Messages

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: .hes Music Archive (Kaminaron or otherwise)]

Go figure, I was searching for some .hes rips I had been meaning to grab for a while/lost, and google turns me to here. While I have a number of the playlist files containing meta data and harder to find rips, I'm missing a lot. Arc-nova.org at one point had the most complete archive of .hes rips I found, but like Kaminaron, it seems they are all lost: http://www.arc-nova.org/chiptunes/files.php?type=HES . I did find a ftp server that seems like a good starting place for the later/harder to find rips that Kaminaron and Arc-nova once held, figured I'd share the info since I was passing this way: ftp://lan.oxfordinspire.co.uk/pub/mirrors/modland/pub/modules/HES/ . Alternatively: http://web.archive.org/web/20051215113430/http://namida.com/kaminarimon/hes/ Links seem to be working, but I haven't checked them all, not sure if that represents the last rips to be uploaded there either, but it's better than nothing at all.

Looks like only 6 survived: http://wayback.archive.org/web/*/http://namida.com/kaminarimon/hes/*

I think I found something better: http://hes.joshw.info/

[Off-Topic / The “What-Did-You-Buy-Today?” Thread]

How come everyone has a Vectrex but me? 

I have no veccy either, so you aren't alone.

Up at UTD all last week, I got to check out the store by the Midnight Madness or whatever card/comic/rpg game/hobby shop, Games FX iirc. They had a nice varied selection, and the prices were fair. Some games were slightly under priced, some slightly over, but nothing stood out as insane.

They had two tg-16 games even, though it's not like I haven't seen my share of loose Keiths in the wild. The other was a loose Andre Kick Boxing whatever. They also had an oddly large selection of 3do games, including that Street Fighter 2 port it got and the shitactular cheesefest that is Way of the Warrior. I almost grabbed the $10 loose Final Fight CD they had, but I wanted more than I had the money I felt comfortable spending, so it didn't make the cut.

I grabbed a loose Herzog Zwei and Starflight for genny, and a complete Star Ocean: Second Story for psx. Starflight was a game I got on a hunch that it was one of the games I remember my dad renting and watching him play for hours on end.

I had done this once before, but this time the gamble paid off. $10 was probably slightly overpriced for the game, but it was well worth it to reclaim a piece of my childhood. It's a surprising deep and open ended game on the genesis; it's one of the early games from EA's beginning days, and I believe it's a port from pc.

Star Ocean was one of the games I always saw for $20 complete at Gamestop and EB Games when they still carried psx games (and nes, snes, genesis, etc), but never had enough money for it after the other games I was after first.

Then Gamestop stopped carrying "retro" games, ate EB shortly after, and collectors started focusing on US psx rpgs more and more for a while, driving up the asking price for a lot of them. Star Ocean 2 was one such casualty, but thankfully it has gone back to the value it previously, steadily held after the psp remakes/ports of the first two star oceans came out: $20-$30. I wouldn't have paid the $60+ it commanded for a short while, but I think it was well worth the $25 I paid for a complete copy.

And then the $11 Herzog Zwei, I think speaks for itself by now. I've never played it beyond a few moments in an emulator, but I'm looking forward to digging into this game of legend and yore. I can definitely see why it didn't go over too well in 1989, the game is confusing as hell the first time jumping in, and it's like nothing else of it's time. Speaking of...how exactly DO you play the game? I need to look up the manual for it or something...

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Glitched Hu card]

ya i had a Bonk card do that...

I mailed this loose card in a bubble mailer in perfect working order to a buddy of mine but when he got it it worked like this... This has been discussed before & i believe it can be caused by hard impacts to the hucard in the mail.

Yep sparks, I ended up with that copy for an experiment I learned was not possible in the way I was trying to go about it, I may use it for a homemade region converter someday instead. The pictures of de here are VERY reminiscent of that Bonk huey, except in the case of halfway-to-fubar Bonk, the graphical display is consistent and 100% predictable. In fact, I never knew you took video footage of it, and just from memory it still looks just like that, The game plays fine otherwise, though I haven't played through the entire game on that particular hu-card.

I tested it on at least 5 different confirmed working and well played systems (three tg-16s and two turbo duos) with the same results. It's likely that the card had one of the address lines on the glop top, break, short, corrode, or otherwise fail. Now that I'm thinking about it, I may see if I can carefully scrape back the glop top on that bonk huey as a sort of education endeavor.[/quote]

I ran into the same thing a few years back, bought on E-bay...did'nt test the cards for bit . The cards look near mint(as does the case and manual), the graphics are a little more garbled then pictured above. The games were Bloody Wolf, Bravoman and Ninja spirit. I tried cleaning them and tried to push them in further, but no good. Might go try the eraser.

Actual bad HuCards are extremely rare. It's hard to believe you got three of them in a single transaction. It's far more likely you have some issue with your system, perhaps just a single pin in the HuCard slot was/is dirty/corroded, a single pin that all three games used but others didn't. Or, the contacts are still just extremely dirty.

That's assuming the seller didn't knowingly & willingly sell you a bunch of stuff that didn't work or the package was exposed to some unusual stress en route. It's really, really hard to break a HuCard (I don't mean physically, just operationally).

Even in moonwhistle's case, I feel the issue is dirt either on the contacts or in the cart slot...

Three bunk hueys in a row isn't impossible, but indeed, very hard to believe and not at all likely. Wherever the physical problem is, the symptoms of these 'partially working hucards' sounds like an issue with one of the address lines. Could be in the huey, or in the actual console, regardless, somewhere along the way it looks like data is not coming through entirely, or at all correctly down certain address lines. It could also be dying/dead logic in your actual console (hopefully never one of the custom huc processors!)

On a similar note, I have a snes that one day started exhibiting odd, yet repeatable and consistent glitches in certain parts of particular games. The countdown overlay in uniracers completely glitched to hell, the background gfx of only the intro stage of Super Castlevania IV completely garbled, and other oddities come to mind. Some games (most) had zero issues, and they were generally mild, at first I thought the carts were the issue..until two copies of uniracers exhibited the exact same problems, and I was able to test Super Castlevania IV on another console. It used to work 100%, from what I researched, it sounds like one of the custom logic chips and or cpu in that snes failed.

Oddly enough, my original Gameboy Player has similar oddities. The gba Shining Force remake is outright unplayable due to numerous glitches, and every gba game to date has eventually locked up given enough time playing in a single sitting. Original and color game boy games seemed to be a-ok, but again, I never tested it that extensively.

At first, I figured there was some overlying incompatibility playing shining force with all Gameboy Players, as all the other games seemed to play 100% ok. But then I found that the games I sat and played for any extended period of time took a liking to crashing at entirely unpredictable times. Finally I was able to test Shining Force on a friends Gameboy Player to find it worked without a hitch. Got a new one and haven't had any issues with it, put the problem one in storage and haven't looked at it since either.

I may go back and take a multimeter to the cart slot and make sure I'm getting a solid connection with all the pins with a game inserted, though I found a nice gray snes bin on ebay for $20 the very day I confirmed my snes was fubar and haven't messed with the busted one since.

Either way, I'd also suggest a disassembly of your tg-16 to give the cart slot a real good cleaning as well as to give the pins a good look over for any corrosion, Lamecat. It probably wouldn't hurt if you wanted to try the same moonwhistle.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: custom TG16/PCE hucard cases… ROUND 2!!]

Very clever sparks. You could even put the hucard in with the label facing the back so you can get a glimpse of what game you have from the front and the back.

[Buy/Sell/Trade / Re: FS: Home Grown Inserts... (200post count members)]

I'm kinda amazed I have over 200 posts. XD Not that I need any inserts, just wanted to say that these look very pro, Sparks. First originally Jewel Case-less games get pro spine stickers, then the whole US set, then the clip innovation, and now case inserts. What's next, entire manual repros (with requisite "THIS IS NOT AN ORIGINAL, FUCKING EBAY SCAMMERS" watermark of some kind of course), then outer box repros?

