-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
SNES Game Collecting (Tips, discussion, and info for like minded collectors)
- Thread starter DidntKnowJack
- Start date
IrishNinja
Member
haha ima find someone else here with a strider avatar like MEET ME SOMEWHERE
baphomet
Member
Lol, I just now realized that was strider after you said it. I've looked at it a ton of times and never figured out what it was.
baphomet
Member
That's exactly what I assumed it was forever.
IrishNinja
Member
oh my god, gaflord totally looks like a blonde strider, yeah
way better guess than "why is kakashi blonde" PM's ive had for years now
way better guess than "why is kakashi blonde" PM's ive had for years now
DracoBlade
Member
I only recently realized there even was a strider in your avatar....lol i was too focused on the wutang moon thing in the center...I have terrible eyesight apparently.
IrishNinja
Member
it's way too busy an avatar these days, haha...strider, shenmue defense force, wu-tang and nujabes symbols too, to represent every corner of GAF i love (retro-gaf, sega-gaf, gaf-hop & jazz hop) but i can't let it go
IrishNinja
Member
you got the clearly aesthetically-superior SNES with 2 regulars & a wireless controller for less than some here pay for the much uglier base system...you done good, rich
haha it's probably shit, but who cares. It's officially branded, so it could be alright.
And yeah, £27. Postage was £12, but that's standard from Japan. Even put together, £40 is what they charge down at my local retro shop for a beaten up PAL SNES. And this is a pretty near mint SFC!
In fact, for any SNES collectors in need of a console, just buy a SFC. With a cart slot widen or a pass through device, it's completely compatible with USA games with no modding. And it looks awesome, and they're nearly always in superb condition for low prices.
IrishNinja
Member
^ive got a great SNES model but i'm seriously gonna do just that when i come across one for a good price, it just looks so much better. not really a fan of pass through devices, do you have to gut the case at all to make it work?
You would have to widen the cart slot then for USA carts. My old SFC had that - but it meant the cart slot flap didn't cover the whole thing, like so:
If you have access to cutting perspex, you can make your own to replace it though, like this guy has done:
both involve cutting up the hardware, however. You could always go the safe route and get a battered up/faulty UK/JP SNES that you want to alter, and just swap the top parts of the case over so your original SFC one doesn't get touched...but that's excessive.
I'm going to be only using JP/PAL carts on my SFC (PAL will work after modding it for multiregion), so I won't need to widen the cart slot this time.
sixteen-bit
Member
YOSSY DESU NE
lol, I didn't think the American one would be more that $12, but I just checked and guess I should know better by now.
lol, I didn't think the American one would be more that $12, but I just checked and guess I should know better by now.
Rather Japanese than German, like the cart of YI I first bought was in, I say! I mean, if I'm not gonna understand the text anyway, might as well have cool looking characters instead.
And yeah YI is pretty expensive these days.
Well, it depends. I'd gladly take the German version over the Japanese one if you need to get rid of yoursRather Japanese than German, like the cart of YI I first bought was in, I say! I mean, if I'm not gonna understand the text anyway, might as well have cool looking characters instead.
And yeah YI is pretty expensive these days.
That reminds me, I should go check how much it goes for at Tradera. Still haven't bought a game there yet.Well, it depends. I'd gladly take the German version over the Japanese one if you need to get rid of yours
problem is, unless you have a modded 50/60hz SNES, the german/pal version is far, far inferior to the JP one.
those horrific borders and slower framerate. yuk.
Most first party stuff is like $20 and up nowadays.
I don't have that German YI cart anymore unfortunately, krelian, otherwise I'd send it to you. Actually, I paid quite a bit for it though, around 250 SEK, but I think that was because the auction didn't say it was in German so people assumed it was in English. Was pretty bummed out when I received it but not enough to send it back. A year later or so one of my friends offered me a scandinavian cart for 200 SEK so I sold the German one later on.
The ONE thing that's good about the borders, is that if you have a widescreen TV you can set it to 14:9 mode. That way the borders disappears into the overscan and you've got a much larger picture of the game as well. Only a few millimeter of the actual game picture disappears into the overscan. But that's the only positive. And it doesn't really compensate for the reduced framerate.
And speaking of modded consoles, I'm currently in talks with a dude who sells CIC-chip modded Super Famicoms. I'm about to get myself one! I'll let him cut the cart opening up as well to fit US carts. I've seen some pics of how it looks cut up when he's done it and it looked much more discrete than I imagined.
The ONE thing that's good about the borders, is that if you have a widescreen TV you can set it to 14:9 mode. That way the borders disappears into the overscan and you've got a much larger picture of the game as well. Only a few millimeter of the actual game picture disappears into the overscan. But that's the only positive. And it doesn't really compensate for the reduced framerate.
And speaking of modded consoles, I'm currently in talks with a dude who sells CIC-chip modded Super Famicoms. I'm about to get myself one! I'll let him cut the cart opening up as well to fit US carts. I've seen some pics of how it looks cut up when he's done it and it looked much more discrete than I imagined.
That's alright. I'll find the game some day
Well, I've actually been thinking about buying a US SNES or Super Famicom. Kinda leaning towards the SFC because Japanese versions of games are often cheaper than US versions. It's probably the only reasonable way to get the Mega Man games other than X1.
