FPGA Based Videogame System

[Atariboy]

They're his systems, so I don't see the harm (although I wouldn't do it myself).

 

That said, I think Retro USB should look at the pictures in this thread. That Nintendo Entertainment System sticker really sets off the AVS, so I'd love to see them clone it with their own non-infringing AVS version.

[Andromeda Stardust]

All mine are 20+ years old and haven't had any save issues thus far. I have had to change batteries for a handful of people over the past year though, all original carts.

 

Probably dirty edge connectors. Dirty cart connectors kill save files. Been there done that with original hardware, learned to make sure carts with valuable saves as well as the console's cart socket were really good and clean before powering on.

Please bear in mind, that while a 25+ year old CR2032 SRAM batt may still retain save data for a period, as the voltage threshold creeps below 3V, the game cart's SRAM becomes a lot more susceptible to bit rot due to power failure, reset, dirty pins, or just a fart in the wind. Most games check the integrity of the SRAM upon boot, and if they find errors or random garbage anywhere in the SRAM, it will wipe it clean and *poof* your save is gone. I've had carts that appear to hold a save between power cycles only lose them when I start playing into the game. My Yoshi's Island did this prior to replacing the battery. It would successfully save a few times then I go to power it back on and gone. I'm now like halfway through the game and no issues.

 

A fresh SRAM battery, while not totally immune to dirty pin connectors or power/reset issues, will be a lot more resilient to retaining save data properly compared to a 25 or 30 year old battery that is on the cusp of dying. Just something to keep in mind. Any original battery is suspect and it is advised if you care any about the data stored on the cart, that you replace it. You can also use a Retrode to back up and restore SRAM prior to and after changing the battery if you want. The Super NT so far only has the backup function, but I imagine a restore function will come soon enough with future JB updates.

[Andromeda Stardust]

 

Looks good but you should remove stickers, too much stickers looks ugly

Which ones look ugly to you? To each his or her own, but I like them. The red knob on the NES controls the expansion audio level. The Lik Sang NES sticker became officially retro as of 2006 when they went bust. No way I'm removing that or or the Famicom boxart Mario mural, which came with a 45rpm vinyl record I imported from Japan (the sleeve actually unfolded to reveal a 21"x14" boxart poster which I had lovingly matted and framed). The AVS has the iconic Mario 3 Raccoon Mario icon, and Mario 30th Anniversary inside the lid. And I don't see any decals on the SNES or Classic Mini consoles that aren't factory stock.

[Andromeda Stardust]

On a sad note, my battery has died on my smas+smw cart, deleting my original save with it. Part of me died a little inside when I loaded the title screen showing new new new new for Super Mario World. It was still intact the other night when I completed forrest of illusion and unlocked choco mountains for the first time. I had told my mom I didn't know how much longer the old save would last, and was planning on backing it up with my retrode when I got around to it, but too late now...

 

Oh well. I installed a battery holder and a fresh new cr2032 and started a new file. Unlocked the yellow/green/red switch palaces, acessed the "top secret area", and took the upper (secret) exit of vanilla dome, same path I used on my original playthrough from 14 years ago. Got to the flooded fortress, beat the Renzor Rhinos and saved. Fairly good run today.

 

I've never beaten Super Mario World before (shame on me) but it's on my bucket list. I wanna play it straight through, no Star Road shortcuts. Haven't touched my Switch either since the Super NT came out, been having too much fun playing snes...

Well good news folks, as an update, I played through the entire game again and beat Super Mario World tonight, for the first time ever!

 

Thank you Kevtris for the inspiration to continue...

 

So I picked up my 1chip SNES (in 2018 still not a bit of yellowing, thank goodness) at Goodwill in 2004 with Super Mario All Stars + World and three other crappy titles for $25. I'm like, "this is a steal; that game alone is worth $25," so I purchased it. Finally graduated from NES collecting into SNES. Later the following day, I walked into EB Games to shop for SNES games and they had SMAS+World under the glass for $25. I felt pretty smug at the deal I scored, and I can thank my mom for dragging me out there to go shopping at GW when I wanted to stay in.

