6-Button Showdown: Retro Fighters' BrawlerGen USB vs Retro-Bit's Official Sega Saturn USB

 

VS

     6-button controllers have been a niche for a long time and have not seen serious first-party releases since the Sega Saturn and PC-FX; maybe N64 too if you consider the button layout. In-between then and now, they have mostly been marketed by third-party companies towards arcade game fans, or more specifically, fighting game enthusiasts. General-use 6-button controllers have been seen on PC as well, alongside my longtime favorite being the Saitek P2500 Rumble Pad. With a boom in retro gaming happening these past years, some companies have begun releasing higher quality reproduction controllers aimed directly at the retro gaming market. Forget about those cheap USB controllers that have been around for a while. We're going to be talking about Retro Fighter's BrawlerGen USB pad aimed at bringing a tried-and-true retro design but with modern touches. Next to it will be Retro-Bit's official Sega Saturn USB pad simply being an officially licensed reproduction of the original controller with no added bells and whistles.

     Sega Genesis was definitely the console you wanted to get if you wanted an arcade game oriented library. Even though the TurboGrafx-16 (PC-Engine) also offered amazing arcade style games and even got a 6-button controller add-on too, it would not set many standards in the following console generations. When the Genesis got a 6-button controller add-on, you could play certain games with additional gameplay functions or just more intuitively. Considering the official names of the 6-button Genesis controller; Arcade Pad in North America and Fighting Pad in Japan, it's no wonder it set in stone who this style of controller would be later marketed to. The Arcade Pad/Fighting Pad was the standard controller for the Sega Saturn but with a sleeker body which became many people's holy grail as far as retro controllers went. When 6-button pads would later be released for other platforms; even the Sega Saturn pad itself for the PlayStation 2, they would be based on the Saturn pad layout. It would mainly be design choices that would separate them depending on the maker of the controller; for example, evenly sized XYZ and ABC buttons or additional function buttons. I personally prefer the controllers with evenly sized flat faced buttons, but the smaller convex Sega style XYZ buttons make sense since they were mostly auxiliary buttons outside of fighting games.

 

    Retro Fighters is a controller manufacturer that has been taking retro button layouts and applying them to modern, more ergonomic controller shapes. Their BrawlerGen takes direct influence from the Arcade Pad/Fighting Pad buttons and the DPad offering the classic Sega Genesis/Saturn feel of a controller. There is the odd addition of an analog stick styled after the Xbox One controller’s analog stick. In DirectInput mode, the analog stick mirrors the Dpad making it a pointless addition for me, but once you enable the XInput mode, you have a fully featured modern controller. Every moving part on this controller feels very firm. The Dpad rotates very nicely without feeling stiff. The buttons do not feel like they will sink into the shell if you press them hard and do not have that loose wiggle that you find in knock-off controllers. While build quality is top notch, the dpad registers misinputs a lot and it leaves me concerned.

     Retro-Bit have been making aftermarket accessories that are compatible with genuine consoles as well as clone consoles; including their own. The quality of their products leaves them best for emergency or temporary use because the stuff I've bought from them does not last very long. They have officially partnered up with Sega to re-create Sega console controllers in different colors for both USB compatible platforms and a separate line of controllers just for the original consoles. I decided to get the Sega Saturn pad because I have always wondered what made these extremely popular. It saddens me to admit that the build quality feels hardly any better than the generic junk sold for less. In the marketing description, they are labeled as "Original Grade Quality" which really doesn't feel like that is the case unless the original controllers felt the same. Does it function properly though? I have not encountered bad inputs yet and the buttons have held really well. All of the moving parts have a lot of wiggle that I'm not comfortable with. Although, the looseness of the Dpad may or may not be good under certain circumstances.

 

    Both controllers were tested using MiSTer on a VGA/PC CRT in order to get a more accurate assessment of their performance in the games these were intended for. To my surprise, Retro-Bit's Official Saturn pad executed every input brilliantly without any misinputs experienced. With the BrawlerGen feeling much more sturdy and promising, I had to be very careful with the Dpad since any slight touch caused the characters to jump or menu cursors to go up. By comparison, the OEM Sony SCPH-1080 controller feels stern and the buttons have perfect registration in any games I've used them in; paired with a Brook Super Converter for PlayStation to USB when not being used on Sony consoles. I had very high hopes for the BrawlerGen due to the build quality and feel of the buttons but missed the mark with the Dpad. If we were to compare it to other floating Dpads, the Logitech F310 has perfected this design but is not a 6 face button controller. This comparison test made me realize that while the SCPH-1080 is the most versatile controller for Dpad games, I found dialing in basic moves in Street Fighter more comfortable on the Retro-Bit Official Saturn pad.

    If you are seeking for alternative replacement controllers that are Sega console compliant and be able to confidently make the purchase, do not hesitate to get Retro-Bit's officially licensed Sega controllers. They left me beyond impressed and am tempted to get their 8-button Genesis version.

MiSTer: Retro Computing Redefined

    MiSTer is an open source project making use of the DE-10 Nano FPGA board to develop cores which are re-creations of various hardware specs with the primary goal of providing cycle accurate emulation. Once you have a core loaded, you have access to the native functions of consoles like a Sega Genesis or a classic DOS computer. Any games or programs you used to run on retro hardware can once again be enjoyed as if it were on the real thing. The biggest advantage of owning a MiSTer is that unlike traditional software-based emulators, you don't need to tweak settings after settings to achieve low latency gameplay thanks in part to the FPGA accurately replicating the intended hardware functions. Apart from virtually zero input latency, another instant favorite feature of mine included with some cores is the option to increase the sprite limits which reduces flickering produced due to the original console's hardware limitations making the games move very smoothly.

     Getting started from scratch is very easy and will only require a basic precision tool kit if you plan to attach additional expansion PCBs like a USB hub or I/O board. I can only speak for people in North America, but the best place to grab a complete kit is MiSTer Addons. You do not need to buy everything at once and simply start with a bare DE-10 Nano, then follow up with incremental upgrades if you find the cores you want to use require them. The one add-on I do recommend you get with your DE-10 Nano is a 128MB SDRAM upgrade which will unlock the full potential of the project. MiSTer Addons also offers pre-built MiSTer kits in either Digital or Analog versions with everything you're gonna need to get your FPGA journey started. With the pre-built kit, the most elbow grease you will need to put in once it arrives is running the update script and deciding what ROMs to check out first.

    Regardless of the purpose of MiSTer, the investment alone will definitely have people questioning what the payoffs really are. What made it more than worthwhile for me is that I no longer have to hunt for increasingly rare and expensive consoles and then also have to buy a flash cart or an ODE mod for each console, at least for the ones that have a core available on MiSTer. Regardless of whether you or I are skilled players or not, having no input delay is a very important benefit because many games developed in the 90's and earlier were made when CRTs dominated the consumer display market. CRTs did not have any post-processing done on the final image therefore did not introduce input delay so many games were designed around having the player pull off frame-perfect inputs (Punch-Out for the NES is a popular example). The DE-10 Nano being able to accurately pretend to be a Super Nintendo or PC-Engine and having native digital output from the HDMI port means it is able to bypass the built-in upscaler found in many modern displays which leads to less input delay. Pair the MiSTer with a gaming monitor and you should not be able to perceive any input delay at all. As a retro gaming enthusiast, the costs of having an optimal setup just so I could enjoy and appreciate cycle accurate emulation is beyond made up for when considering that software emulation may offer more features, but won't be able to provide the experience intended by the developers.

     Nostalgia did not play as heavy of a factor when I made the decision to get a MiSTer FPGA. For a long time, I have always wanted to own certain retro consoles because somewhere in the back of my mind, emulating them did not feel genuine. I did not have the words for it either until I learned about this project aiming to provide cycle accurate emulation for the supported consoles. When you emulate on your computer, for example, there are extra layers of variables added that open the door to unintentional results that don't ever happen on real hardware. Some of these unforeseen nuances are the effect of the game not running in time with the original console's intended clock speed. This can be mitigated by playing on a platform that aims to faithfully replicate the hardware. My performance has improved in many games because they behave how they were supposed to in the first place.

    Game collecting has been a thing for a long time and many people welcome opportunities where they can keep their cartridges for display but still be able to play the game itself. There have been efforts made to preserve physical copies of games for many reasons other than collecting. This is where archived ROMs come into play and the methods available to play those ROMs. On real consoles, people have been producing or buying flash carts which can be stuffed to the brim with games when you insert a loaded SD card in. Many of these flash carts also provided additional features not available on the original consoles such as save states. On top of that, modern flash carts like the Everdrive series provide the functions of console expansions like the 32x and CD for the Genesis helping you reduce space. By contrast, with the MiSTer still being sort of in it's infancy not every console expansion is currently supported, but for everything that is will all be contained on one tiny setup.

     It's been a very long road in obtaining a functional retro gaming setup. All I have ever wanted to do was buy the consoles I cared about, fit them with a flash cart or alter them to run backups using a different method. When the MiSTer showed up on the scene, I was very skeptical thinking it was just a more expensive Raspberry Pi hobby board running fancy emulators. The reality is that you effectively have the consoles, except they are stored inside a micro SD chip and are run on a small little hardware setup. Apart from being able to play Sega Genesis, PC-Engine, and NES, now I can check out old computers and consoles I was not able to fully appreciate using emulators. Considering that even at the price a full setup will run you for, it still requires effort on your end to get things actually going. It's probably going to turn off people who don't care about the benefits, but if you want to enjoy your retro games the way the developers intended, MiSTer is the answer to that.