That's alright. I'll find the game some day
Well, I've actually been thinking about buying a US SNES or Super Famicom. Kinda leaning towards the SFC because Japanese versions of games are often cheaper than US versions. It's probably the only reasonable way to get the Mega Man games other than X1.
bear in mind USA/JP games work on either console without modification. Get a SFC (cheaper, better design) and either extend the cart slot with a dremel or buy a passthrough device. done.
go the next step too (adding a 50/60hz switch and multi region) and you can play all your PAL games in full speed with no borders.
sixteen-bit
Member
That's alright. I'll find the game some day
Well, I've actually been thinking about buying a US SNES or Super Famicom. Kinda leaning towards the SFC because Japanese versions of games are often cheaper than US versions. It's probably the only reasonable way to get the Mega Man games other than X1.
Even X1 is 30+ now. Crazy.
Hmm it seems to keep the same proportions to me. It just zooms in on the image a little to make it larger on the screen. 14:9 not 16:9. Normally this would put the bottom and top parts in the overscan but since PAL NES and SNES have borders there it's not a problem. It's almost like the mode was made specifically to play PAL consoles on a widescreen TV.
How would I go about modding my console? I don't think I could do it myself. Wouldn't it be cheaper to buy a modded console in the first place?
The first mod I ever did was with my old PAL SNES. Easy as shit - just a case of lifting a few pins, and wiring up a switch. Cost me all of...what, £3 for the capacitors, wire and switches?
Once it was done, the first game I tried was Super Metroid. Booted it up in 50hz with the nasty borders and slowdown. Flicked the switch I installed, and like magic - it turned into a full screen, full speed piece of glory
Yeah I'm just gonna buy one pre-modded (although I'm getting one with the automatic SuperCIC chip instead of manual switches), but if I had ever soldered anything before I'd probably do a 50/60hz switch mod myself. It does involve bending up a leg on one of the chips and soldering a wire to it though IIRC, which seems a bit scary. The legs on some of those chips are fucking tiny and I have somewhat shaky hands.
Just use a pair of glasses that have a magnifying lens, and a scalpel. It was really, really easy.
My dad builds and modifies model railways as a hobby, so I had all the kit I needed.
Still not convinced I'd be able to do it myself. Maybe I'll look at some tutorials to get a better understanding of what is involved and more importantly what I need to buy first, like a soldering iron etc. At least I need a second SNES in case I fuck up
How much was the pre-modded system?Hmm alright. Maybe I'll do it on one of my PAL consoles. I'm still getting that pre-modded SFC though since I've pretty much ordered it already. Also I kind of just want a Super Famicom anyway.
Still not convinced I'd be able to do it myself. Maybe I'll look at some tutorials to get a better understanding of what is involved and more importantly what I need to buy first, like a soldering iron etc. At least I need a second SNES in case I fuck up
How much was the pre-modded system?
I dunno about the US, but here in the UK they go for about £80. That's fucking expensive. I do have to add, I had experience from school with soldering and de-soldering. If you don't, get some practice. It's a great hobby to have, and it'll save you loads of cash.
In 1991? Nah.
Either way, 4:3 is the way to go. Then you get an image like this:
stretching is bad, mmkay? (that SMB image is from the code-perfect port to the Mega Drive)
Kind of a lot, but it's from a guy who I have no problem supporting to keep his business going. He's one of the few people on Tradera that still has decent enough BIN prices for games. He only deals in Japanese versions of games though. There's also one year of warranty on the modded console.
Man I wish the scanlines on my TV were that defined. The "scanlines" on my TV are more vertical rather than horizontal lol.
heh
AW YEEEAHHHH, my Super Famicom has left Japan this morning. I'll have it in a few days. I also ordered Kirby Super Deluxe (super star) from the same seller I bought Yoshi's Island JP from - they'll arrive around the same time
excellent! Finally, I'm making amends for selling my SFC and my amazing collection all those years back
And yes, it was amazing. I had boxed copies of the DKC trilogy, Secret of Mana, SD3 translated, Super Mario RPG, Earthbound, Zelda AND a satellaview amongst every other classic you can think of. And my Super Famicom had a custom BIOS coded by d4s, which meant it had a system menu, multiregion built in and other such features.
I wish I had never sold it, but it was the only way to pay the rent and keep my home at the time. sigh
AW YEEEAHHHH, my Super Famicom has left Japan this morning. I'll have it in a few days. I also ordered Kirby Super Deluxe (super star) from the same seller I bought Yoshi's Island JP from - they'll arrive around the same time
excellent! Finally, I'm making amends for selling my SFC and my amazing collection all those years back
And yes, it was amazing. I had boxed copies of the DKC trilogy, Secret of Mana, SD3 translated, Super Mario RPG, Earthbound, Zelda AND a satellaview amongst every other classic you can think of. And my Super Famicom had a custom BIOS coded by d4s, which meant it had a system menu, multiregion built in and other such features.
I wish I had never sold it, but it was the only way to pay the rent and keep my home at the time. sigh
Having a roof over your head beats having an amazing SFC collection. I can relate (somewhat). I had to sell my CIB Mega Man X3 PAL version to pay rent once. It still hurts to this day
Oh well, gonna buy the Japanese version soon.Sadly, no. I've tried locating information on it in the past year, and all my old sources are gone.
I first got the information on it when I was a member of Acmlm's Board, working on romhacking and ASM. I think it was around the time I worked on the Zelda LTTP hack called Parallel Worlds.
d4s, a badass hacker, was working on a custom BIOS for the SNES. I bought a chip custom programmed so that the SNES booted into a custom menu before loading a game. It was amazing.
I coded the extra music. I was known as richyawyingtmv back then
Shadow Hog
Member
Since when did the SNES even have a BIOS...?
It never did.
However, if you code a chip that it boots to automatically that can boot up a cart by itself, then it suddenly does have a bios - or a system menu at least. That's what it was.
Same concept as an action replay/gameshark.
KDash31987
Member
Got this in the mail today:
