6 ms·

In my humble opinion, the PS2 is the best retro console for tinkering. So many of them were sold, they can be had cheaply, lots of aftermarket stuff for them (

by RajT88 4y ago

In my humble opinion, the PS2 is the best retro console for tinkering. So many of them were sold, they can be had cheaply, lots of aftermarket stuff for them (HDD/Network adapter), Crazy huge library of weird and interesting titles, vibrantly active homebrew community. And of course, the built-in backwards compatibility. Several interesting hardware revisions to play with as well (although the "fat" ones are the most moddable).

rospaya 4y ago
Loved the PS2 but it's hard to argue when the original Xbox is basically a PC.
- qqtt 4y ago
  Xbox being basically a PC is interesting considering 20+ years later there is still no great emulator for it. xemu plays about 3% of games without minor issues.
  - jamesfinlayson 4y ago
    What about cxbx? I remember that being the one like 15 years ago.
    - monocasa 4y ago
      I don't think that ever got to the point of playing a single commercial game fully. Xemu has had a lot of work put into it recently though, and is a lot further along.
kitsunesoba 4y ago
I would agree, which is why a PS2 is on my list of consoles to acquire at some point, but it does have one significant nit: there is easily available no digital video output mods for them, which makes getting a decent picture out of them a challenge unless you already have a suitable CRT to pair with it.
- rocky1138 4y ago
  And even then, no progressive scan at 480 lines.
  - hotpotamus 4y ago
    I remember some games offering progressive scan, but you needed a component video cable.
  - Tsiklon 4y ago
    At a push the PS2 could do 720P as seen in aspects of Gran Turismo 4 (like it's screenshot mode) which to my mind is phenomenal.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- RajT88 4y ago
  720p/1080i CRT's can be had - I have a late model Sony Wega 36" I snagged for $30. I've used component cable as well as one of those HDMI adapters which are powered off USB - and it's not that much different with my CRT. Maybe it makes more of a difference with an LCD.
- qbasic_forever 4y ago
  You don't really need a CRT, any television with a RCA or S-video input would work. If you track down the component video cable (kinda pricey and rare) you can use that too. Most of the LCD TVs at least of the 2010s still had those analog inputs. I'd be surprised if you didn't get at least a RCA input on most new TVs today.
  - kitsunesoba 4y ago
    It's not so much a matter of it working as it is the picture looking acceptable. A friend brought over and hooked their PS2 up to my LCD TV in the past with component cables and it looked terrible compared what I remember from PS2s hooked up to CRT TVs back in high school. The built in PS1 emulation on a PS3 through HDMI looks way, way better on the same TV.
qbasic_forever 4y ago
Prices of playstation and playstation 2 stuff is going up fast in my experience. Ten years ago I was regularly finding ps2s in goodwill and thrift stores for dirt cheap (slim ps2 hardware for 10-15 bucks). Nowadays you only find them in used game stores behind glass cases with $100+ price tags. Get them now if you see a deal IMHO, they will never get cheaper. Same story for the good software/games of that era, it's hitting the point where rare stuff is going for hundreds of dollars and people are paying it. As far as modding goes, keep an eye out for one of a handful of games with exploits like one of the 007 James Bond games. There's a software mod exploit you can run that turns a memory card into a mod device effectively, no hardware changes necessary. It's a little fiddly but works great and you just do it once and are good to go playing burned backups, homebrew, etc.
- RajT88 4y ago
  You can buy a pre-imaged FreeMcBoot card for really cheap. If you have a HDD adapter you can just image it and chunk it right in with no FreeMcBoot.
opan 4y ago
The GameCube is pretty sweet these days with PicoBoot + SD2SP2 + Swiss. Don't forget the Game Boy Player either. If you get a DOL-001 model (has the digital video port) you can also very easily get a good image out of it with an external HDMI adapter. It's arguably the best way to play GBA games.

by RajT88 4y ago

rospaya 4y ago

Loved the PS2 but it's hard to argue when the original Xbox is basically a PC.

qqtt 4y ago
Xbox being basically a PC is interesting considering 20+ years later there is still no great emulator for it. xemu plays about 3% of games without minor issues.
- jamesfinlayson 4y ago
  What about cxbx? I remember that being the one like 15 years ago.
  - monocasa 4y ago
    I don't think that ever got to the point of playing a single commercial game fully. Xemu has had a lot of work put into it recently though, and is a lot further along.

kitsunesoba 4y ago

I would agree, which is why a PS2 is on my list of consoles to acquire at some point, but it does have one significant nit: there is easily available no digital video output mods for them, which makes getting a decent picture out of them a challenge unless you already have a suitable CRT to pair with it.

rocky1138 4y ago
And even then, no progressive scan at 480 lines.
- hotpotamus 4y ago
  I remember some games offering progressive scan, but you needed a component video cable.
- Tsiklon 4y ago
  At a push the PS2 could do 720P as seen in aspects of Gran Turismo 4 (like it's screenshot mode) which to my mind is phenomenal.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
RajT88 4y ago
720p/1080i CRT's can be had - I have a late model Sony Wega 36" I snagged for $30. I've used component cable as well as one of those HDMI adapters which are powered off USB - and it's not that much different with my CRT. Maybe it makes more of a difference with an LCD.
qbasic_forever 4y ago
You don't really need a CRT, any television with a RCA or S-video input would work. If you track down the component video cable (kinda pricey and rare) you can use that too. Most of the LCD TVs at least of the 2010s still had those analog inputs. I'd be surprised if you didn't get at least a RCA input on most new TVs today.
- kitsunesoba 4y ago
  It's not so much a matter of it working as it is the picture looking acceptable. A friend brought over and hooked their PS2 up to my LCD TV in the past with component cables and it looked terrible compared what I remember from PS2s hooked up to CRT TVs back in high school. The built in PS1 emulation on a PS3 through HDMI looks way, way better on the same TV.

qbasic_forever 4y ago

Prices of playstation and playstation 2 stuff is going up fast in my experience. Ten years ago I was regularly finding ps2s in goodwill and thrift stores for dirt cheap (slim ps2 hardware for 10-15 bucks). Nowadays you only find them in used game stores behind glass cases with $100+ price tags. Get them now if you see a deal IMHO, they will never get cheaper. Same story for the good software/games of that era, it's hitting the point where rare stuff is going for hundreds of dollars and people are paying it. As far as modding goes, keep an eye out for one of a handful of games with exploits like one of the 007 James Bond games. There's a software mod exploit you can run that turns a memory card into a mod device effectively, no hardware changes necessary. It's a little fiddly but works great and you just do it once and are good to go playing burned backups, homebrew, etc.

RajT88 4y ago
You can buy a pre-imaged FreeMcBoot card for really cheap. If you have a HDD adapter you can just image it and chunk it right in with no FreeMcBoot.

opan 4y ago

The GameCube is pretty sweet these days with PicoBoot + SD2SP2 + Swiss. Don't forget the Game Boy Player either. If you get a DOL-001 model (has the digital video port) you can also very easily get a good image out of it with an external HDMI adapter. It's arguably the best way to play GBA games.