One thing I usually take for granted, albeit unintentionally, is the ability of certain game consoles of keeping save data for some games that I play for an extended period of time.

With cloud technology, hard drives and more, the various methods of storing data are very reliable as far as I’m concerned.

With that type of mindset, of course I would forget that retro consoles have a limited lifespan when it comes to save game preservation. Eventually, a recent bad experience would quickly remind me of that fact…

This is The Legend of Xanadu (the title in Japanese roughly translates as Xanadu – The Legend of the Wind).

It’s a J-RPG on PC Engine developed by Nihon Falcom, one of my favorite developers until now.

Source: Tigerfog

The game is quite lengthy involving tons of grinding necessary to improve the main hero’s stats and his equipment. Also, the process repeats itself every time a new equipment is used.

In summary, as much as I liked the game, I slowly got tired of it and eventually put it aside for a few months.

Source: Tigerfog

One day, I decided to resume the game from where I left off.

I fired it up, chose the option to continue…

Source: Tigerfog

…arrived at the loading screen and am greeted with this horror.

Source: Tigerfog

My save game is no more!

All the hours I poured in, down the drain!

Apparently, this is due to the fact there’s a battery used by the internal memory of the PC Engine and if it dies, the save data goes along with it.

To avoid that situation, it’s recommended to turn on the console once in a while to slightly recharge the battery, something I’ve never thought of doing.

Not one to give up without a fight and too obsessed with playing on original hardware instead of settling on emulation, I looked for a solution.

As it turns out, there exists a HuCard with the sole purpose of storing save data: the Tennokoe Bank (the bank of the voice from heaven).

Source: Tigerfog

With such a boastful name, that product better be good, even if it dates from the PC Engine era.

I then bought it from eBay and as soon as I got it, tested my new save data from Legend of Xanadu without missing a beat.

Source: Tigerfog

Unlike the Mega CD Backup RAM cart, the Tennokoe Bank can only be used as a backup device. It can’t be accessed straight from the game nor used to save a game on-the-fly.

Source: Tigerfog

It’s only through the Tennokoe Bank’s interface that I can sync the entire internal memory of the console to the device or restore its backup to the console.

So yeah, this is basically a cloning machine for the entire internal memory… no way of selecting save data individually.

Obviously, it’s not the end of the world. At least this is a decent solution for my issues with the PC Engine and hopefully, I can finish Legend of Xanadu one day.

If you’ve had a bad experience with save data from retro games, tell us about it as well as how you resolved the situation!

L’article Losing video game save data: a tragedy est apparu en premier sur Les Ateliers PHV.

Source: Tigerfog, iPhone

Before we begin

First, I’d like to thank ETA Prime for inspiring me to write this tutorial. In his video, he explains how to extract ROMs, rename them and use them in Retroarch, a multi-platform tool for emulators. To find out more:

Source: ETA Prime

Why then do I bother writing this if ETA Prime has already covered the subject? Two reasons:

• he used Windows to explain the process
• he showed how to rename the files without getting into too much details

If you also use Windows or can get around Sega’s odd ROM-naming conventions, ETA Prime’s video is all you need. However, if you prefer a Linux-oriented tutorial or a script that will rename the files for you, I’ll encourage you to keep reading.

Buying the games and locating them

You can legally buy certain Genesis/Mega Drive games on Steam individually or as part of a special package called Sega Mega Drive & Genesis Classics through this affiliate link on Humble Bundle. From this point on, I’ll use the term Sega Classics when I refer to Sega Mega Drive & Genesis Classics for the sake of simplicity.

Since the Sega Classics game isn’t natively available on Linux, we need to make sure Steam is configured to run all games in SteamPlay mode using Proton. That way, Sega Classics will appear in the list of purchased games making it available to be downloaded and installed.

Once installed, right-clicking on Sega Classics and choosing Properties will make the pop-up window appear (see image below).

Source: personal screenshot

Clicking on the Browse local files under the Local files tab will show the exact location of Sega Classics on the computer (see image below).

