Exploring Video Game Emulation with the MiSTer and FPGA Technology 

Thank you! I ordered an Analogue Pocket last September but am still waiting for it… hopefully soon!

Very cool! I love that old Double Dragon cabinet - wish I had room for a few different classic cabinets in my house! Totally agree about the great work of the MiSTer community - some really smart folks out there!

Firing up Nesticle and taking that screen recording brought back SO many memories 😆 Thank you!

Later Genecyst came out from the same progammer

💯 For me, lots of memories nagging my grandmother to give me quarters for the Ms. Pac-Man machine in Safeway... it kept me out of her hair while she did the grocery shopping!

Thank you! I was hesitant to cover the software side because I’ve seen a few great videos on that already, but I’ll take that suggestion to heart -

@@whatskenmaking I’ve been messing with the MiSTer for quite a while. I think how you configure each console and the file locations and folders can be confusing. I had put mine down for a few months and was back at it this last week and struggled a bit to configure certain consoles correctly (also whether to have the rims zipped or not for example). Again your video was crystal clear and I thank you for it

It certainly has! Firing up Nesticle for this video really brought back so many awesome memories!

I think your story is like so many others I’ve heard of people who went the FPGA route… if you’re not looking to be a collector and just want to play those classic games with a good experience, it makes a ton of sense. Thanks for sharing!

Yeah, it's not for everybody. I'm a big proponent of using whatever is the right option for you... I personally still prefer original hardware in most cases, and if FPGA-based emulators didn't exist, I'd still be perfectly happy sitting at my 486 and playing Nesticle 😆

Ah, yes - I think you’re correct. I do remember switching it around and using the front USB port at some point. The drive fits into the caddy either way, so you can turn it around and still use the short USB cable. After I got the MultiSystem, I stopped using the stack config, so it’s been a while since I fired it up. Thanks for catching that!

I haven't checked it out yet, but it's an interesting board! I'll add it to the list ... I may need to do a video comparing the various I/O boards out there. Thanks!

I hear ya... I still have nightmares from trying to configure it back in the day! 😨

The most recent is PlayStation 1, which is incredibly accurate. There is a Nintendo 64 core and a Sega Saturn core in the works, and they are both looking to be quite impressive.

Yeah, I believe the PSX is the only 5th generation console core that's released. I heard that the Saturn is in the works, but I wasn't aware of the N64. I thought the complexity of the N64 was pushing the Cyclone V5 limits, but it sounds like someone's been working on it. Would be great to see it come out!

@@whatskenmaking to be sure it is, the N64 is being made by the same developer who made the PSX. It's running several games already. Quite impressive stuff.

@@onicx4603 Sounds great; can't wait to try it out! Do you know if we're going to get SNAC support?

I haven’t had any technical issues needing support on my MultiSystem, so I can’t comment on RMC Retro in that regard. I assume you’ve tried using a fresh SD card and Mr. Fusion build? The easy thing to rule out would be any sort of USB driver issue by doing that. But if you think it’s a hardware issue, then I’d take a look at the USB host controller chip on the board. Since you’re stuck with a dead board anyway, it might be interesting to swap it out yourself if you have the skill and equipment to do so. At any rate, sorry to hear about your troubles!

Thank you! Can you please clarify what you’re referring to? Are you talking about when I pointed out the switch on the Digital IO board?

@@whatskenmaking sorry the analogue board the switch on the side that says power is for supplying power over the usb user port, I use an mt-32 in the user port and if you turn power on the mister will try and power the mt-32 and you run into issues as requires more power than the mister can supply even with a 4amp psu. It could be different with the digital but I do t think it’s a power switch for the mister.

@RetroTuna Ah, ok. Yes, on the digital IO board it’s a power switch for the MiSTer itself, not the user port.

@@whatskenmaking Ahh right ok didnt know that, handy to have a power switch.

Hi Marcos! I talk about this a little bit in the video and touched on it a bit in this article I wrote - whatskenmaking.com/2022/11/02/retro-gaming-on-the-mister/. At the end of the day, every emulator strives to simulate the original hardware in some form or fashion. With a soft emulator on your computer, your CPU is performing the emulation of every chip in the system. With FPGA-based emulation, however, the FPGA is simulating multiple chips simultaneously through internal hardware configurations. You can almost think of an FPGA like a shapeshifter... it sort of becomes the chips that it's emulating. This enables all those facets of the system to function in parallel just like the original hardware. Because of this, you'll rarely see well-written FPGA cores encounter CPU lag. It's not perfect, though, because the FPGA will only function as well the developer programs it to function. It's still subject to error, and there are limitations around speed and features that may prevent a given FPGA from fully simulating a real chip. Modern PC hardware does a fantastic job at soft emulation, though ... so if you're just looking to pop in a childhood game from the 80s or 90s and relive some memories, then you're just fine playing with a software emulator, such as RetroArch. IMHO, the most important thing is to use whichever option you enjoy most within your available time and budget! Hope this helps!

I did cover the setup for using an external drive in my video on MiSTer setup tips - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-M6oojXRnOe4.html

The MiSTer can play up to 5th generation console cores, such as the Sega Saturn or Sony PlayStation. There's a complete list of supported console cores here - mister-devel.github.io/MkDocs_MiSTer/cores/console.

Can you please provide some more info on where you saw that? I looked at the code for both the PSX and Saturn cores and they’re both written in Verilog, which is the language used for configuring the Cyclone’s FPGA logic elements. The only way those cores could conceivably be using software emulation is if (a) the FPGA is configured to be a more generic processor such as an x86 CPU and it’s running an emulation layer on top of it or (b) the emulation is running on the HPS instead. Neither of those seem to be happening with the PSX or Saturn cores. Of course, I could be mistaken, but if you can point me to your source then I can take a more educated look into it. Thanks!

I didn’t adjust the display before filming, and some of my color adjustments in editing probably didn’t make it any better

Yeah, I think your best bet is to preorder from Terasic directly. Mouser is also reporting that they’re going to get some more stock this month.