Have you guys added extra games to your SNES minis?
About 20. More before I removed the Sega MD games to put on my Megadrive Mini.
I might take the Neo Geo and other arcade games off as well, since the Megadrive's six-button controller D-pad seems a lot more usable than what we get on the SNES controller (for circular motions anyway).
0
Options
anoffdayTo be changed whenever Anoffday gets around to it.Registered Userregular
Nice.
I also picked up a genesis mini and barely touched it. I'm assuming we can do some stuff with that one as well?
Steam: offday
0
Options
SteevLWhat can I do for you?Registered Userregular
Have you guys added extra games to your SNES minis?
Yeah, I've added a few.
Roughly 1800.
Wow, I finally just added some more rpgs to it to turn it into a nice little 16 bit jrpg machine.
You had to add some kind of storage to it, right?
Yeah, I use external expanded storage (SD card with an OTG adapter). It's kind of ridiculous, but I've had fun doing this over the last two years or so.
anoffdayTo be changed whenever Anoffday gets around to it.Registered Userregular
I've been leaning more on the snes mini and roms in general lately. As much as I love my actual snes and games, I've lost a couple save files in the past year to link to the past and then DKC, and it was enough to say maybe it's time to put at least my more serious or longer playthroughs on the mini.
Yeah, while it's certainly doable, the SNES Mini makes a pretty poor comprehensive Neo Geo machine, between the storage constraints (not really an issue if you settle on just 10 or so games) and the controller, which is not great for Neo Geo titles. I think the Megadrive controller is a bit more suitable, but I'd have to test that out, and I wouldn't have dove into the world of RetroPie if it weren't for the issues with SNES Mini's limitations.
Have you guys added extra games to your SNES minis?
About 20. More before I removed the Sega MD games to put on my Megadrive Mini.
I might take the Neo Geo and other arcade games off as well, since the Megadrive's six-button controller D-pad seems a lot more usable than what we get on the SNES controller (for circular motions anyway).
This brought to mind a question: Sonic 3 & Knuckles is, of course, the best way to play, but Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles each have their own individual charms as well.
Is there a way to make the two link together on the mini, or would I need three ROMs in order to get everything (or four for Knuckles in Sonic 2, I guess)?
Like Mega Man Legends? Then check out my story, Legends of the Halcyon Era - An Adventure in the World of Mega Man Legends on TMMN and AO3!
The answer is Sonic 3 Complete. One ROM, a bazillion options, including playing the games separately and together, or bringing back various 3 touches like the original music to 3&K.
Here's some video capture of the PCE mini + a quick teardown. Apparently its the same hardware as the Genesis/MD mini, which should be way more than enough for PCE emulation.
I'm hoping I can discuss this since I know there are some minis out there playing the stuff my PlayStation Classic is. Has anyone played the arcade version of Hook? It's batnuts crazy. The bosses are really nice big sprites, you can cut ropes and drop stuff on enemies, and it feels like one fun surprise after another. I'm shocked at how decent it is.
I'm hoping I can discuss this since I know there are some minis out there playing the stuff my PlayStation Classic is. Has anyone played the arcade version of Hook? It's batnuts crazy. The bosses are really nice big sprites, you can cut ropes and drop stuff on enemies, and it feels like one fun surprise after another. I'm shocked at how decent it is.
Watching MLIG livestream of PCE mini and they are getting nitpicky about the lack of any mild interpolation to combat shimmering, uneven scanlines, significant sound delay. I guess stuff you should expect from M.2 after the Genesis Mini but just some caution for perfectionists.
I don't really judge, actually I'm pretty pissed about the shimmering. On the genesis mini you could at least pick a straight 3x scale that avoided shimmering on 320px games. Many of the games they showed off here had obvious shimmering even trying all of the different scaling modes, as well as uneven scanlines. If they weren't going to mess with interpolation they should've at least offered a mode that 3x'd the pixels exactly regardless of game resolution. I just know some here aren't going to want to obsess over this stuff and I'm not trying to piss in their cheerios, but letting people who are interested know what's going on.
Anyway if you want to peruse the archive of the 4 hour livestream(!), you can skip the unboxing/setup to see gameplay start around 31:49. They have a lot of fun/cool things to say but you will hear some nitpicking about the shimmer here and there.
I wonder if part of the decline is how easy they are to hack these. Although I think it comes down to the quality. Truth is, if you own one, you can run all the games the others do.
I think it's quality myself but who knows.
