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[SeventhSon]

I'm getting this in the mail in a about a week.

50/60 hz switch + region switch + widened cart slot. This will be a great addition to my original, near mint original PAL console.

GOODBYE SLOW PAL GAMES <3

Spoiler

American SNES consoles look so silly, so I decided to get a modded PAL console.

From where?

 

[hypotc]

This guy, he does modding.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Retromodsltd/224769214207517

 

[IrishNinja]

I've had this arguement with a friend, I always say one day you'll want Madden '95 and it'll be like 100 bucks! Also don't they have to use donor carts with special chips like the sa-1 or superFx? means more then sports games are getting killed. Cheaper in the long run to just get a good flashcart.

only if you want repros requiring those chips? ive never gotten any of those, though

also i long for a blade runner dystopia where people pay $100+ for madden 95 so i'm okay with this

If you decompress Star Ocean you can run it on SD2SNES. It has a larger flash rom than Everdrive.

how many others are we talking, though? cause the short list ive seen of what the SD2SNES can play vs the Everdrive looked like Star Ocean, a few games like Mario Kart that i have on cart, and not much else to warrant nearly 3x the cost of the board.

Honestly if you're buying repros and not getting the originals it's basically just piracy.

this logic is always wacky to me: i have a $10 Saturn copy of Poliecnauts LE that i can't understand, so now i should morally feel better about playing the fan translation on PSX? so weird

 

[PumpkinSpice]

how many others are we talking, though? cause the short list ive seen of what the SD2SNES can play vs the Everdrive looked like Star Ocean, a few games like Mario Kart that i have on cart, and not much else to warrant nearly 3x the cost of the board.

SD2SNES costs way more because it has an FPGA that can be configured as an act-alike to the different SNES expansion chips. Right now there are only a few chips implemented (the various DSPs, CX4 -- so Mega Man X2/X3 -- and a few others) but theoretically this should support any expansion chip. The problem is implementing these chips in HDL is non-trivial, especially for something like the SA-1 which is a general purpose CPU, so who knows if it will ever happen.

this logic is always wacky to me: i have a $10 Saturn copy of Poliecnauts LE that i can't understand, so now i should morally feel better about playing the fan translation on PSX? so weird

You could say the same thing about downloading ROMs.

 

[IrishNinja]

SD2SNES costs way more because it has an FPGA that can be configured as an act-alike to the different SNES expansion chips. Right now there are only a few chips implemented (the various DSPs, CX4 -- so Mega Man X2/X3 -- and a few others) but theoretically this should support any expansion chip. The problem is implementing these chips in HDL is non-trivial, especially for something like the SA-1 which is a general purpose CPU, so who knows if it will ever happen.

exactly, even stoneage says not to buy hoping for FX support. i'm okay without Star Fox 2, honestly

You could say the same thing about downloading ROMs.

you could say the same about any scenario where people feel self-righteous despite the original devs not seeing a dime (even more tragic with the hyper-inflated prices we're currently seeing), but that kinda logic makes some here uncomfortable.

 

[-KRS-]

The SD2SNES also has BS-X/Satellaview support which is pretty cool. But I think that's pretty much it regarding noteworthy features over the Everdrive so far. It has support for some other enhancement chips but most of the games that use those aren't anything I'm that interested in. And I guess it's cool it supports the MSU1 chip but that's mostly a gimmick so far. The SD2SNES has the potential to become better in the future but development is pretty slow which is understandable since it's only one guy pretty much. The firmware is open source though so hopefully some more people will join in.

 

[Peagles]

^ Pretty much the conclusion I came to, so I've skipped the SD2SNES for now. If it gets lots of chip support later I'll definitely pick one up, but I thought it'd be better to buy a newer version of the chip or whatever when that actually happens instead of buying one now hoping for the upgrades.

