Super Nintendo Reproduction Carts

As technology and gamer fandom move forward in parallel strides, we see new opportunities for SFC/SNEs gamers to bring out their systems and fire it up for a revival of the Friday nights when it was just you, the game, a meat lover's from Pizza Hut and your virginity. If you've been perusing around the interwebs, you might have already seen a few of what I'm talking about, and brother, I'm talking about Reproduction Carts - brand new SNES carts flashed and made to be enjoyed as close to the official ones as possible.

Truthfully told, of all the ways to play the advances in SFC/SNES gaming that are being made today, this one is probably the least practical. For the price of two reproduction carts (at the cheapest prices), you could get one Super Everdrive and play'em all. There's also the fact that they don't always come with boxes and other cool stuff and the price ranges pretty wild. I've seen them go from $40-$100 for basic carts, and then you have special ones like Star Fox 2 and Star Ocean that cost above $100 each.

Also, it's technically illegal and none of that money goes to the copyright owners.

This sort of thing is designed for those who aren't quite as satisfied with emulation and even find the Everdrive missing some of the "feel" to it. This is something I can identify with, and as the owner a sole reproduction cart, I do admit that a single cart by itself feels the closest to the "real" SNES experience. That cart is an English translated version of Seiken Densetsu 3 and, indeed, it played magnificently - although after 10 hours something in the board burnt out and I had to send it back for repair, which the guy did for free as it was under warranty.

And I think that's all I have to say on that. I don't have any recommended places to suggest for repros at the moment, but I'll update the blog article here when I do.

Lufia II Bug Fix Hack

If you've never played Lufia, get off this website. You don't belong here until you've played the both of them. The first game was an exceedingly simple but very likeable Dragon Quest quasi-clone and the second one... well sir, Lufia II is renowned in gaming circles for being one of the "most improved" sequels of all time (even if it's actually a prequel) and it is a legendary RPG experience.

It's also renowned for the very odd bugs and glitches residing in the game as well, particularly towards the end. There's really weird spelling errors and inconsistencies, a strange glitch that gives you random stats, a Level 0 and other weird stuff, and there's an even an entire freakin' dungeon map that's so graphically messed up, it becomes one of the games' greatest labyrinths BY ACCIDENT.

So if you haven't already applied this hack to your Lufia II rom/cart with Retron 5, do so and enjoy a much improved experience on an already much improved title. Get the patch here.

Super Famicom/SNES Homebrew Development Info

So, Joe Programmer, you're looking to get ambitious and learn how the real meat and potatoes of SFC data works, are ya? Looking to build your own game, fix existing ones and do all the crazy stuff you've got in that peanut-shaped head of yours but don't quite know where to start?

The old SFC development kit, which has nothing to do with anything here.

Well, juggalo, I've got your start right here. The wiki.superfamicom.org site is a real neat online compendium of all kinds of in-depth programming stuff you'll need to know as you work towards your dream (or nightmare, as it might turn out). From Mode 7 to sprites to the C700 chip and even notes on individual games, you might want to print the whole thing out, take it to a print shop and see if they'll turn it into a handbook for you.

Yes, it's some really advanced stuff in there, but game-making isn't as easy as it looks. This is what it takes to make a Mario, an F-Zero, a Final Fantasy, hell even a "Bebe's Kids". Are you a bad enough dude to see it through? What, that's a Sega reference? Stop changing the subject and get to work on that game, son!

Cleaning Yellow Off Of SNES

The theme behind SFCaliber is "SFC/SNES gaming in modern times" and while this subject isn't QUITE that, it does tackle a modern problem - the yellow console.

Many of us with working Super Famicoms and Super Nintendos have one of these machines that have, over the last decade or so, turned "smoker's teeth" yellow and are unable to be cleaned off by typical cleaning conventions. The reason they often turn this color is due to the flame-retardant chemicals in the plastic aging in combination of being exposed to other irritants like sunlight, cigarette smoke, etc. It doesn't affect the system performance in any way (that I know of anyway) but it is ugly as sin and should be restored to its former glory!

