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So here's an interesting question I've been thinking about. Why is it that consoles like NES/SNES/Genesis can still work rock-solid for the most part, without any internal work, even though they're all about 20-25 years old at this point, but handhelds from the same time period nowadays have issues that require replacing components to rectify? Case in point, my brick Game Boy has issues with maintaining a solid display, my GBC's speaker dies out shortly after booting it up, and Game Gears usually have issues with video/sound degradation.
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Apr 17, 2014 15:32
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iastudent posted:So here's an interesting question I've been thinking about. Why is it that consoles like NES/SNES/Genesis can still work rock-solid for the most part, without any internal work, even though they're all about 20-25 years old at this point, but handhelds from the same time period nowadays have issues that require replacing components to rectify? There are a few factors: 1. Since it's a portable console it gets transported and tossed around a lot more than a console ordinarily would, opening them up to developing problems if it gets tossed just a little too hard, or repeatedly over a long period of time. 2. You're mentioning the display and speaker, two things which are absent from consoles and somewhat more failure-prone. The display/speakers you would use for a console would likely be newer, and also benefits from not being moved around much. 3. The scale of the components is much smaller, making them more vulnerable to certain aspects of age (e.g. less tolerance to the motherboard warping).
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Apr 17, 2014 15:36
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iastudent posted:So here's an interesting question I've been thinking about. Why is it that consoles like NES/SNES/Genesis can still work rock-solid for the most part, without any internal work, even though they're all about 20-25 years old at this point, but handhelds from the same time period nowadays have issues that require replacing components to rectify? I actually don't recall hearing many problems from the Nintendo side of handhelds. Maybe something about the original GB's screen? The Game Gear though was mostly the fault of cheap capacitors, I thought.
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Apr 17, 2014 16:34
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iastudent posted:So here's an interesting question I've been thinking about. Why is it that consoles like NES/SNES/Genesis can still work rock-solid for the most part, without any internal work, even though they're all about 20-25 years old at this point, but handhelds from the same time period nowadays have issues that require replacing components to rectify? For most of the handheld issues the problem is pretty straight-forward. Let's take for example the Sega Genesis VA1 motherboard:  and a pic of one of the boards inside a turoexpress:  On the top board you see all those blue-coated components? Those are capacitors. Notice how they look a little different than the circled ones in the second picture? Handhelds used surface-mount capacitors while most every single console (with the exception of the Duo) used thru-hole capacitors. Because smt technology was still pretty terrible at the time, the capacitors used in most every handheld in the 90s-early 00s are subject to exploding capacitors. The biggest offenders are the Game Gear and Turbo Express. In regards to DMG screens it's just a lovely ribbon cable and the connection loosens over time. As you can tell today these problems don't exist because technology has come a long way but at the time making things much smaller equated to the devices being more fragile.
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Apr 17, 2014 16:43
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My game from the exchange has arrived, will put together a proper post over the weekend but what I have played of it so far has surpassed all expectations. Thanks gift person!
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Apr 17, 2014 18:33
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I'm gonna get a new beatmania controller soon so if anyone wants my USB modded Konami controller then lemme know. I don't know who on this site would want one aside from people in this thread so    e: No worries, i know some other places this would sell but wanted to give goons the first shot at it Bing the Noize fucked around with this message at 19:46 on Apr 17, 2014 |
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Apr 17, 2014 19:16
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Bing the Noize posted:I'm gonna get a new beatmania controller soon so if anyone wants my USB modded Konami controller then lemme know. I don't know who on this site would want one aside from people in this thread so Maybe try the IIDX thread? It seems to have a lot of crossover to this thread, but maybe you'll find someone. e. Wow I hosed that url tag up. bbcisdabomb fucked around with this message at 22:52 on Apr 17, 2014 |
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Apr 17, 2014 19:22
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iastudent posted:So here's an interesting question I've been thinking about. Why is it that consoles like NES/SNES/Genesis can still work rock-solid for the most part, without any internal work, even though they're all about 20-25 years old at this point, but handhelds from the same time period nowadays have issues that require replacing components to rectify? There's been tons of old consoles that have broken! poo poo, I've personally had 1 NES that broke (no not counting the 72 pin connector), 2 SNES systems that died (one original model, one shrunken model) and 1 Genesis that caught fire.
