You were so CLOSE! - Polymega Console

[@mattydrake791]

please, never change the retro time intro.

[@SlainByTheWire]

It's very 90s kids TV advertising and I'm all for it!

[@KevinLopez-ht9br]

Came for the intro. Stayed for the tech enthusiasts with attitude.

[@silasselvaraj410]

Yup

[@markusfpv1349]

Intro just couldn't be more perfect

[@grafvinestarry]

The intro is perfect how it is

[@zora_tech]

The reason that I heard this is a scam is because it was originally supposed to be a FPGA emulator to emulate hardware rather than have a software emulator like it is now. They had changed it after they got a lot of money from backers and they really didn't say anything until they shipped them out to customers.

[@chanhjohnnguyen1867]

Their social media also went radio silent for a long long time

[@David_Quinn_Photography]

@@chanhjohnnguyen1867 that would scream red flags to me as well as a scam especially after giving them money.

[@TheAkashicTraveller]

If that's what you want someone else already did it using an FPGA dev board plus a custom adapter board. I can't remember the name though.

[@megan_alnico]

@@TheAkashicTraveller I believe you're talking about the MiSTer and while that is a fantastic system it pretty much can only do up to Game Boy advance. There are cores in the works for PlayStation and Saturn but there are only so many gates on that FPGA chip and Nintendo 64 is out of the question.

[@Darqon505]

Sounds like a scam

[@matthewparker2910]

FYI, I can confirm that version of Resident Evil 2 does not have dualshock support. You need the dualshock version that was released sometime later 😊

[@megan_alnico]

It's actually quite shocking how few games actually supported the dualshock controllers. It really came into its own with the PlayStation 2.

[@BMoser-bv6kn]

It's not that shocking since it was a post-launch peripheral in response to the N64's controller. I never owned one myself, just good 'ole stock controllers.

[@emily-young]

I was confused, because my copy didn't have that "DualShock support" tag on it, but it showed up with it on the console's database. I guess they're just reading the SLxS-##### serial number rather than anything more advanced than that.

[@matthewparker2910]

@@emily-young I'd say you're right there!

[@U1TR4F0RCE]

While I grew up more so with the ps2 I have an association with ps1 dualshock for ape escape 1 and the infamous dualshock RE1 basement theme

[@UltraRonin79]

I love his reaction to the feel of each of the controllers. He basically said "they all feel like trash", but in the nicest way possible. :D

[@silvervalleystudios2486]

Ergonomics is very important for controllers. He was being very generous

[@UltraRonin79]

@@silvervalleystudios2486 I wasn't being sarcastic.

[@cville991]

Well doesn’t it allow us to use real controllers?

[@arkade1289]

dude i absolutely love when anthony does videos about retro gaming

[@OutsideDuhBox]

But his poor cuticles from stress 😬 did you notice? Chewed half his finger off 😳

[@BenWillock]

Just an FYI that the Retron5, based on android, is easily rooted and adb enabled, and there's an adb script to dump roms from whichever cart you have plugged in. It comes out of the box with GBA(/GB/GBC), NES/Famicom, SNES & Genesis/Megadrive with MS and GG support with adapters. Best of all its like $170.

[@seantaft3853]

Two issues: 1. The Polymega was sold as a CD game emulation box first and then having modules added on after the fact. The Retron 5 is limited to cartridge games, and doesn't even have PC Engine/TG-16 capabilities properly. 2. The emulation quality of the Retron 5 is known to be sub-par; issues including faulty sound on Sega consoles and several milliseconds of lag (enough to be noticeable by nearly anyone). That console is several years old at this point and hasn't had a serious revision so it is bound to fall behind something that even run 8th Gen Intel.

[@herranton]

@@seantaft3853 Yes, but the retron 5 can dump games. Pretty sure that was his point. And then you can play them however you want. If you _really_ want to stay legal, that would do it.

[@joemamr710]

All of them have already been dumped before, what’s the point?

[@herranton]

@@joemamr710 the current theory in the USA for how to legally play backup games says that you need to use a copy of the ROM that you dumped from your purchased version. None of this has been tested in court, but it's the way that it is assumed to be of it was, based off of similar ruling from both the movie and music industry. (And for what it's worth, I own a 1 of 1 known Sega Genesis game that is in the process of being dumped right now. (From a major game studio) It's way above my head, because the music for the game is stored separately on the cartridge from the rest of the game files. It has proved to be impossible to dump via normal methods. You can check out the process, I will get the link, hang on ... kzbin.info/www/bejne/iIe5cnSMrLGml8U

[@BenWillock]

@@seantaft3853 Yeah, I wouldn't recommend the Retron for actually playing the games you dump, it's an old, slow machine using out-of-date emulation cores. I do most of my actual emulation on my modded Switch with Retroarch as that has the advantage of being both a TV console and a portable and having everything in one place. I imagine the Steam Deck will better fill that role with more emulation options, 4k output etc.

[@kylepatton7289]

It was so close. You really nailed several issues... price point, build qaulity, proprietary backup, etc.

[@TISUAL]

What you mean by proprietary back up?