Source: personal screenshot

Normally, if the username is klebs and the default location set by Steam hasn’t been changed, the folder should be at /home/klebs/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/Sega\ Classics

In my case as the above screenshot clearly shows, the folder is located at /mnt/DATA/Jeux/Steam/steamapps/common/Sega\ Classics

Renaming the files

Assuming the username is klebs and is using Steam’s default game location, the following commands in the terminal will create a copy of the ROMs in another folder and create a CSV file with nano:

cd /home/klebs/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/Sega\ Classics
cp -R uncompressed\ ROMs/ ~/Documents/SegaROMS
cd ~/Documents/SegaROMS
nano segaclassicslist.csv

Before copying the list below in nano, it’s important to make sure nothing’s missing. Also, the original filenames should match those in the SegaROMS folder.

ALEXKIDD_U.68K,Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle (USA).gen
AlienSoldier_Europe.SGD,Alien Soldier (Europe).md
AlienStorm_USA.SGD,Alien Storm (USA).gen
ALTEREDB_UE.68K,Altered Beast (USA).gen
BEYONDOA_E.68K,The Story of Thor (Europe).md
BEYONDOA_F.68K,The Story of Thor (France).md
BEYONDOA_G.68K,The Story of Thor (Germany).md
BEYONDOA_J.68K,The Story of Thor - Hikari o Tsugumono (Japan).bin
BEYONDOA_S.68K,The Story of Thor (Spain).md
BEYONDOA_U.68K,Beyond Oasis (USA).gen
BONANZAB_JE.68K,Bonanza Bros. (Europe).md
Columns3_USA.SGD,Columns III (USA).gen
COLUMNS_W.68K,Columns (World).gen
COMIXZON_U.68K,Comix Zone (USA).gen
CrackDown_USA.SGD,Crack Down (USA).gen
Crying_USA.SGD,Bio Hazard Battle (USA).gen
DECAP_UE.68K,DEcapAttack (USA).gen
DYNAHEAD_J.68K,Dynamite Headdy (Japan).bin
DYNAHEAD_UE.68K,Dynamite Headdy (USA).gen
ECCO2_U.68K,Ecco - The Tides of Time (USA).gen
eccojr.smd,Ecco Jr. (USA).gen
ECCO_UE.68K,Ecco the Dolphin (USA).gen
ESWAT_U.68K,ESWAT - City Under Siege (USA).gen
EternalChampions_USA.SGD,Eternal Champions (USA).gen
FATALLAB_JU.68K,Fatal Labyrinth (USA).gen
FLICKY_UE.68K,Flicky (USA).gen
GAING_UE.68K,Gain Ground (USA).gen
GalaxyForceII_UE.SGD,Galaxy Force II (USA).gen
GAXE2_W.68K,Golden Axe II (World).gen
GAXE3_J.68K,Golden Axe III (Japan).bin
GAXE_W.68K,Golden Axe (World).gen
Gunstar Heroes U.bin,Gunstar Heroes (USA).gen
KIDCHAM_UE.68K,Kid Chameleon (USA).gen
LandStalker_USA.SGD,Landstalker (USA).gen
LightCrusader_USA.SGD,Light Crusader (USA).gen
MonsterLair_JUE.SGD,Wonder Boy III - Monster Lair (Europe).md
MonsterWorld3.SGD,Wonder Boy V - Monster World III (Japan).bin
MonsterWorld3_USA.SGD,Wonder Boy in Monster World (USA).gen
PhantasyStar2_UE_GreenCrossFix.SGD,Phantasy Star II (USA).gen
PhantasyStar3_USA.SGD,Phantasy Star III - Generations of Doom (USA).gen
PhantasyStar4.SGD,Phantasy Star IV (USA).gen
RISTAR_UE.68K,Ristar (USA).gen
ROBOTNIK_U.68K,Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine (USA).gen
ShadowDancer.SGD,Shadow Dancer - The Secret of Shinobi (World).gen
SHINING2_U.68K,Shining Force II (USA).gen
SHININGD_UE.68K,Shining in the Darkness (USA).gen
SHININGF_U.68K,Shining Force (USA).gen
SHINOBI3_U.68K,Shinobi III - Return of the Ninja Master (USA).gen
SONIC2_W.68K,Sonic The Hedgehog 2 (World).gen
SONIC3D_UE.68K,Sonic 3D Blast ~ Sonic 3D Flickies' Island (USA).gen
Sonic_Knuckles_wSonic3.bin,Sonic & Knuckles + Sonic The Hedgehog 3 (World).gen
SONICSPI_U.68K,Sonic The Hedgehog Spinball (USA).gen
SONIC_W.68K,Sonic The Hedgehog (World).gen
sov.smd,Sword of Vermilion (USA).gen
SPACEHARRIERII.bin,Space Harrier II (World).gen
STHUNDER_W.68K,Super Thunder Blade (World).gen
STREETS2_U.68K,Streets of Rage 2 (USA).gen
STREETS3_E.68K,Streets of Rage 3 (Europe).md
STREETS3_J.68K,Bare Knuckle III (Japan).bin
STREETS3_U.68K,Streets of Rage 3 (USA).gen
STREETS_W.68K,Streets of Rage - Bare Knuckle - Ikari no Tetsuken (World).gen
TheSuperShinobi_JUE.SGD,The Revenge of Shinobi (USA).gen
ToeJamEarl.SGD,ToeJam & Earl (World).gen
ToeJamEarl2_USA.SGD,ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron (USA).gen
VECTMAN2_U.68K,Vectorman 2 (USA).gen
VECTMAN_UE.68K,Vectorman (USA).gen
VIRTUAFIGHTER2.bin,Virtua Fighter 2 (USA).gen

