ps1/dreamcast/n64.

[Jazzy G]

I'm tempted to pick one up myself as well as the one I got as somebody's Christmas present, but only for the selection of beat em ups. It doesn't look like it'd be fun to play fighting games on, maybe KoF and the other SNK/Neo Geo ones. 

[FLips]

Just ordered one after seeing the good feedback on here!

[Arch Stanton]

I picked up the TMNT Cowabunga Collection on CDKeys for £6.99. Cheapest I've ever seen it. Not had a chance to get stuck into any of the games yet, but it's a great looking package with all the extras on there like original box art and manuals, and a gallery of frames from every episode of the original cartoons.

[TibBo]

On 12/1/2024 at 4:30 PM, Retro Red said:

You could also buy a cheap 2nd SD card because there is another slot on the left hand side to expand the memory, there’s instructions online to set that up. That’s your better option if you want to add more ps1/dreamcast/n64.

Buy a decent SD card and replace the stock one that came with the device as it is junk and will fail

[Onyx2]

20 hours ago, FLips said:

Just ordered one after seeing the good feedback on here!

Yeah I just ordered one too! You should be on commish Busick.

I do hope all you Castlevanians have watched this peerless documentary by the always-brilliant I Finished A Video Game:

 

[Merzbow]

I haven't, but I'll change that.

I've finally started the latest Castlevania cartoon, not quite as good as the previous show with Alucard et al but still pretty solid with some nice action. Maria being a Communist was a nice touch.

[TibBo]

Managed to get Vice City working on the R36s this evening! For 20 quid it’s really good! Thanks again for the recommendation

[Ironic Indie Lad]

On 12/3/2024 at 5:24 PM, Onyx2 said:

Yeah I just ordered one too! You should be on commish Busick.

I do hope all you Castlevanians have watched this peerless documentary by the always-brilliant I Finished A Video Game:

 

This guy rules. Currently undergoing cancer treatment yet still made an incredibly in depth retrospective of X-Men games the other week. 

[Merzbow]

Replaying Desert Strike and it might be a bit iffy going on a hunt for cartoon "Middle Eastern madman" but the gameplay really holds up, even on the Megadrive with only three buttons. It has some banging tunes thanks to the legendary Rob Hubbard and pinball guy Brian L. Schmidt, too, makes good use of that raw sounding chip in the Sega console.

Thank god for savestates though, I can't be arsed remembering passwords or having to play every level in one go.

[Jesse]

1 hour ago, Merzbow said:

Replaying Desert Strike and it might be a bit iffy going on a hunt for cartoon "Middle Eastern madman" but the gameplay really holds up, even on the Megadrive with only three buttons. It has some banging tunes thanks to the legendary Rob Hubbard and pinball guy Brian L. Schmidt, too, makes good use of that raw sounding chip in the Sega console.

Thank god for savestates though, I can't be arsed remembering passwords or having to play every level in one go.

Am crossing my fingers that Cleared Hot is good when it releases https://store.steampowered.com/app/1710820/Cleared_Hot/

[Dr. Alan Grant]

21030 games on the R36S console is tricky. Tricky for an indecisive soul like myself. So I’ve come up with a game called R36S Pot Luck Bonanza. You can press X to choose a random console and then a random game. So rather than spend hours scrolling to decide what to play, I’m leaving it up to the hands of fate.

First up is Metal Slug: 1st Mission on the Neo Geo Pocket. I’ve never played a Metal Slug game before, but I know the basic gist of it. The Solid Snake looking main character shoots, lobs grenades, frees POWs (at least that’s what I think the little sprites were) and in the best moments, drives a tank and flies a plane. Those are the undoubtedly the levels that were the most fun. I’ve beaten the first boss, but I foolishly didn’t realise that I had the ability to open my parachute manually on a subsequent level and plummeted to my death repeatedly. I’ve added the game to my favourites and hopefully saved my progress.

 

I encourage all of you new R36S players to have a go at the Pot Luck Bonanza.

[Dr. Alan Grant]

Pot Luck Bonanza #2 presents Ristar for the Mega Drive. 

The name didn’t ring a bell, but I’ve seen that little fella before. Possibly a distant relative to Cool Spot. Ristar is trying to save his father from the bad guy. It’s your basic platformer, but with a little difference. Here you’re not jumping on enemies, but instead extending your arms to grab them, then head butting them into oblivion. You can use those arms to climb and swing around.

The first level is the obligatory grass level, complete with Sonic-esque loading screen for each level. There’s an annoying as hell water level that claimed many lives. Ristar is quite a slow character with no sprint button. You’re a star for crying out loud, speed up. I enjoyed it so far though. On the favourites tab it goes. I will save you, father.

Edited December 9, 2024 by Dr. Alan Grant

[Devon Malcolm]

On 12/8/2024 at 1:21 PM, Dr. Alan Grant said:

21030 games on the R36S console is tricky. Tricky for an indecisive soul like myself. So I’ve come up with a game called R36S Pot Luck Bonanza. You can press X to choose a random console and then a random game. So rather than spend hours scrolling to decide what to play, I’m leaving it up to the hands of fate.

First up is Metal Slug: 1st Mission on the Neo Geo Pocket. I’ve never played a Metal Slug game before, but I know the basic gist of it. The Solid Snake looking main character shoots, lobs grenades, frees POWs (at least that’s what I think the little sprites were) and in the best moments, drives a tank and flies a plane. Those are the undoubtedly the levels that were the most fun. I’ve beaten the first boss, but I foolishly didn’t realise that I had the ability to open my parachute manually on a subsequent level and plummeted to my death repeatedly. I’ve added the game to my favourites and hopefully saved my progress.

 

I encourage all of you new R36S players to have a go at the Pot Luck Bonanza.

If memory serves me correctly from when I had a MAME cabinet, Metal Slug had about a dozen sequels and they were all exactly the same.

[Jazzy G]

There are a LOT of Metal Slug games, I think 7 in the "mainline" series, then Metal Slug X & XX, which are remakes of the first two. There was an interesting one on GBA as well where you had a life bar to make up for the smaller screen. It was really difficult, though. They're fun enough, but can get a little frustrating until you learn the patterns. I managed to beat the first level of one of them without dying once and it felt like a heck of an achievement. 

I've ordered myself an RG Nano, which is small enough to fit on a key chain and has a one inch screen. I've seen a couple of reviews on YouTube, including one guy who plays Gran Turismo on it. It'll play most stuff up to PS1 and a lot of the reviews say it's nice to use with one hand for stuff like the Pokémon games, and less so for stuff like Metal Gear Solid. It'll probably end up living on either my keys, my little cat rucksack (a rucksack with cats on, not for cats), or maybe in my bumbag for if I'm out somewhere without my Switch and need some gaming to be done.