You're mad sparks! In a good kind of way that is. Keep up the good work.

Actually, are there any source manuals you might need fresh scans from to make some of these, sparks? If so, I may be able to help, I have quite a few (a good majority actually) of the US manuals, as well as a pretty nice scanner. It's one of those old, hella pricey back in the day flatbed type scanners.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Favorite chiptunes and HES help - preparation for YouTube video]

In regards to nezplug, there is an "unofficial" version that is still updated by another person that goes by the name nezplug++.

http://offgao.no-ip.org/program/nezplug++.html

The thing about nezplug++ is that with every update, it seems to improve one systems emulation and screw up anothers. Overall though it's definately making the most progress for several of the chiptunes it plays. Check out various old versions, most updates are spot on for ~90% of the hes files I'd say.   

Correct me if I'm wrong, but .hes files work just fine in any pce emu that flat out didn't suck, ie any that could load at least one commercial game. Button I and II would change "tracks" by jumping to addresses in the rom. I haven't gone that route often, but just renaming the extension from .hes to .pce was usually enough to get them working.

If you are going the emulator route, it's only worth it for the few hes files that are broken in all the .hes music players, otherwise setting up some hardware to capture the audio straight from the hardware is about the same amount of hassle. 

I only went this route for games that use ADPCM, and the few that just plain didn't work for the longest in any plugin based player, or if they did, they were constantly being broken after a short update of being fixed. Final Lap Twin is one that comes to mind. After nezplug++ implemented ADPCM I have never messed with emulators to play .hes files since.

Speaking of Final Lap Twin, I still hum the one tune that plays during the practice tracks (iirc) in the rpg mode  sometimes when I am driving. 

Xanadu I and II have some of the best tracks period, and so many overall. Granted they don't represent some of the other feels and styles of many other excellent games' tracks, but Xanadu I had maybe 2 total redbook audio tracks and something like 60 EXCELLENT all around psg tracks. Xanadu II had less psg tracks, but still same top notch quality that falcom is known for.

I also recommend Bloody wolf, if it hasn't already been mentioned, it has some great action packed music fitting to the game overall. It also has a bit of variety in the music, and while I don't like some of the tracks as well, I think they fit their respective stages overall. The jungle stage's music is one that comes to mind. They also made good use of stereo, but only on the title screen. Blew me away as a kid, that and the game plays the sound something like 80% louder than any other I can remember.

The one dungeon explorer and a lot of others used sound very similar, you could even take the music from a lot and shuffle them around and no one would notice. Also Neutopia I and II and a ton of others (majority of hucards period) seem to be using the standard dev kit engine for sound, not that a lot didn't sound great. Definately a top 10 will be hard to narrow down, but for sure it needs to represent all the different kinds of awesome on the pce.

A lot on this list are certainly tastes of smaller groups, and if you took ParanoiaDragon's suggestion for Impossimole, I do believe you'd have a mob of angry pce/tg 16 fans show up to your door. Just run by your list before you set on it, if there's any dissention, believe me you'll know if something doesn't belong.

[Off-Topic / Re: Anyone a picky eater?]

Man one time protestors actually came INTO the KFC with signs and started yelling at all the diners.  someone hocked a drumstick at the excessively loud girl and pegged her in the face.  a fight broke out between dudes from the meat side and the grass side.   

Dude why am I imagining this now? Please tell me the meat eaters tossed the pricks out on their ass outside? Not like those vegetarians had any meat(or muscle) on their bones. Pun intended

I agree with ya though I don't give a flying fuck what you believe, if you believe all of the dead animals will one day rise and seek vengeance on those who killed them, so be it. Just don't cram your "morals" down everyone else's throats. BTW I've never really had any run ins with any bitchy vegetarians. Then again Texas doesn't have many, and the few we do have know to shut the fuck up. I really would not be shocked to see some fatass devour a bitchy vegetarian on the spot. Seriously, we have some scary fatasses.

[Off-Topic / Re: Anyone a picky eater?]

Myself, I'm not talking about "normal". I'm not sure if I even used the word. Obviously as a vegetarian I qualify as a "picky" eater to most of my friends. However, we never would have got here as a species if it weren't for our extremely varied diets and our penchant for fucking. Normal or not, he's an evolutionary dead-end.

My point is that Zeon might see himself as a harmless Edward Scissorhands, Kraftwerk sort of dude, but I just see him as more like..."It puts the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again." That sort of shit.

If he doesn't want this attention/persecution then maybe he should stop telling us how fucked up he is. Either that, or save it for the furry forums.

Done thread crapping yet? I asked for what other people liked/didn't like to eat, not an entire tirade against what I personally prefer. Again, I don't EVER remember pissing in your cheerios, yet you still put in every pot shot you can get. Opinions are fine, but you are starting to sound like a broken record, at least NecroPhile, Arkhan and others seem to be having a good time, you just seem like a very bitter individual. Perhaps something about me strikes a little to close to home and it irks you? Why don't you tell us a little about yourself Mr. Zeta? What makes you so awesome and wonderful? What gives you the need to bitch on and on? I swear I could make a thread as tame as "What do you eat on your eggs?" "I eat barbecue sauce" and you'd bust in all "BARBECUE SAUCE?!?! YOU ARE A SICK ABNORMAL FREAK OF A MAN"

Note for the slow, I'm not actually angry, I'm actually starting to have a good time with this, especially seeing how the EXTREME topic of picking eating has gone to hell. 

Either that, or save it for the furry forums.

Woah there buddy, I don't recall any mention of furries tn this thread, nor do I see how they are relevant. Something you not telling us man? It's ok, I won't judge.

[Off-Topic / Re: Anyone a picky eater?]

Yeah, what's wrong with you Zeon? Don't you know it's wrong to not tow the line of social conformity? Sheesh! Get with the program!

There is a difference between being different and just being a freak job. He doesn't like sex, doesn't like food, and thinks the PSG sounds better than a guitar. He sure loves video games though! This is the very profile, in every way, of an extremely underdeveloped personality.

When this guy dies they will find the skins of children drying in his attic.

Haha you got me zeta, three things I have revealed about myself on these forums. You totally nailed it. You totally aren't jumping to conclusions or making assumptions on very limited information I have actually revealed about myself in these forums. These three things completely define who I am, yessireebob. You are one sharp cookie there. There's no way that you could be missing the sarcasm in half or more of my posts. No judging, stereotyping, or being the slightest bit close-minded here whatsoever. We all know you are the goto guy on normalcy. Yep cause there is totally such a thing as normal that is agreed upon by all.

 

Seriously man, people talk about me bitching, yet it seems you relish in thread crapping in every thread I start that doesn't match up with your terms of "normal". You made your opinion loud and clear, now if you don't have anything else to contribute to the actual subject at hand, I suggest you take your sourpuss self elsewhere. Honestly I'd love to see someone drop you off in a foreign country where there culture and customs are drastically different from ours. I can just imagine you running around calling everyone a freak show, acting like your culture is the correct and normal one, pissing off the wrong person, and end up never being heard from again.

This thread was made in good spirits, with a simple question. I guess picky eating is too extreme and controversial of a subject for some of you 

I just noticed zeta, you were fine until you realized I was that "asexual" guy, and then went into bitch mode. You got some personal vendetta with me or something? I don't recall ever pissing in your cheerios.

[Off-Topic / Re: Anyone a picky eater?]

Wait...I just realized. You're the "asexual" guy too.

Just change your user name to Darkman and be done with it. If you don't like...anything, apparently, and you think the PC Engine sound chip is better than any real instrument, chances are you are socially stunted beyond hope.