0
Options
SteevLWhat can I do for you?Registered Userregular
I won't lie, I almost bought one of those from Amazon Japan last week when I was ordering a Zelda soundtrack. It was in my cart and I just couldn't pull the trigger since I want the US version to go with my full sized one. It was sure tempting though.
I won't lie, I almost bought one of those from Amazon Japan last week when I was ordering a Zelda soundtrack. It was in my cart and I just couldn't pull the trigger since I want the US version to go with my full sized one. It was sure tempting though.
I've been eyeing up ones that have shown up on eBay. At least one wasn't even absurdly overpriced, even! But couldn't do it. I'm probably gonna regret that...
In other news, my Spectrum Next is supposedly on the move and should be with me this week! :biggrin:
I won't lie, I almost bought one of those from Amazon Japan last week when I was ordering a Zelda soundtrack. It was in my cart and I just couldn't pull the trigger since I want the US version to go with my full sized one. It was sure tempting though.
I've been eyeing up ones that have shown up on eBay. At least one wasn't even absurdly overpriced, even! But couldn't do it. I'm probably gonna regret that...
In other news, my Spectrum Next is supposedly on the move and should be with me this week! :biggrin:
Eh, I'm sure they'll eventually come out so just stick to your pre-order. That's what I'm telling myself to not think about it (as well as distracting myself with other things that I can get).
I won't lie, I almost bought one of those from Amazon Japan last week when I was ordering a Zelda soundtrack. It was in my cart and I just couldn't pull the trigger since I want the US version to go with my full sized one. It was sure tempting though.
I've been eyeing up ones that have shown up on eBay. At least one wasn't even absurdly overpriced, even! But couldn't do it. I'm probably gonna regret that...
In other news, my Spectrum Next is supposedly on the move and should be with me this week! :biggrin:
Eh, I'm sure they'll eventually come out so just stick to your pre-order. That's what I'm telling myself to not think about it (as well as distracting myself with other things that I can get).
Yeah. It's not like I haven't got a hundred other things to do as it is. (The Speccy Next, for one. I probably won't have the time for that that I'd like.)
I did have a white Japanese PC Engine once, though...
So far played just a handful of things on it. The free remake of Scramble. The demo of the forthcoming Warhawk. A couple of the very earliest Spectrum games I ever played back in the mists of 1982, Horace Goes Skiing and a very simple version of Hangman.
It simultaneously hits every nostalgia button, shows off how cool of a new machine it is in its own right, and is also bang up to date with things like HDMI output (VGA and RGB are also available) and SD card storage. (It doesn't need oodles of the latter, either - the very modest 1GB card it comes with can store the entire original Spectrum archive of over twelve thousand games with plenty of room to spare. Of course, some original software is possibly going to need more... it always does.)
I've barely scratched the surface but it's everything I wanted it to be so far. And The build quality is outstanding; it's a hefty unit for how small it is, and feels rock-solid. The keyboard that was such a major factor in its many delays is spot-on.
I can't really think what could have been done better. It really feels like a true successor to the Spectrums of yore, the design following on from the models before Amstrad bought Sinclair, especially the Plus and the original 128K "toastrack".
It's just a lovely thing. And even if I never learn how to program anything on it, it's still going to be a ton of fun just to play on and fiddle with.
Hopefully it won't be too long now until the second Kickstarter happens, and of course I'll let you guys know when it does.
So far played just a handful of things on it. The free remake of Scramble. The demo of the forthcoming Warhawk. A couple of the very earliest Spectrum games I ever played back in the mists of 1982, Horace Goes Skiing and a very simple version of Hangman.
It simultaneously hits every nostalgia button, shows off how cool of a new machine it is in its own right, and is also bang up to date with things like HDMI output (VGA and RGB are also available) and SD card storage. (It doesn't need oodles of the latter, either - the very modest 1GB card it comes with can store the entire original Spectrum archive of over twelve thousand games with plenty of room to spare. Of course, some original software is possibly going to need more... it always does.)
I've barely scratched the surface but it's everything I wanted it to be so far. And The build quality is outstanding; it's a hefty unit for how small it is, and feels rock-solid. The keyboard that was such a major factor in its many delays is spot-on.
I can't really think what could have been done better. It really feels like a true successor to the Spectrums of yore, the design following on from the models before Amstrad bought Sinclair, especially the Plus and the original 128K "toastrack".
It's just a lovely thing. And even if I never learn how to program anything on it, it's still going to be a ton of fun just to play on and fiddle with.
Hopefully it won't be too long now until the second Kickstarter happens, and of course I'll let you guys know when it does.
