The Mister Pi Review: A new, low cost FPGA MiSTer clone for retro gaming

[@yensteel]

You always pronounce Field Programmable Gate Array so cleanly. Others pronounce it "field programmable gatorade".

[@LonSeidman]

I mispronounce everything else which drives people crazy :)

[@TheShoe1990]

@@yensteel Wouldn't Powerade be more useful in this instance?

[@yensteel]

@TheShoe1990 How so?

[@mloicano]

What a great device. And of course, a great review and explanation from you, Lon. How about you do a "let's play" style video of "Maniac Mansion" 😂?

[@jmr]

The technology making all this possible is kind of crazy. I don't just mean the FPGA stuff either. The reverse engineering scene is nuts too. People are making fuming nitric acid in their garages to burn the tops off chips so they can scan them using computer controlled microscopes.

[@LonSeidman]

Totally insane! I think that’s how they did the NeoGeo and a bunch of the arcade cores

[@stephenkearney7418]

For the fan, change the jumper pins on the IO board to reduce the voltage to the fan and therefore reduce the noise. Mine is now pretty much silent.

[@akfreed6949]

Thanks for your video . I always wondered about MISTers . Could you use a CD rom as a Jaguar cd-rom drive and emulate the virtual light machine while playing audio CDs ?

[@brianwieseler5938]

I enjoy the Tandy Color Computer. There has been a lot of great work done in replicating it on the Mister.

[@samlazar574]

Lon, is there a way to play the original disks or cartridges on the mister?

[@LonSeidman]

I don’t believe there’s an option for that at the moment

[@kumarp3074]

In addition to being cheaper these boards offer the possibility of having MiSTer in other form factors. A handheld using this board is already seems to be in the works according to Taki Udon as well as a Playstation style case.

[@Nimble_Bitz]

Love mine!

[@GameSack]

Does it have Dual RAM installed or do you still need to sacrifice analog out for that? I know the Saturn core needs dual RAM to function best, at least that's the way it was the last time I used it. Also what format is your external HD? ExFAT?

[@LonSeidman]

This one had just the single ram board - I found most of the Saturn games I played worked fine

[@bitroast]

misteraddons worked on something, check their "MiSTer FPGA IO Direct". has Dual SDRAM support + Sega Saturn AV port.

[@KyleBTech]

It does not have dual ram, and you would have to sacrifice the analog io board for that. It is possible to use adapters to get an analogue signal out of the HDMI port without that IO board.

[@MaximumRD]

Is that AMIGA files link you mentioned in description, LON? THNX

[@LonSeidman]

Search for Amiga Vision

[@MaximumRD]

@@LonSeidman Cool Thanks LON! If I don't get the chance to say later, all the best in the NEW YEAR!

[@dtape]

Looks like Taki Udon really delivered with this product and making it a complete package. I bet his haters are hating seeing him make this kind of big helpful impact on the retro community. Lots of helpful information in this video. Good tech review.

[@Code7Unltd]

Last I checked, the haters were actually people scalping QMtech's board. I have one personally (not scalped, I got one before the ten at the end of October ran out), and it works quite well. QMtech's board is the worst for addon compatibility, compensating with soldered Alliance memory (in place of GPIO 0 pins) and an automotive-grade Cyclone V chip (high thermal ceiling, excellent for a portable MiSTer).

[@lsdowdle]

I have four MiSTer FPGA setups. Two are Multisystems and two are MiSTer Pis. I agree with your statement, "...because you can never have enough MiSTers in your life..." :) Thanks for the lowdown on the MiSTer Pi. It is a great alternative to the more expensive traditional setup. Two CD-ROM based systems the MiSTer can handle, that you forgot, are the TurboGrafx-16 CD... and the upcoming CD-i core that is currently in development.

[@TheShoe1990]

@@lsdowdle I have one MiSTer with a 1.5TB micro SD on it & it does me plenty fine. I move it from room to room in my house with ease. If you don't mind me asking, what is the benefit of having 2+ MiSTers?

[@gsestream]

almost in stock :) you can also program the fpga's with opencl direct compile to the fpga. you only need to write the opencl kernels. I suspect that some of the mister cores are actually done using that code path. kinda code emulation simulation, if not direct fpga chip copy.

[@stanguay169]

You can also install the 0Mhz DOS Games, it's quite cool. There is also an Atari ST complete hard drive with games and demo.

