My SuperPretendo5

Submitted ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨SuspciousCarrot78@lemmy.world⁩ to ⁨retrogaming@lemmy.world⁩

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/8fa3b984-2c68-4dd5-ab0f-61473a7b5907.jpeg

So, I’ve been getting back into gaming in a big way these last few months, after a low back injury left me sidelined from my other, more physically active hobbies.

The silver lining (or I suppose cat nip) for my ASD brain is modding. In the past 6 weeks, I’ve modded a ds, a dsi, a wii u, a wii (which underrated as a “turn it on and play the classics” machine), several Android TVs… yeah…

While I’ve loved all of them (the Wii especially brought me great joy), I wished there was a way to play everything in one spot. A curated console, as it were.

Of course, you know where this is going - emulation.

Through the wonders of Ebay, I was able go score a Lenovo M93p tiny for around $80USD (a SFF pc from around 2014, about same dimensions as wii).

Throw in a faster processor, lobotomise windows, throw on Playnite, Dolphin Emulator and a bunch of personal classic and… well…let me introduce you to my SuperPretendo 5 :)

PS: ChatGPT gen art (and typos aside), I kinda love the ai art it generated for this thing.

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Comments

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tanisnikana@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
Goddamn AI slop.

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- frezik@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  You don’t remember buying an Xbox 260 in 2805?
  
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  - tanisnikana@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    Back in my day, AIs would play chess and murder people and pretend to be human and maybe get that wish granted.
    
    Oh how times change.
    
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RightHandOfIkaros@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
Unfortunately, you mentioned using ChatGPT on Lemmy, so you must suffer the consequence of a negative score on your post and comments.

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- SuspciousCarrot78@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  I’m getting that vibe lol. My bad.
  
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Weebdeluxe@ani.social ⁨18⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
First: that whole “oh no mario kart is 80 bucks” ragebait stuff is cringe. You don’t want to pay that much for videogames? That’s cool, but stop polluting everything with negativity.

Second: take that AI slop somewhere else. I’d have more respect for this post if you did this by yourself. You mention not having the skills? How about investing a bit in yourself, get some skills and do it yourself. Even if done badly - that would have been better than this AI cringe.

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- SuspciousCarrot78@lemmy.world ⁨16⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  Fair enough you don’t like the ad format. That was just for fun, trying to emulate some of the old CVG and Sega ads from the 80s and 90s
  
  The actual build was mine start to finish: sourcing, configuring, optimizing, and getting it to boot like a console.
  
  I shared it because it gave me a lot of joy, not to farm outrage. The ChatGPT mention was me being transparent, not trying to pass it off.
  
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  - Weebdeluxe@ani.social ⁨13⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    Okay man if putting it like that helps you sleep at night, then be my guest.
    
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ClownsInSpace2@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
You ever thought about loading it w Linux? Batocera or Bazzite could be of interest

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- prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  Yeah, why only “lobotomize Windows”? Get rid of that trash completely and never look back.
  
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  - SuspciousCarrot78@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    Windows sucks…but the M93p is old and Windows has bespoke drivers for it to coax the most out of the iGPU.
    
    I’ve also had really shitty luck getting stuff to run under Proton.
    
    Don’t worry. It’s the only thing in the house running windows. We’re all about penguin here (Raspbian, Zorin, PopOS and a few others)
    
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- mesamunefire@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  Heck my miyoo mini plus is just a linux handheld. So much fun from PS1 down.
  
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  - ClownsInSpace2@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    Ayyyyy I have the MM+ too. Great handheld, I just wish it had some kind of syncing capability
    
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- SuspciousCarrot78@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  It had Batocera on it :)
  
  Batocera is wonderful, until you want to mix and match it with PC games or steam stuff. Then it makes your life more difficult than you’d expect.
  
  Weirdly, I find some of the standalone emulators legitimately work better in Windows that Bato.
  
  Dolphin, PCSX2, PPSSPP etc are much nicer.
  
  One neat thing is being able to run multiple instances of same emulator, slightly differently.
  
  For example, Dolphin doesn’t allow you to enable / disable Vsync per game.
  
  Which means, you can have some games upscaled (but with screen tearing) or native resolution (but no screen tear)…but not both within same emulator.
  
  In Windows, I just create c:/dolphin1 and c:/dolphin 2, and set each game as needed.
  
