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[Bar81]

What's bizarre is you'll of course take the low rankings and possibly bad feedback for ebay/GSP's bad service. I had an NES game arrive damaged. It was $15 with $25 GSP shipping. I won the Paypal dispute, and got offered a refund of the price without postage (aka $15 not $40), if I returned the game at my expense.

How am I as a buyer supposed to be satisfied with that?

Strange. Other than one time where the shipping quote was double what it should have been (I'm guessing the seller did something stupid) the GSP has had fair shipping charges (that are stated in advance). The one time something arrived damaged was due to a seller shipping a Genny game in a bubble mailer and I got a full courtesy refund (meaning I didn't even have to send the game back) where the seller thought his responsibility ended when the game left his hands (obviously Ebay felt otherwise). Also customs duties have been correctly not charged/charged every time (it appears from the above that this is generally the case across the board - people seem to be annoyed that thay can't cheat on declarations anymore or that duties/VAT are actually being collected where customs was being lazy and wasn't doing its job).

 

[D.Lo]

Strange. Other than one time where the shipping quote was double what it should have been (I'm guessing the seller did something stupid) the GSP has had fair shipping charges (that are stated in advance). The one time something arrived damaged was due to a seller shipping a Genny game in a bubble mailer and I got a full courtesy refund (meaning I didn't even have to send the game back) where the seller thought his responsibility ended when the game left his hands (obviously Ebay felt otherwise). Also customs duties have been correctly not charged/charged every time (it appears from the above that this is generally the case across the board - people seem to be annoyed that thay can't cheat on declarations anymore or that duties/VAT are actually being collected where customs was being lazy and wasn't doing its job).

Strange?

There are no customs duties to Australia for anything under $1000.

I've bought games from the US that were sent by USPS and the stamp on the box said something under $10, sometimes even under $5. They get to my door in about a week. Yet the standard GSP price is $25, my item gets opened by Pitney Bowles (not even sure how that is legal), and I haven't had it take less than three weeks to arrive, and then I have to pick it up from a distant fedex depot.

GSP is absolutely awful on every level.

 

[Bar81]

I just watched the video - the fact that they repackage items is ridiculous. I've probably been lucky since all I've ordered are single games which even when packaged are pretty small and likely no point in repackaging to try to make the package even smaller. Newspaper padding is just unacceptable and reason enough to avoid GSP. Thanks for the heads up guys.

With regard to customs, are you sure they're not charging VAT or similar as opposed to duties?

 

[theSlacker]

What's bizarre is you'll of course take the low rankings and possibly bad feedback for ebay/GSP's bad service. I had an NES game arrive damaged. It was $15 with $25 GSP shipping. I won the Paypal dispute, and got offered a refund of the price without postage (aka $15 not $40), if I returned the game at my expense.

How am I as a buyer supposed to be satisfied with that?

I've seen several things that seem to imply that the extra cost from the GSP thing is untouchable. Like ebay will not refund that, or admit any error of the GSP. Seems mighty strange.

 

[D.Lo]

I've seen several things that seem to imply that the extra cost from the GSP thing is untouchable. Like ebay will not refund that, or admit any error of the GSP. Seems mighty strange.

Yep, hence you have to be insane to use it.

I ask sellers if they'll ship direct if they have it on. If not, I do not buy.

 

[Bar81]

I've seen several things that seem to imply that the extra cost from the GSP thing is untouchable. Like ebay will not refund that, or admit any error of the GSP. Seems mighty strange.

If that is what they are doing then it's contrary to their own policies which state that original shipping will also be refunded. In my courtesy refund case they refunded everything including GSP charges but that might be a one time thing.

 

[Timu]

Sunset Rider's endings are awful on easy and normal, lol:
Easy/Normal

/

Yep, I beaten the game twice in one day. It seems I have to play it on hard to get an actual ending and some credits. So it's like the US version of Contra 3 which forced people to play it on hard difficulty to get an ending, lol.

 

[Sorta Maximus]

I have two new, made in japan, Nintendo SNES Controllers on the way from eBay. Authentic US purple buttons in all their concave / convex glory, vertical seam factory shrink wrap from highly reviewed sellers. I certainly paid enough for them to be real.