Some people's parents, I swear...

Well EXCUSE me for being different  

[Off-Topic / Re: Anyone a picky eater?]

Man you've used this people "badgering" you excuse on a few issues...seems like you need a new group of people around you.  I have never been harassed to try certain foods/drinks, think a certain way on any topic, whatever.  I guess I have a big enough set to stand by my NO, and not give in, and people figure that out pretty quick.

It doesn't happen often at all nec, the only reason I brought it up was (at least to me) it seemed like termis came out with his arms swinging, and he reminded me of one of those people. I rarely have any problems with it.

In any case, back on topic, if you guys aren't picky eaters, what foods do you not like?

[Off-Topic / Re: Anyone a picky eater?]

Not a picky eater at all.  It's okay to not like something, but it annoys the shit out of me when people refuse to even try something, or take the food and start sniffing it right up against their nose -- just fucking eat it!

Would you rather the person try the food and empty the contents of their stomach on your carpet? Lot's of people won't try new stuff, or will sniff it first, because most of the time they do try new things, it makes them gag/vomit

It annoys me when someone is practically shoving food in my face insisting that I try it. Trust me, there's often a good reason...

Sounds like bullshit rationalization.  If the person can't handle food for whatever reason (allergic reaction, etc), all he/she has to do is ask if something is in there, say that they can't handle such food for reason x, and that's the end of it.  On the other hand, not trying something just because you're close-minded?  Well, again, that's just annoying.

And as I mentioned, worse yet are the sniffers.  And don't give me that crap about naturally smelling (Roy), do you shove your nose 1" over the plate on someone's dish when you're invited over to dinner from someone else's house?  I've seen cases like that in say, Japan, where a Japanese family went great lengths to prepare a full meal for some foreigner, and the fucking guy starts sniffing the thing like some bloodhound (again, all he had to do was ASK what it was/if something he couldn't eat was in there).  If you don't think that kind of behavior is rude, then you just don't have a clue.

Sheesh man. I like to smell my food before tasting it, this goes with any food, whether I like it or not. I can't say I've ever used it as a test to see if I would eat something or not, nor do I get inches away from it. I do agree that your example is pretty rude, but it seems like an extreme to me.

When I talk about not trying a food, I don't mean refusing to try anything new.  I have a pretty good idea of what I do and don't like.

Let me give you an example scenario of what drives me nuts:

"Hey man you ever eat cow tongue?"
"No"
"You want to try it"
"No thanks"
"Why?"
"It doesn't look appealing, sorry can't we just leave it at that?"
"Aww c'mon, you won't know until you try"
"Please stop, I said I don't want to"

and this goes on for a good 3-4 minutes

"Fine, I'll try the damn cow tongue"
*tries it
*starts to looks sick
either a *spits it out or *b starts to gag/vomit.

What business is it anyones if I don't want to try a new food? Why the hell can't they stop at No thanks. Badgering someone to try something that they have a pretty good idea they won't like seems rude to me. I mean really, what the hell is offensive about not wanting to eat something? Maybe I'm not hungry, maybe meat is gross to me, maybe it smells awful, do you NEED a reason? Not understanding that some people DO have problems with some types of foods (that aren't moral or health related), and refusing to let them be, seem pretty closeminded itself.

I will tell you every thing, every last little piece of food that someone has had me try, after my saying no thanks because the food did not seem appealing to me at all, I have hated. I have yet to try something that I had a pretty good idea I wouldn't like that:

A I was barely able to swallow
B Involuntarily spit out
C Start gaging/actually vomit stuff up.

I'm not being funny or joking about the gaging/vomiting, it HAS happened. In fact I have stopped trying many new things after years of trying just about everything I came across, I got burned way too many times. After a while, you have a pretty good grasp of the qualities of foods you like and don't like. Maybe I am genetically predisposed to not liking certain foods of which there have been studies to suggest such things, who knows?

So I ask, who's more closeminded? The person who has a good idea of what they do and don't like, and politely refuse something that they most likely won't like/induce vomiting if they do try it, or the person that badgers them to try it, and is insistent, not understanding that the person has a pretty good grasp on what they would and wouldn't like?

If you can't understand that some people, for whatever reason, have a much more limited palette than you, then you are pretty closeminded yourself.

[Fighting Street / Re: Maiden vs. Priest]

Should I be ashamed that I only recognize the names, but can't put the music to these bands? I assume it's some kind of heavy/death metal stuff? 

[Fighting Street / Re: Dirty Hot girls....]

And yes i posted this sober... dont judge me

 

Sparky sober? Liking dirty hot? girls???

That's it!

JUDGMENTAL MODE ACTIVATED!!!!
 
Sparky, you sir are a sick SICK man. First you make claims of being sober, which we all know is a dirty damned lie! Sparky = Drunk 24/7 all year long every year. You shouldn't lie Sparks, even if you are drunk. We wouldn't want you going to hell.

THEN you have the nerve to suggest that women can be dirty AND hot, and not only that, but purport to DESIRE such a thing?!?!?!?! Either you are lying again, or a very VERY depraved individual. No sir! I do not understand it! You need help good sir! *various angry judgmental gestures and miscellaneous noises of disgust*

GOOD DAY TO YOU SIR!!!

JUDGMENTAL MODE DEACTIVATED!!!!

[Off-Topic / Re: Anyone a picky eater?]

Not a picky eater at all.  It's okay to not like something, but it annoys the shit out of me when people refuse to even try something, or take the food and start sniffing it right up against their nose -- just fucking eat it!

Would you rather the person try the food and empty the contents of their stomach on your carpet? Lot's of people won't try new stuff, or will sniff it first, because most of the time they do try new things, it makes them gag/vomit

It annoys me when someone is practically shoving food in my face insisting that I try it. Trust me, there's often a good reason...

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: FM music or PSG music?]

well if you are factoring in NES and stuff you must not of read the original post all the way, lol.

That negates the rest of my post how?:

If you took a good to bad ratio of fm vs psg music of just the genesis and pce alone (Tons of arcade games and others used fm, granted usually superior hardware). There are FAR more good psg tunes. In fact I can think of maybe 3 games on the pce that had awful psg music. Titan and Deep Blue are two of them, and even then none of them have ever been ear grating. There is literally about two handfuls of good fm genny music. I have listened to some msx fm music, and I can say the good stuff, pales in comparison the the good psg tunes.

I read your post 100%, and only mentioned the nes and gameboy (you didn't say anything about that one ) as a small aside. Actually, another system that was capable of some pretty cool, yet basic music was the intellivision, although very few commercial games took advantage of it due to size limitations and cost.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: FM music or PSG music?]

I never said guitar hero was synthy, but I can see how you inferred that.

I love PSG and all, but Van Halen sounds better when its Van Halen, not PSG Halen.

I disagree 

and out of curiosity what redbook stuff sounds like crappy MIDI to you?

Not necessarily crappy, but uninspired and flat, and all of it. People rave about the tg-16 redbook audio for ys 1& II, and ys III, yet I think it is passe, I actually prefer nes versions of the tunes, and am deeply disappointed that they didn't go psg. Even the genesis Ys III pwns tg-cd Ys III's redbook audio.

another interesting point is, how many games were released in all for the PCE? Factor in the SMALL library of SCC games from Konami on MSX, and I think you might end up discovering that there are actually more FM games with good music than PSG ones.... 

I would also include nes, and gameboy in the ranks of the psg chippy type music. There are quite a bit of good nes and gameboy tunes that don't use any expansion chips. Believe it or not many pce cd games had a good amount of psg music. If you took a good to bad ratio of fm vs psg music of just the genesis and pce alone (Tons of arcade games and others used fm, granted usually superior hardware). There are FAR more good psg tunes. In fact I can think of maybe 3 games on the pce that had awful psg music. Titan and Deep Blue are two of them, and even then none of them have ever been ear grating. There is literally about two handfuls of good fm genny music. I have listened to some msx fm music, and I can say the good stuff, pales in comparison the the good psg tunes.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: FM music or PSG music?]

