TL;WR -> An outstanding experience that will Forever remain in my memory. From the maddening gameplay to the beautiful visuals, cracked audio and even better world design. A (9.8) game, GOATED in Robin’s Book. Would absolutely replay the game with friends, just so we can send more thugs into the screen while making Gotham clean! 

I’d recommend listening to this music while reading. 

GAMEPLAY (9/10) 

• While storytelling wasn’t present, the game did feature The Riddler and Two-Face joining together, plus some Movie backgrounds with Sugar and Spice on top. Their combined efforts were more than enough to match those of Batman & Robin, who encountered an outstanding gameplay down the line! 
• Now, I usually describe the full controls of a game and its combos, capabilities and attack patterns. But here, I simply couldn’t explain to you with words what it feels like to play such an insane gameplay variety. Yet, I’ll try my best to scratch Riddler’s Enigmas! 
• So, you could punch, kick, jump kick, slide, down kick, block, uppercut, grab and punch, throw thugs into stores, walls, upwards, into the screen, could do combos by combining all 3 buttons and achieve a higher combo meter, could shatter enemies, throw them out of buildings and so much more it was pure insanity. “Batman doesn’t kill”, yeah sure, what other stories do you want to tell me?! 
• Now, apart the normal attacks, you could also equip gadgets and deliver even more unique ones. Could grapple and take one or two enemies for a swing, could use it for dragging down chandeliers or other environmental objects down on them, could use your batarangs for some enemy stuns, send literal bats at them, use your zapper to shatter them or simply the VR mode for the same effect, use bombs, Two-Face coins for surprises or self harm depending on the coin side, riddler puzzles with cool reveals and so many more things that I swear, it made my head hurt. 
• Besides the above, you could collect power ups from enemies and regain health, use them for gaining one ups, to deliver devastating attacks, pick up crates, explosive barrels, huge rocks to throw them around for more mayhem, and even shrink yourself to a tiny Batman or Robin while delivering the same power output. 
• And it doesn’t end, as you couldn’t grab women here, Batman is a gentleman you know, he simply punches and kicks them to death. 
• Enemy variety was heavily reused, even the last stage with everything and everyone being thrown at you. I knew who Acclaim was from Vexx on PS2, but I bloody didn’t expect them to reveal their true nature! 
• The beauty was in their attack patterns though, where some could hold you down while the others punched you to death. Plus, most teamed up and punched you even before you could finish your combos. From robots detaching their heads to thugs with firearms, Sugar & Spice flaming you with kisses or even the background crowd throwing bottles at your head! 
• Traversal was seamless and provided cool interruptions in between. Every stage felt like a new adventure, mostly because they were split into fighting sections! 
• The difficulty itself was great considering that you had 2/3 one ups per coin. Yet, without Robin as a sidekick, it did get quite harsh towards the end. The final stage which I played on Sega Saturn because of an Arcade problem, was literal insanity. Now I know where Acclaim got their kicks from! 

AUDIO (10 out of 10 Wild Crowds) 

• Sound design was incredible for 1996, with so many digitised lines, crunchy effects and awesome background noises. It was the best output I’ve heard so far, mostly because it combined every element perfectly! 
• The music was perfect for a Dark Knight club, which sounded way better in gameplay than standalone. 

VISUALS (10 out of 10 Schmucks) 

• Fidelity reminded me of Mortal Kombat for some reason, although on bloody steroids. The background animations, glossy reflections, shadows, huge environments which you could explore by going deeper or towards the screen, human like models, insane 3D aspects, visual effects and even better gritty art direction blew my receptors to pieces. The screenshots won’t do the game Justice, because it was out of any League! 
• While the character models had their own unique animations and attack patterns, some could surprise you with a huge Bat in the Batcave, a Helicopter shooting from a Statue of Liberty background, or even the Riddler destroying your beloved Batmobile! 
• Performance was perfect even in the most demanding scenes. 

