Where to (legally) acquire content to play on RetroPie

BenMcLean

@themazingness said in Where to (legally) acquire content to play on RetroPie:

The Curse of Illmoore Bay is on sale right now on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1535880/The_Curse_of_Illmoore_Bay/

It's a Halloween themed platformer for Genesis/Mega Drive. The ROM is located at Steam\steamapps\common\The Curse of Illmoore Bay\bin\x86 and named libcore.dll. Simply rename it to a .bin or .md file.

The ROM is also sold at https://seconddimensionllc.itch.io/the-curse-of-illmoore-bay and https://www.second-dimension.com/store/the-curse-of-illmoore-bay

There is no sale on those sites, and they are more expensive than Steam, but they do have other options other than a stand-alone rom.

The sale on Steam is store-wide, so there may be other games mentioned in this thread that are on sale.

I gotta say, $20 seems a little pricey for just one Mega Drive ROM.

themazingness

@benmclean Much less pricey than the cartridge! I agree though. However, it's an Indie developer making a new game. You aren't buying a ROM of an old game.

I own Second Dimension's NES collection on Steam and it was worth every penny to me. It is a better deal though. That's why I got Illmoore Bay on Steam which was $5 cheaper at full price and even a better deal during this sale.

themazingness

@unknown Yeah, I had forgotten there were Indie games and such for sale on the VCS too. If you're in the market for a mini PC doubling as a retro/indie console it isn't a bad deal. I would be much more interested if those were roms I could buy without having to own the VCS and just run them in RetroArch.

Auster

First, I managed to dig the process to port Aquaria for the PSP.

It appears to work only in the original OS of the PSP (which includes the PS Vita). This behaviour is probably due to none of the PSP emulators available nowadays being accurate enough.

Sending the method here in case PPSSPP or something else becomes able to run it at some point.

First, download the Linux binary of the tool for converting the game: http://achurch.org/AquariaPSPBuilder-1.6.678.tar.gz

You can try using the source version of the binary instead, too: https://wololo.net/2010/07/10/compiling-aquaria-on-the-psp-download-included/

If using the binary, after downloading it, unpack it, make it executable with chmod or your distro's method, run it, select the first option (make a fresh conversion, iirc), choose the path for the original assets (top option), path for temp files (middle option) and output path (bottom option), then start the conversion. After finishing it, copy the two files from the output path and put them in [memcard root]/PSP/GAME/Aquaria/, or any folder emulators accept once they can run the port.

When running Aquaria, to exit the game, use the in-game options, AND NOT the PS button. Using the PS button to exit the game seems to glitch the OS and only restarting the console seems to fix it.

Lastly, it should work with all 4 PC versions of the game, from GOG, Steam, Humble Bundle and the dev's site.

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Now, some more games from Itchio:

h/\k1ng Th3 L0g0n
https://matteo-trevisan.itch.io/hackingthelogon
Platform: ZX Spectrum

The WOZ Apple II Fixing Adventure by Toolkitman
https://matteo-trevisan.itch.io/the-woz-apple-ii-fixing-adventure-by-toolkitman
Platform: Apple II

AMIGA MUSIC MOD PLAYER EXAMPLE
https://matteo-trevisan.itch.io/amiga-music-mod-player-example
Platform: Commodore Amiga
Open Source

AMIGA 1200 GAME
https://matteo-trevisan.itch.io/amiga-1200-game
Platform: Commodore Amiga
Open Source

APAGE INTERACTIVE DEMO
https://matteo-trevisan.itch.io/apage-interactive-demo
Platform: Commodore Amiga

Hallowed Knight
https://ejvg.itch.io/hallowed-knight
Platform: ZX Spectrum

Shovel Adventure
https://greenwebsevilla.itch.io/shovel-adventure
Platform: Amstrad CPC, M4, SF2 and SF3
Open Source

Auster

Beyker Legacy
https://playonretro.itch.io/beyker-legacy-zx-spectrum-dandanator-rom
Platform: ZX Spectrum

SORCERERS
https://playonretro.itch.io/sorcerers-amstrad-cpc-by-salvakantero
Platform: Amstrad CPC

