¤ archaic ruins ¤

Retrocade offers advanced emulation performance by utilizing 100% assembly language CPU emulators in both the DOS and Windows 32-bit versions, as well as highly optimized display code (supports linear frame buffer access via VESA 2.0, as well as dirty buffering). Full sound support is offered as well both through sound-chip emulation and the use of high quality (16-bit @ 44.1 KHz) samples and sample-playing techniques (real-time mixing of samples with other samples as well as emulated sound).

But wait, that's not all! Retrocade also supports a wide array of controller devices. Analog and digital joysticks, the Microsoft Sidewinder (PC versions only), the Wingman Warrior digital joystick (PC versions only), pretty much any mouse on the planet, and of course your good ol' trusty keyboard. There's even a default configuration set for use with the V-Stick controller. Support for additional controller devices such as the GRiP pad may be added in the future. You can configure the controls for all of the emulations any way you wish, even mixing controllers such as mouse with keyboard, analog joystick and mouse, etc.

No proper emulator would be complete without support for backdrops, as well as realistic vector effects such as glowing vector dots, translucency, and anti-aliasing. Of course Retrocade offers all of these, and in 100% assembly to boot (PC only).

You will find that Retrocade has a great deal to offer over many other arcade emulators, including an easy-to-use graphical user interface (as well as command line options), ROM and sample compression for added disk space savings, and easy installation and configuration. Retrocade doesn't require creating large numbers of directories, editing lots of complicated text files, or invoking obscure and difficult-to-remember command parameters. Yet, it's fully compatible with the directory structure of popular multi- machine arcade emulators.

INFORMATION

Homepage: http://www.retrocade.com/
License: Freeware
Released: May 23, 1999
Language: English
Platform: MS-DOS
Programmed in: Assembly

COMPATIBILITY

1942 (New)

Amidar

Arch Rivals

Arkanoid

Armor Attack

Asteroids

Asteroids Deluxe

Barrier

Battle Zone

Berzerk

Black Widow

Blaster (New)

Blasteroids

Boothill

Bosconian

Boxing Bugs

Bubbles

Burger Time

Centipede

Cloak and Dagger

Crater Raider

Crush Roller

Crystal Castles

Defender

Demon

Destruction Derby

Dig Dug I

Dig Dug II (New)

Discs of Tron

Domino Man

Donkey Kong

Donkey Kong Jr.

Fantasy

Food Fight

Football

Frenzy

Frogger

Galaga

Galaxian

Gravitar

Gyruss

Journey

Joust

Kickman

Klax

Lunar Lander

Lunar Rescue

Major Havoc

Mappy (New)

Mario Bros. (New)

Max RPM

Missle Command

Moon Cresta

Mr. Do! (New)

Ms. Pacman

Ms. Pacman Plus

Nibbler

Omega Race

Pacman

Phoenix

Pioneer Balloon

Piranha

Pleiads

Power Drive

Quantum

Rampage

Red Baron

Return to Vax

Rip Off

Robotron 2084

Root Beer Tapper

Sarge

Satan's Hollow

Scramble

Sinistar

Sinistar (Rare)

Snowbros

Solar Fox

Solar Quest

Space Duel

Space Invaders

Space Invaders Part 2

Space Wars

Spectar

Speed Freak

Splat

Spy Hunter

Super Cobra

Super Space Invaders

Star Castle

Stargate

Starhawk

Star Wars

Sundance

Tail Gunner

Tapper

Targ

Tempest

Tempest Tubes

The End

Timber

Time Pilot

Toobin' (New)

Tron

Tutankham

Two Tigers

Vanguard

Vulgus (New)

Wacko

Warrior

War of the Worlds

Xenophobe

Yie Ar Kung-Fu

Zero Zone

DOWNLOAD

Retrocade

Retrocade Current Beta

When downloading Beta releases remember that the PAK files from the most current full public release must be used to make Retrocade run. You do not have to re-download them but just put the Beta executable into your Retrocade directory. Also, if you want sound in any new games added, you must download the available sound samples.

DOCUMENTATION EXCERPT

                  Retrocade 1.2 beta 2 - The Documentation

                                Version: 1.2
                        Created : January 28th, 1998
                        Modified: May 23rd, 1998 


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------


Table Of Contents
=================
1.  Introduction 
2.  Requirements 
      2.1 For DOS 
      2.2 For Windows 
      2.3 For UNIX 
      2.4 For Macintosh 
      2.5 For ARM 
      2.6 For All Versions 
3.  Games Supported 
4.  Getting Retrocade 
5.  Additional Support Files 
     5.1 For DOS 
     5.2 For Windows 
     5.3 For UNIX 
     5.4 For All Versions 
6.  Installation and Configuration 
     6.1 For DOS 
     6.2 For Windows 
     6.3 For UNIX 
     6.4 For Macintosh 
     6.5 For ARM 
     6.6 For All Versions 
7.  Using Retrocade 
     7.1 Command Line Switches 
     7.2 Splash Screen 
     7.3 The GUI 
     7.4 In-Game Controls 
     7.5 The OSD 
8.  Troubleshooting 
9.  Known Bugs 
10. Frequently Asked Questions 
11. Credits 
12. Glossary Of Terms  
13. Version Information
14. Legal Information


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

                           Section 1: Introduction


Greetings, program. Welcome to the Retrocade Documentation platform. From
here, we will be launching multiple assaults on a vast range of enemies,
including evil Galaxians, the sinister Star Castle, a corrupt empire, and
some master chefs who seem to be a bit irate. And of course, the MCP himself,
so don't you dare lose your identity disc. 

