Retro VGS indiegogo campaign. (changed title)


At first I thought it would be like some of the other recent "consoles", just with carts.  It actually sounds like they are doing things for the right reasons.  I don't think it will be extremely successful, so I doubt it will get the number of titles of truly old consoles.  As long as it has a bunch of fun old and new games it has my attention.  If the price is in the right range I would probably get one.

I am already considering what more could be done with it.  "No network connection, but you give me USB?  We shall see about that."  I do think online play is something that could be included to benefit players.  It is unlikely that anyone will come over to play games with me.  As a kid this made more sense, but I am not going to go ask the people across the street to play now (I don't interact with them, and my bet is that they would call the police if I said "hey, come over to my house so we can play a game"), and schedules don't line up as easily.

I like the variety of choices that they want to offer for controllers.  I am sorta curious about this, and if there will be any problems when mixing controllers with different games and such (like if I plug in a 2600 joystick, or an NES controller, or something that isn't recognised, and when I push up on the dpad I get output as if I hit start or x).

I really hope it is fairly successful, especially since there are so many other options available, and doing it the old way isn't likely to appeal to most consumers.
 
I think it depends on how the console it being done in general.

I still love cartridge based systems, but not because of the cartridge, but for the system itself.

If it's just an ARM SoC inside, it wouldn't be anything special these days, the only speciality would be that it loads games off cartridges.

Additionally, the games would easily run on any other ARM system as well, which would somehow remove the "special" kind of feel.

Also the "awesome to see what the hardware can be squeezed out!"-factor wouldn't be there with modern SoCs.

If it would have its own design with different CPUs, graphics hardware, etc. as the old systems and they would receive a developers kit, that would be awesome.

It would get new custom games which won't run anywhere else, releasing them on cartridges would make them special and collectors and fans would love it.

However, that would need a lot of effort to get teams to code good games for it.

But that would be great!

As a downside, once the system is obsolete, you couldn't play the games anymore except with an emulator.

Depending on what a success the system was, it would be coded at a time or not...

The GP32 still has no decent emulator.

It would be possible, it uses ARM, so something like DraSTic would work to make GP32 games run on modern ARM systems, but it seems there's not enough interest for it.

Which is a bit sad, there are quite a few polished games I loved that can only be played on the original GP32 (Blue Angelo, Numo, Nazca Dreams, Crazy Jack, Gianas Return, Super Plusha, Pix Bros, Max in GhostPix, Electronia, GPWar, etc.)
 
EvilDragon said:
If it's just an ARM SoC inside, it wouldn't be anything special these days, the only speciality would be that it loads games off cartridges.
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FPGA and ARM.  When I looked into it I thought some of the ideas were very interesting.  I don't know if these are good or bad for development and sales.

EvilDragon said:
once the system is obsolete
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In some sense it already is, since they are going for a 16 bit era look and feel for the games.
 
mjohansson said:
http://venturebeat.com/2015/05/08/this-is-how-you-make-a-new-cartridge-based-retro-video-game-console/

Aiming for 16bit style.

Kickstarter soon.

Joypad is wired and have dual analogue sticks along with digital D-pad.

Using the Atari Jaguar case and cartridge mold.
Click to expand...
Clever solution to use the old Jaguar case, indeed saves tons of Money. Also clever NOT to use the old Jaguar "Gamepad". :D I like their intention to make a long lasting and durable Console that still works in 50-100 years. A very big advantage to the current "always online" restricted console philosophy.

EvilDragon said:
Also the "awesome to see what the hardware can be squeezed out!"-factor wouldn't be there with modern SoCs.
Click to expand...
You still can tryhard and squeeze out everything from modern Hardware. The problem is, nobody does anymore. ^^"
 
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So does this console look good to you guys? As an 80s/90s gamer, I'm cautiously optimistic about it, but I don't know much about hardware and the feasibility of the project. I really want it to succeed, but is it just a 'pie in the sky' dream?