 

[sixteen-bit]

Well, generally PAL packaging is much nicer. True for almost every generation, and every system.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder I guess. Generally when I think of PAL packaging, I think of hella flags and massive ratings logos. Clutter city.

 

[Peagles]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder I guess. When I think of PAL packaging, I think of hella flags and massive ratings logos. Clutter city.

Yeh as a PAL gamer I can't say I've ever thought our packaging was better (although in NZ we don't get the PEGI logo so that's nice).

Japanese games? Now I can see an argument for superiority there.

 

[TheMoon]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder I guess. Generally when I think of PAL packaging, I think of hella flags and massive ratings logos. Clutter city.

That's only an issue in Germany with the giant USK logo and Australia with the very wide ratings logos. PEGI logos aren't any bigger than ESRB logos. Often their color complements the box art even. And also Europe often gets the same box art as Japan.

Yeh as a PAL gamer I can't say I've ever thought our packaging was better (although in NZ we don't get the PEGI logo so that's nice).

Japanese games? Now I can see an argument for superiority there.

What ratings logos does NZ get?

 

[Peagles]

That's only an issue in Germany with the giant USK logo and Australia with the very wide ratings logos. PEGI logos aren't any bigger than ESRB logos. Often their color complements the box art even. And also Europe often gets the same box art as Japan.



What ratings logos does NZ get?

OFLC. I meant to complain about USK though fuck that thing is ugly lol.

Edit: I should say, NZ logos aren't printed on anything. They're stickers. Our older games didn't have anything on them though until N64 era, and from what I remember those were fairly unobtrusive too.

 

[-KRS-]

PAL N64 boxes are a disgrace though with the damn border around the boxart. Who thought that was a good idea?

 

[Peagles]

PAL N64 boxes are a disgrace though with the damn border around the boxart. Who thought that was a good idea?

Hey don't lump us in with you! Our boxes were fine!

Spoiler

I didn't have the displeasure of seeing them until a few years back when someone had a bunch of UK import games for sale locally, yuck!

 

[SKINNER!]

This guy, he does modding.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Retromodsltd/224769214207517

Reasonable price? I'd be happy picking up a modded PAL SNES that allowed me to play NTSC games Saves me the trouble of finding a power converter/plug if I happen to pick up an NTSC console.

Hey don't lump us in with you! Our boxes were fine!

Spoiler

I didn't have the displeasure of seeing them until a few years back when someone had a bunch of UK import games for sale locally, yuck!

First party titles had the entire black border. and yes I agree, they were fugly. Only ones that didn't from what I recall were Majora's Mask and Perfect Dark...and they were much prettier than their NTSC counterparts

Third party titles only had the right hand side of the box art in black (as opposed to the red) and I thought they were great! I always look at NTSC covers and realise that the red side border stood out and looked awkward.

Conker BFD covers courtesy of Moby Games
(yes, Conker's BFD was a first party but it had a third party boxart format)

 

[hypotc]

Reasonable price? I'd be happy picking up a modded PAL SNES that allowed me to play NTSC games Saves me the trouble of finding a power converter/plug if I happen to pick up an NTSC console.

I paid extra to have a near mint condition console with no yellowing/cracks/scratches at all. The total was about £100, so it's debatable if it's totally fair. The job looks really well done with the widening etc though, so I didn't hesitate at least.

 

[IrishNinja]

The SD2SNES also has BS-X/Satellaview support which is pretty cool.

ah, how's this? i expect a super everdrive to play ROMs of BS Zelda & the like, does this mean the SD2 supports the clock part of it or what?

 

[Kainazzo]

ah, how's this? i expect a super everdrive to play ROMs of BS Zelda & the like, does this mean the SD2 supports the clock part of it or what?

I've never tried playing a Satellaview game, but I do know the SD2 has a battery and clock function.

 

[-KRS-]

ah, how's this? i expect a super everdrive to play ROMs of BS Zelda & the like, does this mean the SD2 supports the clock part of it or what?