After saving and closing the CSV file, next up, it’s time to write a script that will rename the files:

nano segaclassicsrename.sh

#!/bin/bash
IFS=","
while read f1 f2
do
echo "rename from : $f1"
echo "to : $f2"
mv $f1 "$f2"
echo "done"
done < segaclassicslist.csv

After saving and closing the script, all that remains is to make it executable and run it:

chmod +x ./segaclassicsrename.sh
./segaclassicsrename.sh

If everything goes according to plan, the new filenames should be more straightforward.

Conclusion

Questions? Comments? Let me know, thanks for reading and laters.

L’article Extracting ROMs from Sega Mega Drive & Genesis Classics bought on Steam on Linux Mint 18.3 est apparu en premier sur Les Ateliers PHV.

Source: Tigerfog

Hello again, Tigerfog here!

Being a video game fan since childhood, I gradually grew up more interested in more that just what can be found in my games… namely what could’ve been found.

At first, I was only interested in censored elements during game localizations.
Now, thanks to the Internet and wonderful websites such as The Cutting Room Floor, I realized even before a game was altered by an editor… it was often already vastly different from its initial form.

For example, the legendary Secret of Mana was supposed to be developed for the SNES CD before Nintendo cut ties with Sony. The team at SquareSoft apparently had to cut out a lot of content to fit the game inside a cartridge instead of a disc.
Imagine what we could’ve had, the soundtrack, a bigger world, maybe a longer storyline!

Another slightly more recent example: the Space World ’97 version of Pokemon Gold.
In that version, the design of the majority of the 100 new Pokemons from the Johto region were very different from the final version. One only needs to see the initial evolution of Chikorita to notice the difference.

Then again, I’m only talking about games with behind-the-scenes anecdotes or older versions being different from the final one.
Games with DLC-locked content or a rushed ending are another subject… for another time!

What about you? Which games with a bizarre development history intrigues you?

L’article The mystery of the cancelled features in games est apparu en premier sur Les Ateliers PHV.

Source: Tigerfog

Hi everyone, Tigerfog here.

Following Klebs’ request, I’ve also decided to name 3 games that influenced me the most.

Chrono Trigger, SNES

Source:Wikipedia

It was my very first RPG and what an adventure! All aspects of this masterpiece astonished me. I didn’t know that a game could have a story with such depth, that the soundtrack could be that memorable, that you will actually care about the characters and that stats (HP, MP, etc.) could be so exciting.

Little Big Adventure, PC

Source:Wikipedia

I remember seeing bits and pieces of that game as a kid on Microkids, a French TV show. Seeing a 3D rendered character walk freely in an isometric would and being able to hit virtually anyone in the game, that was mind-blowing for me who was used to not being able to hit an NPC.

For years, I could only play the demo (2% of the full game) because the real one was too expensive in stores at the time. Eventually, my parents got me the game for 15$ in a Canadian store.

The full game was anything I could hope for and so much more! The music was fantastic, the characters, unique et quirky and the difficulty, unforgiving but fair.

Megami Ibunroku Persona (Revelations: Persona)

Source:Wikipedia

My first experience with that series was Persona 2: Eternal Punishment. Knowing I skipped the first game, I did some research and found out I didn’t miss one but two: Persona 1 and Persona 2: Innocent Sin.