That is so awesome to hear it is perfect! My only experience with the Spectrum line is the US model Timex Sinclair 1000 which was my first computer. My Dad said he told my Mom back then that he saw computers being the future and wanted his sons to learn how to program and get used to them, so saved up over time to buy it. This is the computer for those who don't know: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timex_Sinclair_1000
Anyways, my brother and I would sit on the floor and program on this little membrane keyboard (it sucked pressing the keys as a really small kid) connected to his old college black and white TV. But yeah we would do it, then have this little ASCII planes or something move across the screen. We were so delighted seeing our efforts working (and even learned how to debug and tweak the code to make it work better). Then after all those hours of work, turned it off and had to redo it again the next time.
So that's why I sorta want one of these new Sinclairs. They may not be the same one I grew up with, but they are still the spirit of the original. Plus I want to see if the old programing works on it! HAHAHAHA.
So far played just a handful of things on it. The free remake of Scramble. The demo of the forthcoming Warhawk. A couple of the very earliest Spectrum games I ever played back in the mists of 1982, Horace Goes Skiing and a very simple version of Hangman.
It simultaneously hits every nostalgia button, shows off how cool of a new machine it is in its own right, and is also bang up to date with things like HDMI output (VGA and RGB are also available) and SD card storage. (It doesn't need oodles of the latter, either - the very modest 1GB card it comes with can store the entire original Spectrum archive of over twelve thousand games with plenty of room to spare. Of course, some original software is possibly going to need more... it always does.)
I've barely scratched the surface but it's everything I wanted it to be so far. And The build quality is outstanding; it's a hefty unit for how small it is, and feels rock-solid. The keyboard that was such a major factor in its many delays is spot-on.
I can't really think what could have been done better. It really feels like a true successor to the Spectrums of yore, the design following on from the models before Amstrad bought Sinclair, especially the Plus and the original 128K "toastrack".
It's just a lovely thing. And even if I never learn how to program anything on it, it's still going to be a ton of fun just to play on and fiddle with.
Hopefully it won't be too long now until the second Kickstarter happens, and of course I'll let you guys know when it does.
That is so awesome to hear it is perfect! My only experience with the Spectrum line is the US model Timex Sinclair 1000 which was my first computer. My Dad said he told my Mom back then that he saw computers being the future and wanted his sons to learn how to program and get used to them, so saved up over time to buy it. This is the computer for those who don't know: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timex_Sinclair_1000
Anyways, my brother and I would sit on the floor and program on this little membrane keyboard (it sucked pressing the keys as a really small kid) connected to his old college black and white TV. But yeah we would do it, then have this little ASCII planes or something move across the screen. We were so delighted seeing our efforts working (and even learned how to debug and tweak the code to make it work better). Then after all those hours of work, turned it off and had to redo it again the next time.
So that's why I sorta want one of these new Sinclairs. They may not be the same one I grew up with, but they are still the spirit of the original. Plus I want to see if the old programing works on it! HAHAHAHA.
The Timex Sinclair 1000 was basically a Sinclair ZX81, which was really the Spectrum's immediate predecessor - the Spectrum was going to be called the ZX82 at one point, but became the Spectrum as it was the first of their machines to have colour! (Or color, of course!)
I'm sure you'll be glad to know the Next is quite capable of becoming a ZX81, so all the old programming should work perfectly on it. And, although it does support saving to and loading from tapes, you can just save to the SD card instead which is obviously a whole lot easier! No more needing to type everything in again from scratch every time you turn it off! (The Next software distro actually includes a few ZX81 games - Cave81, 3D Monster Maze and 3D Defender.)
The ZX81's membrane keyboard was famously awful (as was its own predecessor, the ZX80's), but it was built that way to keep the cost down. There were external keyboards for the ZX81; I had a Memotech one once that was actually really nice quality. Plugged into the expansion slot on the back, with a passthrough for the 16K RAM pack (which was pretty essential since the ZX81 only had 1K of RAM on board).
The first Spectrums in 1982 came with either 16K or 48K of RAM, the latter quickly becoming established as the standard, and with the famous rubber-keyed "dead flesh" keyboard. A Plus model followed with 48K and a "proper" keyboard. By 1985, the 128K machine was launched (96K user-accessible as was typical then), strangely enough because of a tax in Spain on computers with less than 64K! That also introduced a proper sound chip, the Yamaha AY chip also found in the Atari ST, so a lot of 128K versions of games going forward had some awesome music. After that, Amstrad bought Sinclair and released a couple of versions each of the 128K +2 (with built-in tape deck, dubbed "datacorder") and +3 (with built-in 3" proprietary floppy disk drive, and no, that's not a typo, 3" was very different to the soon-to-be-standard 3.5"), with more traditional keyboards - although they largely lacked the keywords being printed on them, which would make 48K BASIC programming on them much more difficult. But by this point the Spectrum was more or less positioned as a games machine and little more.