Retrocade is a high-performance arcade emulation program that emulates a
large number of classic arcade games from the late 1970's and the 1980's. It
allows the user to play the actual, original arcade games on a home computer.
These are not conversions, simulations, or adaptations. The games that 
Retrocade supports are the real deal, and in fact require the original arcade
game programs (aka ROM images) to work. 

Retrocade offers advanced emulation performance by utilizing 100% assembly
language CPU emulators in both the DOS and Windows 32-bit versions, as well
as highly optimized display code (supports linear frame buffer access via 
VESA 2.0, as well as dirty buffering). Full sound support is offered as well
both through sound-chip emulation and the use of high quality (16-bit @ 44.1
KHz) samples and sample-playing techniques (real-time mixing of samples with
other samples as well as emulated sound). 

But wait, that's not all! Retrocade also supports a wide array of controller
devices. Analog and digital joysticks, the Microsoft Sidewinder (PC versions
only), the Wingman Warrior digital joystick (PC versions only), pretty much
any mouse on the planet, and of course your good ol' trusty keyboard. There's
even a default configuration set for use with the V-Stick controller. Support
for additional controller devices such as the GRiP pad may be added in the
future. You can configure the controls for all of the emulations any way you
wish, even mixing controllers such as mouse with keyboard, analog joystick
and mouse, etc. 

No proper emulator would be complete without support for backdrops, as well
as realistic vector effects such as glowing vector dots, translucency, and
anti-aliasing. Of course Retrocade offers all of these, and in 100% assembly
to boot (PC only). 

It goes without saying that Retrocade is available in a variety of popular
flavors: Original DOS flavor, Cheddar Cheese Windows flavor (32-bit only),
and the ever popular Hickory Barbeque Unix flavor. Work has also begun on
the Salsa MacOS flavor (PowerPC only), and experimentation with porting to
ARM processors is underway. 

NOTE: At this time, not all versions of Retrocade are at the same status.
The Mac and Unix versions will probably be released sometime after the DOS
version. 

You will find that Retrocade has a great deal to offer over many other arcade
emulators, including an easy-to-use graphical user interface (as well as
command line options), ROM and sample compression for added disk space
savings, and easy installation and configuration. Retrocade doesn't require
creating large numbers of directories, editing lots of complicated text
files, or invoking obscure and difficult-to-remember command parameters.
Yet, it's fully compatible with the directory structure of popular multi-
machine arcade emulators. 

In fact, there's a good chance you will have no problem using Retrocade
without ever even looking at this documentation. But that would be foolish
of you as you would soon find yourself de-rezzed without even realizing what
was coming. Please, take the time to read this documentation. Go ahead and
start up Retrocade first if you want, we'll wait for you to get back. Then
finish the documentation, as you may discover many features you were unaware
of, as well as answers to problems you may experience, tips on the games and
where to get some of the vital things needed to play with Retrocade. 

Starting with 1.2 beta 2, we have decided to release public betas to keep
public interest in Retrocade alive and give something to people to play with
as we're working on it.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------


                           Section 2: Requirements


Retrocade has certain minimal hardware and software requirements to run on a
computer system. If your computer does not meet all of these requirements,
Retrocade will either not run on your computer or will give exceptionally
poor performance and may be unusable. A computer system that exceeds one or
more of these requirements should run Retrocade without any problem. The
requirements listed here are the minimum system requirements. 


2.1 PC running DOS requirements
===============================
* 486DX CPU, minimum of 66 MHz speed. Pentium, minimum of 166 Mhz speed for 
  68000-based games (Quantum, Food Fight, Xenophobe, etc). 
* At least 12 megabytes of RAM. 
* Any PCI or AGP videocard with at least 1 Megabyte of video RAM. 
  NOTE: Videocards that use the [E]ISA or VLB interface methods may work, but
        that is not guaranteed. PCI videocards will give you the best
        performance. 
* SoundBlaster Pro, SoundBlaster 16, or newer SoundBlaster soundcard. 
  NOTE: Early SoundBlaster 8-bit cards may work but are not officially
        supported. 
* MS-DOS version 6.0 or higher. 
* DOS4GW 32-bit extender (software). 
  NOTE: This software is freely available and easily downloaded off the net.
        See Section #5, "Additional Support Files".

. Arcade Emulators Index . Emulators Index . Front Page .