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NES flash cart - You can buy them but....
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eddie



Joined: 15 Apr 2007
Posts: 12

PostPosted: Sun Sep 30, 2007 11:22 pm    Post subject: NES flash cart - You can buy them but.... Reply with quote

You can buy them, the technology is available. But these guys prices are sky high ($160 a cart) and they're always sold out.

Can't Tommy make a cheaper one? http://www.retrousb.com/index.php?categoryID=86
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kyuusaku



Joined: 26 Jul 2003
Posts: 941
Location: .ma.us

PostPosted: Mon Oct 01, 2007 9:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The technology has always been available, for the last 10 years though it hasn't been PRACTICAL. It still isn't. The important part of the PowerPak is the FPGA. It uses an old FPGA which is compatible with the NES. It's a discontinued part that is extremely hard to source and is expensive. The guy that makes the PowerPak has been working on it for years and so he isn't making much of a profit. He also includes a custom plastic case, a label, a manual, and a dust jacket. There's no reason why it shouldn't sell for $300+, in fact if I made it that's probably what I'd charge.
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MrCheese



Joined: 07 Sep 2007
Posts: 103

PostPosted: Fri Oct 05, 2007 8:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I thought the price was quite resonable when I ordered mine. The cart is $135 and you need a CF card. The PC Engine flash cart from Tototek is $115. The megadrive one ( inc programmer and case) is $105. It is dearer, but how many games could you buy for the same money? Also it saves wear on your NES. To put it into perspective it costs me £60 to fill my car. The NES cart cost £80.

They are in stock at the moment:

http://www.retrousb.com/index.php?categoryID=86
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rbudrick



Joined: 26 Mar 2004
Posts: 373

PostPosted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 9:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I too was very surprised when the catrs came out at $135. Best $135 I ever spent. I would have gladly paid $250.

Can't wait for the FDS version.

-Rob
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acem77



Joined: 25 Jul 2003
Posts: 180
Location: usa,ohio

PostPosted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 12:40 pm    Post subject: mappers Reply with quote

is there a good list of nes roms and what mappers they need?
this would be great to know what games will work.

with this cart is every mapper possible?
do they need more time to implement new mapper support?
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eddie



Joined: 15 Apr 2007
Posts: 12

PostPosted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 4:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

kyuusaku wrote:
The technology has always been available, for the last 10 years though it hasn't been PRACTICAL. It still isn't. The important part of the PowerPak is the FPGA. It uses an old FPGA which is compatible with the NES. It's a discontinued part that is extremely hard to source and is expensive. The guy that makes the PowerPak has been working on it for years and so he isn't making much of a profit. He also includes a custom plastic case, a label, a manual, and a dust jacket. There's no reason why it shouldn't sell for $300+, in fact if I made it that's probably what I'd charge.


I didn't realize that, I did order one. I didn't realize it came with all that and that it uses the old FPGA.

Fair enough it's worth it.
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MrCheese



Joined: 07 Sep 2007
Posts: 103

PostPosted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 1:44 pm    Post subject: Re: mappers Reply with quote

acem77 wrote:
is there a good list of nes roms and what mappers they need?
this would be great to know what games will work.

with this cart is every mapper possible?
do they need more time to implement new mapper support?


I suppose looking at the retrousb site is too hard for you?
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acem77



Joined: 25 Jul 2003
Posts: 180
Location: usa,ohio

PostPosted: Mon Oct 15, 2007 4:30 pm    Post subject: Re: mappers Reply with quote

MrCheese wrote:
acem77 wrote:
is there a good list of nes roms and what mappers they need?
this would be great to know what games will work.

with this cart is every mapper possible?
do they need more time to implement new mapper support?


I suppose looking at the retrousb site is too hard for you?




i Guess so,
so if some one could explain thx.

are the missing mappers part of the hardware limitions? or is it just a matter of time until the rest coded?

is there a site that lists what game use what mappers?
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kyuusaku



Joined: 26 Jul 2003
Posts: 941
Location: .ma.us

PostPosted: Tue Oct 16, 2007 2:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Right now all North American and PAL NES mappers are supported except MMC5. There are several Japanese mappers which are not supported yet, but they are all planned. If Bunnyboy (the author) for whatever reason doesn't end up releasing the FC mappers, I'll release them to Nesdev :) I've got a lot of them working right now but they're buggy.

