Flashcart and Multicart List - All systems

[Austin]

The ideal flash cart for Neo Geo :

I actually suggest this to people all the time when they want to get into the Neo-Geo for the first time. It's by far the cheapest point of entry and there's still a lot of good software available after avoiding the games with long load times mid-game (mostly fighters). A system will cost $100 - $150. Add a stack of CD-r discs and you are good to go.

 

Won't change the price

 

The chips required plus the fact that it needs a ton of shit on two PCBs so that it can run every game ... it's no walk in the park

Ah, OK. I didn't realize the carts were that complex.

[CatPix]

I actually suggest this to people all the time when they want to get into the Neo-Geo for the first time. It's by far the cheapest point of entry and there's still a lot of good software available after avoiding the games with long load times mid-game (mostly fighters). A system will cost $100 - $150. Add a stack of CD-r discs and you are good to go.

Yep, that's what I did. Even buying legit CD titles isn't that expensive. Metal Slug on CD is about 100/150$ from what I saw, which is 10 times less than the cart version.

For loading times, I tried many games on the systems and frankly they aern't THAT long. Maybe one minute of loading for the worst ones, and for anyone that owned a Playstation or a 8 bits comptuer with games on tapes that isn't so long.

I feel like that legend of "neverending 3 mins loading times" is made up by Neo Geo AES snobs that can't cope with the fact that you do'nt have to blow an average of 500$ per game to enjoy the Neo Geo experience.

[billysastard]

Yep, that's what I did. Even buying legit CD titles isn't that expensive. Metal Slug on CD is about 100/150$ from what I saw, which is 10 times less than the cart version.

For loading times, I tried many games on the systems and frankly they aern't THAT long. Maybe one minute of loading for the worst ones, and for anyone that owned a Playstation or a 8 bits comptuer with games on tapes that isn't so long.

I feel like that legend of "neverending 3 mins loading times" is made up by Neo Geo AES snobs that can't cope with the fact that you do'nt have to blow an average of 500$ per game to enjoy the Neo Geo experience.

my ngcd is my "try before you buy" machine for my aes's

[+Black_Tiger]

Yep, that's what I did. Even buying legit CD titles isn't that expensive. Metal Slug on CD is about 100/150$ from what I saw, which is 10 times less than the cart version.

For loading times, I tried many games on the systems and frankly they aern't THAT long. Maybe one minute of loading for the worst ones, and for anyone that owned a Playstation or a 8 bits comptuer with games on tapes that isn't so long.

I feel like that legend of "neverending 3 mins loading times" is made up by Neo Geo AES snobs that can't cope with the fact that you do'nt have to blow an average of 500$ per game to enjoy the Neo Geo experience.

That's still 2 to 3 times the price of the MVS version. Anyone interested in experiencing Neo Geo games for real should get a cmvs and a multi-game cart to start with.

[walterg74]

That's still 2 to 3 times the price of the MVS version. Anyone interested in experiencing Neo Geo games for real should get a cmvs and a multi-game cart to start with.

This is really funny... neo geo fames "for real"..? A multi game cart "to start with"...? Please...

Any real gamer who want to experience is more than fine with a cd console and a pack of cd-rs like said before... now if you're talking about hoarding/collecting, sure...

[Andromeda Stardust]

But who needs silly flashcarts or emus when I can gets the real deal AVS dual circuit plastic carton tray thingy for $1000s online! Help! My shelfs stil have holeys in dem dat needz 2 bee plugged!!!

[CatPix]

That's still 2 to 3 times the price of the MVS version. Anyone interested in experiencing Neo Geo games for real should get a cmvs and a multi-game cart to start with.

The Neo Geo CD is a real, official system from SNK, so I don't see what you're talking about.

 

And for msot people a Neo Geo CD will be nice and plug-n-play to put in the dining room, whereas a supergun will be clunky, complex to own and set up or you'll ahve to pay big bucks to get someone to make a proper harness and video output (especially if that someone wants composite out).

