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SNES Game Collecting (Tips, discussion, and info for like minded collectors)

Teknoman

Member
yo damn

I need to lurk Nintendoage more. Thanks for the link!

Yeah, they did the CIB repros.

There has been a lot of competition going on with new repro makers moving in over the last year selling things at half or even less what these sites were charging previously. I'd imagine that has been a major hit to their cart only sales.



Tons of people if you want cart only. This guy will do it for $30 or 3 for $75 and his stuff is absolutely fantastic.

From that thread:

Bookmarked! He's doing Uforia and Mr. Gimmick too? I'd double down on those. The rest, I think im gonna stick to getting SFC carts translated.

Whats the story behind Nightmare Busters again?
 

jdkluv

Member
I recall seeing the start of a SomethingAwful LP on Brandish. Apparently the game doesn't dynamically rotate the map, like it appears to, but actually has every rotation of the level built in to the map, and it dynamically teleports everything to the correct position whenever you turn.

Thinking about it in that way makes the games harder than they really are. Ares (the protagonist) actually turns, but because it's the 90s, there's no real 3D, so it looks like the world turns around him. It's an ingenious system, really. I admit it is REALLY weird at first, but once you get the hang of it, you will understand what Brandish is all about, something that not a lot of people do.

Here's a hint: It involves awesome-perfection, with greatness.

There's also a overhaul remake of Brandish 1 called Brandish: The Dark Revenant for the PSP. The thing is, with the 3D graphics, the rotations are now completely smooth, and navigation is far less disorientating than it ever was in any of the other versions. Seriously, just watch ANY video from the original Brandish and then watch this. It's like "WHOA!".

Some reviews by crazy people (like me) of the SNES port who also love Brandish:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/snes/588228-brandish/reviews/review-116982
http://www.gamefaqs.com/snes/588228-brandish/reviews/review-106089
http://www.gamefaqs.com/snes/588228-brandish/reviews/review-133533
 
Thinking about it in that way makes the games harder than they really are.
Think about it however you want. Obviously the end result is supposed to look like the world's rotating around you; I'm talking about how such an effect was actually implemented, from a technical standpoint.

(Also, I've never actually played Brandish, and the LP in question was a screenshot LP, so I didn't see the effect, either.)
 

ChrisMoses

Neo Member
The Timewalk news really sucks. I've been scouring the internet for a replacement site, but haven't really been satisfied enough to attempt an order.

I got just about everything I need from Timewalk over the past two years or so, except Secret of Mana 2. Was going to include it in my most recent order, but opted for Final Fantasy V instead. :(
 

jdkluv

Member
Think about it however you want. Obviously the end result is supposed to look like the world's rotating around you; I'm talking about how such an effect was actually implemented, from a technical standpoint.

(Also, I've never actually played Brandish, and the LP in question was a screenshot LP, so I didn't see the effect, either.)

Well, you talk about how it looks without playing any of the games, while I say this after having played (and beaten) the SNES version of both Brandish 1 and 2 (Heck, I even streamed a full playthrough of Brandish 2 SFC.), Brandish: The Dark Revenant and even imported an original PC-98 copy of Brandish 3. I enjoyed (and still enjoy) the heck out of them, so pretty sure I know what I'm talking about.

It is obvious that the screen doesn't rotate since Falcom couldn't do that with the technology at the time (1991~1995), but the games actually work as the way I say (just watch a video of Dark Revenant). I say this because there's no way in getting used to the camera of the Brandish series (sans VT/4 -- that has an isometric camera) if you just keep the mind closed and think "the world turns and Ares doesn't", but only if you keep an open mind and think about it as if it was real life.

Oh and btw, just so you (and more people) can see how Brandish looks and works: Here's an animated gif of the original PC-98 version of Brandish 1 that I made:

WvgxHMt.gif


See? Ares actually turns, and then the screen does a 90º turn to the direction you've selected. It's a lot easier in Dark Revenant, since everything is in 3D, so turning looks good and it doesn't transition instantly, making people think that it's warpring.

