We've seen attempts to bridge this gap recently via the excellent TapTo NFC system on MiSTer FPGA, which allows you to launch games by tapping NFC cards on a special reader connected to your MiSTer. Rather than scrolling through an endless menu of ROMs, it allows you to forge a physical link with the games you play on the platform.
Wizzo, one of the creators of the TapTo system, has just shown off another evolution in the process – using CDs to launch games on MiSTer rather than NFC.
"How about using an external CD drive to launch instead of NFC?" says Wizzo on social media. "It feels super legit with the disc spinning up and everything! Still work to be done, but I have already put a PR up ready for the next release. You can see at the end as well I use the NFC reader. They both work seamlessly together. Maybe some cool stuff can be done to combine them later?"
We're assuming that the CD itself contains the same instruction data as an NFC card and merely tells the MiSTer which ROM to open on its internal memory—so don't expect to load up your original discs this way, Polymega-style.
Some might see this as adding unnecessary friction to the process of loading games, but for us, this is a cool step towards creating an authentic experience; hearing the disc spin was a big part of gaming back in the '90s, just as tape loading noise and floppy drive clicks make ZX Spectrum and Amiga fans nostalgic.
Would you add this to your own setup? Let us know with a comment.
