A new NES clone to play the powerpak

[Joe_Cracker]

Can someone delete those two excessive posts?

[+wood_jl]

Hey, you said it should be affordable. It's not that hard to buy an NES and refurb it for under $30. There are clone systems that sell for $15. If you mean for it to be affordable, it has to be affordable in relation to existing options. Please understand, this is why 100% compatible systems have yet to be designed... the margin they'd earn is probably too small to be worth it.

 

Exactly. I'm sure the "captains of industry" who are in the business or who bankroll it are quite aware of the availability of both real NES and clones. All they have to do is Ebay search for "NES" and then they say, "NOPE. MARKET SATURATED." Then they can make oven mitts or something.

[Joe_Cracker]

Wood, you should have posted a good link for an Ebay search. Here is one for you, http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?ff3=4&pub=5574883395&toolid=10001&campid=5336500554&customid=&mpre=http%3A%2F%2Fcatalog.ebay.com%2FNintendo-Entertainment-System-%2F43560371%3FCondition%3DUsed%26_dmpt%3DVideo_Games%26_fln%3D1%26_htch%3D1%26_pcatid%3D22%26_ssov%3D1%26_tab%3D2%26_trksid%3Dp4295.c0.m282

 

Your right, alot of original hardware but you don't really never know what condition these things are in until it arrives at your house. This is another way aside from donations that we can bankroll this project. I just set this up http://www.cafepress.com/nesrommaker We got T-shirts, hats, bags, coffee mugs and stuff. What it needs is original 8-bit characters that look like there from NES games, send me some original characters to my email address to rubberdude@users.sourceforge.net and tell me where they should be on.

[Longhorn Engineer]

Hey, you said it should be affordable. It's not that hard to buy an NES and refurb it for under $30. There are clone systems that sell for $15. If you mean for it to be affordable, it has to be affordable in relation to existing options. Please understand, this is why 100% compatible systems have yet to be designed... the margin they'd earn is probably too small to be worth it.

 

Exactly. I'm sure the "captains of industry" who are in the business or who bankroll it are quite aware of the availability of both real NES and clones. All they have to do is Ebay search for "NES" and then they say, "NOPE. MARKET SATURATED." Then they can make oven mitts or something.

 

Yurp. I see no problem in using a normal regular NES. I refurbished mine and re-bent the 72-pin that was in it. I haven't had an issue with it for 3 years so far.

 

The local gamestore here in Austin has stacks of NES consoles. Why does a 100% clone need to be made again if original NESes can be had for less then $30?

[Joe_Cracker]

Why does a 100% clone need to be made again if original NESes can be had for less then $30?

 

Because it will be needed eventually, plus people would rather walk in to like a play-n-trade store up the street where you can buy one of these NOAC clones off the shelf. Longhorn, I will be able to pay you to build a prototype that can go in to mass-production as long as NES Rom Maker is getting donations and selling stuff from it's cafepress store.

 

Also Longhorn, I'm looking at your website and I'm looking at some of the stuff you did. A Genesis/Genesis32X combo, that is pretty good. I guess if you can hold on to one of those things, it too can be put into mass-production if I can get new Genesis and new 32X games with a later software project. The guy who runs Retrozone is good at reverse engineering things like the old 1990 NES World Championship game cart and 1991 Campus Challenge cart. From what I got, his Ciclone lockout chip was made from reverse engineering Tengen's Rabbit lockout chip.

 

You got me convinced, first I get the software ready and sell a few of my own games on Retrozone, then I'll go back to you and get you started on the hardware project but I'll just go ahead and email you what I'm going to want.

Edited April 6, 2010 by Joe_Cracker

[Joe_Cracker]

Well I got it, I got a Super 8 on the way http://www.gamersgraveyard.com/repository/snes/peripherals/super8.html, if this thing doesn't play the powerpak then I'm getting rid of it first thing.

[Joe_Cracker]

GOOD NEWS! GOOD NEWS! GOOD NEWS!

 

The PowerPak works on the Super8/TriStar, but there's a catch.

 

If you have ever loaded the powerpak's boot rom on an NES pc emulator, you may know that you get a screen like this.

This is exactly what I'm getting from the Super 8

 

If you load the powerpak from your old front loading NES, then you know you'll get a screen like this.

And then in seconds, your taken to the menu screen.

 

Now the trick is to http://www.retrousb.com/product_info.php?cPath=24&products_id=34 and download the powerpak mappers file, after you unzip it, inside you'll find another zip file called "powerpakboot111.zip" inside you'll find a file called "loader111.nes" above all else, that is what makes the powerpak work in original hardware, someone needs to get into that file and crack it to where it will load on an NES emulator on the PC from the CF card while plugged into the USB card reader. Get that to work on an emulator and then it should work on the Super8/TriStar.

 

I said if this thing didn't work, I was getting rid of it but since it does work, I'm keeping it.