28th March 2012, 1:06 AM
Quote:....You got the disk only version of... a Dreamcast?
Heh... the game, obviously. :p
Quote:I think the one thing the converter cart has over a Honeybee is that it's an officially made and licensed Nintendo product (used in a somewhat unofficial way), so it's certain to work correctly without issue and last a good long while since it should be made with quality parts. It also uses a proper 10NES chip to deal with the 10NES security in the original NES (since Famicom games don't have that chip). I imagine the Honeybee has a solution for that as well though. It may also have been cheaper, since Hogan's Alley is about $2 (or less if the case is busted). Gyromite is pretty expensive around here compared to the others. It seems that "common knowledge" is that "all Gyromite games have those converters", the suggestion being that others don't. Both of those are untrue (in fact most Gyromite games don't have that converter, though ALL Stack Up games do have it, since that game was produced in such low numbers). It is interesting how the internet can provide such amazing information, but at other times is simply a way for bad intel to propagate like a virus drowning out correct information.I'm almost certain that what htey did was wire all of the pins that on the Famicom go to the cart port to instead go to the expansion port, so indeed, what you need to do to get the full audio is make wires connecting the correct pins of the bottom port to the proper points on whichever cartridge adapter you're using.
I know they wired up what WOULD have been the sound pins to instead go straight to the expansion port on the bottom of the NES. They must have originally intended for the Famicom Disk System to be brought over and use it's enhanced sound through those pins directly. That never came to pass, obviously. I'm curious if other pins on that expansion port go back to where the sound pins would have gone. If so, it might be a simple matter of making a cheap "bypass" dongle that simply routes the "out" pins back into the system. Of course, this also depends on one other matter. While almost every pin on the Famicom boards are routed to their appropriate NES connector counterpart, they may have just skipped the audio chip pins altogether, meaning even with either my hypothetical workaround or your internal hack, it won't be enough since the sound chip won't have any pathway into the NES to begin with. I'd have to go ask around a few NES modding forums to find out.
As to what games, aside from Famicom Disk System games actually used enhanced sound, the list is somewhat short compared to games that used enhanced graphics chips, but there are a few notable titles. First on that list is probably Castlevania 3 (very well known example that had much better music on the Famicom version), followed by a rather interesting space RPG called Lagrange Point (that one uses a custom sound chip that sound absolutely incredible).
As for official v. unofficial, the Honey Bee converter seems pretty reliable and fairly well made, I've had no problems, and it is nice to have that fabric strip on it for if I ever wanted to use it in an original NES without needing to disassemble the system to get the cart out or something... oh, and the plastic casing is better than an open circuit board too. But sure, the first-party converter probably is the highest quality. Still though, for what it is the Honey Bee is pretty decently made.
Also, the converter carts have 10NES chips in them, really? Huh... but those aren't needed really, the NES 2 doesn't have one for instance...
Also, new games. Spent more on games than I have in a while.
Playstation
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San Francisco Rush - $2, complete. The somewaht infamously poor Playstation port of this arcade and N64 classic. I absolutely LOVE the arcade and N64 versions of this game, but indeed, this version isn't nearly as good... the controls are all wrong, first -- it doesn't play like Rush at all, but like some generic racing game. Pretty lame. The graphics aren't great either, but at least there it doesn't look TOO bad for a 1996 Playstation game; just average or worse for an early PSX racer. That is, terrible image quality, ugly visuals, etc, but it's playable. Oh, and there is fog, closer than there is on N64. As expected. And did I mention that it's also got only four tracks instead of the eight on the N64, and no coins for added replay value either? But hey, at least it does have splitscreen... that wasn't a given for 1996 PSX or Saturn racing games.
PSP
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Knights in the Nightmare - new, $15 - I got this new because it includes a DD code for a download of the PSP version of Yggdra Union in the box, which obviously you won't get with a used copy, and YU PSP costs at least as much as this on its own. So yeah, it's a pretty good deal. As for the game, haven't played them yet, but they're ports of the GBA and DS games, of course. Both have added content -- YU to fix many of the more serious flaws in the game design and system, most notably, while with KitN the biggest changes are the worse controls (the game was designed for touchscreen, analog nub's no replacement!) and added content (a new mode where you can have Yggdra as a major character). Obviously I didn't get it for the former of those, but hopefully the latter is interesting. But yeah, for anyone getting one version of KitN, get it for DS. Get YU for PSP, though; the GBA version's too broken to buy (its only advantage is a less censored bath scene, but with how broken the game is, who cares.).
Mega Man Powered Up - $9, complete - I know you can get this with the Mega Man X remake for $15, but given that that's pretty much just a straight remake with little to no added content, I don't care nearly as much about that game as this one, so I got just this. Added levels, content, playable characters, level editor, etc? Sounds fun.
Bust-A-Move - $4.50, complete. It's the PSP BAM game. I like the series, of course.
DS
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Nostalgia - $10, card only - traditional JRPG somewhat inspired by Skies of Arcadia -- it's set in a world with airships. The difference -- it's set on "Earth", so the cities and continents vaguely resemble real places. I'm quite early, but expect lots of random battles and average DS 3d. It's okay though, and I like airships... also, bottom screen map that fills in as you explore, sort of like SoA's. That's great. :)
PS2
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Stella Deus - $6, disc in generic case - strategy-RPG, published by Atlus. Decently nice art.
Neo Contra - $4, disc only. The last and best reviewed of the three 3d Contra games (the two PS1/Saturn ones got pretty bad reviews), this one has some pretty ridiculously crazy endings, if I remember right...
PC DD (this was from last night)
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Dungeon Siege collection - Steam, $10 for the pack - daily deal. I already have DS1 and DS: Legends of Aranna (the standalone addon to the first game), but this got me the second game, the third one, and the addon to the third one, all for $10. Yeah, that's a pretty recent game and its addon for quite cheap. I know they're not exactly the best games around -- none of the DS games are, they're all pretty far on the boring side -- but still... DS3 is Obsidian. I had to try it sometime.