[Tempest]

The Neo Geo-CD is great if you're playing mostly older games or don't mind some load times during your games. If you want to play any of the later fighters (KOF 98, Last Blade 2, etc.) then you'll probably get frustrated with the 2-3 minute load times between rounds and matches. Also, while Neo-Geo CD games are cheaper than AES or MVS games (usually), they're still not cheap. US copies of most games are really hard to come by, but JPN versions are fairly common. If you want a legitimate Neo-Geo CD collection you're still going to need to fork out some serious cash. It all depends on your tolerance for load times and what you want to play.

[+thegoldenband]

If a drive replacement for the Neo Geo CD ever came along (like the GDEmu and so forth), does the system have the necessary bandwidth to load data at faster speeds?

[CatPix]

Probably, maybe not to have instant load times, but shorter ones for sure.

Lots of people believe, because lots of websites says that the Neo Geo CDz is a double speed drive. In fact, it's still a 1x drive but with a larger buffer to load data. So only be tweaking this, or in fact, since loading data from a SD card would be several time faster than loading from a 1X drive (150 Ko/s if I remember correctly), you could have loading times shorted to mere seconds.

 

Edit : 7 Mo is 7 168 Ko, divide by 150 : if the data bus is limited to 150 Ko/S, to full up the whole 7 Mo of RAM, youll need 48 seconds; so with a SD card that send data faster than 150 Ko/s, the largest games that use all of the 7 Mo of RAM will take up to 48 seconds at the most to load.

 

The Neo Geo CD would still hit the limit of 7Mo of data loaded at once however since it's part of the main RAM. Unless it's possible to add RAM into the add-on SD loader and tweak Neo geo MSV/AES games to take advantage of this, but it's probably not very easy as it would probably require to rewrite most games.

Edited November 16, 2016 by CatPix

[walterg74]

The Neo Geo-CD is great if you're playing mostly older games or don't mind some load times during your games. If you want to play any of the later fighters (KOF 98, Last Blade 2, etc.) then you'll probably get frustrated with the 2-3 minute load times between rounds and matches. Also, while Neo-Geo CD games are cheaper than AES or MVS games (usually), they're still not cheap. US copies of most games are really hard to come by, but JPN versions are fairly common. If you want a legitimate Neo-Geo CD collection you're still going to need to fork out some serious cash. It all depends on your tolerance for load times and what you want to play.

If you want to *collect*, sure... if you want to play/enjoy, a stack of CD-Rs is all you need...

[Mark Wolfe]

Not to indulge this thread to go any further off topic but I owned an NG-CD console. I burned all the games for it but it was tedious. I sold it on AtariAge once I got a consolized MVS system. It has a UNI-bios along with a couple multi-carts. The 100-in-1 & the 120-in-1 which covers all the games I'm interested in. That being said, a lot of the games have graphic and/or audio issues due to the crappy components on the pirate carts.

 

Darksoft's upcoming Neo Geo flash cart will solve those issues along with allowing me to program the games I want to play. The menu it will have has been previewed and looks cool as hell. It's going to be a quality product.

 

I don't trust flash carts from unknown sources. From sources that don't have any track record for quality or support. Been burned one too many times on carts that sound too good to be true. I trust Razoola in so much as his review bullet points on that cart but his review does not address my concerns for long term usage and support.

 

I'm not dropping $400 (which is nothing when it comes to Neo Geo stuff) until Darksoft releases his cart. There is no rush and it may even wind up being a little bit cheaper or at least the same cost. My guess is that it will have a lot more to offer, made with better quality components and have a larger user base.

 

The other guys, whoever they are, will probably drop from sight once they sell out their stock ... no firmware support, no menu support ... no support at all . They're no better than the people who put out the pirate multicarts in my opinion (until they prove otherwise, they have not earned my trust).

 

... hopefully this thread can get back on track soon as I think the Neo Geo horse has been beaten quite enough for now.

 

I've noticed a lot of new products being released for classic computers that have not shown up here yet. A lot of stuff for Amiga, C64 and Atari users as well as Apple iiGS & even TI99. Not exactly flash cart news but certainly of interest to subscribers of this thread. Maybe I should make a list of links to what I'm talking about although much of it can be found on eBay if you search for your favorite classic computer by name.