Thought buying a SNES for a retro collection, but decided to mod the SNES controllers for the Wii U VC instead. Hunting down old, expensive games in good condition is not my idea of fun. Deciding if I should try a Gamecube port mod or a WiiMote Classic Controller mod. I would prefer the Gamecube port mod to bypass any possible wireless lag, but there is no way to know if the upcoming Wii U Gamecube adapter will function with the VC until it comes out. Super excited either way.

 

[theSlacker]

If that is what they are doing then it's contrary to their own policies which state that original shipping will also be refunded. In my courtesy refund case they refunded everything including GSP charges but that might be a one time thing.

Courtesy refunds are a separate thing that does the entire cost while not admitting fault of anyone/thing involved.

Someone posted a video of a guy who got one courtesy refund then just a run around in back to back problems in the "retro games done right" thread. May have to watch his other video dealing with the issue before he even knew it was because of the GSP thing to get the full story. Much like what D.Lo just posted he only had the option to return the second item at his expense for a refund minus the original shipping cost.

 

[Shining]

Opinions on the ALttP hacks Goddess Of Wisdom and Parallel Worlds Remodel would be highly appreciated. Thinking about getting repros of those.

 

[Bar81]

Courtesy refunds are a separate thing that does the entire cost while not admitting fault of anyone/thing involved.

Someone posted a video of a guy who got one courtesy refund then just a run around in back to back problems in the "retro games done right" thread. May have to watch his other video dealing with the issue before he even knew it was because of the GSP thing to get the full story. Much like what D.Lo just posted he only had the option to return the second item at his expense for a refund minus the original shipping cost.

HOLY CRAP. What a bunch of scumbags. I thought the high shipping charges were due to insurance and tracking - apparently they don't insure. Then apparently the rules change when ebay ships - unlike every other seller/shipper, once ebay ships they magically don't have any responsibility. Plus they pocket and dont actually pay customs duties. As has been said above, *never* use this program.

Thanks again guys - ebay has somehow sunk to a new low.

 

[MikeHaggar]

cross-posting this from the Underrated SNES Games thread:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?p=133260764#post133260764

so there's been a fair amount of talk in this thread about how the releases in certain regions are the superior versions of games. it would be cool to build a website that has all of that information in one place. i live in the states, but just recently bought a super famicom. it's been hard to find info on which super famicom games are english friendly and also which version (region-wise) of a game is the best.

i'd be willing to pay for the cost of hosting the site as well as do all of the coding if anyone is interested. i really just need a person or people who are knowledgeable about such things and interested in working on this. feel free to shoot me a pm.

 

[Rich!]

Opinions on the ALttP hacks Goddess Of Wisdom and Parallel Worlds Remodel would be highly appreciated. Thinking about getting repros of those.

I worked on parallel worlds (music). The remodel is really good.

 

[Peltz]

I have two new, made in japan, Nintendo SNES Controllers on the way from eBay. Authentic US purple buttons in all their concave / convex glory, vertical seam factory shrink wrap from highly reviewed sellers. I certainly paid enough for them to be real.

Thought buying a SNES for a retro collection, but decided to mod the SNES controllers for the Wii U VC instead. Hunting down old, expensive games in good condition is not my idea of fun. Deciding if I should try a Gamecube port mod or a WiiMote Classic Controller mod. I would prefer the Gamecube port mod to bypass any possible wireless lag, but there is no way to know if the upcoming Wii U Gamecube adapter will function with the VC until it comes out. Super excited either way.

Dayum. Congrats. It's almost a shame you plan to mod them, but I'm happy for you.

Bear in mind, we will have an answer to your question on the GCN mod by Nov. 21st when the peripheral releases if you can wait a month.

Are there any other pristine controllers from the same seller?

 

[PumpkinSpice]

I have two new, made in japan, Nintendo SNES Controllers on the way from eBay. Authentic US purple buttons in all their concave / convex glory, vertical seam factory shrink wrap from highly reviewed sellers. I certainly paid enough for them to be real.

Thought buying a SNES for a retro collection, but decided to mod the SNES controllers for the Wii U VC instead. Hunting down old, expensive games in good condition is not my idea of fun. Deciding if I should try a Gamecube port mod or a WiiMote Classic Controller mod. I would prefer the Gamecube port mod to bypass any possible wireless lag, but there is no way to know if the upcoming Wii U Gamecube adapter will function with the VC until it comes out. Super excited either way.

whynotboth.jpg?