Man, what a wonderful series.

(Sorry if I sound rude or anything, I just want more people to be aware about how great Brandish actually is ;-;)
 

alf717

Member
So basically any SNES with the S-ENC chip can do straight component out without having the amplify the signal? I have two SNES units with this chip in it. I might give this a good sometime.
 

-KRS-

Member
Got these two in the mail:

After playing it a bit, Super Bomberman 3 might just be the best one in the series on SNES. It's the one I've had the most fun playing so far. Super Bomberman 5 was also available from the same seller but after looking at some videos of it I didn't like the graphical style it used and some people said that 5 is the worst one on SNES.

And Super Nazo Puyo. I actually thought it was a regular Puyo Puyo game but as it turns out it's actually some sort of RPG-style game where you "battle" opponents by successfully finishing some sort of Puyo-based puzzle, like remove all the red Puyos with these limited upcoming Puyo blocks, or get a 4-chain with these blocks, etc etc. I later learned that "Nazo" apparently means puzzle in Japanese, so it makes sense. It's actually a really fun game though, and it's perfect for someone like me who've just gotten into Puyo Puyo because of how it sets up the puzzles. It makes it easier to think about and practice making chains. It gets pretty hard pretty quickly though. There also seems to be a regular Puyo Puyo mode in the game but I'm not sure if it's multiplayer or not. And despite being an RPG of sorts, it's still a very simple game and a westerner can play it fine. There are maps that you move around on but it's simply to go from one opponent to the next. The only problems I ran into was that the rules for each puzzle is written in Japanese obviously, but I figured out what they meant pretty quickly.

Also I just love that box-art. I have no idea what it actually has to do with the game but it's just so awesomely bizarre. As far as I can tell there isn't really a food theme to the game, except for in a few things like the game over screens. And on the title screen the blue haired girl is depicted as presenting a gravy boat.
 

Irate Drake

Neo Member
Id love to get some repros of games that werent released but they seem so expensive.

I mean $30 for one game that I already have a donor cart for? I just wonder how hard it is to yourself, having solder experience and all, it cant be that hard.
 

Irate Drake

Neo Member
Ive watched videos on it, and it seems like it can be done on the cheap once you have the blank chips.

My problem is spending the money, im more of a DIY'er.
 
Blank chips aren't too pricey, but a chip programmer is a bit expensive. Depending on the chip you might need to get a UV light as well to erase them.

Desoldering the old chips + putting in new ones takes a bit of time, which I think is where most of the cost on the repro carts goes.
 
Also I just love that box-art. I have no idea what it actually has to do with the game but it's just so awesomely bizarre. As far as I can tell there isn't really a food theme to the game, except for in a few things like the game over screens. And on the title screen the blue haired girl is depicted as presenting a gravy boat.

The full game's name in English would be Super Nazo Puyo: Rulue's Roux. Roux is part of a food mixture. It's a pun of some sort, I think. Pretty much all of the Puyo Puyo games had punny names, at least while Compile made them, anyway.

Rulue's the blue-haired girl, by the way. She takes the staring role in the second Super Nazo Puyo game. The Nazo puzzles were actually part of a mission mode in the original Puyo Puyo for the Famicom and MSX. This mode was also in the Game Gear games, including Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine. Eventually, it spun off into the Nazo Puyo games, with the first one being on the Game Gear, then two Super Nazo Puyo games on the Super Famicom.

Anyway, I'd recommend getting Super Puyo Puyo Tsu/2 Remix. Puyo Puyo Tsu/2 is widely considered the best in the series, and the Remix version has some enhancements over the original Super Famicom release of it, such as an Expert mode where you battle all of the opponents in the game one after the other, and a 4-player versus mode.
 

-KRS-

Member
The full game's name in English would be Super Nazo Puyo: Rulue's Roux. Roux is part of a food mixture. It's a pun of some sort, I think. Pretty much all of the Puyo Puyo games had punny names, at least while Compile made them, anyway.

