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One of my biggest dream retro projects like this would be taking the cartridge expansion idea and using it to integrate a Wi-Fi radio and full online play conne

by Andrex 6y ago

One of my biggest dream retro projects like this would be taking the cartridge expansion idea and using it to integrate a Wi-Fi radio and full online play connected to a central server. (I originally thought of it for GameBoy, but a Super NES cart would offer a lot more flexibility...) You can see the bones of such technology in real products: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satellaview https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satellaview http://nectaris.tg-16.com/GB-KISS-LINK-FAQ-2-hudson-gameboy-nectaris.html http://nectaris.tg-16.com/GB-KISS-LINK-FAQ-2-hudson-gameboy-... https://shop.insidegadgets.com/product/wireless-gameboy-controller/ https://shop.insidegadgets.com/product/wireless-gameboy-cont...

flatiron 6y ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ar9WRwCiSr0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ar9WRwCiSr0 Raspberry pi in a NES cart. No reason you couldn’t add netplay to this.
- Andrex 6y ago
  That would be a fantastic place to start, thank you! ...I hope NES programming is similar to GB/Z80, since as far as retro gaming tools go that's all I know right now, haha.
jf 6y ago
What would you get from this ideal cart that you wouldn’t get from a flash cart? Online play?
- Andrex 6y ago
  The online game's ROM and cartridge hardware including the Wi-Fi radio would have to be made together. As the Wi-Fi hardware inside the cartridge would be custom, the ROM would have to contain instructions that would not be emulatable by a flash cart (or any other means.) Edit- Missed "online play?" in your comment. Yes, that's the idea, new homebrew games with actual working online, made for systems released 25-30 years ago.
  - jf 6y ago
    Thanks for your reply. The SNES was a seminal game system for me and it holds a special place in my heart. I love this idea! Let me know if I can help you make it happen via encouragement, pre-purchasing, beta testing or some combination thereof!
    - Andrex 6y ago
      Not sure if I'll ever get it off the ground myself but I'll try tracking you down if I hear of anybody else doing it! I got linked a Genesis Wi-Fi cartridge elsewhere in this thread: https://github.com/doragasu/mw https://github.com/doragasu/mw Exciting that this idea is already out there! I'm very happy.
- kridsdale1 6y ago
  Maybe render a game on super hardware on a server, like Stadia, and beam it to your cartridge, format the frame buffer in a way that can be passed to the host console, and output to the CRT. Play Crysis or Cyberpunk "on" a SNES.
  - Andrex 6y ago
    You could do definitely do that and it'd turn a lot of heads for sure, but the example I had in mind was more of a traditional client/server architecture. Like a (new, homebrew) RPG that allows up to 4 players tackling a dungeon together.
    - jsd1982 6y ago
      https://github.com/alttpo/alttpo#a-link-to-the-past-online---alttpo https://github.com/alttpo/alttpo#a-link-to-the-past-online--...
      - Andrex 6y ago
        Honestly, not as impressive as the "official version." ;) https://zelda.fandom.com/wiki/BS_The_Legend_of_Zelda:_Ancient_Stone_Tablets https://zelda.fandom.com/wiki/BS_The_Legend_of_Zelda:_Ancien...
        jsd1982 6y ago
        Ha, never got the chance to play that one. I've been working on this project since the start of the pandemic almost. It's got a lot going on inside of it but we just don't have any great marketing material (video) of it at the moment. I feel the key feature is that you can see and interact with other players in real time and conquer dungeons cooperatively. Lots of people seem to run randomized seeds and divide and conquer since items and progress are synchronized.
  - corysama 6y ago
    Here ya go https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017/01/how-a-robot-got-super-mario-64-and-portal-running-on-an-snes/ https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017/01/how-a-robot-got-super...
DixieDev 6y ago
Something like this? https://www.videogamesage.com/topic/762-super-tilt-bro-for-nes/ https://www.videogamesage.com/topic/762-super-tilt-bro-for-n...
- Andrex 6y ago
  EXACLTY like that! Thank you! So now I know of NES and Genesis implementations of this idea. That is super encouraging, I thought I was dreaming into the wind alone for years.
ashleyn 6y ago
There is the MegaWiFi (https://github.com/doragasu/mw https://github.com/doragasu/mw), an ESP8266-enabled Sega Genesis cart which exists as a open source hardware specification but not a commercial product. You could put one of these together from the spec and then write an online game for the Genesis.
- Andrex 6y ago
  Thank you so much for the link! Will bookmark it for reference for sure, but I'm not as inclined to hack on Gen hardware.
foxbarrington 6y ago
Makes me think of XBAND: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XBAND https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XBAND
nick_ 6y ago
I have had similar ideas. Where I ended up was working on Mario Kart 64 mods and figuring out how to enable online multiplayer. Only got some kart speed/accel/size mods working.

by Andrex 6y ago

flatiron 6y ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ar9WRwCiSr0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ar9WRwCiSr0 Raspberry pi in a NES cart. No reason you couldn’t add netplay to this.