I'm not sure that it does. I don't know much about how it actually works. I know that it uses the BS-X BIOS ROM to run the games. Maybe that's what the Everdrive does as well though? But I think I've read that you have to patch the games to make them run on the Everdrive so maybe not. I haven't patched the BS-X game roms I've tried and they have all worked except for a couple that gave me some error message. I haven't tried a ton of games though. Mostly that F-Zero game.

 

[Lettuce]

I'm getting this in the mail in a about a week.

American SNES consoles look so silly, so I decided to get a modded PAL console.

Could of just got a Super Famicom. I thought a fair few games didnt run correctly on these 60hz PAL SNES systems?

 

[IrishNinja]

I'm not sure that it does. I don't know much about how it actually works. I know that it uses the BS-X BIOS ROM to run the games. Maybe that's what the Everdrive does as well though? But I think I've read that you have to patch the games to make them run on the Everdrive so maybe not. I haven't patched the BS-X game roms I've tried and they have all worked except for a couple that gave me some error message. I haven't tried a ton of games though. Mostly that F-Zero game.

ah, that's prolly what's confusing me - years ago i played BS zelda with the episodic stuff patched out,but the timer was still there for events stuff. given the nature of these in particular i figure we're all playing ROMs here.

 

[D.Lo]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder I guess. Generally when I think of PAL packaging, I think of hella flags and massive ratings logos. Clutter city.

Much more recently only (Wii/DS etc), and only for some EU countries. Australia in particular had a tiny little rating logo only until only a few years ago, and none before that. And they were even then removable stickers in most cases.

Eg Link to the Past

Castlevania IV - Konami games maintained the NES tradiation of silver boxes:

Later branching into other colours, but keeping the same template (it still keeps the same Konami text on the side

And I need not mention that PAL games rarely have worse actual art, and mostly have much nicer Japanese art. Good examples of vastly superior PAL covers are the Mega Man NES games, and most Final Fantasy games - PAL gets the beautiful simple Japanese logo covers, USA gets horrific kids movie posters.
And there's this:

PAL N64 boxes are a disgrace though with the damn border around the boxart. Who thought that was a good idea?

Also only some territories. Australia was unaffected.

 

[Mercutio]

Huh.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Teenage-Mut...67449&clkid=602700744976335584&_qi=RTM1562569

Is it wrong that the thing I hate most about this is the admission of blowing into the games?

 

[sixteen-bit]

Much more recently only (Wii/DS etc), and only for some EU countries. Australia in particular had a tiny little rating logo only until only a few years ago, and none before that. And they were even then removable stickers in most cases.

Eg Link to the Past


Castlevania IV - Konami games maintained the NES tradiation of silver boxes:


Later branching into other colours, but keeping the same template (it still keeps the same Konami text on the side


And I need not mention that PAL games rarely have worse actual art, and mostly have much nicer Japanese art. Good examples of vastly superior PAL covers are the Mega Man NES games, and most Final Fantasy games - PAL gets the beautiful simple Japanese logo covers, USA gets horrific kids movie posters.
And there's this:



Also only some territories. Australia was unaffected.

Different strokes I guess. I adore the uniform box arts on NA SNES. And even though I really appreciate SFC carts aesthetics individually, they look terrible together on a shelf. Different colors, logos in different spaces and sizes... drives me up the wall.

 

[D.Lo]

Different strokes I guess. I adore the uniform box arts on NA SNES. And even though I really appreciate SFC carts aesthetics individually, they look terrible together on a shelf. Different colors, logos in different spaces and sizes... drives me up the wall.

Not the case at all, apart from the colours (which IMO make things more interesting). Logos are identical and identically places throughout, unless you mix territories (German/UK/au etc).

Also of course the much nicer cartridge shape and console itself. Any defence of the horrific US SNES is pure nostalgia.

That said, Nintendo US design has been exemplary post-NES, with rigid discipline in box format. Unlike every other company who chop and change logos and design constantly.