 

I played a lot of Super Mario World over the years between Virtual Console, original cart, etc, and even completed the Special World on 3DS (I'll admit, I abused the heck out of save states to beat Special).

 

And I've seen Bowser beaten countless times before online (speedruns, hacks, let's plays, etc) and in person back in the day, but never actually beaten it myself.

 

Fast forward to 2018, and I get my Super NT from Analogue, and am hooked once again on SNES. So I plug in my original SMAS+World cart and get cracking. I've never even made it to the Choco Valley before. I had all four Switch Palaces and was stuck at the Forest Fortress and Castle last I played, which had been some years ago.

 

Super Mario World has always been my second favorite classic Mario, second only to Super Mario Bros 1. Super Mario Bros 3 is great but never compared to World. So I start working on my old save and made it out of Forest of Illusion, but I was burned out tired and couldn't beat the choco ghost house, in fact I couldn't even make it past the first room so I shut it down after the GAME OVER screen.

 

The following weekend, I plug my cart back in, ready to conquer Choco Mountains, and to my horrors, I click the Super Mario World icon and am greeted with four "NEW" save slots.

 

Not one to be deterred, I lamented my loss and installed a new CR3032 SRAM battery and holder inside the cart. Over the past couple weeks, I've been playing the shizzle out of it and finally made it to Bowser's Doorstep. I specifically avoided any exits that led to Star Road, and it was my initial goal of beating it for the first time by entering Bowser's Back Door. Unfortunately for me, the Valley Fortress is a sadistic spikey death trap torture dungeon. I'm not going back in there. Ever...

 

Last weekend Sunday afternoon. I tried in vain to best Bowser, using my giant SNES arcade stick. I finally gave up after getting 5 hits on Bowser several times, that final blow had eluded me. After 3+ hours of attempts, I had stolen 31 lives at the top secret area and lost all of them to a GAME OVER defeat. Then it dawned on me the past week maybe I should have just used the gamepad instead.

 

This Saturday, I beat the game for the first time. Below is the proof. I feel pretty good for my accomplishment. It was a long time coming. I've currently got 71 exits, and I believe have most of the exits not connected to Star Road which I intentionally avoided. Notice there is no star next to Bowser's Castle. I did it all the long way...

 

Full thread here:

http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=31&threadid=181244

[phoenixdownita]

I gotta ask ... the black SuperNt is still the only available they changed the "preorder" button to "buy now" but when in "preorder" it took a week or so ... not sure the difference now).

 

So the question is, did they make too many in black and are waiting to run out of them OR they simply are not selling fast enough from the initial batch so before replenishing the other color schemes they need to at least finish the black?

 

I bought a black one and I am glad I did, I did not like the clear one (bought a neogeo pocket color in clear case more than a decade ago and learnt my own lesson) and neither of the two "original" color schemes was particularly attractive to me even bitd on the actual SNES. Still it seems I may be in the minority about my color preference.

 

What do you think is going on with the black SuperNt? Or if you prefer how come the rest is not back on sale?

[Andromeda Stardust]

Plausible. We don't know if it's surplus from current batch or they just stopped printing the others.

 

Only way I'm buying a solid black Analogue console is if it's a Genesis. Loving my NA gray/purple, now with chrome accents...

[phoenixdownita]

... I would gladly buy a "solid black" Analogue NG ... but that's just me.

... I would not buy a "solid black" Analogue Jag ... well to be fair I don't think the color would matter.

[Lost Gaijin]

Kevtris can we please get an option to *disable* the system "Reset" hotkey? It's hindered my progress a few times by mistake. I did just make it a seemingly impossible button combo, but an option to totally disable this would be nice.

