List of SD card hack, carts, alternative replacements to CD drive.

[Howard_Casto]

Well that's annoying.  Don't worry, they'll be back.  I've noticed over the last few months they have waves of appearing and disappearing.

*edit*

If you can't wait, amazon has everything but the N8.  Just search for "everdrive" or "Super China" and they should all pop up. 

[thomas_surles]

That was my first purchase from Aliexpress. I got this lame 10 day countdown until it even ships.

[Howard_Casto]

Patience is a virtue with them.  Depending upon what it is I typically have to wait 2 weeks or more.  It doesn't take the two months that the site allows for though. 

I'm thinking or ordering some arcade parts from them in the future, just to see what they are like.  You can get a madcatz style set of buttons, joystick and encoder for 20 bucks shipped!  Even their illuminated stuff is fairly inexpensive. 

If you are willing to re-wire them (takes about 15-20 min with a soldering iron), you can get scart cables really cheap as well.  I started a thread just before the site crashed, but anyway, it turns out that my snes cable had bad dithering because the sync was being fed from the composite video line instead of csync or luma.  I wired on a switch for both as the N64 apparently doesn't always have csync (mine does, woot!).  Anyway, the picture is crystal clear now.  These people making "monster" scart cables probably didn't even check the ends... as I suspected... it wasn't the thickness of the shielding but the wiring.  I think I paid 6 bucks as opposed to 20+.  That doesn't sound like a big deal, until you realize you have a lot of consoles to buy cables for. 

[Malenko]

its the same price on amazon, I'll order it up tomorrow hopefully they dont get pulled over night like what happened on ali heh

[thomas_surles]

Just got an email saying it shipped. So that's cool.

[Howard_Casto]

Nice.   I need to get the snes and nes and then it's off to see what I can do with the disc-based systems.

Has anyone ever bought a PAL gamecube and had it imported?   I'm thinking of getting a gba player and since I can't find that elusive rgb cable I figured I would go the scart route. 

Should that be added to the list?  There's a gamecube mem card 2 sd adapter you can get and after that you can use one of the exploitable games to boot homebrew and backups off the sd.  Actually it's so simple you can build one, but they are so cheap it's hardly worth it.

[thomas_surles]

I got the SD media launcher
http://uk.codejunkies.com/Products/SD-Media-Launcher__EF000580V.aspx

It works great. Launch from sd card or from burnt mini dvd. Or full size dvd if you have a case mod.

[Malenko]

Why are the N64 flash carts so expensive?

[Howard_Casto]

I say it's because the particular style of mem chips and the security is weird, pbj disagrees.  I know that, for whatever reason, the n64 flash carts use a fpga, which seems like overkill, so there must be something weird going on. 

[thomas_surles]

I think there seems to be a large demand for them as well. I got the official one for 100 during krikzz black friday.

[opt2not]

I got my pre-order in for the Everdrive GBA and cannot wait to get it in my hands!

I was running one of the newer EZ-Flash IV's, the version that uses MicroSD and I'm really looking forward to replacing it with the Everdrive GBA. It was fine for being a cheaply priced $35 cart, obviously built in China due to it's cheap plastic case, components and cumbersome software.

From what I've gathered here's a list of upgrades the Everdrive has over the EZ-Flash:

- Better menu interface for selecting games
- No cumbersome writing software needed (EZ-Flash IV requires you to use EZ-Client, which patches roms for the save functions and in some cases the functionality of some games to work)
- Much less power consumption
- Real-time clock support
- Fast Loading (most games load within 1 - 2 seconds (my EZ-Flash takes FOREVER to flash)
- SD, SDHC and SDXC cards are supported. Tested with micro-SD cards up to 64GB -- FAT32 support
- All save types supported, no ROM patching required
- High compatibility. Near to 100% compatibility with GBA game library
- Sturdy plastic shell (unlike the EZ-Flash IV's that feels like it'll crack every time you pull the cart out of your GBA)

The price is much higher though so YMMV.