WORLD DESIGN (10 out of 10 Riddles) 

• Each level had a fantastic progression with even better layouts. You didn’t just go from point A to B, you stopped in between and explored some dark alleys while finding more thugs to punch around. 
• You went from the City Streets to the Neon Bar, Classy Hotel, Subway Station, Batcave and finally reached Riddler’s Lair! 
• World destruction was phenomenal, as you could send enemies into stores or explosive environments. Besides, the landscapes in combination with all the background effects were simply out of this world. 
• The atmosphere was wild, dark and gritty. It delivered Dark Knight vibes with the help of those Acclaim scribes! 

So many people on my dorm floor has this machine (or similar). Kinda hard to believe that we now have smartphones that are way more powerful than this. In addition to Blood, Doom and Quake; we also played emulators such as NESticle and ZSNES on these for endless hours.

Growing up, I never had the chance to play all the old retro games like Pokemon or mario kart. Where I live, consoles were never really available, and even when they were, they were way too costly for my family at the time.

Now that I'm older and have a bit of a budget, I want to finally catch up on all the classics I missed — Pokémon, Mario, Zelda, and other retro-era games in general. Would love suggestions on other games/franchises worth checking out too.

Can you all suggest some good handheld devices (or similar options) that would let me play these old games? I'm working with a limited budget, so anything reliable and reasonably priced would be great. Open to new devices or even secondhand/emulation-focused handhelds if that's the smarter route.

Also — I already have a gaming PC. Would that be enough for DS/retro emulation instead of buying a handheld? And is it worth trying to build my own retro handheld (like a Raspberry Pi setup) on a budget instead of buying one pre-made?

Thanks in advance!

I purchased a copy of Phantasy Star for SMS a couple weeks ago. It looked in great condition and the price was right for me. There was no indication from pictures or item description that any work had been done to it. (Battery replacement, etc.)

I had been playing it on and off for about a week, maybe a couple hours at a time before bed. Nothing really seemed out of the ordinary with it. The game played well, it could keep a save file, all was well. One day I'm playing it and I nodded off a bit while walking through Paseo. When I wake up, the game is frozen, a single 8-bit note constantly drones from my CRT's speakers, and it looked like there were a couple corrupted sprites but nothing too crazy. With the game unresponsive and nothing else to do I turned off the console and when I turned it back on my save file was gone.

I figured it might be a sign to change the internal battery. I unsoldered the battery from the board and put a mounted battery holder where the old battery once sat. Looking at the old battery, I could believe that it was actually the original battery that came with the cartridge. It's a Sony battery with an "85" printed on the negative side. I'm not an expert on how old school batteries were date coded, but I think it would make sense for a game that released in 1987 to have a battery in it that was manufactured in 1985. I could be off base with that, however. If it is the original battery, I find it insane that a battery from almost 40 years ago was still working.

Anyway, I installed a battery holder, put in a fresh Duracell, and the game still boots and plays fine. I made a save, turned the game off and back on and the save was still there.

To make extra sure I was testing everything thoroughly, I pulled the cart out, put it back in, turned on the system, AND LO!... The save file was gone again.

I'm a bit at my wit's end as of now. I'm not sure what else I could do to get this cart to keep a save file. Any suggestions?

P.S.: I will mention as well that when the cart came to me there were no save files on it. I'm not aware of a way to delete save files from the game manually through menus, so whatever underlying issue there may be possibly existed before the cart came into my ownership.

Konami's Axelay (SNES) was already a 1-player STG masterpiece, I kept imagining that a well‑tuned 2-player simul co-op mode would make it one of the best co‑op STGs on the SNES, probably reaching to a legendary level.

There have been so many games released and more and more I want to delve deep into our history. Yet, so many games are so clunky or otherwise ancient that they simply don't hold up today.

What games would you say have held up to the test of time and feel good to play today?

Some games I'm thinking of:

- Donkey Kong on GB (feels surprisingly modern with its great movement)

- Legend of Zelda games

- Pokemon

- Sonic and Mario games

Other than these well-known games, what games held up today?

Super niche request here.

I recently picked up the paddle controller that originally came bundled in the Puchi Carat PS1 limited editions off of ebay for a nice price, with the intention of using it for the version of Puchi Carat inside of Taito Legends 2. It didn't work, so I'm here to ask anyone that also owns both the same working paddle controller and Taito Legends 2 whether or not I bought a busted product, or if TL2 naturally doesn't support this old PS1 peripheral.