[@MrNside]

FPGA systems are more interesting if you want to run on carts with zero lag. Emulator boxes can be made for half the price of this thing. If you have the physical game, finding and downloading the ROM file shouldn't hurt your sensibilities.

[@dan_loup]

An emulator box with an well tweaked OS like using a realtime OS probably can pull the lag free trick as well. All you need is single frame rendering (instead of dual frame) and small buffer audio.

[@onetwo6039]

That's the stump for folks like me. I barely have the time to play let alone building figuring out how to make a retropie and finding the emulator and downloading files. I don't want to mess with all that. Polymega is for me cause I can drop it in be done in literally one second that it takes to rip a cartridge and it be done legally with a friendly user interface. I love it.

[@alexandrebelair4360]

@@onetwo6039 It's not really legal tho. Polymega is pretty bad for the price. You can find similar machine for 100-200$. The retro5 is less than 200$ and you can dump your rom.

[@joemamr710]

You are looking at over $600 just for sega genesis and SNES. Might as well just buy original systems for how much these modules cost, you’ll still have a box per system sitting around either way.

[@onetwo6039]

@@joemamr710 you would be correct, however I pre-ordered and got everything with controllers and included games for $500. I figured it would get much expensive down the road.

[@0xTJ]

I absolutely love the retro content from Anthony!

[@maaamooon3070]

and that intro tho...😂😂

[@therant3837]

Dude... no overly drawn out explanations or hype just straight to it. I like this dude.

[@AJBats]

The original Daytona USA release on the Saturn is actually an extremely faithful version of the game. For fans of Daytona its all about the car handling, and the Saturn version delivers it extremely well, especially if you can get your hands on the racing wheel. The framerate is regrettable, of course, but I had a ton of fun with this version of the game.

[@RandallStevenson]

I'm rather impressed that each module even comes with a controller at all

[@parrishharris3008]

Yes i was shocked myself 👍

[@petewilcox3354]

but its ruined because based off his review, they dont seem very well designed...did you miss that part?

[@XrisD147]

Choosing a cartridge from my physical collection and inserting it into my original refurbed hardware like the snes and using an original joypad is half the fun and joy of being a vintage gamer.

[@PiPArtemis]

I hold onto my N64and thicc PS2 (all of my consoles tbh I've kept all of them) like they were family heirlooms Even though it's not often I use them it's just nice to have original pieces of gaming history. Especially ones that I personally got to use and build memories with Eventually I might start collecting other consoles but holy crap can they get expensive FAST

[@lacrossev]

I loved my turbographix 16 and turboexpress. The fact that they used cards made it so easy to carry all my games. I remember playing bomberman 5 person free-for-all and the middle person would always be boned automatically.

[@RumpleFoldSkin]

Tg 16 was my fav bc it was the odd dog. I loved the fresh takes on games as opposed to big n and s.. neo geo was a dream unachievable at the time. Tg16 pc engine was great

[@johntaylor7020]

I love the fact Anthony used a charger as a knife.

[@TheShriner]

Yes. Wall wart package openers is my go to.

[@loop5720]

Be efficient as Anthony shows.

[@JuhoSprite]

Who's anthony

[@SyCoREAPER]

I love that you're using a charging brick to break the seals lol

[@MCCMCKnyte]

They're the modern day bottle openers. Everyone has a drawer full of them.

[@GainingDespair]

$449 for an emulator that charges you another $350 to emulate other devices with the specs of a $150 laptop Yeah, I see the scam argument since they lied about it being true hardware and not software emulation.

[@joemamr710]

initially. While I still think it’s a patently absurd ripoff, it has been known that they switched to software emulation for several years before it released, and they did publicly announce the change and offered refunds to backers. They weren’t secretive about it in the slightest. Not a scam, but definitely a ripoff.

[@nyastclair8174]

Just build yourself a MiSTer(a lot easier to set up now) if you want an all in 1 solution. If you want to play the original carts, go for OG hardware or Analogue's systems or a retroUSB AVS(NES, NT mini is very expensive). Avoid the emulation boxes. If you've spent endless hours on the old systems, you can definitely feel a huge difference.

[@ibob148]

the adds one are a rip off. they should combine multiple systems in one add on. it's clearly that way so they keep you coming back. it's a waste of space to have all those modules as well.

[@TheCoolDave]

I paid $36 for my Retro 5 (ebay, untested but complete from a 2 feedback seller), got it, the device looks and works like new.... I think it will do for now....

[@MatSpeedle]

When this was announced way back as RetroBlox, I had my money ready to throw at them. As it evolved over time I was really glad I never put money into this. By the time this came out there were already better options available that offered FPGA hardware emulation such as the Mega SG, Super NT and those are money very well spent. The only tempting thing with this is the CD part but at the price point offered, I'll stick to orginal hardware I think. Shame as if this had come out in 2019 it would have been a runaway hit but I think it was a day late and a dollar short.

[@GamerFromJump]

Of course you _can’t get_ the Analogue systems.

[@TheDarkestPhoenix]

Yeah, this thing is a pass for me. It's been a pass since when the previews were going up, but especially now that it's 450 bucks. Those people have lost their minds. Also wasn't this supposed to be FPGA or was that just me misremembering? It sounds like it's now just an emulation box... which I mean, I can already do elsewhere. I guess it has a nice interface? I'm just not sure what this is bringing that there weren't better solutions for already.

