Old Computer Appreciation Thread

Zering

So rather than drown the SD Snatcher thread under Help & Support with posts about awesome X68000 games, I thought I'd open up a whole new thread for the whole community to talk about which old japanese computer systems and games they've recently enjoyed on their Raspberry Pis (or even back in the day, if any of you was lucky enough to have one of those systems)
The Pi, as it happens, emulates quite a lot of those old machines, from the classic MSX and PC88 computers to the lesser known Sharp X1 and Fujitsu FM7. There are a lot of great english-friendly games on those systems, and many others have been translated from japanese.

Edit : Now that this thread has essentially become a huge base of information on retro computers emulation in RetroPie, we're also discussing retro computers from other countries.
Also, watch this post, as I will be editing regularly as I go through the thread and document every fix we've found so far.

Apple Macintosh (1984 - Present)

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Playing the Marathon trilogy and its homebrew scenarios on the Pi

While there are two emulators for Macintosh machines available on Retropie, basilisk and minivmac, they are apparently very difficult to use and are therefore not the best option to play classic Mac games, particularly when one considers that it is possible to play Bungie's Marathon trilogy (the precusor to Halo) in high quality using the source port AlephOne.
Aleph One is available to install in the experimental section of RetroPie-Setup, and installing this module will automatically install Marathon, Marathon 2 : Durandal, Marathon 3 : Infinity on your system.
The games can be played with a controller or a mouse and keyboard setup, and, while odd, they are fairly unique FPS, and run beautifully on the Pi 3 and 4.

But @Folly, as usual, allows us to take things a step further. There are a number of homebrew Marathon games, the most notable of which are :

Marathon : EVIL
Tempus Irae
Marathon RED
Eternal
Marathon : Rubicon X
Marathon : Phoenix

All six are supported by AlephOne, but they require some tinkering to get running on the Pi.

The community-based scenarios are available to download on AlephOne's website, right here. For this method to work, you will naturally need to have installed AlephOne. Extract your ROM in /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/ports/alephone.

Using Marathon EVIL as an example, create a file called "Aleph One Engine - Marathon EVIL.sh"

#!/bin/bash
"/opt/retropie/supplementary/runcommand/runcommand.sh" 0 _PORT_ "marathonevil" ""

Then, from the terminal :

cd /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/ports/alephone

Make your .sh file executable with the following command :

chmod +x "Aleph One Engine - Marathon EVIL.sh"

In /opt/retropie/ports/alephone/bin/alephone, create a Marathon EVIL directory.

It should contain the following emulators.cfg file :

alephonevil = "'/opt/retropie/ports/alephone/bin/alephone' '/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/ports/alephone/Marathon EVIL/'"
default = "alephonevil"

The same method applies for the other community-based scenarios. Enjoy!

Another method to play the first two Marathon games might be to emulate the Apple Pippin console using lr-mess to play Super Marathon, however I have yet to see the Pippin successfully emulated on a Pi.

Recommended games

Marathon, Bungie, 1994
Marathon II : Durandal, Bungie, 1995
Marathon III : Infinity, Bungie, 1996

Commodore Amiga (1985 - 1996)

Note : The Pi is not just capable of emulating the Amiga computers through Amiberry, it can also emulate the Commodore CDTV and Amiga CD32.

Recommended games

Defender of the Crown, Cinemaware, 1986 (@ecto)
Great Giana Sisters, Time Warp, 1987
It Came from the Desert, Cinemaware, 1989 (@ecto)
Magic Serpent, Software 2000, 1991 (@Folly)
Millenium 2.2, Software Studios, 1989 (@ecto)
Pinball Fantasies, DICE, 1992 (@ecto)
Populous, Bullfrog Productions, 1989 (@ecto)
Rick Dangerous, Simon Phipps, 1989 (@ecto)
Rocket Ranger, Cinemaware, 1988 (@ecto)
Shadow of the Beast, Reflections, 1989 (@ecto)
Ultima III : Exodus, Origin, 1986 (@ecto, better port than the base DOS game)

DOS (1981 - 2000)

Easily launching DOS games with customized configurations

While launching games using the DOS interface gives the experience a fairly old school feeling, it is sometimes tedious to have to do it every time, particularly when there is an easy way to launch DOS games directly from EmulationStation using .conf and .sh files.