There are adapters for SNES controller to GCN and Wiimote port. Just use those instead of mangling pristine old game hardware.

 

[Hayama Akito]

Sunset Rider's endings are awful on easy and normal, lol:
Easy/Normal

/

Yep, I beaten the game twice in one day. It seems I have to play it on hard to get an actual ending and some credits. So it's like the US version of Contra 3 which forced people to play it on hard difficulty to get an ending, lol.

Welcome to Konami!

 

[Samuray]

It sucks that the eBay GSP has to suck so bad; I cautiously hoped it would give me a good way to sell internationally. But it's a bad experience for the buyer that falls well below my standards, and eBay's requirement for tracking unfortunately are very expensive to meet. So, I stay US only. A shame.

See, and that's a real downer for people like me who would LOVE to buy your US SNES games. More often than not, eBay listings are for US buyers only, and if it's international, most of the time this GSP bullshit kicks in.

I'm really worried I won't be getting any US games anymore.

But at least someone gifted me a boxed "Super Back to the Future II" today, which I found amazing!

 

[Celine]

Was looking at the "total colors on screen" per screenshot of some SNES games:

Final Fantasy 6: 356 colors

ActRaiser 2: 328 colors

Super Turrican 2: 216 colors

Chrono Trigger: 196 colors

Super Mario RPG: 196 colors

Donkey Kong Country 3: 178 colors

 

[Sorta Maximus]

I could just use cables to mod without cutting the original, it's just not as neat and tidy. I'll think on it and the chances of me ever wanting to use the SNES controller for other things like a real SNES or PC.

So I got the first one in, trying to see if this is a bootleg or not:

Feels real on the DPad, with a hint of SNES stiffness that I seem to remember, but it rotates on the thumb good. The cord is just under 8 feet, seems longer than I remember. All the buttons feel good. The only controller detail that seems off is the R and L buttons are not silk screened. They are slightly indented only. Build quality feels good. The printed materials seem legit and of high quality. By seeing Star Fox on the poster it seems to me this was made somewhat late in the cycle of the SNES, but it is stamped Made in Japan. Oh and there is no trademark sign on the Nintendo logo on the plug, but there is on the back of the controller itself. So did I get a real one?

 

[lazygecko]

Feels kinda ironic that DKC3 has the least colors onscreen there. Though the others are probably misrepresentative thanks to using hardware transparency effects.

 

[Peltz]

Feels kinda ironic that DKC3 has the least colors onscreen there. Though the others are probably misrepresentative thanks to using hardware transparency effects.

It's also weird to me that FF6 has more colors than CT. CT feels like a perfected take on FF6's innovations as far as pure graphics tech is concerned.

 

[Celine]

It's also weird to me that FF6 has more colors than CT. CT feels like a perfected take on FF6's innovations as far as pure graphics tech is concerned.

It's just the color count of the single screenshot, not an average.
As correctly noted by Lazy additive blend is what can brought the total above the 256 colors limit.

 

[Sorta Maximus]

Done editing pics in my last post (just a few posts back). I think it is the real deal. A brand new SNES controller!! Found in a closet, bought on eBay for $88 delivered. I have another on the way, the box is a bit different as this one which says for the USA, Canada, and Mexico, while the other on the way says just for USA and Mexico. Though I chalk this up to distribution changes and whatnot. But I hope it is the 2nd is the real deal too. Sorry to say this was an expensive eBay hunt from two different sellers, so not many more like this on eBay. This was a one shot set of deals no doubt. Very few with the correct V-Seem shrink wrap left. I got the second for $100 delivered. Could have bought a fightstick lol.

 

[lazygecko]

I often feel that artists started getting a bit wasteful with the amount of colors. Generally you could probably achieve a virtually identical look on a lot of games with significantly less colors. Same thing goes for the Neo Geo. In spite of running circles around any other system at the time, I don't think Neo Geo games looked exponentially better color wise. When it comes to pixel art I sort of better appreciate aesthetics that rely on a smaller yet more coherent palette.

 

[Peltz]

Done editing pics in my last post (just a few posts back). I think it is the real deal. A brand new SNES controller!! Found in a closet, bought on eBay for $88 delivered. I have another on the way, the box is a bit different as this one says for the USA, Canada, and Mexico, while the other says just for USA and Mexico. I hope it is the real deal too. Sorry to say this was an expensive eBay hunt from two different sellers, so not many more like this on eBay. This was a one shot set of deals no doubt. Very few with the correct V-Seem shrink wrap left. I got the second for $100 delivered. Could have bought a fightstick lol.

