R-Type: An 8-bit Port Comparison
Yeah, it's incredible! The only thing that lets it down slightly is the vertical scrolling (and the fact that they split the levels on two separate releases - I think the TGX16 version got them all in one).
I mean, the arcade is clearly the best version... (if you're talking the original game).
For the ports... the Spectrum is great for sheer chutzpah, but the PC Engine port is probably the most faithful of all the versions that weren't running an emulator. The Sega Mastersystem is also extremely good, on much less powerful hardware.
The coder who converted the Spectrum version (Bob Pape) wrote an excellent memoir about how he went about it, his life at the time (he was basically a teenager) and his interactions with the weird, nascent world of gaming development companies. It's really fascinating and well worth a few hours. And it's free! It's Behind You: The Making of a Computer Game
Also, the coders who ported these games often wouldn't have access to the arcade cabinets at all, other than some hastily recorded VHS footage. So getting a port that actually felt like the original was a rare treat. Most of the time the ports felt like they were inspired by the source material more than anything.
It's crazy. I've tried 100s of games on my Steamdeck, and I can't think of a single example where one straight up failed to run. The most I've had to do is change the Proton version after a bit of Googling. Best of all, it doesn't feel compromised - it feels like you're running natively.
(I should say, I don't do much online gaming, so I haven't been thwarted by anti-cheat)
I realised the other day how ubiquitous Linux has become in my life. I have a Steamdeck, I run Mint on my laptop. I have numerous Pis around the house doing various things. For emulation I have a MiSTerFPGA and a Miyoo Mini Plus. My arcade cab runs RetroPie. It all just kind of sneaked up on me...
Leaving Twitter for Mastodon barely had an impact. I was just about done with that whole place, with or without Musk in charge.
Reddit is different... I still loved using it. I had my subscriptions honed, all my interests represented. I suffered none of the toxicity that others saw. Not sure if that was just because I mostly used smaller, niche-interest subs or because I mostly lurked and seldom posted? It was all friendly, knowledgeable and entertaining, a stream of consciousness that I could dip in to whenever I wanted to.
So I'm not leaving Reddit because of the experience, but more on principal (both the API kerfuffle and a general aversion to ad-revenue models, which are clearly harmful to society). Principals sadly don't give me something to read over breakfast...
I hope Lemmy can become that stream of consciousness in time. I'm trying to do my bit by being an active contributor rather than a lurking grazer.
Looks awesome, and incredibly neat!
All of my physical consoles have been packed away and replaced with a MiSTer FPGA, which is a lot less hassle to set up and keep running, but I do sometimes miss the tactile thrill of original hardware.
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Having never played Earthbound before, but having heard so much about it, I started playing this afternoon. Played it for about 90 minutes, so these are very much just first impressions (with no spoilers).
- Had a lot of difficulty getting past the character naming. Asking for one character name is hard enough... this wants FIVE 😱
- I love the atmosphere of it. It feels like an 80/90s American highschool movie. Chirping insects, spooky music, great!
- Combat initially feels simple, as expected, but I'm not deep enough in it yet to say more.
- After following the obvious sign-posting, I found myself free to explore, then immediately got lost. No idea what to do next, in the way that old games tend to have. I think the key is to speak to everyone and interact with everything, and something will shake itself loose. Interesting to contrast how hand-holdy modern games are in comparison! Not sure which I prefer...
Overall, I'm enjoying it and excited to play more. I'm trying not to read a guide... we'll see how long that lasts!
I got the Miyoo Mini Plus a few months ago, and I really love it. They're really lovely devices for just whipping out for a quick game of Tetris, especially with the convenience of the game switcher and save states. I've been surprised by how usable it is, despite the small size.
I loved Season 1... it had that rarest of things in modern TV: a premise that was so intriguing, it made me think about it when I wasn't watching the show. So many deep questions to ponder about it.
I've enjoyed From so far, for the same reasons you describe... but it really needs to clear up some of its loose ends, otherwise it'll end up like Lost.
At the moment, it's a lot of "hey! look at this crazy thing! I wonder what it could be... oooo?", and not a lot of "so this was actually..."
Hah! I seem to remember that R-Type DX on the Color was really good, wasn't it?