MiSTer FPGA is AWESOME!!! - MiSTer FPGA Retro Console Review

[@gotcubed]

Also worth mentioning the quality of the analog output on a mister. Hook it up to a CRT and it looks absolutely beautiful.

[@MrMario2011]

Very true!

[@ClareHehe]

i am considering doing this with it if i buy it. having so many consoles in one device without the drawbacks of software emulation and i can use a crt? thats amazing. you don't have to make any sacrifices.

[@jocool7370]

The Mister Fpga is a no-complaints system. My daily driver for over a year now. 😎

[@mastershakelock]

Always thought it was strange you never did a review on the MiSTer project until now. Legendary retro gaming project.

[@MrMario2011]

Well now the review is here!

[@x7heDeviLx]

Well he had to wait till he got it sent for free. So we could get a non biased review 😉

[@wizdude]

I’ve had my MiSTer FPGA for a few years now and it’s hands down the best thing I ever purchased. I also have the mt32pi addon which gives enhanced music for the AO486, X68000 and Atari ST cores for games that support it. I’m also a big N64 fan and I’ve been following the excellent work that Robert has been doing (he is also the person who did the PSX core) on each release and slowly more games are working. It’s a premium option but I absolutely love it and it’s given me so many good vibes and fun times. Thanks for a great video. Cheers 😊

[@MrMario2011]

The PSX core is fantastic, and the quick work he's making of that in 64 core is nothing short of excellent

[@rager1969]

One really nice thing about hardware emulation is that it retains the parallel operations of the hardware rather than handling the emulation in serial fashion via software. This can result in cycle accurate (r close to it) emulation.

[@DKTronics70]

None of that matters today, where we have stupidly powerful PCs, with huge core and thread counts, and high clock speeds. This whole, parallel vs serial, is a moot point in 2023, as it no longer matters. Modern emulation is way ahead of anything Mister can ever achieve, such as much higher resolutions, better scaling, modern shader support, widescreen support, texture packs, PS1 z-buffer fixes, multi-player support - especially where none existed - such as the fantastic Jaguar emulator, BigP. Save-states in almost ANY emulator, rather than a few cores, support for ANY controller - not having to rely on SNAC, or Daemon, 4k resolutions - Mister can only do 1920x1200 max, or 1440p with tricks. I like the Mister, I have one, but I don't treat it like a religion, as some do.

[@ScandalUK]

Love the video - you covered all the hdmi stuff, but it really shines on CRT - especially when you can output HDMI at the same time!

[@MrMario2011]

Absolutely, I've heard very good things about it on CRT.

[@christuckwell3185]

I'm pleased that you have finally gotten onboard with the MiSTer. It is an amazing project.

[@MrMario2011]

Been using it for a while now, really love the progress 🙂

[@christuckwell3185]

@@MrMario2011 my path to MiSTer was when I was looking for a Vampire for my Amiga, which led to MiSTer as the Amiga and Atari ST cores was it's foundation (hints in the name :-) ). If you have time I definitely recommend checking out the sharp x68000 core for obscure games.

[@Cookiedon15]

I've had mine for a couple of years now. It's awesome!

[@MrMario2011]

Legendary project!

[@michaelcloutier2225]

I did too, but wow look how high the price has gotten. My fully loaded system in a case, RTC, 128RAM, IO board, USB board and even the audio in and it was just under $400.

[@rager1969]

I'm not "that guy", but with an analog I/O board connected to a CRT, you can eliminate any latency/lag you would get through HDMI, whether on MiSTer, RPi or whatever. Also, USB controllers can have noticeable latency for some, so using SNAC adaptors, you can hookup original controllers.

[@dinierto]

I'm also gonna be that guy and say that daemonbyte is arguably better for controllers as you can use OEM console controllers with only 1 ms of lag, and still control the menus and remap buttons

[@fujitsubo3323]

i love my mister FPGA but have struggled for 2 months now to work out why it will not output to a CRT or VGA monitor... 2 different vga cables later and a replacement analouge board with still no luck. i love this thing to death and will keep on keeping on to get this thing working via component.

[@angrydove4067]

Great video as I await my MiSTer Pi on backorder. Nice woof!

[@MrMario2011]

Have fun with it!