[@ninetendopesaitama2107]

At first they promised a fpga solution. Changed very quick to a lame sw emulation box which dumps the roms. No thanks. Overpriced and promised 2019. Lol

[@leonidas14775]

So the cartridge dumping feature of this thing is kind of pointless since you can't play the roms on the device of your choosing. Just get an android TV box that is compatible with lakka/batocera for much less money.

[@sarges1712]

I thought about checking it out because, why not for the convenience of having but $450!!!!! That's F'n NUTS. I'll just pull out my older consoles and play on those. At least PS wise I kept my PS3 fatboy & it's still in my room just waiting to be plugged back in. With the fatboy though I can play PS and PS2 games on that should I desire & if that fails I still have a PS and PS2 anyway lol. And they're tucked in storage in the other room alongside all my other older consoles. Well the ones I still have anyway.

[@swungsolid]

It’s plug n play and it’s save states. That’s basically it right now

[@Waltman13]

Nah, the interface sucks too. There's no real personality with it and it's got that generic stank to it. It also has that Netflix issue where even though you have a lot of content to choose from (in this case, once you dump a lot of roms from different consoles), actually choosing which game to play feels like a chore. And it's not as fun or convenient as loading a rom from your PC or getting a physical copy off the shelf. Probably ironic saying this as consoles like the Switch and PS5 have interfaces like this too, but the difference with those consoles is that they had a UI that was actually interesting and MADE you want to choose a game to play. This console has none of that. It feels like more I'm just using an amazon firestick than a game console. The icons and boxart are neat though, but everything else about it is just so bland and uninspired.

[@Roter_Wolf]

11:00 Well the file extension is .rbxd, but that doesn't mean it's actually a proprietary format (as I'm sure you already know, you're the master of linux after all). Could be a .iso or .zip with the file name changed. It's common for companies to just use a custom extension with a "normal" file format under the hood. I'm kinda surprised you didn't actually verify that, the linux `file` program is perfect for this

[@NigelMelanisticSmith]

I guess it being Short Circuit, plus the Kickstarter issues, probably had them not bother with a deeper look imo

[@titanfinger7599]

I coudnt prove that, where do you have this information from?

[@Roter_Wolf]

@@titanfinger7599 What info do you mean? I'm not saying it isnt a proprietary format, but just that one cannot tell by the file extension alone

[@emily-young]

It's not shown in the video, but I did look into this. It's a compressed format with "ICECREAM" in the header. The normal ROM is about 3 megs, this file is about 1.2 megs. I don't know what this format is. 7-zip can't handle it so it's not an archive.

[@DrewTNaylor]

@@emily-young It may not be an archive that 7-Zip can handle, but it's still probably some sort of an archive, maybe similar to WBFS files.

[@PTRMAN]

Glad to know that even a pro like Anthony has leftover screws!

[@Frank_D]

I'm glad people are finally getting the consoles now. I decided not to back because there were so many red flags even before it launched. They pushed FPGA at first, but then decided to go with an emulation based system, and didn't announce the change until the day before preorders went live. This meant that channels were still reporting on it being an FPGA console until that point, and Polymega didn't have the decency to at least correct them on that, meaning there were probably quite a few people who hadn't heard and backed this, thinking it was an FPGA console. They claimed that they could play something like 30 different consoles, but when you look at the list, they counted every individual region/add on as a separate console (I had a laugh because the different configurations of the Genesis/32x/SegaCD over three regions ended up counting towards 11 of those 30 different consoles). They were caught trying to pass off arcade footage as a demonstration of Saturn gameplay, and when called out on it they claimed there had been a mix up and the wrong footage was shown. Now if the project had any sort of ties to arcade games, that would be fine, but it doesn't, so I'm still wondering where said arcade footage came from. Were they working on this presentation using the same computer they use to play MAME? After all that I was content with waiting to see reviews before I thought about buying it. Really the more I thought about it, the more I didn't need it. I think the point where I suspected it of being a scam was when they told people to cancel their Walmart preorders and order directly through them. That just seemed incredibly sketchy to me. Even though it turned out to not be a scam, I'm still weary of the fact that they told people not to order from a more trustworthy* retailer, in favor of ordering direct. *And I use it very loosely in this case because at the very least if the product never comes out, I know I'd get my money back from Walmart. If I ordered directly from Polymega and they skipped town, I have no recourse.

[@steincaron]

If only these modules were FPGA based, guess that would be very expensive. But damn it would be cool, I’ll continue to dream!

[@LockeTheCole]

When they first announced the console it was supposed to be FPGA and the cart modules were just supposed to be for the slots/controller inputs... Then they announced the CD drive and it was going to be a hybrid FPGA (FPGA AND a basic computer for the 'higher powered consoles') and the CD part would be emulation based... Then they just dropped the FPGA entirely pissing a lot of people off... which was a damn shame because it could have been something special.

[@0525ohhwell]

@@LockeTheCole Thank you. Through the first half of the video I still thought it was FPGA because I never followed this thing. How lame. Yay, they made an expensive emulator.

