I'm interested in collecting some BS-X games while I am in Japan, but I heard some (or all?) of these games are restricting the number of times you can boot them. Which games are affected and is there a way to remove the limit from the memory packs? Thanks!
I am not aware of a list of limited boot games. Also remember there were SoundLink games which can't be played at all anymore. No, there really isn't a way to remove the limit from the pack itself.
Can't help with a list either, but if you could write to the carts, you could edit the header to change (or remove) the boot limit. While there's some theoretical talk about it, it doesn't seem anyone actually ever had success writing though...
You can collect them, but it would be worthwhile dumping them (preferably before playing them to preserve their condition) when you find them as there are plenty of Satellaview games still MIA, that even partially rewritten and games 'invisible' to the BS-X have been salvaged from dumped carts, and that actually the best way of playing BS-X games on your console is through a device such as the SD2SNES (where limits don't apply and hacks can be applied to remove time stops and other issues related to Satellaview being dead). I understand (based on stuff mentioned on Satellablog) that a few ASSEMbler members dump carts, so you may want to have a chat with them if you need help dumping your finds - of course I'm not saying you should share, but even if you don't want to share it, consider giving a copy to someone you trust to keep it safe - it may be the only copy known in existence, and there have been plenty of cases of last known copies of games disappearing when their owners come to unexpected endings. (ooh, all went a bit morbid there).
weird question.. but back in the days. did some people outside japan did succeed getting the BS-X service ?! that would be an ultra awesome thing to read ! (that thing occured in several countries for satellite crypted PPV movies, people having contacts to pay the fees subscriptions, moving the decoder & having bigger dishes.. even internet back in 1995-96 area (i did as some in europe had that service broadband thru Europeonline services, which felt. there was even in france a Canal+ service (C channel to get games/demos download thru the crypted data receiver.. and this kind of satellite service still runs for some people far away ! like a reception channel data..) so i guess perhaps one in a million at these times, took the chance to get the Satellaview thing too ! ?! that wouldnt be impossible (compared to the Sega channel Genesis broadband access)
No, Satellaview only worked in Japan due to the location of the satellite(s?). It wouldn't have been possible to connect to the service anywhere other than Japan. This is what I've read, anyway.
I think the majority have a limit. AFAIK the main ones that don't are the Square games. Also off the top of my head I know Yoshi Panepon and Dr Mario don't. If they can potentially be rewritten it seems a funny thing to spend a lot of money collecting, though.
It was running on Yalu-3b, which was a fairly powerful direct broadcast satellite. You would have been able to pick things up quite a bit outside the intended footprint - but the only place that I can think of where people might have done that was Korea. There was probably a reasonable signal in parts of China, but I doubt there was much interest in at back then.
