NES/Famicom Multicarts

[pbj]

I'll test it further, but I played a level, turned off the system, played another game, turned off system, turned back on and fired up Kirby and the save was there and worked.  Supposedly playing some games will corrupt the Kirby saves... 

 

I played Rock Board.  That game is.... A polished turd.  Three hours gone...

[Howard_Casto]

Maybe that covered blob on the pcb is a battery?  Seems an odd way to do it though. 

Yeah the Rockman board game is kind of like the mentally challenged version of Mario Party.... minus any fun. 

The one that surprised me, because I barely played it once as a kid, is Rush N' Attack.  A surprising amount of skill and strategy is required for that one.  Tons of fun if you are into that sort of game.   

[pbj]

I'll take another look at the chips.  My version has far fewer components on it than the Pocket Games labelled one.

[pbj]

Okay, scratch all that.  Save games are not retained with Kirby on this version.

 

[Locke141]

Just to confirm, Howard yours saves right?

I just ordered a front loader for $36.99 with two remotes off eBay. It is mission the door so I ordered on for $5 shipped. If I find a 23 SCART CRT over seas I'll RGB mod this one or my top loader. 

[Howard_Casto]

Yeah... I mean I tried it once, but like pbj I'm not super into Kirby. 

[pbj]

Also, TMNT 1 does not work on a real NES, but fine on the Famiclone.  That was another one I read was problematic...

Spend the extra $8 and get the NES version with the battery.  For $6.15, I'm not at all upset but there's no sense in not spending a few more bucks and having it all work.

[Locke141]

Thanks PBJ,

I or the NES one. While I was at it, I ordered a front loader NES for $36 with two remotes. It's my last day of vacation in the US so both will arrive at my parents house after I leave. I can't wait to have my own place in the US so I can design to display and you know play on original hard ware from time to time.

[Howard_Casto]

I'm thinking of lugging out a smaller crt and getting that multicart with all the lightgun games on it.  Does anyone have any info on that one?

[pbj]

There's a new one, I've seen it called 139 in 1.  Menu is simpler but the games are in alphabetical order.  Includes final fantasy, mother, zelda, etc.  The catch is that even starting another battery game can kill your save on another game.

Howard - sacrifice thy wallet.

[Howard_Casto]

Eh... the N8 clones are finally out, so I'll probably just go that route. 

[thomas_surles]

Odd I guess! 

I still say I'd like to see a set of carts containing what they could of the complete US library.
I think that would be super cool.

I'm actually looking into getting some of the SD cart options. The Sega Genesis one is quite reasonable, the SNES & N64 substantially more.
Being in Canada with a weal dollar I'll wait a lil bit.

http://m.aliexpress.com/item/32716178027.html?aff_click_id=abadcf49df004a8086a5954c3a1cb5d0-1471958166277-06049-ENjUBzea&aff_platform=y

[pbj]

Does it play Castlevania 3?

[thomas_surles]

Does it play Castlevania 3?

You will be the first to know for sure.

[mike boss]

@ thomas_surles

I'm just getting back to this thread and the Ali Express link you posted doesn't work.

Since coming across this thread I ordered a few Multi-Carts, for the price (Around $20 CDN) I think they are super cool, super fun.
I saw one recently that was supposed to be "the 120 (or so) best NES games ever!"

It had Kid Icarus which I thought was awesome, none I've found had Punch-Out! (that sucks!)

[pbj]

Yeah, "the best of Nes" is the 143in1.  Been fighting the urge to buy it.

[thomas_surles]

@ thomas_surles

I'm just getting back to this thread and the Ali Express link you posted doesn't work.

Since coming across this thread I ordered a few Multi-Carts, for the price (Around $20 CDN) I think they are super cool, super fun.
I saw one recently that was supposed to be "the 120 (or so) best NES games ever!"

It had Kid Icarus which I thought was awesome, none I've found had Punch-Out! (that sucks!)

The link died like the next day. No longer available. But I snatched one up for $60

[JDFan]

The link died like the next day. No longer available. But I snatched one up for $60

Nice find - seems they only have the empty cartridges listed on aliexpress anymore and the sites with the PCB want over $100 for the bare PCB and about $20+ for the cartridge and label.  SO $60 for the cart label 8GB. SD card and PCB is a good deal.

[thomas_surles]

The link died like the next day. No longer available. But I snatched one up for $60

Nice find - seems they only have the empty cartridges listed on aliexpress anymore and the sites with the PCB want over $100 for the bare PCB and about $20+ for the cartridge and label.  SO $60 for the cart label 8GB. SD card and PCB is a good deal.

It is the Chinese knock-off, but it's of the latest version of the n8 ( which really don't need anymore updates) but if your going to get a fake everdrive, this is the one. Bout to test castlevania 3 for mister jelly.

[thomas_surles]

Does it play Castlevania 3?

You will be the first to know for sure.

[Howard_Casto]

The link died like the next day. No longer available. But I snatched one up for $60

Nice find - seems they only have the empty cartridges listed on aliexpress anymore and the sites with the PCB want over $100 for the bare PCB and about $20+ for the cartridge and label.  SO $60 for the cart label 8GB. SD card and PCB is a good deal.