You made the fight choice. Fightsticks are common these days.

P.S. Going by your picture, that looks legit. Cannot find any flaws.

I wish I could try that D-Pad. Congrats.

Also, you might find this thread informative. Hopefully, it's not one of the banned sites. Mods, if it is, let me know. I'll delete the link. I'm not trying to start any trouble:

http://forum.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?111102-SNES-Controller-Variations

 

[Sorta Maximus]

Interestingly the DPad on the SNES does not feel as immediately satisfying as the DPad on the Wii U Gamepad or Wii U Pro Controller. But it is close. Both are very precise, but there is a certain stiffness quality that the SNES ones had, less rotatable, more directional, and while they do break in, it is still a very much different approach. Both feel like a bad ass DPad, though even I struggle to remember today what the originals felt like (and I played the hell out of my SNES during grade school). I will say this, it is better than the Club Nintendo Wii SNES controllers. Even Nintendo doesn't make them like they used to.

EDIT:

Yea I think I came across that link above in my research too. Thanks tho

EDIT 2:

Also on the DKC game having less colors, I would imagine the hardware power it takes to render the unique sprites may limit the SNES system from rendering a higher number of colors. Just a guess however.

 

[Square2015]

These are my new babies:

 

[theSlacker]

These are my new babies:
http://i.imgur.com/YTRPTCE.jpg[IMG][/QUOTE]

I will take 2 and 4 please. Thanks.

 

[PassiveObserver]

These are my new babies:
http://i.imgur.com/YTRPTCE.jpg

Each of those Enix logos are different. Irks me somewhat.

 

[Celine]

I often feel that artists started getting a bit wasteful with the amount of colors. Generally you could probably achieve a virtually identical look on a lot of games with significantly less colors. Same thing goes for the Neo Geo. In spite of running circles around any other system at the time, I don't think Neo Geo games looked exponentially better color wise. When it comes to pixel art I sort of better appreciate aesthetics that rely on a smaller yet more coherent palette.

That's because from the samples I tried Neo Geo games never came close to 4096 colors on screen.

A colorful Mega Drive game hovers around 50-60 colors (with a few exceptions that go beyond it), a colorful SNES game goes between 100 and 200 colors (mostly 100-150).
Many colorful Neo Geo games seems to go between 200 and 300 colors, with peaks that surpass 600 colors (KoF games seem the most colorful on the system).

There is a notable difference between Mega Drive and Neo Geo due to MD starved number of colors on screen, the difference is less pronounced between SNES and NG.

 

[Timu]

Welcome to Konami!

Well, after some practice I beat it on hard(which isn't that hard besides certain bosses) and got this for the hard ending.

 

[Teknoman]

FINALLY someone else mentions Romancing SaGa 3.

 

[Peagles]

For anyone who has done the component SNES mod with a TRRS jack, can you point me to someone online I can buy these jacks? I been looking all day online and came up with nothing.

 

[Cheerilee]

Feels real on the DPad, with a hint of SNES stiffness that I seem to remember, but it rotates on the thumb good. The cord is just under 8 feet, seems longer than I remember. All the buttons feel good. The only controller detail that seems off is the R and L buttons are not silk screened. They are slightly indented only. Build quality feels good. The printed materials seem legit and of high quality. By seeing Star Fox on the poster it seems to me this was made somewhat late in the cycle of the SNES, but it is stamped Made in Japan. Oh and there is no trademark sign on the Nintendo logo on the plug, but there is on the back of the controller itself. So did I get a real one?

That's normal. Just about a week ago, I dug out four SNES controllers to clean them, and I noticed that the circuit boards on two of them said "Copyright 1991, Nintendo Co Ltd" while the other two said "Copyright 1992, Nintendo Co Ltd". Even though the back plastic on all of the controllers said "Rd 1991 Nintendo".

The earlier controllers had tiny L&R indentations on the L&R triggers, and they were inked inside the indentations. The newer controllers had the same indentations, but no ink. Same plastic mold, but Nintendo just realized later that the ink wasn't needed.