For years, there was no way to really fix this, but then sometime, I think back in 2013, someone finally cracked the code on fixing it. It's not an easy fix, but it does indeed work. The following instructions on how to do so come from http://www.geekwithenvy.com/2013/07/how-to-make-a-yellow-snes-look-new/:

The solution to this problem is to make a Hydrogen Peroxide gel that has a higher percentage of Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2) in it. This will allow you to easily put the gel on the section of plastic that you’re trying to fix.

So how do you make the gel? Here’s the best part, you don’t need to. You can actually use hair developer cream, which you can get from SallyBeauty.

Here’s what you will need:

A clean workspace with adequate ventilation.
Plastic Gloves / Eye Protection
Plastic Wrap
Salon Care 40 Volume Cream Developer (Read the safety precautions on the developer to protect yourself)
A UV Light Source
Lot’s of Time

Depending on what your trying to clean up you may need a lot of developer, so make sure you get a larger bottle.

If you can, carefully take off the plastic parts that you are trying to clean to avoid damaging the electronics inside. If you can’t take things apart or don’t want to, then just be careful and be smart about where you place the developer.

Once the parts have a good coating of developer on them, place a piece of plastic wrap over them to avoid any evaporation and to keep things in place.

Turn on your UV light source and make sure that the affected area is getting plenty of light. For best results, wait for 24 to 36 hours before cleaning off the developer.

*Tip:

Once you have finished the process you should find that much of the yellowing has gone away. This doesn’t mean it’s gone for good though, the plastics are still composed of the same chemicals as before and will eventually begin to yellow again. Your best bet, if you want to avoid cleaning them again, is to slow down the process by applying a spray-on UV protectant coating.

**This project is something you can do at home, but you do so at your own risk!"

Custom Paintjobs and Shells For SFC/SNES Consoles

No doubt you've seen them on Facebook and it'd be shameful to not mention it here - in today's gaming world, you can get your Super Famicom and SNES system custom painted and modified in all kinds of kick-ass nerd cred, blogworthy ways.

Take a look at some of these masterpieces (all images are hyperlinked back to the place I got them from):

 

And the winner:

Indie Spotlight: Piko Interactive

The Super Famicom/Super Nintendo gaming world is alive with homebrew indie development! Well, that's kind of a stretch... the retro scene for actual games is still far more into the 8-bit sector for whatever reason and apparently developing for the SNES is a lot more complicated than it might appear to be. Certainly hard to tell with all those awesome level editors for popular games out there (which I'll make up in another article).

But one group is thumbing its nose to programming hurdles and taking up the challenge of making games from the ground up for the 16-bit wonder. Obviously the name of that group is Piko Interactive, as you may have gathered from the blog title. Piko's an interesting company that also has its hands in developing for the Gameboy Advance and providing empty SNES game shells for sale.

Their catalog of games include:

* Super Noah's Ark 3D
* Super 4-in-1 Multicart
* AstroHawk
* Mr. Bloppy Saves the World
* Creepy Bird
* Apocalypse II
* UWOL - The Quest For Money
* Mazezam Challenge
* Super Thor Quest
* RockFall

I'll be honest that the games themselves don't look that impressive yet, but that's the elitist in me talking. Go give them a look anyways! https://www.pikointeractive.com.

Romancing SaGa Translation Complete

I'm not exactly sure why this news is news, I've had a translated copy of the first Romancing SaGa for a while now, but it's
reasonably big news all the same since this nearly impenetrable RPG now makes a little bit of sense!

I'm kinda joking, but seriously, this game is hard enough to follow as an RPG without the language barrier. It's still worth the effort though, and I'll tell you why.

Romancing SaGa is Squaresoft's other long-running RPG series built almost specifically to be evil twin/yang of the Final Fantasy series. If Final Fantasy is the rock that keeps Square afloat, then Romancing SaGa is the lab where they do all the experiments. This game is intentionally built to be largely aimless, made up more of intersecting missions and DIY character design than anything remotely resembling the eastern roleplaying template. A Western RPG that is much bigger in Japan than here? Who'd have thought!?

I won't go into the whole damn game, but needless to say those, like myself, who just couldn't get enough of the spirit of the early 90s Square Super Famicom RPG goodness is finding a major missing link here. All the sprites damn well look like Final Fantasy V characters, the music instruments sound like Final Fantasy V and despite its completely different gameplay style, it definitely feels like a classic.

Get the patch here.