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Apr 17, 2014 21:52
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Install Windows posted:There's been tons of old consoles that have broken! poo poo, I've personally had 1 NES that broke (no not counting the 72 pin connector), 2 SNES systems that died (one original model, one shrunken model) and 1 Genesis that caught fire. You have to tell us the story behind this even if the story is "there's not much of a story behind this." Not that this is proof of anything, but go on Ebay and there are always people looking to unload "parts or repair" consoles. I'm not sure that the old technology is as solid as we might think, so the population of healthy consoles is definitely dwindling.  Related: I've been fixing up and selling busted consoles recently, and for SNES's it seems there are a few things I keep encountering.1: System powers on but there's a vertical bar of discoloration that slowly runs down the screen. 2: The center plastic bit on the back of the console where you plug in the adapter is broken off, meaning you can't connect an adapter. Or you can connect it but it's loose as all hell and prone to disconnecting if it's jostled even a little. It's an easy fix but you do need to take an intact piece out of another system or buy an aftermarket one. 3: Casing is cracked all to hell. This is almost always at the corners, and there's usually some damage to the slots for the security screws. I think a lot of people have tried getting into SNESs without security bits in the past. There's not really a lot of money in it, but I'm enjoying it and getting some good experience in keeping my own stuff in working order, so there is that. One more tangent: I swapped out some save batteries for a friend at work and not only did the save he had on the cart not disappear... it duplicated itself. His copy of Final Fantasy II apparently had a save in the 3rd slot only. He looked at me funny when I told him that I changed the names of all the characters in the 4th save slot to my name.
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Apr 17, 2014 22:49
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Quiet Feet posted:You have to tell us the story behind this even if the story is "there's not much of a story behind this." Went to play Sonic 2 one day, put the cartridge in, turned the Genesis on (it was a model 2) and flames came out of the area around the cartridge port. I shrieked, yanked out the power cord, and dumped my glass of water on the Genesis. Quiet Feet posted:I'm not sure that the old technology is as solid as we might think, so the population of healthy consoles is definitely dwindling. Well yeah it really isn't that solid. It's just that we can see there's still say a million of whatever 30 year old console around, and you just don't think about how the other 40 million sold aren't around.
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Apr 17, 2014 22:57
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Quiet Feet posted:1: System powers on but there's a vertical bar of discoloration that slowly runs down the screen.
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Apr 17, 2014 23:04
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Install Windows posted:Went to play Sonic 2 one day, put the cartridge in, turned the Genesis on (it was a model 2) and flames came out of the area around the cartridge port. I shrieked, yanked out the power cord, and dumped my glass of water on the Genesis. No, no, no. You did this all wrong. You're supposed to say that you were playing something like Eternal Champions. That sets up the next poster to say, "Well, the system was just trying to protect you!" Don't you know anything about delivering straight lines?
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Apr 17, 2014 23:18
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MediumWellDone posted:Is this it?
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Apr 17, 2014 23:49
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Quiet Feet posted:I'm not sure that the old technology is as solid as we might think, so the population of healthy consoles is definitely dwindling. I'd argue that cartridge-based consoles are inherently more reliable than CD-based ones due to the lack of moving parts. I haven't had any issues with any of my cart systems but I've had issues with my PS1, PS2, Xbox, Xbox 360, and recently my GameCube.
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Apr 17, 2014 23:52
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I think a big factor is the combination of slow clock speeds and large IC packages. The only thing in old consoles that gets hot are the linear voltage regulators, and those are easily replaceable.
