Homebrew SEGA 32X Emulation

JuanMena

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Is there a way to play Knuckles Chaotix and Sonic CD on Wii?
Is Retroarch capable to do that? Or do I need GenplusGX to do so?
Also... what kind of files do I need? Not talking about the roms, but I've read that you need ISO, CUE or OGG or WAV and it's kinda confusing :wacko:
I assume that the ISO file would be the game itself and CUE, WAV and OGG is for audio... :unsure:
 

Alexander1970

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Is there a way to play Knuckles Chaotix and Sonic CD on Wii?
Is Retroarch capable to do that? Or do I need GenplusGX to do so?
Also... what kind of files do I need? Not talking about the roms, but I've read that you need ISO, CUE or OGG or WAV and it's kinda confusing :wacko:
I assume that the ISO file would be the game itself and CUE, WAV and OGG is for audio... :unsure:

Hello.:)

You can use Genesis Plus GX :
https://wiibrew.org/wiki/Genesis_Plus

Really an excellent Master System/Game Gear/Mega Drive/Sega CD/SG.-1000 Emulator.:yay:
This Emulator works very good,you can also use Cheats (Game Genie) and it has many,many Settings to make the Sega Experience a very nice one.

Thank you and
Have Fun.:)
 
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Tetsuo Shima

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Ok, let's do a little clarification first: Sonic CD is not a 32x game. It's for the Sega CD (as the name suggests).
32X emulation is not possible on the Wii, so no way to play Knuckles Chaotix. But Sega CD is working very well with Genplus (I'm using retroarch, but I think you can use GX as well). Sonic CD is working great with it.

CD games can be ripped with various formats, but to be properly recognized by the emulator not all of them are good.
I personally use the .bin/.cue format and never had any issues.
The .bin file is the actual disk image, that contains ALL the data (including audio tracks), infact it's big in size.
The .cue extension stands for "cuesheet". It's a small text file which contains the track list, their name and their duration.
It's linked to the bin file, so remember that if you want to rename the .bin file, you'll also have to edit the .cue file with a text editor like notepad and change the .bin file name.
 

JuanMena

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:(

so sad...Luigi soooo sad.......

Do you need Assistance on the Genesis Plus GX Setup ? :)
No. I have it already working.
But I looked at some pictures of the games I wanted to play and they look either like the SNES or those Windows 95 CD-ROM Educational Games.
Haha.
I migth be missing some, but actually the library is not worth the effor to download 500MB files.
 
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Maeson

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...There's like a whole lot of great Sega CD games. Here are a bunch:

Lords of Thunder
Robo Aleste
Soul Star
Popful Mail
Snatcher CD
Lunar: Eternal Blue
Shining Force CD
Dungeon Explorer

Kinda sad that even 20 plus years after people still can't see beyond those FMV games.
 

Sonic Angel Knight

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CD games can be ripped with various formats, but to be properly recognized by the emulator not all of them are good.
I personally use the .bin/.cue format and never had any issues.
The .bin file is the actual disk image, that contains ALL the data (including audio tracks), infact it's big in size.
The .cue extension stands for "cuesheet". It's a small text file which contains the track list, their name and their duration.
It's linked to the bin file, so remember that if you want to rename the .bin file, you'll also have to edit the .cue file with a text editor like notepad and change the .bin file name.

According to the documentation, genesis plus gx also supports iso files. Though the iso doesn't contain the "Redbook audio" it is instead stored as wav file format. But it can also be stored as ogg file format which is much better for compression and saving storage space than the outdated wav format along with equal quality. Kega Fusion on windows also allows you to use MP3 format instead of wav files which again, better for compression and saving space. Of course if you need to create CUE file for the iso format and all the audio files, Sega Cue Maker is a program that automates this process quick and easy. :ninja:

upload_2020-1-23_17-12-39.png upload_2020-1-23_16-51-12.png upload_2020-1-23_16-51-25.png upload_2020-1-23_16-51-41.png upload_2020-1-23_17-11-41.png


I might be missing some, but actually the library is not worth the effortto download 500MB files.

There is some gems of the Sega CD games (Way more than 32X.) Besides Sonic CD being claimed the best that system has to offer (and being a much better version exist on modern devices), other games like Shining Force CD, it's a port of two game gear games in the series with better graphics and music as well as two extra unlockable scenarios. Popful Mail, the Magical Fantasy Adventure is a 2D action platformer by Falcom (Yes the same one of YS Series) that is also a port, it is the only version that has been localized in English as all others was Japanese only. Just the same, Snatcher on Sega CD is another Japanese only game that got one localized port with added content. Produced by Hideo Kojima, playing similar to a visual novels, is a adventure game that includes shooting segments that can be played with the "Konami Justifier" a light gun (guess on wii, it will be your wiimote emulation that.) Lunar Silver Star and Eternal Blue are both RPG games, (Though they also exist on playstation as well)

As stated above, if you worried about big file sizes, you can use the iso+ogg format to reduce the file size of the games. It only works by converting the audio files the game uses from outdated wav to a better modern and compressed file format with smaller file size and no loss in quality (from a consumer perspective.) Since not all games use wav files, it won't work on the ones that don't have them. Tools and guides from converting bin files to iso+wav exist or if you lucky to find them not in bin format. :ninja:
 

Tetsuo Shima

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@Sonic Angel Knight Yes, it's true. However I had some black screen issues when running games in iso or other formats for both the Sega CD and Pc-Engine CD.
Maybe the images weren't properly made, but I have to say that I never used Sega Cue Maker (I didn't know about it). That might be the reason.
The .bin/.cue format, on the other hand, has always worked for me.
 
