Well, that might just be worth it... Of course I'd want to hack it to put my collection of atari roms on it. But yeah... I might keep an eye out for that.

Thanks for the heads up.

My Turbo Grafx Mini gets delivered tomorrow. I’ve only played a few of the games on the system so I’m looking forward to some new games to play. Any tips on the best games?

So I played through most of the games. Not all.

The one game that really sucked is moto racing. UGHHHH... I can't figure out the gas button.
Which brings me to one minor gripe about this system(minor its a great mini console and well worth the money even though it is expensive).

The sega mini had the option to look at the game manual. There is no such option here. And really that would be welcome. As it would be nice to get a little depth and detail about the games. Now with that being said... I'll answer your main question... Ummm going to be lengthy. Just like Styx I've got "Too Much Time on My Hands"!

First before we get started remember that there are two sets of games. American games and then Japanese games. To switch you hit the down button on d-pad and then you go over to the console and make the change.

On the American side my hands down favorite game is Lords of Thunder. Its a horizontal scrolling Shoot em up game. I'm not a big shoot em up fan, as its probably one of my lesser favorite game genres, along with the RPG genre as well... Which is a bit of a bummer as the T16 was mostly famous for it shoot em ups and RPGs and this mini has a lot.
But, Lords of Thunder is really, really well done and while I don't think it is the best horizontal shooter I've ever played(just because I don't love em, doesn't mean I haven't played a good chunk of em), it really is up there. For starters I like that you're not a boring space ship or jet, but a mech!!!! And the enemy designs are amazing and fun and lots of variety. Along with their designs are unique attack patterns. And the level designs are unique as well. Its really refreshing as this game plays so different from most in the genre. And I like the melee attack. I wish you could do it manually, but 2 buttons.. .So I get it. Game play is fantastic. And the music is amazing. You'll be hard pressed to find a better horizontal shoot em up than this. My only beef. Is a charge attack would ahve made this game better and probably I'd say the best ever. Just a minor gripe for an amazing game.
And again I've never had much luck getting this to work on my pi, so... Works great here!!!!!

The 2nd best game is Dracula A.... something... Rondo of Blood basically. Its on the Japanese side, and again its a turbo cd game and again another game that I never could get to work. But, trust me. You don't need to read or speak Japanese to play it. Its amazing and its one of the best Castlevania's of all time. Won't talk more about that one. As its Castlevania and that is all you need to know.

Ninja Scroll on the American side is a really amazing game. Its a near perfect arcade port. I mostly played the arcade version in the past, as the sound is better. But, this is a great version and its a amazing.

On the ninja side of things is Ninja Gaiden. Its on the Japanese side and its Ninja... something or another... I don't know much about it. I only played it a few minutes, but it seems like a port of the first one on the T16. Don't know the differences. But, again. Its Ninja Gaiden... Awesome game.

Kung Fu game on the Japanese side that you're a really big sprite and its constantly auto scrolling to the right. At first I hated this game. I've played it in the past. But, I never got the controls... Well something clicked and I had a good bit of fun playing it. Is it great... No... But, it is fun.

Bonks Revenge is on the American side. That's the 2nd bonk. Its actually a really good platformer. Has a lot of unique elements to it, to set it apart. Is it as good as super mario bros 3... no... Its on par with the first one though. Has a lot of good ideas, and game looks great.

The first Bonk is on the Japanese side. You don't need to know how to read to play this that one either. Its not called bonk, but look for his face and its the first one.

Air Zonk. That is another Bonk game, but set in the future and its a side scrolling horizontal shooter. Not as good as Lords of Thunder, but its still a pretty dang good one. Unique style and sense of humor... All in all pretty fun game.

And becauase this is Pinball forume. Alien Crush is one of the better console virtual pinball games. I like demon's crush a bit better. But, Alien Crush is fun to play.

Splatter House. This is the only Beat Em Up on this mini console and its a good one. Its not great. But, its always worth playing and fun. I do look forward to beating this one. As I never did in the past and I got to the 3rd stage without dying... So I think if i just practice the bosses more I should be okay.

To me those are my favorites.
Some people love the RPGs, so they'll mention Yves 1 and 2... Or maybe cadash. And I do look forward to playing those. Just not right now. I'm not in the mood for a deep dive retro RPG.

Also, trust me... Horizontal and vertical shooters... There are a lot on this system and a lot of classics. I didn't mention Verticals at all, but trust me, they are there.
Fantasy Zone is on the Japanese side. And that is a classic as well. I don't know how easy the shop is to navigate though... I haven't played that version yet.

And I do like the bomber man games for short plays... And I was surprised at Chew Man FU. That seems like a fun puzzle game. A little like Bomberman but with a slightly different approach.

I plan on playing that one more.

