20th June 2022, 9:15 AM
If it's getting recharged so long as it gets power, then that works just fine, but based on how it's wired internally I don't think that it's capable of that. The main power switch is a straight cut off going right back out to the AC adapter. So, that IS a good sign though. That means these things last decently long after all. I'm going to pick up one of those 128 things too. There's three different solutions but that's the one would actually work with both hucard games and cd-rom... rom... games. I'm guessing that's why you picked one up too. So, I need at least one game directly compatible with it in order to actually swap data in and out of my interface unit?
Anyway, yes that's the kind of mod I'm talking about. There's two versions. One literally just swaps out one chip for another, limiting me to the same 2KB of storage space. Another is a far more complicated mod that uses a sort of "page flipping" mode and special buttons to swap from page to page and give far more storage space. It's not the smoothest, but each and every game that uses save data is specially coded to expect that 2KB, so any universal solution is going to involve some level of awkwardness. That only leaves a couple games that had a save battery jammed inside a bumpy hucard. Getting the "bump" off to access and replace that battery is going to be tricky.
Oh in other news, I've restored both my white controller and my multitap to their original colors. They look nice! I also have a nice arcade card I found cheaper than average online, but the label has faded to yellow instead of orange.
All I'm missing for total compatibility is a "Super Grafx". No wait, I'd need a PC-FX because it's got exclusive hardware and upgrades too, and also I don't think that can read hucards. Oh! There's an ISA board to add genuine PC-FX hardware inside an old PC. That... ALSO upgraded hardware and thus has exclusive games...
You know what? Never mind. I'm fine with just the standard PC Engine, CD-Rom addon and an arcade card. That gets me most of the way there.
Anyway, yes that's the kind of mod I'm talking about. There's two versions. One literally just swaps out one chip for another, limiting me to the same 2KB of storage space. Another is a far more complicated mod that uses a sort of "page flipping" mode and special buttons to swap from page to page and give far more storage space. It's not the smoothest, but each and every game that uses save data is specially coded to expect that 2KB, so any universal solution is going to involve some level of awkwardness. That only leaves a couple games that had a save battery jammed inside a bumpy hucard. Getting the "bump" off to access and replace that battery is going to be tricky.
Oh in other news, I've restored both my white controller and my multitap to their original colors. They look nice! I also have a nice arcade card I found cheaper than average online, but the label has faded to yellow instead of orange.
All I'm missing for total compatibility is a "Super Grafx". No wait, I'd need a PC-FX because it's got exclusive hardware and upgrades too, and also I don't think that can read hucards. Oh! There's an ISA board to add genuine PC-FX hardware inside an old PC. That... ALSO upgraded hardware and thus has exclusive games...
You know what? Never mind. I'm fine with just the standard PC Engine, CD-Rom addon and an arcade card. That gets me most of the way there.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)