[@ninetendopesaitama2107]

Have one since 2019. This device keeps on giving and sets new standards for retro gaming imo. MiSTer is BeSTer. ☮️

[@soullos555]

I love the MiSTer, had one for years and bought another prebuilt one from Mister Addons with the aluminum case. The minimal UI is nice because it's not flashy but piratical. Easy to get in and just play and the games just play right, it feels exactly as I rememered growing up. Just to note, you can do save states in NES, GB (GBC), PS1 and I think Jaguar as well, or was it Lynx? Other cores can add support, but requires it to be implemented. NES didn't have save states initially but Robert Peip (the wizard who is currently developing the N64 and did the amazing GBA, GB and PS1 cores) implemented it a few years ago for the NES. Hopefully more cores can get them as well in the future. :)

[@MrMario2011]

Good looking out! More save state support is always appreciated.

[@ZimLuvGigan]

It actually looks better than my hdmi modded ps1 since you can turn dithering off and some games support 16x9

[@MrMario2011]

Amazing!!

[@SScorpio0]

Your splitter itself might not be the entire HDMI issue. The MiSTer pushes out garbage over HDMI-CEC which can do odd things. It's recommended using a CEC stripper that disconnects the CEC data line which resolves most of the problems. As for the price, a DE-10 Nano ($225 direct from Terasic with a few weeks wait), SDRAM add-on ($55-65), and $5 microUSB OTG hub will give you HDMI output and the same level of functionality as that whole system you have. The case, IO board, integrated USB hub are nice to haves, but aren't needed when you start. Finally, yes KZbin compression messes with it, but you didn't really cover the video filters. With a core loaded press right and select video processing. Select one of the presets and it will no longer look like a software emulator, but how you remember the games looking on a CRT, but displayed on your fancy flat screen.

[@MrMario2011]

Interesting, much appreciated with sharing this!

[@dinierto]

Great video! Save states are available on other cores, like Gameboy, NES, PS1, N64, and I believe Wonderswan, maybe others (Lynx?). They're possible on FPGA but the core has to be designed with them in mind from the beginning, and cores like SNES weren't. Also you have to have space left on the FPGA to add the code.

[@MrMario2011]

Totally makes sense, appreciate the clarification!

[@dinierto]

@@MrMario2011 awesome work I've already sent your video over to some friends 😊

[@AvalancheReviews]

Love my Mister. At first, I got it just to play around with, but it eventually replaced all my 16bit consoles for capture.

[@MrMario2011]

I've seen that comment several times! Many creators out there have switched over to exclusively capturing content from the MiSTer due to how convenient and accurate it is.

[@MegaRocket99]

Note that if you want to get started with a MiSTer, you can just buy the Terasic DE10-Nano board for $250 (comes with a power adapter) and that can already run a bunch of cores nes, snes, genesis, megadrive. At some point you will probably want a $60 128MB SD RAM for the CD based systems, and a $10 otg usb hub.

[@MrMario2011]

Definitely true, you can get by on the bare hardware, but you'll really want more.

[@tokenz2011]

You can even use the original controllers of the core your playing through the snac protocol

[@Mitjitsu]

I do want to get something like this eventually, but it would need to have Dreamcast and Gamecube consoles included for it to be worth my while.

[@allisterfiend_2112]

Look into the M.A.R.S fpga system that is being teased right now, it is supposed to have the dreamcast core when released. MARS is supposed to be a successor to mister as it will have beefier fpga hardware.

[@AZBCDE]

Awesome video, been looking into getting the Mister

[@MrMario2011]

Hope you enjoy it!

[@dinierto]

I can't recommend it enough

[@DeanMcFarland]

He really hooked you up with the regular active cooling case with dual barrel DC port slots. His site doesn’t have it posted making the $100 (shipped) passive cooling one the only other option there. Only other sub-$100 option for dual barrel dc setups are clear acrylic cases from the UK/etsy/ebay. A case is important for the mister with hub as it prevents play on the usb ports breaking their solder joints.

[@MrMario2011]

This is an older build, I got it before that awesome aluminum case was made!

[@DeanMcFarland]

It is awesome for sure. The Apple of Mister cases basically. @@MrMario2011

[@gr8t1bobo]

Great video as usual and looks like a great product. I'm looking for options to play gba, gb, gbc, games on CRT but this might be a little expensive for me, I will probably go the modded GameCube route.

[@MrMario2011]

Not a bad idea right there!