Taking Wizardry - Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord as an example.

Wizardry 1 is an easy example because it has very few files. To launch it traditionally, enter the following commands :

cd wiz1
wiz1

cd wiz1 moves DOS to the game directory, wiz1 launches the executable .bat file.

Here's how to make the process automatic :

In opt/retropie/configs/pc, you will find a number of .conf files corresponding to the different versions of DOSBox you may have installed. If you are using DOSBox-SDL2, then copy the dosbox-sdl2-SVN.conf file, and move it to home/pi/RetroPie/roms/pc/wiz1

Edit the file, and add the following commands at the end :

[autoexec]
mount c /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/pc
C:
cd wiz1
wiz1
exit

Now we need to find a way to start this .conf file from EmulationStation itself, and this is where .sh files come in. Create a .sh file named Wizardry - Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord.sh and place it in your pc directory. It should contain this :

#!/bin/bash
/opt/retropie/emulators/dosbox/bin/dosbox -conf "/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/pc/wiz1/wiz1.conf"

Now you should be able to load the game using the .sh file directly from EmulationStation. The advantage of using this method is that you can customize the individual .conf files, to increase the amount of cycles for a game that runs at an abnormal speed, for example.

Playing Fallout on the Pi

Fallout is a great game, but its installation can be tricky.

Place your files for Fallout in its own directory in /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/pc.
In our example, our directory will be named fallout1.
In opt/retropie/configs/pc, edit dosbox_SVN.conf, and bring the memsize up to 32.

Launch DOSBox, and run the following commands :

cd fallout1
imgmount D cd/fallout.cue -t iso
D:
dir
install.exe

Choose the humongous installation.
Destination folder : INTRPLAY/FALLOUT (This folder will be created in home/pi/RetroPie/roms/pc)

Choose automatic sound installation, say yes to everything.

Then

C:
cd INTRPLAY
cd FALLOUT
Fallout

The opening logos and menus are slow, but the game runs smoothly.

Playing The Elder Scrolls II : Daggerfall on the Pi

Daggerfall is another tricky game, thanks to a slight wrinkle in the launching process.
Place your files for Daggerfall in its own directory in /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/pc.
There will be two directories, DAGGER and DFCD. DFCD contains the CD-ROM.

In DOS :

mount D /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/pc/dagger/DFCD
D:
dir
install.exe

Choose the biggest installation (we'll use C:tes2 as an installation directory), then use autodetect for your sound setup, choose a Sound Blaster as a MIDI device.

From there Daggerfall is a pain. If you just cd to tes2 and launch dagger.exe it asks for the CD. So...

mount d /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/pc/DFCD -t cdrom -label Daggerfall
C:
cd tes2
dagger

The game will launch and run smoothly.

Recommended games

Alone in the Dark, Infogrames, 1992 (@AdamBeGood & @ecto)
Alone in the Dark 2, Infogrames, 1993 (@ecto)
Alone in the Dark 3, Infogrames, 1994 (@ecto)
Bioforge, Origin, 1995 (@AdamBeGood)
Blood, Monolith, 1997 (@ecto)
Day of the Tentacle, Lucas Arts, 1993 (@AdamBeGood)
Descent, Parallax Software, 1995 (@AdamBeGood)
Descent 2, Parallax Software, 1996 (@AdamBeGood)
Dungeon Keeper, Electronic Arts, 1997
Dune, Westwood Studios, 1992 (@AdamBeGood)
Ecstatica, Andrew Spencer, 1994 (@AdamBeGood)
Fallout, Interplay, 1997
Full Throttle, Lucas Arts, 1995 (@AdamBeGood)
Heroes of Might and Magic : A Strategic Quest, New World Computing, 1995 (@ecto)
Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, Lucas Arts, 1992 (@AdamBeGood)
Little Big Adventure, Adeline Software, 1994 (@AdamBeGood)
Monkey Island 2 : LeChuck's Revenge, Lucas Arts, 1991 (best on ScummVM, @AdamBeGood)
Mines of Titan, Westwood, 1989 (@ecto)
Might and Magic Book One : Secret of the Inner Sanctum, New World Computing, 1986
Pro Pinball : Timeshock!, Cunning Development, 1997 (@ecto)
Sam and Max Hit the Road, Lucas Arts, 1993 (@AdamBeGood)
Sim City 2000, Maxis, 1993 (@ecto)
Star Wars : Dark Forces, Lucas Arts, 1995
System Shock, Looking Glass, 1994
Terminal Velocity, Terminal Reality, 1995 (@AdamBeGood)
The Dig, Lucas Arts, 1995 (@AdamBeGood)
The Secret of Monkey Island, Lucas Arts, 1990 (best on ScummVM, @AdamBeGood)
Ultima : The First Age of Darkness, Origin, 1981
Ultima II : Revenge of the Enchantress, Origin, 1982
Ultima III : Exodus, Origin, 1983
Ultima IV : Quest of the Avatar, Origin, 1985
Ultima V : Warriors of Destiny, Origin, 1988
Ultima VI : The False Prophet, Origin, 1990
Ultima VII : The Black Gate, Origin, 1992 (might be better enjoyed in Exult)
Ultima VII Part Two : Serpent Isle, Origin, 1993 (ditto)
Wing Commander, Origin, 1990 (@ecto)
Wing Commander II : Vengeance of the Kilrathi, Origin, 1991 (@ecto)
Wing Commander III : Heart of the Tiger, 1994 (@ecto)
Wing Commander IV : The Price of Freedom, 1996 (@ecto)