So in hindsight one might wonder why I bought this system. As I'm not a fan of the bulk of the games on it. RPGs and Shootem ups. I really think Legendary ax 1 and 2 should have been included. Those games were unique and really don't need Ninja Giaden that's on the NES.

Still the cost of this system just for Rondo, Lords of Thunder are worth it. Also... I think I might get into Advanced Wars. That seems like a fun turn based strategy game. Only played first map. I think that game might kick my butt!!! Thank goodness for save states. As I think there are no passcodes for the levels.

Well... I just beat Splatterhouse on my Turbo Mini. Only took a little over a day of casual playing.
Which is funny, because when I was a kid I owned the game for my t16 and I never really got past the chainsaw boss.
I think a few times I did, but I think the last boss I beat was the spinning heads boss. Can't really believe I had this much trouble with the game. As I don't think I am a better player now, than what I was in my youth.

Sure a few games I think I am better than now. But, as a whole I think I might have been just a little bit better. Mainly because I could grind and grind and grind on the games. And I just don't really have the time or desire to grind at old games. I only play causally.

Still as easy as it was to beat Splatterhouse, I still enjoyed it and will most likely play it again.

Waiting for them to hopefully release in states.

Still waiting for the US version of the Genesis stack. Not sure why they never released it.

Got my hydra in finally (3mo delivery due to the pandemic), loving this retro rgb action!

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$50 each for only 4 games on each so $200 for the set.....no thanks. And they didn’t skimp on the word “micro”
I’d pay $50 for all 4 just to collect them but these don’t look user friendly at all.

If the game gear micro was twice the size and included ~40games I would have ordered one, but these $50 keychains look ridiculous.

Tell us more. So did you have all your consoles modded with scart RGB? Is the hydra just a good splitter? I’ve never heard of one before.

They are way too small. Don’t get what’s the reason they even made these.

Most consoles don’t need a mod, just a cable. The Hydra is an automatic scart switcher, which is nice that you don’t have to manually plug in each console as you want to play it, or remember which console is what input.

I got the Dreamcast, Saturn, Neo Geo, N64 (mod required), Turbo all hooked up painlessly. Picture quality (for me) was worth the price and time to research, those consoles never looked so good.

WOOT WOOT! Just beat Streets of Rage II. Won't lie... I had to increase the lives to 5 and used all the continues. But, I don't like grinding away to get better in video games anymore. The bosses are the only real issues I have... And I'm slowly getting better with them... But, was just really happy that I finally beat it.

My goal is to be all three of the streets of rage games. However Streets of Rage 1... I can only get to the final stage. 3 I haven't really played too much past stage 3-4 as I've just never really focused on playing that one. But, I won't be playing the American Streets of Rage 3, I will be playing the Japanese Bare Knuckle 3 which is a better game. They upped the difficulty and made the enemies damage sponges more in the american release. One of the rare instances of the American games being harder(there are a few... Like the Echo the dolphins are harder in America).

Been focusing during the Quarentine on video games and not pinball. Might want to get back into the pinball groove.

Command & Conquer remake on Steam! Brings back old memories. Also includes the first Red Alert.

I watched a video last night for C&C. It looks pretty cool. Not bad for $19.99.

played those games for days on end. Days upon days...

One of my best moments was a multiplayer match where I had a whole bunch of stealth tanks. Time my attack on the persons 2nd base outpost with a nuclear strike that took out the tesla coils or whatever was used to detech the tanks.
Wiped his base out... and took that part of the map over.

Sadly. I lost the match, because I had to go to the bathroom. Really, really, really bad. Could not wait. And when I came back the guy snuck in a commando on a helicopter and it blew up too much of my main base. If I was there. I would have prevented that from happening... But, I wasn't... Ohhh well... Still a fun moment.

The Command & Conquer Remake came out so well! The upgraded graphics are nice without using too much of that cheap smoothing effect that a lot of games have used to make pixels look less noticeable, they added a lot of modern options like right mouse click orders and re-bindable keys, and there's a stack of extras and bonuses. Really great package for 20 bucks. Has gotten glowing reviews and seems to be selling well, so hopefully they're going to do Tiberian Sun and RA 2 next.

Also this week picked up a Star Wars arcade 1up, and a Pac-Man Countercade (also from 1up). The Countercade was a bit of an impulse purchase, it seems to be getting hard to find (only third party sellers on Amazon, with prices $300 and up), so when I saw a new one at Target for $150, seemed like a good buy. And it's Pac-Man. I'd never not want to play a game of Pac-Man. Happy with the SW Arcade, too. I'm building a MAME cabinet, but games like these three (Star Wars, Empire, and Jedi) are hard to emulate due to the specific control panel needed.

Tempted to get the Golden Tee 1up, but I think I'll just wait for my MAME cab.

