Old Computer Appreciation Thread

[Folly]

@Zering said in Old Japanese Computer Appreciation Thread:

@Folly Salamander on MSX is very interesting. I expected a straight port but really it's Gradius in Salamander's clothing, with the traditional power up bar and everything. Great fun.
I can see myself spending way more time than I should on Oil's Well ^^

Suggestion: Collect the "E"'s in Salamander :)

[Zering]

@Folly What do they do?

[Folly]

@Zering

Got Wibarm running !

Seems that info of adding disks is also missing in the retropie docs.
Perhaps we can add this.

Summarized a bit :
Press "F1" -> Press "z" (back) -> Goto "Subsystems" -> Goto "2 disks" -> Add the first disk, again add the second disk (in same options)( it will say something like, 2 disks added) -> Same option, "2 disks", turns into "start ......" - Execute with "x".

Will try later if we can make .m3u files.

[Folly]

@Zering said in Old Japanese Computer Appreciation Thread:

@Folly What do they do?

As far as I remember. You get special weapons.

[Zering]

@Folly That's what I meant with subsystems. Sorry, I should have been more specific.
I wonder if there's a way down the line to update the documrntation with all this information?

[AdamBeGood]

@Zering I got Neural Gear working! It's mouse control. Change the setting in Options from Joystick to Mouse and then click on the Menu and you're away!

Edit: the question of whether it was worth the struggle is still to be answered.

@Folly I got the games you mentioned, I was catching some rice balls in Konami Collection this morning!

[Zering]

@AdamBeGood Oh well done! Did you try After Burner II to see if the issue was the same?

[AdamBeGood]

@Zering said in Old Japanese Computer Appreciation Thread:

@AdamBeGood Oh well done! Did you try After Burner II to see if the issue was the same?

I didn't, I haven't got that one yet. Let me know!

[Zering]

@AdamBeGood No luck with either.

[AdamBeGood]

@Zering said in Old Japanese Computer Appreciation Thread:

@AdamBeGood No luck with either.

Weird, I just tried AfterBurner II and it worked for me. You've changed the setting in Options?

[Zering]

@AdamBeGood ...I forgot to turn my mouse on.

Retrying now. ^^

Edit : Yup, Neural Gear works now. Is it not very good or is it just Me?

[AdamBeGood]

@Zering said in Old Japanese Computer Appreciation Thread:

@AdamBeGood ...I forgot to turn my mouse on.

Retrying now. ^^

Edit : Yup, Neural Gear works now. Is it not very good or is it just Me?

I am not sure, it didn't seem amazing but maybe it was a matter of getting used to the controls. I'll give it more time!

Also, when @Folly said -

MSX2:
Salamander : The super nemesis

Is that an official release or a patched version of MSX Salamander... I have only found the latter so far.

[Zering]

@AdamBeGood There is an official MSX1 release of Salamander, I think Folly called it super Nemesis because it borrows a lot of gameplay elements from that series.

The Gradius wiki article on MSX Salamander

[AdamBeGood]

@Zering said in Old Japanese Computer Appreciation Thread:

@AdamBeGood There is an official MSX1 release of Salamander, I think Folly called it super Nemesis because it borrows a lot of gameplay elements from that series.

The Gradius wiki article on MSX Salamander

I thought he might have put it under MSX2 because of this: https://www.msx.org/news/software/en/konamis-salamander-pimped-up

I've downloaded the patch now and it works fine. I haven't played the original enough to tell too much difference though.

[Folly]

Well, I'm mobile. Cannot react as i would like.

Always tought that Salamander was an MSX2 game. Indeed that "super nemesis" was just an expression of mine. Nice to know there is a patch. Will try that when I can.

I will edit the "summarized disk add for the pc-88" when I am behind my pi4.
Was doing this out of my head.

[AdamBeGood]

@Zering said in Old Japanese Computer Appreciation Thread:

@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.

I'm going to sort out PC98 tomorrow. You've convinced me.

[Zering]

@AdamBeGood Good luck! The NEC PCs are among the trickiest to set up on RetroPie in my opinion. I still haven't figured out what's wrong with my PC98. I expect I'll have to un-install and re-install it and start fresh...
Just be aware that although there are great games on the PC98 it's mostly known for games of an erotic nature ^^

[Folly]

@Zering @AdamBeGood

Back on the PI4.

This is a better doc for lr-quasi88 :
https://docs.libretro.com/library/quasi88/

Perhaps we can borrow some info.

Tried with an .m3u file (it works)
(.m3u has to be lower-case, otherwise it will ask, how many files, and go into "basic")
I will take Wibarm as an example :
Make a text file (in this case: Wibarm.m3u) with the following content :

Wibarm.d88
Wibarm (User disk).d88

If you run this .m3u it will run, ok, directly.

This is the manual way (2 disk example) :
Start, for example, first disk to run the emulator.
(If configured, you can also use the joystick)

• Press "F1"
• Press "z"(back)
• Select, with "x"(forward), "Subsystems"
• Select, with "x", "Load 2-Disk Game"
• Select, with "x", the first disk file
• Select, with "x", "Subsystems"
• Select, with "x", "Load 2-Disk Game"
• Select, with "x", the second disk file
• Select, with "x", "Subsystems"
• Select, with "x", "Start 2-Disk Game"

[Zering]

@Folly Just out of curiosity, is there any software that can automatically generate .m3u files?

[Folly]

@AdamBeGood said in Old Japanese Computer Appreciation Thread:

@Folly I got the games you mentioned, I was catching some rice balls in Konami Collection this morning!

You have to be fast !!! How many levels ?

When I first got this game. I could go five or six levels I think.
How further you go, it becomes dark, later it will lighten up again.