This guide allows you to softmod your PS2 fat model in easy steps without an existing FMCB card or any rom manager. Thanks to the Reddit user u/quisys for the original guide. Disclaimer: make sure you know what disk you're writing to when using dd command, I am not responsible for any data loss.

Required Hardware

• Fat PS2
• Memory Card
• PS2 Network Adapter
• Controller
• HDD
• USB key
• SATA to USB cable

Required Software

• dd, exfat-utils, util-linux (you probably already have these in your distro)
• wLaunchELF KHN HDD image
• FreeMCBoot installer
• wLaunchELF 4.43x_isr
• OpenPS2 Loader

Install FreeMCBoot

• Connect your HDD to your computer, then write "__mbr.raw" (wLaunchELF KHN HDD image) to the HDD: sudo dd if=__mbr.raw of=/dev/sdX [Determine the path of your HDD using lsblk. It should be /dev/sdX, with X being the letter of your disk. ENSURE YOU USE THE PATH OF YOUR DISK! IT SHOULD NEVER BE /dev/sda]
• Unmount and remove the HDD
• Extract FreeMCBoot Installer then copy BOOT.ELF, OPNPS2LD.ELF and FMCBinst folder to your USB key
• Plug HDD and USB key into your PS2, then turn on the PS2
• Enter file browser, go to mass: and launch BOOT.ELF
• Enter file browser, go to mass: > FreeMCBinst folder and open FMCBInstaller.elf (not the exfat one), then select Install FreeMCBoot following the on-screen instructions. Restart your console
• Open wLaunchELF and go to file browser, go to mass: and hover over OPNPS2LD.ELF and press R1, select Copy. Go to mc0: or mc1: (depending on which slot your memory card is in), go to OPL and press R1, select Paste to overwrite OPNPS2LD.ELF
• Restart your PS2, open OpenPS2Loader, go to About and make sure the version is not 1.0.0, then turn off your PS2 and remove the HDD

HDD Management

• Connect your HDD to PC and format it in ExFAT (I suggest you a partition manager, or you can use mkfs.exfat /dev/sdX)
• Make a folder called DVD and a folder called CD in the root of your HDD
• Copy your videogames .iso to the DVD folder or your .cue/.bin to the CD folder

OPL Setup

• Plug in your HDD to the PS2, turn on your PS2
• Go to OpenPS2Loader > Settings and turn on cache game list (HDD), set BDM start mode to Auto
• Go to BDM Devices, disable USB, enable HDD
• Press OK, hit Save Changes

Follow-up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20IZqIOrZPc

WHAT'S COVERED

Somari (1994)
The original bootleg. Most of its graphics are based on Sonic 1 for the Genesis, while the Green Hill background and the Special Stages come from the Master System version. Somari himself was drawn over Mario's sprite from Super Mario Bros. 3. It includes every zone except Scrap Brain and even adds the Spin Dash, but the physics are clumsy, the level design is poor, and there are no checkpoints or continues.

Sonic the Hedgehog (1998)
A Hummer Team hack, also sold as Sonic 3D Blast 5, that puts Sonic back in the lead. It adds a new title screen and an attract mode, but starts in Spring Yard Zone and comes with a misassigned level select and typos like "Spring Yand."

Level Fix (2016), by Hybrid
Puts the start back at Green Hill Zone, fixes the level select mapping, and corrects "Spring Yand."

Improvement V1.0 (2016), by the jabu
Made for Sonic's 25th anniversary, this is where the community's work on the original Somari begins: new Sonic sprites, retouched palettes, extra animation, a better-centered camera, a controllable Spin Dash, and reworked acceleration. Fifty rings now get you into the Special Stage, though the Chaos Emeralds are still missing.

Improvement + Music (2016), by Ti, with tracks by Amilgi
Every track redone using only the NES's own sound hardware, and sound effects no longer cut off the music.

Improvement + Graphics (2016), by Terwilf
A graphics-focused patch covering scenery, items, enemies, and Sonic himself.

Improvement V1.2 (2017), by FuriousHedgehog
Another graphics pass, with the jabu's, Ti's, and Terwilf's work already included: a reworked title screen, corrected Sonic sprites, updated background tiles, redrawn rings, a Genesis-style number font, and a life icon inspired by Sonic Mania.

