Month: January 2018

8Bitdo N30 Pro Wireless Bluetooth Controller – Unboxing and Review

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Read on for Step by Step Instructions on Updating the Firmware on the 8BitDo N30 Pro for Mac / PC.

Having got my RetroPie rig up and running I was thoroughly enjoying some retro arcade action.  I had everything from an Atari to a NeoGeo, with 1000s of games from my youth all ready to go with the push of a button on my TV.

One thing felt wrong though and that was the controller.  I was using a wired xBox / Windows controller.  It worked well, plugged it in and it just worked as it should but it just felt wrong.  Playing Streets of Rage on a modern xBox controller just didn’t capture the feel.  It still played well, it is still an epic retro game, but I’m sure you get what I mean?

Then I decided to change the controller and started looking for an alternative.  One that would work well, feel good and actually capture the feel of these older style games.  I did a lot of reading on Amazon reviews as well as other sites and they all pointed me towards one brand – 8BitDo.

They have a wide range of controllers and accessories – as you can see mostly geared towards the Nintendo feel of things :

8BitDo Range of Controllers
8BitDo Range of Controllers

Read more8Bitdo N30 Pro Wireless Bluetooth Controller – Unboxing and Review

Raspberry Pi – Retro Gaming Set up – Step 2

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Raspberry Pi Logo

Thanks to Amazon Prime and the Next Day Delivery – everything arrived right on time for me to spend the most of yesterday setting up the Raspberry Pi and playing games that were just a distant memeory.  To be fair though the setting up was a minor aspect of the day.  It took about 10 mins to open the package, build the Raspberry Pi and have it sitting ready for it’s memory card to tell it what to do!  It is really that *easy.*

*easy* – truthfully there are a few stumbling blocks but I will post up a couple of videos at the end of this post that covers the tricky bits very well.

Raspberry Pi - What you will need for a RetroPie Setup
Raspberry Pi – What you will need for a RetroPie Setup
Samsung Evo Micro SD Cards
Samsung Evo Micro SD Cards

Read moreRaspberry Pi – Retro Gaming Set up – Step 2

Raspberry Pi – Retro Gaming Set up – Step 1

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Raspberry Pi Logo
Raspberry Pi Logo

As a child of the 80’s I have been a gamer since – well forever.  That makes Retro Gaming a part of my very core!

I started off on a Commodore +4, then moved to a Commodore 64, then an Amiga 1200, in 1992 I got my first Windows based PC, a Pentium III – DX2 66MHz (with about 500Mb of HDD space) if I remember rightly.

From there I started building PCs and then I moved to Mac and I am still here.  As the same time I was also playing with consoles.  Of course I had a Gameboy, but I was more of a Sega fanboy, Mega Drive, Saturn, then I moved to Playstation, 1 -> 2 -> 3 and now 4.

Playstation was my system of choice but I still have had xBox, xBox 360, and currently xBox One.

The amount of games I had for each system was criminal, however what is more criminal is the fact that the majority of them got traded in.  If only I was wise then I’d still have every one of them displayed in my games room, insetead I imagine they are long since in a land fill somewhere.  Devastating!

Along the way I have also picked up a NES, SNES, N64, 2DS, Neo-Geo Pocket, a Master System, a Game Gear and an Atari Lynx along with a really nice Atari 2600 and a few other random systems I have picked up along the way.

I love how gaming has progressed – I love gaming.  I’m still at on the PS4, and I have the XB1 for Microsoft exclusives – and Fifa, but I love retro gaming.  So I have finally decided to try out some old skool memories using a Raspberry Pi.

Read moreRaspberry Pi – Retro Gaming Set up – Step 1