[@swungsolid]

If it all comes down to programming? Why does it need to be fpga based modules?

[@LockeTheCole]

@@swungsolid It wouldn't need to be. In fact their original announced design was supposed to be an FPGA in the main box and then the cart slots/controller ports would be mostly empty shells just to allow you to plug in the different games/controllers.

[@Watchandlearn91]

I went out and bought a NUC several months ago and set it up for emulation. I have all of the orignal consoles so I went through and modded each one (DS, GBA, Wii, etc..) to be able to dump roms. I then dumped my massive collection over the course of about a week doing it on/off and now I have my entire collection backed up. I use the NUC with an xbox one controller and batocera to play my games. Works perfectly for the vast majority of the titles with only a few gamecube games having some glitches but they mostly all run perfectly. Of course, I was pretty much killing time over the holidays but there are less than legal ways to obtain the roms and cut out 90% of the work I did.

[@SunnyS5]

You might want to check out the Retro Freak as well if you haven’t. It doesn’t have as nice of a UI but it’s a lot cheaper and includes support for GB,NES,SNES,Genesis and PC Engine right out of the box. It also encrypts the dumped games but it’s not in a proprietary format and someone on GitHub already made a crack for it

[@getyerspn]

I worked as an engineer at a major dvd/Blu-ray manufacturer for 9 years (made disks for consoles as well...Xbox one/ PS4/ Panasonic (Nintendo) .. As s lot of people know the polycarbonate used is hydroscopic as are the expoxies used to bond the dvd layers together, the polycarbonate has to be dried very very well prior to moulding much more than in most other plastic products , plus the aluminium and silver layers are subject to oxidation over time meaning they have a finite lifetime... Blue rays only use 1 polycarbonate layer and have the other layers embossed into spun lacquer layers which are less hydroscopic but the metalised layers of aluminium and silver layers are still prone to oxidation but the silicon deposition layers are less prone to degradation but they still have a finite lifetime...we tested many 100k's of disks and none will survive forever unless kept in a dry oxygen free environment forever which is not really practical at home.

[@RolandHazoto]

any testing of Sega Saturn stuff should be done with a copy of Dragonforce. Not only is it criminal how few people knew about that game, but also emulators have been choking on it for decades (usually with audio bugs)

[@gertrudemcfuzz74]

Dragon Force plays very well on it. I've played through a campaign on it and it is solid.

[@wonderfulwardy]

Polymega is definitely vaporware at this stage. I originally wanted to own one mostly for Sega Saturn emulation alone. Every other console has already been emulated on my NVidia Shield TV for quite some time but Saturn was Polymega's big chance to shine and grab my attention for the product. However, Due to multiple delays and me cancelling my pre-order twice, I completely gave up on the idea of it ever getting released. Now I will tell you why it's completely vaporware and why they missed their one chance to hook me as a potential buyer. I can now play Sega Saturn games 100% fully tested in perfect emulation using the Beetle Core on my Xbox series S using RetroArch through the DEV Mode and I strongly advice any Saturn fanatics to try this out. You will be very surprised that every Must-Have Saturn game and all of the exclusives games I threw at the emulator ran flawlessly and some even ran better than the original hardware. Stuff like Guardian Heroes (which originally had slowdown in areas on real hardware) now run without a hitch without slowdown, and the same can be said for any other games that once had slowdown on original hardware. Trust me guys, I'm a hardcore Saturn fan and my go to for Sega Saturn is now on an Xbox series S (or series X). For everything else that's playable on Polymega, you can just buy an NVidia Shield TV for £100 or less and play all those other games perfectly. NVidia Shield TV is the perfect little semi-portable device and so easy to carry around to friends and families houses. Believe me, Polymega has had it's day to shine but it never got released officially worldwide. It's absolutely pointless to own in every way possible.

[@WickedGamerCollector]

Idea is cool only I just want to use original hardware 😅

[@wilowwells]

Anthony is officially my favorite tech dude on You-tube now.

[@DuckyDoGaming]

As somebody that used to be super heavy into retro collecting, I was not very impressed by the concept of this. You still have to store the modules somewhere. I guess it's cheaper to have one base station, but dang everything about this is far too expensive. Props to them for actually getting theirs out the door though

[@johnmaris1030]

I had a TG16 when I was a kid this is the first time I've heard anyone say TG16, TY for validating my childhood:)

[@Globalsouthie]

Damn he’s killing it these days !!!

[@cirruscapo]

I really don't care what Anthony is reviewing/talking about, I will always watch and give him a like. He is just so knowledgeable about whatever he presents.

[@ZaPpaul]

Does your family know you love fat men?

[@75_oranges]

@@ZaPpaul tf

[@ZaPpaul]

@@75_oranges Wassup? Is he not both a man and fat?

[@75_oranges]

@@ZaPpaul man who cares.

[@ZaPpaul]

@@75_oranges you seem to.

[@cogspace]

"Setting up a Raspberry Pi sucks." You should totally do an episode about Batocera. It makes it extremely easy to set up a user friendly dedicated console emulation machine.

[@trash_miner]

Yep a cheap optiplex or mac mini and you're ready to go!