Rulue's the blue-haired girl, by the way. She takes the staring role in the second Super Nazo Puyo game. The Nazo puzzles were actually part of a mission mode in the original Puyo Puyo for the Famicom and MSX. This mode was also in the Game Gear games, including Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine. Eventually, it spun off into the Nazo Puyo games, with the first one being on the Game Gear, then two Super Nazo Puyo games on the Super Famicom.

Anyway, I'd recommend getting Super Puyo Puyo Tsu/2 Remix. Puyo Puyo Tsu/2 is widely considered the best in the series, and the Remix version has some enhancements over the original Super Famicom release of it, such as an Expert mode where you battle all of the opponents in the game one after the other, and a 4-player versus mode.

Thanks for the info! Never heard of roux before, although I'm not a chef. :p Hmm, Rulue takes the starring role in the second game you say? She seems to have a starring role in this game too. On the menu you can select between "Aruru-ru" and "Ruru-ru". That's what the kana says anyway but it lets you choose between Arle and Rulue, and their paths/puzzles are different. So it's actually two RPGs in one! haha. I guess in the second game it's only Rulue then?

And yeah I've been on the lookout for Super Puyo Puyo Tsu since I bought the first game. Is the remix version very expensive?

Edit: Also how the hell did "Aruru" turn into "Arle" in English?
 
And yeah I've been on the lookout for Super Puyo Puyo Tsu since I bought the first game. Is the remix version very expensive?

Not from what I can remember. I think it was usually between $10~$20 (U.S. dollars) whenever I saw it. I was planning to buy for a while, but I ended up getting the Saturn version instead for, like...$8 or so, shipped.
 

Irate Drake

Neo Member
Blank chips aren't too pricey, but a chip programmer is a bit expensive. Depending on the chip you might need to get a UV light as well to erase them.

Desoldering the old chips + putting in new ones takes a bit of time, which I think is where most of the cost on the repro carts goes.

Time wouldnt be much of an issue though if your just doing it for yourself I suppose.

Im pondering trying it myself. I might give it a go in the next month along with a guide (if its successful) detailing things needed and price.
 

Irate Drake

Neo Member
i think i have everything figured out except for printing labels, anyone have any insight on that?

I need a tutorial or guide for it anyway, since my Pokemon Red label is torn completely off.
 

SummitAve

Banned
Looking to get some fresh snes controllers. What is the best route? Are there good third party ones out there or is replacing the buttons/contacts the best way to go?
 
Tales of Phantasia is pretty awesome. Still blows my mind how many amazing RPGs we missed out on in the states. Kind of awesome now to have "brand new" SNES games to play thanks to fan translations, but looking at the screenshots of them online when I was younger use to be painful. Just knowing there was a second Secret of Mana out there I couldn't play was the worst.
 

JDeluis

Member
Anybody happened to know what's a good price to pay for a used SNES? I've been searching swapmeets (flee market) Some people are asking more than I would pay for one on ebay and in worst condition.
 

Celine

Member
Anyone familiar with the cancelled game Shadow Stalker? Looked like it could have been neat. I like the art lol.

http://www.unseen64.net/2010/03/05/shadow-stalker-snes-cancelled/
Of course I am :)

EDIT:
More in general about any SNES game on unseen64.

EDIT2:
Oh for anyone interested I've uploaded footage of FX Fighter (cancelled 3D fighting game) for SNES on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egbW3oYo0K8

and footage of X / NesGlider for SNES (the little prototype with polygonal graphics Argonaut was working for Nintendo before the SuperFX chip and Star Fox):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCNt8EAIWGM
 
Anybody happened to know what's a good price to pay for a used SNES? I've been searching swapmeets (flee market) Some people are asking more than I would pay for one on ebay and in worst condition.
Hit up grarage sales if you don't want to pay flea market resale prices. Only problem is gen 4 stuff is getting harder to find these days.
 