Just wanted to mention I've recieved my EverdriveGBA and it has lived up to the hype!
Build quality alone is great, but the functionality of the OS blows the competition out of the water. There has already been a couple firmware updates for better micro-SD card support and bug fixes.  I can also confirm the power draw is lower than the EZ-Flash.
I'm really happy with it. Pricier yes, but you get what you pay for.

[Howard_Casto]

imho less power consumption and a nicer gui is NOT worth an extra 70 dollars. 

[thomas_surles]

imho less power consumption and a nicer gui is NOT worth an extra 70 dollars.

Well the real time clock covers the inflating cost of the pokemon games.

[opt2not]

YMMV

Personally I don't think spending $100+ on a N64 flash cart is worth it, given that you can count the good games on one hand for that system. But there seems to be some odd  rose-coloured fondness for that system for some reason even though most of the library is crapware.
But hey, that just like, my opinion, man.

[vwalbridge]

YMMV

Personally I don't think spending $100+ on a N64 flash cart is worth it, given that you can count the good games on one hand for that system. But there seems to be some odd  rose-coloured fondness for that system for some reason even though most of the library is crapware.
But hey, that just like, my opinion, man.

+1  It baffles me that people like the N64. The system and it's games didn't age well in my mind. And the couple of good games on it have been re-made into better versions today anyway.

I have so much more of a charming connection with Nintendo prior to the N64 era.

[thomas_surles]

Like I've said before. My wife got me the everdrive 64 as a Christmas gift. I do enjoy it. Golden eye, perfect dark, quake 2, Turok, banjo kazooie/Tooie, Conkers bfd, super smash bros., super Mario 64, Yoshida story, and paper mario are great games. A lot of crap games and ports that were better on other consoles. But it is still cool to have. A little too pricey though.

[Malenko]

I want a good cheap SNES flash cart more than any other system , and that's mostly to play Super Fire Pro Wrestling X Premium on real hardware for once.

[thomas_surles]

I want a good cheap SNES flash cart more than any other system , and that's mostly to play Super Fire Pro Wrestling X Premium on real hardware for once.

I plan on getting the super everdrive this black friday

[Howard_Casto]

YMMV

Personally I don't think spending $100+ on a N64 flash cart is worth it, given that you can count the good games on one hand for that system. But there seems to be some odd  rose-coloured fondness for that system for some reason even though most of the library is crapware.
But hey, that just like, my opinion, man.

Good thing I didn't then.  I bought the ed64plus.... only 65 bucks.  The N64 only has a handful of stellar games that hold up... the thing is, those games are THAT good and if you still don't have the original carts, the cost of buying a game or two is more than the cost of a flash cart, even the legit everdrive.  Goldeneye, just as an example, is typically 25-30 bucks online.  Mario Kart 64 can go as high as 50 dollars.  Those are extremely common games.  I can't imagine what the rarer ones cost. 

Gameboy games, on the other hand, are practically free when it comes to all but the rarest of carts, which is why the price point needs to be kind of on the low side.  Also, talk about not holding up.... black and white games meant to be played on a tiny little green screen.  Portable games don't hold up at all imo because most of them (not all) are downgraded ports of home console games.  I think the entire Gameboy line, from the original to the gba, might have 20 games still worth playing.  Most are Zeldas and Metroids with a Castlevania or two thrown in. 

We are kind of screwed with the snes.... either pay 300+ for a cart that might eventually play all the odd-ball chipped games (I'm not holding my breath) or get a more reasonably priced one and still have to fill in a collection with 10 or 20 popular games that won't run on a flash cart. 

The NES is also surprisingly high, but again, I think they are using a fpga to take the place of the dozen or so mapper chips.  It doesn't sting as bad because at least half of the 800+ nes library is pretty fun to play and like the n64, the carts are expensive now. 

