MiSTer FPGA DE10 vs RetroPie / Raspberry Pi! The Sega Genesis Showdown! Which Should You Play?!

The Sega Genesis / Mega Drive is one of my absolute all time favorite retro gaming consoles as I was a Sega kid in the 90s vs a Nintendo kid...and the FPGA implementation of Sega Genesis on MiSTer is pure retrogaming glory! But can the Raspberry Pi 4 running Genesis GX Plus on RetroPie keep up with MiSTer and FPGA? Lets find out!

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I asked, you answered...and I try to listen :) Of all the requests for new content on the channel one of the most frequently asked for videos is a series on the Terasic DE-10 Nano MiSTer FPGA hardware...so here it is! It really is a S tier retro gaming device!

On this episode of our MiSTer series we will be showing you just how the Genesis GX Plus core runs Sega Genesis / Mega Drive games on the Raspberry Pi / RetroPie compared to MiSTer FPGA. It's a retrogaming showdown! This is JUST for Sega Genesis / Sega Mega Drive. There may be a second video on MiSTer FPGA vs RetroPie for Sega CD if this video does well!

It's an FPGA vs software emulation showdown! Will FPGA take the crown or will the emulator win the day? Lets find out!

Questions? Comments? Just leave them below and I will do my best to answer each and every one of them!

VGE

#retrogaming #retrogamer #retrogames #sega #segagenesis #emulator #raspberrypi #emulation #misterfpga

[TimmiTimmiT]

The lesson here is we are absolutely spoiled for choice when it comes to quality emulation nowadays.

[rvkasper]

Pi is both less accurate and far to tinny. The "bass guitar" also has a deeper fuller sound on MiSter. Prefer MiSter better all around

[DarkWolfs]

Hardware modder hobbyist here and content creator as well.

IMO the ONLY real difference between these two are sound/music. The games you have showcased does not do a good representation of that. This is because depending on your game of choosing to play on the Pi your game mileage will vary. To get a good idea of what I mean here, pop on Comix Zone on the OG Genesis first. No mister or pi here. Go to sound test and play Track 5 record it and listen to that one carefully. Now do the same for the Mister and then the Pi. You will notice a BIG difference with the Pi as it doesn't do a good replication of the YM2612 Yamaha IC. Another game, Tasmania the intro. Pi will show big difference. Again, your mileage will vary depending on what game you play on the Pi.

Does this mean the Pi is useless? Absolutely not. The Pi or any other consoles that does similar emulation functionality as the Pi are essential as it allows ease of accessibility to game library that SEGA, Nintendo, etc will not have on their eshop nor care about showing it. That is why these emulation projects are critical so that the next generation can experience all of these games as we did.

[MarkDell]

I’m looking forward to the latency testing. One thing I love about the MiSTer is the settings for some adaptive blending and easy ways of changing the audio filters for different Genesis revisions. Does Retropie have those same options?

[kosmosyche]

The biggest difference between software emulation vs Mister FPGA emulation/simulation is in the input lag and it's only really really noticeable on a CRT TV/display (since they don't have inherent input delay of LCD displays). At least that's what I confirmed on my own when I compared things with Mister. Mister feels basically the same as the original hardware (even without SNAC or some fancy high-speed lagless controllers). Software emulation feels a couple of frames late.

[KeithXS]

I was a SNES kid but the punchy bass of the Genesis made me jealous. The MiSTer has that punch, the Pi does not.

[irmaosver]

There is noticeable sound lag on the Pi in the Sonic comparison. Pay attention to the sound effect when Sonic collects a ring. There is about a frame of lag (it is easily noticed if you put the video speed to 0.25x)

I have also noticed some pixel shimmering on Streets of Rage (notice the wall pattern at 2:00), not sure if that's on Pi or MiSTer though but if it's the latter I suspect the interpolation settings are not configured.

[Mike-B-Jackson]

First, thank you for doing these types of videos! As the tech to run these old games continues to evolve it’s very helpful having members of the community provide comparisons and demonstrations to keep us up to date!

That said, if I’m being 100% honest, I care mainly about input lag and ease of use; a small variance in sound or color is nearly meaningless, which speaks very well for both these solutions! I would love to see some sort of qualitative input lag test, as well as details about setup and use.

For example, the mister took very little to setup - just a self-installer - then dump roms over and play. Whereas I’ve tried emulationstation/retroarch and found the bajillion menu options confusing; to get the most out of it you need to do things like run ahead and frame skipping and then there’s controller configs and all these sub menus I just never understood lol. I find mister to be much much easier.

Anyway, again, thank you for these videos!

[chiefthunderhorse]

I'm absolutely satisfied with my Raspberry Pis, however the advancements made with the MiSTER on the Saturn core has made me extremely interested, can you recommend a "shopping list" or components needed for the best experience with the MiSTER? I want to start assembling one this year

[nickiebanchou]

genesis/megadrive has been pretty perfectly emulated for a long time, differences are gonna be tough to spot, i think the main difference is going to be the RGB output and associated factors

[isunshin]

All Raspberry Pi is good for is as a mt-32 midi processing servant for the superior MiSTer

[TheMikeyb]

I'm an input lag snob and I knew it the moment I played my NES on a LCD TV back in 2008. Why did I suddenly suck at Mega Man and other games? Went to a CRT in 2017 and I've never looked back. Emulators a just a touch slow, not LCD slow, but noticeably slower, even in blind tests. Not the case for MiSTer.

Interesting thing I noticed in Splatter House at 7:28 is the Japanese text on the MiSTer isn't as sharp as the Pi. Could be YouTube compression?

[DehnusNorder]

On colors: People also forget that these games were developed with CRTs in mind, RF signal mostly and maybe composite. Developers tended to use the limitations of these signals to their advantage to blend a color to produce a more vibrant image and even kept in mind that a CRT's electron beam would cause a glow on the phosphor layer and thus things would appear brighter. Heck there are great examples from the NES, which looks all gray and muddled in emulation, but very bright and vibrant on a CRT over a composite or RF signal. Super Mario Bros 3 come to mind there.

None of these technologies were designed with pixel perfection in mind. It's also why they didn't care much about slight variations in hardware, most of their consumers didn't either XD .

Sorry, it's a pet peeve of mine, as I agree with you, colors and sound varied a lot per iteration.

[ArcadeCabNBud]

I like these comparisons, please do more, thanks

[corsegerspwnd]

I like the FPGA! huge fan of your channel

[SquadND]

Hi VGE, Thanks for your videos! I have begun watching lots of them lately!
Can you tell me which monitor/screen you are using? I have been experimenting with Rasperry Pi for ages, but it seems I always have some "stuttering" in the graphics, especially when there is scrolling on the screen. Your picture is way, way more stable when the image scrolls.

[VSMOKE]

The Mr sound sounded more Bassy more accurate I think and the Raspberry Pi was a little fast it seemed

[wildside]

I always loved the robot in the Dynamite Heady intro. So so Genesis!

[tecianeli]

The most noticeable diference between Mister and Rasp for me was the input lag. In Sonic 3 & Knuckles, it's almost impossible to complete the 3D bonus. I had serious problem in Shinobi 3 with double jump. The game need precise jumps in some parts that make struggle playing in Rasp PI.

[bix]

The brighter has to be the MiSTer, so Castlevania on the MiSTer and Toe J&E on the Pi :) Final answer