Psg owns FM, period. Fm has some good tunes, but psg has far more good tunes. The best of fm doesn't compare to the very best of psg IMO. Not even close. There is WAY too much fm garbage music out there. For every Streets of Rage there are at least 300 crappy "tinny" and "abrasive" and overall crappy fm tunes. For however much psg owns fm, multiple the amount of ownage by at least 1,000,000,000,000, and precede ownage with words like super, mega, and hyper, and you have an idea how much psg owns redbook, especially early redbook.

Redbook is decent, but the instrumentation is worse, because in 99% of the cases, they have synthy instruments that are trying too hard to sound real, but falling very flat. Mostly sounds like uninspired midis on steroids. Instrumentation aside, lots of redbook is mundane, and bland. You can tell when they got lazy. Kaze no Xanadu may not be my favorite pc engine rpg or game by far, but I have to give them a MEGA thumbs up for making 99% of the game's sound track in psg, and very well done psg at that. The kick ass music was one of the few things that was able to keep me going for 6 hours straight without pulling my hair out trying to figure out what bastard I needed to talk to that I couldn't find, or wasting 10 minutes at a time traveling from one end of an area to another to see if I actually triggered an event.

I wished they still made most games with psg music, I'd probably buy some of the crap they shit out nowadays if they did. I would totally buy rock band or guitar hero, if it was all kick ass psg music.

OBEY PSG

DESTROY REDBOOK 

[Off-Topic / Anyone a picky eater?]

While I don't really consider myself too picky of a eater, there are quite a few things I do not like, and even some that will induce an involuntary vomiting type reaction.

I never really thought much of it but lately I've been looking more into it. I'm not sure, but I think I may be what they call a supertaster, even though there are many inconsistencies with that theory. I also found on a website for adult picky eaters a list of possible/potential causes for it. On the list was tourette's syndrome, which I have. However, I've been trying to find research that suggests this, though I haven't looked that much yet. One of the things I found in common with me and picky eaters, is that the texture of a food is a big deal.

Many picky eaters can't/won't eat most meat because of it's texture. While I can eat meat, I can definitely relate to the texture of thick pieces of red meat being gag inducing. I have had to spit out many pieces of steak or risk vomiting on several occasions. I have had many people tell me I haven't had good steak, yet when I try their "Ultimate, tasty steak" it's no better. It doesn't help that the flavor is always on the outside of the steak, and all you taste mainly is bland meat, with that horrible meaty texture.

I really don't eat that much meat, often I do just because I know I need the nutrients, but I rarely crave most meat. I could easily be a vegetarian, and not feel like I was missing anything. Just about any/all seafood is off limits, horrible textures, gross flavors, and almost always gag inducing.

Hot spicy shit is bad times. Spicy is good when it gives some sort of flavor. If something is so spiced up all you taste is burning, and no other flavors, just burning, something is not right. Maybe I am missing something, but if I wanted that effect why not just eat fire? That's what extremely hot crap tastes like, textured burning. It's almost like some sort of pissing contest to show off your manliness, and nothing more. I can eat it just fine, but what's the point? There are far better ways to show how "manly" you are, and speak volumes louder than having your mouth on fire for a few minutes. Stuff like punching through brick walls, or being Segata Sanshiro. Sometimes it gets so hot that it tastes bitter.

Another vomit inducing substance is alcohol, of any kind. So bitter and gross. I've tried alcohol on several different occasions(beers, and hard liquor), and every time I immediately spit it out, I can't even swallow it.

In general I usually go for more sweet, sour, and to a much lesser extent, salty stuff. Stuff made from grains, like breads, noodles, and the like, most fruits, some vegetables, and sweets are my dietary mainstays.

So anyways, does anyone consider themselves a picky eater? What foods do you guys not like/can't tolerate and why?

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: PCE CDROM2/TG-16 gear theory]

OG has always meant Original Generation to me, basically the same meaning as Zeta would use it.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: TURBOBOOSTER = SEXY, GODDAMMIT.]

This is a little off topic, but I never understood why/how people consider an inanimate object 'sexy'. I mean really, do people have a legitimate desire to screw a car/machine/video game system? Please don't answer that, I really don't want to know... 

Anyways as far as the aesthetics of the tg-16+booster vs oh say a pce/core grafx + tennokoe bank addon (the expansion port one, not the hucard), I've gotta say pce wins. Sorry man, the tg-16's t shaped design, and odd looking cover awkward enough alone (They aren't horrible, but pale in comparison to the pce), the booster and booster + add a whole extra dimension of ugly and being pointlessly huge. The tg-16 + booster just makes me think of a slow, disgusting, and bloated fatass with a tumor growing out of their side, whereas the pce + equivalent add-on makes me think of an agile, fit, and trim athletic type person that would run circles around said fatass. If the two got in a fight, the pce would win, no contest. One good punch to the gut, and the fatass tg-16 with booster would crumple into a heap on the ground, gasping for air.

I just don't see how anyone could choose the tg-16 with booster over the pce with tennokoe bank, unless they were just being rebellious, or trying to stir up some drama . I'm not saying the tg-16 is butt ugly looking (really by itself it's not bad at all, plenty of truly fugly systems out there), but man take an equivalent of the pce and look at em side by side, there's not really a comparison.

Btw nuts, awesome pic. It pretty much sums up the situation perfectly .

[General Gaming / Re: [?]countries and their colo(u)rs]

Eh sometimes Japanese art is too gaudy/colorful in general. Don't get me wrong, Japan makes some good stuff, but a lot of stuff (more recently) is this kinda overly gorgeous, shiny, cutesy junk. I will agree that up to the 90s Japan had many varied and distinct styles, and that even games/movies/anime in a similar genre could look remarkable different, and even "feel" different. You had your dark and gritty stuff, you had your gruesome stuff, and you had your bright cheerful stuff. I won't talk anymore on the current state of visuals in Japan made stuff, partly because it doesn't really pertain to the topic (we are talking art from the 80s/90s), and partly cause it all looks like the same artist is drawing 99% of the art for Japan made stuff, and it's really gotten old.

Tatsujin's got a point.  Japanese games look better, with better polish on the art.  Culture has a lot to do with it, and you can see the presence, or lack, of an "art" culture by comparing console/PC games from different countries. 

I agree with cultural influences, but disagree on the "presence or lack of an "art" culture statement. It's just too highly subjective to opinions. I agree some stuff is indisputably poor or bad art. Aesthetically speaking there's not much to stick figures is there? But really, someone's "masterpiece" is another's toilet paper. I've seen plenty of good and bad art from many countries, and I can't say any is particularly "superior". I even disagree with many on what is good and bad.

Compare old 2-D US-developed PC games with games made in the UK or Germany.  It's like night and day.

Stylistically yes, quality no.

Compare the best US-made Turbo or Genesis games with even the most mediocre Japanese/Euro games on the same systems.  The (US) art styles are inferior, and don't work. 

Says you and probably others. I know many who would disagree though. It's all a matter of opinion.

Sure, often Japanese games used few colours, but US games often used drab colours.  I remember a period in the early '90s when every second Genesis game seemed to use a combination of purples, dark greys, and browns.  Yecch!
(One of the reasons I was drawn to the Turbo at this time was precisely its bright, colour-cycling graphics.)

Drab doesn't automatically = crap. There are some excellent pieces of US made art in games and elsewhere that not only make good use of drab colors, but have a good reason to do so. Honestly stuff like contrast and where/how colors are used are far more important than the color choices imo.