While both Persona 2 games were must-plays on their own right, the first Persona is way more important to me for one simple reason that still amazes me to this day: the game has two main storylines in it.

After the prologue which equates around two hours of gameplay, the protagonist can go straight to the main objective or look into a school rumor about a cursed mask.

Investigating the cursed mask completely changes the rest of the game: the story shifts into something entirely different with new enemies, new allies, a different world and a much harder difficulty.

Looking back, I felt Persona 1 was really 2 games rolled into 1 since each storyline took about 35 hours to complete! No game at the time has given me so much for what it cost.

The only downside was that I had to play the Japanese version since the North American version removed the second storyline. Of course, the PSP port was released in English years later with both storylines and a better gameplay but the new soundtrack completely changed the mood of the game…

And there you have it: three games that influenced me the most.
Someday, I’ll write another blog post for Klebs.
Later!

(Note from Klebs: since I already challenged 6 people for both Tigerfog and myself in my own Steemit Gaming Challenge article, he won’t be challenging anyone.)

L’article Steemit Gaming Challenge: Why games are good (Part 2) est apparu en premier sur Les Ateliers PHV.

Source: Tigerfog

I received two challenges #whygamesaregoodchallenge from @retro-room and @darth-azrael to talk about four games that influenced me. I shall cover four games and my brother Tigerfog will cover four more in a future article that will be published once it’s ready. Without further ado, here’s my list in chronological order.

DuckTales on NES

Source: Fair use, Link

How I discovered this game:

Like most kids who grew up in Quebec during the 80s, I had a NES and I enjoyed watching cartoons on Saturday mornings on Radio-Canada (French counterpart of CBS), especially DuckTales. When I found out there was a licensed game on the NES, I just had to try it. After I rented it several times, my aunt eventually buy me a copy which allowed me to spend countless hours playing it without worrying about late fees.

How this game defined me:

While it’s true the levels were varied and well designed, the music by Hiroshige Tonomura is a masterpiece and the gameplay was awesome especially Scrooge’s cane which can be used as a pogo stick or a golf club. How this game defined me besides the fact it’s the very first video game I ever finished is that it made me a Capcom fan and to this day represents living proof that **good** licensed games do exist. However, I naively believed back then that a game was automatically good if it was based on a licensed property.

The Secret of Monkey Island on MS-DOS

Source: Link

How I discovered this game:

My uncle had a pile of floppy disks containing various DOS games and while I was used to playing platformers and puzzle games, three games stood out by their gameplay that relied more on problem solving than ninja reflexes: Leisure Suit Larry which I didn’t know back then was for adults only, King’s Quest IV where it was very easy to die and Monkey Island which was the only game of the three where you used a mouse.

How this game defined me:

If I just discovered a new genre which is “graphic adventure game”, why then is Monkey Island the one that defined me? It was the first time that I could control a character using a mouse, choose my dialogue options during conversations, progress by solving wacky “think-outside-the-box” puzzles, win sword duels by having a better wit than my opponents insult-wise and being able to play without worrying about dying or be stuck in an unwinnable state because I forgot to pick an object from a location which was now unreachable. The reason why I own a digital copy of the game on Steam, GOG, iOS and PSN is simple: the timeless humor that never seems to get old no matter how many times I replay the game. Also, like DuckTales regarding licensed titles, I thought a game of this caliber was the norm and graphic adventure games were always supposed to be that funny.

Chrono Trigger on SNES

Source: Link

How I discovered this game:

While I spent my childhood in Quebec, I spent my teenage years in France where I discovered the “Club Dorothée” on TF1 (a French TV channel) and the fabulous world of animes like DragonBall Z which was an obsession of mine for so long. One day, I read in a magazine that an RPG was coming soon on the SNES and I noticed that Crono, the game’s main character looked strangely like Gohan, a DBZ character. It’s by learning promotional and in-game artworks were handled by DBZ creator Akira Toriyama that I decided to give this game a shot by renting it while I was visiting Quebec. Many rentals later, I ended up getting my own copy that I’ve since completed at 100%.

