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January - June 2002

ZSNES 1.35 storms onto the scene! June 24, 2002 - 10:49PM EST
Looks like the 1337 crew over the ZSNES project decided it was finally time for a new release to hit the streets. This release has so many chnages not only did it hit the street.. it broke the damn pavement! I won't get into much of it on the main page, but it looks like _Demo_ took the time to fix Super Scope support! Which pleased me to no end.

See a full list of changes in the Emulation News section.
Snatch the latest version from the Super Nintendo section.

MagicEngine version 0.9.9 beta 5! June 24, 2002 - 10:18PM EST
David released a new version of his outstanding PC-Engine/TurboGrafx-16 emulator MagicEngine over the weekend. Mostly just video mode changes in this release, but one new feature has been added that was sorely needed. Screen stretch, Finally you can play FULL-fullscreen! Some games have a bit of shimmer effect because of the method that is being used to stretch the graphics, but over all it is a much needed improvement.

See a full list of changes in the Emulation News section.
Inhale the latest version from the PC-Engine section.

Well.. I finally got one. June 9, 2002 - 3:32PM EST
The bidding ended yesterday and I finally got it.. A working Splatterhouse PCB. I can't wait to get my hands on it. I got horribly addicted to the Turbografx-16 version when I was in 7th or 8th grade. It wasn't until a few years ago that I had ever played the arcade version of it. However, finding a board for this game is usually very difficult, which is why I couldn't believe that in the past 2 weeks there have been 4 of them on E-bay. Needless to say I've been bidding on a few. Now I just need to get that 25 inch monitor I've been putting off buying for 3 years.

Changing Nintendo Emulators May 29, 2002 - 10:27PM EST
Well.. NESten has been long dead and I have been debating for quite some time on which NES emulator I'd be changing to. The Race has been between FCE Ultra and RockNES X for quite some time but I think I have finally picked a winner. :) Although RockNES X has some features that I really like, such as 2xSAI and the like, it has a tendecy to crash for no reason and randomly run really slow no matter what the Priority is set to. FCE Ultra is a very stable, very compatable emulator which also happens to have Power Pad and Light Gun support. (now if only someone could make it so you could shoot the dog in Duck Hunt I'd be happy)

That being said, I'd like to introduce FCE Ultra as the latest NES emulator of choice!
Grab the latest version of FCE Ultra from the NES Section!

Can't Stop Drooling! May 21, 2002 - 3:22PM EST
Hehe.. Downloaded a video clip from IGN X-Box today (Which I normally wouldn't do because I hate thier subscription based only crap) that just has me on edge. The latest installment of Ninja Gaiden is on it's way my friends.. and it looks totally BAD ASS! The NG trilogy on the NES is right at the top of my all time favorite video games, and if the upcoming sequel plays half as good as it looks.. we'll all be in for a treat. Check out that video now.. Modem users beware, the video is a whopping 28 megs!

Kinda Slow.. In a Fast Way.. May 17, 2002 - 10:29AM EST
Okay.. So emulation news around here has been coming in pretty slow, arcade news is moving about as fast as a senior citizen with two broken hips. So, I guess I'm looking for away to liven things up a bit around here. Any ideas? Yeah, I'm basically begging for help. Oh.... and pr0n is not an option!

Even with the lack of news, the site is just flying. The new server is in tip-top shape and the new connection has triple the bandwidth so you should notice quite a speed difference, well unless you're still on a dial-up connection then you probably won't notice.

I've been playing with a few different arcade emulators lately. I'm wholly addicted to Strider 2 on ZiNc, a Sony ZN-1 ,ZN-2, and Namco 11 arcade system emulator. Also on my addiction list, Street Fighter Alpha 2 on Nebula, a Whoopass Neo-Geo, CPS-1, CPS-2, and Konami arcade emulator. If you get a second, give them both a try, you'll not be disappointed.

Wheeeee.... Fun Stuff May 12, 2002 - 6:21PM EST
Alrighty.. looks like everything is going well with the site change over. If you're reading this then the new server is running. Expect things to be a little rocky for now, as I'm still learning. Be sure to let me know if you see any odd behavior.

On the bright side.. ePSXe 1.5.2! May 5, 2002 - 11:10PM EST
Hey.. This was kind of unexpected. The ePSXe crew dropped a new release today. Looks like there are quite a few fixes in this release a good number of which are to do with CD emulation. Be sure to check it out.

See a full list of changes in the Emulation News section.
Absorb the latest version from the Playstation section.