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Apr 18, 2014 00:31
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Quiet Feet posted:1: System powers on but there's a vertical bar of discoloration that slowly runs down the screen. deja vu Quiet Feet posted:Could that be it? The adapter is one of those crappy 3-in-1 units but most of the SNES's I'm working on seemed fine. I did have one other console that was showing the same problem but to a lesser extent. Yes, if you haven't ruled this out; those adapters are garbage. Different models (and different games) use different amounts of power. Throw in Yoshi's Island to test.
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Apr 18, 2014 01:00
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bbcisdabomb posted:Maybe try the IIDX thread? It seems to have a lot of crossover to this thread, but maybe you'll find someone. I have literally never seen this thread before  thanks for pointing it out!
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Apr 18, 2014 01:16
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wa27 posted:I always said "Nintendo games" but I knew a lot of people who would say "Nintendo tapes". I suppose it's because VHS tapes and cassette tapes were the preferred formats at the time. Famicom (and super famicom) games are called "game cassettes" in Japan and incidentally a famicom game is made in the same dimensions as a cassette tape case, which makes it easy to store them.
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Apr 18, 2014 01:24
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Keyboard Kid posted:Yes, if you haven't ruled this out; those adapters are garbage. Different models (and different games) use different amounts of power. Throw in Yoshi's Island to test. The one official SNES adapter I have needs a new cable, and apparently Nintendo uses yet another type of security bit which I don't have. 
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Apr 18, 2014 01:44
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Just figured out how to use a Famicom Disk system on the toaster NES, just stack two game genies and a converter cartridge, then plug the ram adapter into the converter and plug the beast into the system, works like a charm
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Apr 18, 2014 01:55
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Quiet Feet posted:Not that this is proof of anything, but go on Ebay and there are always people looking to unload "parts or repair" consoles. I'm not sure that the old technology is as solid as we might think, so the population of healthy consoles is definitely dwindling. I've been looking at "for parts" auctions recently because I also really enjoy taking apart my retro stuff and cleaning/fixing them. It just seems like the prices on those auctions are too high. Some dude wants me to pay an average of $20 ea for a lot of yellowed/broken SNESs? Assuming I can fix all of them, by the time I buy an ac adapter and at least one controller for each console I'd be lucky to break even. I got lucky in the past repairing a Virtual Boy, but that's about it. In fact I'd kinda like buy another VR Boy and keep it this time... That leads me into a tangent of my own. I have a set of drawers that's hold my retro game collection. I have 4 cut outs for shelf candy on this shelf. On one I have a Power Glove on a wooden hand, I was thinking about buying a broken R.O.B. for another, and maybe housing a Virtual Boy in another. If I could figure out what to put in the last cut out I'd have kind of a mini museum of Nintendo retro flops. Am I missing anything obvious that wouldn't cost me a poo poo ton of money (like the N64 DD)?
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Apr 18, 2014 01:56
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bpc908 posted:Just figured out how to use a Famicom Disk system on the toaster NES, just stack two game genies and a converter cartridge, then plug the ram adapter into the converter and plug the beast into the system, works like a charm I can't not ask to see a picture of this. This owns so hard I can't even explain.
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Apr 18, 2014 01:57
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Bing the Noize posted:I can't not ask to see a picture of this. This owns so hard I can't even explain. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, I've got no working camera at all, so sorry no picture
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Apr 18, 2014 02:04
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My SA:DRGE gift came today! It is Cubix: Robots for Everyone for PS1. There are four characters to choose from, but only one real choice.  I was 100% expecting a MarioKart clone, so the first race kind of caught me off-guard. It's more of a Micro Machines clone with a really spazzy camera and mostly lacking such racing game conventions as "inertia" and "acceleration."  By the second race I realized it controls with just the analog stick + whatever button uses items you pick up. Honestly, for a game intended for children, published by 3DO, on the PS1, in 2001, it seems pretty decent.  It's been quite a while since I played my PS1, and I forgot how fun it is to rediscover your old saves. Taking up half of this card are various saves from the good old permadeath-and-gratuitous-swearing version of Tactics Ogre. Also my Santa or whoever shipped this lives about ten minutes from where I grew up, so thanks for the two-stage nostalgia bomb as well as the game itself!