  TL: DR: i’m using win 8.1 for the OS, stripped to the bone, and replaced Explorer.exe with Playnite. I genuinely think it’s a touch faster than Batocera and more maliable to PC stuff.
  
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  - prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    You should be able to do all that in Bazzite. I know nothing about batocera but it doesn’t sound like it even compares.
    
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  - Auster@thebrainbin.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    About tinkering, if you'd be interested at some point in the future, maybe also test something like a more general Linux system with either Kodi or RetroPie? Also maybe, if you have the money, to throw in a Raspberry Pi 4 or 5 as the hardware? Think it'd give a nice console-like device.
    
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SuspciousCarrot78@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
I’m toying around with the idea of 3D printing a case for this, in classic console style. If i can just figure out how I can incorporate some IR LEDs into the front (so that the Wiimotes work without wii light bar) and the Xbox 360 USB dongle, I’m I’m business. As with all retro projects, one thing inevitably leads to the next…

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SuspciousCarrot78@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
PPS: dunno where the PS4 logo came from. I think because I told it I used xbox 360 and Wiimotes to play SoC. The blurb it made (per below) is sufficiently more coherent that it made me want to buy it :)

Super Pretendo 5 — Retro Reinvented

Front of Box

Logo: Super Pretendo 5™ Tagline: Don’t spend $80 to play Mario Kart. Do more with less.

Hero art: Rico parachuting in JC2 + Mario Kart Wii chaos.

Badges:

Xbox 360, PS4 and Wiimote Ready

Playnite Console UI

Optimized for Wii / GC / PS2 / PC Prestige Collection

Back of Box

Headline: Your old games. New life. One tiny box.

Features:

🎮 Console Feel – Couch-ready, controller-first, TV-native.

🧠 Smart Power – i7-4785T + Intel HD 4600 wrung dry for HD.

📦 Backlog Optimized & Upscaled – Super Mario Sunshine, Mario Kart, Shadow of the Colossus, Fallout 3, Just Cause 2 … and many more

✨ Switch Modes:

Crunchy Mode → Wii-like smoothness @ 60 FPS.

Cinematic Mode → 1366p sharper fidelity.

🔧 Thrift Engineered – A$200 (~US$130) total build cost → complete console-like system.

≈ 3× cheaper than PS5 / Xbox Series X (~A$800).

Prestige Collection

PC Ports Tested & Couch Ready on the Super Pretendo 5

60 FPS Locked

Portal 2

Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Dead Rising 2

Assassin’s Creed II

Superhot

Firewatch

Half-Life 2

Mass Effect 2

30+ FPS

Metal Gear Solid V

Grand Theft Auto IV

Bayonetta

Fallout 4

Witcher 2

Bioshock Infinite

Dishonored

Prey … and many more

Special Note

Just Cause 2 → Crunchy Mode: Locked 60 FPS @ 960×540 (VSync on — 84 FPS with VSync off). Cinematic Mode: ~45 FPS @ 1366×768.

Screenshots Panel

Mario Kart Wii — native vs. 2× IR

Just Cause 2 — 60 FPS wingsuit chaos

Fallout 3 — Remastered & Upscaled, 60 FPS

Fine Print

Super Pretendo 5™ is a DIY build. Capable of playing thousands of retro titles + select modern/indie games from the 2015–2025 era, including Superhot, Firewatch, Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe, Cult of the Lamb, and more.

Thousands of 6th gen console classics at 2× upscale. Prestige ports tested for couch play.

Comparison Chart

System Cost (AUD)

Super Pretendo 5 ~A$200 Xbox 360 (2005) ~A$700 Nintendo Switch ~A$470 PS5 / Series X ~A$800

Footer Slogan

“Don’t spend $80 to play Mario Kart. Do more with less.”

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- tanisnikana@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  You’re not trying to AI spam; you succeeded Ike a pro.
  
  And I hate it.
  
  Come on, man, this could have been an easy job in GIMP or PhotoShop and it would have looked better too.
  
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  - SuspciousCarrot78@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    Sorry my dude. I don’t have that skillset. Would be handy. Will work on it.
    
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jordanlund@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
“Gouch Ready”

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- SuspciousCarrot78@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  I noticed that too 🤣 ChatGPT is an idiot sometimes.
  
  I mean, we all know the Xbox260 only came out in Japan.
  
  A+ for style. C- for content
  
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