Anyone still playing some Playstation 1?

[Hercules]

I have a PS2 with FreeMcBoot and 1tb drive fitted internally. I use Winhip on PC to copy my PS2 game ISOs onto the drive, then pop the hard drive back into my PS2 and I'm good to go. My PS2 is also fitted with a Modbo 5.0 modchip which allows booting isos from USB drive too. I often play all my old PS 1 and PS2 games often.

[Bren McGuire]

I don't have nostalgia for this system because I never owned it back in the day, but recently I started getting into it via Retropie which emulates it fantastic on a Raspberry Pi, and I have to say there's a ton of really good games in its library!

I don't even mind the wonky 3D, and some of the 2D games are also super awesome, like Rayman and Gex and Castlevania: Symphony Of The Night.

This is such an accessible system today thanks to emulation that giving it a miss would be foolish, unless you don't like videogames.

Originally Posted by Biscuit

So, is PS1 bringing back the nostalgia and interest for anyone else? Got any hidden gems to recommend?

[sneckburger]

I've been trying to connect my ps1 to my living room tv to re-live the tomb raider series end to end in full HD and stereo sound, so I bought this:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/233615442661
Which is as you can see is up for sale as it is a pile of s**te.
Is there a way to get hd quality from the ps1 or am I best using the ps2 and component output?
Problem is my ps2 isn't chipped to play copied games and I refuse to pay £50 to play silent hill again.

[Anubis]

One I use (PS2 to HDMI) works great, and it was quite cheap. I bought it once I saw video with cheap updates to PS2 without modding, and I did it. Large capacity SATA drive in PS2 with boot from memory stick which is surprisingly very fast. Loaded all of my PS2 collection on device and played it only couple of times since then.

I actually tried more PS2 games on with recent PS2 emulator update + Launchbox.

Same with PS1. It is in basement connected to an old TV (still flat, 720p iirc), but mostly I play all PS1 games on emualtors now. Lame old game who needs save state and some cheats so that I can beat game without grind or hours spend to discover all hidden treasures... Same goes with N64, xBox (original) that are all connected to the same old TV. Another xBox original is connected to larger HD screen, and both are loaded with some xbox emulators, but rarely I start any of them...

[SquawkBox]

Originally Posted by sneckburger

Is there a way to get hd quality from the ps1 or am I best using the ps2 and component output?

A couple of months ago, Adam Koralik reviewed the RetroTink 2X Scart. He considers it top notch apparently (just ignore the parts about mClassic cables) :


[ Show youtube player ]

You can get it from Mike Chi web site :
https://www.retrotink.com/product-pa...otink-2x-scart
Cheapest option would be the Pound Cable, not really recommended.

Originally Posted by sneckburger

Problem is my ps2 isn't chipped to play copied games.

Modchip is not required for the PS2, you can softmod your console and play many, many games from both a HDD and a USB flash drive (PS2 natively supports most IDE / PATA hard drives, except Western Digital ones). You need a network adapter (these devices are rather cheap on the second-hand market, no worries) to plug in the HDD. Learning to use all of the software might take some time but it's worth it. For now, I would suggest just googling "PS2" along with "Open PS2 Loader", "FreeMcBoot", "PopStarter", just to start becoming familiar with the homebrew scene.
With a softmodded PS2, you can play quite a few PS1 games through emulation (not every one of them, in fact, some great games are not supported). If you have quality component cables at your disposal, you could take the VGA box route. Trouble is there are so many of them, it's hard to recommend one in particular. Last but not least, don't forget to modify the settings from your TV set beforehand (low levels of picture sharpness, "game mode" if applies, any other "motion enhancements" disabled or greatly reduced).

[saimon69]

Last time i started my PS1 was one month ago and games were resetting casually; time to do some recap?

[SquawkBox]

Could be the consequence of a failing laser mechanism. You can get a laser lens replacement from this guy :
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Replaceme...r/174302096073
Before ordering, make sure your console's optical compartment color is light grey.

[lilalurl]

I don't want to spoil your fun, but this is not the off-topic section, so motivational posters/memes/etc... should have a very limited use. And at least be related to the Amiga/topic. Not really sure if the above fits such criteria... That's 543 Kb wasted for users who have a limited amount of download per month... I guess we can make a special rule for you and tolerate one every 30 years. So be good until 2035

[rare_j]

Originally Posted by SquawkBox

A couple of months ago, Adam Koralik reviewed the RetroTink 2X Scart. He considers it top notch apparently (just ignore the parts about mClassic cables)
.