[@DavidLimUX]

I'd say this used to suck but now much easier. There are ppl who don't even want to set it up and want more of a plug in play solution and have the money to spend, which this system caters to those ppl.

[@slickill5738]

Anthony adds soooo much value to the Linus empire. Rock on Anthony !!!

[@abbiedoobie]

Watched some other reviews on this. It's a very interesting device, but I'm holding out hope for other cartridge and disc adapters for more general use with Retroarch and Launchbox.

[@joemamr710]

You can just download roms, no need for adapters.

[@chaoscontroller316]

I remember a Laserdisk gaming system way back when with a similar premise. For upwards of like $2,000 USD of its time, you could have the console, a module to let it play Turbografx 16 games, and another module to let it play Sega Genesis games.

[@jacobtrapp3772]

When he pulled out Resident Evil 2.. My childhood all came flashing back. The horror of watching my father play it while I cowered in a corner lol it was great.

[@DigitalJedi]

My dad was a huge gamer before he had kids, so we still have some of his old consoles and games. I remember getting RE2 out one day and he was just like "yeah I guess you're old enough for that now, don't tell your brother." I think I was like 8 or 9 at the time. Good times.

[@clover831]

Finally, a transparent review on the Polymega! Thank you. 👍🙂

[@Neoxon619]

Oh hey, it’s Retro Time. I think I remember hearing about this device a while back. A shame that it didn’t live up to the hype, though. That being said, why does the controller not use USB-C? MicroUSB is a crime against humanity.

[@ETHANR26]

original macro usb*... usb c is trash

[@AngryBerb]

@@ETHANR26 Your opinion is trash.

[@lucinafailure]

@@AngryBerb I second this

[@engineeringtehmetals]

@@ETHANR26 USB-C is either King or Queen

[@ETHANR26]

no chance at all. derp enjoy your shitty connections

[@danielroy8232]

it's sad that this art form is so hard to archive. we can keep a book for 500 years in a library, but old video games get harder and harder to play as the years go on.

[@davidjameswales]

Only because of copyright. There is no reason we can't store and share them forever, like a laser, xray and photographic copy of a painting.

[@joemamr710]

Not really. You’re 5 seconds away from playing almost any game that was ever released today at 98%+ perfect compatibility.

[@danielroy8232]

@@joemamr710 how long will that compatability last? when computers change over time, wont the emulators have to be changed too?

[@joemamr710]

@@danielroy8232 Very true. Keeping emulators current will be a necessity, though we may find one day that we reach a point where backwards compatibility with older software is guaranteed through architectures not changing much anymore, one can hope. Videogames will always be the most difficult media to preserve.

[@ChadSheridan]

Oh man, you had 2 of my childhood favourites in this video. I still have an original NES just to play Crystalis, and I had completely forgot about Keith Courage from the TGFX 16

[@sosukelele]

Looks cute, but the compromises made here really makes the title all the more accurate

[@dalmocalmo420]

I love these consoles that do what any laptop you've already at home can do! Money well spent! Keep milking the retrogamers Polymega, they deserve it!

[@joemamr710]

Funny to think I was emulating sega systems all the way back in 1999, for free, using Steve Snake’s software basically perfectly, and now 23 years later someone has the balls to charge 450 base plus $80 per console for the same thing, with the added disadvantage of requiring cartridge swapping and legitimate games that go for MSRP or higher used on eBay today.

[@MrCarpediem6]

how does a laptop do this w/out using the console cartridge slots though?

[@RodneyFisk]

That is a total no-go. Products never succeed when you have to buy a bunch of accessories and change parts out all the time. Emulation is still the best solution. If you're wound up about using authentic controllers, buy the USB adapters. I have replica controllers from companies such as Retro-Bit. I can upscale the games, or play them to look authentic.

[@beaniiman]

that controller looks a lot like the google controller for the streaming service. Its been the most confortable for my hands and generally a solid choice.

[@bigherb]

its a rebranded gamesir

[@NerdballCataclysm]

My mouse is shot, it's bouncing. I picked it up to get ready to swap it out, and it went on a clicking spree. It opened YT in a browser and hit this video's link. The volume was maxed out. Thanks, Anthony. "It's retro time." will now trigger shell shock and likely be what kills me in a nursing home some day.

[@retropulse03]

I appreciate the presentation of the system. The form factor, the unified modular setup, the consistent (if imperfect) design of the controllers, etc. I just don't see one single thing here, feature wise, that I can't acheive with a Mini-ITX running RetroArch and Launchbox. Which makes the price-tag LAUGHABLE.

[@PKSunset]

Same argument can be made for buying the discs and og consoles (in cases like saturn games/etc) so like.....weird flex

[@RickyPonPon]

The other thing to mention in regards to game disc longevity is Disc Rot. I don't know which systems or Discs specifically are more prone to this, but I know that Gamecube games are much more prone to disc rot than most other discs and that has made me think about investing in something like a ODE for my Gamecube collection.

[@ThunderFist1978]

I hope I end up getting mine. I spent $600 on this, for the base unit plus all the modules, and still haven’t gotten mine yet. I ordered mine through Walmart, and the deal later fell through, so I had to cancel the order with Walmart and order directly through Polymega’s website. The order with Polymega was placed Feb. of last year.