Fujitsu FM-7 (1982 - 1988)

Setting up FM-7 on RetroPie

You will need to install lr-mess.
If you are not familiar with MESS, then I strongly suggest reading up on the relevant documentation.
Follow the instructions in @valerino's repository and install both lr-mess-fm7-cass and lr-mess-fm7-disk.

fm7-cass reads cassettes and fm7-disk does floppies. When selecting ROMs you will want to use floppies. Cassettes take upwards to ten minutes to boot. I haven't found an FM-7 game worth waiting half as long yet. Some games sadly are only playable on cassettes. Naturally, you'll want to select the appropriate driver depending on which type of game you are emulating.

For this particular system, you will need the following BIOS files : fm7.zip (102 kB) - Containing :

boot_bas.rom  (CRC32 : C7070C74)
boot_dos_a.rom (CRC32 : BF441864)
fbasic300.rom (CRC32 : 87C98494)
kanji.rom (CRC32 : 62402AC9)
subsys_c.rom (CRC32 : 24CEC93F)

The controls defy all explanation

Yes. You'll quickly notice that once you press a directional key, your character will not stop moving unless you move in a different direction, or press the designated stop button for that game. It's an odd quirk of the FM-7, and is perfectly normal, as the FM-7 was only capable of registering button presses, and not button releases. However, you might also quickly notice that your joystick inputs are not registered.

Using your keyboard, press Scroll Lock, then Tab to bring up the MESS menu.
Go to Input (this machine).
In this menu, you can simply select an input and press the button you desire to map to that input on your joystick.
You'll probably never need more than two buttons and a directional pad.

Loading cassettes through MESS

Please see Loading cassettes and tapes using MESS in the Miscellaneous section.

Recommended games

Ancient Ys Vanished, Nihon Falcom, 1987 (First version of this total classic, worth it just to see how awesome it is in spite of the FM-7's bizarre controls)

Fujitsu FM Towns *(1989 - 1997)

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Setting up FM Towns on RetroPie

FM Towns runs using lr-mess, which is the only emulator available for that system on the RPi. Performance can be sketchy, not all games work properly. The best way to install the FM Towns on your rig is by using valerino's lr-mess script, available on his repository. @valerino's scripts deal with the tedious affair that is editing es_systems.cfg and setting up configs. Once lr-mess-fmtowns_cd is installed, all that is needed are a BIOS file (fmtowns.zip) and ROMs.

According to @Folly, .bin/.cue files work a treat. .chd files also work very well, and a large collection of FM Towns games is included in the official MAME 0.226 .CHD pack.