The Next (as well as having this delightful keyboard, with keywords present and correct, that is a proper successor to the Plus and 128K of '84-'85) comes with 1MB of RAM on board, and is expandable to 2MB, so you've got a lot more headroom to work with, and it's more comparable memory-wise to the later 16-bit computers like the Atari ST, Commodore Amiga, and PCs of a 286 or 386 vintage, although it's still based on an 8-bit, Z80 processor architecture - with some possible future flexibility due to its central FPGA, and different processor cores are being tried out on it so the sky is the limit. And while it normally sits at a Spectrum-equalling 3.5MHz, it can be accelerated to 7, 14 or (after updating the core) a whopping 28MHz. Plus, of course, the possibilities afforded by the Raspberry Pi Zero that is slaved to it (in Accelerated models like mine, or which can be added to all other versions), although for now that's largely limited to allowing it to load up .TZX files (an emulator virtual tape format that assumes it's being used on more powerful hardware, put simply), and some clever souls are working on getting it to natively handle Xbox One controllers through the Pi's USB ports as well - although any Next can also do that with an 8bitdo Mega Drive (Genesis) Bluetooth dongle, technically.
A rather esoteric question for anyone who owns a Sega Megadrive Mini and hacked it with Hakchi: have you had any luck getting the installed games to run through Genesis Plus GX rather than the Engage emulator?
After a few weeks of testing, I've founded that any changes to the the Sega MD Mini--including adding any roms--breaks one of the games (Alisia Dragoon) in Engage.
So far played just a handful of things on it. The free remake of Scramble. The demo of the forthcoming Warhawk. A couple of the very earliest Spectrum games I ever played back in the mists of 1982, Horace Goes Skiing and a very simple version of Hangman.
It simultaneously hits every nostalgia button, shows off how cool of a new machine it is in its own right, and is also bang up to date with things like HDMI output (VGA and RGB are also available) and SD card storage. (It doesn't need oodles of the latter, either - the very modest 1GB card it comes with can store the entire original Spectrum archive of over twelve thousand games with plenty of room to spare. Of course, some original software is possibly going to need more... it always does.)
I've barely scratched the surface but it's everything I wanted it to be so far. And The build quality is outstanding; it's a hefty unit for how small it is, and feels rock-solid. The keyboard that was such a major factor in its many delays is spot-on.
I can't really think what could have been done better. It really feels like a true successor to the Spectrums of yore, the design following on from the models before Amstrad bought Sinclair, especially the Plus and the original 128K "toastrack".
It's just a lovely thing. And even if I never learn how to program anything on it, it's still going to be a ton of fun just to play on and fiddle with.
Hopefully it won't be too long now until the second Kickstarter happens, and of course I'll let you guys know when it does.
That is so awesome to hear it is perfect! My only experience with the Spectrum line is the US model Timex Sinclair 1000 which was my first computer. My Dad said he told my Mom back then that he saw computers being the future and wanted his sons to learn how to program and get used to them, so saved up over time to buy it. This is the computer for those who don't know: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timex_Sinclair_1000
Anyways, my brother and I would sit on the floor and program on this little membrane keyboard (it sucked pressing the keys as a really small kid) connected to his old college black and white TV. But yeah we would do it, then have this little ASCII planes or something move across the screen. We were so delighted seeing our efforts working (and even learned how to debug and tweak the code to make it work better). Then after all those hours of work, turned it off and had to redo it again the next time.
So that's why I sorta want one of these new Sinclairs. They may not be the same one I grew up with, but they are still the spirit of the original. Plus I want to see if the old programing works on it! HAHAHAHA.
The Timex Sinclair 1000 was basically a Sinclair ZX81, which was really the Spectrum's immediate predecessor - the Spectrum was going to be called the ZX82 at one point, but became the Spectrum as it was the first of their machines to have colour! (Or color, of course!)
I'm sure you'll be glad to know the Next is quite capable of becoming a ZX81, so all the old programming should work perfectly on it. And, although it does support saving to and loading from tapes, you can just save to the SD card instead which is obviously a whole lot easier! No more needing to type everything in again from scratch every time you turn it off! (The Next software distro actually includes a few ZX81 games - Cave81, 3D Monster Maze and 3D Defender.)