Thanks for the info! Never heard of roux before, although I'm not a chef. :p Hmm, Rulue takes the starring role in the second game you say? She seems to have a starring role in this game too. On the menu you can select between "Aruru-ru" and "Ruru-ru". That's what the kana says anyway but it lets you choose between Arle and Rulue, and their paths/puzzles are different. So it's actually two RPGs in one! haha. I guess in the second game it's only Rulue then?
The puzzles in the Rulue (I've seen Lulu used which probably makes more sense but I'm fond of Rulue) route are a hard mode and tend to have more action. What I mean by action is like you might have to navigate blocks through a maze (knowing your clockwise and anti-clockwise is important here). Its pretty easy to lose a lot of HP on those due to blocking the maze and having to forfeit the puzzle (like the Madou Mogonarti games the characters come from HP bars are not visible but the facial expression acts as your guide, levelling up recovers all HP too). I think you can choose to retry or forefit (each opponent has a set of puzzles but you only need to beat a certain number of them, their pool contains a few more than the number you need to clear) during puzzles when paused, been a long time since I played Nazo Puyo.

I think the game might actually be a compilation of game gear Nazo Puyo games actually (they has a similar looking top-down map). Though compile put out a Nazo Puyo game on the PC-98 (and from what I can gather Nazo Puyo was a regular feature of the Disc Station magazine for PC-98 and Win 95).
 

smbu2000

Member
Found this at a local store for my Super Famicom; a SFC Station Rack. It was in pretty decent condition after I gave it a quick clean-up. There is a space on top which holds the SFC perfectly and the two controllers fit in nicely on the slots on the side. The back opening also lets the cables A/V, AC etc. go out unimpeded. The inside of it holds 12 SFC games (cart only) on the right and the left side is just for any extra stuff it seems.

I picked it up for 1480 yen which isn't too bad. It also came with a beatup SFC system. (very yellowed SFC console, 2 yellowed controller, ac adapter and stereo A/V cables) The included console works fine, but I'll stick with my better looking 1CHIP SFC. I didn't really want the extra system ( as I have too many already ) but I don't mind getting the extra ac adapter and av cables.

The SFC rack fits very nicely on top of my Sony PVM-20M4J. I think I'll just tape up the wheels to make sure it doesn't "roll" anywhere.


Haven't been buying too many SFC games lately, but I did pick up Aladdin and Bahamut Lagoon recently, both with boxes and manuals for about 500 yen each. Not bad.
 

-KRS-

Member
The puzzles in the Rulue (I've seen Lulu used which probably makes more sense but I'm fond of Rulue) route are a hard mode and tend to have more action. What I mean by action is like you might have to navigate blocks through a maze (knowing your clockwise and anti-clockwise is important here). Its pretty easy to lose a lot of HP on those due to blocking the maze and having to forfeit the puzzle (like the Madou Mogonarti games the characters come from HP bars are not visible but the facial expression acts as your guide, levelling up recovers all HP too). I think you can choose to retry or forefit (each opponent has a set of puzzles but you only need to beat a certain number of them, their pool contains a few more than the number you need to clear) during puzzles when paused, been a long time since I played Nazo Puyo.

I think the game might actually be a compilation of game gear Nazo Puyo games actually (they has a similar looking top-down map). Though compile put out a Nazo Puyo game on the PC-98 (and from what I can gather Nazo Puyo was a regular feature of the Disc Station magazine for PC-98 and Win 95).

Ah yes I had some problems with those puzzles where you navigate them through a maze. Took a while before I understood that the blocks will "kick" out from the wall depending on which way they're facing/you're rotating them. Luckily the opponents you've already beaten stays beaten even after a game over, so there's no real penalty from losing other than having to replay the opponent you lost against.

Also the game spells her name as Rulue when written in romaji, like under her character portrait when you're playing a puzzle, so I guess that's the official English name. :)

And thanks for the info. Always interesting to learn things about these weird Japanese games.
 