[opt2not]

Also forgot to mention the latest firmware release for the EverdriveGBA has native support for nes and gb/gbc emulators. Plus some other significant features! This thing is getting better and better!

V1.10
03.09.2016
1)Emulation support for NES and GB/GBC games. Required third party emulators (PocketNES and Goomba)
Now any nes or gb/gbc games starts right from menu, like regular gba ROMs.
Emulators download link: http://www.dwedit.org/gba/
Jusr drop goomba.gba and pocketnes.gba into GBASYS folder, now you can play gb, gbc and nes games!
2)Hide GBASYS option
3)Rom setting option: individual save and rtc settings for each ROM.

[opt2not]

Gameboy games, on the other hand, are practically free when it comes to all but the rarest of carts, which is why the price point needs to be kind of on the low side.  Also, talk about not holding up.... black and white games meant to be played on a tiny little green screen.  Portable games don't hold up at all imo because most of them (not all) are downgraded ports of home console games.  I think the entire Gameboy line, from the original to the gba, might have 20 games still worth playing.  Most are Zeldas and Metroids with a Castlevania or two thrown in.

I definitely do not agree with this. There are plenty of great games from the GB-GBA that hold up, from every genre. You also have some arcade remakes that have expanded on their gameplay and in a lot of cases improved on the console viability of those games. Look at DK, Burgertime Deluxe, Qbert for the GB. Amazing improvements that have higher production values than the originals. Then there are the hidden gems like Mercenary Force, ZAS, Mole Mania, Revenge of the Gator, Shantae, Trip World, Gargoyle's Quest, Survival Kids...I can go on, and that's just GB titles! IMO the GB is one of the greatest systems with a library of titles that bridge the gap between arcade and console games.

For GBA, yes you have the standard pedestrian titles, but there are also a lot of great hidden gems as well. Before speaking about those let me mention the Castlevania's; here you have 3 awesome follow-ups to SOTN, high quality titles with great level design and artwork. If you're a metroidvania fan, these titles are vital to the fandom. Heck even Metroid Zero and Fusion are worth mentioning since they carry on the series rather than just porting, 'cause lets be honest there are a lot of SNES ports on the system from the Marios to Final Fantasy's.
Now I digress, other GBA titles worth mentioning: Sword of Mana - awesome remake/reinvisioning of Final Fantasy Adventure (SoM1), Sigma Star Saga, Astro Boy, Gradius Galaxies, Boktai (very clever game using a light sensor), Mario vs DK, Pokemon Pinball (actually pretty decent and a fun "catch-em-all" spin on the franchaise), Pinball of the Dead, Mother 3, Steel Empire..again I can go on and on.

From these lists alone, there are many more titles that hold up much more than the handful of N64 "good titles". But again YMMV. I suggest giving the GB -> GBA titles a chance.

[Howard_Casto]

Well I'm going to have to agree to disagree.  Original Gameboy games, even those with gbc enhancements, are too ugly to play.  Black and white = not worth it for all but the most amazing titles (again zelda and Metroid mostly).  I didn't even play Metroid 2 except in remake form because the black and white tiles made it extremely confusing to navigate to different areas in the game.... everything looks the same.  Yes there are hidden gems, but there are hidden gems on the Atari jaguar... that doesn't mean it's worth the price of admission. 

The gba library is much better, I'll gladly admit that, but again, there aren't many that are great.  They are more playable certainly, but not unless you are playing them on a console because the screens on portables and even the whole concept of a portable kind of sucks.  These days we are getting oled screens, larger screens and better clarity and resolution, but I just can't play anything older than a DS at this point.  The DS screen is too small if we are being honest... maybe an XL.

[Malenko]

but there are hidden gems on the Atari jaguar... that doesn't mean it's worth the price of admission. 

No there aren't. The "best" game is probably AVP , and its terrible.