Japanese kids grow up drawing 1000s of pictures, copying them out of comic books, anime, Disney, etc.  From a young age they are copying styles, and if they keep at it, they eventually develop their own style (hopefully).  Japanese culture, being very visual, has bred a good pool of talent.

Obviously if you want bright cartoony, and often exaggerated stuff, you'll prefer most Japanese art. If you like more realistic, dark, and detailed stuff, you'll enjoy most US art. One really isn't better than the other, they are just different.

On the other hand, most of us in N. America grew up and never got out of the "shitty kindergarten stick-figure/blob people" phase.  Sure, American comic books have their own realistic style and a storied tradition, but that just resulted in kids drawing the same kindergartener crap, just with more muscle lines on the chest. 

If you are serious about creating art, chances are you will probably constantly draw, mimic, and improve your skills from a young age regardless of culture. The people who are stuck in the "shitty kindergarten stick-figure/blob people" phase are usually ones who casually draw something when they feel like it, aren't serious, and don't practice/immerse themselves with constantly drawing. It may very well be that more Japanese people are inclined from their own innate nature to be artists. Growing up in a culture surrounded by drawing and such may help you out early on to discover your talent, but a presence or absence of a "artistic culture" will not stop those who are truly interested or talented from making excellent art and coming into their own.

[General Gaming / Re: [?]countries and their colo(u)rs]

Right I just though of a colorful us made arcade game that did a really good job with colors (Even if the game was ehhhhh):



One of Strata/Incredible Technologies other games, Ninja Clowns, did a pretty good job as well for that matter Although the overall colors are kinda dark, I think that was to make a stark contrast with the goofy much more brightly colored sprites. (Besides I think the premise of the game is it all takes place at night time anyways.):



Oh and how could I forget Bloodstorm:



I realize the same company made all three of these games, but I know there are many more that did a good job with colors that I am forgetting right now. Of course the vast majority of arcade games are not US developed. I'd wager a good 85% of all arcade games are Japanese made

[General Gaming / Re: [?]countries and their colo(u)rs]

and again, if a picture has more colors on screen is not the topic here. you can reach a 10 times better result with an even smaller palette, if you just know how to use it the right way. everything has its limits sure.

Still not a fair comparison. I get what you are saying, but still, it's like giving one artist a single charcoal pencil and cheap paper, and another one a whole array of colored pencils, markers, paints, etc. and tell them to make you a work of art. You can make some AMAZING stuff with just paper and charcoal, but good lord the amount of work and effort that it would take to create something comparable or better than the artist who has an entire varied array of mediums and tools at his disposal would be INSANE. Simply not a fair comparison.

You can dismiss hardware limitations all you want but they do still play a very large role in how good the end product turns out. If you ask a builder to build you a house from sticks and mud, don't expect anywhere near the quality of a builder you give bricks, cement, and wood to. That's not to say there isn't someone out there that couldn't show up the brick laying builder with his sticks and mud, it's just not very likely to happen

BTW NARC's graphics remind me of a LOT of genesis game's graphics, mainly basic, simple, and bland jrpgs. Any anyways I think games like Smash TV did a better job with colors than other efforts. I will admit many US made arcade games reek of lazy graphic design, but there are many more that don't

[General Gaming / Re: [?]countries and their colo(u)rs]

it's not about how much colors on screen, it's about how the colors are used.

and NARC uses 'em in a real horrible way. if that is one of the most colorful games the US can bring on the table, then good night dear sir.

for me also the outrun coloring is looking so much more delightful as those from road blaster, still road blaster is not the worst example for sure. it was just a racer, as well from about the same time.

You gotta compare apples to apples nuts. Even though road blasters came out about a year after outrun, it's running on far inferior hardware, at least colorwise. We are talking a palette of 12288 (outrun) vs a measly 1024 (roadblasters). Less colors available means more clever usage of available colors is needed, the fact that side by side the two games look like they are from the same era when outrun has 12 times the number of color choices says a lot for roadblasters. In fact outrun should be ashamed it only looks about 2-3 times as good instead of 12 times. That being said, you can hardly blame it on poor programming skills or talent. Like chop said, we are cheapskates, we cut corners whenever we can to maximize profit.

In fact I think Narc uses it's colors far better than final fight. Yeah final fight used some brighter colors and it seems to "pop" out at you more, Narc makes good use of it's palette of 8192 (which in this case is more than final fight's 3072) with smooth gradients and blending. Imo the extra colors available shows. It looks a lot more natural than the blending of colors on final fight; just look at that thugs green and black pants, ick. Final fight is more a different style than anything (bright and cartoony) whereas Narc is more about subtle details, smooth blending, and more natural looking graphics. The detail in Narc's graphics is amazing, while it might not be the super colorful bright in your face type, I actually prefer it in this case.

If I had to say what took more work and talent to draw out, I'd say Narc hands down, just take a look at this screen:



Look at the fine pixel details on the trains texture, the reflective look on that pillar and ground, and all the different shades on the bad guys coats. I mean just look at that ceiling. It almost looks like real life objects that were down sampled to fit the games limited palette, but still doing a great job. The only real complaint I can see about Narc is those big expanses of solid color in the background, and honestly with the level of detail on everything else, I hardly notice. It's really a matter of preference.

[General Gaming / Re: Official Hudson Soft PCE emulator for the psp in the Hudson Best collections]

Removed old versions, as they are essentially useless with 4.1 now ;)

[General Gaming / Re: My Scart RGB to YUV Component Converter impressions.]

Yeah mouseteeth can happen on any sd signal, being in component does help it a bit It really boils down to how good the hardware in your display is as well as the the quality of your encoder is.

[General Gaming / Re: My Scart RGB to YUV Component Converter impressions.]

Do you have very faint ghosty vertical bars through certain expanses of solid colored graphics? I can't tell, but it looks like you do on the ghouls and ghosts title shot pic. From what i understand this is a amplifier quality issue. All pce hardware needs color amps, due to the signal never being made external (and no internal amplification circuitry built in), and when you buy any rgb modded pce console the amp in it varies in quality from seller to seller. Right now I am using the simple transistor method, hooked directly to the red green and blue lines. It's quick and dirty, and it causes the mentioned ghosty lines. I really need to locate a good amp schematic (and get the parts for it)

Though you're missing the "scanline" effect of a normal RGB monitor. That's what I hate about hooking up to HD sets. Without them, it becomes a nasty blocky mess :/

Yes there is no scanline effect...But for Saturn games especially it looks fantastic.

Yes in the end it would be better over a SDTV with component inputs, but theres no way I am going back to crt now. And i can deal how LCD make pixels stand out.

I also dont stretch anything 4:3 on this set..i can set it to widescreen but i just leave it in 4:3

Am I the only one that prefers old games without scanlines?  I'll be honest if you have a good calibrated crt tv (hd or sd), the difference from composite to component isn't that phenomenal, but on a lcd dlp plasma etc? It's like night and day. It makes old games go from a nasty, upscaled, distorted, dot crawly, smudgy, dim colored, artifacty mess, to being sharp, crisp colored, well defined, and playable.

There is one thing to look out for with lcd and hd displays, and that is a problem called "mouse teeth". All signals that requiring deinterlacing may suffer from it, but this is especially true of old games. Mouse teeth usually rear their ugly head in large quickly flashing graphics, and from scrolling images where there are graphics with small details. The affected area will start displaying the even and odd fields separately from two different frames rather than all at once, the end result being a look similar to this (except it may not be the entire screen that is affected):



The reason for this is not all hd tvs are equal on their internal upscaling and deinterlacing hardware. On a tv with high quality deinterlacing hardware, this artifacting may very rarely happen, but on tv's with cheaper internal circuitry it may happen very often. Note I say internal hardware and not model/brand, this is because many/most tv manufacturers outsource the manufacture of tvs, and not every tv of the same model has near the same quality components inside. You may have heard the term "panel lottery", this is referring to what I just described. You can go out and buy a cheapo emerson or whatever off brand tv, and luck out with a very nice lcd panel, just the same as you can buy a panasonic, sony, toshiba, samsung, whatever and your friend's TV of the exact brand and model can run circles around yours.