The ZX81's membrane keyboard was famously awful (as was its own predecessor, the ZX80's), but it was built that way to keep the cost down. There were external keyboards for the ZX81; I had a Memotech one once that was actually really nice quality. Plugged into the expansion slot on the back, with a passthrough for the 16K RAM pack (which was pretty essential since the ZX81 only had 1K of RAM on board).
The first Spectrums in 1982 came with either 16K or 48K of RAM, the latter quickly becoming established as the standard, and with the famous rubber-keyed "dead flesh" keyboard. A Plus model followed with 48K and a "proper" keyboard. By 1985, the 128K machine was launched (96K user-accessible as was typical then), strangely enough because of a tax in Spain on computers with less than 64K! That also introduced a proper sound chip, the Yamaha AY chip also found in the Atari ST, so a lot of 128K versions of games going forward had some awesome music. After that, Amstrad bought Sinclair and released a couple of versions each of the 128K +2 (with built-in tape deck, dubbed "datacorder") and +3 (with built-in 3" proprietary floppy disk drive, and no, that's not a typo, 3" was very different to the soon-to-be-standard 3.5"), with more traditional keyboards - although they largely lacked the keywords being printed on them, which would make 48K BASIC programming on them much more difficult. But by this point the Spectrum was more or less positioned as a games machine and little more.
The Next (as well as having this delightful keyboard, with keywords present and correct, that is a proper successor to the Plus and 128K of '84-'85) comes with 1MB of RAM on board, and is expandable to 2MB, so you've got a lot more headroom to work with, and it's more comparable memory-wise to the later 16-bit computers like the Atari ST, Commodore Amiga, and PCs of a 286 or 386 vintage, although it's still based on an 8-bit, Z80 processor architecture - with some possible future flexibility due to its central FPGA, and different processor cores are being tried out on it so the sky is the limit. And while it normally sits at a Spectrum-equalling 3.5MHz, it can be accelerated to 7, 14 or (after updating the core) a whopping 28MHz. Plus, of course, the possibilities afforded by the Raspberry Pi Zero that is slaved to it (in Accelerated models like mine, or which can be added to all other versions), although for now that's largely limited to allowing it to load up .TZX files (an emulator virtual tape format that assumes it's being used on more powerful hardware, put simply), and some clever souls are working on getting it to natively handle Xbox One controllers through the Pi's USB ports as well - although any Next can also do that with an 8bitdo Mega Drive (Genesis) Bluetooth dongle, technically.
Thank you for this information. In the US, the Sinclair had an early death thanks to Apple in my house. From there it was the Intel (or clones) after that. But the Sinclair has a special spot in my heart and always will have.
So far played just a handful of things on it. The free remake of Scramble. The demo of the forthcoming Warhawk. A couple of the very earliest Spectrum games I ever played back in the mists of 1982, Horace Goes Skiing and a very simple version of Hangman.
It simultaneously hits every nostalgia button, shows off how cool of a new machine it is in its own right, and is also bang up to date with things like HDMI output (VGA and RGB are also available) and SD card storage. (It doesn't need oodles of the latter, either - the very modest 1GB card it comes with can store the entire original Spectrum archive of over twelve thousand games with plenty of room to spare. Of course, some original software is possibly going to need more... it always does.)
I've barely scratched the surface but it's everything I wanted it to be so far. And The build quality is outstanding; it's a hefty unit for how small it is, and feels rock-solid. The keyboard that was such a major factor in its many delays is spot-on.
I can't really think what could have been done better. It really feels like a true successor to the Spectrums of yore, the design following on from the models before Amstrad bought Sinclair, especially the Plus and the original 128K "toastrack".
It's just a lovely thing. And even if I never learn how to program anything on it, it's still going to be a ton of fun just to play on and fiddle with.
Hopefully it won't be too long now until the second Kickstarter happens, and of course I'll let you guys know when it does.
That is so awesome to hear it is perfect! My only experience with the Spectrum line is the US model Timex Sinclair 1000 which was my first computer. My Dad said he told my Mom back then that he saw computers being the future and wanted his sons to learn how to program and get used to them, so saved up over time to buy it. This is the computer for those who don't know: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timex_Sinclair_1000
Anyways, my brother and I would sit on the floor and program on this little membrane keyboard (it sucked pressing the keys as a really small kid) connected to his old college black and white TV. But yeah we would do it, then have this little ASCII planes or something move across the screen. We were so delighted seeing our efforts working (and even learned how to debug and tweak the code to make it work better). Then after all those hours of work, turned it off and had to redo it again the next time.