Yes Retrotink is the way to go. I have an OSSC which is more expensive but I bought that way before the Retrotink was available, if I was buying now it would be one of the Retrotinks. Still a bit expensive though.
Trouble is you need a line doubler or things just look s**te and retrotink is the cheapest line doubler out there, as far as I know.

[Retro-Nerd]

Since i have a OSSC for me it's clear that line doubling isn't good enough. Line 3x or 4x looks much better on an 1080p display. And you can use filters the proper way, which looks awful in 2x only.

[TCD]

[ Show youtube player ]

Looks pretty good to me.

[Bruce Abbott]

I bought a PlayStation to play one game - Tomb Raider. I have the entire collection of the original Core Design series, and still play them occasionally on my PS2. I also have a couple of the later Tomb Raider games by Crystal Dynamics, which have better graphics but their game play sucks. Have other games for it too but none are worth my time.

Core Design produced a lot of good Amiga games. If Commodore had continued they might have made a 3D upgrade for the CD32, and we could have had Tomb Raider on the Amiga!

[Superman]

I have a psone classic loaded with about 120 games that I like to play now and again.

[sneckburger]

Originally Posted by SquawkBox

A couple of months ago, Adam Koralik reviewed the RetroTink 2X Scart. He considers it top notch apparently (just ignore the parts about mClassic cables) :


[ Show youtube player ]

You can get it from Mike Chi web site :
https://www.retrotink.com/product-pa...otink-2x-scart
Cheapest option would be the Pound Cable, not really recommended.

Modchip is not required for the PS2, you can softmod your console and play many, many games from both a HDD and a USB flash drive (PS2 natively supports most IDE / PATA hard drives, except Western Digital ones). You need a network adapter (these devices are rather cheap on the second-hand market, no worries) to plug in the HDD. Learning to use all of the software might take some time but it's worth it. For now, I would suggest just googling "PS2" along with "Open PS2 Loader", "FreeMcBoot", "PopStarter", just to start becoming familiar with the homebrew scene.
With a softmodded PS2, you can play quite a few PS1 games through emulation (not every one of them, in fact, some great games are not supported). If you have quality component cables at your disposal, you could take the VGA box route. Trouble is there are so many of them, it's hard to recommend one in particular. Last but not least, don't forget to modify the settings from your TV set beforehand (low levels of picture sharpness, "game mode" if applies, any other "motion enhancements" disabled or greatly reduced).

Thanks for the info!
Ive been looking into the RAD2x is that by the same company? Seems that they are hard to gey a hold of tho?
https://www.retrogamingcables.co.uk/...HD-RAD2X-CABLE

[Gilbert]

I still use mine to play Warzone 2100 and Vigilante 8, also Poy Poy (great in multiplayer) and Devil Dice

Vigilante 8 played with the dual shock is amazing. It's the best version because you can control the camera fully with the 2nd stick.

I love the graphics on the PSone now. You can tell on some games it's working full outjust to get to one quarter of what the PS2 could manage

[SquawkBox]

Originally Posted by sneckburger

Ive been looking into the RAD2x is that by the same company? Seems that they are hard to gey a hold of tho?

Mike Chi / Retrotink 2X and retrogamingcables.co.uk are two different entities, the way I see it, the latter obtained the rights to build that cable around the technology behind the Retrotink 2X. Probably RAD2X was sent in small batches and feedback from users wasn't so great. I am not too sure, just an educated guess. If you have watched that video I linked earlier on, you can see Adam nearly thanking the Lord for a normal sized HDMI socket which wasn't the case with original Retrotink 2X. Mini HDMI requires an adapter, and it will make your chained devices look unprofessional with that flimsy adapter right in the middle of your setup.

Generally speaking, I am not too hot for those subpar scalers built with just HDMI output in mind but since you asked, I suppose the Retrotink 2X Scart is up the task. Certainly better than composite, but not as good as one of these HD Retrovision component cables (btw, why do their users have to use the Mega Drive cable with an adapter for their PS1 ? isn't it just plain silly that they couldn't come up with a dedicated component cable for the PS1!?). One last remark, even if you manage to get YUV signal out of the PS1, you will need line doubling (or tripling) as to feed the LCD TV properly.