Me, I'm 100% Japanese for SNES nowadays.

 

[HaL64]

I'm getting this in the mail in a about a week.

50/60 hz switch + region switch + widened cart slot. This will be a great addition to my original, near mint original PAL console.

GOODBYE SLOW PAL GAMES <3

Spoiler

American SNES consoles look so silly, so I decided to get a modded PAL console.

I sure would like to know how he does the slot like that. It looks perfect. It's like they are using a new plastic mold or something.
It's like the SNES we never got but should have.

 

[IrishNinja]

yeah, that thing is gorgeous, wish we had that option out here!

 

[blast processed]

Huh.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Teenage-Mut...67449&clkid=602700744976335584&_qi=RTM1562569

Is it wrong that the thing I hate most about this is the admission of blowing into the games?

Pretty creepy, the other item he's selling is a ring and it feels good when he puts it on.

 

[D.Lo]

I sure would like to know how he does the slot like that. It looks perfect. It's like they are using a new plastic mold or something.
It's like the SNES we never got but should have.

it's easy enough to cut the slot nicely, I did that myself years ago. But you have to remove the dust cover mechanism. And yes that does indeed look like a whole new part.

 

[Square2015]

Care to point a brother in the direction of said Scart converter please?

I bought an RGB to scart cable from here:
http://www.retrogamingcables.co.uk

The SCART converter unit I used was the model from the youtube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RS55pmLIEjA

check out his thread to for "HDing" retro consoles:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=630556&highlight=adaptor+for+hdtv

 

[Square2015]

Where do you buy the repros? I'd love to get some of these for play on my actual SNES (and SupaBoy) instead of just on an emu. Especially since I want to start Emerald Dragon SFC soon.

I've discovered many sites. Some better than others.
Right now I'm leaning towards http://retrostage.net/ and I want to check out lostclassicvgs.com

I'm interested in these sites because they guarantee their carts will work and put in a new battery, other sites don't and use old donor carts.

I've had bad experiences with gamereproductions.com, I don't recommend them.

ocdreproductions.com I'm curious about htis site they have a big selection but they use donor carts and I can't guarantee the quality of the labels.
superreproductions.com looks good too.

retroquestgames.com if you want cheaper carts with lower quality labels.


I'm currently looking for carts guaranteed to work, with a new battery included, and high quality label...any recomendations from those who've purchased from those sites?

 

[hypotc]

Could of just got a Super Famicom. I thought a fair few games didnt run correctly on these 60hz PAL SNES systems?

Some PAL games glitch out if you use them in 60 hz mode. If I get NTSC carts, it will be just like the original american console.

I think SMW and Star Fox has some glitches etc.

 

[SKINNER!]

I paid extra to have a near mint condition console with no yellowing/cracks/scratches at all. The total was about £100, so it's debatable if it's totally fair. The job looks really well done with the widening etc though, so I didn't hesitate at least.

Considering it is mint £100 including all the mods isn't too bad. Cheers for the advice man. I'll look into it.

 

[D.Lo]

I paid extra to have a near mint condition console with no yellowing/cracks/scratches at all. The total was about £100, so it's debatable if it's totally fair. The job looks really well done with the widening etc though, so I didn't hesitate at least.

You can easily de-yellow any console now, so weird that any would have yellowing for a modding guy?

 

[SKINNER!]

You can easily de-yellow any console now, so weird that any would have yellowing for a modding guy?

That's my plan. See if I can find a cheap SNES and clean it myself. Shine it up real nice then get a modder to sort it out for me. I wouldn't mind modding it myself if I had like 2 or 3 Super Nintendos lying around.

 

[Peagles]

I need a better hydrogen peroxide source. It'd be cheaper for me to buy a non-yellow SNES compared to the amount of bleach I'd need to treat it.