 

Creative Pebble V2 Review

      Creative is a company I know mostly for their awesome SoundBlaster series of sound cards for PC. I have used some of their satellite speakers before but got the mid-tier stuff rather than their budget tier products. This time around, I needed a pair of small 2.0 desktop speakers for my dedicated MiSTer setup and did not want to go with just any cheap pair offered on Amazon. When I came across the Creative Pebble V2 speakers for around $25 ($28 total after shipping and taxes in CA), I immediately put them in my cart and called it a night. Since I forgot to estimate the dimensions before buying them, I went to sleep expecting cute little fist sized speakers based on the main product picture (see above) and name alone. When the box was left at my door by the Amazon Prime guy, I assumed I would find tons of cardboard hugging the speakers but was instead met with two medium sized speakers with a snug fit inside the whole box. For scale, each one can be fully cupped by two of my hands (7.5" from pinky to thumb each hand). My first concern right away was that the cables are not detachable so if a dog or cat chews any cable, it's game over for these speakers. With the concern in the back of my mind, part of me was very tempted to return these and just invest in a little DAC AMP setup with RCA or speaker wire connectors. Not so fast though, let's keep in mind that I need the cheapest and smallest setup I can personally bear with. A more involved setup would run me upwards to around $100 which is overkill for my intended purpose.

     I am someone who likes big sound out of their setup but was mentally prepared to accept the miniscule output these would potentially offer. When evaluating audio equipment, my setup consists of a sole FiiO M7 DAP with the stock 'FiiO Music' player which have been proudly driving my V-Moda M-100 headphones. Oh man, I was pretty impressed at how loud these got. One thing to keep in mind is that when a song or sound hits an extreme low or high frequency, the speakers will hit their peak much faster while turning up the volume knob if you use the 'H' setting on the switch beneath the main (right channel) speaker. While using the 'H' setting, they are also very fatiguing if you decide to sit near them with moderately loud volume. Using the 'A' setting provides a lower gain that is much more bearable for longer listening sessions, but is also the safest setting because I would not want to risk blowing out the rear little woofers from prolonged music blasting.

    You cannot realistically expect full bodied sound from any kind of satellite speakers. Having said that, the balance between every instrument is phenomenal for the price and gets by for basic use. I strongly advise against listening to music that heavily uses low frequency distortion like hardcore or crossbreed drum 'n bass at high volumes, but most low frequency music is ok within reasonable volume. Considering I bought the Creative Pebble V2 speakers for my MiSTer setup, I do not expect any game to put these speakers to work in any meaningful way since game audio back in the day was mostly heard through the built-in speakers of your TV and audio engineers most likely tuned their audio around this fact. There are few games that can reach low enough frequencies to shake the woofers though. One factor that will show these speaker's limits are games that have multiple audio sources going off at the same time which I mostly experienced in arcade games that could process many sound effects at once.

     The Creative Pebble V2 speakers do not break the bank while providing excellent sound for the price point. These are perfect for small rooms or minimalist setups, just not the best if you seek a room filling sound experience. As soon as you pick them up, the build quality stands out right away. Once again, my only concern is the permanently installed cables but people without pets and great cable management won't really have to worry about this.

     In case there is any curiosity on what my alternatives would have been, I would have totally settled for any pair of Logitech speakers which can go for as low as $10 and the nicer, but still budget oriented, speakers for $20 (before shipping and taxes). There is also the regular Creative Pebble 2.0 which does not sound as good according to several internet comparisons.

Buy Creative Pebble V2 from Amazon

Fatal Four-Way: The PlayStation 2 4-Player Multi-Tap Experience

Preface: Let me start off by acknowledging that while the PlayStation 2 is capable of up to 8 players, I will be focusing on games that support at least 4 simultaneous players. This will not be a top games list or talked about in any order, but rather pointing out notable games that support the multi-tap accessory. Also note that this is off the top of my head so I may be missing key information.

Since the PlayStation 1, Sony has required players to purchase the Multi-Tap accessory separately in order to play local multiplayer games. As it is so with the PlayStation 2, there are even more games on this sequel platform that will take advantage of this add-on. Some of these games will be very obvious choices when deciding what to play and others will probably be unfamiliar or just unexpected. As a huge enthusiast of LAN and Local-Multiplayer games, I hope to present to you only the most worthwhile games you can experience with your own couch gaming group.