[lilwshu]

I have a Retrotink 2x SCART and it works very well with my PS1 and Saturn. As it’s a linedoubler things will look pretty chunky on big modern TVs, I have a 24” widescreen which is about 19” diagonal in 4:3 and looks decent enough. The device has issues with my A1200 though.

Everything still looks best on my 14” CRT but the screen is a bit small for my games room.

[jizmo]

Playstation 1 has always been bit of a problematic console for me. On the other hand I have good memories of it and admire how it pioneered lots of 3D stuff that we take granted these days. But on the other hand the time has not treated its catalogue well and almost all of the games I tried out haven't been anywhere as good as I remembered them to be, being plagued with odd camera angles and movements to unintuitive controls and dodgy framerates.

When PS1 came out, the arcade games, Megadrive and Snes had perfected the pixel style and the 2D games from that era still look top notch. Most of the conventions presented in them have also remained the same, so you can pick any of them up and instantly feel at home. When it comes to 3D, the developers had to invent the whole way of presenting and interacting that did not exist before so a lot of stuff was thrown to a wall to see what actually sticks (and not much of it did in the long run), and I mostly find it an underwhelming chore to pick any of these games up.

I've found that the few pixel 2D games that exist for PS1 generally feel much fresher and playable than their 3D counterparts, with some of them even improving the 2D experience seen with the previous generation of consoles with nice visual tricks seen in arcade titles, while keeping the same pixel perfect look. I personally get much better mileage out of these games.

[PortuguesePilot]

Originally Posted by jizmo

Playstation 1 has always been bit of a problematic console for me. On the other hand I have good memories of it and admire how it pioneered lots of 3D stuff that we take granted these days. But on the other hand the time has not treated its catalogue well and almost all of the games I tried out haven't been anywhere as good as I remembered them to be, being plagued with odd camera angles and movements to unintuitive controls and dodgy framerates.

When PS1 came out, the arcade games, Megadrive and Snes had perfected the pixel style and the 2D games from that era still look top notch. Most of the conventions presented in them have also remained the same, so you can pick any of them up and instantly feel at home. When it comes to 3D, the developers had to invent the whole way of presenting and interacting that did not exist before so a lot of stuff was thrown to a wall to see what actually sticks (and not much of it did in the long run), and I mostly find it an underwhelming chore to pick any of these games up.

I've found that the few pixel 2D games that exist for PS1 generally feel much fresher and playable than their 3D counterparts, with some of them even improving the 2D experience seen with the previous generation of consoles with nice visual tricks seen in arcade titles, while keeping the same pixel perfect look. I personally get much better mileage out of these games.

You're not alone in this "the 3D on the PS1 sucks" opinion, which is something that I find odd and somewhat interesting. At the time the PS1 has the BEST EVER 3D graphics ever seen on a home gaming system. Beat even the contemporary PCs that were the traditional harbourers of good 3D games. When I look that the PS1 games today I still see this progress reflected on them. I can still appreciate them form what they were at the time and - especially - for what they MEANT at the time. I find it interesting that some people are either unable to see it or demissive of it. Sure, the 3D of the time has very little comparison to today's 3D but comparing them to the 2D ability of the 16bit machines is not fair, IMO. The 3D that the PS1 had was what we can call, maybe, "3rd gen" (?) - my logic being: vectors were first gen, plain polygons were second gen and textured polygons were third gen in 3D graphics - but it was still a pioneering system in the sense that most of their gaming catalogue consists of 3D games. To compare a pioneer console with another console, it would be much more fair to compare it to other pioneering consoles. So, very grossly speaking, the PS1's 3D graphics are on par with the Atari 2600 or NES 2D graphics, if you're getting what I'm talking about. The 16bit gen of consoles - especially the Neo Geo - were the 2D equivalents of what the PS3 or PS4 are in 3D. Do you guys get what I'm aiming at?

In the end, I still appreciate the 3D of the PS1, even with all its shortcomings, quite the same way that I still appreciate the graphics of the 2600 or the VCS or the ZX Spectrum. I can still have a "contemporaneous contemplation" of the PS1 games, while those who say that "the PS1 games have aged so badly to the point of being unplayable" seem to have not.

[sneckburger]

Originally Posted by SquawkBox

you will need line doubling (or tripling) as to feed the LCD TV properly.

Just placed an order for one of these.

https://www.rightsprite.co.uk/produc...ion-pre-order/

It upscales to 720p. Anyone used one? what is lag /picture quality like?


Its got to be better than the cheapo orange ebay PS1 dongle LOL