 

[D.Lo]

That's my plan. See if I can find a cheap SNES and clean it myself. Shine it up real nice then get a modder to sort it out for me. I wouldn't mind modding it myself if I had like 2 or 3 Super Nintendos lying around.

You can get a yellowed working super famicom for $20 delivered worldwide on ebay if watching auctions. Pretty easy to have a few lying around nowadays!

I run an RGB modded Super Fami Jr for maximum image quality however, and I'm not touching that baby's case with any knife

I need a better hydrogen peroxide source. It'd be cheaper for me to buy a non-yellow SNES compared to the amount of bleach I'd need to treat it.

Hairdresser 40vol creme. Costs like $10 for heaps. Paint on, leave in sun, refresh coat every 2 hours until beautiful again.

My last batch:

That NES Advantage looked like someone had peed on it.

 

[-KRS-]

Some PAL games glitch out if you use them in 60 hz mode. If I get NTSC carts, it will be just like the original american console.

I think SMW and Star Fox has some glitches etc.

Actually there are some games that won't run at all. Super Mario RPG is the one I keep reading about not working on PAL systems even with the switch mod. There's a newer mod that uses the SuperCIC chip to switch regions automatically that will supposedly run every game on a PAL console.

 

[Peagles]

Hairdresser 40vol creme. Costs like $10 for heaps. Paint on, leave in sun, refresh coat every 2 hours until beautiful again.

My last batch:

That NES Advantage looked like someone had peed on it.

Amazing! The only thing I could find before was hydrogen peroxide (food grade) and I needed a lot to sink a SNES in it. So do you mix it with the oxyaxction stuff and paste it on, or what?

Omg I found some cheap 40vol creme so excited you are the best!

Edit: So for bleaching hair you need the developer creme plus bleach powder then you mix them together, do I need both for de-yellowing or just the creme?

 

[D.Lo]

Amazing! The only thing I could find before was hydrogen peroxide (food grade) and I needed a lot to sink a SNES in it. So do you mix it with the oxyaxction stuff and paste it on, or what?

Omg I found some cheap 40vol creme so excited you are the best!

Edit: So for bleaching hair you need the developer creme plus bleach powder then you mix them together, do I need both for de-yellowing or just the creme?

Just the creme. It's 12% peroxide.

Check my posts in the PC Engine thread for a before/after of a White PCE controller for maximum wow.

What's surprising is it also works great on colours. That blue Hori mini pad wasn't yellow obviously but looked dirty, even after a clean. It was the same Bromide discolouration, and the peroxide brought it back to life, it's now bright blue and looks new again.

 

[Peagles]

Just the creme. It's 12% peroxide.

Check my posts in the PC Engine thread for a before/after of a White PCE controller for maximum wow.

What's surprising is it also works great on colours. That blue Hori mini pad wasn't yellow obviously but looked dirty, even after a clean. It was the same Bromide discolouration, and the peroxide brought it back to life, it's now bright blue and looks new again.

Omg stop! You mean my yellowed purple SNES buttons can finally shine with their former glory? Omg omg omg omg omg omg omg!

 

[Garcian]

I bought an RGB to scart cable from here:
http://www.retrogamingcables.co.uk

The SCART converter unit I used was the model from the youtube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RS55pmLIEjA

check out his thread to for "HDing" retro consoles:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=630556&highlight=adaptor+for+hdtv

Many thanks for that, much appreciated.

My old CRT is long gone & I now game on a 55' Sony LED - I wonder how good the Scart converter would make Snes games look.

 

[Cheerilee]

Omg stop! You mean my yellowed purple SNES buttons can finally shine with their former glory? Omg omg omg omg omg omg omg!

Just to mention, plastic yellows faster than normal because they didn't mix the ingredients absolutely perfectly when they were originally making it. Yellowing plastic is a visible symptom of the plastic breaking down and dying.

Bleaching removes the yellow, but it also weakens things and causes more breakdown. It fixes the symptoms while making the disease worse. It doesn't bring consoles back to life, it brings them back to youth, at a cost to their total lifespan.

