Lots of Backup Devices

Very informative post, Kyuusaku, thanks.

Anyone know where to get one of the Doctor 7 units, PAL, for cheap?

 

you might try lookin maybe in gameTZ (notice they charge now) :angry

But anyway I notice those picture of 64M flash carts shows the one with the case and it looks to be a PAL shell. I wonder if they got the NA cases to at tototk... hmm

 

Dark Helmet, also keep in mind that some copiers are region specific, i.e. they contain a lockout chip. The reason for this I think is so you don't need to plug an additional cartridge into it. If the copier you're going for has one of those, you should try to get the PAL version for your european SNES. I guess it should be possible to change the lockout chip inside the unit though but I don't have any info on how to do that.

I know that the Wild Card DX2 is region specific, but maybe Kyuusaku can enlighten us if there are others.

 

I like this topic how you just came in dumped out rows of Backup stuff from a large box and were like, "what are all these things called, what can they do." That's a portly haul all that stuff. Amazing :smt023

 

Copiers aren't really video specific as much as they are CIC specific. Generally inside, there is a socketted CIC chip (lockout chip.) These chips for obvious reasons are not official nintendo chips. ALL pirate CIC's I've seen (seen MANY) are NTSC. (There MUST be some PAL pirate CICs out there) This means that if you purchase a GDSF7 (or any other NTSC copier), you'll need to sacrifice one of your PAL games. All you've got to do is replace the CIC inside the Game Doctor with your PAL one (Yes, you must desolder it) and voila, PAL copier. I can't think of a copier right now that doesn't work like this. (So that applies to Game Doctors and Wild Card and variants alike.)

Some older copiers (with/without a CIC) that are Magicom based (Magicom, Wild Card, Pro Fighter series) can boot using the inserted cartridge if no CIC is present internally. Also, if the unit DOES have a CIC (e.g. NTSC CIC) internally, you can insert a PAL game to bypass the NTSC CIC and use the PAL one instead. Gotta love FFE.

 

Ok, I found one guy in the UK selling copiers, I think he's known to a few around here:
http://www.robwebb.clara.co.uk/shop/copiers/copiers.htm
He's got a PAL Professor SF2, AKA Game Doctor SF7. Is this a modified NTSC copier?

It's £64 ($115 or so) for the 64M version. I'm kind of tempted.

 

~

You want an SF7? Get one from tototek.com:

http://tototek.com/pio/main1/SUBMENU/Buy.php?CategoryID=9&Description=BACKUP UNIT

<edit>
I see someone has already recommended tototek.com. My apologies :smt030
</edit>

 

Well yes, the prices are certainly better, but there's 2 things:
1/ they're in the states as far as I can tell so shipping will be expensive and lengthy for something of this weight
2/ they're NTSC, and given the only way to change that apparently is by desoldering some lock out chip, and FUCK THAT, not with my damn shaky hands.

It's worth me remembering that the memory expansions can be got from there though, shipping on that wouldn't be too much and I could go for the cheaper 32M unit from the UK shop. Decisions, decisions...

EDIT: heh, I guess I should mention I'm in the UK too :-D

 

Tototek is HK based I think

Kyuusaku: the story on the CIC's is odd, my Profighter X2 (or something) works both in PAL and NTSC SNES units, AND boots up without a cartridge (in my PAL system at least, my US snes is busted)

 

Tototek IS HK based.

Anti, you've got a miracle CIC if it really does boot in on both consoles.

Funkstar, I know you wanna make a profit, but 140/200GBP is crazy for those MGDII sets. I'd pay that for something brand new, but not a untested, used MGDII set with a very lengthy history.

You've got all the tech specs wrong. Rob Webb's sites aren't the most accurate...

Also, you shouldn't sell copiers on eBay. You only get a couple warnings, selling 10 copiers at a time is grounds for account removal. I know, I've had problems with that in the past.

I thought you were actually into copiers Its sad to see that everything is about money.

 

My FX 32 boots up on both consoles as well, Kyuusake and so did my old copier which was an older model,I'll get the name for you later on.The guy I bought them off used to get them from Hong Kong like this as they were made to work with both pal Super Famicom's and Ntsc super famicom's.It's no miracle mate, there are loads of copier unit's that do this.

Oh and Funkstar, you realy are ripping people off here.It's plain ridiculous your prices...full stop.No one with half a clue will buy them for your prices.You really must be wearing a black mask.

 

I've never owned a PAL copier, and AFAIK, the only ones that shipped with PAL CICs in them are FFE/CCL units (they share the same archetecture.) Most likely, your CICs aren't regional at all which is neat. Its just that I've always been led to believe that they had to be either NTSC/PAL though. If one of you would like to try inserting that same CIC into say a Game Doctor, that'd be really helpful in determining whether or not it is multiregion or whether the PFX has some sort of other mechanism (I have never disassembled the PFX BIOS to look for any lockout enhancements. For all I know, this could be a function provided by one of the PEEL.) Anyways, I'm not too interested because I could care less about CCL units.

 

d

Kyuusaku,

Your knowledge of these devices never ceases to amaze me....I have no clue how you learned all this stuff!

Great read, man.

-Rob