My Review: The SNES Everdrive vs. the Retrozone PowerPak

Well, it is a comparative review and it would be nice to have all the accurate info we can gather from people who own the devices.

Chrono Trigger is a good one, you can start the game go through the beginning dialog and walk outside the house and save once you are outside. I would like to know if it automatically creates a save file without having to make a blank one first or having to hold reset in order to save it.

So basically fire up Chrono Trigger save the game, power off SNES without resetting first, power on SNES and fire up Chrono Trigger again and see if it saved.

 

Chrono Trigger worked without holding reset or making a save file.

So there's one less annoying "feature" for the Powerpak. ;-)

 

Yes your Chrono Trigger save will still be in the memory, even if you turn the system off. Problem arises when you play another game that has a save and save that one. Your save in Chrono Trigger is then gone.

I checked to see if my PowerPak was outdated, and the RetroUSB site still has 1.5 as the newest one, which is pretty old.

 

Ok, thanks for the info. So do you still have to manually create a save file or will it create one for you. Say you load up Chrono Trigger and save, and then want to switch to Secret of Mana. You hold reset and it asks to save, does it create one or do you still need a blank Chrono Trigger save file first to save to?

 

Uh, the Super EverDrive autobacks up save info when you load a new rom... the feature now on the genesis version started on the SNES everdrive.

 

LOL, that shows you how much attention I paid when using the Super Everdrive. I didn't notice that feature, though I was only play testing most games before I sold it. I wanted to wait for the DSP version.

I read the review as well and totally glossed over that section, I apologize.

 

Yes that sounds like a great upgrade from Krikzz. Also with the PowerPak, you have to create a save file for specific game from an emulator, in order to get the saving correct, and put that on your CF card. Or rename a blank one. That's a pain. Someone created an actual save state mapper for the NES powerpak, works for most games, but not for SNES.

One plus for the PowerPak though is built in Game Genie support. Not that I use GG much. Then again, I don't save games much either.

PS: Has anyone actually timed the game loading for the same rom on both carts?

 

Yep...I just tried it and he is right. If you save another it overwrites the previous. I really don't save much so it's not an issue for me, but I could see how it could be a pain for those who do.

 

Never mind, I noticed the vertical line on my SNES with regular games, so I think it's a SNES problem not Powerpak problem.

 

Yeah they were thinking this was some kind of issue with the CF card, where if you turned the PP on without the CF, it was fine. Don't think it was widespread, but the bigger issue was the CF card compatibility and game freezing. If someone comes up with a save state feature for the PP like they did the NES, might move PP back ahead in game saving.

PS: from youtube seems the Super Everdrive load time is about 6.5 seconds per 512kb rom to load the game itself (not erasing).

PS 2: I also noticed that the Super ED has a return reset option, so that SNES reset returns you to the SED menu. Wow, that's awesome, was that always there?

 

Yea the vertical stripe is on mine too but it is present when playing store bought carts too. I thought it was an a/v cable problem but I tried 3 different ones and they all do the same thing so it is definitely a SNES issue.

 

The vertical stripe thing definitely gets worse when the PowerPak is in use. For me, anyway.

I'm guessing one of the main reasons it's widely reported, though, is that people are spending time playing SNES on modern HD TVs. LCD sets tend to have brighter blacks and this may make the bars more noticeable. Just a thought, anyway.

 

I am not playing mine on an HDTV. Mine is on a CRT and the bars look exactly the same whether it is with the powerpak or any other cart. I think it's just a snes thing. Mine doesn't seem to have the problem unless I use Composite though. RF does not have the stripe even with the powerpak in.

 

Woah, there's save states in the PowerPak for NES? How did they manage to do that? What buttons do you need to press to save/load a state?

Also, I am very knowledgeable on the subject of the vertical line on the SNES! I too thought it was my PowerPak but noticed it's there even with legit carts. I did a lot of research and it turns out all original SNES systems do this. However, the SNES Jr./Mini redesign did not have this issue.

Unfortunately, the SNES Jr./Mini does not output s-video or RGB, but it's easily brought back with a soldering iron and some resistors (and it actually looks way better than the original SNES when all is said and done, as it contains a higher quality decoder).

 

http://kkfos.aspekt.fi/projects/nes/powerpak/save-state-mappers/

 

The EverDrive-MD supports GG codes and it was just an OS upgrade. I am sure the Super EverDrive will via an OS update in the future.

 

Anyone know if the save states from the Super Wild Card /DX/DX2 copiers will work with the PowerPak? I used to make save states of for many SNES games so I could always select stages without needing cheat codes. It was very useful and you could fit a ton on a single floppy disk.

Also, is there any chance of the S Ever Drive having this ability?

 

For everyone that have problems with region blocking - modify your SNES

For me Krik SNES cart will be the best choice, tototek is good but programming using EPP port is slow, beside that I need laptop (my PC does not have EPP) to program games. Since I have both DSP1 games on original carts I don't need DSP1 on everdrive cart. Limit to 2 Gb is not e problem. Catalog with my favourite games is below 1 gb. As for the shell - buy some cheap game and take shell. Some sports games are about 1 or 2 USD.

Retrozone cart is far too expensive for me.

 

My SNES is SNS-001, USA NTSC model, serial no. UN280853396, it's an SNS-CPU-RGB-01 i.e. 4th revision SNES, and I am using the Composite connection at present into my Sony 29" Trinitron TV model KV29K5U (UK model, but NTSC 3.58MHz compatible) and also mostly into my Infocus IN76 projector (EU model, but NTSC 3.58MHz compatible), and I get none of these vertical line problems on either my Zelda A Link To The Past (NTSC) game or my Desert Strike (NTSC) game.

I wanted to ask please, since I find SNES NTSC Game Genie to be an essential device, does the NTSC Game Genie cart itself actually still work with the Super Everdrive in a SNS001 NTSC SNES?

Does the NTSC Game Genie cart work with the NeoMyth SNES cart in a SNS001 NTSC SNES?

I see that the SNES Powerpak has it built in.

Also, glad to hear that the Powerpak can now autosave without you having to hold down reset for 5 seconds. A pity that you then have to backup your save from SRAM to the SD card yourself manually (is that correct?). I had none of that problem with my Netmars GameBoy EMerger flash cart or my Firelinker 128Mb GameBoy Advance flash cart, where you could have multiple games on one cart and all games would save without problems, no stupid overwriting of saves and no pressing reset, and backup of the SRAM to the PC was easy. Please can we have this for the SNES flash carts! I hope the Super Everdrive does this?!

Cheers,

Alistair G.

 

any chance that star ocean can be used on the everdrive on a future release?