Cardboard Mini NES + Nes mini and Famicom mini themes

backstander

Is Dreamcast actually worth playing on a pi?

It's hit or miss and doesn't work as well as the PSX emulator but I play Star Wars Episode I: Racer (Pod Racing) and it runs pretty well. The only issue is the pre-rendered video cut scenes are a little choppy but you can skip them. I originally played the N64 version of this game back in the day and it didn't have these video cut scenes so I'm used to not seeing them anyways lol. I think the Dreamcast version runs better on the RPi then the N64 version.

MapleStory

@ruckage said in Cardboard Mini NES + Nes mini and Famicom mini themes:

@MapleStory said in Cardboard Mini NES + Nes mini and Famicom mini themes:

@ruckage If possible, please add Dreamcast, Famicom Disk System (FDS), MSX, and Virtualboy! Keep up the great work, your theme is truly one of the greatest looking themes available.

Glad you like the theme, I've added those systems to the list. Is Dreamcast actually worth playing on a pi? I just can't imagine it would be powerful enough to do a good job.

I actually felt the same way you did until I saw a video on youtbe of a guy showing how Capcom vs SNK 2 ran on RetroPie and had to see for myself. Sure enough, it runs surprisingly well for fighting games! Even Marvel vs Capcom 2 runs well enough to enjoy, some framerate dips here and there but not enough to ruin the experience.

The real surprise was seeing Shenmue in action. It actually runs at full speed for the most part! There's some graphical glitches but just the fact that it runs without completely crippling the Pi is the most impressive thing about it.

b0gsnjir0

@ruckage my bad for sounding like I'm in a rush. I just thought you were already done and I just can't find it on the thread. Hehe. By the way gear job! I really like the theme.

Squilenator

@ruckage Can you add Nintendo DS to the list, if possible? Wonderfull theme by the way, is everything i wanted.

ruckage

Hi everyone, I just uploaded a new version of the themes to MEGA. Quite a big update this time, I've added 12 new systems - this brings the total supported systems to 32 now. It also includes an edited gamelist font to more closely match the font used by Nintendo.

There may need to be some changes to the MAME and FBA systems as currently I have the scraped artwork showing as a portrait image as I wasn't sure what kind of art is available for these as they are arcade systems - if only screenshots are pulled for these it will need modifying as they will be very stretched.

Download Here --> Nes-Famicom mini themes v1.3.zip

The new systems are:

Vectrex
Super Famicom
MAME
NeoGeo Pocket
NeoGeo Pocket Color
Family Computer Disk System
Playstation
Wonderswan
Wonderswan Color
Final Burn Alpha
Nintendo 64
Sega CD

Here's an animated GIF slideshow of the new systems from the Nes-mini theme.

alt text

DigitalMonkey

Awesome work as usual! :) Will try that out later.

Just one thing that I thought of looking at those .gifs : would it be possible to 'jazz' up the background pictures for the systems that have a plain background at the moment (Gameboy/Atari 2600, not sure what others have it)?

So, for Gameboy, instead of a plain green background it'd be something like this:

alt text

lostless

@ruckage very nice. I think arcade should be a mixture of the mame and fba, as that is pretty much what it is.

ruckage

@DigitalMonkey said in Cardboard Mini NES + Nes mini and Famicom mini themes:

Awesome work as usual! :) Will try that out later.

Just one thing that I thought of looking at those .gifs : would it be possible to 'jazz' up the background pictures for the systems that have a plain background at the moment (Gameboy/Atari 2600, not sure what others have it)?

I am thinking about that but not sure yet. Initially to keep with the look of the NES-mini theme I was keeping things quite minimal, with just a few of the systems with a bit more flair but I've gotten a bit carried away with a lot of the systems and I was a bit concerned that I was adding too much. I do have some basic rules I'm following - any background has to have some connection to the console (e.g. based on box art, boot screens etc.) and also a limited color palette.

Part of me thinks that the older systems should be left as is - they were more basic machines so the more basic themes suits them. And the gameboy theme I quite like as is - it just mimics the look of a gameboy screen with that pallete without being too busy - though if I do decide to add a background it will be based on tetrominos as Tetris was the iconic gameboy game. Hmmm... think I might just try that now to see how it looks - I'll post a picture soon.

DigitalMonkey

I think something minimal but not just a plain color. I really like the background style for the NGP. If you get stuck for ideas for other systems I reckon that background but in the color scheme of the system would do the job (and/or the Wonderswan background but keeping with the systems color scheme)

I think the PS1, SEGA CD & N64 (& to a lesser extent the FBA & NGPC) backgrounds kinda look out of place.

[Dont want to sound negative but all feedback is good feedback etc!]

ruckage

@DigitalMonkey said in Cardboard Mini NES + Nes mini and Famicom mini themes:

I think something minimal but not just a plain color. I really like the background style for the NGP. If you get stuck for ideas for other systems I reckon that background but in the color scheme of the system would do the job (and/or the Wonderswan background but keeping with the systems color scheme)

I think the PS1, SEGA CD & N64 (& to a lesser extent the FBA & NGPC) backgrounds kinda look out of place.

[Dont want to sound negative but all feedback is good feedback etc!]

Feed back is good and welcome. The key is that if I have a background then it should reflect the console itself in some way - I particularly like the NGP background but it reflects that console as it was inspired by the halftone pattern featured on one of the boxes the console came in - it wouldn't have a connection to the other systems.

PS1/N64 were tricky - they both had particularly bland boxes and nothing stood out to me. For the ps1 the SCE boot screen was pretty iconic so that was what I went for - along with lots of dithering in the image as I always noticed it on PS1 games and quite liked it at the time.

