ZX Spectrum gaming on RetroPie in a pub...
Posted: Sun Feb 09, 2020 1:37 pm
On the last Thursday of the month, I have a regular retrogaming event at a town centre pub in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, where we gather round my Raspberry Pi (running RetroPie), armed with four wireless PlayStation-style controllers and play a load of old games on the big screen.
Typically, we play the types of game that are very much aimed for casual players and are quick to understand. It's mostly arcade games running under MAME - The Simpsons; Golden Axe; Double Dragon; Pac Man; Space Invaders and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are firm favourites. We do try to pick multiplayer games to get as many people involved as possible. Hence, running the SNES Bomberman games is always a popular choice (and is a factor behind The Simpsons and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on MAME being popular), as is N64's Mario Kart.
Other popular things tend to be the Sega Mega Drive, especially the Streets Of Rage games, and Crash Bandicoot on the PlayStation (1).
Anyway, I've spent a while trying to iron out some bugs with the PlayStation-style controllers/RetroPie. The controllers sometimes flip between each other. I seem to have remedied this by moving from my Raspberry Pi 3, to 4, and finding a RetroPie 4 image loaded with many arcade/console ROMs which are all thoroughly legitimate. I've also decided to use a real PlayStation 3 controller as the player 1 device, the overall controller for the system.
Anyway, pleasingly, this set-up lets me add in ZX Spectrum TZX files. I've been experimenting with a few games that were sitting in my downloads folder...
And, unlike RetroPie 3, I've been able to successfully map Spectrum keys to the directions and buttons on the controllers.
This means I have a console-like experience for the ZX Spectrum. Now, there is an obvious downside. The ZX Spectrum is not and was never a console. Some games - some very good games indeed - just can't be mapped to a PlayStation-style controller, you'll always need a keyboard to cover some aspects. A notable example being Chaos - my favourite game of all time - which requires pretty much the alphabet being available to you for the choice of spells.
Now, I have a keyboard hooked up to the Raspberry Pi, so this isn't a problem for me at home. However, when you're trying to put on a retrogaming experience in a pub that's very casual and centred around 'instant appeal', you need to avoid that kind of thing. There's no point putting on Chaos, even if there was a way to get all of it accessible through the controller. Similarly, text adventures like Blizzard Pass, they're not going to work in that environment. It's also why I avoid the masses of Japan-centric RPGs available in the Nintendo/Sega areas.
Each ZX Spectrum game I add in needs unique attention. I have to set the key mapping options in RetroArch's lr-fuse core for each title, opting for whatever the controls are as soon as the game is loaded, just so it can be quickly played without having to jump through any 'redefine keys' faff.
Annoyingly, the simplistic QAOP[space] set-up isn't as prolific as a default as I originally expected. Things like Renegade's QAKL[space] and JetPac's 1 ZX1 are not really intuitive. I've got there, though. All the games listed in the photos can be played via the PlayStation controller with very little hassle. I've mapped the L1, R1, L2 and R2 keys as 1, 2, 3, 4 respectively, and with any extra fire buttons, they tend to be 5 and upwards. (A few games need you type in a number, such as the skill level for Chuckie Egg and Saboteur.)
I also threw in a couple of Amstrad CPC games, which also run perfectly well. Alas, whatever core it is RetroArch is using, it doesn't allow unique controller mapping, you have to make do with it emulating the Amstrad joystick. This isn't a heavy problem, as many Amstrad games were very much centred around the joystick, unlike the Spectrum. It does become an issue in some places. Many Amstrad disk images are sourced from cracked pirated games, which come with a custom cheat introduction, so you're faced with "INFINITE LIVES Y/N?", which means keyboard input. Gah.
Anyway, I've tried to make this whole thing as console-like as I can, and so, the ZX Spectrum will debut (albeit emulated) at the Olde England from 8pm Thurs 27th February in Silver Street, Wellingborough (almost next door to where retrogaming-centric second-hand games store Software Seller used to be).