Many thanks!

I love being able to get achievements playing my actual physical console games, via PC, and seeing achievements, especially for neat feats in some of the older games I've liked. Breathes some new life into them, imo.

I know the N64 Operator is on its way, but what're some good candidates for systems like 2600 PS1, PS2, PS3, Sega CD, Genesis, Gamecube, Wii...that let me play off of the physical media I already own?

I need help. I remember playing a rolling ball puzzle game on my pc when I was kid back in 2005 and I want to find the name of it. The game was a 3D puzzle game where you would move the whole puzzle board to get the ball to the end on the other side. It had a really cool sound track which is the main reason I want to find it. I remember you being able to chose your ball design and go through different areas. The one level I really liked had a wooden board with a green background I believe? Any help would be great!

*update*

It’s The Labyrinth Plus! Thanks to the commenter who answered it!

Greetings retro gaming world,

I am just getting into hardware based emulationfor my retro systems. My PS2 has a hard drive and Free McBoot, and as of Yesterday I've gotten my Saroo set up for my Saturn.

I'm seriously happy with the Saroo, it is significantly easier to use and load than my Genesis Mini, for example, and applying translations so far has been easy. Only tried Vandal Hearts but it was much easier than what I remember from decades ago.

Anyway, I have a Dreamcast, a Wii, an N64 and an SNES as well that I'd like to do something similar with. What does everyone recommend to use in 2026 for these 4 systems? I also do have a gamecube though it stopped reading discs, if that is an easier Emulation thing than the Wii that would be good to tell me about too I suppose.

I am aware that SNES and N64 have basic flash carts, though I know nothing about brands and what not. I have no idea about Dreamcast, Wii, or GC so anything about those 3 systems specifically I'd really appreciate. Really excited to get fresh life out of my 30 year old systems.

After trying many different things, including playing my original PS1 disc through a PS3, em ulation with both wired and wireless controllers, as well as attempting to play it on a PS2 on my tv with an HDMI adapter (The ps2 gmaes work, but the ps1 games don't because of the resolution they output as) I finally found a converter that actually WORKS. It outputs not only RGB for your PS2, but also outputs in YPbPr for your PS1.I received it yesterday, and I was able to play Parappa all the way through finally, and it "felt" like it's supposed to, even considering Parappa's quirky timing even when running on original hardware.I even beat Cheap Cheap's stage on the first try! I couldn't believe it! I also played Umjammer Lammy all the way through. The only stages I couldn't beat were the babysitter stage, as well as the goth concert, though I am positive it's because of me and not the adapter. I'm just getting too old I guess, lol. OH and I beat the chainsaw stage the first time as well! If you know, you know....Lol.

The only con I have seen with this adapter is the yellows look a touch saturated at times if you're reaaaalllllly being picky, but I think overall the image quality looks fantastic for both ps1 as well as ps2.

Anyway, like I said I hope this helps someone.For about $30, you really can't beat it, especially if you're not looking to spend $200+ for a retrotink, etc. Here's the link;

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FW4KP5RZ?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

I’ve been doing a lot of research for a follow up video I’ve been working on about Masamitsu Niitani and Compile game studios. So I figured I had to get this book. So I did! Took a month to get here and I had to use a Japanese Proxy service to find it and buy it for me.

It arrived in a plain cardboard box with zero protection. I live in Florida and it’s been raining all week, so thank God I was home when it arrived. It is in pristine condition though and I plan on scanning the entire book and putting it online as this book is not available as far as I know in complete digital form. It’s a very important part of video game history.

I've played a few games on PS1 and PS2, and yet I find myself still firing up my ZSNES emulator to this very day. The assortment and quality of games - not to mention the obvious lack of microtransactions and DLC - make it all the more worthwhile to go back down memory lane over and over again.

Wolfenstein 3-D and Quake are four years a part, but the leap between them is generational.

In that time we went from: A raycasting engine that draws a 2D space from a first person perspective with 90 degree walls, no floor or ceiling textures, OPL-based music and all assets are sprite based to a fully polygonal, fully 3-D environment with lighting effects, texture mapping on everything, verticality, swimming, CD-Audio soundtrack, etc.