 

Sent from my PH-1 using Tapatalk

[Forsaken]

Kevtris can we please get an option to *disable* the system "Reset" hotkey? It's hindered my progress a few times by mistake. I did just make it a seemingly impossible button combo, but an option to totally disable this would be nice.

 

Sent from my PH-1 using Tapatalk

Already there on latest firmware. Settings>system>controls & hotkeys>disable hotkeys.

[Andromeda Stardust]

Already there on latest firmware. Settings>system>controls & hotkeys>disable hotkeys.

 

but then you cant access the menu either. i got mine set to a+b+st+se, same hotkey gameboy and turbo used in lieu of actual hardware reset. you wont accidentally hit this, and adding a dpad direction will foolproof it.

[Jagasian]

I gotta ask ... the black SuperNt is still the only available they changed the "preorder" button to "buy now" but when in "preorder" it took a week or so ... not sure the difference now).

 

So the question is, did they make too many in black and are waiting to run out of them OR they simply are not selling fast enough from the initial batch so before replenishing the other color schemes they need to at least finish the black?

 

I bought a black one and I am glad I did, I did not like the clear one (bought a neogeo pocket color in clear case more than a decade ago and learnt my own lesson) and neither of the two "original" color schemes was particularly attractive to me even bitd on the actual SNES. Still it seems I may be in the minority about my color preference.

 

What do you think is going on with the black SuperNt? Or if you prefer how come the rest is not back on sale?

I bought 2 Super NTs: black color and SNES classic color. I will buy a third if the core store is released for it, or if the jailbreak firmware reaches sd2snes levels of game ROM compatibility. My third Super NT will be Super Famicom colored.

[RadikusRLZ]

Which ones look ugly to you? To each his or her own, but I like them. The red knob on the NES controls the expansion audio level. The Lik Sang NES sticker became officially retro as of 2006 when they went bust. No way I'm removing that or or the Famicom boxart Mario mural, which came with a 45rpm vinyl record I imported from Japan (the sleeve actually unfolded to reveal a 21"x14" boxart poster which I had lovingly matted and framed). The AVS has the iconic Mario 3 Raccoon Mario icon, and Mario 30th Anniversary inside the lid. And I don't see any decals on the SNES or Classic Mini consoles that aren't factory stock.

 

All stickers, I remove all stickers and logos, clean is perfect

[Andromeda Stardust]

 

All stickers, I remove all stickers and logos, clean is perfect

 

Well your opinion is certainly valid. I kinda like to customize my things.

 

Think about it this way: If your NES, Atari, SNES, whatever, fell off a shelf and into a pile of otherwise identical systems, how would you be able to tell yours apart from the riff raff? For me this is very simple. That NES with the giant red knob and large Famicom Mario box art sticker is mine...

[Forsaken]

 

 

but then you cant access the menu either. i got mine set to a+b+st+se, same hotkey gameboy and turbo used in lieu of actual hardware reset. you wont accidentally hit this, and adding a dpad direction will foolproof it.

 

Well, if he's accidentally hitting reset, he might accidentally hit menu too, which would also cause -somewhat less- grief. And presumably, you'd have everything setup and wouldn't be going into the menu to tinker during a serious play session. Unless you're playing ROMs on the jailbreak of course, that would be a dealbreaker, since you must enter the menu to save the SRAM.

 

My reset combo is Up+Start+A, simple, but impossible to press while holding the controller as one does to play the game. I personally don't see any need for more of a "disable" than that.

[phoenixdownita]

Well your opinion is certainly valid. I kinda like to customize my things.

 

Think about it this way: If your NES, Atari, SNES, whatever, fell off a shelf and into a pile of otherwise identical systems, how would you be able to tell yours apart from the riff raff? For me this is very simple. That NES with the giant red knob and large Famicom Mario box art sticker is mine...

Fixed that for you!!

 

"fell off a shelf and into a pile of otherwise identical systems" .... if they are identical who cares ... also how come that particular shelf is on top of "a pile of otherwise identical systems" which are not already yours to begin with?

