Uploaded April 2024 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
The ODROID H4 is the latest x86 single board computer from Hardkernel. In this video, I break down what this board is capable of in terms of specs, the accessories available for it, and the pros and cons of this device. This could be an excellent option for someone looking for a very small, but capable machine for emulation thanks to the Intel N97 CPU.
Note: After I finished making this video, I realized that it is now out of the pre-order phase and is available from Ameridroid for those in North America.
ODROID H4 Official Benchmark video: youtube.com/watch?v=UfW2hVSGpYY
Ameridroid purchase link: ameridroid.com/products/odroid-h4-h4-h4-ultra?_pos=1&_sid=a02cd7d60&_ss=r&variant=48565190689047
Hardkernel page: hardkernel.com/shop/odroid-h4
00:00 Intro
01:27 Specs And Accessories Available
07:25 Pros Of The ODROID H4
10:35 The Downsides Of This Device
The ODROID H4 is the latest x86 single board computer from Hardkernel. In this video, I break down what this board is capable of in terms of specs, the accessories available for it, and the pros and cons of this device. This could be an excellent option for someone looking for a very small, but capable machine for emulation thanks to the Intel N97 CPU.
Note: After I finished making this video, I realized that it is now out of the pre-order phase and is available from Ameridroid for those in North America.
ODROID H4 Official Benchmark video: youtube.com/watch?v=UfW2hVSGpYY
Ameridroid purchase link: ameridroid.com/products/odroid-h4-h4-h4-ultra?_pos=1&_sid=a02cd7d60&_ss=r&variant=48565190689047
Hardkernel page: hardkernel.com/shop/odroid-h4
00:00 Intro
01:27 Specs And Accessories Available
07:25 Pros Of The ODROID H4
10:35 The Downsides Of This Device
![Donkey Kong Country New Competition Cartridge [SNES] - No Death Run (2022 ROM Hack)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/2DBqM62o0Rw/mqdefault.jpg "Donkey Kong Country New Competition Cartridge [SNES] - No Death Run (2022 ROM Hack)
This is the DKC New Competition ROM hack created for Donkey Kong Country and released earlier this year on Romhacking.net by a user named Toby61983: https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/6567/
This hack is an alternate take on the rare Competition Cartridge with a different set of levels and adjusts the scoring to where balloons and enemies are worth 10 points a piece. It also gives you six minutes instead of five.
As someone who has played the original game almost all my life, I had a blast playing this hack. I had a few mistakes here and there, but Im pretty happy with the fact that I got through five stages on this run and did not lose a life. The stage choices are great, as things get a lot harder after Jungle Hijinx.
Id love to see a hack like this for Donkey Kong Country 2 as well as 3.")
![Alpine Ski [Arcade] - Five Loop 1CC with Commentary](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/2HsEd7HW9K8/mqdefault.jpg "Alpine Ski [Arcade] - Five Loop 1CC with Commentary
0:00 Intro + Loop 1
2:43 Loop 2
4:50 Loop 3
6:45 Loop 4
9:22 Loop 5
11:59 Loop 6
Alpine Ski is an arcade game released by Taito back in 1982. It is a bit of an underrated game from the Golden Age of arcades. I decided to do a commentary video on my personal best run up to this point, which got me all the way to Loop 6. This is also one of the earliest winter sports games I can think of.
I played this run on the .244 version of the MAME Current core in Retroarch.
Music: Kromeshna - Side A (from Умолка)
#arcade #arcadegames #retrogaming #skiing #wintersports #classicgaming #mame")
![Graze Counter GM [PC] - Unlimited Extreme 1CC Full Run (Type 0)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/2UkQeOarun0/mqdefault.jpg "Graze Counter GM [PC] - Unlimited Extreme 1CC Full Run (Type 0)
Graze Counter GM is a game that I already posted a clear for early last year when it was released on Steam. However, I decided to return to this one in order to beat the Unlimited Extreme mode of the game with its super dense patterns. Im glad I did because it was a lot of fun working toward this clear.