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Apr 18, 2014 02:15
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McFunkerson posted:I've been looking at "for parts" auctions recently because I also really enjoy taking apart my retro stuff and cleaning/fixing them. It just seems like the prices on those auctions are too high. Some dude wants me to pay an average of $20 ea for a lot of yellowed/broken SNESs? Assuming I can fix all of them, by the time I buy an ac adapter and at least one controller for each console I'd be lucky to break even. Yeah, $20 a pop for parts systems is too much. It's not awful if it's an easy/inexpensive fix and you're repairing a single set for personal use, but for a lot? I've seen lots selling at $30/unit, which is ridiculous. I mean, if you put a little work into it you can find a working console at that price. I've set my cutoff point at $15, and only if I know I'm not going to have to shell out for a bunch of parts, or less than that if it's going to need something.
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Apr 18, 2014 02:21
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So this was in the mail when I got home. You can thank our resident Game Center CX worker zari-gani for the art, and The Yetee for printing it.   And today I snagged this too because why the hell not. 
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Apr 18, 2014 02:25
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I told you it'd be a game for everyone, Rollersnake.  To be honest, I had no idea if the game would be...Well, I doubted it'd be particularly good, but the property it's based on was a ridiculous, goofy cartoon from my youth, so as soon as I saw that in my search I had to get it for you. It was the only choice.
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Apr 18, 2014 02:30
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Was that kid called "Mong" on the show too?
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Apr 18, 2014 02:41
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Yes. Yes, I believe he was. It was a weird loving show.
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Apr 18, 2014 02:48
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I have a repair question. Well, more of an is it capable of being repaired question, because I never find the time for this sort of stuff. In my house I have five Sega Genesis model 1s, the original release with the good sound. My husband broke ALL of them by plugging in an AC power supply. Now you might be wondering how he broke all of them. I asked him to test cables. He tried a genesis... Nope that doesn't work. Tried another genesis... Nope. Tried another cable...nope. Tried another genesis... You get the picture. Is there some sort of protection circuit in these for this kind of idiocy or are they all hosed? They all power on ie the loving fuse did not blow. One of them boots games but has lines traveling down the screen. I'm guessing that one's toasted. He thinks he did nothing wrong because "you have all this poo poo lying around and I don't know which ones work or even if they work." Even without knowing anything about AC or DC or anything about that IT WAS A POWER SUPPLY WITH NINTENDO WRITTEN ON IT. Not Sega. Nintendo. That's a lot of consoles to fix, I won't have anything in stock to potentially replace circuitry and I've not cracked them open and examined them yet because SO FREAKING MANY. If anyone has encountered this and fixed it just give me the word. It's not SMD or anything like that so you can bet your rear end if it's repairable I'll just buy the components and tell him he's got work to do. He did say he wanted more practice soldering. Never mind, I found some info on yahoo answers of all places. " You will quickly damage the input capacitors that way, and might also have damaged the 7805 voltage regulators attached to the heatsink. The rest of the system beyond the voltage regulation might have been spared from damage, maybe. " "Maybe." gently caress it I'll try to fix these. They are probably hosed though given they power on, don't boot games and the one that does has issues. Last time I had this happen was way back when ex husband did the same to a white PC engine. The fuse blew. The console was spared. Sing like a girl fucked around with this message at 03:21 on Apr 18, 2014 |
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Apr 18, 2014 02:59
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So here's a question about keeping your back-ups in order. If I'm going to audit my PSX collection, is it better to use the Trurip system or the Redump one? It's been kind of hard to find out what the differences is. Also, is Tosec just a record of everything that has ever been dumped, or is there more to it than that?