There are *many* great GBA games , but I'll agree only a handful of regular GB games. I'll never turn down a game of "Fall of the Footclan" though 

[opt2not]

I don't want to sound harsh, but for a guy who is having problems with his eyesight, you do care a lot about visuals rather than core gameplay mechanics. Which is weird given that are quick to defend the N64 which has some of the ugliest visuals for early 3D work. That, and as an arcader I would expect visuals would be secondary to gameplay. Do you just not like monochrome? Because I can mention the quality of sprite-work in some of these titles as many of them are of a higher degree of style and aesthetic than a majority of NES games.

[thomas_surles]

So the n8 clone left china by air a week ago and still has not landed in the US. I think we should be looking for a missing plane..

[pbj]

but there are hidden gems on the Atari jaguar... that doesn't mean it's worth the price of admission. 

No there aren't. The "best" game is probably AVP , and its terrible.

Malenko is correct.  Jaguar is the worst system I've ever owned.

[thomas_surles]

but there are hidden gems on the Atari jaguar... that doesn't mean it's worth the price of admission. 

No there aren't. The "best" game is probably AVP , and its terrible.

Malenko is correct.  Jaguar is the worst system I've ever owned.

Have you seen the ridiculous price they are asking on ebay. Cheapest one is 69 for a broken one..
There was absolutely nothing worth playing.

[Howard_Casto]

I don't want to sound harsh, but for a guy who is having problems with his eyesight, you do care a lot about visuals rather than core gameplay mechanics. Which is weird given that are quick to defend the N64 which has some of the ugliest visuals for early 3D work. That, and as an arcader I would expect visuals would be secondary to gameplay. Do you just not like monochrome? Because I can mention the quality of sprite-work in some of these titles as many of them are of a higher degree of style and aesthetic than a majority of NES games.

You aren't getting it.  It's all three shades of pea green so I can't see the damn thing.  I even gave you an example of how the graphics effect the core gameplay.... you get turned around in Metroid ii.  I didn't even like the Gameboy that much when I was a kid and had 20/20 vision for the same reasons.... excessive ghosting on the screen and not a whole lot of contrast.  You shouldn't waste a bunch of money to play Gameboy games on the original hardware because the original hardware sucks.   Visuals matter when they make gameplay difficult.   Emulate it so you can play on a nice crisp screen and actually see what is going on.  I recommend that for any portable btw.... like I mentioned, we are just now getting screens on handhelds that are bright enough and large enough to make gaming viable.

Personally I've been looking at the Gameboy player route, but it isn't really worth sinking a bunch of money into.  I'm probably just going to stick to emulation and play the handful of Gameboy games worth playing.

The N64 had the best visuals of that era due to better polygon designs and better hardware.  If you don't believe me fire up a blocky psx game with no anti-aliasing and those dithered textures and see how long you can stand it.  Some people prefer it because there are larger textures, but I sure don't.  It doesn't matter anyway.  There's a reason n64 titles are still regularly in lists of greatest games of all time and the psx, if you are lucky might get a nod to ff7 and metal gear solid, and it isn't the visuals.

I guess you guys aren't a fan of Tempest 2000 then.  Not that it's worth it to buy a Jaguar for it... that was kind of my point.

The hobby is hitting maximum saturation and unfortunately anything that isn't either a portable or the most common of systems is getting sky high.  I keep hoping that it will go down, but for whatever reason the stuff stays up.  I don't see how considering how seldom I see any people with retro console/game collections.

[opt2not]

Oh I get it, some people aren't as gaming agnostic as others, and that's fine. Can't expect everyone to get game design and appreciate solid gameplay especially when hardware is a limitation. Like you said, we can agree to disagree. I'm going to leave it at that since you and I don't really have the same gaming tastes.