[@junkyarddeveloperflynt]

it's NZ$900 here and mass-produced now I'm on the fence that's a huge investment

[@trevon1921]

There made to order bro I seen on the website there not shipping them out untill Q4 2023

[@tylercook5761]

Ooooooooooof

[@volvoguy804]

@@junkyarddeveloperflyntEverything in NZ is high! Edit: Car insurance is hella cheap though!

[@junkyarddeveloperflynt]

@@volvoguy804 NZ dollar is just weak globally, always has been. but that's fine if you're selling overseas or get a remote job working for the UK or USA.

[@hjr2000]

Anthony is a really refined presenter these days. Top vid!

[@ravagingwolverine]

I love the reaction to Daytona USA for Saturn. I had that one for the Saturn back when it was new and even last played it a couple of years back. It's simultaneously terrible and excellent. It's choppy with poor draw distance and all that, and yet it plays extremely well, especially since it's designed for digital D-pad control.

[@joemamr710]

It is the absolute only home version of Daytona USA that plays properly all the way until the PS3/360 ports decades later. The later Saturn versions were on the sega rally engine, and while I prefer sega rally and think the Saturn port is excellent, it doesn’t mesh well with Daytona. The Dreamcast version was based on the Metropolis street racer engine, which also doesn’t play like the arcade original and was coded by a 3rd party.

[@ravagingwolverine]

@@joemamr710 Thanks for the additional info. I wasn't fully aware of the circumstances behind the development of the later two you mentioned. I had heard elsewhere that the original Saturn played pretty accurately to the arcade version. I just recently tried CCE again and it just never feels right, or even good to me. Daytona for the Dreamcast may have a different feel, but it doesn't feel bad to me, so I can enjoy that one as well . I've played it quite a bit in the last few weeks. It's good that the game eventually came out for the PS3 and 360 so people like Anthony can have version with the right feel without the choppy frame rate.

[@blisterfingers8169]

Rolling staaaaaaaaaaaart

[@travistubbs2182]

I really miss seeing Anthony, I really identify with his super technical mind. He always has the super technical detail that I come to these channels to see.

[@NaveedMohebbi]

I've had the Polymega for a few months now and have been very impressed by it. It's definitely not something for everyone especially given the price tag, but it plays games extremely well with little to no input lag. Being able to replace a ton of classic systems in my entertainment system with just one device has been a gamechanger and I very much value the UI and game database. Would be nice if the roms were accessible and not proprietary but I digress.

[@sagichnichtsowiesonicht7326]

proprietary roms. hard pass.

[@0525ohhwell]

Nothing you said makes me want to buy that thing.

[@NaveedMohebbi]

@@0525ohhwell Like I said it's not for everyone. Makes sense for people with large collections that want a plug and play solution, but if you just want a way to play roms there are tons of other options.

[@chedhead3278]

Cheers Anthony, love the retro gaming content.

[@thexgamer8240]

For someone for love retro stuffs like me, this series is awesome.

[@RyanArchibaldSmith]

The retro time intro brings me such joy

[@deminybs]

Bought my step dad the SNES classic/mini that comes with SNES, NES, genesis, Gameboy, etc with every game for Christmas and he's become a hermit ever since cracking out on old school games 😂😂 can't blame him....been using RetroArch for a while and it's the shiz

[@AndrewSpeer]

The intro on this is gold! Thank you Anthony!

[@SilverKnight16]

I love the "IT'S RETRO TIME!" intro. I want more Retro Time with Anthony.

[@ThunderHorsePyro]

Such a great straight forward video about the polymega. Probably won't be my go to system, but it's interesting. There was another system many years ago that did pretty much the same thing with modules to play different consoles. Lastly I wish Anthony would do all of the Linus tech tip videos. He has a very pleasant speaking voice.

[@ananon5771]

weird that a device like this seems to want to be locked down with you being unable to dump carts,trying to make a proprietary linux OS (which im pretty sure is illegal if they don't release the GPL components they use) and using a proprietary connector. really doesn't jive the right way.

[@joemamr710]

They only have to release the source code to the modifications they may have made to GPL projects. Their custom interface is just a program they wrote that they are free to keep closed source if they withs, just like steam wasn’t forced to open source their client just because it runs on Linux, as well as thousands of other closed source Linux programs.

[@ananon5771]

​@@joemamr710 theres no source to the whole OS,not just the UI,i get the UI being closed,that is 100% fine,but theres a full OS they are using and even open emulators and afaik,there is no source for this stuff.

[@joemamr710]

To my knowledge the only emulator that was open source that was modified was Kega, which was modified by the creator and copyright holder. He is free to change the license in any versions of his emulator as he wants. Initial copyright holders have switched GPL projects to closed source for cash many times in the past, and this does not violate any license. I would of course love to get that code. We can demand the open source components, but it would probably just be links to the emulator sites and thousands of other tiny library sites.

[@ananon5771]

@@joemamr710 mame seems to have been modded too. though kega is proprietary afaik.

[@PSYCHOV3N0M]

Best intro of 2022. Give Anthony his trophy!

