Polymega/Retroblox: New 1080p "Clone" 2600 to PCE-CD to PS1

[nightrnr]

I just have to reiterate:
It is freaking awesome that this will support Sega Saturn games (with RAM expansion support, no less, from what I gather). It will be neat to have everyone rediscovering the games from the other side of the tracks (or other side of the world, as it were).
I kind of hope it gets a developer mode (ie, it gets a hacked FW ) so that users can access the unobtainables. Not many gamers just have Saturn games just lying around. Or maybe you could burn a disc and fool the system into installing the game?

Anyways I've decided that this is the coolest thing that I just don't need. So I'll be sitting it out (using PSIO, PS2, Rhea/Phoebe, Super SD System 3, Xbox, Wii, and Everdrives to sate my digital gaming drives). But I'll be eager to hear how this system pans out. It is quite ambitious and I'm kind of amazed that it's future is looking so promising.

I wonder how nice it would play with controller adapters (like a custom PS2 to Saturn controller, but then how to attach)? I'm skeptical about USB compatibility.

[Jagosaurus]

I think it's misleading to have large orders outside of kickstarter when you have stretch goals based on orders within KS...

Seems sketch...

[nightrnr]

You could be right, but...

I think they are just using an existing idea to raise possible interest in other features.
From what I've been reading, they do plan on adding a bunch of features and other modules, the stretch goals would just be their more immediate focus for that/those particular extra(s). Maybe to try and drive up the preorder amounts a bit too, but

What are Polymega™ Rewards? Is this Crowdfunding?

With an extensible platform such as Polymega™, it was important for us to prioritize the features and functionality that the system ships with by default vs. the wishlist features that many who have followed the systems development have requested over time. To help us gauge the interest in functionality relative to the effort and cost involved to our team, we’ve created a rewards system, similar to crowdfunding stretch goals, that will unlock bonus features, commitment to delivery of new hardware, new CD system compatibility, and more based on the overall success of the Polymega™ pre-order campaign. There are 20 levels attainable, and some of the most coveted and requested systems that are not currently supported by Polymega™ are available as rewards.

https://www.polymega.com/faq/

Maybe they are doing it to try and drive up the preorder amounts a bit too.
But if so, it doesn't seem like it's working; they won't likely make any goals outside their initial amount anyway.

[bmoc]

Random thought...

I wonder how they plan to support Dreamcast games when/if they get around to that. Seems like GD-ROM support will be tricky. I no expert on the subject by any means. I've read that it might be possible to read GD-ROM with a CD/DVD drive if it spins slow enough which might be achievable by updating the drive's firmware. Maybe they can get the disc to be detected and download the appropriate GD-ROM disc image from their servers? Kind of likely how Xbox One handles 360 discs.

[Jagosaurus]

I thought about this as well. Hopefully it supports more than all the stripped images out there, shrunk down to fit CDRs.

Highly doubt they get into distributing games outside of those they specifically get rights to in e-store (which wouldn't be entire DC library).

[TokiXToki]

Random thought...

I wonder how they plan to support Dreamcast games when/if they get around to that. Seems like GD-ROM support will be tricky. I no expert on the subject by any means. I've read that it might be possible to read GD-ROM with a CD/DVD drive if it spins slow enough which might be achievable by updating the drive's firmware. Maybe they can get the disc to be detected and download the appropriate GD-ROM disc image from their servers? Kind of likely how Xbox One handles 360 discs.

It was possible on Dreamcast hardware to boot backups and homebrew burnt onto regular CD Roms.

Dreamcast support would be a huge selling point for me on this console.

At the same time - would they be creating a controller that worked with Dreamcast VMU devices? That seems like a lot of development would be needed all around.

[Jagosaurus]

Random thought...

I wonder how they plan to support Dreamcast games when/if they get around to that. Seems like GD-ROM support will be tricky. I no expert on the subject by any means. I've read that it might be possible to read GD-ROM with a CD/DVD drive if it spins slow enough which might be achievable by updating the drive's firmware. Maybe they can get the disc to be detected and download the appropriate GD-ROM disc image from their servers? Kind of likely how Xbox One handles 360 discs.

