cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/53850301

I've just published a new interview with Moth, lnkd and Anti, the three developers behind Cocoon, an Android gaming frontend designed to give retro handhelds a more cohesive, console-like experience. It's super interesting on dual-screen devices like the AYN Thor and Retroid Pocket Duo, where it makes use of both displays for browsing game libraries, managing applications and navigating a customizable interface inspired in part by the Nintendo 3DS.

Their latest 3.1 update introduces some substantial improvements, including the ability to suspend, resume and close games without leaving Cocoon, alongside smarter dual-screen behavior and a redesigned interface. I spoke with all three about how these features came together, the considerable optimization work needed to get Cocoon running smoothly on more modest hardware like the Anbernic RG DS, and the music and sound design that helps give the whole thing its personality.

There's quite a bit about the challenges they've encountered along the way too, including some unexpected performance discoveries and the difficulties of maintaining compatibility with different emulators. Really enjoyed catching up with the team, and I've included plenty of GIFs demonstrating the new features (thanks to them!)

Hope some here enjoy the article from our interviews and find something of interest in here!

My ice cold take: Ghouls ‘n Ghosts for the Genesis/Mega Drive remains the best of the series. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Over the past month or so, an exploit was discovered, allowing users to hack Nintendo’s latest console. This obviously has opened the floodgates, especially since the community has since shared that it’s possible to dump Switch 2 games and files.[...]

One recent example comes from @willfaustcuber, who was able to get Mario Kart World running on their iPhone 18 Pro and Mac.

Faust details that they were able to get MKW running on both platforms courtesy of a forked (and private) NXNative build. For the unaware, NXNative is recently-released command line tool that takes the original game files and prod.key and recompiles the files into an installable IPA file for iOS and iPadOS. It also does the same for macOS, with a minimal tweak to the compilation script.

heh-heh-heh...

So today I reached a nice milestone in one of my projects: my work porting classic Mac OS to PowerPC systems with what I affectionately call ArtX chipsets (Nintendo GameCube, Wii, eventually Wii U; the GameCube’s Flipper integrated chipset was very much designed by ArtX as it was effectively finished when ATI acquired the company, and the Wii’s Vegas (and its later revision Bollywood) and Wii U’s Latte are effectively straight successors) reached the desktop for the first time, most likely the first time since the CHRP clone era that someone outside of Apple brought up classic Mac OS on a new system to the desktop. Despite still being nowhere near ready for a public release, I want to talk about the challenges I faced with this project so far.

Source: https://sakurajima.moe/@peachymist/117509187411433713

Featured interviewees:

Koji Igarashi - Producer
Takashi Takeda - Chief Programmer
Shutaro Iida - Programmer (Enemies)
Shinichiro Shimamura - Design Chief
Yoshiyuki Suzuki - Graphics Designer
Michiru Yamane - Composer

The team was also eager to get the final version of the translation officially released before anybody else cheapshotted them by taking the A.I. route.

The building is in Hackensack, New Jersey, and Nintendo used it for its test-market launch. According to Contri, "it’s still standing and looks nearly identical."

Posted this morning to Twitter and Bluesky, Taki unveiled the announcement of the new “SuperStation Pocket” that will be coming soon. Touted as being performant enough to cover all the way up to PS1 and N64, their new upcoming handheld is looking to be competition to basically every FPGA handheld out on the market at the moment thanks to its capability to play GB, GBC, and even GBA carts natively on the device. So for those of you with an Analogue Pocket, Funnyplaying FPGB Mini, Modretro Chromatic, or Game Bub, it seems you might have something new to do it all instead.

Not much information is known about this handheld, though we’ll likely figure out more this year. What we do know is its power, and its 4K capability thanks to a dock that they’ll be producing as well. In the comments on Twitter, Taki confirmed it will have 4 face buttons for easier compatibility with systems like SNES, and that this is not the SP styled handheld he’s been showcasing recently. Oh; and all of this for under $200. At that price point, with its N64 capabilities, it outprices handheld alternatives like the Analogue Pocket, and their own N64 capable SuperStation One as well. So if you’re looking for value, this could be it.

VGP wrote on social media about Nintendo’s game-key card policy:

“When it comes to game-key cards, all the publishers know exactly where VGP stands. Unfortunately, we don’t see much changing with most of the bigger publishers. As we’ve stated many times, we’d actively try to get existing game-key card titles reprinted as full-on-cart versions, but at the moment, there’s a Nintendo policy preventing that. That said, we’ll keep pushing, keep asking questions, and keep annoying them.”

Unfortunately, VGP didn’t share any information beyond what we’ve posted above.