N64, I had nothing other than the logo. I admit that background looks a bit tacky but it kind of suits the system as I always found the N64 quite tacky anyway (not trying to upset any N64 fans but it wasn't the most attractive console Nintendo has come up with, though it didn't stop me from enjoying playing it back in the day.) It also serves a purpose as the logos take up some of the empty space around the box art so it doesn't look so bare.

For FBA, I was really stuck. I don't wish to be mean but I dislike pretty much everything about the FBA logo so it didn't give me much to work with for inspiration (it's a fantastic emulator and deserves a much better logo imo). As it emulates lots of arcade systems I couldn't pick just one game to represent them so instead I went for the kickplate pattern found on many machines. Maybe I could tone it down though and reduce it to a bar of kickplate at the top and bottom as that might fit in better.

For NGPC I quite like that background. I always wanted a NGPC (sadly never got one) and I particularly liked the blue camoflage variant so I'm biased :p. Perhaps though, again it would be better restricted to just bars at the top and bottom.

Lastly Sega CD. I personally think it works, it's based on the Sega Cd game boxes which feature that same blue stripe pattern on the left side of the box. The only thing is I appreciate it is the only system with bars at the sides instead of top/bottom but it was to mimic the box design.

I'm kind of torn, on the one hand I like a nice unified theme which is where the Famicom mini theme comes in nicely. On the other hand I find the variety of different styles in the nes-mini theme fun and interesting (certainly more fun for me to design).

felleg

Stunning work!!!!!!

DigitalMonkey

Bug report!

Just tried the new versions of both themes. ~~The Famicom works great, no problems~~ but the NES one is zoomed in on my TV. I'm missing/cant see the edges of the theme. So, for example, when in the Super Nintendo section what I see on the top left corner is ER NINTENDO.

Problem with the Famicom theme too. The main menu is fine but when I go into a systems game list the screen is zoomed in there like the NES theme is on the main menu & game list screen.

Tried restarting Retropie, restarting the PI3 & installing the theme again but problem is still there.

Gonna hook the Pi3 up to my other TV & see what happens.

This is on the 4.1 version of RetroPie (haven't updated it to the latest version because of problems it causes for me with Kodi)

felleg

@DigitalMonkey
Confirmed: https://imgur.com/gallery/9bdta

I am using a 4:3 CRT, this might explain the problem if the original images are 16:9 only. You can see the NES looks reasonable in both themes' but other like the neogeo and n64 have their side chopped off and show part of the console next to them. .

ruckage

@DigitalMonkey said in Cardboard Mini NES + Nes mini and Famicom mini themes:

Bug report!

Just tried the new versions of both themes. The Famicom works great, no problems but the NES one is zoomed in on my TV. I'm missing/cant see the edges of the theme. So, for example, when in the Super Nintendo section what I see on the top left corner is ER NINTENDO.

Tried restarting Retropie, restarting the PI3 & installing the theme again but problem is still there.

This is on the 4.1 version of RetroPie (haven't updated it to the latest version because of problems it causes for me with Kodi)

I can't replicate this. I've tested on both 4.1 and 4.3 and it works fine here. I don't think I've changed anything that could even cause that to happen (it's essentially the same as the last version - just more systems).

All I can suggest is to completely delete the themes restart the pi and try installing them again. Also try downloading them again just in case the download was corrupted somehow (unlikely but worth a try).

ruckage

@felleg said in Cardboard Mini NES + Nes mini and Famicom mini themes:

@DigitalMonkey
Confirmed: https://imgur.com/gallery/9bdta

I am using a 4:3 CRT, this might explain the problem if the original images are 16:9 only. You can see the NES looks reasonable in both themes' but other like the neogeo and n64 have their side chopped off and show part of the console next to them. .

The theme is designed for a widescreen 1080p display and will not work at other resolutions.

DigitalMonkey

I've a widescreen 1080p TV but the theme looks exactly the same way it does for felleg (zoomed).

Gonna try it on my other TV later when I get a chance & see whats what.

ruckage

@DigitalMonkey said in Cardboard Mini NES + Nes mini and Famicom mini themes:

I've a widescreen 1080p TV but the theme looks exactly the same way it does for felleg (zoomed).

Gonna try it on my other TV later when I get a chance & see whats what.

That's strange - the TV shouldn't make a difference. And if the Famicom version displays correctly I can't see a reason why the Nes version doesn't.

Could you get a photo/screen shot of both themes displayed on your TV so I can see?

DigitalMonkey

I edited/updated my post. The same problem is on both themes.

NES theme - both main menu & game list menus are zoomed.
Famicom - main menu looks to be fine but games list menu is zoomed.

MapleStory

The new systems look great! Have a slight issue with NES Mini though.

Not sure if this has been mentioned before but if you have roms sorted by folders for systems (for example, under SNES, I have the folders Europe, Japan, and USA) , the folder names are invisible except for the one highlighted. This isn't an issue in Famicom Mini, as it uses black text over a white background when not highlighted and text changes to light blue with a darker blue background when highlighted.

DigitalMonkey

Just remembered something that might be related to the zoomed in problem.

On my main TV games are full screen (stretched to filled the screen). Now, I didnt set it up that way, its just the way it displays on that TV.

On my other (widescreen) TV, games display in 4:3 with black borders on the sides. And on this one the NES/Famicom theme displays correctly.

Again, I never set it up to do that so I think its just my main TV.

Would that be the cause? I'm not sure it is as other themes I've downloaded work fine on both TVs .

A couple of weeks ago I went through some settings in Retropie to try to get my main TV to display games in 4:3 but nothing worked. Its as if the TV just forces them to go fullscreen. There isnt any setting on the TV that seems to do anything to fix the zoomed in problem on the NES/Famincom themes. I can switch it to 4:3 but the zoom problem is still there.