SuspciousCarrot78
@SuspciousCarrot78@lemmy.world
- Comment on My SuperPretendo5 19 hours ago:
Proton must have come along in leaps and bounds since I last used it in that case.
What front end does Bazzite use? I understood it to have Steam baked in; most of my games are from other sources, like GoG.
I think once Steam kills support for Win 10 (probs in a year or two, based on history) the smart move is going to be something like Bazzite.
- Comment on My SuperPretendo5 20 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.
- Comment on LOTR: The fellowship of the ring. The game that people and history forgot. 23 hours ago:
Funnily enough, I have ROTK high up on my GameCube “to play” list after playing LOTR on GBA. The GBA game was pretty dang güd.
- Comment on My SuperPretendo5 1 day ago:
Heh…it’s a little late for a career change…
But I’ll add it to the list :)
- Submitted 1 day ago to retrogaming@lemmy.world | 14 comments
- Comment on My SuperPretendo5 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)
- Comment on My SuperPretendo5 1 day ago:
Bazzite is just for steam, right? Would that mean it plays Windows based games via Proton layer? Proton blows on Batocera. Shame, because Bato was pretty nice.
I strongly dislike Windows, but it was the only way I could cobble together something for this use case that just works
- Comment on My SuperPretendo5 1 day ago:
I’m getting that vibe lol. My bad.
- Comment on My SuperPretendo5 1 day ago:
Sorry my dude. I don’t have that skillset. Would be handy. Will work on it.
- Comment on My SuperPretendo5 1 day ago:
So! I have a pi4 acting as my Jellyfin, Radarr, Sonarr etc server. (I’m actually debating adding Immich and Synchthing, as well as home CCTV to it’s list of duties).
IME, emulation on the pi is weirdly hit or miss. For example, Dreamcast (Redream) is pretty good! N64 tanks it. Zero chance for PS2 etc… but then it plays Half life and Doom 3 just fine.
I lucked out when I got it - for what you pay for a Pi now, you’d get a lot more out of a NUC or a thinclient. Case in point: a barebones pi5 costs around $150 AUD near me. Literally just the board - no case, no power supply.
For a $150, you could replicate the machine I got, which is orders of magnitude more powerful, with 120gb SSD, power supply etc. And only slightly more power hungry than the pi.
I love my Pi, but that thing is like a box full of cats. Something about the Argon 40 case messes with it. You breath too hard near it, it drops wifi. It spontaneously decided “no RealVNC access for you - come back one year”.
I really need to strip it back to parts and start again, but that’s a job I keep putting off, because it works well enough for what it does.
Wouldn’t want to game on it tho; I actually think even the Google Chromecast outperforms for some stuff.
- Comment on My SuperPretendo5 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
- Comment on My SuperPretendo5 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…
- Comment on My SuperPretendo5 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.
- Comment on Anyone else guilty of this? 1 day ago:
Yeah, there’s less gold than we remember… but there is some.
I just cannot stand to play a lot of the PS1/N64 era of games these days. Modern shooters etc have rewired my brain too much for something like Metroid Prime or TimeSplitters.
Still, some classic do hold up, especially if you missed them the first time round and/or you can emulate them for quality of life improvements.
- Comment on Anyone else guilty of this? 1 day ago:
You’re not wrong about “freedom within limits” when it comes to gaming imho. Having access to everything means you/they will play nothing. Witness my Steam library :/
But introducing artifical scarcity means you can curate the experience with them. Something small, bespoke and meaningful that you can bond over.
As the saying goes, you can never step in the same river twice, but you can point out the best spot for others.
- Comment on My SuperPretendo5 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.”
- Submitted 1 day ago to retrogaming@lemmy.world | 30 comments
- Comment on Anyone else guilty of this? 1 day ago:
The game itself too… I had no idea!
I joke that with Gecko codes enabled (to fix the horrendous inverted controls), plus unlimited FLUDD (jet back) and fast running, you basically end up with the world’s cutest Just Cause clone, except with chill vibes.
- Comment on Anyone else guilty of this? 2 days ago:
Guilty? No.
Proud? Yes!
My kids be vibing of Super Mario Sunshine, Go Vacation, Warioware.
My eldest (7) tried to explain some of these games to a friend the other day, with “They’re good for your brain!”.
You should have seen how perplexed her friend was with the Wii controls.