You can buy and use (often very pricey for one of any quality) an external deinterlacing/upscaling box (you might have heard of the xrgb line of deinterlacing/ upscalers) often at the expense of an small amount of extra lag. However, because the external equipment is outputting a signal that is already an hd signal, it essentially bypasses the tv's built in hardware for accomplishing the same thing. In some cases this may mean less lag than your tv normally experiences. Check out more info on this here: http://retrogaming.hazard-city.de/

[General Gaming / Re: Official Hudson Soft PCE emulator for the psp in the Hudson Best collections]

Ok folks MAJOR update to 4.0. This will probably be the last release for a bit, as most of the planned functionality has been implemented. As it stands the only really necessary extra that will need to be added is the ability to change the game's id's to prevent different compilations from overwriting old save files for different games.

[General Gaming / Re: Official Hudson Soft PCE emulator for the psp in the Hudson Best collections]

nice job! 

Thanks man, let me know how it works for you.

Btw if tocfixer is giving you trouble, go ahead and grab V3.6. Might as well grab it anyways as I made a small change to both batch files for the better. Grab V3.6.1  Grab V3.6.2 Update to V3.6.3

[Localizations, Games, Apps, Docs / Re: Placing RPG on hold for a bright idea....]

I super vote for Burgertime. That game is just too awesome.

I think a twist you could put on most old arcade classics is two player co-op or vs modes. Again I think that would be hella cool to have a two simultaneous player Burgertime. Two player co-op would work the best on games where the stages take place on a single screen. You'd definitely have to change up the game's formula in 2 player mode to keep things interesting.

[General Gaming / Re: Official Hudson Soft PCE emulator for the psp in the Hudson Best collections]

annnd another pretty big update. Get 3.5 now and forget about the rest

[General Gaming / Re: Official Hudson Soft PCE emulator for the psp in the Hudson Best collections]

Version 3.0 is done, tons of bug fixes (2.2 wouldn't have even run on anyone's computer but mine ) and implemented injecting up to three games at once.

[General Gaming / Re: Official Hudson Soft PCE emulator for the psp in the Hudson Best collections]

"none of them have been updated for years"  actually both of the "main" psp emus have been updated 1-4 times in the last few months. ;)   Going to look into this hopefully tonight.

Really? Well I can't say I've been keeping up lately. From what I hear they still have a long ways to go

Either way, first post updated with newer version

[General Gaming / Official Hudson Soft PCE emulator for the psp in the Hudson Best collections...]

As you all may or may not know, Hudson Soft made an emulator for their Hudson Best Collections. A cool guy on maxconsoles made a program some time back that aided in injecting pcengine cd isos into the PC Engine Best Collection Ginga Ojousama Densetsu Collection.

However, for quite some time, the process was not quite clear, and due to some issues with his program, it wouldn't work unless you typed things in exactly the right way. If nothing else, you have to download at least 5 different programs. I took the time to compile all the necessary programs to make it work, and made a batch file in the hopes it could be done with minimal hassle and guesswork. There are no illegal files contained in this archive (at least as far as I know) You'll need to provide your own iso from your own legitimately bought copy of PC Engine Best Collection Ginga Ojousama Densetsu Collection for this to work. The batch file isn't perfect, and I still plan to implement some more features, but it gets the job done.

Why should anyone care? Because this quite possibly the best pc engine emulator available for any portable system. The existing homebrew emulators are quite lacking, and none of them have been updated for years. At least not for the psp.  Most of the cd games people have tried play great with full audio, full framerate, and little to no glitching. Right now the package I put together sets up cd games, but it could probably be configured for hu card games as well.

Let me know how well this works for you. Please read the readme, especially the note about .net frameworks 2.0 causing problems:

Version 4.1 Full zip: http://www.2shared.com/file/8211643/29fb7692/PCE41.html Mainly small bugfixes

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: broken p-47 hucard]

And some HuCards just plain go bad. Tiger had a Bonk's Adventure or something like that that didn't work right, and I had a Ghouls 'n Ghosts SuperGrafx cart in similar condition. Although it seems to be a rare phenomenon, when it happens there isn't anything you can really do except buy another copy of the game.

Like nat says, sometimes cards dies. It happened to ceti or someone's moto roader which worked prior to inserting it in their system one day, then never again. Static electricity is the likeliest culprit as it doesn't take much at all to kill electronics.

Sparky sent me a half dead bonk's adventure to experiment with. The sprites are mostly fine, but everything else is varying levels of consistent garbage. Otherwise it plays like normal, but it's nearly impossible to play due to the gfx corruption.

For those who are curious, here is a pic of a hucard with the black piece removed: http://nintendoallstars.w.interia.pl/romlab/pcecrt.htm

All I can say is be glad it wasn't an expensive game that died, thought it is rare, it does happen.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: PCE CDROM2/TG-16 gear theory]

My theory is that the original lube must eventually get gummy and cause a seize up.  Which then in combination with the aging plastic in that one gear causes it to be under higher stress and eventually break.

I believe we have a winner. From the tg-16 mobiusclimber send me this seems like the likeliest scenario. When I opened it to take a peek inside, the grease (original grease from what I could tell) had turned into cement. No joke, the mechanism is STUCK with no way of braking lose aside from tearing teh entire assembly apart, but with the state of the mech, it's impossible to completely deconstruct without breaking something. In fact in my futile attempts to lube and break the shaft loose, the now VERY brittle gear stripped. The gear was much nastier looking than the working one in my tg-cd. It was almost a shade of brown iirc. My theory is that some of these drives get put into storage for years, and heat and other elements cause the grease to solidify and turn into cement. I also think that the grease they used may be detrimental to the plastic that the problem gear is made of. It has always been theorized that it is made of cheaper plastic from it's yellowish appearance.

In most of the cases that I hear of a tg-cd with a gear problem is that they only occur after attempting to load up a cd after months or years of non use. As strange as it may sound, using they system at a regular interval may be the best way to prevent this from happening. The heat and movement of the drive will keep the grease good for a while. However I STRONGLY recommend to any who still have a working tg-cd, clean off the old grease as good as you can, and regrease with a quality grease. This will probably keep them going longer than anything else.

Also, the tg-cd unit itself does not require a game bit, it uses standard phillips head screws. You are probably thinking of the tg-16 or the dock itself zeta. The duo also used the same security screws. I personally don't recommend a spray type lube, unless you know it's good quality, and refrain from spraying too much. DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT USE WD-40!!! Wd-40 has it's place as a lube, and that's not in game electronics and mechanisms. Wd-40 is especially notorious for gumming up, especially when too much is used. I have heard too many horror stories where people would spray wd-40 in an atari 2600 paddle, which fixed the problem for a while, only to make it near unusable after a good period of nonuse.

I don't know what this lube my dad has that I use, but it comes in a tin can with a lid you pry off (like a paint can) It's green and you grab a tooth pick to get a little and then spread it on the surface with your fingers or a cloth. You can also use various household 3 in 1 oils, just pour a little on and work it into the mech, making sure to clean off excess grease.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Turbografx-16/Turbo Duo Collecting Reference]

It might not have been right exactly when the duo debuted, but it was around the time tzd took over to sell tti's remaining stock. I think Fulci is correct about the trade in process. If you had any issues with your tg-16 and you called about it (I believe we were having issues with our turbo tap, go figure) they would try to talk you into trading it in towards a brand new duo retail package.