It was possible on Dreamcast hardware to boot backups and homebrew burnt onto regular CD Roms.

Dreamcast support would be a huge selling point for me on this console.

At the same time - would they be creating a controller that worked with Dreamcast VMU devices? That seems like a lot of development would be needed all around.

Big difference. Those CD ROM images on the net for DC are chopped & screwed as we'd say here in the south...

Re: GD ROM
" It is similar to the standard CD-ROM except that the pits on the disc are packed more closely together, resulting in a higher storage capacity of 1 gigabyte,[1] a 42% increase over a conventional CD's capacity of 700 megabytes."

[nightrnr]

Okay, someone talk me in or out of this again (and again).

I'm getting a few Neo Geo CD games and want something to play them on. I may just use my Dreamcast and load them via GDEMU or Dreamshell/USB. But if the emulation and loading times are very much shorter on the Polymega, this might change things for me.

It started out with me wanting to play a truly good version of the Last Blade games (CD soundtrack, no load times, excellent English port, good controller options). So if the Polymega emulates it very well and lets you play the US version from a Japan disc (NGCD systems were supposed to be region free and plays the version of the systems it's on, correct me if I'm wrong). But If English plays for everything (or can choose region), I'm wanting my own copy of a few other various games too.

Also would be neat to have a semi-dedicated Sega CD system.
Also would be neat to use 6-button Sega controllers for other systems (for NGCD games). So the Sega module would be a logical pic for me, if that allows the controllers for everything, plus I have a lot of Genesis and 32X carts.
I have too many other options that are pretty good for NES/SNES/ and PCE/TG16.

And that's about it. I'd probably throw a few PS1 games on there too, but not sure how big of an SD card I would have for this (would only use it with games after I could copy onto the system).

I'm already grateful that I passed on the Retrofreak and want to avoid a buyer's regret on this one. So how much of a gamble is this thing? Am I crazy for wanting it given the limited focus?

[Anapan]

I've been following it a bit, and I just think it's advertising so much more than it could deliver. Too good to be true, or rather, it seems like an attempt to sell some tweaked emulator cores in a crappy plastic box that shouldn't be able to house the required hardware.
Of course you can emulate most systems pretty accurately, but for most systems the buyers are interested in, it's not perfected. Having worked on a similarly big-picture reproducible emulation box that can interface with a 15khz display, I can easily tell you that many systems have quirks for certain games that can only be overcome with hacks or some not-affordable hardware. If they've overcome them, then the best decision is to wait for some Chinese company to clone the hardware and then install the official OS onto your Chinese clone hardware.

Those modules are 3D, and wouldn't be necessary except for a gimmick. The assembly line video shows a PCB that would only support a low power ARM cpu device.
In the video, the control pad looks super-gummy, the claims aren't even possible on a mid-level consumer computer. It's really fishy that the output is blue-screened with the emulation artifacts blurred out badly onto an unnamed tiny LCD TV. That guy's bald so they could hide the lack of a production model outputting video to a real screen.

My best guess is a beefy ARM CPU + Nvidia GPU - a clone of the Shield with a CD loader and rom dumper onboard. Also guessing it's just Retroarch.

I always cringe when it gets brought up in conversations because it doesn't exist yet. Nobody's been allowed to play with it and tell you if it can do stuff. Anyone can get a pc or android box and install emulators on it and get exactly what is possible for only the price of the hardware. If you're into android emulation specifically, you can interface a CDROM drive easily, dumping an ISO in a matter of seconds. Unless they show that it can do something other than run an emulator on an arm CPU, it's probably only that. They took their forums down and also disabled youtube comments. They have nothing more to say and don't answer public questions...

A bit more searching...

FPGA - a big selling point. It's only for realtime rom aquisition (CD or CART - the price for module is for that hardware per module)
All gaming is software emulation.
$600 USD for the full meal deal? Not even with a really good review of the capabilities for me.


edit2:
nope not even ARM, also, yeah, open-source emulators on a shitty Intel dual core
https://www.resetera.com/threads/polyme ... t-12266219

[marurun]

They supposedly paying some emu authors for some development work to improve some results.