Andromeda Stardust

I just wanted to comment here; been rereading through this thread. If it was the lady who appeared in the forum with the baby blue spraypainted PVC pipe, well that was a fun read and brought back memories.

USB isn't just a dummy port, just like the NES Classic... Giggity, giggity, giggitty! :grin:

Pacman Collection has been available for how many years? I think if it were an issue, it would have been reported by now. Also sometimes certain bugs and exploits don't show up unless the stars and the planets align just so. A lot of speed runners use exploits not discovered for many years after release. Often, you need to press a specific input on a specific frame when your character happens to be aligned at a specific pixel and traveling in a specific direction. Such bugs are rarely reproducible by human players, so if it might happen to a casual player once or twice a year, he/she can just start over. If odds of triggering are one in a million, then a player's chances of seeing it more than once are slim. In games that do not save, a bug or glitch might break a perfect run or cause weird behavior. So do dirty cart pins, etc. It's more an issue if the game has save capability and is able to save in a glitched state. Like when I glitched under the castle and beat Ganon on Link to the past. My save returned me to the hilltop with it still raining like in the opening sequence, and I had 3 hearts. Most of the map was inaccessible because I didn't have the weapons or upgrades necessary to unlock this region or travel out of it, but here I am. What I am saying is don't beat yourself up too much over this unless it is very frequent. And I second the idea of putting a warp target in the ghost chamber to prevent getting "stuck". You could even make this area (if accessed by Pacman), warp the player back to the Pinball portion of the game or even take the hyper loop. Hell even make a secret room if spare ROM space allows it. It would make a cool little Easter Egg without completely breaking the gameplay.

It is a great little game. Similar to Banjo series on n64. Same 90s era single stick camera control. Reviewers overlook this a bit by comparing it to modern titles rather than the 90s era collectathon platforms which inspired it. Compared to period releases (ie other RARE developed n64 games), it holds up well.

I made a thread about it: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/287389-prehistoric-shark-named-after-classic-arcade-game/

Taco Tuesday delivers! Sorry, inside joke from another thread.

Quote of the year nomination!

I have no idea. I don't think he normally reveals everything. Ben Heck is truly a genius and master craftsman when it comes to modding, but I think most of his hacks are beyond the scope of average Joe gamers. Just an FYI, I have basically shelved any further attempts at modding the Arcade cabs. I've come to terms that I'd rather just collect them and occasionally play for the novelty factor. Part of the novelty for these for me is the full package, having a functional micro-arcade, functional and looks good on a shelf. While the DIP-switch mods are fun and fairly straightforward to perform (hint: you need to use really fine gauge wires to minimize the risk of popping traces), they really only benefit in the sense of saving space and/or funds (ie buy one arcade get 5 games), also in some cases being able to demo a game before it's commercial debut. My apologies for not following up. I am following other pursuits and working full time that I have little spare time anymore, so pardon me again for shelving it. I am still looking forward to the Bubble Bobble units though, even if they are forever stuck in single player mode.

I was able to secure #013 Yooka-Laylee, missed out on #021 Shantae Pirate's Curse. Both "digital" games I backed on Kickstarter (but wanted physical as well)... You are absolutely right though, their business model is flawed. They claim they run preorders for a limited time window then round up to the nearest thousand units when doing Switch Physical preorders. Well if they wanted to, they could do second runs. Just reopen preorders for however long it takes to meet the production quota for another run. If the quota is not reached within some span of time, orders are cancelled and customers are not charged. Customers are free to ancel anytime before the quota is met and order place. That way people could place "second chance" preorders on games they missed. Popular titles would get faster turnarounds on preorders where slow moving titles might take some time. Of course this might piss off shelf collectors if games get restocked, hurting potential investment value. I say "bah humbug" to anyone expecting to collect games with the goal of future resale or bragging rights rather than play. Just look what happened with Amiibo.

Once you make it off the plataeu, head for Karikoki Villiage first and speak to the old lady Impa. She'll open the paths to the beasts on your Shieka Slate. Or you can just skip everything and head straight for Ganon right away, but is a suicide mission.

Did you try using a third party Svideo cable? The one that came with my Super Retro Trio was horse shit. Also the NES side won't work through Svideo except in grayscale.

The water temple grants healing when you fail. I would get the bird flight ability first from Ravali. It is a great aid in mounting over obstacles. The Elephant area is raining nonstop so climbing is futile until after you beat the water temple. Ironically I headed for the Desert first in the game but finished it last because the Yiga Clan hideout was scary. Completing the desert camel awards Obursa's Fury, and the Volcanoe awards Daruk's Protection. The water path is loaded with electric enemies which not only shock you but make you drop all your weapons. Definitely stock loads of arrows and wood or bone spear weapons to attack electric enemies without taking damage. If you strike with a sword or defend with a metal shield, you will get shocked. My recommended order is probably Bird/wind, Camel/desert, Elephant/water, Lizard/Volcanoe. definitely do the bird town first as it's the easiest temple and a very useful skill.

For the record, many, many NES/FC ports were far superior to the Atari and other precrash systems bitd. The Tengen version that most people grew up with was obviously superior to the 1993 Ms Pacman reissue; in fact it was this version that got ported to SNES and Genesis a couple years earlier. And I also have mixed feelings about Bubble Bobble. Part of the allure on not only the Bubble Bobble games but also the Tengen ports of Tetris and Ms Pacman were the simultaneous multiplayer modes, none of which are possible on the Micro Arcades.