Well, this is a new feeling.... May 5, 2002 - 11:03PM EST
Actually, I wish the title were true. Seems things never change, Covad and Ameritech still continue to point fingers at each other as to who is supposed to figure out what is wrong with my line. Meanwhile, I sit here with no DSL connection, meaning that there wasn't a server move this weekend. The fun continues to grow as I have reason to believe that the place where I'm currently hosting the site could be disconnected at any given moment. Not a good feeling. Hopefully I'll hear some good news tomorrow on the status of my line and all will be well in the land of Video Game obsessions.

Possible disturbance in The Force May 2, 2002 - 10:31AM EST
Well.. It's installed let's just hope it works. I got DSL installed this week but haven't had any luck getting it running.. Problems between Ameritech and Covad.. Normal BS. Anyway, The site may be down off and on this weekend as I attempt to transfer the site from where it is being hosted now to the server in my basement. We'll see how things go..

On the topic of music to my ears April 29, 2002 - 10:38AM EST
Speaking of Music... I've been visiting this site for a while and have been meaning to post something on here about it. If you're a true gamer you like video game music, hell you've probably got a few SPC, NSF, hell even MIDI files on your machine so you can listen to VG music outside the game. Well, there is a site out there that is guarenteed to make your day.

OverClocked ReMix

This site is filled with remixed video game music, done by some extremely talented musicians. They will have something here that you like, trust me. It will become an obsession for you, you'll check this site more often than you should, and you'll quickly have downloaded over 110 mp3 files from them.. Umm.. hypothentically speaking of course.. Be sure to check it out!

On the topic of Magic Engine.... April 29, 2002 - 10:02AM EST
Magic Engine has been consuming a lot of my time lately. There have been a few releases of the wonderful TG-16/PCE emulator Magic Engine as it's up to version 0.9.9 beta 4 now.

<RANT>
However I having a hell of a time getting it to work with any CD game I own. After I load up a CD-System card and hit start it just sits at a blank screen. And it does this every time, with 3 different CD drives from 3 different manufactures. People tell me that's it's my ASPI layer, but I know it's not as everthing else that uses ASPI works just fine. It would figure that all the free emulators that use ASPI as a CD interface work, but the one I pay for doesn't. Anyway, it's gotten to the point that I just rip the CDs to bin/cue images and use Daemon Tools to create a virtual CD-ROM drive pointing at the CD image. It works, but it's definately a pain in the ass.
</RANT>

See a full list of changes in the Emulation News section.
Nab the latest version from the PC-Engine / TurboGrafix-16 section.

Gens 1.91, music to my ears April 29, 2002 - 9:32AM EST
Yup, late again. But I've been horribly obsessed with trying to get my CD drives to work in Magic Engine. Anyway, Stef released a new version of his masterpiece GENS for the huddled masses to enjoy. This update is composed of nothing but sound engine changes, and I can definately take back everything I saind about the 1.90 release. The sound core in GENS is probably the most acurate I've ever heard. It definately stands it's ground against a real Genesis is side by side tests of all the hard carts I own. Don't be afraid... download the latest release now.. It's good for you.

See a full list of changes in the Emulation News section.
Ingest the latest version from the Sega Genesis section.

Updated Sega-CD Section.. April 13, 2002 - 2:49PM EST
Hmm.. Kinda slow around here, so I got off my ass and finally finished the Sega-CD page. Put up some game screenshots and a little bit of a system description. So, now that each section is finished, I guess it's time to add that Neo-Geo section that I mentioned forever and a day ago. Maybe I'll get to work on that today some...

10,000 hits.. April 9, 2002 - 9:51PM EST
Wow.. got our 10,000th hit this morning. Who would have thought.

People actually read this site! April 8, 2002 - 2:09PM EST
It's amazing really! Acutally I got an e-mail from one reader, introducing me to a neat little program to deal with some of my 32x emulation woes. As anyone who has used it knows, retroDrive lacks any kind of Joystick support. But, there is a nice little freeware program out there called JoyToKey that allows you to map keyboard keys to any direct input device. Not only does it allow you to map keyboard keys, but if you'd like to browse the web using your gamepad you can map mouse movements as well. Very interesting program. Give it a try!

Thanks to Advance One for the news.

Download it from the 32x Section.

Gens 1.90! April 8, 2002 - 1:38PM EST
Lets all jump for joy! Stef bounced out another happy version of GENS for us all. Looks like Stef wasn't too satisfied with the sound core that he was using, so he decieded to code a new one which he says is more acturate. I'll have to take a minute later tonight to do some side by side comparison with a real Genesis, but I think the old one sounded better. But, like I said, I'm not sure, it could just be because I'm so used to Gens' old sound core, and the new one just sounds a little bit different. Anyway, buncha 1.80 bug fixes also, including one that was keeping me from playing Robo-Aleste, I don't know how many of you have ever played this Sega-CD game, but it's a pretty decent vertical scrolling shump.