So that's why I sorta want one of these new Sinclairs. They may not be the same one I grew up with, but they are still the spirit of the original. Plus I want to see if the old programing works on it! HAHAHAHA.
The Timex Sinclair 1000 was basically a Sinclair ZX81, which was really the Spectrum's immediate predecessor - the Spectrum was going to be called the ZX82 at one point, but became the Spectrum as it was the first of their machines to have colour! (Or color, of course!)
I'm sure you'll be glad to know the Next is quite capable of becoming a ZX81, so all the old programming should work perfectly on it. And, although it does support saving to and loading from tapes, you can just save to the SD card instead which is obviously a whole lot easier! No more needing to type everything in again from scratch every time you turn it off! (The Next software distro actually includes a few ZX81 games - Cave81, 3D Monster Maze and 3D Defender.)
The ZX81's membrane keyboard was famously awful (as was its own predecessor, the ZX80's), but it was built that way to keep the cost down. There were external keyboards for the ZX81; I had a Memotech one once that was actually really nice quality. Plugged into the expansion slot on the back, with a passthrough for the 16K RAM pack (which was pretty essential since the ZX81 only had 1K of RAM on board).
The first Spectrums in 1982 came with either 16K or 48K of RAM, the latter quickly becoming established as the standard, and with the famous rubber-keyed "dead flesh" keyboard. A Plus model followed with 48K and a "proper" keyboard. By 1985, the 128K machine was launched (96K user-accessible as was typical then), strangely enough because of a tax in Spain on computers with less than 64K! That also introduced a proper sound chip, the Yamaha AY chip also found in the Atari ST, so a lot of 128K versions of games going forward had some awesome music. After that, Amstrad bought Sinclair and released a couple of versions each of the 128K +2 (with built-in tape deck, dubbed "datacorder") and +3 (with built-in 3" proprietary floppy disk drive, and no, that's not a typo, 3" was very different to the soon-to-be-standard 3.5"), with more traditional keyboards - although they largely lacked the keywords being printed on them, which would make 48K BASIC programming on them much more difficult. But by this point the Spectrum was more or less positioned as a games machine and little more.
The Next (as well as having this delightful keyboard, with keywords present and correct, that is a proper successor to the Plus and 128K of '84-'85) comes with 1MB of RAM on board, and is expandable to 2MB, so you've got a lot more headroom to work with, and it's more comparable memory-wise to the later 16-bit computers like the Atari ST, Commodore Amiga, and PCs of a 286 or 386 vintage, although it's still based on an 8-bit, Z80 processor architecture - with some possible future flexibility due to its central FPGA, and different processor cores are being tried out on it so the sky is the limit. And while it normally sits at a Spectrum-equalling 3.5MHz, it can be accelerated to 7, 14 or (after updating the core) a whopping 28MHz. Plus, of course, the possibilities afforded by the Raspberry Pi Zero that is slaved to it (in Accelerated models like mine, or which can be added to all other versions), although for now that's largely limited to allowing it to load up .TZX files (an emulator virtual tape format that assumes it's being used on more powerful hardware, put simply), and some clever souls are working on getting it to natively handle Xbox One controllers through the Pi's USB ports as well - although any Next can also do that with an 8bitdo Mega Drive (Genesis) Bluetooth dongle, technically.
Thank you for this information. In the US, the Sinclair had an early death thanks to Apple in my house. From there it was the Intel (or clones) after that. But the Sinclair has a special spot in my heart and always will have.
Oh yeah, in the US Sinclair (via Timex) was barely a footnote. Even the ZX81 was still more just a thing for enthusiasts here too. But the Spectrum in the UK (and several overseas markets, like Spain and Brazil) just exploded; despite its shortcomings, a combination of its relatively low price (half or less than its nearest competitors like the C64 and BBC Model , ease of programming, and a software library that rapidly expanded to vast proportions (and was also usually cheaper than the competition) saw it become such a popular machine that it wasn't discontinued until 1992 - just think, only two years before the PlayStation came out!
It was only a year or two after that that emulation of it became viable on reasonably modest PCs, and much of the software for it was actually given distribution permission by rights holders (with only rare exceptions), so it was completely legal to do as well while emulation of other machines remained more legally questionable. So the scene for it never truly died off.
Many of the luminaries of the UK games industry got their start on the humble Speccy. The impact it's had over the decades really has been enormous.
Oh yeah, and if anyone's interested in more about the early UK computer scene, the BBC did an excellent comedy-drama about it back in 2009, starring Alexander Armstrong and a pre-Hobbit Martin Freeman, and (since it is otherwise unavailable) are happy to let it live on Youtube...
