Shining Force II - Can not start a new game

[oolongtea]

Hi,

 

I recently bought the Sega Megadrive Mini Console with 80 pre-loaded games.

I also bought some Sega Megadrive Games separately of which I cleaned the contacts using Isopropyl Alcohol and a cotton bud.

 

All of the games work perfectly and I had no troubles getting past the Sega Logo screen.

However, when I insert the cart of Shining Force II, the game loads to the point where the old witch says she put a spell on me.

Then I get asked what I want to do.

 

I only get 2 options "Continue" or "Delete".

When I press "Continue", I have the option of choosing 2 save files.

However the 1st save file's name is ineligible and the second save file has a blank name.

 

When I choose the 1st save file, I get to the middle of a fight but the map is all glitched up.

There are large patches where the screen remains dark.

I am able to call up the battle window and when I browse through the spell slots of my team members, Chester can cast Aura lvl 4 and some other players have the name of other players in their spell slot (e.g. Sarah could cast "Kazin").

I'm basically stuck in this part of the map as I can't see where I'm going and I cannot exit the screen.

 

When I choose the 2nd save file, the screen remains black but I can hear the intro music.

 

When I choose to delete 1 of the files, the witch tells me 'ha ha, it's gone'. However both save files are still there and I cannot delete them.

 

I also cannot start a new game as I can only choose to continue or to delete a save file.

 

Anyone that knows how I can fix this glitch?

I bought the console mainly for this 1 game and it's the only game in the bunch that is acting up. -sigh-

[derFunkenstein]

Did you get the AtGames system with HDMI? If so, it plays cart games by dumping the cart to internal memory. It probably corrupted the save games that were on the cart. You should be able to remove the dumped ROM from the system.

 

Also Shining Force II is on that system, if it's the one I'm thinking of. Does the built in version work?

[Gabriel]

Delete one of the save files.

 

Edit: Nevermind. Sounds like the save ram is corrupt or something.

Edited July 16, 2018 by Gabriel

[oolongtea]

Did you get the AtGames system with HDMI? If so, it plays cart games by dumping the cart to internal memory. It probably corrupted the save games that were on the cart. You should be able to remove the dumped ROM from the system.

 

Also Shining Force II is on that system, if it's the one I'm thinking of. Does the built in version work?

 

Hi, thank you for your reply.

No, it is one with 2 component cables (Audio and Visual) only.

When I plug them in, I have screen and audio but no colour.

 

I bought them from someone else and they claimed they played Shining Force II on it last year with no troubles albeit the old witch already was a bit wonky.

 

In the 80 games included in the hardware, there are no shining force games unfortunately.

The console offers no save features so in overall there are not a whole lot of RPGs included.

 

 

I tried deleting the save files using the delete option the witch gives me but they just keep coming back.

Is there any other way to try and get rid of those save files?

[derFunkenstein]

You could try replacing the battery in the cartridge, which requires a small amount of soldering. It could be that the battery is starting to go bad (voltage drop) but hasn't entirely died yet. Some intermittent stage where the save games got corrupted and there's not enough juice to rewrite the save memory. Removing the battery should clear the memory and adding a new one should retain a new save.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

I know it isn't pratical, but you might see about finding a friend that has a Genesis/Mega Drive to put the actual cart into and see what it does there? Since you are wanting to start a new game anyway, I would try using an actual Gen/MD to see if the saves work or can be deleted properly that way first.

[oolongtea]

You could try replacing the battery in the cartridge, which requires a small amount of soldering. It could be that the battery is starting to go bad (voltage drop) but hasn't entirely died yet. Some intermittent stage where the save games got corrupted and there's not enough juice to rewrite the save memory. Removing the battery should clear the memory and adding a new one should retain a new save.

 

 

I figured this might be the only solution.

I never did any soldering before, let alone opened up a cart.

I would have to find someone with some experience in these as I fear the cart will die when I try it with my own hands.

 

Does it require any soldering to remove the battery? I might just remove the battery and see if it fixes the bug.

 

 

I know it isn't pratical, but you might see about finding a friend that has a Genesis/Mega Drive to put the actual cart into and see what it does there? Since you are wanting to start a new game anyway, I would try using an actual Gen/MD to see if the saves work or can be deleted properly that way first.

 

 

That's a good idea too.

The previous owner did say though that the old witch was already saying weird things when they played it through again about a year ago on this exact same console.

So this leads me to believe that it should actually work and that the problem would possibly be the dead battery as we're now a year further.

 

Regardless, I will give your suggestion a go though if I can find someone who owns a proper console.

 

Thank you all for your input.

If I find the solution, I will post it here for future reference.