I bought a arcade machine a couple years ago with Tekken 5 on it. At the time i was a bit bummed because I wasn't able to fit it into my basement with the rest of my collection. So it has sat in storage for a while. The other day I fired it up and decided to take a look inside and found it had a disk drive and what looks like a PS2 memory card inside. After some research it looks like it is a Namco 256 drive which im pretty excited to learn more about. I have looked everywhere online but can't seem to find a reliable place to buy dongles and CDs for it. So I am curious, is there a good place where i can buy the games/dongles? If there is no longer a place to buy these dongles and games can you use a ps2 memory card to essentially clone a dongle? I'd appreciate any help thanks!
A PlayStation 2 memory card won't fill the spot of a dongle, due to differences in its support for MagicGate; it will authenticate as a PlayStation 2 memory card, but will not authenticate as a dongle.
You can try some Japanese arcade vendors that sell to the general public, but honestly these days your best bet will probably be to look wherever you'd buy other old videogame stuff. The arcade-museum/KLOV forum and the ArcadeOtaku forum are good places to check for collector to collector buying and selling. I'd also suggest checking the ArcadeOtaku wiki for System 246/256 motherboard compatibility to make sure the motherboard that you have will work with the software that you're eyeing: http://wiki.arcadeotaku.com/w/Namco_System_246/256 It does appear that there are ways to convert dongles to support other games if you want to go that route.
A Namco System 256 program dongle is just that, a program dongle with a custom memory chip that only shares the casing of a memory card, the way the memory is stored is completely different, other then looks they are really two different animals as the dongle contains the games main executables and the disc just store game assets. As for games, the best places to get them are ebay and the afore mentioned arcade forums, certain games only show up every once in a while. A Namco system 256 will of course run all 256 games, but when put into 246+ mode it will only run certain Namco System 246 games, of course some control panel rewiring might be needed. Any chance you could post a picture of your cabinet?>
Congrats on the tekken 5. As mention good places for software are Ebay, Arcade forums like arcadeotaku or if you're feeling adventurist, buying of yahoo auctions and using Buyee service as a proxy. If you have any further questions on software or what to get feel fee to ask. Me and another user here are responsible for building out the System 246/256 Software list that is referenced on ArcadeOtaku Wiki. Some games I highly recommend getting into if looking for a simple route. 1. Soul Calibur 2 (it is compatible, just have to open the case and change the system to 246+) 2. Tekken 5 Dark Resurrection 3. Gundam Vs Gundam Next (Next will require you to swap the dvd drive for a hdd that comes with it, if that is too much work then Gundam Vs Gundam original is on a disc). 4. Sengoku Basara X (very nice looking 2d fighter) My favorite 256 games are the Taiko Drum Master but these require special wiring up for drums.
Adding to Subbie's List I would also highly recommend Soul Calibur III Arcade Edition as its just the best version of that game with some nice extras and balance fixes. Of course just like SC2 you will need to put the 256 into 246+ mode. Subbie, Is Gundam vs Gundam Next a completely new game or is it just an upgraded version of Gundam vs Gundam? If an upgraded game, what was added? I have Gundam vs Gundam but just do not know if getting Next is worth it.
I usually don't because it's a bit more expensive and less common. I also find 2 a bit more fun then 3. It's GvG 2 pretty much. It builds on some of the big changes made in GvG from Zaft 2 and adds lots of great content. It is the best Gundam game for the 2x6 platform and not crazy expensive atm either.
Good to know, I will have to grab a copy when I get a chance, any other 256 games I might not know about that are good?
I would probably try some of the console versions first and get the arcade versions if I could find a complete package like I did with my Tekken 5 Dark Resurrection with card reader set recently.
That's unfortunate but I will be on the lookout for it's hardware if it comes up cheaply enough. I have one more 256 related question for you. If I start a data card on my 256 which runs Tekken 5 Dark Resurrectlon TED2 Ver A (Test Mode says Ver B1) would it work on a Tekken 5 Dark Resurrection cabinet running a different version of the game? (TED1 Perhaps)