How this game defined me:

Before Chrono Trigger, I wasn’t too crazy about RPGs and whenever I watched someone else play, I was annoyed that level grinding was necessary to gain enough experience in order to progress. Also, I found that stories in RPGs tended to be the same for the most part. How was Chrono Trigger different? I really loved the idea of blending medieval, sci-fi and time travels elements in a single storyline, I grew attached to all major characters that I considered to be well-developed and interesting, the story got me hooked from day one, I could unlock multiple endings, the team attacks depending on current characters in your party that are used as part of fighting mechanics made battles more dynamic, I never felt the need to level grind and most of all, the soundtrack by Yasunori Mitsuda with contributions from Nobuo Uematsu and Noriko Matsueda still remains my all-time favorite by far.

One more thing:

While I already replayed the game on PlayStation and Nintendo DS, there’s another way to re-experience this timeless classic if you own both a SNES and an SD2SNES flashcart. You simply need to patch the game to be able to play using symphonic orchestral music from Blake Robinson’s Chrono Symphony album. You need to provide your own digital copy of the game and buy Blake Robinson’s album but instructions are available at this link.

This hack is possible thanks to Michaël Larouche a.k.a. DarkShock who presented it in his YouTube video.

Source: YouTube (Michaël Larouche)

Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles on PSP

Source: Link

How I discovered this game:

At first, I wasn’t interested in the Castlevania series because back then, I was going through a phase where I played mostly RPGs and fighting games but I was fascinated by the vampire mythology. By further looking into it, I grew to appreciate the stories about the Belmonts who across centuries were almost always there to stand between Dracula and humanity. Not long after I bought a PSP, I decided to take the plunge via Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles, a remake of Castlevania: Rondo of Blood on PC Engine.

How this game defined me:

Besides the gothic atmosphere, equally exciting and scary music, a variety of subweapons in addition to the famed “Vampire Killer”, a whip passed down from a Belmont to another (with a few exceptions), a difficulty level that’s high enough without being impossible, it’s really the eternal battle between good and evil with supposedly insurmountable odds akin to David against Goliath that made me a (belated) Castlevania fan. In conclusion, Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles was my first step into this universe and I’ve since bought more games from that franchise.

That’s it for me. While I wait for Tigerfog’s contributions, it’s my turn to challenge the following Steemians:
@baart
@brokenzombie
@dekeigaming
@imaginalex
@ixindamix
@ragepeanut

If you liked this post, please consider upvoting and resteeming it and to be further updated on future posts, follow me on Steemit. Thanks for reading and see you next time.

L’article Steemit Gaming Challenge: Why Games Are Good est apparu en premier sur Les Ateliers PHV.

Source: Tigerfog

Last week, I published a blog post detailing benefits flashcarts can have on the retro video game market while mentioning some of them are at risk of damaging consoles. Since then, my brother Tigerfog asked me whether I’ll propose alternate solutions for those unfortunate enough to own flashcarts prone to reducing console lifespans.

I then used René’s article as a primary basis for my list of flashcarts at risk while doing my own research to find alternate solutions whenever possible.

Here’s the original article from René from db-electronics:
Link

WARNING: please note I’m not an electronics engineer, this blog post has been written only to inform and I highly encourage you to do your own research or even reach out to real engineers like René if you have questions before you jump into this.

Flashcarts for Sega Genesis/Mega Drive

While the Everdrive MD, Mega Everdrive X3 (v1) and Mega Everdrive X7 (v2) are not recommended, the Mega Everdrive X5 is considered safe to be used.

Source: Krikzz

One of the features the Mega Everdrive X7 (v2) has but not the X5 is that the latest firmware includes YM2413 sound chip emulation which enables FM sound for compatible Master System games. If you use the Mega Everdrive X7 (v2) for that reason because the official Power Base Converter (Master System Converter in Europe) doesn’t support it, there’s another solution: use a Master Everdrive X7 with db-electronics’ Power Base FM (disclaimer: this blog post isn’t sponsored by db-electronics):

Source: db-electronics

The list of games using FM sound can be found here.

Flashcarts for Super Nintendo/Super Famicom

While the Super Everdrive et Superufo Pro 8 are not recommended, the SD2SNES is considered safe to be used.

Source: Krikzz

One of the features the Superufo Pro 8 has is the ability to create game backups and saves from original cartridges. There are other solutions out there (e.g.: Retrode, INL Retro, sanni-reader, etc.) but given the complex nature of this subject, I’ll dedicate it to a separate blog post instead.