[@retroforce6919]

Cool MiSTer review 👍

[@MrMario2011]

Thanks!

[@AdrianLabs]

I love this project, have 2 MisTers, one hooked to an HP SVGA monitor with 2 memory modules for the upcoming cores like MK, also use it for 486 PC gaming, the other MisTer has the analog board and is connected to a Sony 19” MD PVM through RGB for console and arcade gaming , I think I play with these more than with my RTX 4090 + i9 13900k PC or my PS5 and Xbox series X 😂 80s kid through and through tho

[@Slot1Gamer]

all it needs now is a slick UI and it'll be perfect!

[@MrMario2011]

I don't know, man, I personally love it 😛

[@Slot1Gamer]

@@MrMario2011 I love the static screen look haha

[@electronash]

23:30 - Just a quick heads-up, but the old-skool "static" effect on MiSTer really gives the KZbin compression a hard time, and makes the OSD menu look grainy. If you hit F1 while the main power-up menu "core" is running, it will cycle through a few other backgrounds. That only works for the HDMI output though, IIRC. It should save that setting for the next boot. Or, you can install something like the RetroDriven Wallpaper script, for some nicer backgrounds.

[@MrMario2011]

Absolutely, it definitely killed the visuals for a bit there, although thankfully it recovered. On my own setup I have a few static wallpaper images I cycle through. Anything from retro gaming nostalgia to Stupid Fox to nothing,nowhere.

[@electronash]

@@MrMario2011 Don't worry, it didn't look even half as bad as it does on most live streams. lol It held up quite well in your vid, so I imagine you're using quite a high bitrate. (I was stunned years ago when I first tried to upload some Dreamcast footage upscaled to 1080p, and needed to encode H.264 at 60 Mbits to get decent quality. :o )

[@BrianKapellusch]

I love my MiSTer and if anyone is asking themselves "should I buy a MiSTer", the answer is probably yes. You can just feel the difference that and software emulation when you play. With that said, I don't love the interface at all. I'm tech savvy and it doesn't bother me personally, but it's impossible to have my young kids sit down and pick a game like they can on my BigBox arcade machine. I'm sure with some programming, I can probably find a way to have another device serve as a front end to pick a game, but it would be nice if someone else would do that work for me :)

[@MrMario2011]

Despite my love for the MiSTer, I'd respectfully disagree. Software emulation will be fine for many folks out there, and I personally love the interface. You do bring up a good point about young kids using it, so there certainly is some level of reading comprehension required to be able to navigate the menus.

[@friedzombie4]

Very nice, that's the same exact build i have sitting under my TV for a few years. I downsized my physical setup quite a bit after this lil guy dropped

[@MrMario2011]

It truly is amazing how much punch this little box packs.

[@dataterminal]

Just a heads up, a year on and the DE10 is no longer the only option. The QMTECH CycloneV work with the mister firmware as well, about 1/3 of the price but you will need a different IO board (if you're using one), and a different case. Compromise, yes, but GMTECH IO board and case are also out there.

[@MrMario2011]

Love to see it!

[@Aeduo]

Hovering on the snow background made this video buffer _really_ bad.

[@MrMario2011]

No buffering, but it did annihilate the video quality for a minute 🤣

[@easyerthanyouthink]

Love all your videos and channel. You make thinks clear and cover all that needs covering. And yes Im tripped 😂 its not hardware emulation. It hardware replication legit. Reason is in many old computers you have gal and pal.and cpld chips. This is real logic just not factory etched. Fpga is basicly the same thing but bigger and better. Its hardware and its real, it just total reconfigurable.

[@retror.d.1630]

I own a Mistercade that allows me to play old school counsel games and arcade games in my CRT arcade or CRT tv like it’s meant to be played, not on a terrible LCD! I can tell you did not grow up in the arcade era. That’s crazy that you are not into arcade as well! Neo Geo is arcade. Most of those games have aged well because of how cool the graphics look till this day. While PS2 games and some counsel games aged like milk.

[@XPimKossibleX]

PS2 games age like milk but they age into a fine cheese

[@brettus9115]

I haven't played Thrill Kill since 2000 and honestly haven't heard anyone speak that name (at least here in Australia) since then lol. I used to love saying "bring out the gimp" (midget on stilts, fmd hilarious) when brawling with my wife, brother and his mates on the Sony (disc swapping hack back then I think) while we were all drunk on weekends... Great times!