Sonic the Hedgehog Vol. 2 (2020), directed by Terwilf
An unofficial continuation of the jabu's project and a full rebuild of the game: overhauled physics and collisions, variable jump height, checkpoints and continues, the Chaos Emeralds and Super Sonic, fourteen emeralds with a second round of faux 3D Special Stages in the style of Sonic 3's Blue Spheres, a redesigned Labyrinth Zone, Scrap Brain Zone made from scratch, proper endings with cutscenes, and an optional FM soundtrack for EPSM hardware and compatible emulators like Mesen-X.

Channel members get full longplays of several of the versions featured in this video.

I'm using an 8BitDo M30 (and a Retro-Bit Saturn-style pad) to play Saturn games. Last month everything worked fine — Mednafen, SSF, Yaba Sanshiro and RetroArch cores all recognized the buttons correctly.

This month I swapped my PC's hard drive and installed the latest versions. Now buttons are either mapped incorrectly or some don't register at all. I've tried:

· Downgrading to older emulator versions · Switching the M30 between D-input and X-input modes · Manual remapping in RetroArch · Testing on Android — same problem · Reinstalling Windows

The controller works perfectly in Steam games (e.g. Street Fighter 6), so the hardware itself is fine.

Has anyone else run into this with recent RetroArch builds? Is it an autoconfig issue?

I spent $3.50 to pick up a ten-year-old vibration-free Betop Bat gamepad, just for nostalgia. I own many controllers. Their specs keep getting better, yet I cannot recapture that old feeling. I suddenly remembered the first time I connected a gamepad to my PC. Compared with cheap no-name controllers, the experience was totally different. This is the rumble-free Betop Bat. Back then it sold for $6.85, while the rumble-enabled version was priced at $10.90. Its hand feel is mediocre, and the dpad is its biggest weakness. I do not even see the lack of wireless support as a downside. Most cheap generic controllers in that price range back then only supported DInput. Still, its build quality was far better than off-brand alternatives. It was popular among students and retro game players for its solid value. If we only look at practical value, spending $3.50 on this old pad is not a good buy, since brand-new entry-level gamepads are very cheap today. Even so, it works well enough for casual retro gaming and reminiscing about the old days.

Betop has grown into a gamepad brand with solid technical expertise within China. When I chatted with friends recently, we all remembered that this brand has grown alongside Chinese gamers for 29 years.

Looking back at 2015, options for gamepads at this price point were very limited, in both developed and developing countries. You could only pick up no-name controllers with terrible feel, unreliable lifespan, and messy in-game setup. If you wanted something with solid build quality and decent ergonomics, you would have to pay significantly more. Betop gave more players access to a relatively decent gaming experience. Even though the brand has had its share of debates over these 29 years, I’m just posting this to document a personal memory.

Note: I do not intend to compare the modern Betop Kunpeng with controllers like the DS5. This post only documents the old Bat gamepad and the story of Chinese retro gamers from that era

I’ve spent the last little while properly getting to know the Retroid Pocket Duo Lite, and my review is probably a little more focused on the feel of the thing, the two-screen experience and what it’s actually like to live with than on endless performance charts. I do cover some of the usual emulation stuff, but I was especially interested in what Retroid has managed to do with the form factor at this price, and whether it still has a bit of that dual-screen magic once the novelty wears off and the limitations of the processor kick in.

I also had quite a few people kindly chime in along the way. SapphireRhodonite, the developer of SeedlessDS, talks about building a modern DS emulator around lower-powered dual-screen hardware; the Cocoon and iiSU teams share what this new wave of cheaper dual-screen devices means for their own development; Chris Covers from Retroid talks about coming back to two screens for the first time since Nintendo’s original hardware; and Mr Stephen’s Retro Corner helped with some proper display testing. There are a few other voices in there too, so hopefully it feels a little broader than just me saying whether I liked the thing or not :)

• Invidious, a privacy focused YouTube frontend: https://inv.nadeko.net/watch?v=Zqk_XL3oCZE
• YouTube: https://youtu.be/Zqk_XL3oCZE

Documentary about how this new world record in speedrunning a level in Quake was achieved.

I've been spending a bunch of time with TortOS, the new custom firmware for the TrimUI Brick and Brick Hammer, so I chatted with its developer Geekstrada, who also works with Helaas on Leaf for the Miniloong Pocket 1.

My article goes into why he wanted TortOS to be deliberately small and focused, the Cover Flow-inspired UI, how he keeps emulator cores ready in memory to make launching games so fast, and why he’d rather support fewer systems really well than chase everything the Brick can technically run.