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Apr 18, 2014 05:02
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TOSEC seeks to catalog and preserve every possible version of every piece of software ever, essentially. A full TOSEC set will intentionally include 10 copies with only 6 bits changed between them, should there have been 10 seperate versions like that.
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Apr 18, 2014 05:04
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Oh my god that rules so much
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Apr 18, 2014 05:34
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Retro Access posted:I have a repair question. Well, more of an is it capable of being repaired question, because I never find the time for this sort of stuff. Okay well first you know husbands can't be trusted with video games for poo poo. But for what it's worth, I haven't had a Genesis get blown up this way, but I did have a dumbass friend who really wanted to play some Famicom and blew mine up the same way (the original style one). Apparently the thing even smoked. Luckily only the voltage regulator got blown. I replaced it and the thing ran fine after that. I also did have a friend who mixed up the Genesis model 1 and 2 adapters and blew out a Sega CD, but that we fixed with a new fuse alone. Also wow if someone gave me the "you had all this poo poo lying around" excuse for blowing something up with the wrong PSU god help me 
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Apr 18, 2014 05:39
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/\/\ wait... "Husbands can't be trusted with video games?" Did I stumble into some parallel universe where people with vaginas aren't in the minority of "gamers" culture? If so it might be time for a new wife! (Kidding, love my wife, but like most women I know she cares nothing of video games) /\/\ The topic of marker on cartridges (cassettes?) has come up in this thread more than once, but I stumbled onto something I don't think I've seen mentioned here. Those pink pencil erasers aren't just good at cleaning crudded up edge pins. After maybe 10 minutes of elbow grease and isopropyl alcohol I ended up running a pink eraser over some black sharpie on a snes cart and it got drat near all of it off. I then did the same thing to some green marker on the back of a nes cart I had lightened up but wasn't able to completely remove months ago and got it completely removed. It saved a Castlevania IV cart from getting the magic eraser bar and losing some of its texture in the process. AlwaysWetID34 fucked around with this message at 05:46 on Apr 18, 2014 |
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Apr 18, 2014 05:41
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I just got back from a trip to Boston for PAX East, where I got to touch everything and learn a little bit about myself and a lot about love. There was a lot to see there, some of which was even retro related. I totally dug this painted Earthbound/Mother SNES for example: There was a pretty well stocked arcade room, where I spent the better part of the afternoon trying to beat Space Ace. ("I'LL SAVE YOU KIMMMAYYYYYY!!!") Unfortunately, I'm really bad at those old laser disc games, so there was no real chance of that. There were a bunch of concerts, as there is every year, and one that I thought was really cool was a band called Bit Brigades. The band plays the music for a NES game (in this case, Legend of Zelda) while a guy plays through the entire game. Because it was a giant nerd convention, of course everytime he got a triforce bit, this happened: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gf1uUXAqNT0 I'll not bother with all the stuff that isn't retro related, like the fact that I had to buy Caverna, which weighs literally 1000 pounds, or the massive amounts of other games I bought since that stuff is basically impossible to find in the Cayman Islands, where I'm living. After PAX, I made my way over to Game Underground, where I got to learn how bad I am at rhythm games like Pop N Music, and my friend Ironblock got to drop into the Initial D machine and never get heard from again.  I met up with Bing the Noize there, played some multiplayer Neo Geo games, and he managed to get me my long lost copy of VIC TOKAI'S ALL-PRO BASKETBALL (that may or may not be what is actually in the cart of course). Satisfied with life, I flew back to the Cayman Islands (not before of course being delayed in BOS for an hour, waiting on the tarmac, for Air Force One to take off, due to the wind. Literally THANKS OBAMA in this case)  Once on island, I took my sweet cart to Seven Mile Beach, and we had rum cokes and talked about our feelings  Then I slipped that saucy thing into my toaster...  And dreams were made. Thanks Bing The Noize!! I played Fist of the North Star first, in your honour.  (PS: not that this is a common problem for people, but if you happen to live in the Cayman Islands and you want to order a flashcart, there is a very real chance it might never arrive if you go the mail route. Then again, my Everdrive64 and SDSNES2 arrived fine from the Ukraine, so who knows?) MoofOntario fucked around with this message at 05:52 on Apr 18, 2014 |
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Apr 18, 2014 05:50
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Pop'n rules, and Initial D is drugs, it's true. Speaking of conventions, anyone going to Magfest 2015? Because unless some major catastrophe happens, I am! So excited. I need to start saving now, because it's gonna be an expensive trip, I think. e. Ooo is that a Technika sign I see in the upper right of the Pop'n picture? I really like it. It isn't retro by any means, but it's an interesting game. Also, it's the only music game my wife really likes outside of Rock Band, which I thought was pretty cool. They've got a machine at Gameworks, and I think she's put more time into it than me!