Edited November 16, 2016 by Mark Wolfe

[StarshipUK]

I've noticed a lot of new products being released for classic computers that have not shown up here yet. A lot of stuff for Amiga, C64 and Atari users as well as Apple iiGS & even TI99. Not exactly flash cart news but certainly of interest to subscribers of this thread. Maybe I should make a list of links to what I'm talking about although much of it can be found on eBay if you search for your favorite classic computer by name.

 

Please create a new thread for this or put it in a different relevant thread for those products. This is called going "off topic" and is frowned upon. This thread is just for Flashcarts and Multicarts, hence its title is Flashcarts and Multicarts (surprisingly). Its bad enough when this thread goes off topic as it is.

[StarshipUK]

The other guys, whoever they are, will probably drop from sight once they sell out their stock ... no firmware support, no menu support ... no support at all . They're no better than the people who put out the pirate multicarts in my opinion (until they prove otherwise, they have not earned my trust).

 

Except you do know who they are, don't you?

 

 

That's news to me but the irony of that is that there is a long standing rivalry between he and the guy who runs arcadeprojects

They used to lock horns pretty regularly that is evidenced by several locked but archived threads on Neo forums that the arcadeprojects guy even changed his name on that forum after some threads were locked so that people could not tie his comments to him directly

 

Ok THAT is the last I'll say on the matter

Perhaps I too am biased a little but frankly, given my feelings it should be the reverse opinion

 

You are welcome to have your own opinions but please stop making assumptions and let people decide for themselves mate. Its really obvious you have some serious beef with the bloke who has just released the Neo Geo multicart.

 

As for darksofts cart lets wait until its released before mentioning it again... For all you know it could be another "No Mans Sky". There is a great track record of these devices being announced and then not coming to existing, although I know you will come back and say he has already released another cart. If it was me I would be reconsidering wasting any more time and energy on something which has a limited userbase, has already been released and essentially does the same thing and be concentrating on making something for the AES rather than the MVS at this point, as everyone who wants a MVS cart will probably end up buying the one that is available now regardless of your comments, and personally you are starting to put me off darksofts (non available) cart with your comments and the way things are coming across and steering me towards buying the cart that is available now and so far has good reviews.

[Mark Wolfe]

You don't have to take my criticism personally man. It's not like you developed or designed the NG SD cart you posted a link to. And no, I have no clue who is behind it which is kinda the crux of my criticism ... why would I have any reason to obfuscate that ?

 

I've been here a long time (over a decade) and my opinion is valued but I'm also clearly only giving an opinion ... yours stands as valued also my U.K. Friend so don't be too touchy in reaction to my skepticism of that particular cart . I just don't fully trust it and I advise folks not to drop any cash until the one I mentioned is released so it can be compared to it. (Which I've mentioned every time I bring it up)

 

As for being "off topic" with posts regarding flash/memory/expansion devices for classic computers... those ARE on topic here bro, or maybe you have not been paying close attention to even recent history where updates on some ADAM devices were eagerly discussed

 

you might even want to take a peep at the first two posts in this thread by PsychadelicShaman (who even thanked you for updated input I believe which we are ALL greatful for) you'll notice that classic computers are indeed part of this thread and always have been.

 

As for my part, I only pointed out that discussing Neo Geo CD ad neaseum was "starting to get off topic" (imo) but if people need to keep discussing it, i doubt anyone would mind . I certainly wouldn't provided it covered new ground....

[Mark Wolfe]

Additionally, regarding Darksoft... that dude shows his work man... he takes suggestions from the interested public, answers questions and shows updates on all his finished and ongoing projects ... he's yet to balk on one ... his Neo Geo cart is in beta testing ... it's coming and anyone can join arcadeprojects for free and read up on it and even make comments or ask questions ... how would that turn anyone off ?? The folks behind the cart you mention don't seem to even have a support email that returns answers to basic questions that I could find ... I hope I am wrong about that. But when I looked in to it, at least a month before you posted about it, I couldn't find anything except advertisements for it ... no substance ... i was really grateful you mentioned Razoola's review ... that was good news to me and I am eager to hear any new news on that cart, but so far it seems to be very guarded.