We also talk quite a bit about Muse, its lovely music side, and the old iPods and physical music collections that helped inspire it. I’ve been using my TortOS set-up with just three games per system and filling the rest of the card with music, which ended up feeling like a pretty perfect fit for what TortOS is trying to do.

Anyway, if you're at all curious on this new firmware, or the dev side of it, then hopefully you like the article :)

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/52511734

New 16x20 acrylic painting. Spot the mashup?

Going to play some PC 98 games on my old laptop with Gentoo for Halloween. I've seen some of the horror tittles and they look pretty good. I want to play both Dead of the Brain games, corpse party, and a cool RPG called Peret em Heru.

The compile for neko project 21 was quick and figuring out how to load games and getting the fonts wasn't too hard. PC 98 is the oldest system that I've emulated.

With emulators extremely mature now, why buy a $37 compatible console and plug in physical cartridges?

When I was young, I loved Mega Drive games. That blue hedgehog running at high speed, the varied level routes. The gameplay felt very different from Super Mario on the Famicom. For players in China, most games we had back then were pirated copies. I wanted an original Mega Drive console, but finding a good working unit is a matter of luck. A seasoned Mega Drive player friend suggested I try a handheld that accepts physical cartridges; I might get a nice surprise. I bought the Neocade MD200, and overall the experience is pretty good.

1. What kind of game console is this

Important note: The Neocade MD200 is not licensed by Sega. It is a third-party product from brand Neocade. It comes with 18 built-in NES games and an included 12-in-1 licensed reproduction Mega Drive cartridge published by PIKO. PIKO acquired the copyrights for these old games. So this is more of a third-party compatible handheld, not the pirated game consoles made by domestic manufacturers in the old days. One reason I chose it is its good after-sales support.

I got the Chinese domestic version of the unit. The agent sells it for $37, and the price can drop lower during promotions. The overseas version only differs by sales region.

Cheap price does not mean it suits everyone. I keep thinking: now that open-source handhelds are very mature, is there really a reason to play games on a cartridge-based console? I care not only about gameplay experience, but also the stories that happen while playing. My answer is it still has value.

First, hardware specs. This handheld has compatibility issues with flash carts, but works well with licensed physical Mega Drive cartridges.

• Screen: 3.5 inch LCD, resolution 320×240 ​
• Cartridge slot: Standard Mega Drive (MD) cartridge port ​
• Battery: Built-in lithium battery, roughly 6 hours of play on full charge ​
• Output: HDMI for TV out, 720P ​
• System: Linux ​
• Buttons: Standard Mega Drive 6-button layout (ABC XYZ) + D-pad, Start/Select, volume keys ​
• Form factor: Portable handheld, pocket-sized ​
• Box contents: Console + PIKO 12-in-1 MD cartridge + USB charging cable + manual

Pictures of gameplay are attached. Here are pros and cons, feel free to disagree and discuss.

Pros Handheld mode plays well. Volume adjustment works nicely. Buttons have firm travel, grip feels comfortable. I like the modern USB-C and Mini HDMI ports. The included cartridge has PIKO licensed games. They are relatively obscure titles but decent quality. I enjoyed the American football game on it even though I know nothing about the sport.

Cons The D-pad is not the design of the original Mega Drive controller. It works fine for most games, but some players will mind. The six action buttons are packed close together; fighting game players may find it uncomfortable.

There are compatibility issues between Mini HDMI cables and displays. The cable included with the unit did not work with my monitor, but switching to another cable that came with my monitor fixed it. The same applies to TVs. When outputting to a display, it defaults to 16:9 aspect ratio. There is no automatic adjustment; you need to manually change the picture ratio on your display.

Full game list, total of 30 games: 18 built-in NES games + 12 MD games on the included cartridge.