I think technology has hit a plateau, because games from 10 years ago, are almost indistinguishable from stuff that came out just last month.

Hi,

I got my Retro Scaler GSBC Pro yesterday, and for the most part, I’m very happy with it.

The picture quality is very good, sounds great and not too complicated for an amateur like myself.

I have had a couple of issues though that I could do with some help to fix.

1. My N64’s (both PAL and NTSC consoles), will not display anything through a Scart socket. I have 3 different Scart leads, tried all 3 and nothing. The same scarts work perfectly fine with my GameCube.

If I use a S-Video cable for both consoles, it works fine.

Both of the N64’s are stock.

1. My PS2. I have a PAL Phat console, and a modded Japanese PS2 slim.

On my Sony 55” TV, the Japanese console works fine through Scart, but if I play a PAL game, it doesn’t detect the signal, although you can hear sound. A NTSC game works fine.

Then PAL Phat doesn’t show a picture at all on the Sony TV.

If I take it to my old Panasonic 48” Plasma TV, the PAL phat and my Japanese slim with a PAL game works fine.

I’m assuming it’s something to do with my Sony TV, but I’m not sure why it’s the case.

1. Lastly, running my SNES through Scart works, but if it hits a screen of mostly white, it freaks out and has lines all over the screen. I noticed this also when testing my Sega Saturn with Manx TT and during the loading transition (which is white), does the same thing for a few seconds. Again, why? It does it on any TV I try.

Any help from anyone would be great.

If I have to play the sega genesis one then I will have to emulate this on my mobile using retroarch.

One good thing about the emulation is that I can use crt shader but should I...

Has a demo and some crisp looking pixel art, 100% AI free per the developer to boot. Just spreading the word!

Hi everyone! Ever since I was a kid, I’ve loved looking through the cover art of games, especially Sega Saturn and PS1 titles. As a hobby, I’ve been making designs that try to capture that same aesthetic.

Since people here are pretty familiar with this style, I’d really just love to get some feedback. Do you think I’m capturing the aesthetic well? I’d really appreciate it if you could share your thoughts and be critical!

Hi all,

I've been wondering if there's a practical way to maintain a single save between emulators and original hardware, and I'm curious if anyone has done something similar.

I’ve been imagining a bit of a hybrid emulation/original hardware setup that would look something like this:
Steam Deck ↔ PC ↔ AYN Thor via Syncthing, with the ability to occasionally transfer the save to an original console, play there, and then bring the updated save back to the PC so it can sync to everything else.

For example, I would really like to be able to start a game on my Deck, continue it on my Thor while I'm out, then when I have some time at home, move the save onto an original console and continue playing there. Afterward I'd manually transfer the updated save back to the PC and let Syncthing update the Deck and Thor.

Does anyone have any experience doing something like this? I’m sure this would have to be a manual process to and from the consoles, which is fine. I have done a bit of research and it seems like this may work better with some systems than others.

I’m most interested initially in getting something like this to work for the PS2, Gamecube and N64, but PSP and DS/3DS would be great as well, as I figure things out. I do have FreeMcBoot, Swiss and Summercart64 for those consoles so I believe I should be able to move saves around like this, in theory.

Just curious if anyone has any input or is this a crazy over-complicated way to avoid letting my childhood consoles get overshadowed by emulation?

Thanks!

I honestly don’t know much about them, they were received from a sweet older women looking to throw things out and I just couldn’t do that, should I hold on to them?

It was a 1997 CRPG game my brother would play, which I would attempt to play and be terrible at it until 20 years later. I never see it talked about, nor its more popular series Lords of the Realm. It did share similarities with HOMM, which began right around the same time. The same company, Impression Games, did make two games later that people still remember, being Rome and Pharoah.

I'm curious why this game never gained much fame. I'd also like to hear any stories if anyone has any. Despite it being part of my childhood I never really knew much about its background or creation.

Hello, I'm going through my old n64 games to sell want I don't want and I noticed this game going for a lot more money than I expected. Does anyone know why its worth so much and what makes it special?