See a full list of changes in the Emulation News section.
Download the latest version from Sega Genesis section.

A little spring cleaning April 8, 2002 - 1:22PM EST
Not that anyone is really concerned.... But I've taken all of the remaining post from 2001 on the main page and the emulation news page and put them in the News Archives. Just in case, for some God forsaken reason, you happen to be looking for something from last year, you'll know where to find it.

VisualBoyAdvance updates April 8, 2002 - 11:01AM EST
I thought I had reported when forgotten released VisualBoyAdvance 0.9a, but apparently I didn't. So for everyone that didn't know already. He did. Also it appears that forgotten became a new father on March 25! Take a second to congratulate him on a job well done.. :) Now that he's got his hands full, it may be awhile before he can devote any serious amount of time to the emulator, so he's released a Work-In-Progress version of the successor to 0.9a. Both the official release and the WIP are available for download, just in case there is something horribly wrong with the beta.

See a full list of changes in the Emulation News section.
Ingest the latest versions from GameBoy section.

ePSXe 1.5.1 released. Mar 14, 2002 - 1:19PM EST
Well well.. what do we have here? A new release from _Demo_ and the crew! The uber Playstation emulator ePSXe was updated on tuesday. This release includes support for Subchannel reading! Which means that all those copy protected PAL games you've been wanting to play no longer need those stupid PPF patches! There is a catch though... you need to have a CD-ROM that supports subchannels. Not all CD-ROM drives do, but most decent quality CD-Burners support subchannels so you could be in luck!

See a full list of changes in the Emulation News section.
Absorb the latest version from the Playstation section.

VisualBoyAdvance hits 0.9 Mar 14, 2002 - 11:43AM EST
Forgotten released a new version of his GameBoy/Gameboy Advance emulator VisualBoyAdvance yesterday. Looks like a pretty big list of changes for this one. However, he has posted a few known bugs in the new release that may make you stick with 0.8 until he can get an update out.

These bugs are: if it sounds like these would annoy you. Then pass on this one for now.. But if your like me, you'll just use the new version anyway. :)

See a full list of changes in the Emulation News section.
Engulf the latest version from GameBoy section.

retroDrive actually updated. Mar 14, 2002 - 11:18AM EST
Some neat stuff that happened, like, a week ago. Tim Meekins actually updated his Genesis/32X emulator retroDrive to version 5. Woo Hoo. Some new stuff like NOT needing the 32x BIOS files in order to play, and a feature that I'm not too sure about. There is a new INI file that will be used to "tweak" games. Sounds like the system that is currently used for Nintendo-64 emulators, not a good idea IMO.

See a full list of changes in the Emulation News section.
Inhale the latest version from 32-X section.

Change in Sega-Cd emulator of choice. Feb 24, 2002 - 11:19PM EST
Well, I'm happy to say that a new, but very familiar, emulator is replacing AGES as the Sega-CD emulator of choice. Stef's GENS has toppled the innovator of Sega-CD emulation himself, Quinntesson, for the best Sega-CD emulator in existence. :) Bravo! Bravo!

Obtain the latest version from of Gens from the Sega-CD section.

Gens 1.80 magically appears! Feb 24, 2002 - 11:00PM EST
Stef never fails to amaze me. He has released another update to his masterpiece Genesis/Sega-CD emulator GENS. The latest version includes a few Sega-CD Timing issues, the Sprite limit issue, and includes the latest version of Kaillera (which should make the online players out there happy).

See a full list of changes in the Emulation Newssection.
devour the latest version from Sega Genesis section.

Nintendo pisses me off Feb 22, 2002 - 1:59PM EST
Okay.. Nintendo is going after websites like Zophar's Domain for selling GameBoy Advance flash ram cartriges and programmers. If that doesn't just suck. I wanted to get one of these so I could try out some of the emulators for the GBA, such as PocketNES. Now it looks like the independant GBA programming community is going to be limited to emulators instead of actual GBA hardware. Damn. Guess I should have bought one a while ago. In similar news. Under pressure of Nintendo Of America, and no doubt Sony of America, the US customs office is confiscating all of shipments from Lik-Sang Importer for Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) violations. Nintendo sucks. Remind me to piss on there US headquarters next time I'm in Washington.

I urge ever one of you reading this to boycott Nintendo for there frivolous legal actions. This is the equivalent of Sony suing the manufacturers of CD-R media for allowing people to use them to copy Playstation games. Send your disapproval of Nintendo's actions to this address, Noalegal@noa.nintendo.com.