They recently launched an official website, which has an interesting FAQ (particularly the bit talking about the FPGA and what it does). And there was a podcast on reddit, interviewing the man behind the Retro VGS.

http://www.retrovgs.com/f.a.q..html

http://www.reddit.com/r/retrogaming/comments/382tf2/rretrogaming_podcast_episode_1_retro_vgs/
 
Im slightly more then cautiously optimistic, the controller looks awful to me although it has a + shaped D-pad which I prefer, and I suspect that the graphics of 2D games will suck from an estethic point anyway, the pack-in game Tiny Knight looks plain and boring. The old-school type of 2D graphics is difficult and it dosnt seem like theres many people left now that can draw such graphics, it seem like an lost skill, I hope it can be regained again.

Wrath of Khan, are you interested in this console? You have the Leonardo DaVinci of video games working for you, if people saw that then Im sure this console would gather much more interest, theres a big problem with the lack of exclusive games today were all games are on all systems, this console (and all others) need exclusive killer games.

I want cartridges but I want kick-ass games on them otherwise its quite pointless...
 
I'm interested in this console but am waiting to hear further details. I may support the kickstarter, I may not.

My game project should be considered a rather expensive hobby project.

It lumbers along and still needs more code before I can reliably build level one. Building now would be inefficient. My coder works part-time only.

Its a nice idea but i have no idea what kind of release time-frame there might be for my game, atm. 
 
I'm probably one of the biggest retro gamers around, but where I love playing retro, I absolutely hate using retro systems to do so. Emulation is the greatest invention of our age, and has made old games accessible to the masses.

If I still had my Colecovision, NES, or SNES I would never play them, as it would be to much work to do so. I'm all for those users who are about that authentic feeling and representation, but console's like this don't appeal to me at all. I can't even stand wired controllers anymore, as I'm all about ease of use. Some inventions just make life easier, and going backwards just holds no appeal for me personally.

Now I do still own some classic systems, and arcade games that deliver an experience that can't be accurately portrayed through emulation(Virtual Boy, Vectex, Tempest Coin-Op, etc). I'm a huge fan of the magazine these guys publish, and while I'm not completely opposed to a retro style console, I don't really see anything here that would make me jump on this, but I'll see what they show over time. The Jaguar case choice is the "worst" ever, as I have nothing but bad memories of that console. For me to ever think of supporting this project, they need to change the case :p

Chris
 
I don't know, I still like playing my emulated snes games on the wii with a controller adapter with an original snes controller vs an ps3 or xbox one, mainly because I just always liked that specific controller for playing 2d games.

The nostalgia factor stops there though and will often play nes, gameboy, and sega system games on that same controller.
 
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I guess Im the biggest Jaguar fan in the world, no that can't be I don't own one but I have had in the past and I don't visit any ATARI pages anymore either, if they had used the original Jaguar joypads I would have crapped my pants, its my favorite joypad ever along with EU/JP SNES. I prefer wired controllers that don't need to be recharged and Im skeptical towards input delay as well. Im a lot less enthusiastic about emulation now, it has technical problems with this and that, and are a bit of a hassle to use often, but since I no longer have any old consoles and have already played most of what Im interested in to death I wouldn't want to get into any of that now anyway, but this new RETRO VGS is just that, new and you can buy it if you want it instead of hunting for incomplete used copies that may show up on ebay or may not ever show up... And the promise of no patches and updates, I can't even describe the wonderful emotions I get from hearing that, updates drive me insane, literally!

Wrath of Khan, this console is said to be released next year, so its still more then half a year away, and you could just release your game later anyway, they said they were gonna support Unity or wanted to I don't know.
 
Now that the ouya is well and truly on its way to valhalla or in fact hell, what chance does the retro vgs have..


Some perhaps due to the novelty factor of cartridges in 2015.


Still it will need more than gimmicks to win out.


I think the kickstarter may suceed but thats no indication of future sales...
 
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