Posts
Steam | XBL
Yeah, I've added a few.
Wow, I finally just added some more rpgs to it to turn it into a nice little 16 bit jrpg machine.
You had to add some kind of storage to it, right?
About 20. More before I removed the Sega MD games to put on my Megadrive Mini.
I might take the Neo Geo and other arcade games off as well, since the Megadrive's six-button controller D-pad seems a lot more usable than what we get on the SNES controller (for circular motions anyway).
I also picked up a genesis mini and barely touched it. I'm assuming we can do some stuff with that one as well?
Yeah, I use external expanded storage (SD card with an OTG adapter). It's kind of ridiculous, but I've had fun doing this over the last two years or so.
Steam | XBL
Yeah I think I only added like 15. Only games I know I'll play more than once, and I really don't want to lose the stock UI. It's too nice.
Of course I did have a couple of adapters apparently just die.
This brought to mind a question: Sonic 3 & Knuckles is, of course, the best way to play, but Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles each have their own individual charms as well.
Is there a way to make the two link together on the mini, or would I need three ROMs in order to get everything (or four for Knuckles in Sonic 2, I guess)?
Like Mega Man Legends? Then check out my story, Legends of the Halcyon Era - An Adventure in the World of Mega Man Legends on TMMN and AO3!
In other news, The Verge got one of the PC Engine minis.
Like Mega Man Legends? Then check out my story, Legends of the Halcyon Era - An Adventure in the World of Mega Man Legends on TMMN and AO3!
It's so beautiful.
Steam | XBL
If it's on par with the Genesis Mini, I'll take it.
Like Mega Man Legends? Then check out my story, Legends of the Halcyon Era - An Adventure in the World of Mega Man Legends on TMMN and AO3!
Anyway if you want to peruse the archive of the 4 hour livestream(!), you can skip the unboxing/setup to see gameplay start around 31:49. They have a lot of fun/cool things to say but you will hear some nitpicking about the shimmer here and there.
I think it's quality myself but who knows.
(I haven't watched it in full yet)
Steam | XBL
Steam: betsuni7
I've been eyeing up ones that have shown up on eBay. At least one wasn't even absurdly overpriced, even! But couldn't do it. I'm probably gonna regret that...
In other news, my Spectrum Next is supposedly on the move and should be with me this week! :biggrin:
Steam | XBL
Eh, I'm sure they'll eventually come out so just stick to your pre-order. That's what I'm telling myself to not think about it (as well as distracting myself with other things that I can get).
Steam: betsuni7
Yeah. It's not like I haven't got a hundred other things to do as it is. (The Speccy Next, for one. I probably won't have the time for that that I'd like.)
I did have a white Japanese PC Engine once, though...
Steam | XBL
Steam | XBL
Woohoo!!! Congrats!
Steam: betsuni7
So far played just a handful of things on it. The free remake of Scramble. The demo of the forthcoming Warhawk. A couple of the very earliest Spectrum games I ever played back in the mists of 1982, Horace Goes Skiing and a very simple version of Hangman.
It simultaneously hits every nostalgia button, shows off how cool of a new machine it is in its own right, and is also bang up to date with things like HDMI output (VGA and RGB are also available) and SD card storage. (It doesn't need oodles of the latter, either - the very modest 1GB card it comes with can store the entire original Spectrum archive of over twelve thousand games with plenty of room to spare. Of course, some original software is possibly going to need more... it always does.)
I've barely scratched the surface but it's everything I wanted it to be so far. And The build quality is outstanding; it's a hefty unit for how small it is, and feels rock-solid. The keyboard that was such a major factor in its many delays is spot-on.
I can't really think what could have been done better. It really feels like a true successor to the Spectrums of yore, the design following on from the models before Amstrad bought Sinclair, especially the Plus and the original 128K "toastrack".
It's just a lovely thing. And even if I never learn how to program anything on it, it's still going to be a ton of fun just to play on and fiddle with.
Hopefully it won't be too long now until the second Kickstarter happens, and of course I'll let you guys know when it does.
Steam | XBL
That is so awesome to hear it is perfect! My only experience with the Spectrum line is the US model Timex Sinclair 1000 which was my first computer. My Dad said he told my Mom back then that he saw computers being the future and wanted his sons to learn how to program and get used to them, so saved up over time to buy it. This is the computer for those who don't know: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timex_Sinclair_1000
Anyways, my brother and I would sit on the floor and program on this little membrane keyboard (it sucked pressing the keys as a really small kid) connected to his old college black and white TV. But yeah we would do it, then have this little ASCII planes or something move across the screen. We were so delighted seeing our efforts working (and even learned how to debug and tweak the code to make it work better). Then after all those hours of work, turned it off and had to redo it again the next time.