IrishNinja

Member
man, for some reason i just love shelves like that station rack - can't stand carts being loose, it just looks sloppy to me. nice find man!
 

-KRS-

Member
It does indeed look really neat when you have carts in some sort of rack. But it's also a lot less space efficient. Like I currently have my FC carts in old cassette tape racks since they fit nicely in those and it looks neat, but if I would have them stacked loose on top of each other instead they would take up maybe one third of the space.
 

smbu2000

Member
Yeah, it is nice just to have somewhere to put the loose SFC carts that I have.

I had previously purchased these SFC game storage boxes from that same store when I saw them awhile back. Each one holds 8 SFC carts (SNES games don't fit), I picked up the two they had for 100 yen each.If they had more I would've gotten them as well. Definitely a bargain, though!


@synt4x: That's a good idea for FC carts...I've been picking up random cart only FC games lately and I need somewhere to put them.
 

-KRS-

Member
I actually got the idea from someone here on GAF, although I can't remember who, so I won't take credit for the idea. :)

And those other storage boxes you have look really great too. I like that they're so compact looking.
 

Mzo

Member
Any retail store in the 1990's.

Now, from other people who own it. Just found another one at a garage sale a couple of week ago and passed it on to Irish =]
 
The molds for the ASCII pad's buttons are identical to the SNES ones, so you can do a button swap to get your purp on.
More importantly, you get the concave XY.
 

JDeluis

Member
Hit up grarage sales if you don't want to pay flea market resale prices. Only problem is gen 4 stuff is getting harder to find these days.

Seems like the best way. At the flee markets I don't even bother going into reseller booths. Fnding Sega Genesis games and hardware is a lot cheaper.
 

Mzo

Member
The molds for the ASCII pad's buttons are identical to the SNES ones, so you can do a button swap to get your purp on.
More importantly, you get the concave XY.

The Super Famicom colors are a big part of why I like the ASCII Pad. I don't think I've ever used the turbo switches, but they did curb my odd childhood habit of headbutting controllers when I lost with a quickness.
 
I read the Mike Moffet blog and couldn't tell if there was a way to know if you have a SNES with the right chip for this mod without cracking it open. Is there a serial number or something that would give it away?

I got my SNES in spring of 93 so I'm kind of doubting it's old enough.
 
I posted his blog link since he was the one (as far as I know) to discover the component mod. There are some better references if you're looking to do it yourself, but most of them are long threads with new discoveries just added in as they were found, some of which have devolved into people making bad amps and arguing about them. Try looking at racketboy, sega-16 or nesdev.

1993 might be fine. My SNES mainboard is (c) 1993 and it has the S-ENC B chip.
 

IrishNinja

Member
... but they did curb my odd childhood habit of headbutting controllers when I lost with a quickness.

ahahahaha, we should have a thread on these habits. i knew a kid who'd bite his controllers, i learned to keep a pillow nearby & just threw it into that for a while there, let me vent but not worry about breaking stuff.
 

Teknoman

Member
ahahahaha, we should have a thread on these habits. i knew a kid who'd bite his controllers, i learned to keep a pillow nearby & just threw it into that for a while there, let me vent but not worry about breaking stuff.

I'd just yell at the TV, and go walk around for awhile lol.
 
Well, I had $3 in eBay Bucks about to expire tomorrow, and no Snatcher auction I've been watching would end before that, so in the interest of picking up something cheap that I've been wanting for a while, I went ahead and got DKC2 - not all three, like I'd have planned, since that'd be $60 or so instead of the $12 I paid, so I focused on the one people say is the most worth checking out.

Only one I've ever really sunk any amount of time into would be the first, so this'll be interesting.
 

D-e-f-

Banned
ahahahaha, we should have a thread on these habits. i knew a kid who'd bite his controllers, i learned to keep a pillow nearby & just threw it into that for a while there, let me vent but not worry about breaking stuff.

I used to *squeeze* the controllers really hard when frustrated. Sometimes I believe I threw them on the floor too. Back when you could do that with controllers without much worry...
 
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