Recommended games

Genocide Square, Zoom, 1993 (Superior versions of Genocide and Genocide 2)
Rayxanber, Data West, 1990
Raiden Densetsu, Seibu Kaihatsu, 1990
Tatsujin Ou, Toaplan, ported by Ving, 1992

MSX (1983 - 1993)

Recommended games

Aleste, Compile, 1988
Aleste 2, Compile, 1989
Aleste Gaiden, Compile, 1989
Blagger, Antony Crowther, 1983
Dragon Slayer II : Xanadu, Nihon Falcom, 1987 (Arguably the best version of Xanadu, graphically superior to the MSX2 release, great score by Yuzo Koshiro)
Nemesis, Konami, 1986
Nemesis 2, Konami, 1987
Nemesis 3 : The Eve of Destruction, Konami, 1988
Oil's Well, Sierra On-Line, 1984 (by @Folly)
Penguin Adventure, Konami, 1986 (by @Folly)
Salamander, Konami, 1987
Zanac, Compile, 1986

MSX2 (1986 - 1993)

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Running SD Snatcher with the Project Melancholia translation

SD Snatcher is an amazing game, and one of the earliest examples of a game translated from japanese by a group of fans, with a translation dating back to 1993. However that translation is very much compromised, as it removes a great portion of the text to accomodate for programming limitations. Playing the game in its best state requires the Project Melancholia patch, which, however requires the use of the SCC+. Although lr-bluemsx has core options to accomodate for the SCC and the special variant of it that was only used for the Snatcher games, it is broken and does not seem to work. Hence, Melancholia-patched versions of the game will run, albeit with PSG music, which is, simply put, not very good.

Thankfully, openMSX enables the use of the SCC+, although it requires some tinkering.

You will need to set your machine to Boosted_MSX2_EN. This is easily found in openmsx by clicking the menu tab in the upper left corner.

The Boosted_MSX2_EN requires the following BIOS files, in /.openMSX/share/systemroms :

pi@raspberrypi:~/.openMSX/share/systemroms $ cd /home/pi/.openMSX/share/systemroms
pi@raspberrypi:~/.openMSX/share/systemroms $ sha1sum *.*
2dc4517ebd5a061f9b5aa6b449cc4d4a2073540c  FMPAC16.ROM
9d789166e3caf28e4742fe933d962e99618c633d  FMPAC.ROM
84a645becec0a25d3ab7a909cde1b242699a8662  KANJI.ROM
5c1f9c7fb655e43d38e5dd1fcc6b942b2ff68b02  MSX2EXT.ROM
6103b39f1e38d1aa2d84b1c3219c44f1abb5436e  MSX2.ROM
c3efedda7ab947a06d9345f7b8261076fa7ceeef  nms8250_disk.rom
22b3191d865010264001b9d896186a9818478a6b  phc-70fd2_basickun.rom
32760893ce06dbe3930627755ba065cc3d8ec6ca  yrw801.rom

After that, you should be able to add the SCC+ in Extensions, under Hardware.
Reboot, and the game will launch with glorious SCC+ music. (fix by @Folly)

The original MSX2 version of Snatcher suffers from the same issue, and is best enjoyed with openmsx. .DSK versions of the game appear to run best.

The full thread

Recommended games

Cyber Punk Adventure Snatcher, Konami, 1988 (has a translation patch, fairly different from the later CD releases)
Konami Game Collection Special, Konami, 1989
Metal Gear, Konami, 1987
Metal Gear 2 : Solid Snake, Konami, 1990
SD Snatcher, Konami, 1990 (with the Project Melancholia translation patch)
Space Manbow, Konami, 1989

MSX Turbo R (1990 - 1993)

Recommended games

Undead Line, T&E Soft, 1989 (by @Folly)

NEC PC-8801 (1981 - 1989)

Most of the relevant information can easily be found on Folly's github

This includes :
-BIOS files and what they do
-Information on lr-quasi88 and its standalone version
-Instructions on loading multidisk games either through RetroArch or using .m3u
-Instructions on loading certain specific games
-And more...

In Final Crisis, bullets and health bars are invisible, and other games have graphical issues

This is caused by one or several wrong BIOS files. Check MD5 sums for your files. These sums fixed my issue (provided by @Folly) :

d675a2ca186c6efcd6277b835de4c7e5 N88EXT0.ROM
e844534dfe5744b381444dbe61ef1b66 N88EXT1.ROM
6548fa45061274dee1ea8ae1e9e93910 N88EXT2.ROM
fc4b76a402ba501e6ba6de4b3e8b4273 N88EXT3.ROM
cbcade0d0057bb9eee79a6b370b4dd3a N88JISHO.ROM
d81c6d5d7ad1a4bbbd6ae22a01257603 N88KNJ1.ROM
41d2e2c0c0edfccf76fa1c3e38bc1cf2 N88KNJ2.ROM
2ff07b8769367321128e03924af668a0 N88N.ROM
4f984e04a99d56c4cfe36115415d6eb8 N88.ROM
793f86784e5608352a5d7f03f03e0858 N88SUB.ROM

You can use online https://emn178.github.io/online-tools/sha1_checksum.html to check sums of all kinds.