Interestingly the DPad on the SNES does not feel as immediately satisfying as the DPad on the Wii U Gamepad or Wii U Pro Controller. But it is close. Both are very precise, but there is a certain stiffness quality that the SNES ones had, less rotatable, more directional, and while they do break in, it is still a very much different approach. Both feel like a bad ass DPad, though even I struggle to remember today what the originals felt like (and I played the hell out of my SNES during grade school). I will say this, it is better than the Club Nintendo Wii SNES controllers. Even Nintendo doesn't make them like they used to.

Actually, on a whim, I decided to open one of my 1992 SNES controllers, to get another look at the copyright year, and I googled the Club Nintendo Wii SNES controller to see if there were any pics of it's insides, and those are using the exact same plastic molds. They even have the same serial number, 56V303. Nintendo even got the same company to manufacture the circuit board again (Mitsumi), although it's a new version number, but it looks almost identical and uses all the same basic button technology. The parts in Nintendo's new controller look completely interchangable with the classic SNES controller. Damn, Nintendo makes me love them sometimes.

If Nintendo's making their new replicas feel different, but using the same classic molds that they dug out of storage, then we can probably only blame the new plastic or rubber that Nintendo's pouring into the old molds. Or there's a chance that your new-old-stock controller has slightly-stiffened rubber, while other people are playing with worn out rubber, and only the new Nintendo products are accurately portraying SNES-era controllers.

 

[Peltz]

That's normal. Just about a week ago, I dug out four SNES controllers to clean them, and I noticed that the circuit boards on two of them said "Copyright 1991, Nintendo Co Ltd" while the other two said "Copyright 1992, Nintendo Co Ltd". Even though the back plastic on all of the controllers said "Rd 1991 Nintendo".

The earlier controllers had tiny L&R indentations on the L&R triggers, and they were inked inside the indentations. The newer controllers had the same indentations, but no ink. Same plastic mold, but Nintendo just realized later that the ink wasn't needed.


Actually, on a whim, I decided to open one of my 1992 SNES controllers, to get another look at the copyright year, and I googled the Club Nintendo Wii SNES controller to see if there were any pics of it's insides, and those are using the exact same plastic molds. They even have the same serial number, 56V303. Nintendo even got the same company to manufacture the circuit board again (Mitsumi), although it's a new version number, but it looks almost identical and uses all the same basic button technology. The parts in Nintendo's new controller look completely interchangable with the classic SNES controller. Damn, Nintendo makes me love them sometimes.

If Nintendo's making their new replicas feel different, but using the same classic molds that they dug out of storage, then we can probably only blame the new plastic or rubber that Nintendo's pouring into the old molds. Or there's a chance that your new-old-stock controller has slightly-stiffened rubber, while other people are playing with worn out rubber, and only the new Nintendo products are accurately portraying SNES-era controllers.

If true, how is it possible for 20 yr old rubber to still feel that stiff then? Even though it's factory sealed, it's still old.

That's pretty amazing.

 

[Peltz]

These are my new babies:

I want. Reproductions are underrated.

 

[Sinople]

These are my new babies:

Nice!
I haven't played Terranigma, and Star Ocean is only good, but the other three are some of the finest jrpg ever made IMO. Have fun!

 

[TheMoon]

Nice!
I haven't played Terranigma, and Star Ocean is only good, but the other three are some of the finest jrpg ever made IMO. Have fun!

Terranigma is one of the finest games ever made so it fits right in there.

 

[retrogamer84]

I am finally the proud owner of a Super Famicom! My boxed unit arrived yesterday with some more games to add to the SFC collection. The console looks even better than I expected and really does put my beloved SNES to shame in styling. Unfortunately, the controller extension cord has yet to arrive so I am still having to use my SNES controller. Not a big deal but slightly disappointing.

 

[Peltz]

I am finally the proud owner of a Super Famicom! My boxed unit arrived yesterday with some more games to add to the SFC collection. The console looks even better than I expected and really does put my beloved SNES to shame in styling. Unfortunately, the controller extension cord has yet to arrive so I am still having to use my SNES controller. Not a big deal but slightly disappointing.

Welcome to the club. Yes, it looks ridiculous to have a SFC and SNES hooked up side by side...

Spoiler

....ridiculously sexy.

 

[BTails]

These are my new babies:

Looking nice! Where did you get the repros? I'd love to grab the SFC Dragon Quest games.