I originally dominated Unlimited Extreme with the broken Type C ship, but I decided to go back and play through this mode with a less broken ship so I decided to beat it with Type 0, the final ship to be unlocked. This ships Graze Counter and Break counters drain at half speed, meaning that these last twice as long as normal. However, this ship does not have a wide shot and is also quite slow, which balances things out a bit. Its still a fairly powerful ship because the Graze Counter lasts a while, but nowhere near as broken as Type B or Type C for example. The main key here is to build up your Graze Counter meter through grazing and use it effectively before you get hit by the dense patterns of bullets thrown at you constantly. And when youre out of Graze Counter, you either build it up again quickly or use your Break, which you build up by using the Graze Counter shot.
For whats supposed to be the highest difficulty, Unlimited Extreme isnt that hard of a mode. The suicide bullets from Unlimited dont seem to add much difficulty to it and in fact may be an aid to players as theyre just a few more bullets to cancel in order to gain more score.
Another thing thats interesting is that the first stage is quite hard, but the difficulty is only slightly harder on subsequent stages with the exception of the final boss. @Shmuptopia pointed this out in one of his commentary videos as well, so Im not the only one who noticed this quirk about the difficulty curve. If you score well on Stage 1 and dont die, youll set yourself up really well for the rest of the run.
00:00 Intro
00:20 Stage 1
02:51 Stage 2-A
05:45 Stage 3
08:44 Stage 4-A
11:52 Stage 5
16:03 Final Boss and Credits")
![Super Mario Bros [NES] - Hard Mode No Warps 1CC Full Game (No Cheats)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/2WE--XUVEsg/mqdefault.jpg "Super Mario Bros [NES] - Hard Mode No Warps 1CC Full Game (No Cheats)
Super Mario Bros on the NES is a game that doesnt need much of an introduction. Its the game that pretty much established the NES when it launched in 1985 and saved the young video game industry at the time. However, a lot of people do not realize that there is a Hard Mode in this game. Normally, you unlock this after beating the main game. However, I decided to use the New Quest Enabled ROM hack to unlock it from the start, which I highly recommend:
https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/5354/
Anyways, the Hard Mode does make some tweaks to the original game without dramatically altering the layouts of the stages. The first and most obvious one is the lack of Goombas, which have been replaced with the Buzzy Beetles that are like Koopas except that you cannot kill them with your Fire Flower. The other tweaks are a bit more minor, like the enemies moving faster and the elevator all being the short kind even on earlier stages.
I had actually never beaten the original Super Mario Bros on its default difficulty despite having played the game quite a bit growing up. Hard Mode does make things harder but not dramatically harder overall. I tried focusing on grabbing coins to get as many extends as possible because of the fact that the game does have quite the difficulty spike in World 8 regardless of whether youre playing Hard Mode or not. On this run, I didnt start dying until World 7 so I was mostly clean up until that point. I took my time after a while on later stages in an attempt to avoid as many unnecessary deaths as possible.
The only limitation that I imposed on myself for this game was not using the Warp Pipes. I used to use these all the time but instead, I decided to avoid them this time around in order to fully experience the game from start to finish. Playing the game this game allows you to earn more extends, but your execution has to be really solid as it is easy to make a dumb mistake and lose a life, or a bunch of lives if youre not careful. Also, there are some surprisingly tricky platforming sections at times like in Stage 1-4. Playing the game this way does show some of the repetition in the stage layouts in later worlds, particularly World 7 after 7-1. Thats not even getting into the Hammer Bros being a serious threat and the fact that there is RNG with their spawn points.
While this game certainly isnt as hard as The Lost Levels, it is no cakewalk either. It is certainly harder than than many of the Mario game that came after it. I think some of it has to do with Marios movement having more inertia than it later games, making him a bit tricky to control when you need to be precise.
All that being said, this game still holds up despite some repetition in the level design and Marios inertia. I still prefer this game over both The Lost Levels and the American version of Super Mario Bros 2. Its still one of the best games on the NES to this day.