I don't think this was officially or expressly stated on their website ever, nor in their catalogs, but rather a way for them to move slow selling duos via their repair services. Besides, now that they sold you a new duo, you'll want to buy all those nifty new cd-rom and supercd-rom games. See, profit!  We never even sent them the faulty tap btw.

When the duo was released, no one in our area sold much, if any, duo/tg-16 stuff anymore. We had to rely solely on mail-order tzd for our turbo goods. We got Splatterhouse too. It was kinda ironic that we already owned Splatterhouse, but wanted a copy of the purportedly more common pack in, Ninja Spirit. We could not find it for sale anywhere after renting it from a mom and pop place twice years prior. In fact that copy is still sealed. 

Oh and for a blast from the past check out tzd via the wayback machine on archive.org. Trust me, it's great! It goes all the way back to 1996...

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Turbografx-16/Turbo Duo Collecting Reference]

I couldn't focus too well on the case with a camera. I'll drop it on a scanner if you like.

My duo was also purchased new, direct from TZD with their trade-in offer, when I traded in a TG-16 + $$$ for a new Turbo Duo. I never altered the Y's case. Only case I altered was the 3-in-1, which I received in a jewel case with a white tray, no spine-art.

/1100_Img_0430.jpg

That is EXACTLY what we did, the TZD upgrade trade in, right when the duo first debuted. That copy you have also happens to look exactly like my pack in copy. I'll need to check to see where the manual was made though

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Turbografx-16/Turbo Duo Collecting Reference]

Roy man, after all that razzing you about not having the photocopied manual version of Dungeon Explorer II, you still fail to make mention of it! I'm not joking, there truly was a hastily reprinted run of deII after they realized they way underestimated demand for the game (which is odd as it was one of the most publicized games for the new duo in magazines bitd.) Yes it does have a photocopied manual, and yes it is an exceptionally poor quality photocopy (Seriously could the not be assed enough to even make a decent photocopy?)

You should separate the canadian releases with the french manuals and bilingual boxes from the us ones as the box also differs. I have some (boxes and both manuals) and I still have zero clue to this day how they ended up for sale in a best buy in Texas. I could scan the manuals, but I don't really have a good camera or decent photo taking skills. Btw take a closer look at your legendary axe. See the bottom and how it is white with text instead of black with the game's name? Most of mine that are like that are the canadian releases which you can tell right away from the back of the box. However there are some oddball ones that have that bottom and aren't the canadian ones. Tricky Kick is one if memory serves. All of the inserts are identical, so you can you the one from time cruise and take a pic of the other caseless games with it for cataloging sake.

I can scan in the beyond shadowgate poster or something at some point. Same with the music collection '93s insert. I'm sure I have other misc stuff I am forgetting. I know I have quite a few boxes you are missing for sure. Let me know if I can somehow help.

Some notes: Yo' Bro came with some sort of poster, old rover had a complete copy for sale at one point. That case for the retail Ys book I & II is not the retail case, it's the pack in. I know because we got the pack in when we got a duo new bitd. I have never seen the retail version's packaging, but I have heard it has a more proper back insert like the later duo releases, or maybe it was the same?

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: New IC Region Mod Chips!]

Just a little update, we are still looking into getting these made. In the time since we started this pricing on parts/pcbs has changed and the breakdown is as follows:

Pcbs:
4 - $13.80
5 - $11.06
6 - $9.23
7 - $8.22
10 - $5.98
15 - $4.15
20 - $3.34
50 - $2.76
and just for the hell of it: 1000 - $0.40

Amazing in this economic climate prices actually went down. Now for the pricing on the ic's themselves:

http://www.newark.com/on-semiconductor/mc14551bdg/logic-multiplexer-demultiplexer/dp/71J5501

1 - 24           $1.07
25 - 99       $0.9730
100 - 249    $0.9080
250 - 499    $0.8740
500 - 999    $0.8280
1000+          $0.7810

They only have 343 of em left, and I don't think they are going to stock anymore once they sell out. This number has been getting smaller everytime I check that page again. Each region mod pcb needs two of em Also optional will be the molex connector's for easy installation, right now I only have th one picked out, I need to locate a 5 pin header next:

http://www.newark.com/multicomp/mc9a22-1634/wire-to-board-connector/dp/26M1487

1 - 249          $0.418
250 - 499    $0.315
500 - 999    $0.279
1000 - 4999    $0.252
5000+            $0.230

So let's assume we start off with a batch of 20, at the minimum before shipping, that would break down something like this:

Each:
1 pcb = $3.34
2 ics = $1.95
16 pin right angle molex (optional) = $0.42
5 pin right angle molex (optional TBD) = $?.??
Physical switch (optional) = $?.??

$3.34 + $1.95 = $5.27

Total
20 pcbs: $3.34*20 = $66.77
40 ics: $0.9730*40 = $38.92
16 pin right angle molex (optional): $0.418*20 = $8.36
5 pin right angle molex (optional TBD) = $?.?? * 20 = $?.??
Physical switch (optional) = $?.?? * 20 = $?.??

$66.77+ $38.92 = $105.69

Keep in mind this is before shipping charges, and our profit, but if we could get a order of ~15-20 to start with we could sell these things for $15 a pop easily. Unfortunately money is tight for both over and me, so it may be a bit before we can get this started. In the meantime, post in here if you are interested and how many you would like. Maybe we could take preorders or something. The physical size of these babies will be less than the diameter of a quarter on both dimensions without the optional molex connectors so it should fit into any pce hardware easy. We also have a (near or hopefully completely) solderless method of install planned, so stay tuned, and tell all of your friends. 

[Off-Topic / The “What-Did-You-Buy-Today?” Thread]

Today was a good day:



Started off by picking up Toejam and Earl: Panic in Funkotron, and No one can Stop Mr. Domino at Electronic Discount Sales in Arlington. Then on the way to the mall to get some new glasses I spotted a store called "Entertainmart" and had to see what it was all about. Turns out they have a HUGE separate partition of the store for selling used games of all ages. Tons of stock, excellent prices, and the employees were very knowledgeable and friendly. I was amazed as this is typically a rarity in used game stores nowadays.

Anyways, they had quite a few boxed snes and nes games, I picked up Burai Fighter, Power Blade, Master Chu and the Drunkard Hu, Silent Assualt, Raid 2020, and Metal Fighter for $5 each, mainly ones I didn't already own, though I was tempted by a boxed Zanac. As I walked up to the counter, I noticed a lot more nes boxes behind the counter. It turns out they were all boxes for games they did not have. I then asked if they would sell them separately, and the guy said I could just have them for free. I was amazed, as most stores and employees would sooner throw away stuff like that than give it away. So I scored the rest of those nes (and the Perfect Dark box) for free.

Almost all of them have sleeves in em, many have photocopied manuals, some have originals, and a lot have extras, posters, Styrofoam inserts, etc. All of the inserts are crisp and mint, looks like they have never been opened/unfolded. Unfortunately they are all former rentals from a place called The Pharaoh Shop in Arab, Alabama according to many of the stickers on em and the carts, so they are far from mint. Most have pretty bad sun fading, and you wouldn't believe all of the stickers I already pulled off prior to that picture. Apparently that store was nuts for sticking 50 stickers on every game. Still they are in pretty good shape considering they were once rentals, in fact the labels on the carts have zero dings or scratches. Kinda like no one ever rented them.

Finally after that, while my mom and grandma were at Petco, I checked out the Movie Trading Company next door. Best selection on games of any Movie Trading Company I have ever been to. I picked up Kung-Fu Master, Airlock, and M.A.D. for the 2600 there for $2 a piece, and Rocket Knight Adventures for $3. They had a buy three get one free deal going on with the games (and my god did they have a crap TON of different 2600, genny, and n64 games so I can see why they would have such a deal) so I got one of the 2600 games for free.

