Okay, so some crap happened three weeks ago that took Carob Reddit offline. I'm just able to start posting again. Hopefully there will not be future downtimes. Reminds me of all that nonsense from FurAffinity back in 2009. (Don't ask me how I know about FurAffinity.)
Okay, so Adcockm released an early alpha version of his custom firmware, and it seems to be shaping up pretty well. Games for the Atari 2600, ColecoVision, and various early Sega consoles run without issue. Atari Lynx is surprisingly excellent, at least as good as the real machine and certainly easier to see. The custom firmware also makes the Data Frog a fine substitute TurboExpress, capable of playing the lion's share of its games on a superior screen. Performance in Neo-Geo Pocket Color games is likewise pretty solid... Crush Roller (aka Make Trax) usually gives emulators fits, but whatever they're using here runs the game without any trouble. (Don't play Sonic Pocket Adventure. It works, but the "Sayyy-gaaah!" voice sample that plays at boot sounds like it came out of the bowels of Satan.)
On the down side, Atari 5200 is a problem- I ran up against multiple exception errors while running games- and some of the systems on offer run worse than the Data Frog's default emulators. Don't go in expecting a miracle cure for Super NES or Game Boy Advance games, because brother, you ain't getting it.
Also, you can't use Tadpole or other programs to change the Data Frog's boot logo while the custom firmware is running, evidently because the address for it has changed, and attempting to make that change would likely corrupt the file. Still, this is a promising step in the right direction. Why the original development team didn't include a Turbografx-16 emulator in the first place is a mystery... the system's hardware is well documented and not all that demanding. Better late than never, I suppose!
I've come to the unfortunate conclusion that these games are largely designed in DOS, and don't port well to Steam. Any suggestions on how to deal with this? It took me forever just to realize how to get out of Risky Woods (it's CTRL+Q, by the way).
Thing is, Steam is running them in DOSbox. I see a command prompt come up which briefly mentions DOSbox, before the actual game starts. I see there's a quick menu mentioned on Google, but I don't know what the keystroke is to activate it.
Controversial: I like the metal accented, aerodynamic plastic Atari put its consoles into better than the chunky woodgrain designs from the 1970s. Sorry not sorry!
I'm okay with emulation when it's done well, but there are so many ways to play these games that paying $130 for another one (and an imperfect one, by the admission of the manufacturer) just doesn't make sense.
Bandai's MEGA controller, released in 1987, had every feature an NES owner could possibly want. Turbo fire? Yep. Slow motion? Of course. Locking the D-pad in different directions, for less tedious grinding in games like Zelda II: The Adventures of Link? Not many controllers had this option in the late 1980s, but the MEGA did!
There were even features no sane player would want, like an arsenal mode that limited button presses to a pre-determined amount, and features that seemed to come from nowhere, like a simple game you could play on the controller's liquid crystal display. Just in case you were bored with all your NES games and wanted something else to play. (Hey, maybe they were all Bandai games. Those got boring quick, especially Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.)
Alpha 152 is a gelatinous clone of Kasumi who looks like she should be lounging on the bristles of an Oral B toothbrush, rather than duking it out in an arena. Don't let her gooey appearance fool you, though... when she hits you, she's going to leave cavities. Like, all over your battered body. Try to respond with an attack of your own and the fluoride-filled femme fatale simply vanishes, teleports behind you, and lays into you while you're committed to a punch that will only find air. Four out of five dentists agree... do not cross this tarter-control titan.
Motaro, Mortal Kombat 3
SNK boss syndrome? More like Netherrealm boss syndrome. Starting with the introduction of Shao Khan in Mortal Kombat 2, bosses in this series have been seemingly indestructible and thoroughly humiliating. The centaur Motoro is no exception. His bulky, stop-motion animated body would be an easy target for ranged attacks... if the programmers hadn't made them useless. Throw Sub-Zero's ice ball at this colossal horse's ass and the projectile just bounces off his chest, immediately returning to sender. What this means for you, the player, is five straight minutes of hopping back and forth, landing jump kicks and hoping to hell that Motaro doesn't snatch you out of the air and send you into the wall with a pulverizing punch. My kingdom for someone other than this horse!
Shao Khan, Mortal Kombat 9
Mortal Kombat's Shao Khan was never not a total bastard, thwacking you with a hammer that either does massive damage or leaves you winded, setting you up for massive damage. (Ha ha! You thought blocking would save you! You thought wrong!) But he's especially enraging in the story mode of Mortal Kombat 9. Want to challenge him with your main? Nope, you're stuck with Raiden and his slightly tricky move set. You will continue, and continue, and continue some more against this brick wall with muscles, but you'll never win, unless you're an extraordinarily gifted MK player or extraordinarily lucky.
(Real) King Lion, Kizuna Encounter/Neo-Geo Battle Coliseum
You'd think a boxer would be a piece of cake in a game where each character is armed with kicks and ranged attacks, but nothing doing... King Lion will savage and ravage you with every tooth-shattering punch. Each swing of his golden gloves creates a massive energy field that covers most of the vertical area of the screen and melts your health bar like a hot flamethrower through butter. You'd better get real good at the annoying background dodge everyone hated in KOF '94, or this guy is gonna pound you flat.
Damn near everyone, King of Fighters series
What King of Fighters game DOESN'T have a nigh-unbeatable boss? KOF 14 with the surprisingly passive phantom-limbed Verse? KOF 12, which had no boss at all? That's all the mercy you'll get, as the rest of the games in the series end the festivities with superhuman (and often super_natural_) widowmakers eager to put you in a pine box. Whether it's recurring character Rugal with his screen filling fireballs and Genocide Cutters, Kryzalid's relentless assault of Old Navys, Orochi's phenomenal cosmic powers, or Geese Howard in his prime, King of Fighters will have you scrambling to use the "continue service" after a game over to even the odds. Even with this handicap, the odds are pretty well stacked against you.
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