Hands on with the Analogue DAC Converter
To the casual gamer, the recent popularity of the mini classic consoles has been perfect. Cute little boxes with HDMI out to play childhood memories on their cinema sized living room flatscreen TV. Whilst some games are timeless and the likes of Super Mario World will always be a joy, there are some games that perhaps haven’t aged as well and playing on HD screens flags just how crude the technology was back then.
The biggest problem with our digital age, is that everything is defined in pixels. Video games before the 2000’s were primarily designed for those old school box TVs that used CRT technology. They didn’t have pixels as such and the low resolution images of the likes of the SNES and the PSOne, were smoothed off as well as being shown on screens no bigger than 20-24 inches inches. That’s why you are probably seeing those old fashioned box TVs going for a good price in local second hand shops and online marketplaces recently. They are the best way to play the original games consoles like the Mega Drive, NES or N64. Simply, because the old consoles were never designed to work with digital video signals and so look pretty rubbish on our modern high resolution screens – even with the best upscalers.
Analogue is a Seattle based startup, that have made a name for themselves making hardware specifically designed for solving the headaches found. The Super NT & Mega SG are two of those consoles, which are FPGA based versions of the classic Super Nintendo and Sega Mega Drive, that allow you to play the original cartridges in stunning pixel perfect HDMI video. I have both the fore-mentioned consoles as I am a huge 16-bit fanboy and the results are impressive. I think the most impressive feature, is the scaling to round off blocky pixels to make it look more cartoony. Perfect for things like Sonic the Hedgehog, Bomberman or Mario games.
But what, if you have a retro style TV or monitor but still want to keep the benefits of the modern FPGA system. Enter the DAC extension card.
This isn’t an HDMI to analogue converter box, although that’s what it appears to be at first, so it will not work as a standalone product with say a Raspberry Pi or a SNES Mini. It works in collaboration with the Analogue console hardware, hence I say extension card. The Analogue console you’re using it with, will even change its available settings in the menu when connected and show “DAC” as an option. Giving you options of how the component signal is synchronised and other customisations.
As it only works with users of Analogue consoles that want to use a retro CRT or LCD screen, it’s a super Niche add-on for an already niche and fairly pricey way to play your retro game cartridges. Some would be happy just playing on a RetroPi or emulation device on their HD screen. But there is definitely a target market out there for such specific hardware. I am one of them for a start.
It is in my opinion, the ultimate way to play these classic games. Absolutely crisp and clean video – especially if you are nerdy enough to have in your hoard a professional monitor like the Sony PVM series. I’ve opted for one of the LCD based monitors due to available space in my set up, which are known as LMD series. Yes, I can play these games on my living room TV, or my 4K Ultrasharp monitor, or even my portable ZenScreen HDMI monitor I bang on about. But it just doesn’t compare, it’s not as accurate, it’s not displaying the sprites, pixels and backgrounds as the games were designed for. Is everyone I know who is passionate about retro games going to buy into this set up, no way. But, I am a hugely passionate 16-bit collector and gamer, looking for ways to optimise my set up.
I have tested now with both the Super NT (SNES) & MEGA SG (Mega Drive) + all the SEGA adapters like Master system and Game Gear.
If you’re still reading this and thinking “What the F are you talking about Tom?” Then stay tuned, as I am putting together a video to show what this is all about.
For more info on this, take a look at Analogue’s webste.
If you’re not familiar with the Evercade yet and have any interest in classic video games, then you have to check out this new handheld. It isn’t just another ROM playing piece of plastic, but an affordable and capable handheld that uses it’s own format of cartridges, yes cartridges. Like the good old 80s and 90s before CDs and digital downloads made collecting less fun. Each cartridge comes in a hard plastic bookcase like the Mega Drive or Master System and comes with a collection of games from a specific platform or publisher. Like Atari, Namco or Data East. We’ve seen these sort of compilations many times through the years on other platform, but you will find some awesome retro classics on there, even from the 16-bit era, like Earthworm Jim, Splatterhouse and Boogerman.
The big news I wanted to share here was what I consider to be quite the game changer. Breaking the curse that plagues these sorts of platforms in the past, where it’s largely the same old compilations of old arcade and 8-bit classics we have seen multiple times over the years. The announcement of this particular cartridge has branched out including two absolute monster indie titles previously hard to come by in physical form. These two games are XenoCrisis and Tanglewood. This shows that there is now a new platform for indie titles to publish their games onto an affordable and easily available physical form and that Evercade are committed to bringing great content to this handheld. Without say having to dig deep for limited physical production runs or overpriced collector editions, which even puts me off sometimes.