Flashcarts for Master System/Mark III

While the Master Everdrive v1 isn’t recommended, it’s also no longer sold but the Master Everdrive X7 is and is thankfully considered safe to be used.

Source: Krikzz

Cards for TurboGrafx-16/PC Engine

While the Turbo Everdrive v1 isn’t recommended, it’s also no longer sold but the Turbo Everdrive v2 is and is thankfully considered safe to be used.

Source: Krikzz

Flashcarts safe to be used

The following flashcarts are considered safe to be used:

• Everdrive N8 (NES/Famicom)
• Everdrive 64 (Nintendo 64)
• Everdrive GB (Gameboy, Gameboy Color)
• Everdrive GBA (Gameboy Advance)

Flashkit MD

While it would be awesome to be able to create brand new Sega Genesis/Mega Drive cartridges by flashing them instead of programming EEPROM chips and soldering them on blank PCBs (e.g.: Mortoff Games, Muramasa Entertainment, RetroStage, etc.), the Flashkit MD is unfortunately not recommended and should even be avoided. Howver, there exists other solutions but like I mentionned with the Superufo Pro 8, given the complex nature of this subject, I’ll dedicate it to a separate blog post instead.

Flashcarts at risk without alternatives

Some multicarts (NES 150 in 1, NES 400 in 1, Neo Geo 161 in 1) are considered very dangerous to the consoles and therefore should be avoided at all costs. As for alternatives, the Everdrive N8 for the NES/Famicom should satisfy those who want to be able to load numerous games from a single cart while the NeoSD for Neo Geo is usable but far from perfect for now since TerraOnion, the group behind this project still work on improving their product.

Finally, the GG Everdrive for Game Gear is not recommended but since there are currently no alternatives, it should be used with moderation. Personally, I’m confident an improved version will eventually be released because Krikzz, the person behind the Everdrive product line, is known to constantly work on improving his products.

If you liked this post, please consider upvoting and resteeming it and to be further updated on future posts, follow me on Steemit. Thanks for reading and see you next time.

L’article Risky flashcarts and their safer alternatives est apparu en premier sur Les Ateliers PHV.

Source: iPhone, Tigerfog

You’re probably asking yourself how a flashcart can be a good thing for the retro video game market when it’s possible to load games into these cartridges and play them on original hardware without paying for the original copies. This may seem odd but even though I own a few flashcarts myself, I noticed this has led me to buy more games. Here’s my take on the subject.

Some will prefer to play on the real console

Super Mario Land 2 Color Version – Gameboy Color
Source: iPhone, Tigerfog

Half the fun of playing video games comes from actually inserting the game cartridge or disc into the console, turning it on and watching the title screen while holding the original controller in your hands.

It’s true that with very little effort, it’s easy to download a game and just play it on an emulator and I believe that’s what a lot of people did when they were younger with loads of free time but not as much money. If that’s the case, how is this helping the video game market? It’s simply by allowing people to try out games before purchasing them during this day and age where it’s next to impossible to rent games out of a rental store let alone find one that actually lets you rent 20-year-old games.

While there will always be people unwilling to pay for games they can find online for free, there will also be people wanting the real official game carts to get the genuine gaming experience. Besides, some games aren’t 100% playable on either an emulator or with a flashcart like Lagrange Point on Famicom where the sound is imperfect because of the VRC7 soundchip or Super Mario RPG on SNES which isn’t playable on any flashcart because none of them support the SA1 chip.

It’s convenient for collectors with truckloads of games

Pokémon Émeraude (Resolute Version) – Gameboy Advance
Source: iPhone, Tigerfog

Just because people have a humongous game collection doesn’t mean they take pleasure in spending hours going through their big shelves trying to locate the game they want to play. It may be possible some of them actually buy less games so they’ll spend less time going through their collection. Also, having a CIB (complete in box) collection will only cause them to spend more time than necessary opening the box, taking the game out, inserting it into the console and turning it on. Having their collection in one flashcart will greatly reduce the time spent looking for games they want to play. It may also encourage collectors to buy more games and back them up into the flashcart for later use.