All in all a good day indeed.

[Off-Topic / The “What-Did-You-Buy-Today?” Thread]

There was a Gunhed movie!? 

please let us know if it's any good! 

Uh dude, the Famicom and PCE Gunhed games were BASED on the movie.

[Fighting Street / Cheesy 80s cartoon pcengine-fx.com style!]

I've always imagined pcengine-fx.com as a city filled with heroes and villains ala cheesy 80s cartoon. Just for kicks let's try to think up some hero and villain character's for ourselves.

Good Guys:

Mike Hegleson: Mike is THE defender of great justice, Ever vigilant against those who would try to wreak havoc upon pcengine-fx.com, Mike doesn't put up with bullshit. He is NOT someone you want to meet in a dark alley if you are a bad guy. Unfortunately due to many disagreances with the city's founder and mayor Pcenginefx, mike left to snuff out evil doers elsewhere. However, many still know how to find him. Mike prefers kicking ass unarmed, he doesn't need any stinking weapons.

Sinistron: Mike's partner in justice. Sinistron has a sarcastic wit like no other. He might seem quite abrasive at first, but once you learn how he rolls he is a cool guy to hang with. Like Mike, Sin doesn't put up with bullshit, and if he suspects you of wrongdoing he will play with you like a mouse in the paws of a cat until you snap. Better hope you can keep up, because he is relentless. Although Mike has left, Sin remains. It is speculated that he may also leave due to many of the same reasons Mike left. Sin uses his sarcastic wit to whittle your mind and spirit down until you are disoriented and exhausted. This alone, is often enough to keep all but the most persistent foes at bay.

Nectarsis: This is the man with the mecha fetish, don't mess with him. He will stomp you to oblivion with his giant mech, enough said.

Sparky: By far the most easy going and often bizarre of pcengine-fx.com's defenders, Sparks is a fun guy. He also loves the wine. In fact chances are he is drunk off his ass. When he is not giving hugs or streaking naked with a macbook in hand, he is scaring evil doers away with the power of love. 

Tatsujin: No one is quite sure what this enigmatic character is, though his appears to be a benevolant being. It is rumored he was once a man that discovered all of the answers through the Pc Engine, and transcended beyond humanity. Unfortunately, because of this, he is often very cryptic in his dealings with others. Though being the being he is and disliking conflict and drama, he does occasionally pop in to aid the other heroes in the heat of battle with confusion inducing randomness. Seriously, don't mess with tats aka nuts, he can actually warp reality.

More to come, in the meantime feel free to post your own hero and villian descriptions. 

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: New IC Region Mod Chips!]

http://www.ee.washington.edu/stores/DataSheets/74ls/74ls157.pdf

its a quad 2-1 mux. its essentially the same as the one the thread is using but its cmos logic instead of analog circuitry i think (or is it ttl.)

I remember looking into it and arriving at the conclusion that the data buses are analog at the place we are working with em, though I am not 100% sure on that.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: New IC Region Mod Chips!]

What is the quote for the last design i sent you looking like  ?

Well this board dropped the price dramatically!


"Well Johnny what do we for them today?"

These prices will reflect price per board just as shown before, Ill start with the first qty that gets us below $10!

7 - $9.34
10 - $6.77
25 - $5.80
50 - $2.93
100 - $1.89
200 - $1.20
500 - $0.65
1000 - $0.42

Should be even cheaper now override, check your e-mail. 

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: New IC Region Mod Chips!]

If you guys can get the price below $10 id be interested in a few. or more. 

Quoted with my board if we order 9 boards that will bring it down to $9.16 each shipped....If we order 10 it will be $8.64 each shipped. Thats not so bad.

I will go ahead and list a general quantity shipped:

10 - $8.64 each
25 - $5.97 each
50 - $3.74 each
100 - $2.39 each
200 - $1.58 each
500 - $0.87 each
1000 - $0.64 each

What is the quote for the last design i sent you looking like  ?

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: New IC Region Mod Chips!]

If you guys can get the price below $10 id be interested in a few. or more. 

Probably not happening without a large order, the 2 ics together are gonna run $2-$3 themselves, unless a better source is found for the surface mount 14551s. This means the pcb is going to have to be $7-8 a piece to get close to that. It may be doable though, it all depends on the quotes we can get.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: New IC Region Mod Chips!]

Updated design 5 I made a mistake with the traces, also some minor rearranging:

Update 6: More rearranging, now smaller and even more space efficient "actual size" should actually read "100% zoom":

Update 7: even more optimizing:

Update 8: Big overhaul, through holes now spaced for 2.54 mm pitch 2 row molex headers, and even smaller:

Update 9: Ever so slightly more compact, changed silkscreening a bit, minor rearrangements. This should be close to the final design, at this point I think it's smaller than grahf's old design. 

Update 10: Just when you think you have it finished, you find some problems. It should all be fixed now, i hope...:

Update 11: Fixed the through hole sizes, minor optimizing:


Bam!:





Smaller size, more efficient use of space, less vias, etc. overall better design, i hope.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: Buyer says a console I sold him broke 2 briefcase CD units]

If the white unit works 100% fine, and he is claiming that the modded unit somehow "broke" his interface units, either he is full of shit, ignorant, or both. If you did the standard amped mod, and tested the white pce working, What he is claiming is physically impossible. You can prove it too using science, again assuming you did the mod correctly, etc, etc.

What I would do I walk him through some simple troubleshooting, before you jump at his throat, as he might just be completely ignorant to a factor that he might not have considered instead of trying to be deceitful. Ask him to try the built in video out on the briefcase setup. Also tell him to try pressing run on a known working, connected controller (directly, not through a tap) with a known working japanese system card and any cd in the cd unit (it need not be a game or music cd, anything that's a cd, and not something "similar" such as a dvd will do) and ask him what happens. Did you send him a power adapter? If not, ask him what power adapter he is using and what it says on the adapter. Make sure he knows you should NEVER use the power adapter from the white pce to power the briefcase unit and that ONLY power adapters rated for the unit's specifications for power should ever be used.  Also make sure he knows about the UK vs japan difference if it applies to him. If you can establish that the unit is alive (either through the video check or running a cd check) you know the cables or stupid user error is to blame. (ie connecting the rgb out into composite or component in an a tv, using the wrong power adapter, etc.)

Be polite and courteous in your response and understand he is frustrated just like you. Don't belittle him or act belligerent. Just go through some basic steps and explanations to rule out any possibility of anything else. If he is being uncooperative after you explain this in an earnest attempt to figure out what went wrong (ie you are trying to make things right), then you can say "I have tried to help you, but you refuse to let me help you. I am more than happy and willing to fix this, but you need to help me out here if there is any chance of this happening." A big mistake so many businesses make is blaming the customer in front of their face. People are much more receptive towards helpful, non judgmental help. Saying stuff to them like "That's impossible, I have sold many systems with the same exact mod with the exact same procedure, and have not had a single complaint." certainly isn't a compelling argument to the customer. Assuming he is not trying to scam you (which should never be done until you've tried to help them as described above and offered reasonable solutions and they outright reject all of it), all he knows is that two of his briefcase units are dead and the only thing he has changed was the connection of your modded pce, and he want's an agreeable solution to this problem. What does it matter to him if 10, 100, 1000, or 100000000000000000000000000000000 people have never had problems with you mod. Who's to say something didn't go wrong that was overlooked this one time?

If you establish consistent and good customer support and have proof of it, it should certainly outshine a few "bad apples". Bad apple being someone you tried to help but the would not cooperate and made unreasonable demands. If you make a guarantee or disclaimer about what you are and aren't responsible for, you should make it clear at the point of sale.

In any case let us know how this pans out.