Ánima
https://cperezgrin.itch.io/anima
Platform: Amstrad CPC

Manic Pietro
https://noentiendo.itch.io/manic-pietro
Platform: ZX Spectrum

Top Top
https://rantan.itch.io/toptop
Platform: Amstrad CPC 464

Super Bread Box
https://rgcddev.itch.io/super-bread-box
Platform: Commodore 64

Auster

C64anabalt
https://rgcddev.itch.io/c64anabalt
Platform: Commodore 64

ROBBIE STRIKES BACK!
https://playonretro.itch.io/robbie-amstrad-cpc
Platform: Amstrad CPC

L'ABBAYE DES MORTS
https://playonretro.itch.io/labbaye-des-morts-megadrivegenesis-por-002
Platform: Sega Genesis/Mega Drive

Get 'Em DX
https://rgcddev.itch.io/get-em-dx
Platform: Commodore 64

Gandalf
https://noentiendo.itch.io/gandalf
Platform: ZX Spectrum

Pietro Bros
https://noentiendo.itch.io/pietro-bros
Platform: ZX Spectrum

THE LAST ESCAPE
https://endaraues.itch.io/the-last-escape
Platform: ZX Spectrum

Survive the week
https://cperezgrin.itch.io/survive-the-week
Platform: Amstrad CPC

earth defENDER
https://cperezgrin.itch.io/earth-defender
Platform: Amstrad CPC

AGD Example
https://cperezgrin.itch.io/agd-example
Platform: ZX Spectrum

Being Left is not Right
https://cperezgrin.itch.io/being-left-is-not-right
Platform: ZX Spectrum

Cobra
https://cperezgrin.itch.io/cobra
Platform: Amstrad CPC

Auster

First, I forgot to mention yesterday that "Survive the week" for Amstrad CPC is open source. The source should be the file "Código Fuente y Documentación".

Now, a bit of bad news:

There's a chance Jim Power -The Lost Dimension gets banned from Steam.
Long story short, it has promised contents that were never delivered, the devs/publisher are MIA in the game's forum since 2017, the game's last update was in 2018 and now an user reported the game due to scam and is suggesting other people to do the same:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/370270/discussions/0/2295094308096933882/?tscn=1638353731#c3199241242399697790
(in case the link doesn't work properly, it's the comment #26)
While it's missing the Genesis and NES versions, it does have two SNES versions and the MS-DOS version included, and it's on sale now. So collectors may want to get it before the sale ends in a few hours.

themazingness

@auster Yeah, I'm not impressed with Piko. It looks like the website bleempowered.com which promised to be a ROM store is MIA (they own the Bleem branding now). Their release of some other games have been pretty low quality, and while some of them are fun many are obscure for a reason. It's too bad too. We need more companies selling ROMs legitimately.

Auster

PSA:

Duke Nukem 1, 2 and 3D Atomic Edition, all DOS games, are currently only purchasable on Zoom Platform (at least digitally), and the owner of the store informed in their official Discord group that the Duke Nukem titles there will likely get a price increase.

Since the store rarely make sales, if ever, the games will probably not get any cheaper, at least any time soon.

The full message the owner sent:

Doing everything we can to avoid this. However, due to inflation, we may have to slightly raise some games’ price points. Wanted to give the heads up as this may affect some of the Duke Nukem titles. Admittedly, we’re talking $1 differences, but, we wanted to be upfront about it. Change would likely occur in January.

Store pages:

Duke Nukem: https://www.zoom-platform.com/product/duke-nukem-1
Duke Nukem II: https://www.zoom-platform.com/product/duke-nukem-2
Duke Nukem 3D Atomic Edition: https://www.zoom-platform.com/product/duke-nukem-3d-atomic-edition

There's other game from the franchise available there as well (and it will also be affected), but as it is a Windows games, it is not in the scope of this thread.

And as a side note, from what I could gather, the Duke Nukem 3D version from Steam is probably a Windows remaster, instead of a modded DOS game wrapped in DOSBox.