 

[Anth0ny]

Welcome to the club. Yes, it looks ridiculous to have a SFC and SNES hooked up side by side...

Spoiler

....ridiculously sexy.

Yup. Proud Super Famicom + SNES owner here. Both of them are sitting beside each other under my CRT.

I want to get into reproductions eventually, but they're:

1. Pretty expensive
2. My legit SNES collection is still way too small. I want to pick up stuff like FFIII and Super Mario RPG before I start diving into repro carts.

Why the fuck is FFIII so expensive ; _ ;

 

[lazygecko]

That's because from the samples I tried Neo Geo games never came close to 4096 colors on screen.

A colorful Mega Drive game hovers around 50-60 colors (with a few exceptions that go beyond it), a colorful SNES game goes between 100 and 200 colors (mostly 100-150).
Many colorful Neo Geo games seems to go between 200 and 300 colors, with peaks that surpass 600 colors (KoF games seem the most colorful on the system).

There is a notable difference between Mega Drive and Neo Geo due to MD starved number of colors on screen, the difference is less pronounced between SNES and NG.

Are there any practical benefits in terms of performance or memory to keep the amount of colors low? I know for A Link to the Past Nintendo deliberately chose to use only 8 colors for background tiles as opposed to 16.

I've been more interested in color use recently as people have gotten into making mockup port screens for Genesis and the PC-88.

 

[Rich!]

Are there any practical benefits in terms of performance or memory to keep the amount of colors low? I know for A Link to the Past Nintendo deliberately chose to use only 8 colors for background tiles as opposed to 16.

Yep. Link to the Past and SMW use similar types of graphics compression (you can decompress LTTP using zcompress). Limiting the colour depth greatly increased the amount of compression - anything else would have resulted in a larger ROM, and LTTP was already pushing it.

IIRC, the only tiles that arent compressed in LTTP are Link's graphics.

 

[lazygecko]

Link's sprite(s?) has a lot of different color details. The yellow belt, the brown sleeves, the orange band on the cap, and the cap even uses a separate green palette from the tunic I think (since it's a different color from the tunic when you get the armor upgrades). I've read a lot of speculation on why they went with pink hair, and I'm not buying the one that it was a compromise based on color limitations.

I think having a fairly conservative amount of total colors greatly contributes to a more "authentic" pixel art aesthetic in my opnion, and it's working within those limitations that really set apart great artists from the rest, by creatively using dithering techniques (but not too much), some shared general purpose colors like shadows and highlights, and a good understanding of color theory in general so you can mix and match different color shades in a way that makes sense and sets a good mood/theme. I think around 100-150 colors is probably the sweet spot. Have around half of it for the main character(s) and the environment, with a decent margin reserved for other sprites and objects that can appear during gameplay.

 

[MikeHaggar]

so does anyone now of a company or even individual located in the states that can mod my super famicom to accept snes games? obviously i want them to do quality work. i've googled it and i'm not really coming up with much unfortunately.

 

[Rich!]

so does anyone now of a company or even individual located in the states that can mod my super famicom to accept snes games? obviously i want them to do quality work. i've googled it and i'm not really coming up with much unfortunately.

All you need to do is cut out a wider slot with a dremel to play US games. IIRC thats all it needs, unless I'm remembering wrong.

Other option would be buyint a premade top half from ebay, I did that before and it only cost a tenner.

 

[digita1alchemy]

Does anyone else sell quality Nintendo multi-out RGB cables besides retro_console_accessories on ebay? I was told they made the best ones, but they've been out ever since then and I'm getting kind of impatient.

 

[PumpkinSpice]

All you need to do is cut out a wider slot with a dremel to play US games. IIRC thats all it needs, unless I'm remembering wrong.

Other option would be buyint a premade top half from ebay, I did that before and it only cost a tenner.

Cutting it sucks. There's a lot more plastic there than it looks from the outside. Plus ideally you want the flap to cover the whole slot... I ended up just removing my flap but I'm sure dust is getting everywhere.

 

[Mercutio]

Does anyone else sell quality Nintendo multi-out RGB cables besides retro_console_accessories on ebay? I was told they made the best ones, but they've been out ever since then and I'm getting kind of impatient.

I have a couple from http://www.retrogamingcables.com/ and they seem fairly good to me.