The TimeSplitters series on PS2; developed by Free Radical Design consisting of former RareWare guys, is a spiritual follow-up of both GoldenEye 007 and Perfect Dark which were released for the Nintendo 64. TimeSplitters (1) is the spitting image of the previous two games retaining the trademark floating reticle aim but is presented as a time-attack arcade game with no obvious story to follow. Pretty much most of game modes you enjoyed in the N64 titles will be found here such as Deathmatch and 2-player COOP retained from Perfect Dark. TimeSplitters 2 updates the first game and brings more cohesion to the progression of the singeplayer/COOP mode, but more importantly adds even more multiplayer modes like Capture the Flag and in my option is the best of the three. TimeSplitters: Future Perfect has the most splitscreen content of the three with the addition of assault mode pitting two teams to defend and attack objectives; the multiplayer is more akin to Unreal Tournament if that makes sense. TimeSplitters 2 and Future Perfect both have built-in map editors so you can even go as far as recreating GoldenEye maps if you want or something completely original.

If you've never played a Gauntlet game before, make sure Gauntlet: Dark Legacy is your first experience because the amount of content is overwhelming. The original 3D Gauntlet had several unique realms with about 10 levels themed after their respective realms and one final boss each. On it's own, that was a lot of game to play, but Dark Legacy came out and puked out more playable classes, more realms, more challenge realms after the extra ones, and I can go on about this. Make sure to prepare an entire weekend if you expect to witness the whole game. Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows is another game in the series (don't play it before you play Dark Legacy), but might not be for everyone since there were several changes to the way the game progresses and some of the mechanics attempting to follow-up on the trends at the time.

SOE (yep, Sony) made one of the greatest 4-player RPG console experiences ever known as Champions of Norrath. The gameplay itself is not as exhausting as a traditional CRPG like the Infinity Engine games; Baldur's Gate or Icewind Dale, but does provide enough depth in the character leveling to satisfy hardcore enthusiasts of the genre. Do keep in mind that the pacing will be different here than in most games you will play on consoles, so only pair up with people who understand not every game can be brute-forced in order to complete. The sequel, Champions: Return to Norrath, is an amazing continuation of where the first game left off expanding on the lore and provides further gameplay.

Want to simply beat the fuck out of your friends? While the WWE games are easy picks for this purpose, you can break out of your comfort zone and play EA's Def Jam: Fight for NY. Disregarding the fact that the roster mainly consists of the Def Jam record label's most recognizable artists, there are some original characters exclusive to the game and features (censored) music from the record label itself. If you can look past the urban gang theme, it's a ridiculously satisfying game that features lethal finishing moves with tons of blood and violence. Another brawler you will enjoy is Urban Reign which was published by Namco and features two Tekken guest characters. It does not contain as much violence as the former game, but does leave you just as satisfied after each match. The mechanics are slightly different, but once you've played a PS2 brawler, the rest fall into place making it easy to get used to.

If you want thematically grounded FPS games not set in sci-fi universes, the Medal of Honor and the Black Hawk Down games provide the best. Medal of Honor: Rising Sun might feel outdated compared to the other games but it cannot be neglected at least one session. Medal of Honor: European Assault and Vanguard have the tighter mechanics and cooler maps to play through. Both Black Hawk Down games are amazing tactical shooting experiences letting you choose from many weapon loadouts. Some of the maps might be too big for two players on both series mentioned, but of course 4 players is the lucky number here.

Not every game needs to have a serious tone or theme to be good, so if you just want plain old fun with your group then there are many party games. The most noteworthy party game I feel like everyone needs to check out in Thrillville: Off The Rails. Specifically, the arcade games which are a bunch of mini-games that vary in genre like traditional arcade games, racing games, some FPS action here, and then there are the theme park rides converted into multiplayer games. Enjoy that with open minded friends though cause some of these mini-games don't play as good.

There are several compilations on PS2 of many retro and arcade games, but the one I highly recommend is the Midway Arcade Treasures series. We already mentioned Gauntlet: Dark Legacy, but why not go back a step and check out the classic 2D Gauntlet games? There are other 4-player games to check out, but one that is strictly up to 3 players and also worth your time is the Rampage games available in this compilation series.

One genre I wanted to steer clear from is Sports because once the roster in real life is updated, it might not makes sense to sports fans to come back. EA Big developed some sports games subtitled "Street" that have over-the-top mechanics making some of these sports game ridiculously fun to play. My all-time favorite is NFL Street 2, but more out of nostalgia, so you might want to just go straight to NFL Street 3.

The last game I'd like to give mention to is Twisted Metal: Black. It's a vehicle combat game where the focus is to destroy your opponents and be the last driver...driving. The theme is very edgy, but don't let it distract you from how far the series has come along since it's fall from grace after Twisted Metal 2 on PS1. Keep in mind that with 4 players, you will be limited to small maps with some needing to be unlocked by finding black cubes.

There are many more games that I want to talk about but would eventually lead to me making a meaningless bland list of games that can be found with quick google searches. If you want to find out what games are supported with the multi-tap accessory though and explore those games on your own, MobyGames will provide you with the answers. Thanks for reading and I hope this helps you kick off awesome couch gaming sessions.