It allows you to try out game hacks

Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow (with gothic artwork instead of anime) – Nintendo DS
Source: iPhone, Tigerfog

Many creative people on the Internet have modified existing games to turn them into alternate versions and there’s even a market for physical copies of these reproduction carts. Unfortunately, some of these games have to be sacrified in order to create newer products. Even if there’s a way to create reproduction carts using only brand-new material like a blank PCB (printed circuit board), some games require special chips that aren’t sold in stores (e.g. the SDD-1 chip for Street Fighter Alpha 2 on SNES) so the only way to make your own reproduction cart is to replace the original EEPROM chip on the game PCB with the one with the hack in it thus destroying the original game. That’s why flashcarts allow people who aren’t interested in having physical copies of game hacks to enjoy them knowing no game was sacrificed for it.

It allows you to play import games in your own language

Metroid – Famicom Disk System
Akumajou Densetsu / Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse – Famicom
Ranma 1/2 Chougi Ranbu-hen / Ranma 1/2 Hard Battle II – Super Famicom
Source: iPhone, Tigerfog

This follows the same reasoning as the one from the previous section with game hack but here, it simply applies to translated games.

Not all flashcarts are recommended

Mega Everdrive X7 (v2)
Superufo Pro 8
Source: iPhone, Tigerfog

Unfortunately, there are some flashcarts that can damage or even destroy your console in a long run because of a design flaw on the PCB by the manufacturer. In my case, I only learned about this long after I received a Superufo Pro 8 for the SNES and bought a Mega Everdrive X7 (v2) for the Genesis/Megadrive. I’ve since stopped using them and it’s a shame since the Superufo Pro 8 allowed me to backup my SNES or Super Famicom games and the Mega Everdrive X7 was the most advanced model by its creator, Krikzz.

For more details concerning the damage some flashcarts can do to your console, check out this article by René from db-electronics.

If you liked this post, please consider upvoting and resteeming it and to be further updated on future posts, follow me on Steemit. Thanks for reading and see you next time.

L’article Can flashcarts really help the retro video game market? est apparu en premier sur Les Ateliers PHV.

Source: iPhone, Tigerfog

Imagine that you own a 20-year-old used game and realized it was no longer working because of bit rot. You ask yourself how this could happen when you’ve always taken good care of it by keeping it away from sunlight, dust and a humid environment. That’s when you remember a conversation you’ve had with a friend who backed up his/her games and now wonder if it’s still frowned upon to backup your own games, let alone download them.

Why it’s a good thing

• You bought this game brand new so the rights owners already got paid
• Regardless of how you bought it, it’s no longer sold new in any format so the rights owners are no longer getting paid
• You bought this game used so the rights owners didn’t get paid anyway
• Having a backup of your game will help you preserve it beyond the natural lifespan of your original physical media which, once it’s no longer usable, will end up being simply a piece of your collection
• If you’ve modded your console to boot digital copies of your games using storage media such as a USB thumb drive or an SD card or even a shared drive on your computer using a network cable, you’ll use up less your original copies and your console especially if you can get it to play games without using its optical drive

Source: iPhone, Tigerfog

Why it’s a bad thing

• Even if you want to remain honest by creating only backups of your games, the temptation to just download games you don’t own is extremely high
• Rumors have been circulating regarding burned discs damaging your console in the long run (e.g.: the Sega Dreamcast)
• Using your own backups will require you to mod your console, either physically with a modchip or digitally with a custom firmware and in both cases, you are violating the console manufacturer’s terms and conditions
• If and only if you care about what people think about you, know that some people in the gaming community will judge and look down on those who own backups regardless of their reasons for doing so
• When putting the game in your console and turning it on no longer appeals to you, you start spending more time growing your digital collection and less time actually playing your games and in time, you’ll appreciate them less for their real purpose

Source: iPhone, Tigerfog

What’s my take on this?

On one hand, I love having real original physical copies of my games and half of the fun comes in putting them in my console. However on the other hand, I know nothing lasts forever, especially disc-based consoles with moving parts and the discs themselves so I’m in favor of creating your own backups for future preservation and in some cases, extend the life of consoles that, when modded, can run games without using its optical drive. What about you? What’s your take on this? Should we always buy our games even if the money doesn’t always go to the rights owners? Should they re-release all of their game catalog without DRM and at reasonable prices to combat piracy? Let’s discuss this in the comments.

Source: iPhone, Tigerfog

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Source: iPhone, Tigerfog

L’article Is it bad to backup your games or download them? est apparu en premier sur Les Ateliers PHV.