Super Mario RPG - Japanese to English mod

Discussion in 'Modding and Hacking - Consoles and Electronics' started by Mamejay, Aug 22, 2012.

  1. Mamejay

    Mamejay Robust Member

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    Hey guys,
    Well its been a while and I wanted to give this one a go.
    Got a Super Mario RPG Jap version in a lot of Super Famicom carts.
    I found a french website where they had done a rom chip changeover to convert it from Jap to French. Seeing that the US version of the game fetches some big dollars I decided to do the same and document the process.
    Well here goes

    First off i started with the standard Jap cart
    [​IMG]

    Next was to open up the cart and identify the game rom. Its the chip in the top right hand corner
    [​IMG]

    Next to remove the cart. I just used a soldering iron and a needle to lift the pins. WARNING!! Take your time. I had my iron too hot and it lift up a few of the pads. Luckily they can be easily traced and repaired later
    [​IMG]

    Next was to start the wire soldering to each of the pads. I used an old IDE cable for the wire
    [​IMG]

    Next was the bottom row of pads to solder wire to. As you can see I had to trace the pads that I lifted and broke and found new spots to solder the wire to.
    [​IMG]

    One this was complete I did a quick test using my multi meter to ensure I had not shorted any of the wires. One I had confirmed this out came the hot glue gun. I taped the rows of wires down first then put a row of hot glue on them. These cables are not going anywhere
    [​IMG]

    Now probably the easiest part soldering the new roms chip back in. A 27C322 4MB Eprom is required to hold the US game rom. The wires are pretty much pin for pin except for a couple. If you look at the diagram you can see that one point is not connected on the 27C322 and another is from the top row of the pads going to the middle of the 27C322.
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    Now to test it all out. fingers crossed I didn't miss anything
    [​IMG]

    SUCCESS!!!! English text and the cart loads up perfectly. mind you I am using a Super Famicom with multi region CIC switchless mod installed. Now to seal her up.
    I found I had to click off a tiny bit of plastic on the inside middle of the case to fit everything in. It was a tight squeeze but I managed to screw the case all back together again.

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    All up I am very pleased with the result. Pretty straight forward. Just very fiddly at times and a bit time consuming stripping the 42 lengths of wire but in the end I have a playable version of a pretty rare SNES title.

    Big thanks to KennYMcCormick from http://www.ultimate-console.fr for writing up the original tutorial.

    Now what other cheap JAP carts can i sacrifice for a rare titles?? Maybe Starfox...
     
  2. Bad_Ad84

    Bad_Ad84 The Tick

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    There are chips that will directly replace the original (except like the 2-3 legs you need to lift) - much easier than stripping the wire etc.

    MX29L3211 is the part number off the top of my head.
     
  3. Mamejay

    Mamejay Robust Member

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    Actually. Just checked my StarFox Jap cart and it has some very large blobs of plastic to stop you doing something like this
     
  4. Mamejay

    Mamejay Robust Member

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    True but I do not have any means of burning them off. Someone from a local Australian forum helped me out with burning the Eprom
     
  5. Bad_Ad84

    Bad_Ad84 The Tick

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    <- can burn any chip you like.

    Shipping on chips is low, like £2-3
     
    Last edited: Aug 22, 2012
  6. derekb

    derekb Well Known Member

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    bad_ad84 have you messed with using swapbin?
     
  7. Bad_Ad84

    Bad_Ad84 The Tick

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    I heard about it, never used it.

    It basically reorders the rom, so the address lines match - right?
     
  8. Meringues

    Meringues <B>Site Supporter 2014</B>

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    I envy the skills of you guys, I'd never be confident enough to pull something like this off!
     
  9. Sonny_Jim

    Sonny_Jim Enthusiastic Member

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    I saw the app that allows you to repin the eprom but tbh seeing as you've got 32 wires to solder anyway, swapping a few around isn't that much of a bother. Also am I right in thinking that you could put the 'key' version of the SuperCIC in the cart so it'll work on any console?
     
  10. Bad_Ad84

    Bad_Ad84 The Tick

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    Yes, you could.
     
  11. derekb

    derekb Well Known Member

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    yeah its supposed to reorder the rom so that you only need to swap two pins I believe? I don't know specifics, I 'think' it only works on LOROM. I wish there was a good up-to-date guide on SNES repros to replace the outdated d4s 'wire up every single pin and piggyback chips' guide. I didn't know about using these chips at all, I do know about the TSOP+Adapter thing I think it was you who mentioned it before?
     
  12. Bad_Ad84

    Bad_Ad84 The Tick

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    Yes, I did mention the tsop-> dip adapter and using the 29F032
     
  13. Clad-

    Clad- Active Member

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    New method witch flash memory

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Aug 22, 2012
  14. Bad_Ad84

    Bad_Ad84 The Tick

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    There we go - exactly what I was talking about (although those chips are PSOP not TSOP :))
     
    Last edited: Aug 22, 2012
  15. DSwizzy145

    DSwizzy145 Well Known Member

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    Is your Super Mario RPG is still the same jp version with english text? Or its an US version of the game inside the cart?
     
  16. Mamejay

    Mamejay Robust Member

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    It's the us version. The cart basically cost me $1 so I was not fussed in hacking it. There are stack of them in Japan regardless of what the eBay prices reflect
     
  17. ssj4jaxmazon

    ssj4jaxmazon Rising Member

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    Thats really awesome, one thing that I don't understand is how do you flash the chip? can you flash one with a PICkit 2?
     
  18. Mamejay

    Mamejay Robust Member

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    A friend of mine did the burning of the EPROM for me. I am looking for a cheap 42 pin eprom burner but have not come across anything so far. I just downloaded the US rom with SMC file extension and provided that to my friend.
     
  19. mooseblaster

    mooseblaster Bleep. Site Supporter 2012, 2014

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    Interesting mod.

    Sorry for my ignorance, but what's the advantage to using IDE cable rather than soldering directly to the board? Is it just for ease of making, or am I missing something?
     
  20. Mamejay

    Mamejay Robust Member

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    The replacement Eprom is a totally different size and would not fit if you look at the first picture you can see that the original rom is heaps smaller then the replacement Eprom.
     
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