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Sonic Angel Knight

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@Sonic Angel Knight Yes, it's true. However I had some black screen issues when running games in iso or other formats for both the Sega CD and Pc-Engine CD.
Maybe the images weren't properly made, but I have to say that I never used Sega Cue Maker (I didn't know about it). That might be the reason.
The .bin/.cue format, on the other hand, has always worked for me.
I can understand that. To most people, Bin/Cue has been the most common and reliable way for emulators. But I guess emulators supporting iso format was made for people wanting smaller file sizes to save space or least flexible methods to back up their games. Honestly, it would be much easier for consoles using homebrew emulators to just use the disc drive to play Sega CD/ PC Engine/ Playstation games on. Since you can then just use the official games or burn them to a disc and not have to care about file size on flash storage as much. But only PC emulators seem to do that. :P

Honestly haven't tried playing Sega CD games on Genesis Plus GX Wii, only managed to use the pier solar Audio CD for the game to get enhanced music. (Yes that works on this emulator, probably the only one that does from what I know.) But I will try some stuff and see if any of them yields results worth noting here in future post. I just read the documentation of the emulator so I learned things I didn't know already myself. Might be worth messing around with again. :creep:
 
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ChibiMofo

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But it can also be stored as ogg file format which is much better for compression and saving storage space than the outdated wav format along with equal quality.

The "WAV" format is not outdated and is a primary format for saving audio files in most audio editing applications for obvious reasons (AIFF is Apple's version of essentially the same format). In this particular case it is uncompressed 16-bit, 44.1 khz audio or exactly what CDs still use to this day. You may prefer a lossy format like ogg, but WAV will never be outdated (it supports virtually any resolution, including 192khz/24bit). And OGG-vorbis, as a lossy format will never, ever have "equal quality." My entire music library is in a lossy format and I've got no issues with it at all; I enjoy saving disk space. But I would never make the claim that they are the same quality as the original lossless (WAV) recordings. That's impossible due to how lossy formats like ogg-vorbis (and MP3) work. As a practical matter, having the Sega CD titles playing back in an emulator via OGG instead of WAV should be the same experience for the player - you are correct. I just don't want others reading this to misunderstand what you wrote.

The rest of your posts are very helpful.
 
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Sonic Angel Knight

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The "WAV" format is not outdated and is a primary format for saving audio files in most audio editing applications for obvious reasons (AIFF is Apple's version of essentially the same format)
Outdated as in "It's old" :P

Doesn't mean is a insult or bad thing. Just used the term to describe how old it is. Of course at the time, it was very essential to anyone using cd format. Games on sega cd, or even pc engine cd was using wav format for the high quality stereo audio they use. While it wasn't a terrible thing, I was more of a fan of the FM synthesized samples that the console chips provided. Mostly cause the the music in the game sounded like it belongs with the game and loops instead of stopping and starting again like audio files did.

Besides the games being on cd, it didn't mean much because each game did whatever it wanted with the disc sized storage. Some games files sizes was dominated more on wav audio recordings, some games focused on low quality video recordings. (And if you're familiar with those games, they weren't the most popular of the sega cd) Just feel like the high file size of these games wasn't because the games was much bigger or better than the cartridge counterparts.

Sonic cd is about the same length as sonic 1. Game uses both low quality video files for animations and high quality wav files for music of stages present and two different futures. Of course the music sounds better because of the wav files. The game could instead had more stages or even longer ones. But the big file size is all from audio, so much so the past stages was stuck using the audio chip for music. Obviously, it's inconsequential about the file size because it's on the disc, that's the point. But for emulation, it can be a big burden for storage devices if you don't use original disc. Which is why the MP3 or OGG compatible emulators is nice. I won't know the difference but I'm sure any audiophile would. :)

Still, if the only point of introducing the sega cd was for pre recorded music, voice overs, or video files... What does it do for the games? Pier Solar and the great Architects came out in 2010 for sega genesis. But it did do something unique like use a 64 Megabit (8MB) cart for the game and sega cd for "Enhanced audio" (Technically it was PCM from sega cd sound chip, not streamed wav files) But the only reason I mention this is cause is interesting. Sega CD could have just been used in tandem with genesis carts to provide video and audio cutscenes much like Snes homebrew MSU-1. :ninja:

I'm sure it would have been expensive to produce cart and disc for the games, but it actually did that. Sega CD FMV games came out had required 32X for improved graphics. Neither of them can work without the genesis anyway. So why not make a genesis game that gets enhancements from sega cd? A game that doesn't require the add-on to play but would provide optional high quality soundtrack and video cutscenes or even voice overs if it did. (DLC ANYONE) Unless a developer wanted to make a much bigger game, could it have been sega cd exclusive. (Or maybe use LOCK-ON TECHNOLOGY) :P
 
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Why would you produce an expensive cartridge with limited capacity if you are already using a CD for the audio anyway?
Instant loading with a cartridge and Sega CD games having no copy protection.
 

Pleng

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Instant loading with a cartridge and Sega CD games having no copy protection.

Instant loading is an end-user perk and wouldn't have been a big enough selling point for the publisher to warrant the additional cost.

And the publishers clearly didn't lose enough to piracy to warrant including a dongle/cartridge with each CD game.

In fact in both cases the end product would have been highly confusing for the end user, having invested hundreds of pounds in the "future" of CD gaming just to find games requiring a cartridge to work.
 

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