[@IngwiePhoenix_nb]

I have a GBxCart for my GB/C/A collection and I love it. Eventually I want to find a way to use something like a Retron plus RetroArch and a bit of script magic to just use the saves from the cartridge and write them there after play. Because that is, for me, the ideal way of hardware-powered emulation. Read the cartridge in, digitize it, take the save with - and if you want, put it back on the actual cartridge. It is how me and my friends had an awesome four-player night of Pokémon Stadium 2, after I dumped about 13 or so cartridges, PkHex'd them into four files and set up Parsec and m64p. It was so much fun - but only worked because I was not locked into a proprietary solution.

[@U1TR4F0RCE]

I really want a way to be able to keep for safety a back up of some GBA games since I know 2 of my games have dead internal batteries and my SP as well as ds lite don’t have a great battery life either now. So just knowing stuff won’t be doomed would be nice

[@radical_dog]

@@U1TR4F0RCE You can backup GBA and saves with the DS Lite you have and a R4 card, which aren't too pricey.

[@JuhoSprite]

Yo I was always thinking of a console like this, like a console where you can play roms but also put in original cartridges from the retro consoles. THIS IS AMAZING.

[@Dc-alpha]

I would suffer the execution, especially as I suspect changing the extension to .rom or .32x would make it just work elsewhere.... and make importing games easier by doing the inverse. But the price? A wii or ps3 can do all that and more sans the cartridge reading. Where you cannot use a usb or serial interface for that methods/adapters do exist.

[@Dc-alpha]

@@baysidejr I use original media, my nes, super nes, n64, genesis, mastersystem, saturn.... There's more all still work fine and I have the cartridges and disks. Again, it's the price. Yes, I would free up a load of shelf space, but for that price I get imperfect emulation and I don't really save any space because modules upon modules. One module could in theory do everything 32x and back for Sega including hand held with a few extra slots or adapters. Same for nintendo and the snes, gb and nes. That's the price issue. If the barebones unit is 450, the modules are an extra 60 or so. Then there's light gun and other controllers. My next question, does it do my gamecube or cdi games, never did complete wand of gamelon.

[@devnol]

It's been so unbelievably long since I read about this on PC mag that I had absolutely forgotten about its existence

[@wesleybcrowen]

I want the accidental 360degrees version now.

[@yobryan88]

brooo the introooo!!!! so many memories :) thank you!!

[@JoeeeBoyPlays]

I love it Anthony low-key uses that charger to slice through that box.

[@jesnamara6759]

Special dating for you only 18 years over➺ sexy-nudegirls.host Anna is a beautiful girl. He's the person I love, he's my light day. The way the music flows and sounds is extravagant and fun. Anna is icon, legend, beautiful girl, princess, inspiration, a star. I could go on and on, understand this. I love NBA Anna.#垃圾..

[@LordHypnosis]

Man, Anthony should be a voice actor.

[@MrVader104]

God when that retro time intro drops it just hit different

[@kubev]

3:35 - Thank God. Someone finally got the button orientation right.

[@zaubermaus8190]

I had a friend who owned a cartridge-to-1.4"disk-copy-module for the SNES back in 1995 and i was soooo jealous when he showed it to me (he copied one of my snes games in front of me, that he didn't have yet). i haven't seen one of those again after that and i think it was highly illegal... but i always wanted one myself :/

[@beanpwnz]

Wow that would have blown my mind as a kid

[@zaubermaus8190]

@@beanpwnz it certainly did blow my mind and i was 15 at that time (he was like 25 and wearing suits, always looking to make a profit, *that* kind of guy if you know what i mean). and i didn't believe this thing was real until he showed it to me.

[@Afura33]

@@zaubermaus8190 crazy I never heard of such a device, but I would have loved having it as a kid for sure :)

[@MrOnosa]

I did not know that Anthony was a Sega kid! I grew up with a 32x control in my hands. When I saw him playing Virtua Racing, I flipped out!

[@adamsfusion]

I'm waiting for this thing to stall out, go on clearance, then get rooted so we have some neat emulator boxes for our living room for like $50-$100 + peripherals.

[@PaulJeffrey]

I was just impressed to see ZAR in your sponsored section, the new South African staff making some impact 😁

[@DctrGizmo]

It’s a pretty cool concept where you can change what console you want to play but those extensions look expensive on top of the already high price tag.

[@smokeyninja9920]

I had a Gamesir controller (T4), one pad of the ABXY rubber busted, contacted Gamesir to ask if I could buy a replacement, they asked for video/photo depiction of the problem, then they told me the part was not available and they had no intention of making replacement parts available in the future.

[@dddux]

"You always know you've done a good job when you have a leftover screw". Brilliant. It made me remember when I was repairing my $1000 rack audio interface and I had a leftover screw. Just one. And I couldn't place it anywhere. Well, the audio interface works even better than before, so who knows... I generally get leftover screws about every second time when I'm repairing a laptop especially [maybe almost every time] but they all work normally after my "treatment". :) Regarding retro gaming, nothing can replace MAME and my trusty $60+ Logitech gamepad in Debian Linux. I swear that works so smoothly and the gamepad is so great. This is $450, but I suppose it's expensive because you really get a lot of controllers aside from the console thingies. All that costs. Still, $450 for what you can have for a price of a good gamepad and the time spent looking for ROMs? ;) And I don't play a lot. Rarely. However, I really enjoy these retro reviews by Anthony because of Anthony, I suppose. :) Keep it up, dude! d= ;)

[@kelvinnkat]

Fun fact; the original release of Resident Evil 2 does not support Dualshock, but a Dualshock-compatible version was released not long after the original

[@BAgodmode]

Hell yeah more Anthony videos pls. In fact, chance the company name to Anthony Media Group, put him in charge, and take over all of Linus’s duties when Linus retires.