[@chriscarter4737]

Good thing about waking for for 4 at 4. Saw an email they are in stock and got one. Should be tuesday. Cant wait. They sell out quick

[@JH-pe3ro]

MiSTer really appeals to retro consumers who are here to invest in the content around retro, versus collecting the physical vintage hardware and media - there's some crossover between those mindsets, but it fills a gap for the audience that can't justify or afford going vintage for everything, but does want the highest quality experience. And now it's even cheaper...so maybe I'll get one.

[@jecobian]

are save states possible?

[@IMDABROWN]

On my to buy list

[@TheCaffeineKid]

your external hard drive work from an inbuilt usb? mine is not powering up so I've ordered a powered hub. I thought the stack hub is just not powerful enough to run a hd.

[@brunoyama]

Wich format the external Hard drive must be for the Mister pi recognize it?

[@mastershakelock]

ExFat - just make a duplicate "games" dir and place your cd images and larger rom collections by system folder.

[@BreakMan333]

You can adjust the fan speed on the jumper next to the fan. Just place the top part to the other side of the jumper.

[@Brux-_-304]

@@BreakMan333 REALLYYY?? I will be doing this ASAP. The fan noise is literally my only complaint so far.

[@brandogg]

It all honesty you can just unplug the fan, it isn't necessary. Could potentially increase the overall longevity, but you can also just install a small heatsink in its place. Notice there is no heatsink to begin with.

[@Brux-_-304]

@@brandogg I haven’t opened up my pi case ever so I didn’t even know it was unpluggable. I thought I would have to desolder it if anything. Shoulda just looked smh

[@DEATHXn]

Hello and thank you very much for the video can you please tell me if this Power Supply (5v 4.1A 20.5W) is recommended with the Mister pi thank you

[@geofreypejsa54]

I love the mister. This is a nice upgrade! Big fan of the Amiga too. Nice work Lon.

[@scottlinux]

Oh man, I had no idea Sega Saturn was possible. Incredible stuff, thank you++

[@LonSeidman]

Saturn really pushes the envelope but it works! There are some games that need a second ram board so it’s not 100% out of the box. But most of the stuff I run on it works great.

[@mbe102]

Wow, I wish all the cores had something like that Amiga one! Thats sick!

[@daltimond]

I was not expecting you to review this. I'm glad you did. Thanks for doing this.

[@erichubbard7754]

Great look at the Taki Udon Mister Pi, fun device for the $

[@Pommster]

I’ve been wanting to get a used Amiga for a long time and I think this is going to be the cheapest and most hassle-free way of getting a genuine Amiga experience. Definitely on my 2025 list of things to buy.

[@sinisterpisces]

This looks great. I've wanted a MiSTer for years, but could never justify the cost of setting up a stack. I knew there would be more affordable options now that we don't have to depend on the DE10 anymore, but I didn't expect to be tempted with such a nicely put together all in one package at such an attractive price. This is definitely going on my list for next Christmas. :) I love my Analogue Pocket, but I use it docked almost all the time, so a system actually made for that with a more powerful FPGA would be a better option. I'd love to have more flexibility with, say, classic Macs on an FPGA. The Pocket really struggles with those, even though it does an Amiga pretty well.

[@TheShoe1990]

I already own a MiSTer Add-ons kit, but I love watching more people get introduced to FPGA gaming. If you're reading this & on the fence about getting a MiSTer Pi, I promise you that it's absolutely worth it.

[@jimcabezola3051]

This looks like a lot of fun. My "The C64" and my Atari Flashback Deluxe Gold 9 probably are based on something similar, and I have had a ball playing those since 2020. I've never played any Sega or Nintendo machines, so this would be a nice addition to my retro collection. The manufacturer would do well to include links to THIS video to help new users get the most out of their machines.

[@ytthrowaway4584]

They are not based on anything similar.

[@jimcabezola3051]

@@ytthrowaway4584 Actually, all three devices are based on ARM processors. Since their specification sheets refer to their processing units as "ARM" processors, they must share characteristics of ARM processors in order to be called such. My Flashback is an ARM-based machine running using Android-based Atari 2600 emulation. My C64 is also ARM-based, but it runs the Commodore emulation in VICE running on Linux. A MisterPi FPGA board runs using ARM processors.

[@ytthrowaway4584]

@@jimcabezola3051Just because they share some similar processors doesn’t mean they run the same. Stop trying to double down.