Built-in 18 NES (Famicom) games

1. 8 Eyes ​ 2. Bad Street Brawler ​ 3. Dash Galaxy in the Alien Asylum ​ 4. Eliminator Boat Duel ​ 5. The Immortal ​ 6. Little Lancelot ​ 7. Metal Mech ​ 8. Motor City Patrol ​ 9. Mutant Virus: The Crisis ​ 10. Power Punch II ​ 11. Road Raider ​ 12. Stanley ​ 13. Target: Renegade ​ 14. Thunderbolt ​ 15. Top Race 2 ​ 16. Water Margin ​ 17. Gadget Twins ​ 18. Legend of Wukong

Included PIKO 12-in-1 MD cartridge

1. AWS Pro Moves Soccer ​ 2. Risky Woods ​ 3. Sword of Sodan ​ 4. Street Racer ​ 5. Brutal Sports Football ​ 6. The Immortal ​ 7. Thunderbolt II ​ 8. BOB ​ 9. Beggar Prince ​ 10. Switchblade ​ 11. Deflektor ​ 12. Tinhead

My opinion on this console: If you want to play licensed physical Mega Drive cartridges and experience these 30 games, it is worth considering. If that is not your goal, buying it may not meet your expectations.

2. Sonic 2: Memories Across Time on an Old Cartridge

Before I got the MD200, I hunted down a physical Mega Drive copy of Sonic 2. It came complete with box and manual. The yellowed reply card has handwritten level select codes and short comments left by its previous owner. It is clear that the original owner loved this game. I paid $29 for the set, price for reference only.

For Japanese collectors, old cartridges with previous owners' handwriting may be common. For me, it means something different. Looking at those handwritten cheat codes, I keep imagining the player who wrote them decades ago, experimenting with Sonic 2's levels. If I had known this cheat back then, I would have been the cool kid among my friends.

This cartridge is more than a game medium. It carries emotional heritage between players across time. Even though I can buy Sonic games on Steam now, physical cartridges have a unique warmth that emulators struggle to replicate.

3. A Strange Accidental Firmware Bug and a Pleasant Customer Service Experience

While testing the included PIKO 12-in-1 cartridge, I encountered a weird behavior. When inserting the cartridge, the handheld would not load the multi-game menu. It would boot straight into Deflektor. Only occasionally would it open the normal game list.

I contacted the store's customer service. They said they had never received reports of this issue before, but they were curious about this strange behavior and checked with the factory. Their solution: send me a brand new replacement 12-in-1 cartridge. They also shipped an extra PIKO licensed reproduction Mega Drive cartridge so I could keep testing compatibility with different physical cartridges.

This extra cartridge was not leftover old stock. They just wanted me to test more cartridges out of curiosity about this bug. This support experience left a deep impression on me.

After checking information to figure this out: this is not an official easter egg. When the 12-in-1 cartridge has poor contact, the handheld detects a cartridge is present, but fails to read the cartridge header ROM data. Instead of throwing an error as the firmware was designed to do, it falls into an unexpected code branch and loads Deflektor stored inside the handheld firmware. The agent had never seen this before. It is a glitch triggered by chance.

I did not make up any events. The customer service offered the extra cartridge voluntarily for testing. I will keep testing different physical Mega Drive cartridges on this console and share more about the MD200 cartridge compatibility later.

I have bought many Sonic games on Steam, and they are great to play. I plan to look at more Mega Drive cartridges in the future, and I hope I can share more gaming stories with everyone.

Hey everyone, I've been playing Guitar Hero since the first one came out, and have an Xbox 360 that is kept alive so I can continue doing so. The guitar controller I have that's in best condition has had issues with the green fret button for years now. When I went to play just now, it took several attempts just to launch the game from the Xbox home screen, so I finally decided to take things apart and look at it, however I think the fix I found can be accomplished without disassembling anything (though it requires basic soldering knowledge, and taking apart the neck of the guitar is very easy and will give you more room).

On the left is what the little contactor board originally looked like; note the divots in the center of each pad where the spring-loaded pins on the body of the guitar press against. The right one is the one that I experimented on, you can just barely make out the divots left in the bead of solder I put on each contactor. The contact pads seem to be too thin for how strong the springs for the pins are; a little solder gives the pins a fresh surface to make a good connection, and much more material to push through (even if the pin does wear all the way through, there will be enough solder surrounding it to make a good connection).

After ~2 hours of playing just now, no issues on any of the fret buttons!

Hope this helps someone! Rock on! 🤘🏾

I recently replayed Tom & Jerry for the PS1, a game that is clearly low budget but still is still fun to play, especially when playing against someone else.

This being the retrogaming community, I expect to hear about games up to the 360/PS3 era 😁

I stumbled across this while looking through old PSP physical releases and ended up going down a bit of a rabbit hole. In 2005, Sony released a version of the movie Stealth on UMD that also had a playable, exclusive version of WipEout Pure on the same disc, complete with a Stealth-themed track and a craft based on the film's fighter jet.