Andrex 6y ago
That would be a fantastic place to start, thank you! ...I hope NES programming is similar to GB/Z80, since as far as retro gaming tools go that's all I know right now, haha.

jf 6y ago

What would you get from this ideal cart that you wouldn’t get from a flash cart? Online play?

Andrex 6y ago
The online game's ROM and cartridge hardware including the Wi-Fi radio would have to be made together. As the Wi-Fi hardware inside the cartridge would be custom, the ROM would have to contain instructions that would not be emulatable by a flash cart (or any other means.) Edit- Missed "online play?" in your comment. Yes, that's the idea, new homebrew games with actual working online, made for systems released 25-30 years ago.
- jf 6y ago
  Thanks for your reply. The SNES was a seminal game system for me and it holds a special place in my heart. I love this idea! Let me know if I can help you make it happen via encouragement, pre-purchasing, beta testing or some combination thereof!
  - Andrex 6y ago
    Not sure if I'll ever get it off the ground myself but I'll try tracking you down if I hear of anybody else doing it! I got linked a Genesis Wi-Fi cartridge elsewhere in this thread: https://github.com/doragasu/mw https://github.com/doragasu/mw Exciting that this idea is already out there! I'm very happy.
kridsdale1 6y ago
Maybe render a game on super hardware on a server, like Stadia, and beam it to your cartridge, format the frame buffer in a way that can be passed to the host console, and output to the CRT. Play Crysis or Cyberpunk "on" a SNES.
- Andrex 6y ago
  You could do definitely do that and it'd turn a lot of heads for sure, but the example I had in mind was more of a traditional client/server architecture. Like a (new, homebrew) RPG that allows up to 4 players tackling a dungeon together.
  - jsd1982 6y ago
    https://github.com/alttpo/alttpo#a-link-to-the-past-online---alttpo https://github.com/alttpo/alttpo#a-link-to-the-past-online--...
    - Andrex 6y ago
      Honestly, not as impressive as the "official version." ;) https://zelda.fandom.com/wiki/BS_The_Legend_of_Zelda:_Ancient_Stone_Tablets https://zelda.fandom.com/wiki/BS_The_Legend_of_Zelda:_Ancien...
      - jsd1982 6y ago
        Ha, never got the chance to play that one. I've been working on this project since the start of the pandemic almost. It's got a lot going on inside of it but we just don't have any great marketing material (video) of it at the moment. I feel the key feature is that you can see and interact with other players in real time and conquer dungeons cooperatively. Lots of people seem to run randomized seeds and divide and conquer since items and progress are synchronized.
- corysama 6y ago
  Here ya go https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017/01/how-a-robot-got-super-mario-64-and-portal-running-on-an-snes/ https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017/01/how-a-robot-got-super...

DixieDev 6y ago

Something like this? https://www.videogamesage.com/topic/762-super-tilt-bro-for-nes/ https://www.videogamesage.com/topic/762-super-tilt-bro-for-n...

Andrex 6y ago
EXACLTY like that! Thank you! So now I know of NES and Genesis implementations of this idea. That is super encouraging, I thought I was dreaming into the wind alone for years.

ashleyn 6y ago

There is the MegaWiFi (https://github.com/doragasu/mw https://github.com/doragasu/mw), an ESP8266-enabled Sega Genesis cart which exists as a open source hardware specification but not a commercial product. You could put one of these together from the spec and then write an online game for the Genesis.

Andrex 6y ago
Thank you so much for the link! Will bookmark it for reference for sure, but I'm not as inclined to hack on Gen hardware.

foxbarrington 6y ago

Makes me think of XBAND: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XBAND https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XBAND

nick_ 6y ago

I have had similar ideas. Where I ended up was working on Mario Kart 64 mods and figuring out how to enable online multiplayer. Only got some kart speed/accel/size mods working.