VisualBoy Advance 0.8 emerges Feb 5, 2002 - 3:55PM EST
Forgotten, as promised released a new version of his dominant GBA/GB emulator VisualBoyAdvance on Super Bowl Sunday. List of changes is quite long, but one thing really sticks out, something I wish all emu authors would take note of: -=[disable screen saver when emulating]=- Yes folks, nothing sucks more than whooping Dracula's ass in Castlevania Adventure and the screen saver kicks on. This happens with TONS of emulators, I'm glad authors are starting to notice. Forgotten is THE man. Period.

See a full list of changes in the Emulation News section.
Pilfer the latest version from the GameBoy section.

Gens 1.70 kicks ass, ninja style! Feb 5, 2002 - 3:43PM EST
Alright, Stef comes through again in brilliant fashion! GENS 1.70 has been released and is better than ever. Not only is the SCSI CD-ROM bug fixed, but he seems to have fixed the bug in Ecco The Dolphin CD that was locking the emu up when you viewed the video crystals in the library. What else can I say!

See a full list of changes in the Emulation Newssection.
Snatch the latest version from Sega Genesissection.

Life without Electricity sucks! Feb 5, 2002 - 1:00PM EST
Figures.. New emulators come out and I've been without power since last Thursday. Oh well.. It's finally back on so I'll be updating again now that I can check out the new releases. Stupid ice storms anyway, knocking over trees, taking out power lines. Sometimes nature just has no respect. :)

ePSXe 1.5.0 released! Jan 28, 2002 - 8:01PM EST
Well if this little bit of news didn't just blow me away this morning. ePSXe, the ultra l33t Playstation emulator, errupted onto the scene after 6 months with a new release! I waited to report it till I got a chance to try it, but I'll have to say it's very impressive to say the least! Smooth and fast, no bugs that I can see. Apparently some people are having trouble switching discs in multi-disc games. But as I haven't tried to do that yet, I can not confirm these reports. By all means, grab this emulator!

See a full list of changes in the Emulation News section.
pillage the latest version from Playstation section.

The Year's first Arcade update! (sort of) Jan 28, 2002 - 3:31PM EST
I took most of last Monday and re-wrote the story of how this site came to be. Most of you probably never knew that at the bottom of the main page there was the story of how I came to collect arcade stuffs. Well there was, and it was an overflowing cup of misspellings, run on sentences, and muddled thoughts. This has all been fixed! It is new and improved, like a director's cut DVD, with never before read facts and newly exposed tragedies. It is also now located under the Arcade menu, plainly labeled as "The Story". It's quite the read. And, as always, let me know what you think.

News on the Gens \ Win XP issue! Jan 25, 2002 - 1:00PM EST
Just got a new test version of GENS from Stef this morning numbered v1.62. Looks like it fixes the Windows XP + SCSI CD-ROM issue! I never knew Gens did Sega-CD emulation so well. This could cause a few changes around here with Gens now holding down slots for 2 different favorite emulators. I think I'll wait till it's officially released to decide. But, I don't think I'll have to wait too long, as Stef has been churning out updates faster that than other emulation author out there. Kudos to him!

Gens 1.60b available Jan 24, 2002 - 1:51PM EST
Stef is just a machine lately, churing out release after release of his amazing Genesis/Sega-CD emulator GENS. The latest of which is 1.60b which is the latest of 4 releases since I posted 1.40b All of this in about 2 weeks time. He's unstopable. Unfortuanely I still can't get the Sega-CD emulation working on my machine, seems people with Windows XP and SCSI CD-Rom drive have been having some troubles. However, Stef is aware and I've gotten a test version Gens from him, and sent him a few log files to try and help. Hopefully, we'll see a breakthough sometime soon.

See a full list of changes in the Emulation News section.
Snatch the latest version from Sega Genesis section.

AGES 0.27a available Jan 3, 2002 - 10:21AM EST
Quinntesson updated his Genesis/32X/Sega-CD emulator AGES before the holidays. Looks like he got a little adventurous and completely overhauled his 68000 emulator. He released 2 version of the emulator one with the new core and one with the old, but I haven't found a reason to try the old one yet since the new one is quite a bit faster. Apparently the plan is to do the same renovations to the SH-2 core next, hopefully making 32X emulation a bit better. Only time will tell!

See a full list of changes in the Emulation News section.
Harvest the latest version from Sega-CD section.

Gens 1.40b available Jan 3, 2002 - 9:49AM EST
Stef released a new version of his Genesis/Sega-CD emulator GENS a while ago. Just got around to checking it out.. Things being as hectic as they are around the holidays. So here it is.. Finally for anyone that for some reason or another hasn't downloaded it from a different site already. :)

See a full list of changes in the Emulation News section.
Obtain the latest version from Sega Genesis section.



Tell me how much I suck! Niobium