[@jimcabezola3051]

​@@ytthrowaway4584 I have not said that they did. As I stated, the two devices I have clearly run two different operating systems. I've little idea as to what OS this third ARM computer in the report does, though. Indeed, I liken my own two emulators to the various Intel, Cyrix and AMD x86 machines I once owned. Windows and Linux could be run on them all. The fact I ran two different operating systems on these didn't change their architecture from x86 to some other one. My ancient Commodore and Atari 400 machines ran 6502 processors. Their vastly different operating systems did not alter their 6502 microprocessors. C/PM and TRS-DOS could run on 8080 processors, though I've never owned these. ARM machines use fewer built-in-silicon instructions, so you can make them run anything. The ARM-based Raspberry Pi I'm writing on now happens to be running Ubuntu. Heaven knows how many other OSs it can run...but it's still ARM.

[@ManiacalMoogle]

10:36 unless I'm missing something, you forgot to include a link for the Amiga collection

[@LonSeidman]

Search for Amiga Vision

[@ManiacalMoogle]

@LonSeidman thanks! Great video as usual btw

[@richy69ify]

SOLD OUT just like the DE-10 was for years

[@brandogg]

For now. Last time he had them in stock it was very easy to get one, took several days to go out of stock.

[@None17555]

Update all script chapter name has the typo "scripe." Gave me a double take

[@futurewolfjackson1628]

So i would need the composite box? poor composite always needs a friend.

[@LonSeidman]

There’s a composite connector you’ll need, yes

[@gudenau]

$180 for so many features is extremely cheap, you might want to give some money to the projects you use with all of the money you saved with one of these. :-)

[@stanguay169]

It's been soldout since it's available....

[@eagl3ye]

Is there a fancy front end with artwork that can be used with this?

[@LonSeidman]

Yeah they have some things that change the backgrounds but not at the level you’d get with batocera or something similar

[@eagl3ye]

@ Thanks for the reply, Lon! Love your content.

[@estusflask982]

$180 is a great price.

[@johnboyinfl]

Sold out. Oh... I see you mentioned that.

[@jediknight2350]

side by side to a pi5 theres no diff but a pi 5 can run more.

[@auggieaxiom5726]

Make this a handheld

[@mastershakelock]

Taki's portable coming sometime this year rumored(2025) if you can't wait there's a free downloadable 3d print project avail to make handheld.

[@andrewfryer6187]

I really enjoy the overall presentation style of your videos Lon. Thank you. I'm also quite intrested in exploring the Amiga and other region centric computers like the MSX.

[@lonebot2003]

Just a simple question, can’t you do the same for the games with RPI? There are a ton of images with 10K+ games, like way more than this device has on it. I mean this device is more organised but ROM images out there they getting cleaner and bug free as we speak

[@LonSeidman]

Not as accurate and CRT on a Rpi is not good

[@RetroRockGamer]

A day with a new Lon MiSTer video is a good day indeed

[@dcarlin3]

Thank you for this video - I never understood how the analog board worked, I thought it was VGA only - thanks for showing the different cables

[@itchyisvegeta]

I'll get one of these when they make more affordable JAMMA options for these.

[@Jimmhout]

Why would you not just buy a mini pc serious question

[@PwnageBlock]

FPGA emulation offers theoretically the most accurate and faithful emulation possible. Software emulators may have bugs, inconsistencies or even improvements that make it stray from the original hardware experience. If you don't care about any of that though, yeah a mini PC is probably a better buy.

[@Jimmhout]

@ thanks!

[@srvuk]

The more I see of FPGA, the less I see in terms of appeal. To spend a lot more than you need to, to be able to play much less, all for the sake of so called authentic reproduction and maybe a little less latency. In a very picky world (sometimes very over the top), this kind of tech just feels like going back for the sake of it. I wonder how many people buying this kind of device, who have long since dumped the original consoles, can actually remember what the experience was like back then and have perhaps been persuaded that they are reliving their youths, more from a perspective of nostalgia than actual memory. Imagine what a Saturn user in 1995 would have thought if they could have seen what was possible in a handheld/SBC now and given the choice to swap. I am confident that they could have been ditching their consoles in an instant. Perhaps this is the modern interpretation of a mid life crisis period. Once it was a a sports car and now an ancient childhood gaming console. At least a car had the potential of turning a few heads.

[@rampart1234]

It's never available for purchase or even preorder 👎!

[@LonSeidman]

Keep an eye on his social media- when a new batch is ready you’ll be able to get one. This batch was in stock for over a week

[@giancarlolugo7048]

In their website sign up to their notifications. The last batch took a few days to sell out.