So that's why I sorta want one of these new Sinclairs. They may not be the same one I grew up with, but they are still the spirit of the original. Plus I want to see if the old programing works on it! HAHAHAHA.
Steam: betsuni7
Twitch: KoopahTroopah - Steam: Koopah
The Timex Sinclair 1000 was basically a Sinclair ZX81, which was really the Spectrum's immediate predecessor - the Spectrum was going to be called the ZX82 at one point, but became the Spectrum as it was the first of their machines to have colour! (Or color, of course!)
I'm sure you'll be glad to know the Next is quite capable of becoming a ZX81, so all the old programming should work perfectly on it. And, although it does support saving to and loading from tapes, you can just save to the SD card instead which is obviously a whole lot easier!
The ZX81's membrane keyboard was famously awful (as was its own predecessor, the ZX80's), but it was built that way to keep the cost down. There were external keyboards for the ZX81; I had a Memotech one once that was actually really nice quality. Plugged into the expansion slot on the back, with a passthrough for the 16K RAM pack (which was pretty essential since the ZX81 only had 1K of RAM on board).
The first Spectrums in 1982 came with either 16K or 48K of RAM, the latter quickly becoming established as the standard, and with the famous rubber-keyed "dead flesh" keyboard. A Plus model followed with 48K and a "proper" keyboard. By 1985, the 128K machine was launched (96K user-accessible as was typical then), strangely enough because of a tax in Spain on computers with less than 64K! That also introduced a proper sound chip, the Yamaha AY chip also found in the Atari ST, so a lot of 128K versions of games going forward had some awesome music. After that, Amstrad bought Sinclair and released a couple of versions each of the 128K +2 (with built-in tape deck, dubbed "datacorder") and +3 (with built-in 3" proprietary floppy disk drive, and no, that's not a typo, 3" was very different to the soon-to-be-standard 3.5"), with more traditional keyboards - although they largely lacked the keywords being printed on them, which would make 48K BASIC programming on them much more difficult. But by this point the Spectrum was more or less positioned as a games machine and little more.
The Next (as well as having this delightful keyboard, with keywords present and correct, that is a proper successor to the Plus and 128K of '84-'85) comes with 1MB of RAM on board, and is expandable to 2MB, so you've got a lot more headroom to work with, and it's more comparable memory-wise to the later 16-bit computers like the Atari ST, Commodore Amiga, and PCs of a 286 or 386 vintage, although it's still based on an 8-bit, Z80 processor architecture - with some possible future flexibility due to its central FPGA, and different processor cores are being tried out on it so the sky is the limit. And while it normally sits at a Spectrum-equalling 3.5MHz, it can be accelerated to 7, 14 or (after updating the core) a whopping 28MHz. Plus, of course, the possibilities afforded by the Raspberry Pi Zero that is slaved to it (in Accelerated models like mine, or which can be added to all other versions), although for now that's largely limited to allowing it to load up .TZX files (an emulator virtual tape format that assumes it's being used on more powerful hardware, put simply), and some clever souls are working on getting it to natively handle Xbox One controllers through the Pi's USB ports as well - although any Next can also do that with an 8bitdo Mega Drive (Genesis) Bluetooth dongle, technically.
Steam | XBL
After a few weeks of testing, I've founded that any changes to the the Sega MD Mini--including adding any roms--breaks one of the games (Alisia Dragoon) in Engage.
Thank you for this information. In the US, the Sinclair had an early death thanks to Apple in my house. From there it was the Intel (or clones) after that. But the Sinclair has a special spot in my heart and always will have.
Steam: betsuni7
Oh yeah, in the US Sinclair (via Timex) was barely a footnote. Even the ZX81 was still more just a thing for enthusiasts here too. But the Spectrum in the UK (and several overseas markets, like Spain and Brazil) just exploded; despite its shortcomings, a combination of its relatively low price (half or less than its nearest competitors like the C64 and BBC Model
It was only a year or two after that that emulation of it became viable on reasonably modest PCs, and much of the software for it was actually given distribution permission by rights holders (with only rare exceptions), so it was completely legal to do as well while emulation of other machines remained more legally questionable. So the scene for it never truly died off.
Many of the luminaries of the UK games industry got their start on the humble Speccy. The impact it's had over the decades really has been enormous.
Steam | XBL
Steam | XBL