MiSTer FPGA Updates Bring Darius 2 Progress And Handy Tools

MiSTer FPGA has a busy batch of updates, and this one has a nice old-arcade feel. The highlights touch work-in-progress cores, easier maintenance tools, and a few quality-of-life pieces that make the system feel more console-like.

Darius 2 And Ninja Warriors

The in-development Darius 2 core has reached a good visual milestone: sprites are now behaving properly. The core is still marked as work in progress, so this is not the finish line, but it is a strong step for fans watching the triple-screen arcade side of MiSTer.

Audio is next on the list, along with more polish and hardware testing. That testing still needs to cover the ROM variants for Darius II and The Ninja Warriors triple-screen releases. The core is expected to arrive soon for the official MiSTer setup.

DOS Games Get A Console Feel

zip2vhd-gui is an AO486 virtual hard disk builder made to help consolize DOS games. It creates bootable virtual hard disks with automatic launch settings and per-game key bindings, so each game can feel more direct once it is prepared.

The useful part is that the tool runs entirely on MiSTer FPGA. Downloads and more information are available through MiSTer FPGA resources, keeping the workflow close to the hardware instead of sending users back and forth between machines.

RetroAchievements And Updates

Special core builds with RetroAchievements support are also part of the current news. A separate MiSTer Main build is required for this setup, and instructions are available on GitHub for anyone who wants to try that achievement-friendly path.

Update All has reached version 2.8. To pick up the current script changes and related MiSTer updates, run the Update All script directly on your MiSTer FPGA system.

MiSTer Companion is another helpful piece for day-to-day care. It is a lightweight cross-platform GUI utility that manages and maintains a MiSTer FPGA over SSH, giving users a simple way to handle common maintenance tasks without opening a terminal.

CPS3 And Neo Geo Pocket

Jotego shared a quick CPS3 core update as well. The CPS3 sound and video modules are functional, and the SDRAM memory architecture is working. He was at the boot-up stage and expected the core to boot over the May 1st weekend.

The Neo Geo Pocket core also gets a welcome note: game saving is said to be working well. It is a small-sounding detail, but for handheld libraries and longer sessions, reliable saving is exactly the kind of feature that makes a core feel ready for regular play.