Some of you may remember the original retrode as discussed here. After lot's of hard work Matthias has now announced the Retrode 2 Just wanted to start a little discussion and put what I know about it so far. New features *S2&K mod built in (to dump S&K + Sonic 2) *Support for Genesis SRAM Read/Write *Built in Gamepad support for Genesis and Snes. (more possible with adapters) Supported Systems *SNES/SFC *Genesis/MD/32x (32x games should fit, but it's been shown to work by attaching a 32x to the retrode) *GB/GBC/GBA (via adapter) *N64 (via adapter) *A2600 (via adapter) *TG16 (via DIY adapter) *VirtualBoy (via DIY adapter Systems being worked on *NES/FC (Going to take a lot of work) *SMS Youtube video here. The reason I posted this is because Matthias has just announced pre-orders which you can check out here. I have to say I'm very excited to be getting my hands on this this batch the price is currently set at $85. Some people would say that is overpriced but for the amount of systems it supports I think it's great.
Very interesting but I can't help but feel that it's a bit of an oversight on the developers part that it won't take either Japanese Mega Drive or Super Famicom carts. Maybe I'm being over picky but I think something like this should have been thought of in the first stages of planning of the initial batch, now that he's gone to the time and expense of designing and manufacturing a new plastic moulded version it just strikes me as incredibly short sighted.
Big words for something that's simply not true. SFC carts, just like European ones, definitely fit the SNES slot! The "dents" on the Sega slot were reduced to accommodate all "normal to slightly irregular" Japanese MD carts, although frankly I don't know if maybe some rare titles come in completely rectangular carts. Cheers, Matthias
I was going to say that I've never had a problem with the few Japanese Mega drive and Super Famicom games that I tried. On my retrode I widened the slot after a while though o accommodate 32x games.
You have my full, unreserved apologies in regards to the Super Famicom aspect. In respect of the JPN MD games, I watched the video intently and from what I could see it didn't look possible for standard Japanese or Asian carts to fit as they are an entirely different shape to those of their Euro/USA counterparts. All Asian carts are rectangular whereas the western carts have the elongated curved front with the cutaway backs. Whilst the demo Sonic 2 cart was in the slot there didn't appear to be enough room in the housing to accommodate the squared off JPN versions. Again, I apologise about the alleged lack of support for JPN SFC and MD carts and wish you luck with this interesting yet somewhat daunting project :nod:
Apology accepted Note that in the video I did not show the final version. The SEGA slot has since been reworked but still, you are right in that I cannot guarantee that absolutely every Asian cart will fit. However, it's not too late until I submit the design for manufacture. Do you have a Vernier caliper? Then you could do me a huge favour by taking measurements (ideally, dimensioned drawings) of the most oddly shaped (largest) Asian Mega Drive games in your collection. Where did you have to adjust the slot, and by how much?
Here's a quick picture I snapped of my retrode 1. Now note I did widen the slot but standard japanese MD games fit before I did so. I just widened the sides a little bit. The curve had to be made a little bigger and I think I added about 2-3mm on each side to accommodate the 32x cartridges. Also off the left side I Had to take some off the back left edge. Lol sorry I can't give better details than this I just kind of pulled my dremel out and went at it. Also I'm pleased to say that I did a preorder for 2. My friend wanted in thins time. I'm glad to see how quickly you are headed for your goal.
This is great to hear I wanted to buy the original Retrode but didnt have enough money when the first lot sold out. Matthias_H, nice to see you on these forums :nod: I just wondered if SNES CIC support is working now? If not have you tried contacting ikari_01? I just thought he may have some suggestions as how to to get it working. Perhaps the CIC is not receiving the correct clock signal? Or maybe it requires a 'reset' button? Or maybe its due to the 'debouncing capacitor'?:- http://nesdev.parodius.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?p=60018&highlight=#60018 It would just be great to get SA-1/S-DD1 games working before Retrode2 PCB production starts. Also, any chance of supporting Serial EEPROM saves on Mega Drive games, and (when using an adaptor) SRAM saves on Game Boy games, and any/all save types on N64 games?
From the Retrode forums You can see the original thread and conversation here. Of course that was a little while ago and maybe Matthias has made some progress since then. Would love to see the retrode become the "King" of dumping devices. As for Sega EEPROM support I took this from the retrode news letter. Lol I've kept a close eye on the retrode for the last while so figured I would throw some of the answers to your questions out their link83. Hopefully Matthias will update them.
I did a bit of experimentation last summer, but even with ikari_01's help wasn't able to get it to run. Since then, I haven't found the time for it yet. The CIC chip required for this would not have been included on the PCB anyway, to stay on the safe side of the whole "circumventing copy protection mechanism" business. Sorry to disappoint you here, but that surely won't happen. Again, SA-1 games are copy protected (of sorts) and hence I won't be able to support them by default. MD EEPROM should be a matter of firmware support, as far as I see it. Got someone sitting on GB SRAM already. N64 saves may require a revision of the plug-in design. Mind you that all these things have really low priority for me personally, since they don't affect the Retrode's core functionality. I'm glad to have [ElBarto] in the boat, who looks into various save types.
Thats a shame - did you try testing with an original Nintendo CIC to determine if its the CIC clone or something else at fault? I understand your decision not to include the CIC clone as standard, but if you can get it working it would be great to have a location on the PCB for experienced users to install the PIC. Sounds great :thumbsup:
Is the retrode2 available by preorder only? I'd love to pick one up but probably won't be able to paypal until after the preorder deadline -- hoping there will be more available once it's actually shipping ^^
No, there will be more available later, but the release date might be pushed back a little if all the funds aren't gotten. At the time of writing, it's at 90.6%.
Matthias received 120% of the goal he was trying to reach, and preorders are now closed. So it looks like for those who ordered we should receive them around September or October this year. The best way to get updates is to sign up for the Retrode news letter although I'm excited enough about this that it will probably get reposted here.