They keep popping up occasionally.  "Everdrive" is no longer a valid search.  Flash Card or China Ver.  will most likely get you some results.

[pbj]

It's 11/11... big discounts running on these from your favorite Chinese importers.....

[Howard_Casto]

They have a lot on sale, but I have trouble searching their site anymore.  I can't find anything.  One thing I did see was the 8bitdo Bluetooth dongles for the snes on sale for 16 bucks.

They have a new xxx in 1 cart for this season, but I haven't heard if it's any good or not. 

[pbj]

What's the new one called?  The last one I saw was "The Best of NES Remix" or something that had Final Fantasy and Earthbound on it.

[Howard_Casto]

Hmm.... I should have kept the link.  It just said something like "new for fall 2016.... includes contra". 

[bigster]

There are some cool looking snes ones with Zelda lttp and parallel worlds plus 2 other RPGs.  Looks like they do custom multis

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk

[pbj]

This arrived today, about $12 shipped. Took a month.



The problematic games on the Famicom version (Mario 2 & 3, TMNT 1) are fine on this version.

The boot up screen has also been removed.

 

[Howard_Casto]

Nice.  Not fond of the color, but that looks like the one I mentioned before.  I might have to get it just to get rid of the boot screen.

[pbj]

They had multiple colors... I picked green.

[jabsder]

green? 

green is not nintendo like.

Nintendo is red or purple and sega is blue, thats it. Everything else is amateurish

[Mike A]

What sort of gibberish is that?

[pbj]

FYI these are unplayable on a RetroDuo.

[pbj]

Tried a couple of mods on the Famicom cartridge.

First I added a Zener diode to the unpopulated spot on the PCB.  These traces were not bridged already as they are on other multicarts.  No change.

Next I ran a jumper wire from the OE pin of the ram chip to the CHR RD pin (#17 on the cartridge).  This scrambled all my graphics but everything booted and "played."

So these mods were both removed and we are back to "stock."  Games that didn't work previously still don't work.

Oh well.

[pbj]

So this showed up on Saturday:



It was $12.43 shipped.  Ordered on March 30, arrived April 22.  Obvious searches from usual sellers should turn up many variations of this.

No boot up screen, kicks you directly to a text menu with the games in alphabetical order.  Only exception I saw was Mario Bros that they grouped in with SMB 1, 2, and 3 which was a nice touch.

River City Ransom is the USA ROM and in English.  I played it about an hour and it seemed 100% working.  Perhaps it's just wishful thinking, but it seemed like less character flickering than I remember.

Unfortunately, the games I bought this to play (primarily Final Fantasy 3 and Star Tropics 1 & 2) have annoying issues.  All the dialogue text in Final Fantasy 3 is garbled so the game is unplayable.  Star Tropics 1 & 2 both go completely silent once you get passed the title screen.  Which would be a blessing for many NES games but is annoying for those. 

Legend of Zelda seemed to be fine.

So, the non-working ones are a real bummer, but the library on this thing pretty much nails the NES.  Between this and a 151 in 1, I feel like I have the system covered.

 

[Howard_Casto]

Multi carts are awesome.  They are so cheap I'm tempted to get one of each so we can do a database of which ones have which games and which games are broken ect.....

I never have managed to contact someone about getting a batch of custom carts made. 

[pbj]

Hm, that's an interesting idea.  Have it searchable by either game or specific cartridge so you can drill down to the one that has the games you truly want.  I could throw a list into a spreadsheet quickly.

Tonight I've been enjoying Deja Vu.  Probably 25 years since I beat it.  I'm surprised by how many of the steps I remembered.

[Howard_Casto]

Yeah I would be glad to take an afternoon and do mine as well.  Maybe we can get a database going assuming we aren't the only two people that likes these things. 

It never ceases to amaze me how much I can remember from an old game.  I've got to think the portion of my mind used to memorize mega man patterns and mortal kombat ii fatalities could have been used to cure cancer or something.  Oh well... gotta have priorities I guess. 

[Locke141]

Tonight I've been enjoying Deja Vu.  Probably 25 years since I beat it.  I'm surprised by how many of the steps I remembered.

Good game. I replayed shadow gate last year. I forgot enough to make it very frustrating at times. There is a sequel called Deja Vu 2 that I have never played. There was also a kick starter a while back do a remake of shadow gate. Its on steam and looks good.

 I ordered one of these cats last summer, I'll also make a list for you guys.

[Howard_Casto]

We need to take pics as well... inside and out as many of these carts are hard to tell apart.

[pbj]

Finally beat Deja Vu.  Sad to see Engrish in an American game..



Not a single walkthrough on Game Faqs gets the final steps exactly right, either.

Turns out Final Fantasy 2 & 3 never had NES release.  FF3 is unplayable but FF2 appears to be a decent fan translation.

Despite saying Little Samson on the game select menu, it boots up Lickle.

Bubble Bobble works.

Been an interesting session of oddities with this cart.  Cracked it open and it has a pcb similar to what we are seeing in the others, but screened "mind kid."  Native 72 pins, no converter.