I think a "ROM shop" for the AA store would be a step in the right direction and provide a no risk "try before you buy" option for purchasing physical carts. Obviously developers would have to opt in to this. Purchase the ROM in the store and you can redownload it later if needed. Also you would get a discount coupon towards the retail price of the game cart for buying the ROM. Also past physical purchases of said game would be eligible for a free download.

I wish I could have been a fly on the wall for that historic conversation.

CopyNES USB has a Peek and Poke mode for new mapper discovery but this requires a rudimentary working knowledge of hex editing and manipulation of machine code. The INL mapper should be documented on nesdev.com along with RetroUSB UOROM and Memblers GT-ROM. The latter two are flash mappers capable of recording save data to the flash ROM, though this capability can be disabled via a jumper on the PCB itself. The presence or absence of the jumper itself does not affect the dumping procedure, just whether or not game data can be written back to flash ROM. Note also that if you have save data such as high scores recorded onto the flash ROM, this data will be preserved when you dump the game. CopyNES Blue 5.01 has been recompiled to fix certain bugs and error messages which appear on Windows 7 and up. No signed hardware drivers necessary as the software interfaces directly via USB. To dump an unsupported mapper requires you to manually write a byte to a specific register to initiate a bank swap. From there, you can dump the selected PRG bank, then repeat the process for each bank in the ROM. You will need to use a hex editor to manually stitch together the PRG segments (and CHR if applicable), then offset everything by 16 bytes and add an iNES header if you haven't already. There are special developmental builds of FCEU Ultra that support the flash mappers specifically for development purposes. However even if you successfully dump an NES homebrew, you likely won't be able to play it on anything but a PC with a specific FCEU version. And this goes without saying, but if you dump a homebrew, don't be a warez pirate douche. Please don't upload it or share the ROM without permission of the authors. Furthermore if the ROM on your cart happens to be serialized or watermarked, they will be able to determine who purchased the game and subsequently leaked it.

1 - I've stopped using the Zippy sticks myself as they sometimes have QC issues with the restrictor gates and has swapped suppliers for the micro switches on multiple occasions. The levered switches from certain brands have a deeper throw to actuate the microswitch with the result that the lever is pitched rather than straight at the point of actuation. This can result in missed diagonals occasionally. For instance, moving from D to DL might actuate a down/left diagonal but moving from L to DL results in a miss for the D direction, because the tab may need to travel slightly beyond the square gate on one side before it actuates. The Paradise Arcade stick has a similar design to the restrictor plates compared to Zippys but you won't feel "bumps" on the edge of the square gate like the Zippy, and the restrictor plate is a superior plastic construction that won't curl upwards when over-tightened. Also the PAS switches don't have levered tabs on them as the round actuator presses the tab directly. 2 - Anytime you drill into wood with a spade bit, you gotta place a board underneath the control panel to prevent blowout. Especially true for ready made wood boxes with thin lids. Clamp a 3/4" piece of scrap underneath the lid before drilling. You may have to cut the scrap to fit under the lid. The same scrap can be used multiple times as well. As always, measure twice and cut once. It is possible to cut cleaner holes without need for a backing piece by using a Forstner bit, however these bits are designed for use in drill presses and may drift if used with a handheld drill.

I love Bob's games as much as anyone, but "deitizing" game developers is a bit much don't you think? That said, this game is on my insta-buy wishlist.

Lightening the mood a bit. I saw your post and instantly thought of this:

Well said Greg.

FYI, I was referring to everyone, not just Kurt specifically when I said "Forgive and forget." But apparently you didn't comprehend what I said because your long-winded rebuttal proves otherwise. People need to drop this. It was ultimately Bob's decision whether or not to upload the ROM, not Kurt's, not anyone else's. And do I think Kurt's post prior to Bob releasing the ROM was in bad taste? Yes I do. But Kurt alone isn't to blame for this quagmire, really everyone is. Feathers were ruffled, feelings were hurt, but what's done is done and there's no taking it back at this point. The more this train wreck of a discussion goes on, the worse it gets. Take a deep breath, step away from the computer screen, and do like Elsa from Frozen and just "Let it Go" already. And to everyone (including myself): Next time before you click that reply button, think about the repercussions before proceeding. *click*

Don't sweat it. Forgive and forget. Put the past behind and move on...

Yes, congrats. Put the petty drama behind us. Both of you guys are equally responsible for helping this game come to fruition. Kurt, sorry if I sounded harsh on you last night. Without your help, this game wasn't possible.. Agreed 100%. More ways to play = more fun. Look at all the modes in the Tengen Ms Pacman for NES that weren't in the original. Lots of reasons the gamer may want to have their cake and eat it too. Hone in on skill shots or just casually play pinball, or a new variation on Pacman.

It's not going down anytime soon. I still remember getting my first BB sealed on Atari2600.com in 2014 for $6.95. Then I got lucky twice: $2 cart from GameXchange a short tie later, and last year score of a lifetime $1. Also got a Pitfall II, Smurfs, and a few other goodies, $1 each...

LOL! http://atariage.com/forums/user/40219-jin/ http://atariage.com/forums/user/23974-jinroh/