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Analogue 3D

analogue.co

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Re: Analogue 3D

#31

Post by mattl »

nacs wrote: post #22
erinnh wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They mentioned it again today. Duo will ship in 2023. Pocket Adapters are "on target to ship by end of 2023" Analogue OS 2.0 will release by end of 2023. With display mode support for openFPGA cores.

So 3 backordered products launching in the next 2 months? They're going to have a busy Christmas holiday..

They were able to ship both my Mega Sg and Super Nt and a Pocket Dock a few months ago within a few days of each other. I think once they have the stuff in-stock from manufacturing its very quickly in the hands of customers.

Re: Analogue 3D

#32

Post by whateveracct »

mas-ev wrote: post #3

Interesting. Given the prices of some of the upscalers, I imagine they will charge quite a bit for this device.

The Eon Super 64 is like $150-ish and works perfectly. I guess you need an original N64 too.

But the Super 64 + an Everdrive was so worth it.

Re: Analogue 3D

#33

Post by mattl »

Almondsetat wrote: post #20
jrm4 wrote: post #4

This is one of those products where my first reaction is "Well, that's silly who would pay for that" And then I remember how wrong I was about e.g. the candy-colored iMacs. Let's see where this goes.

Are you seriously comparing a general purpose computer that was genuinely new at the time and had silly colors with basically the yearly reproposition of the same useless old repackaged emulator catered to nostalgic people?

Did someone else release or announce an N64 FPGA device? I didn't hear anything about it.

Re: Analogue 3D

#34

Post by smusamashah »

I have recently bought a `Miyoo Mini Plus` for about £70 (inc taxes) and it is able to run most old console games up to PS1 just fine and the build quality is good too.

It is linux based and community has made an alternate OS/UI https://github.com/OnionUI/Onion with custom scripts, webserver and support of many other systems etc.

I couldn't find the price for Analogue, but it will probably be too expensive in comparison.

Re: Analogue 3D

#35

Post by elipsitz »

MenhirMike wrote: post #23
elipsitz wrote: post #7

Analogue makes some really cool, well-engineered products. But saying there’s “No Emulation” because it uses an FPGA is blatantly false. If it’s imitating original hardware, without being the original hardware, it’s an emulator.

It's a discussion that's been going on for a long time. Is it "Emulation" or is it more like "Simulation" or even "Recreation", and are those things actually different from each other or is it just wordsmithing. In the end, it's a third party that's not the original hardware manufacturer trying to re-implement a hardware platform, so there's always room for errors and inaccuracies, so it's fair to say it goes into th…

Yeah, I guess it's mostly just wordsmithing. But I don't think it's pedantry: by making the claim that their hardware isn't emulation, it implies that it's somehow better than software emulators. There's just an entirely different set of tradeoffs here, and FPGA emulators are not inherently more accurate than software emulators.

Re: Analogue 3D

#36

Post by vessenes »

Oooh, this is exciting. I have two Analogue pockets, and really like the device. For reference, the Analogue pitch is: frame accurate / CPU cycle accurate classic gaming device simulation using a hefty FPGA. The proposal is that this feels better / different from emulators. The pockets have some 'sugar' around simulating CRT colors and bleed for a more authentic experience.

All this is generally my experience with the devices. They feel very like my memory of childhood games, much more so than play in emulation. And I love it.

That said, the software ecosystem side of these devices feels like a near total disaster; I think it's a combination of legal concerns around copyright for ROMs, and the company's DNA. The amount of work to play, say Zelda on an Analogue Pocket, is akin to jailbreaking an Android phone, circa 2013. Lots of sdcard downloads, firmware checks, custom software tools, arcane paths through the OS software. I think they could afford to make a cleaner and easier software path.

At any rate, I will order an N64 capable Analogue console as soon as I can - the idea of having an N64/(PS1? Saturn?) device that will last in my house is irresistible.

I'm also very curious to see what they do on controllers - the N64 had a weirdo wing-shaped controller, and using other control layouts for N64 games seems tough to me. Should be fun!

Re: Analogue 3D

#37

Post by avidphantasm »

MenhirMike wrote: post #28
nacs wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So 3 backordered products launching in the next 2 months? They're going to have a busy Christmas holiday..

From what I did see, people did receive their pockets and some of the accessories, so yeah, it looks like they are actually working through the backlog. That said, I'll believe the Duo when it arrives at my doorstep :D

Got my Pocket in August. Well worth the wait. Have patience.

Re: Analogue 3D

#38

Post by superjan »

gcr wrote: post #8

The details are scant from this product release, but for those who don't know, this company makes the "Analogue Pocket," an FPGA-implemented device capable of playing most Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance games. There's no emulation happening here; everything is implemented in FPGA gates built onto the hardware. Looks like they're advertising a similar implementation of the n64.

It is not just that details are scant. If you’re unfamiliar with the company, there is little to indicate what they are selling. It kind of defeats the idea of viral marketing.

Re: Analogue 3D

#39

Post by flanbiscuit »

yuck39 wrote: post #6

There has been some criticism of Analogue lately from the retro gaming community [1] for continuing to announce and release new products while they remain months behind on fulfilling orders already placed by customers. The consensus seems to be that their products are good but add 4-6 months to whenever you expect to get your order from them. [1]: https://twitter.com/RetroGameCorps/status/171184720072736803...

> but add 4-6 months to whenever you expect to get your order from them.

I ordered their Analogue Pocket, with the dock, in October 2022 and it finally arrived in August 2023. So more like ~10 months.

At the time that I ordered they only had black and white options, but of course they announced some really cool transparent ones the month after I got my shipment. I guess that's the gamble of pre-ordering. Either way I'm very happy with my purchase even if it took many months to arrive.

Re: Analogue 3D

#40

Post by happycube »

mherkender wrote: post #17

3D is one area where the FPGA model of emulation doesn't seem so good. The N64 is pretty low-resolution and low-FPS compared to modern devices, which is grating in 3D even though it has a nostalgic charm in 2D. Maybe it's enough to be able to buy a "new" N64 for some, but I'm skeptical it will be able to overcome the N64's flaws.

Yeah... it's about the line where a software emulator (i.e. Dolphin) can be better than the original hardware. Probably a good stopping point for MiSTer (which thanks to some very hard work is making progress on PS1/Saturn/N64) and Analogue.
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