Caporegime
Plentiful on eBay and FB Marketplace, often for not much money too, since so many were made!
Plentiful on eBay and FB Marketplace, often for not much money too, since so many were made!
Soldato
True, around £50 seems to be about average for a bundle of console, 1/2 controllers and a few games which is, I think at least, surprisingly cheap.
Soldato
I think I got mine from FB market for ~£20
Lucky the PS one was so popular it doesnt seem to be inflated by the retro tax
Lucky the PS one was so popular it doesnt seem to be inflated by the retro tax
Are you looking for the best way or the cheapest way?
Best way IMO is a Steam deck and emulate using Duckstation.
You can even get some official ps1 (or any) pads and an adapter and hook them up then enjoy GT without worrying about the laser or disk giving up at any time.
Plus you get many scaling options and other uses out of the Deck.
Soldato
I don't want to end up paying £350+ and yet still having to run an emulator & use a ROM on top of that for the steam deck option to be honest, even if I recognise that the deck has way more uses outside of just that one use. It'll be a "cheap" Christmas present to myself so something like an original console, plus a few extras, for £50 is probably a more realistic proposition, even if the physical wear/tear issues of using an old PS console is a much bigger risk.
At some point there would be a cross-over, as working consoles get rarer to find, where I could see myself swapping to an emulator (and I've checked out lots currently available, from stand-alone mini-PC's to HDD's full of ROMs to Pi-style "built it yourself" kits etc) but, for me at least, I feel that a console is a better bet right now.
If this just a quick nostalgia trip then there's probably nothing wrong with a £50 bundle if you can find one. But if you end up going down the PS1 retro rabbit hole you can end up spending a lot of money to get that original hardware into a better state.
You ideally want an NTSC console with NTSC versions of games (so US imports). I think Gran Turismo may have been PAL optimised but the majority of PS1 games were not and so the versions we were sold are substandard compared with their NTSC variants; and you'll want an RGB SCART cable for the best picture quality (without resorting to HDMI output mods). If you end up wanting to upscale the image / convert it to HDMI using something like the Open Source Scanline Converter then I was never able to get my PAL PS1 to work with it (from memory the OSSC couldn't output a HDMI signal from the PAL source that my TV would accept).
You ideally want an NTSC console with NTSC versions of games (so US imports). I think Gran Turismo may have been PAL optimised but the majority of PS1 games were not and so the versions we were sold are substandard compared with their NTSC variants; and you'll want an RGB SCART cable for the best picture quality (without resorting to HDMI output mods). If you end up wanting to upscale the image / convert it to HDMI using something like the Open Source Scanline Converter then I was never able to get my PAL PS1 to work with it (from memory the OSSC couldn't output a HDMI signal from the PAL source that my TV would accept).
If you find a PS1 in good condition for £50 with Gran Turismo you will likely need at least an adapter or 2 to output HDMI. Or you could go full retro and get a CRT which will make it look miles better. Something like a 14 or 15" CRT would be suitable.
Otherwise it would look like this
Yes, it can. I don't know anything about FPGA but a quick search found this
Beaten too it - PS1 NTSC versions are harder to find, I had one years ago and paid quite a bit more for it. Then you need to add on the upscalers / converters to the cost.
FPGA is emulation, but (please anyone correct me if im wrong!) it's just hardware level emulation. e.g. The same as playing a PS1 game on a PS2 or PS1 games running on a PSP Go.
OP, have you thought about getting a PS2 instead, then you can play PS1 games.
Or like me, a PS3? If you got a cheap PS3 then you get output HDMI and play PS1 games which is basically FPGA. Plus you also can use wireless controllers
Been setting up my Batocera box this weekend, pretty much done now with scraped artwork and nice themes. Really happy with it, so quiet.
I have it sitting under the TV and am using an 8bitdo 2.4ghz pro controller (the one with the dock) which is really nice, the sticks feel great.
Can put the machine into sleep mode for a quick start but the controller can't wake up the machine it seems. Will see if I can find a solution to that online, worst case scenario I press the power button
Soldato
Caporegime
Scratching an itch and ordered a Miyoo Mini Plus, want to see in person what it's like comparing the RG35XX.
Soldato
Thats pretty much what it is so far, there's no other PS games I feel even slightly interested in, just GT 1&2 for an occasional blast.
Looking at HDMI adaptors, whilst the footage showed in your link shows a very clear improvement (4k 60hz etc), that "pixelly" native PS1 image feels more authentic to me right now, even if I might change my mind in the long run. It'll be using my 4k monitor so I already know there will be visual issues like widescreen vs 4:3 etc
I'm 99% sure I still have somewhere in storage a PS3 with GT5 (and maybe FIFA???) that I haven't touched in about 7+ years but I didn't think PS3 would play PS1 games, or is that something else which would require modding to work etc?