I ended up writing a little piece about what was on the UMD, why Sony was experimenting with movie/game hybrids at the time, and what survives of this very strange release today. It is a super light little read, but when it comes to PSP's these days, there's woefully few of those!

Hopefully some in here find it amusing :)

Cannon Fodder is a fun Amiga game from back in the day that is one of the few that I'll still play now and then, but the music is next level awesome. War has never been so much fun.

I'm not calling this a review since I have no experience in writing those, and this is all over the place.

So, I just finished Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced, and it was the first game for the GBA that I've beat so far. I'm new to this stuff, experimenting with Gameboy things on my Anbernic RG SP.

The game was great! I was surprised that Vicarious Visions was able to nail Naughty Dog's Crash feel from the fantastic PS1 trilogy, 2 of which were some of my first ever console games. At least to me, it feels very similar to the PS1 trilogy but in 2D.

There's various different types of gameplay, surfing levels, standard 2D platforming, space levels, and every boss has a different way of how you have to beat it.

I have to admit that I did some save state abuse, but only in one level! It was the last level with ropes and I got relatively easily to what is pretty much the end to grab the gem but I couldn't figure out how to grab one of the ropes. I ragequit the game, and probably 2 days later it randomly popped into my mind I probably needed to bounce off some boxes.

2 weeks later, I decided to swallow my pride and use save states for the first time because I wanted to beat the game, and I was right about the boxes. This means that if I had the motivation to do a bit more "legit" grinding, I could've easily passed the level without save state abuse. I don't consider it cheating in this case, but who cares about cheating in a single player game to be honest.

I did all the rest of the levels without using save states and had a very pleasant time, especially with the final boss, it was very fun :) I was surprised to find out the game ended there, I thought there was one more stage.

TLDR: Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced is a great game, give it a try if you haven't already, especially if you like platformers. It's very much like the PS1 Crash games but in 2D, at least in my honest opinion.

cross-posted from: https://lemy.lol/post/71971553

"One... two... tree [sic]... Hit it! OUTRUN."

I know it's not a "cool" topic to post on, but I'm curious what power setups everyone has. With multiple consoles and/or CRT's etc - it ends up being a ton of outlets needed! Right now I am mostly still on just power strips, I have one "power tower" that has 4 separate banks I can turn on and off. This is really useful for things with wall warts that I don't like being powered up and getting warm. The only issue is all the power lights burned out on the unit so I can't actually tell which bank is off or on now.

I'm also awful at cable management, it gets really hard when you have 16 power cords going everywhere!

What are your setups?

Hello everyone, I’m a Chinese player. I met Saturn by accident. When I was young I played pirated MD games. I saw Saturn for sale before, but I thought it was overpriced and I didn’t buy it. I thought maybe I get a SS. Its game library can complement my PS2 and PS3, and it has many fun games.

I talk about my console purchase and current condition. I don’t know repair or mod techniques. I bought this Japanese Saturn one month ago. It has a power supply modification, no transformer needed in China. The second controller port is damaged, fixed with UA glue and still stable. The optical drive works, and it has a modchip. I paid $29 for bare console.

Now the problem: I used GBSC and RGBS cable to play. It worked well last week. Yesterday there is sound but no picture. Power light on, flash cart light on, optical drive works normally.

At first I thought the power board broke. I asked a local repair shop owner online. He said this model’s power board is durable. Probably mainboard problem. Even if soldered well, other parts may fail again. Need testing. After he knew my goal: I want to fix the machine and share this story. He said it is too troublesome. He has many spare parts, but it is not necessary. Buy a better machine for flash cart use. I asked if he has spare console. He has one decent Saturn. I do not need modchip. My PS2 is only used to test game discs from different regions. I want to buy some games I like or games with interesting design for memory and collection.

I will post photos of my mainboard. Hope you can share your opinion for discussion.

My questions:

1. My priority: sentimental value > gameplay > collectibility. Which choice should I take? ​ 2. What maintenance do I need for this retro console? ​ 3. If my old machine is not worth repairing, how to pass it on with memorial meaning? I hope someone who really needs it takes it, not become trash e-waste.

Also I have another idea: find a donor console with same mainboard model, but broken shell and bad optical drive. Try to build one working Saturn by mixing good parts by myself. What do you think?