Moving on...I've been playing with 1.10 for EverdriveGBA, and I got to say, booting up NES games on this thing has been made so much easier! For some reason I've been stuck on playing the NES port of Prince of Persia. Pretty decent low-budget port of the PC version, and is pretty close to the original minus the graphic detail and screen scrolling limitations.

but there are hidden gems on the Atari jaguar... that doesn't mean it's worth the price of admission. 

No there aren't. The "best" game is probably AVP , and its terrible.

Malenko is correct.  Jaguar is the worst system I've ever owned.

^ this 100%. AvP wasn't that great though,  Tempest 2000 was a better game IMO but the Playstation version was better (named Tempest X3). Better Sound, better Graphics and the gameplay was more tuned, especially with the enemies. I remember Defender 2000 also being a decent update. But really, there aren't any "gems" on that system at all and really not worth owning for a couple mediocre remakes.

[ChadTower]

Can't seem to turn one up via Google but maybe I'm just missing it.  Anyone know of a drive removal mod for the Sega CD?  I finally got the Sega CD I mentioned earlier in the thread working.  Can't seem to get it to read CDRs, though, so the next step would be an SD type mod if it exists.

[opt2not]

http://krikzz.com/forum/index.php?topic=5586.0

Another EverdriveGBA firmware update from Krikzz!  These are coming in hot!

V1.11
08.09.2016
1)SMS and GameGear emulation support. Required third party emulator (SMSAdvance)

[thomas_surles]

http://krikzz.com/forum/index.php?topic=5586.0

Another EverdriveGBA firmware update from Krikzz!  These are coming in hot!

V1.11
08.09.2016
1)SMS and GameGear emulation support. Required third party emulator (SMSAdvance)

Well damn. It's got more emulators than any everdrive. I still want the everdrive gg to play in my game gear though.

[gamepimp]

FYI the Everdrive store is doing 20% off on the 25th for Black Friday if anyone is looking to pick one up.

[thomas_surles]

FYI the Everdrive store is doing 20% off on the 25th for Black Friday if anyone is looking to pick one up.

Yeah the sale just started. I will be picking up my 4th edition.

[thomas_surles]

Just ordered the super everdrive 
Now I have to wait until Christmas to play it.

[gamepimp]

Nice! 

I ordered a few different carts. I'm hoping they make it before Xmas so that I will have some time off to play around with them...

[Howard_Casto]

I think it's about time for me to get a snes cart as well.  I'll have to think on it a bit. 

[thomas_surles]

Well since you like the Chinese carts, they have the sd2snes for 114. I don't know about the super everdrive China versions though. They are mostly based on the Everdrive v1 and don't have the dsp 1234 support. Just optional dsp 1 if you take it from another cart.

[Howard_Casto]

Well that's the thinking part.  I've got to research which games need what so I'll know what to buy.  My snes collection has all the major titles, so I might be able to get away with a cheaper one.  The only ones that come to mind that use special chips that I don't have are Star Fox and Mario Kart and honestly I don't have any desire to revisit those titles.... their n64 counterparts are better. 

[Howard_Casto]

I'm not sure if this will help anyone trying to determine which snes cart to buy, but I found it helpful:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Super_NES_enhancement_chips

Scroll to the bottom and sort by chip type. 

What you will se is there aren't any dsp 2-4 games worth mentioning, a couple of dsp 1 games of note and really the rest use SA 1 more than anything.  Of course there are a handful of good sfx games, but atm I don't think even the sd2snes can handle sfx.   So I need to do some research on the sa 1, but it looks to me that a basic snes cart with the dsp installed might be best for me. 

*EDIT*

Going to krizz's site it appears that SA 1 doesn't work on either cart and there doesn't seem to be any plan to implement it on the sd2snes anytime soon.  So assuming you install the dsp 1 into a super everdrive, the only additional games you will get on the sd2snes are the lone dsp 2, 3 and 4 games and a handful of oddballs like that.  When/if the programming on the sd2snes is done I would be glad to buy it, but atm it doesn't seem worth it.  I might hold off a while to see if any progress is made.