Hardcore mode restriction for outdated and unknown emulators
January 12 2025, 11:24pm
I also agree with hbROBO. The "Melon DS DS" core works amazing on Android. It was how I was able to get the minigames working in

When I first started my account I was very new to using RetroArch and LibRetro but you know how I got better? I used them. I tried to set up each core and googled when I ran into an issue. It didn't take long to get comfortable with these programs, and I don't consider myself overly tech savvy.
Complaining about how hard supported emulators are to use or setup will not make it any easier for yourself, the player. Just my two cents.
January 13 2025, 1:53pm
January 13 2025, 4:38pm, last edited January 13 2025, 9:33pm
Just a dream, you know, something who will help like... Me And... And... More three persons who received the grace of obtained the J2 Prime, I guess? Probably the same people who make the aethersx2 dev get a burnout. You know, just good people.
That's my serious and important commentary in this post. Let's all love the Hotscrock. Peace everybody✌
January 13 2025, 5:12pm
> Pizza Boy Emulators: Dev team has been contacted. We're going to work with them to hopefully resolve achievement stability issues.
So hopefully those ones will eventually be fully supported
January 14 2025, 4:05am
January 14 2025, 8:20am, last edited January 14 2025, 8:23am
January 14 2025, 9:41am, last edited January 14 2025, 1:35pm
January 14 2025, 2:10pm
Although the ticket system may be there for Softcore as well, it already allows rewinds, savestate loads, cheats etc. anyway; I don't think there is a good enough reason to remove them too.
January 14 2025, 5:08pm
What will blocking HC achievements on Aether/Nether do to https://retroachievements.org?
When looking at https://retroachievements.org as a whole . . . nothing. PS2 games make up ~7% of the total gaming achievement library, within that library based on popular games ~25% are hardcore users, from those hardcore users, let's just say half are Android users. So really we are talking about less than 1% of users. Except it isn't. PS2 achievements have only been around for a little over 2 years. It might have the largest total game library, it's probably the fastest growing in terms of achievements and it's the most requested - 60% of first page requests are PS2 - Link.
What will blocking HC achievements on Aether/Nether do for those "<1%" of users?
It will eliminate their interest to be part of an awesome community that has been around for over a decade. Who are these people you ask? Anybody who games using the RG556, Retroid Pocket 3/4/5, Odin 2/Mini, or other Android handhelds I forgot to mention. These <1% want the satisfaction of getting that hardcore achievement by playing the game as it should be played. So someone save states their way through a game and I play legit, but we get the same achievement? You might not be disabling the emulator but I'd rather not even play, so for me, you might as well have. The whole genesis of hardcore mode was to differentiate these players.
What will blocking HC achievements on Aether/Nether do for the PS2 achievement community?
It will 100%, without a doubt, have less old and new players playing and interested. That means people switching over to other consoles or not even being part of the community at all. This in turn will make cheevo devos less inclined to work on PS2 games with less interest.
Stop crying, other systems are being effected in the same exact way.
Yes and no. Bizhawk/Flycast/Pizza Boy all have Retroarch replacements . . . might not be as good, but hey, at least there is something. This is the point, you are directly targeting and eliminating a group of players by getting rid of Aether/Nether. There is nowhere for us to turn.
Let's talk EtherealSX2
The only, ONLY, thing that I have seen is 4 months ago, a GitHub repo was created, with more coming "soon". This project could take years to do or might never happen like so many other projects before. I mean Dolphin came out with Windows achievements July 2024 . . . we're still waiting for achievements for Android and that's not even a full port, it's just a change on a pre-existing stable build. If I were a betting man, I'd say EtherealSX2 doesn't come out until 2026, based on the developer's definition of "more coming soon" 4 months ago.
What should be done then?
It's easy, do nothing. People have already been earning HC achievements with Aether/Nether for over 2 years. By allowing people to CONTINUE to use Aether/Nether to earn HC achievements it doesn't eliminate a community of players and inclusively let's them partake in the awesomeness of RetroAchievements. The two year depreciation and decisions to not "officially" support are completely and entirely in your hands. This clearly isn't a democracy, nor should the "Golden Rules" be treated as rigidly constitution.
The Main Heavy Message
Hundreds of people, fathers, mothers, children, bought an android handheld this Christmas/New Years to earn HC cheevos for PS2, it may have been their sole reason for getting it. There is no law making body forcing you guys to do this, you are just deciding now is the time. If you guys can stomach the possibility that a child's happiness and interest in retro gaming might get destroyed because less than a fraction of the <1% of HC PS2 players who care about global leaderboards might lose a position due to an unnoticed, magically unbannable, exploiter, then by all means, pull the plug.
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January 12 2025, 11:14pm, last edited January 12 2025, 11:15pm