*2019* Retro Bit is bringing back the SEGA NOMAD!

A nice way for this to run would be with a trimmed down version of Retroarch with the relevant emulators. It'd be good to access some settings, but not the whole thing, because if that's your thing you'd be buying a Pi or Android device; the whole point of something like this is pick up and play. I agree that 4:3 would be best, or at least bezel it all off as has been mooted earlier. The squeeze mode of VF for the 32X is not really enough reason in isolation for the wider aspect ratio, though it would be nice.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by cleeg

A nice way for this to run would be with a trimmed down version of Retroarch with the relevant emulators. It'd be good to access some settings, but not the whole thing, because if that's your thing you'd be buying a Pi or Android device; the whole point of something like this is pick up and play. I agree that 4:3 would be best, or at least bezel it all off as has been mooted earlier. The squeeze mode of VF for the 32X is not really enough reason in isolation for the wider aspect ratio, though it would be nice.

---

I'm kidding about squeeze mode but that is the only legit reason to have widescreen and Sega Genesis in the same sentence. At least it was another Sega first!

If this is just going to be Retroarch on a 16:9 display then I agree with the others who said make the screen bigger, if it's already not going to match the Nomad may as well make it as good as possible.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Thunderblaze16

I am curious though, just how much cheaper are LCD 16:9 screens compare to 4:9?

Why is more screen cheaper??

---

16:9 screens are more commonplace (the only 4:3 screens I still regularly see around are 320×240 and occasionally 640×480, neither of which are high resolution enough to avoid ugly artifacts with 256px-wide games).

Honestly they could use the extra space for stuff like a battery indicator, but I wouldn't hold my breathe on that.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by axel

Maybe the widescreen is just for Virtua Fighter 32X's squeeze mode.

---

Widescreen in 1995!

I was initially exited by this news. But I don't really want a Nomad, I would love a modern handheld that plays MD/Genesis games very well.

I'd love to see a portable Genesis with modern tech: small device, big screen, long battery life. I don't want it to look like a Nomad.

But above all it must play carts very very well; doesn't have to be perfect. Also has to support important features like saving. And suspending is important; to me that's more important than save states.

And I don't mind if they use a 16:9 screen so long as I can set it to 4:3 and still have a screen that feels reasonably large.

Nice to haves but not deal breakers:
TV output
A bunch of quality built in games
Two player support (player two joystick port or system link-up)

OP, thank you very much for sharing this! I'll enjoy watching this unfold.

TV output is confirmed already (it has a HDMI port). Also a NTSC/PAL switch (presumably to select speed?)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Sik

16:9 screens are more commonplace (the only 4:3 screens I still regularly see around are 320×240 and occasionally 640×480, neither of which are high resolution enough to avoid ugly artifacts with 256px-wide games).

---

The original Nomad had a 320x224 screen. How did it handle 256x224 games? I don't have one to check.

There's always going to be a trade-off when it comes to displaying Genesis games on an LCD. The advantage to using a 320x240 screen is that you can display most of the Genesis's library at pixel-perfect resolution. Then, for the 256x224 games (which are thankfully in the minority) you can use some scaling filter (which will make the picture somewhat blurry) or just sacrifice 4:3 AR and display the pixels as they are.

I think that's greatly preferable to a 16:9 screen which has a huge amount of permanently unusable screen real estate and overall smaller picture, even though it is high resolution and can handle the 256x224 games better.

My GCW Zero (320x240 LCD) running Gen Plus GX looks fantastic with scaling off on the 320x224 games.

Normally people mess up on Sega emulators from the following,

-Composite out only
-Bad sound
-Mono sound
-No 16:9 / 4:9 option

So far already we now see that it has hdmi out and stereo. I'm sure it will sound good, like the Mega Retron HD if anything. Just gotta hope it has that bloody 16:9 / 4:9 option switch, since it's wide screen.


AHHh! I want one already.

The GBA displays GB games like that, with real pixels, with an option to stretch the picture. It works out fine.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Thunderblaze16

Just gotta hope it has that bloody 16:9 / 4:9 option switch, since it's wide screen.

---

Is there anything from frightening than stretched aspect ratio...? :yuck:

Reminds me of that Neo Geo X handheld, which thankfully let you change to 4:3.

How is the sound in the Super Retro Trio HD? I assume we can expect something similar, or better

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Gryson

The original Nomad had a 320x224 screen. How did it handle 256x224 games? I don't have one to check.

---

I have absolutely no idea either, although if it's anything like how the Game Gear handles Master System mode, it's probably stretching the image at the subpixel level (meaning a resolution of 960px). That'd definitely help reduce the ugliness at the expense of some color bleeding, and the latter may not be so noticeable given that the screen quality wasn't particularly great for starters.

I probably should research this some day.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Sik

I have absolutely no idea either, although if it's anything like how the Game Gear handles Master System mode, it's probably stretching the image at the subpixel level (meaning a resolution of 960px). That'd definitely help reduce the ugliness at the expense of some color bleeding, and the latter may not be so noticeable given that the screen quality wasn't particularly great for starters.

I probably should research this some day.

---

Pretty sure it's the same or very similar. Once the screen starts moving it's hard to tell though because the refresh rate sucks compared to a modern LCD. A modern but low res screen would probably show the scaling artifacts even more.

On the upside, a 16:9 screen means being able to crop those gigantic borders off the 192px-tall SMS games anyway. Given they use a roughly 15:9 aspect ratio when cropped.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Gryson

The original Nomad had a 320x224 screen. How did it handle 256x224 games? I don't have one to check.

---

The original LCD isn't 320x224 but something a bit more horizontally and there's no pixel perfect mapping either. There's RGB > ADC > Screen. 256 pixel games just look a bit more blurred horizontally than 320 pixel games. When I'm back at home I can take photos (currently in Norway).

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by TmEE

The original LCD isn't 320x224 but something a bit more horizontally and there's no pixel perfect mapping either. There's RGB > ADC > Screen. 256 pixel games just look a bit more blurred horizontally than 320 pixel games. When I'm back at home I can take photos (currently in Norway).

---

Awesome. The tech specs listed on a quick google search said it was a 320x224 screen, but I guess that was just assumed based on the usual game resolution.