[@Octopilion]

This is pretty much a retrofreak with a new skin

[@nick-leffler]

Someone needs to come out with a FPGA based one like this.

[@ArjanSnijder]

analogue has. But be readdy to pay a 1000$ on the scalpers market for such.

[@tokugamer1697]

Definitely a fun system. Had mine since September. Just a heads up with the SNES Module (Or any module really.). While it is possible you may have a faulty module, clean your carts with alcohol before using in the system.

[@kojimayoshiyuki2728]

there is a product called the retro freak, hard to get here in the US but it does let you rip your games to public formats, emulation is just okay but the one module does sega, snes, fami, pce/t16 without having to buy seperate addons

[@tdata545]

Also, not being FPGA, means it needs an 8th gen Core i computer to make it work well for all the 8-32Bit systems.

[@joebot86]

That is just, not true. A raspberry pi can emulate those systems flawlessly (or as flawlessly as the emulator allows).

[@tdata545]

@@joebot86 Strong, accurate and fair counter.

[@jamesburke2759]

YESSSSS Anthony on retro gaming !!!!! My favourite combination

[@a00578480]

Upvote. Andy needs more video game videos. New stuff, old stuff, He knows his stuff.

[@a00578480]

Good stuff. He should have his own show. He's passionate about games. Give us More.

[@a00578480]

A review show, a retro show. You're sitting on gold Linus. I know what speaks to you great, greedy brain.

[@RobinsonTechnologies]

I have a Polymega. The anti-piracy stuff is pretty useful for using this in a cafe type public environment, where a MiSTer might be .. uhh.. less legal. A downside not mentioned is the controller ports (on all modules) do NOT support multi-tap stuff (they've said there is a problem with limited bandwidth on their controller port hardware) , so you cannot play 5 player bomberman '93 with low latency real controllers. You can mix and match with USB based controllers though, although I've noticed latency issues.

[@darkeye77]

I feel like I would want to be friends with Anthony. Honestly, every video he does is wonderful. Keep it up!

[@tyaustin6114]

As someone with a big Sega Saturn collection, I just want a good console experience. Emulating the Saturn on PC is clunky, has issues and just isn't my preference. The original console has limited memory for saved games, I play mostly Saturn RPGs and a save file from a single one of those can sometimes take up all of the console's memory. You can get a memory card, but good luck finding a first party one, and third party memory cards are known to bend the contact pins, rendering the port useless. I preordered one last year, no idea when it will actually ship, though. I'm liking what I see so far, having a console where I can jump on my couch and pop in the disc/install/patch games like Dragon Force 2 and Shining Force 3 would be amazing.

[@thatzaliasguy]

RE and RE2 later had DualShock Editions come out, which you need those versions to use DualShock analogue features.

[@nathanrussell2158]

Love retro time. Needs its own channel with Anthony as host.

[@nathanrussell2158]

Spam with the right picture. Yikes

[@rasulsulaiman2457]

Did Anthony just casually use a wall wart as a unboxing knife?what a legend.

[@iamtheflu]

the reason it doesn't play games directly off the cart, but they said it would, was because when the polymega was originally announced, they set the ambitious goal of making it FPGA. ever since they ditched the fpga idea, they also ditched the direct from cart play idea since that's not possible in software emulation. i was into the polymega for a while, but they could have gotten n64 and PS2 on there as well, but chose not to. it would also have the power to run dreamcast, gamecube, and Wii, but it wouldn't be able to read the disks. i ended up deciding to eventually put together my own emu box. i haven't done it yet though.

[@reptilez13]

Getting for the often ignored TG16/PCE games would almost be worth it alone, let alone the Saturn stuff. PCE has such good games. I keep meaning to buy an ED, but there's the whole SSDS3 thing and etc etc... A VGA output would be dope for this too.

[@megan_alnico]

It's kind of crazy but the MiSTer FPGA system might actually get a Saturn core. The PlayStation core is making huge strides lately also. Even with how stupidly inflated/scalped the hardware has become compared to the polymega it's still quite competitive. And if you really want VGA out you can buy an analog board.

[@jvvallie]

Now it's 549. Forget that

[@bigbabatunde1218]

Saying this and all that's going on in retro land, I don't know why some company hasn't already done a premium, get what you're willing to pay for, bespoke, no limit, no expense spared unit that will appeal to the well off and the aspirational. Instead people are expected to buy this cheap black plastic lego kit?

[@clorophilla]

RE2 has two versions, either with or without DualShock support (seen on the cover of the game). Capcom added DualShock support for RE1 after release and RE3 has DualShock support.