 

[theSlacker]

Just the creme. It's 12% peroxide.

Check my posts in the PC Engine thread for a before/after of a White PCE controller for maximum wow.

What's surprising is it also works great on colours. That blue Hori mini pad wasn't yellow obviously but looked dirty, even after a clean. It was the same Bromide discolouration, and the peroxide brought it back to life, it's now bright blue and looks new again.

Jesus Christ I need to pay attention more. I thought the way to unyellow stuff was still a big hassle with a bunch of different ingredients, not just a single cheap creme.

 

[D.Lo]

Omg stop! You mean my yellowed purple SNES buttons can finally shine with their former glory? Omg omg omg omg omg omg omg!

I have no doubt at all it will work.

Just to mention, plastic yellows faster than normal because they didn't mix the ingredients absolutely perfectly when they were originally making it. Yellowing plastic is a visible symptom of the plastic breaking down and dying.

Bleaching removes the yellow, but it also weakens things and causes more breakdown. It fixes the symptoms while making the disease worse. It doesn't bring consoles back to life, it brings them back to youth, at a cost to their total lifespan.

There's no proof or evidence at all of that. And most chemists agree it's the bromine used as a fire retardant oxidizing (hence different parts yellowing at different rates due to bromine ratios in plastic batches) not the plastic aging in any particular way (though very poorly treated plastic does become more brittle, it's not directly related to the yellowing)

Anecdotally I've been doing this in some capacity for 4 years, and the piece I did first (with the old method - expensive liquid peroxide), an NES dogbone controller, has been in constant use and is still as strong as it ever was, and hasn't re-yellowed either.

Happy to be proven wrong if you can prove it with backup from a plastics chemical expert commenting on the technique. But it's now an extremely widely used technique in retro computer circles.

EDIT: It's also not bleaching. It's mobilising the bromine, which has migrated to the surface and forms a stable complex with atmospheric oxygen.

Best write up I could find:
http://www.exisle.net/mb/index.php?...g-plastic-the-stain-isnt-permanent-after-all/

Do you really you could mix it with the oxy stuff still? Or is that ingredient a bit of a red herring?

That was for liquid peroxide being made into a paste with a thickener. The hairdresser creme is already a paste and works perfectly on its own.

 

[Peagles]

Do you think you could mix it with the oxy stuff still? Or is that ingredient a bit of a red herring?

 

[Gunsmithx]

Hairdresser 40vol creme. Costs like $10 for heaps. Paint on, leave in sun, refresh coat every 2 hours until beautiful again.

Wow! Need to pick some up and try this, thanks man.

 

[SKINNER!]

You can get a yellowed working super famicom for $20 delivered worldwide on ebay if watching auctions. Pretty easy to have a few lying around nowadays!

Fair enough. I don't usually have much luck/time with auctions and results show that they averagely sell for around £25/£30 but we'll see how it goes. Thanks for the tip

 

[Sixfortyfive]

I bought an RGB to scart cable from here:
http://www.retrogamingcables.co.uk

The SCART converter unit I used was the model from the youtube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RS55pmLIEjA

check out his thread to for "HDing" retro consoles:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=630556&highlight=adaptor+for+hdtv

You really shouldn't reference Adam Koralik's videos.

I appreciate his enthusiasm, but he's a perfect example of a know-nothing know-it-all. His videos have been the butt of jokes in the RGB thread.

 

[sixteen-bit]

You really shouldn't reference Adam Koralik's videos.

I appreciate his enthusiasm, but he's a perfect example of a know-nothing know-it-all. His videos have been the butt of jokes in the RGB thread.

No offense, but this guy works in video production. I think he knows what he's talking about.

kappa

 

[Peagles]

Okay the one peroxide cream I could find apparently has mint essence in it, guess my stuff is also gonna smell minty fresh lol.