In Scottie Turbo (and other games), basic controls, such as shooting, do not work

Please see Mapping keyboard inputs to a joystick in PC88 and MSX under Miscellaneous.

Recommended games

Dragon Slayer, Nihon Falcom, 1984
Final Crisis, Techno Grard, 1991
Fire Hawk : Thexder - The Second Contact, Game Arts, 1989
Silpheed, Game Arts, 1986
The Scheme, Bothtec, 1988
Thexder, Game Arts, 1985
Xanadu : Dragon Slayer, Nihon Falcom, 1985 (completely english-friendly)
Wibarm, Arsys, 1986 (early 3D graphics, completely english-friendly)

NEC PC-9801 (1982 - 2003)

Some games run very slowly?

In the RetroArch, adjust the CPU Clock Multiplier. Most games run faster between a CPUCM of 4 and 8. Others, like Rude Breaker, demand high values. Setting the CPUCM too high may result in choppiness and lag. Adjust for each game at your discretion.

No text in games with lr-np2kai?

There is an issue with lr-np2kai where the emulator will sometimes look for font.bmp in the wrong place.
It's unsure what is causing this glitch, but the fix is simple.
The emulator is supposed to look for all the BIOS files in /home/pi/RetroPie/BIOS/np2kai.
When launched for the first time, lr-np2kai will generate a np2kai.cfg.

Open this file, and look for this line :

fontfile = /home/pi/RetroPie/BIOS/np2kai/np2kai/font.bmp

Place your font file at the indicated directory to restore text to the games.

Missing inputs on joypad

Issue found in Night Slave by @AdamBeGood.
Most PC98 games use a two-button pad for input. A few use a three-button pad.
Others require mapping to Arrows rather than a Keypad.
Bring up the Retroarch menu.
In Quick Menu > Options, set Joypad D-Pad to Mous/Keyboard/Joypad Mapping to : Arrow 3button.
The Keypad 3button and Arrows 3button settings should cover all your needs. Adjust accordingly.

Recommended games
Many games in the PC98 contain sexual imagery and narratives

Burning Dragon, WIZ, 1993
Burning Dragon Plus, WIZ, 1994
Dragon Slayer : The Legend of Heroes, Nihon Falcom, 1989 (available in english on the PC-Engine CD)
Flame Zapper Kotsujin, CO2 Pro, 1996
Garudius '95, CO2 Pro, 1995 (Gradius doujin game)
Last Breakers, CO2 Pro
Night Slave, Melody, 1996 (Contains graphical erotic sequences)
Policenauts, Konami, 1994 (only available in english on the PlayStation 1)
Net Guardian, Moguraya Soft, 1997
Puyo Puyo, Compile, 1991
Rude Breaker, Compile, 1996
Rusty, C-Lab, 1993 (Has an english translation)
The Legend of Heroes : A Tear of Vermillion, Nihon Falcom, 1994 (remade in english for the PSP)
The Legend of Heroes : Prophecy of the Moonlight Witch, Nihon Falcom, 1996 (remade in english for the PSP)
Touhou 5 : Mystic Square, ZUN, 1995 (Has an english translation)

Scumm/ResidualVM

Grim Fandango, Lucas Arts, 1998 (@AdamBeGood)

Sharp X1 (1982 - 1988)

Note : ~~In the lr-x1 core, multi-disk games will not run, as the core does not have a Disk Control option.~~ M3u files also do not work.

EDIT - lr-x1 does enable disk-swapping. Simply press F11 to bring up the emulator menu. FDD0 and FDD1 allow mounting of two floppy disks.

Recommended games

Galaga, Namco, 1985 (great port)
Gradius, Konami, 1986 (fun lo-fi port of the arcade classic)
Luxsor : Nights Over Egypt, Telenet, 1987
Thunder Force, Technosoft, 1983
Xanadu : Dragon Slayer, Nihon Falcom, 1985 (the very first version!)

Sharp X68000 (1987 - 1993)

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Controls do not respond in Neural Gear

Change the setting in the RetroArch Options from Joystick to Mouse. The game only seems to work with mouse control.(by @AdamBeGood)

Castlevania has no music or sound

The X68000 had internal sound, but also supported the MT-32 and SC-55 sound fonts. Unfortunately, the lr-px68k core does not support the latter two. Hence, when anything other than internal sound is selected in any game, it results in silence. Thankfully, the X68000 is quite easy to come to grips with in that regard. Most games are set to Internal sound by default. A few require to go into the game options menu. Some, like Castlevania, require the player to choose between the three options upon boot. Simply selecting internal sound fixes the issue.

Sound issues in lr-px68k

If you are experiencing crackly and choppy sound, there is no fix per-se but AdamBeGood experienced the issue and detailed the way he resolved it in his dedicated thread.

Recommended games

Aquales, SIE Japan Studio, 1991 (by @AdamBeGood)
Buster, E. Hashimoto, 1995 (by @AdamBeGood)
Castlevania 68K, Konami, 1993
Cho Ren Sha 68K, Famibe No Yosshin, 1995
Die Bahnwelt, Glodia, 1992 (by @AdamBeGood)
Etoile Princesse, SIE Japan Studio, 1993 (Fun but not english-friendly)
Geograph Seal, SIE Japan Studio, 1994
Genocide, Zoom, 1989 (better on the FM Towns, as Genocide Square)
Genocide 2 : Master of the Dark Communion, Zoom, 1991 (ditto)
Gradius, Konami, 1987
Gradius 2 : Gofer no Yabou, Konami, 1987 (arguably the best port of the game)
Knight Arms : The Hyblid Framer, Arsys, 1989 (by @AdamBeGood)
Mad Stalker : Full Metal Forth, Fill-in Café, 1994
Metal Sight, System Sacom, 1989 (by @AdamBeGood)
Nemesis '90 Kai, Konami, 1993 (Improved port of Nemesis 2)
Salamander, Konami, port by SPS, 1988
R+R (doujin shooter, could not find a developer or a release year)
Zugya, Sprite, 1996 (by @AdamBeGood)

Miscellaneous

Creating m3u files by SSH (by @Folly, using Wibarm on PC88 as an example)

cd /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/pc/Wibarm
ls *.d88 -w1 > Wibarm.m3u

This will generate a .m3u file in your Wibarm directory.
If your directory name contains spaces, then place apostrophes at the beginning and end of your path.

Creating m3u files in batch automatically by SSH (by @Folly, using PC88 as an example)

Games need to be in separate directories, for instance :

/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/pc88
|
+- /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/pc88/Fire Hawk - Thexder 2
                 |
                +- Fire Hawk - Thexder 2 (Disk 1).d88
                +- Fire Hawk - Thexder 2 (Disk 2).d88
                +- Fire Hawk - Thexder 2 (Disk 3).d88
                +- Fire Hawk - Thexder 2 (Disk 4).d88
                +- Fire Hawk - Thexder 2 (Disk 5 - User Disk).d88
+- /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/pc88/Wibarm
                 |
                +- Wibarm (User Disk).d88
                +- Wibarm.d88

In SSH :

cd /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/pc88

Then run the one line command :

create_m3u=$(ls -d */ |  sed 's/\///g'); echo "$create_m3u" | while read line; do echo "making $line.m3u"; cd "$line"; ls *.d88 -w1 > "$line.m3u"; cd ..; done

Check your individual directories and you will find .m3u files in each ; ideal for large collections.

@Folly's explanation of the process :

it gets the direcory's names

replaces the "/" in the output

puts the directory name into a string

echo's it and reads every line

goes to every individual directory

reads the disk files in that directory

uses the name of the directory to make an .m3u

puts the info in the m3u file

returns to it's original directory

until it has done every directory

Joystick or keyboard?

Most old japanese computers (if not all) used a variety of joypads and joysticks for most games, using the keyboards only for specific commands in more complex games. For example, SD Snatcher can be played with a two-button keypad for the most part. The D-Pad is used to navigate menus and move around, and A and B are used to get into and out of menus respectively. The keyboard only comes into play for pause and save functions. F1 pauses the game, F2 and F3 bring up the menu that enable the player to save and load. As another example, the X6800 supported a variety of controllers, including the MegaDrive six-button pad, although very few X68K games actually use that many buttons.

Mapping keyboard to joystick for MSX and PC88 (and possibly others)

This could not be simpler.

Bring up the Retroarch menu while in-game
Quick menu > Controls > Port 1 Controls
Select Retro Keyboard
Go back one menu and return into Port 1 Controls
All inputs are now blank and ready for you to map them to your joypad.
Auto : 13 (N/A), (Key : up) - Keyboard Backspace will map the backspace to the up button of your joypad.
Before exiting the emulator, make sure to use Save Game Remap file under Controls to save your game configurations.

Fix by @retropieuser555 (HERE)

Loading cassettes/tapes through lr-mess

This is necessary knowledge for anyone intending to play cassettes on the FM-7, or load tapes for the Sharp MZ700, and other old computers.

On the boot screen, type "load"
With your keyboard, press Scroll Lock. This will enable keyboard control.
Press Tab to open the MESS menu.
Go to Tape Control > Play (You can also press F2)

Loading will start and stop at prompt once the basic loader has loaded.
Type 'run' to load the tape.

Loading times can be very long (Galaga took nine minutes to load on FM-7).

TRANSLATING GAMES ON THE FLY

Please see Folly's thread on this awesome functionality.

See also

AlephOne : Marathon trilogy (Macintosh FPS, early Bungie) for RPi
DOOM Source ports (lzdoom also runs Strife, Hexen, Heretic, Strife)
DXX-Rebirth : Descent for RPi
Eduke32 : Source port of Dune Nukem 3D for RPi
GemRB : Open-source implementation of Bioware's Infinity Engine. Baldur's Gate, Baldur's Gate II : Shadows of Amn, Icewind Dale, Icewind Dale II & Planescape : Torment.
ioRTCW : Return to Castle Wolfenstein for RPi (by @tpo1990)
NEC PC-FX
OpenTyrian : Tyrian for RPi
Quake ports
UQM : Star Control II for RPi
Yamagi Quake 2 : Quake 2 port for RPi, under experimental packages (yquake2)
Wolf4SDL : Wolfenstein 3D for RPi
Xash3D (by @quicksilver)

Folly

@Zering Wow, I also have to install that PC88 and PC98 then.

Zering

@Folly PC98 is a bit tricky to set up. Let me know how you get on!

AdamBeGood

@Zering said in Old Japanese Computer Appreciation Thread:

@Folly PC98 is a bit tricky to set up. Let me know how you get on!

I am interested in PC98 now, as a result of Rude Breaker. Not sure I have the appetite just yet to get involved - I'll tinker with X68000 for a bit longer.

Here are some fun exclusive (I think) X68000 games that I've found so far:

Die Bahnwelt - Top Down Dungeon Shooter, with RPG bits
Knight Arms - Space Harrier-alike and side-scrolling shooter
Metal Sight - Space Harrier-alike, it was in fashion then :p
Zugya - Top Down Wrap-around Shooter

I can't get Neural Gear to react to any controls, which is irritating. I think that might be an exclusive also. If you fancy trying to get it to work, please do.

Zering

@AdamBeGood I'm having problems getting any PC98 games to work since this morning mysrlf, I'll have to reinstall. Rude Breaker is well worth it.
Thanks for the suggestions! Zugya is great fun! Very simple but extremely well executed. I couldn't get neural gear to react to my controls either. After Burner II is the same. My guess is they require some specific X68K peripheral that just isn't emulated currently.

AdamBeGood

@Zering Oh I mentioned Aquales in a previous thread didn't I? That is worth a look. SIde scrolling Mech Game.

Buster is quite fun as well, a cute platformer (although the music goes quiet occasionally for me).

That is annoying on Neural Gear, I might keep it on the Pi just in case a future update fixes it. Good luck fixing your PC98!

Zering

@AdamBeGood I'm trying Aquales now. It's the same developpers as Geograph Seal and Jumping Flash. Looks cool.
The music cutting out I think has to do with the X68K which could only play so many sounds at one time. Some games like Chourensha disguise it much better than others.
Did you try R+R in the end?