Take Tanglewood. Widely available as a digital download largely for Steam and PC, but otherwise only available physically on a limited amount of original Sega Mega Drive cartridges. As this game was developed entirely using the original SEGA Mega Drive dev tools (the back story is awesome alone and was even featured on the BBC), it is by nature a MEGA DRIVE game. Like all the good Disney releases for SEGA’s 16-bit console, Tanglewood is a cute platforming game with incredible detail to animation and character design. Reminiscent of Lion King and Castle of Illusion series of games. I have so far resisted the urge to play this, until I get a physical copy.
XenoCrisis is also technically a MEGA DRIVE game and available on physical cart form their website, at an eye-watering £55. Again it is already wildly available on digital download on Steam , PS4 and even Nintendo Switch. It is with no doubt a great shooter game. It’s an over head arena shooter that somehow to me feels like Amiga classic Alien Syndrome mixed with Konami’s Contra style chaos. I haven’t played through this one yet, as I don’t own it. But being a huge Contra fan, I am looking forward to picking this one up when this release is available later in the year
I did never pick up the actual MEGA DRIVE cartridges obviously for both these games, so soon I will be able o grab them for Evercade on one cartridge for an acceptable £14.99 to enjoy on a £50 handheld. What I love about these price points, is that it’s exactly what made the Nintendo Game Boy such a success. Yes, there is more powerful and better hardware out there, but the affordability made the Game Boy a monster of a success back in the day and I hope this means we will also see on the Evercade a vast library of awesome indie titles, continuously released in the years to come.
Who knows what other awesome indie titles we can see on the Evercade?! Maybe even titles like Shovel Knight, Hotline Miami, 198X, Celeste or Super Meat Boy could all make an appearance. I’m sure the hardware limitations might make titles like Fez (god I love that game) or Limbo from coming to this platform as they were very much built for HD style smart gaming systems. But anyway, take this as the first huge Evercade release.
Have you ordered an EVERCADE console yet? What other popular independent games would you like to see released on this platform? Reach out on social media to let us know what you think.
Those of you not familiar with Analogue yet and have any interest in classic Nintendo and Sega games consoles, then catch up fast. These lot are a start up company from Seattle, that specialises in making modern hardware dedicated to playing original video game cartridges on your modern screens, monitors or multiple media set up. Making splashes with the original Nintendo Entertainment System compatible NT and then what really grabbed my attention, the Super Nintendo compatible SUPER NT.
So some would say it was only a natural step for them to offer up a piece of SEGA MEGA DRIVE hardware and that’s exactly what we have here. The MEGA SG is a retro games console specifically designed for playing retro SEGA games with the cart slot and even the original controller ports but with that HDMI out connector for enjoying on your flatscreen TV. It is region unlocked so you’ll be able to use American Genesis carts and Japanese games without issues and micro USB 5V power connector so you can save a plug socket and just power the thing from the USB output of your TV or another device. So, if you are passionate about MEGA Drive games and want to play the original game cartridges, here’s the perfect solution.
Massive Wins:
- Genesis & Mega Drive Cartridge Slot (yes it’s multi region)
- 2 original MEGA DRIVE controller ports
- Headphone Jack for that original audio experience
- HDMI out at 1080p 60
- Micro USB power 5V
- About as big as a Nintendo Switch Dock laid flat
You’ll notice that in the title I didn’t specify just MEGA DRIVE games and said “Classic SEGA”. Well that’s simply because using the adapters, you can play also Master System, Game Gear and even the really old game card system that ws just out long enough to be on the original Master System 1 console. The Master system converter comes in the box with the MEGA SG which is a nice touch and then the others are available as a separate adapter pack for $50, which will be kind of cool to finally have a sudo Super Game Gear set up and enjoy GG exclusives once again.
I was lucky enough to snag one of the awesome limited edition Hyperdub versions, which not only comes in a dark Black translucent finish and matching 8-bit do wireless 6-button controller with the Hyperdub logo, but also a one off Mega Drive cartridge containing an album of exclusive music from the HyperDub label. Being an electro head and a huge passion for dub, beats and breaks, this was a winner for me. But putting that to one side for now, look at it! I’m gonna bring out my South London roots and go as far to say it looks SICKKKKKKK!
Yes, you have the Mega Drive Mini now and it’s a good piece of hardware for running some Mega Drive classics, so many people won’t see the need to pay so much for one of these. But, without being a tech snob, these little boxes are for the elite way to play games in HD using the original cartridges. I mean, if you don’t have the carts, what’s the point?! For me, like the SNES one, this is the perfect MEGA Drive experience and I can’t wait to replay through Sonic 3 or the bundled Hard Corps.
The MEGA SG is available from Analogue.co for $249.99 excluding international’s shipping and import duties. For us UK folk, this does end up being just shy of about £300 all in.