In the past, gbatemp didn't really cover the MiSTer project all that much which is a shame since it's on the best currently available options to enjoy retro games. Think of it as the usual Raspberry Pi retro gaming project playing everything up to N64, Saturn and PSX except it's not a Raspberry Pi and it's not even software emulation but using an FPGA to recreate original hardware's architecture on the transistor level.
However this is intended to be a news post and there's YouTube videos that can explain way better than me what the MiSTer is.
The reason I'm making this post is because we saw some crazy things recently on the MiSTer that I didn't dream of ever to happen on it because many devs said it was impossible. I'm pretty sure many of the accomplishments were made using AI and vibe coding and I don't wanna start an ethical debate on that here but rather focus on what we've got in the past few weeks because in the end, I as an end user and MiSTer owner are actually enjoying the hell out of what we've got.
Virtual Boy
A project centered around preservation should also include more niche systems like the Virtual Boy and that's finally happening after many thought it wouldn't be easy to fit on the MiSTer but it seems we're getting there and I'm hyped for it.
If you're one of those lucky people that own a real 3D TV from a few years back you can even play this in real 3D which is neat.
CPS3 (Capcom Play System 3)
With CPS1 and 2 being available (and a pure joy) on the MiSTer for a longer time now one of the last few systems that was speculated on whether it actually could fit on the MiSTer or not was always Capcom's final installment in the Arcade CPS systems series which is CPS3. There's only a few games for it, especially compared to CPS2, but one of them is the famous Street Fighter III and everyone in the community would love to have a faithful and accurate FPGA implementation of that one. The developer of the core, Jotego, is getting closer and said it might fit on the MiSTer so the hype is there.
Speaking of which...
Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike (ARM)
While the MiSTer is primarily an FPGA platform and that's what you buy it for, there's also a (rather weak) ARM CPU bundled with it that handles mainly the Linux side and some other stuff. This is used to provide the operating system that enables you to launch the cores and games. However while not nearly being as powerful as the ARM in something like the Raspberry Pi 5, we saw some things utilizing it in the past like a (rather messy and weak) port of RetroArch.
This time around someone took the opportunity to port the decompilation of the PS2 version of SF3 to the MiSTer into a hybrid core. It's using the FPGA for audio and video while emulating the game on the ARM side. I've played it and it runs with stable 60 fps so that's a win on my end.
Everyone (including me) would still prefer to have the real deal which would be the CPS3 FPGA core as mentioned above to play SF3 like it would run on the Arcade but even when that happens, this ARM version has the benefit of offering the "console mode" of the game that was being introduced in the PS2 version and gives you additional gaming modes such as traning mode which comes in handy.
Retro Achievements
This is by far the biggest news for me as I was always told this is definitely never going to happen on the MiSTer and as someone who likes using them in RetroArch and on any Chinese retro handheld, it was the biggest compromise I had to make in order to have the low latency and accuracy of FPGA on the MiSTer. But now I can have both at the same time which is more I've ever dreamed of. It's still a PoC but already works great on many cores and I expect to see it being merged into the main MiSTer repository at some point in the future so that update_all grabs it automatically.
SNES save states
Another big compromise you have to make coming from software emulation is the fact that not all cores offer save state support. While many like the NES, Game Boy and a few others do, there's still many that don't. A famous example is the Genesis/MegaDrive core. Another core that didn't have it was the SNES core. "Was". That's right. Because now it's available and it's even already in the MiSTer main repository so you'll automatically have it when you get a MiSTer today and pull the latest cores with update_all.
Combined with the previous paragraph that means we now have save states and achievements on SNES on the MiSTer which is awesome!
PICO-8
The last time I'm writing this but: Here's another thing that was being said never to happen on the MiSTer, a PICO-8 core.
And it wasn't denied to happen because the MiSTer was too small or weak for it but because the MiSTer recreates real existing hardware with its FPGA which obviously doesn't apply to PICO-8, being a so called "fantasy console" that never existed on real hardware to begin with. However the ARM side is yet again putting itself to work and so we finally have it, a hybrid core like the ARM SF3 port from above, PICO-8 on the MiSTer FPGA.