AdamBeGood

@Zering said in Old Japanese Computer Appreciation Thread:

@AdamBeGood I'm trying Aquales now. It's the same developpers as Geograph Seal and Jumping Flash. Looks cool.
The music cutting out I think has to do with the X68K which could only play so many sounds at one time. Some games like Chourensha disguise it much better than others.
Did you try R+R in the end?

Your sound theory could be it, that might make sense.

Only to see if the game worked... I need to play R+R and Chourensha.

I've heard good things about Etoile Princess also, just trying that now. I worry the Japanese content may be prohibitive, it's an Action RPG. Looks great though - massive sprites!

Zering

@AdamBeGood I'm kind of at a loss with Aquales. I'm stuck under a platform with nowhere to go. Are you supposed to be able to switch between weapons? I can only use the grappling hook. The game looks and sounds great though.
You may want to try Mad Stalker. It had versions on PC Engine and PS1 but I think the X68000 game is excellent, although the music does cut out often.
I'll try Etoile Princess now.

Edit : Etoile Princesse is great, the combat is fun. But it does seem fairly unfriendly to English players.

@Folly How did you get Castlevania 68K to work? I have no video and my controls won't respond.

AdamBeGood

@Zering said in Old Japanese Computer Appreciation Thread:

@AdamBeGood I'm kind of at a loss with Aquales. I'm stuck under a platform with nowhere to go. Are you supposed to be able to switch between weapons? I can only use the grappling hook. The game looks and sounds great though.
You may want to try Mad Stalker. It had versions on PC Engine and PS1 but I think the X68000 game is excellent, although the music does cut out often.
I'll try Etoile Princess now.

Edit : Etoile Princesse is great, the combat is fun. But it does seem fairly unfriendly to English players.

@Folly How did you get Castlevania 68K to work? I have no video and my controls won't respond.

Castlevania worked fine for me - although I do get a Menu at the start, in which I have to select X68000 out of three options. I have the .dims in an M3U, and run the game through that, I don't know if that makes a difference?

Oh, and I'll have a look at Aquales.

Edit: I have Mad Stalker, I'll give it a go now.
Further Edit: I love it! Once I'd worked out some moves: Down Down + Button for Dragon Punch, Forward Forward + Button for Slide Attack, Hadouken + Button for Gun.

Zering

@AdamBeGood I figured it out in the end, I had to wait for a long musical cue to end.
Those three options are internal X68000 sound, MT32 and SC55.
That game is spectacular by the way, although unfortunately I've ran into a pretty bad glitch on the raft in stage 2 that forced me to reload.

Edit : I knew you'd enjoy Mad Stalker! And the best thing is the other versions of the game are different enough to warrant a playthrough.
Did you try Genocide?

AdamBeGood

@Zering I'll look at the other Mad Stalkers then!

I've had a quick look at Genocide, but haven't played it through at all. It looks cool.

Folly

@Zering @AdamBeGood

Have the PC-88 and PC-98 up and running.
PC-88 was a pain in the ass with the BIOS.
(searching, checking checksums, renaming)
(still missing FONT2.ROM and FONT3.ROM, but it works without)
Seems that the retropie docs are a bit outdated with the filenames.

You can have the same problem with th PC-98 if you don't find the good files though. But I was fortunate enough.

Zering

@AdamBeGood The sequel is excellent.

@Folly Excellent! What games did you try?

Folly

@Zering said in Old Japanese Computer Appreciation Thread:

@Folly Excellent! What games did you try?

On the PC-88 : 1942
On the PC-98 : Yume no Sei (13cm)

They were just a quick test.
Have to wait for the better ones. :)

Zering

@Folly The PC88 has this really strange game called Wibarm that is worth a look. Otherwise, Dragon Slayer 1 and 2 are fun!
On the PC98 I can't recommend Rude Breaker enough. Flame Zapper Kotsujin and Rusty are also very good.

Folly

@Zering
Thanks, will try these.

Zering

@Folly Having said this, Dragon Slayer 2's definitive version can be found on the MSX1 (the MSX2 is inferior, weirdly), with a smashing score by Yuzo Koshiro!

Folly

@Zering

wibarm asks for a data disk. how do i do that ?

Zering

@Folly if I recall, you need to go into subsystems and follow all the menus to load all the discs at once.