Tagged · 35 notes
Everything tagged Retro Gaming, wherever it's filed, newest first.
Group the USA, Europe, Japan and revised versions of each game in a folder of backups, keep the one you'd actually play, and move the rest to a _duplicates folder.
Thread: Keeping a media library tidy ↗Moves game files into Must-Play, Great, Good, Average and Niche folders using a CSV of titles and scores, with series fallbacks, so a huge backlog shows you the best stuff first.
Thread: Keeping a media library tidy ↗A list of GameCube and PlayStation 2 games that play fine without an analog stick, for arcade cabinets, handhelds with only a d-pad, or anyone who just likes digital controls.
Thread: Console field guide ↗Moves game files with keywords like (Beta), (Proto), Mahjong or (Germany) in their names into a review folder, keeping their subfolders, so you can trim a huge set down to what you'd actually play and change your mind later.
Thread: Keeping a media library tidy ↗Moves loose game files into one folder per title, worked out from the file name, so a game's base file, updates and DLC end up together. Built for Switch backups, and it works for anything with a consistent naming pattern.
Thread: Keeping a media library tidy ↗The manufacturer-then-system folder layout I use for game backups, the file extensions each system uses, the systems in my own collection, the ones I'd add next, and the cases where a later release beats the original.
Thread: Keeping a media library tidy ↗I spent some time on the idea of selling legal, licensed retro game systems to bars, offices and streamers. The tech is the easy part. Here's why the licensing sank it, and the smaller ideas that looked more realistic.
Thread: The emulation bench ↗Renames game files to "(GENRE) Title (REGION) (NOTES)" using a CSV of titles and genre codes you keep, with short region codes, note codes for betas and hacks, and a list of everything it couldn't place.
Thread: Keeping a media library tidy ↗The file naming standard I use for my game backups, with a four-letter genre code at the front so a folder sorts itself by type, plus the full code list, region and note codes, and examples.
Thread: Keeping a media library tidy ↗Strip dump flags like [!] and [b1], turn (U) into (USA), tidy revision tags and optionally add release years from a CSV, with a before-and-after list of every rename.
Thread: Keeping a media library tidy ↗The Zelda games you can play on a Switch or Switch 2, whether they're a full release or part of Switch Online, roughly how long each one takes, and the order I'd suggest for a newcomer and for someone who's played a few.
Thread: Games and gear ↗My lists of PlayStation games that suit an arcade cabinet or a fight stick, generation by generation, from Tekken 3 and Einhander to Garou and Ikaruga-era shooters, plus the emulator and setup notes for each.
Thread: Console field guide ↗A realistic look at modifying arcade game ROMs, from changing text in a hex editor to rewriting game logic in assembly, with the tools, the friendliest hardware to learn on and a sensible first project.
Thread: The emulation bench ↗Genesis ROM Workshop is my open-source Python toolkit for poking around inside Sega Genesis ROMs, extracting palettes, text and tile graphics for ROM hacking, translation and preservation work.
Thread: The retro workbench ↗Microvision, Lynx, Game Gear, Neo Geo Pocket Color, WonderSwan and N-Gage. The handhelds that took on the Game Boy and lost, what each got right, and a timeline of how handhelds got from LCD segments to PC chips.
Thread: Console field guide ↗More than a third of my PS4 collection turns out to be shoot-'em-ups. Arcade ports, M2's careful reissues, modern indies and twin-stick shooters, and how a console known for big cinematic games ended up with a shmup library this deep.
Thread: The PlayStation shelf ↗How to back up the games you own before the media gives out, check the dumps against No-Intro and Redump, store the files and the boxes properly, and keep the old consoles running.
Thread: The emulation bench ↗The PSP and PS Vita model by model, what each revision changed, the memory card problem and its fix, the store closures that make backups matter, and where the PlayStation Portal fits.
Thread: Console field guide ↗Notes from an arcade cabinet build in progress, on why the monitor is 4:3, and why a PC running CoinOPS won out over a plug-and-play Pandora-style board.
Thread: The retro workbench ↗What RGB video is, why it makes old consoles look so much better than composite, and a console-by-console rundown of which ones output it already and which need a mod, plus the displays, cables and sync problems to know about.
Thread: The emulation bench ↗Every Nintendo handheld family from Game & Watch to the 3DS, with sales, screens, the model revisions that matter, and the mods that make the old ones pleasant to use today.
Thread: Console field guide ↗Eleven PS3 games that reviewed well, sold fine and then quietly vanished, from Binary Domain and Enslaved to Split/Second and Blur, with what happened to the studios behind them and where you can still play each one.
Thread: The PlayStation shelf ↗The three Sega Genesis models compared on sound, add-on support, size and picture, with the board revisions collectors look for and a straight answer on which to buy for what.
Thread: Console field guide ↗The cover sizes I use for printing replacement inserts for DVD, Blu-ray, PlayStation, Xbox, Wii, GameCube, Switch, PSP and DS cases, with printing tips and the sites I go to for cover art.
Thread: The reference shelf ↗One page of the Steam Deck's built-in shortcuts and the hotkeys EmuDeck sets up for RetroArch, Dolphin, PCSX2, DuckStation and the rest, in tables you can glance at mid-game.
Thread: The emulation bench ↗The differences between the original Super Nintendo and the small SNS-101 redesign from 1997, from video outputs and picture quality to the expansion port, yellowing and which one I'd buy for what.
Thread: Console field guide ↗The RetroArch settings, install steps and preset picks for the Mega Bezel Reflection Shader on a Steam Deck, so old games get their scanlines and a glowing TV frame without tanking performance.
Thread: The emulation bench ↗Fourteen quieter PlayStation 3 games from my list, averaging 81 on review scores, from Vanquish and Valkyria Chronicles to Folklore, Tokyo Jungle and Puppeteer, with who made them, why they got missed and where you can still play them.
Thread: The PlayStation shelf ↗A field guide to Nintendo's home consoles from the Famicom to the Wii U, with the hardware revisions worth knowing for each, the mods people do, and which model to buy.
Thread: Console field guide ↗A quick way to make sense of the flood of Anbernic, Miyoo, Retroid and TrimUI handhelds, by grouping them by the chip inside, plus the custom firmware worth knowing and why the shape matters more than the spec sheet.
Thread: The emulation bench ↗The console that was a hit in Japan as the PC Engine and an also-ran in America as the TurboGrafx-16. Its odd 8-bit and 16-bit hardware, the first CD add-on, the games worth playing, and how to play them now.
Thread: Console field guide ↗My parts list and order of operations for turning a Pentium 4 Dell Optiplex GX280 into a period-correct Windows XP gaming machine.
Thread: The retro workbench ↗The big, famous PlayStation 3 games sitting on my to-play list, from The Last of Us and Red Dead Redemption to Metal Gear Solid 4 and Demon's Souls, and where each one is easiest to play now.
Thread: The PlayStation shelf ↗The parts list, the free operating systems and the honest performance expectations for a Raspberry Pi 4 emulation box, plus how much storage each system really needs.
Thread: The emulation bench ↗The five or so years when arcade games went from a novelty to everywhere, from Space Invaders to Dragon's Lair, the technology that changed on the way, and why it all fell off a cliff in 1983.
Thread: Console field guide ↗