Would you guys like to make any suggestions on Speccy games I could add? Something really intuitive, quick and impressive? (Multiplayer would be a lovely bonus.) Cheers...
Typically, we play the types of game that are very much aimed for casual players and are quick to understand. It's mostly arcade games running under MAME - The Simpsons; Golden Axe; Double Dragon; Pac Man; Space Invaders and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are firm favourites. We do try to pick multiplayer games to get as many people involved as possible. Hence, running the SNES Bomberman games is always a popular choice (and is a factor behind The Simpsons and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on MAME being popular), as is N64's Mario Kart.
Other popular things tend to be the Sega Mega Drive, especially the Streets Of Rage games, and Crash Bandicoot on the PlayStation (1).
Anyway, I've spent a while trying to iron out some bugs with the PlayStation-style controllers/RetroPie. The controllers sometimes flip between each other. I seem to have remedied this by moving from my Raspberry Pi 3, to 4, and finding a RetroPie 4 image loaded with many arcade/console ROMs which are all thoroughly legitimate. I've also decided to use a real PlayStation 3 controller as the player 1 device, the overall controller for the system.
Anyway, pleasingly, this set-up lets me add in ZX Spectrum TZX files. I've been experimenting with a few games that were sitting in my downloads folder...
And, unlike RetroPie 3, I've been able to successfully map Spectrum keys to the directions and buttons on the controllers.
This means I have a console-like experience for the ZX Spectrum. Now, there is an obvious downside. The ZX Spectrum is not and was never a console. Some games - some very good games indeed - just can't be mapped to a PlayStation-style controller, you'll always need a keyboard to cover some aspects. A notable example being Chaos - my favourite game of all time - which requires pretty much the alphabet being available to you for the choice of spells.
Now, I have a keyboard hooked up to the Raspberry Pi, so this isn't a problem for me at home. However, when you're trying to put on a retrogaming experience in a pub that's very casual and centred around 'instant appeal', you need to avoid that kind of thing. There's no point putting on Chaos, even if there was a way to get all of it accessible through the controller. Similarly, text adventures like Blizzard Pass, they're not going to work in that environment. It's also why I avoid the masses of Japan-centric RPGs available in the Nintendo/Sega areas.
Each ZX Spectrum game I add in needs unique attention. I have to set the key mapping options in RetroArch's lr-fuse core for each title, opting for whatever the controls are as soon as the game is loaded, just so it can be quickly played without having to jump through any 'redefine keys' faff.
Annoyingly, the simplistic QAOP[space] set-up isn't as prolific as a default as I originally expected. Things like Renegade's QAKL[space] and JetPac's 1 ZX1 are not really intuitive. I've got there, though. All the games listed in the photos can be played via the PlayStation controller with very little hassle. I've mapped the L1, R1, L2 and R2 keys as 1, 2, 3, 4 respectively, and with any extra fire buttons, they tend to be 5 and upwards. (A few games need you type in a number, such as the skill level for Chuckie Egg and Saboteur.)
I also threw in a couple of Amstrad CPC games, which also run perfectly well. Alas, whatever core it is RetroArch is using, it doesn't allow unique controller mapping, you have to make do with it emulating the Amstrad joystick. This isn't a heavy problem, as many Amstrad games were very much centred around the joystick, unlike the Spectrum. It does become an issue in some places. Many Amstrad disk images are sourced from cracked pirated games, which come with a custom cheat introduction, so you're faced with "INFINITE LIVES Y/N?", which means keyboard input. Gah.
Anyway, I've tried to make this whole thing as console-like as I can, and so, the ZX Spectrum will debut (albeit emulated) at the Olde England from 8pm Thurs 27th February in Silver Street, Wellingborough (almost next door to where retrogaming-centric second-hand games store Software Seller used to be).
Would you guys like to make any suggestions on Speccy games I could add? Something really intuitive, quick and impressive? (Multiplayer would be a lovely bonus.) Cheers...
