Short answer, absolutely not.
The Virtex Ultrascale+ FPGA boards are $10,000 AND UP.
If you look up why Mister will not move up to more powerful FPGA chips, this is why.
Would it be cool? Yes. Definitely.
Now imagine that, but on a keyboard. No mouse. That’s pc controls for ZT
Extreme G 2 on pc loses the analog steering from N64, which turns out is a big deal. Throwback Entertainment made a port-of-a-port and introduced a speed hack in the launcher menu where you can slow down the game a bit, which helps, but doesn’t fix the issue.
In some other cases like Hexen, there were alterations on console that I find generally more appealing, like an ost remaster or lighting effects.
The Genesis game Zero Tolerance and Dreamcast version of Expendable are games I prefer on console simply because of the control schemes on pc.
Yeah, the Doom 64 projects are a bit different in scope, so I figured they deserve separate listings. Anywho:
D64-RE is a decomp that you recompile yourself. There are some minor features like additional cheats, but it’s a pretty raw “here is all the code” project that you can mess with yourself.
Doom64 EX + is a fork of the original work by SVKaiser, called Doom 64 EX.
Doom 64 EX is a mish-mash of reverse engineering and source port conversion. Famously, Kaiser now works at NightDive Studios and brought his proprietary KEX engine with him.
EX+ basically rips out Kaiser’s KEX engine, while keeping the improvements of the modern commercial release like loads of bug fixes, performance increases, and aims to be faithful to the original game.
In addition, EX+ is able to be played on other platforms besides Windows, and can accept DeHacked64 patches. This allows for tweaks to values throughout the game (monster health, damage, weapons, etc), while bringing in support for a number of existing map packs.
Strangely, EX+ does not have controller support - at all. It is mandatory mouse/keyboard.
The Sonic 1,2 and CD projects are cool since they are decomps of the remastered Android versions with proper widescreen plus modding support on 1 & 2 built in.
The Sonic Mania decomp allows you to choose your renderer (DX11 / DX12, and Vulkan), among bug fixes and mod support. Did you know the official release doesn’t let you use more than one controller in Competition Mode? The decomp lets you fix that. Plus mod support, of course. Most of the mods for Mania are cosmetic, but occasionally you get some cool stuff like more abilities or extending movesets to other characters.
Gamebanana.com is a good resource on all counts of classic Sonic modding
This is a 32X romhack, correct. If you run it from a flash cart (like the Everdrive) and also have a Sega CD attached, then that enables the other features.
32X Doom tried to be like the original PC game, but it was rushed through development as a launch title with a small team. The result is…tragic. Specifically: half the maps were missing, both the game window and resolution are reduced to get playable framerates, the original soundtrack famously sounds a bit like a farts at times, several visual effects like parallax texture scrolling, transparency, and lighting effects are gone. (there’s a room in E1M5 near the end that the lights alternate between on/off, but the monsters on 32x are always visible.) This also means no invisibility power-up, or Spectre monsters.
My favorite jank is after the credits when you finish the game, it dumps you into a fake DOS prompt. It just shows C:\DOOM> and you are unable to interact with it in any way.
I have been playing RotT Ludicrous Edition, and it’s my first time through the game in general. I can’t tell you how much of my time is spent on key hunting or looking for that one touch plate, so I get that.
I noticed a few things while playing the N64 campaign.
It’s not 1:1 parity with the console version, and it’s not meant to be (and that’s a good thing, actually).
How it works is they use N64 textures, OST, and maps. Everything else is from the new engine - including the new enemy AI changes and balance adjustments, etc.
A good portion of the game is spent in anti-gravity. You may not have the rocket launcher, or much ammo for it yet, relying on grenades to take down bigger baddies like enforcers or tanks. The trajectory of a grenade on authentic hardware is net positive, so it’s about impossible to aim. On Q2 Enhanced, it just means the grenade fires straight out of the barrel. Little things like that stand out.
The Nintendo 64 campaign on Hard, with deaths, took me about 3 hours. This is how I have always wanted to play this version of the game. It’s indescribably better than trying to play it on an actual Nintendo 64 or even emulated.
I’ve played it for about two hours, and the only hitch I’ve noticed is the midi ost can stutter. If you swap it for OPL, it’s fine, though.
You might be thinking Sega CD, which had re-releases of Ecco, but not the 32X.
Yeah, it got a port on the N64.
When Retro-bit announced their licensing partnership with Sega, I was really excited. I got their first wave Saturn USB pad, and I now have a Big 6 that combined a 6-button pad with the style of the 3-button Genesis pad. Still waiting for that dual analog variant they promised though…
It was around the same time I think that Retro Fighters came out with a new original port Dreamcast controller, the Striker. Awesome controller. I got a Raphnet adapter just to use it on pc from time to time.
Then there’s the arcade stick I custom built for the specific purpose of authentic arcade gaming at home. Uses a Suzo Happ lever (even though they used to be made by Industrias Lorenzo), and Industrias Lorenzo buttons.
If a don’t need an analog stick, my go-to has been the Hori Fighting Commander Octa. It has a stick, but I don’t use it often. The buttons are microswitched and it feels great.
If I do need the sticks, Series X controllers are fine, generally.
While not a straight ready-to-go port…exactly, I was really impressed by DeltaTouch and QuadTouch. It ports over a bunch of id software sourceports to Android making it possible to play not only Doom, Heretic, and Strife, but Quake and Hexen II - most with mod and controller support.
There is a little bit of prep involved - eg. you still need legal copies of stuff, and you will need to move files around on your device, but otherwise not bad.
I don’t know if it ever stopped. Seems like every other month there’s a port or a homebrew that eventually goes retail.
The Atomiswave arcade ports are great.
Dreamcast Junkyard is the typical forum for all things that are “still thinking”