Auster

50% off sale for Nox Archaist in both the devs' store and on Steam:
https://nox-archaist.myshopify.com/collections/nox-archaist/products/nox-archaist-digital-edition

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1509080/Nox_Archaist/

Both include ports for Windows and Mac, as well as a ROM that should work in Apple IIe (enhanced), IIc and IIgs, as well as in compatible emulators.

Sale also announced for GOG, but it doesn't seem to be live yet. And no news on the Itchio version.

LinuxArcadeGuy

@hipsterelephant they just released the Xeno crisis rom for AES/MVS/Neo-CD (they’ve had it for geneses/megadrive already) $20usd

Auster

@auster said in Where to (legally) acquire content to play on RetroPie:

50% off sale for Nox Archaist in both the devs' store and on Steam

Forgot to mention, but the sales on Itchio and GOG went live in the day after I posted this:
https://www.gog.com/game/nox_archaist
https://6502workshop.itch.io/nox-archaist

Itchio doesn't show a discount tag, but it is -50% off as well.

themazingness

This was shared in the Piepacker discord server. I'm reshaping this nice list of homebrew NES games/utilities on itch.io: https://itch.io/c/632436/nes-games

Auster

Slow Mole for the Dreamcast free to claim for the next 3 days, 6 hours and 40 minutes:
https://itch.io/s/63411/slow-mole-says-merry-christmas

themazingness

I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream, a ScummVM game, is free on GoG.

themazingness

Anguna for NES is looking pretty awesome. It looks a lot like Crystalis to me, but better. The first Zelda is probably what most think of though. https://the6502collective.itch.io/anguna-scourge-of-the-goblin-king

I've noticed a lot of NES and Genesis homebrews are showing up on Piepacker and the games Piko Interactive sells are showing up on Antstream and Piepacker. So if anyone wanted to either try before you buy or play them for free instead of buying, f2p cloud computing has made that possible. I've been learning about a lot of homebrew and classic games this way.

Auster

@themazingness About the stream systems you mentioned, is there a way to back the files up there? If not, it's not ideal due to preservation, portability and ownership of the contents there.

themazingness

@auster You don't own the games. It's basically Netflix for video games. Everything is server-side.

I agree, they aren't going to help you preserve or backup games. What they are good for is try before you buy (buy as in buy elsewhere, the platforms don't sell games,) and learning about games you may not be aware of. They're especially helpful for the latter if you aren't European since Piepacker is based in France and Antstream is based in the UK. Piepacker features a few French homebrew games. Antstream features loads of games that many American gamers may not have experienced growing up since Amiga and others were much more popular in Europe than the USA.

Auster

I don't think this has been posted yet...

Project EGG is a Japanese "Good Old Games"-like store mostly for retro computers, such as MSX, MSX2, PC-98, etc.

Home page: https://www.amusement-center.com/project/egg

How to extract the ROMs, adapted from the 7th comment in this page:

Download the game you want with their launcher
Go to where the game was downloaded (it's in a folder in the launcher's installation directory)
Make a copy of the whole folder of the downloaded game somewhere else
Launch the game through Project EGG's launcher and, before you close the game, copy the new exe file that was generated in the original folder of the game and paste in the copy folder you made before
Get quickbms
Download this quickbms script
Use the script with quickbms to extract the exe you copied last
Now you need to figure out which files are the BIOS and the ROM, since they don't always match database information; the only part I noticed that seems to be constant is that, when you end up with a bunch of files named EGGFDIMG[something].dat, those files are your ROM, and you need to join them with a script
Download this Python script to join the EGGFDIMG[something].dat into a working ROM
Put the script in the same folder as the EGGFDIMG[something].dat files
Run python egg_disk.py [disk format], and change python for the command your system uses, like py for Windows 10 and python3 for Linux; disk format can be either d88, dsk or fdi, and since I'm not sure how to find out which format each game uses in advance, I'd suggest trying all 3 options
The output file will be disk_[disk number].[format you chose]

Auster

Kajko i Kokosz, a Polish-only MS-DOS game, will be delisted from GOG tomorrow. I don't think it's available anywhere else digitally, so this may be the last chance to get it.

Store page:
https://www.gog.com/game/kajko_i_kokosz

Delisting announcement:
https://www.gog.com/forum/general/kajko_i_kokosz_delisting