Played using the Nestopia core in RetroArch. My controller of choice was a modded Qanba Crystal mixbox setup with the T-Spin installed.
00:00 Intro + World 1
03:51 World 2
09:12 World 3
14:25 World 4
19:35 World 5
25:40 World 6
31:25 World 7
37:18 World 8")
![3D Super Hang On [3DS/Arcade] - Senior Course 1CC Playthrough (Citra)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/2cdoF07MinI/mqdefault.jpg "3D Super Hang On [3DS/Arcade] - Senior Course 1CC Playthrough (Citra)
0:11. Stage 1
0:44. Stage 2
1:12. Stage 3
1:42. Stage 4
2:10. Stage 5
2:41. Stage 6
3:14. Stage 7
3:47. Stage 8
4:19. Stage 9
4:50. Stage 10
5:24. Stage 11
5:58. Stage 12
6:30. Stage 13
7:09. Stage 14
7:47. Ending
Super Hang On will always be one of Segas finest arcade racers. It greatly improved upon the original Hang On and pushed their super scaler technology to its limits with blazing fast racing action with the turbo boost mechanic adding an excellent risk vs reward dynamic. With 4 different courses, it provided arcade racing fans plenty of reason to keep playing and different levels of difficulty as well. While the Beginner course is short and easy, the difficulty jumps dramatically just going up to the Junior course, and the Senior and Expert courses are even harder.
While this game has received plenty of ports over the years, the best one may be the 3DS version developed by M2. M2 has become known in recent years for the recent Sega Genesis and PC Engine mini-consoles as well as high quality ports of classic shmups such as Battle Garegga, Ketsui, and the Aleste games. They also worked on a lot of excellent arcade ports to the 3DS for Sega, with this being one of the only ones that can be emulated properly in Citra currently. In addition to an arcade perfect port, you get plenty of the bells and whistles youd expect from M2 such as replays and even a makeshift practice mode where you can start on odd numbered courses.
As far as this run goes, the hardest parts of the Senior course were clearly Stage 7 and Stage 13. These sections have some pretty sharp corners along with the traffic getting pretty congested at times. Proper use of the turbo boost was key to finishing this run. The Senior course is no slouch overall, as it took a while to learn the later sections of it.
Played in Citra in single screen view using the xBRZ Freescale shader.
#citra #3ds #sega #arcaderacing #racinggames #1cc #retrogaming #classicgameplay")
![Fire Arrow [PC] - 5 Minute Mode ALL Clear + Bonus Round TLB 14,292,279 pts. (Fire Arrow Plus)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/3N5eBAeznMA/mqdefault.jpg "Fire Arrow [PC] - 5 Minute Mode ALL Clear + Bonus Round TLB 14,292,279 pts. (Fire Arrow Plus)
00:16. Stage 1
02:49. First Boss (Ogre Head)
03:06. Stage 2
04:15. Second Boss (Evil Wing)
04:24. Bonus Round
06:22. TLB
My second video on this channel was a video where I cleared the 5 Minute Mode of Fire Arrow but fell short in the Bonus Round. Since then, Ive played the game on and off and on this run, I even beat the TLB at the end of the Bonus Round and got the best ending as a result.
This run did not start out well, but early deaths turned out to be a blessing because it dropped the rank significantly for the second stage and ended up getting an earlier bomb pickup than usual right after the first boss.
The bonus round is extremely easy with the exception of that mini boss with the claws and the laser. I have not gotten enough practice to figure out the best strategy yet.
The TLB at the end is not that bad if you have a bomb or two left. I bombed right when I saw that first barrage of bullets but once you start taking out the eyes, it starts getting easier. Honestly, Evil Wing is probably the harder boss.