[@MrMario2011]

Truly love it, a legendary game.

[@messiahmozgus]

I've never seen these complete builds with case in stock. Whenever I check they say sold out. I've checked like a dozen times the past two years. Do they actually sell these things or not? No queue lines? That would at least make sense to wait in line

[@miltonbates6425]

It depends entirely on the availability on the DE-10 Nano board.

[@MetalurgiaMéxico]

Hola, I could buy a DE-10 Nano and other two boards: MiSTer Analog IO Board v6.1 y USB Hub v2.1 For MiSTer. However, I noticed there is another board: Mini-ITX Ironclad Plus ¿What is the difference between the two set-ups? Thanks

[@MrMario2011]

Entirely different form factor.

[@jackmyowl]

4:10 "He said the thing... now we must PICO it" ~ Me (A Raspberry Pi PICO Zealot)

[@MrMario2011]

Pico ALL the things!

[@adventuretaco7140]

MISTer is the past present and future !

[@MrMario2011]

Truly the best wrapped into one box!

[@j.walker6845]

Everything looks amazing, and it's a little nit-picky, but my question is what about Jaguar?

[@dinierto]

Currently there's a beta Jaguar core but it hasn't seen a lot of development. There's a dev that has it on his roadmap but we don't know when. Honestly the rate of development for MiSTer has been staggering, and I would guarantee that Jaguar will eventually be knocked out- it's only a matter of when.

[@TheShoe1990]

I have all of my ROMs on a 5TB external drive with USB 3.0. Could I play all of my PSX and down games on the Mister directly off the drive?

[@MrMario2011]

You'd have to look up how to set up an external drive.

[@TheShoe1990]

@@MrMario2011 I see. Does it take micro SD or regular SD? I might get a 1TB SD & move everything to that

[@WhatAboutZoidberg]

in 2020 I also noticed how many systems I wanted to mod and get an Everdrive for, was going to be very expensive. The MiSTer is just a single box, that does all those things and with a single power and video cable. I love to mod systems but the MiSTer was a no brainer. Got PS1 and a few arcade cores since I bought it and Saturn and N64 are looking great. Cannot recommend it more. I can output RGB Scart to a CRT or high quality HDMI with a million filters and shaders to play with. Also X68000 core in the works. That system alone is 3x the MiSTers price, mu h less any games for it. That and a Mt-32 pi.

[@MrMario2011]

Absolutely worth it on that front! I've been loving the PS1 core personally.

[@neotherebeltn]

What's the game on the background ? Quake2 maybe ?

[@MrMario2011]

Nailed it!!

[@snintendog]

I was a major Original Board guy myself Emulation was nice but it just wasnt good enough most of the time. The Mister sounded too good to be true for me so i let it cook and once i heard Saturn was on its way i dove for it...I pretty much have abandoned my old consoles for it now, The OSSC and Framemiester just seem like wastes of money to me now. As it is i went with the BOX shape mister with the three boards stack. But i am wanting the Multisystem now... The Fact that N64 is coming to the console now is insane. And with MArs being teased as a possible successor with DC probable on it. FPGA is the new Retro.

[@MrMario2011]

FPGA is the past, present, and future 🔥

[@Philip.J.Fry0]

Is it possible to save anywhere in the game?

[@MrMario2011]

Only the cores with save states

[@cesaru3619]

FPGA, I will try it in 3 years, hopefully then is cheap, bug free and have more performance. Until then, SOFTWARE EMULATION MASTER RACE!

[@Claasic]

That’s so dope

[@MrMario2011]

Truly!

[@richarddukard8989]

Can you play from m.2 ssd?

[@MrMario2011]

Maybe if you have enough creativity and get one adapted to the microSD card slot? I've not heard of it, but I'm not against it!

[@DestinyFomo]

You opened with a dad joke hahahaha

[@SageNevaRan]

😂 💯

[@MrMario2011]

Had to.

[@Nobe_Oddy]

MrMario's MiSTerMareview 🤪

[@MrMario2011]

Pretty accurate 🤪

[@jamiemaloney1552]

This is super cool but I would want it to play PS2, OG Xbox and newer.

[@dinierto]

for those systems, not only would they not fit on the FPGA sadly, but they'd take years of development and a full team of developers to engineer. After it's all said and done those generation of systems are better off on PC anyway as they rely less on precise timing and more on APIs that can be translated

[@RainerK.]