Golden tee is so popular at parties that it can dominate your MAME cabinet all night. I got an arcade1up cab an have no complaints

Playing C&C almost all day yesterday, is there was a similar type of game that's still being made? Haven't really played any of these games since Westwood was shut down.

I just like the base-building and attack preperation aspect of it. I tried to play some of the older C&C games a couple years ago, and just couldn't stand it since they weren't meant for modern monitors.

Look into They Are Billions.

I’ll never forget buying Streets of Rage 2 with my friend back in the day. I think it was 60 bucks when it came out. I still have my original copy.

I tried to beat Streets of Rage 2 on my Gameboy Zero, and just couldn't do it. Even with max lives and continues. I got close I think.

I loved Beat'em ups growing up. It's what I mostly played in the arcade. But for whatever reason, I didn't own a single one for the Genesis. I have no idea why. I was always super bummed that Final Fight never came out for the Genesis, and never could find it once I got my Sega CD. But I'm slapping my head for never getting TMNT, Street's of Rage, or any other ones. So now with the retro console, I'm going back through and playing what I should have.

I'm doing mostly the same. I never had that much money and could only have a few games at a time.
I got really close to beating the first streets of rage last night.
But, the blaze twins kicked my ass too much.
I actually saved teh last stage before I played it. I had like 4 lives and all three continues and the blaze twins still kicked my ass too much.

With some good practice I beat them and I beat the game. But, only using the solid state save. So it really didn't count. I beat it 3 times so far. So I'm going to do another play through. The twins still suck... And I can't really figure them out too well... But, the other bosses I am pretty with. Even with bad RNG I should still be able to beat it. I need about 3-6 lives for the end boss. He really sucks. But that's understandable. If I had a 2nd player. I could kick this games ass.

And I was one hit away from one crediting beating Streets of Rage. I had to use one of the three continues... But, I really don't care. Fun game.
Now I beat them all.
I would say whats left is me to go back and grind the Spider-Man Seperation Anxiety and Maximum Carnage games. I am pretty sure I beat both in my youth, but they were hard and a lot of hours went into beating both of them. And I really don't have that kind of drive, energy or time.

During quarantine, I had a bit more time... Hence I finally beat the Streets of Rage Series.

mini consoles rock!

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Its a good one. I like the sega mini too.

Yes they do

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Still refused to get the Playstation?

I have snes, nes, and genesis mini. I still need the PlayStation and Turbo. Never played Turbo in my life not sure I need it.

All my minis are hacked with every title. They are so awesome and love playing on my 60” tv.

Tonight I might play tmnt on sega.

The official mini consoles are OK, they're easy to use and provide a good library of games, especially if hacked...

BUT

They are emulators and suffer from controller lag. If you want the best "mini" experience, grab an FPGA box from analogue. These work a little differently from the emulator boxes and deliver lag-free gaming, along with many more options for sound and graphics. They're out for SNES and Genesis.. the NES one is sold out. If input lag bothers you in the slightest, these are the minis you want.. https://analogue.co

I actually like to be closer and with a smaller screen myself. Something around 30 inches I think is fine. I just think it makes the games look less blocky.

I haven't hacked any of mine and I probably won't. I own a pi with lots of different retro controllers for it. So I just play the games not covered on the mini there.

Now, the one thing I'd say is. If you like shoot em up, then the turbo mini is for you.

The one thing I wonder though is... The turbo cd had a nice port of double dragon, and a couple of other really cool cd games did not make the list. Like the 3rd bonk... I wonder if you could hack it and add those games. That would be worth hacking as I only ever had issues trying to get the turbo cd working on my pi. Never could and there are a few really cool cd games not included on the unit. But, it does have 2 of the best. Lords of Thunder and Rondo of Blood.

They also suffer from audio lag too. But, truth be told I don't notice either of those.

I don't also notice the input lag... Now truthfully... I might need to play comix zone more on the mini console. I mostly play that on my pi or my ps4 genesis collection. And that's a game I can speed run in 17-19 minutes on average. So for those I think it would be something I would notice...
But, aside from comix zone I mostly just enjoy casual playthroughs and try to enjoy the games.

Some games it's no big deal, but I find it impossible to enjoy any shmup with lag.

double check your tv setting is on game as this resolves 99% of peoples issues. It basically doesn't process the signal as much and allows a unhindered sync.

interesting.

I'll have to remember that in future to try. Most of the time I forget and am too lazy.
But, I am curious about the dude from gamesack. He seems to really put the consoles through the paces. And they don't crap on emulation. They generally just discuss the pros and cons of it realistically. I mean, he is a console snob, but also a realist.

But does this mean that the reason why I haven't been able to beat lords of thunder yet is not due to my lack of skill(still learning game... fun game), but its the mini consoles lag?!?!?

WOOT WOOT! I DON'T SUCK!

Nah.. Just joking I suck. Give me a month or two of practice and I'm sure I"ll be beating it. Just been focusing on beat em ups lately(and mostly always).

