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Show HN: Game Bub – open-source FPGA retro emulation handheld

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Re: Show HN: Game Bub – open-source FPGA retro emulation handheld

#11

Post by elipsitz »

ConanRus wrote: post #8

Why only GB/GBA? Mister FPGA support lot's of cores which can use the same Screen and controls: NES, SNES, various Sega consoles, C64, MSX etc. And any cheap Chinese retro-console of the same sort support even more of them. So from a practical standpoint I don't see any advantage of this (no doubt cool) project.

This main distinguishing feature of this project is that it supports physical cartridges, whereas MiSTer and almost every other emulation handheld doesn’t.

The FPGA cores here are written from scratch by me with hardware support in mind, and it’s quite a bit of work! Plus, SNES cartridges don’t exactly fit in a handheld :)

Re: Show HN: Game Bub – open-source FPGA retro emulation handheld

#12

Post by nemomarx »

ecshafer wrote: post #10

I don't really know if this is a stupid idea or not, I don't really have hardware experience. But the older systems, say NES, SNES, Genesis etc are pretty simple systems. Patents also have a lifetime. Why aren't we getting recreations of the hardware via a SOC sold that near-perfectly emulates the system? The FPGA projects are as close as I see this happening, but FPGAs are pretty expensive I imagine compared to some…

I believe NES patents might be finally all expired and off this year, but the SNES is probably covered for a little longer. Reverse engineering emulators and fpgas has been safer legally speaking for most of the last few decades.

Re: Show HN: Game Bub – open-source FPGA retro emulation handheld

#13

Post by Shared404 »

giancarlostoro wrote: post #2

If Nintendo wouldn't sue you for selling these, I'd say shut up and take my money. I do wonder if they'll definitely try to sue? Its really a shame, I never thought I'd see a project like this in my lifetime in all honesty. I would love to have something that lets me just keep playing my physical gameboy games indefinitely, so even if a truck crushes my gameboy, its nice knowing I can always print a new one. I would…

This is an open source analogue pocket.

Re: Show HN: Game Bub – open-source FPGA retro emulation handheld

#15

Post by [deleted] »

ecshafer wrote: post #10

I don't really know if this is a stupid idea or not, I don't really have hardware experience. But the older systems, say NES, SNES, Genesis etc are pretty simple systems. Patents also have a lifetime. Why aren't we getting recreations of the hardware via a SOC sold that near-perfectly emulates the system? The FPGA projects are as close as I see this happening, but FPGAs are pretty expensive I imagine compared to some…

[deleted]

Re: Show HN: Game Bub – open-source FPGA retro emulation handheld

#16

Post by bsimpson »

evanwalsh wrote: post #5
giancarlostoro wrote: post #2

If Nintendo wouldn't sue you for selling these, I'd say shut up and take my money. I do wonder if they'll definitely try to sue? Its really a shame, I never thought I'd see a project like this in my lifetime in all honesty. I would love to have something that lets me just keep playing my physical gameboy games indefinitely, so even if a truck crushes my gameboy, its nice knowing I can always print a new one. I would…

You're literally describing a product and a company that already exists (Analogue Super Nt: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Nt )

I've never paid that much attention to retro hardware - I still have a lot of the originals in my parents' garage.

I just moved, which gave me an opportunity to give all the old Rock Band instruments that were too loud for my last apartment a fresh try. It's disappointing how bad RCA-era systems like the Wii looks on a 4K OLED. The upscaling is blurry as shit.

I've been trying to get all my songs imported into YARG (an open source Rock Band clone), but if I can't get that working, maybe I should get a scanline generator. (It applies a filter to the video to replicate the look of a CRT.)

Re: Show HN: Game Bub – open-source FPGA retro emulation handheld

#17

Post by skyyler »

elipsitz wrote: post #11
ConanRus wrote: post #8

Why only GB/GBA? Mister FPGA support lot's of cores which can use the same Screen and controls: NES, SNES, various Sega consoles, C64, MSX etc. And any cheap Chinese retro-console of the same sort support even more of them. So from a practical standpoint I don't see any advantage of this (no doubt cool) project.

This main distinguishing feature of this project is that it supports physical cartridges, whereas MiSTer and almost every other emulation handheld doesn’t. The FPGA cores here are written from scratch by me with hardware support in mind, and it’s quite a bit of work! Plus, SNES cartridges don’t exactly fit in a handheld :)

>SNES cartridges don’t exactly fit in a handheld :)

Surely, you've heard of the Supaboy.

I jest, this project looks great! After looking over the build instructions, it seems like this might be a good reason to finally make an account with JLCPCB.

Re: Show HN: Game Bub – open-source FPGA retro emulation handheld

#18

Post by elipsitz »

ecshafer wrote: post #10

I don't really know if this is a stupid idea or not, I don't really have hardware experience. But the older systems, say NES, SNES, Genesis etc are pretty simple systems. Patents also have a lifetime. Why aren't we getting recreations of the hardware via a SOC sold that near-perfectly emulates the system? The FPGA projects are as close as I see this happening, but FPGAs are pretty expensive I imagine compared to some…

I imagine there's a huge difference, legally, with black-box reverse engineering and then creating a very similar design on an FPGA (what I did here), and actually fully decapping the chip and cloning the gates.

Plus FPGAs add a lot of flexibility (e.g. multiple systems, enhancements), and they're really not that expensive. Especially in relatively low volumes compared to an ASIC.

Re: Show HN: Game Bub – open-source FPGA retro emulation handheld

#20

Post by skyyler »

bsimpson wrote: post #16
evanwalsh wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're literally describing a product and a company that already exists (Analogue Super Nt: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Nt )

I've never paid that much attention to retro hardware - I still have a lot of the originals in my parents' garage. I just moved, which gave me an opportunity to give all the old Rock Band instruments that were too loud for my last apartment a fresh try. It's disappointing how bad RCA-era systems like the Wii looks on a 4K OLED. The upscaling is blurry as shit. I've been trying to get all my songs imported into YARG (…

You can get better video output from the Wii than RCA. It won't be 4K but it will be much sharper:

https://electron-shepherd.com/products/electronwarp

There was also an official component cable which would look much nicer than the composite that the Wii comes with. But your 4K tv almost definitely don't have component input.

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