#shmups #steam #steamgame")
![Wave Race 64 [N64] - Expert Championship 1st Place Overall (Simple64)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/3zfNnZ_gf2w/mqdefault.jpg "Wave Race 64 [N64] - Expert Championship 1st Place Overall (Simple64)
00:43. Sunny Beach
02:26. Sunset Bay
04:20. Drake Lake
06:20. Marine Fortress
08:29. Port Blue
10:46. Twilight City
13:08. Glacier Coast
15:25. Southern Island
17:58. Ending and Credits
When I think back to the first few months of the Nintendo 64s launch, one of the first games I got to play back then as a small child was Wave Race 64. Its still one of the most acclaimed N64 games to this day and for good reason. It was a strong showcase of what the N64 could do early on from a graphical standpoint while the gameplay was both accessible enough for newcomers to pick up and play while still providing enough challenge for serious players. The water physics are also really impressive for this time period, which helps to bring the 8 different courses to life.
In the past, I could only get past the Normal Championship. However, I recently finally decided to focus a bit more on this game and get the clear on the harder difficulties. Expert and Reverse are the two highest difficulties, with the latter having reversed courses as the name suggests but with the same AI as the former. Besides good old fashion practice, there was one thing that helped me with this run: the custom watercraft settings. I found it was important to have a decent amount of max speed to keep up with the AI and a nimble jet ski to make maneuvering around some of the trickier buoys easier. In order to achieve my optimal setup, I made Ryota Hayamis settings lighter on handling and tighter on grip to make him more responsive. Hayami thankfully has good max speed to begin with, so I didnt need to tweak that. Also, since hes second in heaviness only to Dave Mariner, he can push around Ayumi Stewart and Miles Jeter a bit with no issues.
Another smaller thing I learned through practice is that sometimes, its okay to skip certain buoys to improve your times. This is especially notable in the Glacier Coast race where I did so near the end of the laps to avoid the ice. This strategy is even more effective in its sequel, Wave Race Blue Storm, due to the inclusion of the turbo mechanic.
This run went extremely well outside of the final stage where I had a huge mistake early on and couldnt catch back up. However, by that point, I had already clinched the championship by a long shot. The AI here is not as punishing as F-Zero X and will make big mistakes from time to time. I kind of like the latter because its a bit refreshing to see AI act a bit human at times.
#nintendo64 #n64 #waverace64 #waverace #retrogaming #nintendo #racinggames #racing")
![Rainbow Islands [Sega Master System] - Full Game 1CC (Best Ending)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/4EXQMxrP3s0/mqdefault.jpg "Rainbow Islands [Sega Master System] - Full Game 1CC (Best Ending)
Rainbow Islands was originally an arcade game created by Taito and released in 1987 as the sequel to Bubble Bobble. It got a lot of ports, including this port on the Sega Master System that came out in 1993.
Ill be talking more about this port in an upcoming video because I have quite a bit to say about this port, but heres my playthrough done on my MiSTER FPGA first. I went through the first half of the game without a single death but had at least 6 deaths in the second half of the run. In fact, I had an untimely death right before the final boss but managed to overcome that to finish the run.
I used the European ROM with the Good Ending bug fix via ROMhacking.net:
https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/4112/
00:00 Intro
00:14 Stage 1-1
01:52 Stage 1-2
03:47 Stage 1-3
05:02 Stage 1-4
06:22 Stage 2-1
07:28 Stage 2-2
08:29 Stage 2-3
10:20 Stage 2-4
11:41 Stage 3-1
13:22 Stage 3-2
15:15 Stage 3-3
16:55 Stage 3-4
19:09 Stage 4-1
21:51 Stage 4-2
24:13 Stage 4-3
27:43 Stage 4-4
30:04 Stage 5-1
33:07 Stage 5-2
35:29 Stage 5-3
37:37 Stage 5-4
40:31 Stage 6-1
44:05 Stage 6-2
46:54 Stage 6-3
48:28 Stage 6-4
50:55 Stage 7-1
54:23 Stage 7-2
56:25 Stage 7-3
58:57 Stage 7-4
01:02:24 Stage 8-1
01:04:41 Stage 8-2
01:07:30 Stage 8-3
01:11:05 Final Stage
01:15:38 Ending")