You can read more about it here: https://misterfpga.org/viewtopic.php?t=10326
That's it for today. Hope you enjoy your MiSTer or consider getting one since it's the ultimate retro gaming experience imho.
However this is intended to be a news post and there's YouTube videos that can explain way better than me what the MiSTer is.
The reason I'm making this post is because we saw some crazy things recently on the MiSTer that I didn't dream of ever to happen on it because many devs said it was impossible. I'm pretty sure many of the accomplishments were made using AI and vibe coding and I don't wanna start an ethical debate on that here but rather focus on what we've got in the past few weeks because in the end, I as an end user and MiSTer owner are actually enjoying the hell out of what we've got.
Virtual Boy
A project centered around preservation should also include more niche systems like the Virtual Boy and that's finally happening after many thought it wouldn't be easy to fit on the MiSTer but it seems we're getting there and I'm hyped for it.
If you're one of those lucky people that own a real 3D TV from a few years back you can even play this in real 3D which is neat.
CPS3 (Capcom Play System 3)
With CPS1 and 2 being available (and a pure joy) on the MiSTer for a longer time now one of the last few systems that was speculated on whether it actually could fit on the MiSTer or not was always Capcom's final installment in the Arcade CPS systems series which is CPS3. There's only a few games for it, especially compared to CPS2, but one of them is the famous Street Fighter III and everyone in the community would love to have a faithful and accurate FPGA implementation of that one. The developer of the core, Jotego, is getting closer and said it might fit on the MiSTer so the hype is there.
Speaking of which...
Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike (ARM)
While the MiSTer is primarily an FPGA platform and that's what you buy it for, there's also a (rather weak) ARM CPU bundled with it that handles mainly the Linux side and some other stuff. This is used to provide the operating system that enables you to launch the cores and games. However while not nearly being as powerful as the ARM in something like the Raspberry Pi 5, we saw some things utilizing it in the past like a (rather messy and weak) port of RetroArch.
This time around someone took the opportunity to port the decompilation of the PS2 version of SF3 to the MiSTer into a hybrid core. It's using the FPGA for audio and video while emulating the game on the ARM side. I've played it and it runs with stable 60 fps so that's a win on my end.
Everyone (including me) would still prefer to have the real deal which would be the CPS3 FPGA core as mentioned above to play SF3 like it would run on the Arcade but even when that happens, this ARM version has the benefit of offering the "console mode" of the game that was being introduced in the PS2 version and gives you additional gaming modes such as traning mode which comes in handy.
Retro Achievements
This is by far the biggest news for me as I was always told this is definitely never going to happen on the MiSTer and as someone who likes using them in RetroArch and on any Chinese retro handheld, it was the biggest compromise I had to make in order to have the low latency and accuracy of FPGA on the MiSTer. But now I can have both at the same time which is more I've ever dreamed of. It's still a PoC but already works great on many cores and I expect to see it being merged into the main MiSTer repository at some point in the future so that update_all grabs it automatically.
SNES save states
Another big compromise you have to make coming from software emulation is the fact that not all cores offer save state support. While many like the NES, Game Boy and a few others do, there's still many that don't. A famous example is the Genesis/MegaDrive core. Another core that didn't have it was the SNES core. "Was". That's right. Because now it's available and it's even already in the MiSTer main repository so you'll automatically have it when you get a MiSTer today and pull the latest cores with update_all.
Combined with the previous paragraph that means we now have save states and achievements on SNES on the MiSTer which is awesome!
PICO-8
The last time I'm writing this but: Here's another thing that was being said never to happen on the MiSTer, a PICO-8 core.
And it wasn't denied to happen because the MiSTer was too small or weak for it but because the MiSTer recreates real existing hardware with its FPGA which obviously doesn't apply to PICO-8, being a so called "fantasy console" that never existed on real hardware to begin with. However the ARM side is yet again putting itself to work and so we finally have it, a hybrid core like the ARM SF3 port from above, PICO-8 on the MiSTer FPGA.
You can read more about it here: https://misterfpga.org/viewtopic.php?t=10326
That's it for today. Hope you enjoy your MiSTer or consider getting one since it's the ultimate retro gaming experience imho.