All PS3s should play PS1 games with no messing around. It's only PS2 compatibility that was a bit weird (early 60GB consoles had the PS2 chips in, later ones did part emulation and then it was removed entirely). It's the easiest way to go for PS1 games, especially if you already have one as you get HDMI output, wireless controllers and emulated memory cards so as much space as you need there. Far better than dealing with composite or even RF for video output.
That caught me out while I was trying to hook up my PS2 last week. I have a PS2 to HDMI adapter but it doesn't work that well and also has the problem of the HDMI adapter's USB power getting in the way of the PS2's power connector. I decided to leave it, but I need to get another HDMI adapter. My TV doesn't have component or composite ports on it so HDMI is the only way I can do anything.
Need to get myself a Retrotink or similar at some point, but as I mentioned a few posts ago I was looking at getting a mini PC. Ended up getting a tiny box with a Ryzen 3500GE in it and it's handling Saturn, PS1, PS2, GameCube and all sorts of other stuff with no problems so far. Very impressed with it, especially given that it's ridiculously small (approx 18cm square and 3.5cm high).
That caught me out while I was trying to hook up my PS2 last week. I have a PS2 to HDMI adapter but it doesn't work that well and also has the problem of the HDMI adapter's USB power getting in the way of the PS2's power connector. I decided to leave it, but I need to get another HDMI adapter. My TV doesn't have component or composite ports on it so HDMI is the only way I can do anything.
Need to get myself a Retrotink or similar at some point, but as I mentioned a few posts ago I was looking at getting a mini PC. Ended up getting a tiny box with a Ryzen 3500GE in it and it's handling Saturn, PS1, PS2, GameCube and all sorts of other stuff with no problems so far. Very impressed with it, especially given that it's ridiculously small (approx 18cm square and 3.5cm high).
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Yep, like @Phemo said - All PS1 games (or more like 99% of the PS1 library) will work on a PS3, no modding required. Personally think that's your best (and cheapest) solution to playing GT.
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Soldato
I've just picked up a 20" 4:3 Hitachi CRT TV on Gumtree for £15. Please don't tell my wife.
Reading the PS1 chat with great interest. It's a slippery slope. I only wanted to play a couple of retro games and I've spent £1000s over the years on this hobby aka hoarding.
Reading the PS1 chat with great interest. It's a slippery slope. I only wanted to play a couple of retro games and I've spent £1000s over the years on this hobby aka hoarding.
Soldato
Spoke to my sister who has a few bits of mine in storage, looks like I do have my old PS3 still there so I'll pick that up at Christmas when I'm next back there and I'll look for just the games, thanks for the input folks!
Make sure you grab controllers too. Working ones that are not fake (even very good fakes) are getting harder to come by
Soldato
Finished off this build today
I got to play on it for about 2 minutes before my wife took it, and then my 5 year old daughter and then my 2 year old daughter wanted to play too
I got to play on it for about 2 minutes before my wife took it, and then my 5 year old daughter and then my 2 year old daughter wanted to play too
Fantastic. What's the build info? - What's it running - games, systems etc.Finished off this build today
I got to play on it for about 2 minutes before my wife took it, and then my 5 year old daughter and then my 2 year old daughter wanted to play too
Soldato
It's a stock Game Gear mainboard that's been recapped, Japanese version, single ASIC, VA1 - so.. system wise, Game Gear! Games are just whatever I put in the back of it (might get an EverDrive for it).
Parts wise;
Game Gear Shell Kit (Full Cream White)
Developed under the name "Project Mercury", the Game Gear was the primary competition to the Game Boy, the Atari Lynx and the TurboExpress. This mixed kit contains: Game Gear Shell Kit (Cream White) GG0104 Game Gear Buttons (Dark Blue) GG0161 Game Gear Buttons (Red) GG0151 Game Gear Buttons...
retrosix.co.uk
Game Gear CleanAmp Duo (Stereo Audio Amplifier)
Take your Game Gear restoration to the next level with the custom built, ultra-efficient and clean audio class D amplifier designed in-house by RetroSix. The CleanAmp Duo by RetroSix focuses much more on the audio tonal range and restoring all the bass notes and high tones not heard on the...
retrosix.co.uk
CleanJuice USB C Battery Pack (Game Gear)
*Please note the CleanJuice will come with random shell for shipping safely. This can be any console shell and not complete* Upgrade your Game Gear from AA batteries to a drop-in USB C dual-lipo rechargeable battery pack. Adds 22.2 watt hours of power giving you over 13 hours of game time...
retrosix.co.uk
IPS LCD upgrade mod kit for Sega Game Gear handheld console VA0 / VA1 inc no wires install flex | BennVenn
Note: Now includes no wires install flex.Features:- High brightness IPS LCD. Superior viewing angle, contrast, variable brightness control.- No screen tearing on moving images, frame locked to the original frame rate, no image tearing or lag- Low power - approximately 11.5hrs on 2200NiMh...
www.zedlabz.com