Yep, I'm running them on an LG CX in game mode. The Turbografx and other minis have noticeable lag; the FPGA boxes do not. I believe the CX has only 9ms lag in game mode... anything under 16 is good enough for me - that's the response time of the old 60hz CRTs.

Interesting thing about the minis... the menus have no lag. Press the buttons to page through the menu and notice how it responds immediately.. then play a game, press a button to move or jump, and notice the split-second of lag before the action occurs due to the emulation.

Yokimato - That looks good. Any reason you chose the Hydra instead of the gscartsw?

Or you could just garbage pick crts like I do lol

Got this 20 inch Toshiba AF last week, the picture was crooked and off center, but so bright and clear. Had to rotate the yoke and use the service menu but worth it. Grabbed this set as one of my backups and for when I play games on my back porch. Still a little off but before it looked like Mario was always running up hill lol

Snes 1chip with retrovision component cables if anyone cares.

Anyone got a pvm or bvm 14 or 20 they want to get rid of?

My phone takes bad pics and yes it's on the floor by the pins, aka where the tools are.

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I debated back and forth but it probably doesn’t matter since they both seem like strong options. Ultimately it came down to availability at the time I was ready, ease of expansion, and a friend’s recommendation based on their experience.

+1 for hd retrovision cables, they’re fantastic. Good luck on your monitor search, they tend to make their way to craigslist quite often I’ve found.

I picked up my crt at the side of the road in a nice neighborhood, just saw it, knew it was better then my current rca, and grabbed it. After getting home I did some research and some people think this is the best consumer grade tv for retro gaming. If you can find one, it will be much cheaper then a Pvm. The easy way to spot this tv out of the crowd is the blue bezel around the screen.

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I have a 24in Sony Trinitron I need to get rid of.

Trinitrons are excellent, especially the later ones with component. Amazing picture and even lower grade connections still look good on them.

timtim
I may have an a few TV's available soon that have been RGB modified for a SCART connection, around 20" size or maybe a little bigger possibly. I know a guy that is getting into doing the RGB mods for various tv's so I may be getting more. He's also modding some to work on arcades. Also may have an extra PVM around 19" or 20", at least one is a Sony. If you're ever down near Salem let me know if you want to stop and look at any of them.

I need to come down one of these days, I still need to get some terraonion stuff from you.
Especially with the CCAG being canceled.

Today is a big day for me -- after many, many years of collecting (though some years were heavy collecting, some not at all), today, I finished my NES collection. All 677* NTSC officially licensed, plus 10 unlicensed (never cared for these personally), plus my own NES game I developed and completed in May of 2019 that I put on it's own cart.

I had games from growing up, but started to actually collect in 2008/9 in earnest with no real goal beyond just grabbing anything that was nostalgic. It quickly turned into finding games that I missed out on growing up, but were great. It wasn't until 2016 that I decided I was close enough to a full collection that I really did just need to finish it off (though had I priced it out before I did, I likely would have left it unfinished...or my wife would've killed me then... ).

Last game to collect, which I got in the mail today was Nigel Mansell's World Championship Racing. No rationale beyond why that one was last, beyond that all the "expensive/rare" ones were already crossed off and this was difficult to find in the wild (which, I ultimately didn't and snagged it on ebay). When I got down to the last 10, my original hope was to finish it up at MGC this year and put NES collecting on hold in September of 2019 to wait until I could collect it in person. We know how that story ends but felt it was time to complete it when a nice copy came up on my watch list.

For those familiar with Bandai's Stadium Events, it is sadly missing, though for the price, I've made my peace with it. My copy of World Class Track Meet will suffice if I feel the need to break out the pad. I did have an opportunity to buy it for 850$ many years ago and completely scoffed at them like they were bat shit crazy.... if only I had a crystal ball.

What's not pictured is the 2K+ other non-NES games that occupy the room, so when visitors see, they inevitable ask which is the favorite when they see the wall of NES which stands in contrast to the rest. Favorites are: Rescue Rangers (the first one) followed closely by Mega Man 5. That said, it's so hard to narrow down since there's so many genuinely GREAT games from this system.

Had to share the good news with people who would understand, but now it's time to go play some classics! Cheers!

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Bitchin collection dude

Nice! I'm at 304 NES games, ways to go lol! What game did you make? I'd love to see it? I have a retro game stream on twitch, maybe I could play I someday on there ?

I prefer SNES probably but only have about 250 of those

Yeah sucks they had to cancel CCAG, gonna really miss it this year. We're getting re-stocks on most Terraonion stuff coming in over the next 1-3 weeks or so. They may be doing a small run of NeoSD MVS Pro's but not sure yet. Parts sourcing has been a big issue, even more-so now with the pandemic.

Congrats.
I got to ask. How many of these have you beaten?
Just curious.