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Apr 18, 2014 06:16
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Awwwww hell yes been waiting to see this for so long  MoofOntario posted:I played Fist of the North Star first, in your honour. You remembered!!! *wipes the streams of tears from my face* It was awesome meeting both of y'all up here. If you come back to PAX East in the future let me know and we'll play some games we're more evenly matched in  (P.S. as I was discussing with MoofOntario in person, I'm pretty sure the N8's kept coming back to me with angry customs notices because I specifically mentioned names of ROMs you should play on one of the papers I mailed with the carts. Didn't stop the Mega Everdrives from getting through but who knows I'll try not doing that next time )Code Jockey posted:e. Ooo is that a Technika sign I see in the upper right of the Pop'n picture? I really like it. It isn't retro by any means, but it's an interesting game. Also, it's the only music game my wife really likes outside of Rock Band, which I thought was pretty cool. They've got a machine at Gameworks, and I think she's put more time into it than me! Yeah our arcade used to have a DJMAX Technika machine. One of the regulars there bought the machine and I'm pretty sure the Pop'n replaced it but that was before I moved back to this area so I dunno. I've played it a little bit, DJMAX is definitely fun but drat if it isn't grindy as hell. IIDX/Popn will at least let you finish 2 songs no matter how bad you do but DJMAX is instant done and put in more quarters soon as you gently caress up. The sign just says like "RIP DJMax Technika, in loving memory"
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Apr 18, 2014 06:20
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Install Windows posted:TOSEC seeks to catalog and preserve every possible version of every piece of software ever, essentially. A full TOSEC set will intentionally include 10 copies with only 6 bits changed between them, should there have been 10 seperate versions like that. Okay, I thought as much. As for Trurip and Redump, they're more in the spirit of Nointro? As well as replacing any bad dumps from the past? If there is no real difference between the groups, then why are there two?
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Apr 18, 2014 06:36
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Bing the Noize posted:I'm pretty sure the N8's kept coming back to me with angry customs notices because I specifically mentioned names of ROMs you should play on one of the papers I mailed with the carts. Didn't stop the Mega Everdrives from getting through but who knows I'll try not doing that next time The Caymans are a British Overseas Territory. Customs was just upholding the UK's Sega legacy (Segacy?), obviously  .I had to do some rearranging of my displays since I got an AV cart for my PVM. So, once my SD Trinitron TV was set into place, I decided to hook my NES back up to it since, you know, it's composite and all that and doesn't necessarily benefit from being hooked up to a PVM. Surprisingly, I think the NES' picture looks better on the TV. I also didn't know that the Japanese version of Contra had an intro, "level clear" screens, and the map until today. And yet, somehow, it seems like there's something more correct about the American version; it forgoes all the fluff and just goes straight into shooter action. Am I alone in thinking this?
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Apr 18, 2014 07:47
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