Biggest difference between Analogue recreations and the MiSTer is that the Analogue stuff works with the original cartridges whereas the MiSTer uses rom files.

[@MrMario2011]

Definitely true, and it is quite nice being able to physically use your collection on one.

[@snintendog]

@@MrMario2011I have to wonder could there be Cart Readers made for the SNAC input?

[@dinierto]

@@snintendog unfortunately not as there aren't enough IO pins. You can use some USB cart readers in a limited capacity, but they just dump the cart to a ROM file

[@Joe3D]

Old consoles are for CRT.

[@MrMario2011]

Options are always welcome!

[@michaels9917]

I interestingly enough purchased a MISTer, mega sg, super nt, and retrousb AVS. I tend to use the individual consoles more just because I don't need to navigate menus and or use a keyboard.

[@MrMario2011]

It's nice to have options! 🙂

[@Gryzor88]

You could get an NFC reader for the MiSTer and stick RFID tags on your original games. Simply start the games by scanning your original cartridges.

[@thetoythief8940]

From my experience the switch pro controller isn't that great 😂 the dpad can't figure out what way it wants to go for example mine pushing left will more then likely push down pushing right will push up so it's very inaccurate

[@MrMario2011]

That's unfortunate, they've all worked great for my setup

[@thetoythief8940]

@@MrMario2011 weird how I've bought several versions yet there all like that

[@SageNevaRan]

Mr Mario salute 🫡⚡⚡⚡⚡

[@MrMario2011]

🫡

[@rooskiwolf1653]

Turned off the moment he said he prefers a Bluetooth controller over a wired or 2.4 GHz controller.

[@MrMario2011]

Having choices is a bad thing, huh? 😂

[@ThetaxDeltax]

if emulation is what you after then get this. or emulate on the pc. Hacking a console is a big pain.

[@renejosu]

Still think it's toooo expensive

[@MrMario2011]

That's fine, retro gaming can be as cheap or as expensive as you want it to be! Thankfully this will all be coming down in price soon with some super affordable options coming to the market, so you won't have to pay PS6 prices for a MiSTer build.

[@renejosu]

@@MrMario2011 True, i'm waiting for a cheaper alternative, i saw one from QMTech but, still gonna wait a little longer for reviews to come.

[@silenthill4]

MARS > MiSTer

[@derekv6479]

Not seeing the benefits over costs from just emulating. Especially considering it can only go up to N64 and then barely that. Huge meh. Maybe in time. Hit me up when this thing rips up everything from the 2600 to PS3

[@MrMario2011]

It isn't for everyone, and that's fine!

[@derekv6479]

@@MrMario2011 I think the main downer about this is that all the systems it currently runs perfectly, emulation rips through also. The differences are near indiscernible. It's only when you get into systems at Saturn and higher that you start to see issues with emulation and certain games, buuuuuut this thing doesn't even run them at all. I dunno. Kinda kills it luster afaic.

[@chronology556]

@@derekv6479 The cost is the problem and the setup is just like on PC. You have to set it up and figure it out. It's not plug and play, so hardly a console. I have a powerful PC and I'm so lazy to set up emulators still, they have to compete with my Steam library, now. Before I was a broke boy, but I am still kind of broke, but at least I have a powerful PC and a Steam library, as opposed to some shitty run of the mill Windows Vista or Windows 7 laptop or Core 2 Duo Windows 7 or A10 series AMD PC, or some garbage PC anymore. I don't have to play old ass games, anymore....

[@ricecake4588]

@@derekv6479 You say the Mister doesn't even run the Saturn or higher at all even though cores for the Saturn and N64 are being worked on at this very moment. Also, the main appeal of the Mister is the minimization of input lag. If you play on a CRT, the games feel the same as they did back in the day. The Mister is mainly for hardcore retro games who want the most accurate experience. If you're a casual, then software emulation is perfectly fine.

[@deegeegeeretrogaming6684]

MiSTer FPGA is the best Form of Emulation atm.

[@MrMario2011]

You're not wrong!

[@karlhanso]

its only matter of time if marfpga thrives because it surparses mister in terms of hardware

[@MrMario2011]

I'm all for it!

[@dinierto]

a lot of us are intrigued by MARS but so far they've been oddly hushed about the project and the videos they've shown have been misleading. Time will tell