 

Despite your coloration of my opinion and posts, I want that cart to be a good one, I'm just not convinced yet and that is because it takes more than a flashy website and a few reviews to sway me

[StarshipUK]

Any information about devices not listed in this thread in any of the 86 pages are welcome. However you worded it as "new products being released for classic computers" and "Not exactly flash cart news". Not the best choice of words was it. I am sure many others also thought you were talking about non-flashcard devices, which others have also suggested posted about in this thread and then had a hissy fit over when asked to create a new thread and keep things on topic.

[carlsson]

I assume memory card based storage devices should be as far as this particular thread aims for, beyond the pre-programmed multicarts and in-flashable cartridges. Generic IDE and USB interfaces, although possible to equip with a memory card based interface, would be borderline just like the solution to burn your own CD-ROMs for your CD based console to get a cheap "multicart". Memory expansions, network interfaces, CPU upgrades, graphics enhancements, joystick adapters and so on may be better discussed in respective area, as those generally don't add anything to the dilemma that the games you want to play are not available in your shelf. Well, sometimes you might be able to load programs from a local FTP server through the network interface or use something like an XE1541 cable to an old DOS PC, but I would not call a 133 MHz Pentium running as a slave file server a "multicart", not even if it happens to be a Raspberry Pi doing the same.

Edited November 17, 2016 by carlsson

[Mark Wolfe]

Nothing says "happy holidays" like arguing over what is and is not relevant here lol

 

I refer all readers to the second post in this thread which was updated by the thread creator ... devices listed there and gadgets of that ilk are what I was referring to.. a half dozen or so small companies are putting out some amazing stuff that wasn't available until recently ... exciting times indeed. If I have the time to gather intel and list them here I will, but I have original xboxes to mod for some fellow AtariAgers so I better get to it and stop arguing over literally nothing

 

Cheers!

[walterg74]

Please create a new thread for this or put it in a different relevant thread for those products. This is called going "off topic" and is frowned upon. This thread is just for Flashcarts and Multicarts, hence its title is Flashcarts and Multicarts (surprisingly). Its bad enough when this thread goes off topic as it is.

So he's supposed to create a new thread for the same sytems listed on post 2 of THIS thread, which has "ALL SYSTEMS" in its title...?

 

Ok...

[StarshipUK]

So he's supposed to create a new thread for the same sytems listed on post 2 of THIS thread, which has "ALL SYSTEMS" in its title...?

 

Ok...

 

Read my reply: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/127752-flashcart-and-multicart-list-all-systems/page-86?do=findComment&comment=3633087

 

If its a completely irrelevant bit of new hardware yes (example - joysticks, machine cases machine re-issues based on linux) which is what sounded like the OP was talking about when saying not exactly flash cart news. If its not a flash cart it must be something else?

 

If its a flashcart, multicart, or some kind of other device which incorporates modern technology to replace original methods of loading games then no.

 

Its a shame we cant get the first two posts updated with the many devices which have been listed since that was last updated, as every so often someone will re-announce a device which has already been mentioned and it seems people are missing new devices as a result.

[StarshipUK]

Apple II (and variants):

 

SD DISK][ Emulator is a slot type virtual DISK Emulator for APPLE][, ][+, //e and IIGS
Emulates Floppy Drives and Hard Drives

http://quick09.tistory.com/1244

[Andromeda Stardust]

Apple II (and variants):

 

SD DISK][ Emulator is a slot type virtual DISK Emulator for APPLE][, ][+, //e and IIGS

Emulates Floppy Drives and Hard Drives

http://quick09.tistory.com/1244

Unrelated, but why is "Apple II" sometimes spelled as "Apple ][" ? Which is terminology (capitol I or brackets) is correct?

[walterg74]

Unrelated, but why is "Apple II" sometimes spelled as "Apple ][" ? Which is terminology (capitol I or brackets) is correct?

Uhm... because that's what the original logo/spelling on the case was..?

 

http://s7.computerhistory.org/is/image/CHM/102626726p-03-02?$re-medium$

[Tempest]

Uhm... because that's what the original logo/spelling on the case was..?

 

http://s7.computerhistory.org/is/image/CHM/102626726p-03-02?$re-medium$

 

They did it that way for style reasons. Same reason why the Apple IIe is shown as //e on an enhanced model (it's still ][e on the unenhanced model IIRC)