With the Powerpak there are practically no hardware limitations since the FPGA is large enough for MMC5 + all the Powerpak's overhead.
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acem77



Joined: 25 Jul 2003
Posts: 180
Location: usa,ohio

PostPosted: Tue Oct 16, 2007 2:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

kyuusaku thanks for the info.

last few questions..
when a rom is loaded do you have to select the mapper or does this work automatically?
any one try this on a rgb modded nes? dont see why it would not work but you never know...

looks like i might be getting a new toy Smile
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MrCheese



Joined: 07 Sep 2007
Posts: 103

PostPosted: Tue Oct 16, 2007 5:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Google for "powerpak review". Also look at the info about the product on the retrousb site.
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acem77



Joined: 25 Jul 2003
Posts: 180
Location: usa,ohio

PostPosted: Tue Oct 16, 2007 5:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

this is a nice review.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZsgc7qa9aw

time to order !

i guess the only thing i would have liked is a built in action replay that changes ram values for cheats.
its easy to make action replay codes on emulators.
i always thought the game genie was limited.
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kyuusaku



Joined: 26 Jul 2003
Posts: 941
Location: .ma.us

PostPosted: Tue Oct 16, 2007 7:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

NES is not a very suitable system for action replay since too many games are very code-time dependent. The only way it'd work 100% is to have a real time save mechanism (which would create slowdown) and special loaders for each mapper type. Game genie on the other hand doesn't require any CPU overhead or special configuration so it's just built into the Powerpak mapper.

The Youtube review has one fallacy; there isn't a save battery in the Powerpak. The only way to backup your save games is to reset the console back to the Powerpak menu and dump the contents of the save RAM without actually turning off the console.

It's funny to me that people think a game on a copier can run but somehow have innate differences to the real thing concerning graphics and sound :P The graphics glitches were an analog NES problem, not really the fault of the Powerpak.
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acem77



Joined: 25 Jul 2003
Posts: 180
Location: usa,ohio

PostPosted: Tue Oct 16, 2007 7:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

kyuusaku wrote:
NES is not a very suitable system for action replay since too many games are very code-time dependent. The only way it'd work 100% is to have a real time save mechanism (which would create slowdown) and special loaders for each mapper type. Game genie on the other hand doesn't require any CPU overhead or special configuration so it's just built into the Powerpak mapper.

The Youtube review has one fallacy; there isn't a save battery in the Powerpak. The only way to backup your save games is to reset the console back to the Powerpak menu and dump the contents of the save RAM without actually turning off the console.

It's funny to me that people think a game on a copier can run but somehow have innate differences to the real thing concerning graphics and sound Razz The graphics glitches were an analog NES problem, not really the fault of the Powerpak.



really?
i have a pal action replay and i have had no problems with any codes i used or i made for it.
the only problem is since its a pal action replay(does a ntsc action replay exist?(and not the one that saves real time games states)) my ntcs rgb modded nes just displays a grey screen until i start the game.
nothing more fun than entering codes blindly Very Happy i came up with a good key count system to track where my cursor and what my values should be.
one game i made codes for and beat was castlevania 3 what a great game Smile

if the retail ver of the game ran perfect on the nes, how is it not the fault of the flash cart?

thx in advance i always liked your detailed responses.
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kyuusaku



Joined: 26 Jul 2003
Posts: 941
Location: .ma.us

PostPosted: Tue Oct 16, 2007 8:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Have you tried it with Battletoads? Battletoads is notorious for being a highly timed game. If that works then I don't know how Datel did it.

One thing I'm certain of is that Action replays all work by modifying RAM values every Vblank since system RAM can't be intercepted from the cartridge port. This always means using the CPU to perform the writes (unless the AR somehow performs writes in between the CPU instructions (!!!))

Castlevania III doesn't work on Powerpak yet because MMC5 just hasn't been implemented. MMC5 is 5+ times more complicated than MMC3 which is widely regarded as the best popular mapper. I've gotten the better Japanese version, Akumajou Densetsu, which uses a simpler mapper working though :)
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