[Andromeda Stardust]

Fixed that for you!!

 

"fell off a shelf and into a pile of otherwise identical systems" .... if they are identical who cares ... also how come that particular shelf is on top of "a pile of otherwise identical systems" which are not already yours to begin with?

You scratched out kinda. Good call. I've also done a bunch of LED mods.

More detailed pics:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/30203515@N04/sets/72157669550796415

 

As for falling off the shelf. Hypothetical situation here. Like for instance that episode of ducktales when Scrooge McDuck lost his lucky dime in the coin vault.

[RetrogamerX]

You scratched out kinda. Good call. I've also done a bunch of LED mods.

More detailed pics:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/30203515@N04/sets/72157669550796415

 

As for falling off the shelf. Hypothetical situation here. Like for instance that episode of ducktales when Scrooge McDuck lost his lucky dime in the coin vault.

That Turbografx LED looks sick! Very cool stardust Edited April 9, 2018 by RetrogamerX

[Lost Gaijin]

Already there on latest firmware. Settings>system>controls & hotkeys>disable hotkeys.

That disables *all* hotkeys, when I just want to disable the "Reset" hotkey. I still want to be able to access the menu.

 

Sent from my PH-1 using Tapatalk

[F34R]

Redguys Super FX on SD2SNES v05 update:

https://github.com/RedGuyyyy/sd2snes/releases/tag/gsu_v05

 

Changed save to sd to only operate when it detects a carttype that has saveram.
Fixed sram init bug.
Reverted cache invalidation change. Looks like it's not the cause of problems.

[Jagasian]

Redguys Super FX on SD2SNES v05 update:

https://github.com/RedGuyyyy/sd2snes/releases/tag/gsu_v05

How good is Redguys SD2SNES firmware? Is it ready for mainstream use yet?

[Andromeda Stardust]

That disables *all* hotkeys, when I just want to disable the "Reset" hotkey. I still want to be able to access the menu.

 

Sent from my PH-1 using Tapatalk

Set reset hotkey to a+b (or b+y) + start + select + up. I guarantee you'll never press it by accident...

[Andromeda Stardust]

That Turbografx LED looks sick! Very cool stardust

Check out my flicker album (linked above) for detailed build pics. installing the led mod into the turbografx was quite involved.

[phoenixdownita]

How good is Redguys SD2SNES firmware? Is it ready for mainstream use yet?

Dunno, you could check at krikzz website:

http://krikzz.com/forum/index.php?topic=7451.0

 

I could tell you that it sucks and nothing works but I would be lying

[atmn]

Dunno, you could check at krikzz website:

http://krikzz.com/forum/index.php?topic=7451.0

 

I could tell you that it sucks and nothing works but I would be lying

 

It worked for me, tried StarFox, Yoshis Island 2 and Doom, they all worked (tested v3).

 

It is supposed to be running FX games a bit slow, but all NES games in my childhood was running slow so I'm not picky. Im sure it will be sorted out.

Great that someone is taking on this task.

 

Talking of speed..

I sold a PAL NESRGB system to a work college, he said it was broken since the music was running slow on his childhood SMB1. He refused to belive that it was that way back in the day, he was used to play on emulator past 20 years or so in proper NTSC speed.

[spoonman]

Would it be possible to add a way to take in-game screen shots and have it save them to the SDCard?

I'd love an easy way to do this. It would be useful for a few things to me personally, as well as showing off how incredible the Super Nt really looks..

 

I've taken a few pictures with an iPhone, trying to show scanlines,

 

 

 

but an internally generated screen would be much cleaner.

 

It may also prove useful to show off any inherent bugs, if there are any left.

 

Also, regarding the LED settings. Is there anyway to just have it off? I have a clear SNT, and I usually play it at night in a dark room. The LED can sometimes be a bit distracting. Right now I just have it set to a solid red light, but off would ne a nice option as well.

Edited April 10, 2018 by spoonman