I'm thinking about buying on of the Tototek SNES flash cards with upload kit as seen in this link. http://www.tototek.com/pio/main1/SUBMENU/PARTS/LINKS/OS/superflash.htm Does anyone have any experience with them? Are there any other alternatives? This Tototek one seems pretty good (I'll get the CIC-161 chip with it) since one the roms are loaded on to the cart it can be placed directly in to the Super Famicom. Also would I be able to write to the official Nintendo ROM cartridges using the uploader that comes with this kit? Yakumo
Tomy is a reliable guy, if not a bit MIA on the communications. I have no reason to belive you will have problems with him. EDIT: In regards to the communication bit, it would be best to use ICQ or QQ (not sure if he lists a QQ number though).
I have one of those (64 M) and never had any problems with it. They are maybe a bit slow, but which Snes dev hw isnt?. Remember to get the t-connector for DSP games also, and remember to get both a usb and a parallel cable, as youll need the usb only for power (im not sure if he changed that lately, my cart has like 4 years now). They are cheap, work great, and Tomy is totally reliable. Buy with confidence.
A SWC DX2 with zip drive :thumbsup: Though I wish someone would make a SNES flash cart similar to the NES PowerPak, with support for all (or most) special chips.
Right, neither NP carts or mask ROMs The base adapter can backup many games however which none of the other Tototek products can do. How slow is it? I designed a ROM emulator which I believe will read/write at 150KiB/sec using a plain bidirectional parallel port, not EPP like Superflash. The real limitation is the XP port access DLL since I use 3 reads/write per byte, the fastest possible without EPP; EPP should be 1 write/byte if the design is good. You'll have to settle with no special chips (except plugin DSP) because that will never happen. No 5V FPGA have that much logic. Even most recent FPGA would barely be able to hold a SA-1 which contains a full blown 65816.
I know, it was more wishfull thinking. Though it could be possible if you included the original chips and only used the FPGA as some kind of routing device?
Yes but considering some of the special chips are used by a single game.. is it worth it to sacrifice that game just to play it from RAM instead of ROM?
I have a GDSF7 and am freaky happy with it too :thumbsup:. they are not so rare, and cheap. Well being using the tools Tomy supplied me, I arrived max at 140 KB (or KiB as you call them ). Not bad, but still not a USB 2.0
The Flash Cart should be fine with the only drawback being it takes longer to change game than a regular Backup Device/Copier. With my GDSF7, I just open a program on my Start Menu and select a ROM and it will upload it to my Super Famicom in a few seconds. The time to upload depends on size but it is pretty fast and definitely faster than Flashing a ROM I would think. Either way it's very convient for me. I agree with Babu in that I'd love to see a SNES PowerPAK that supported the coprocessor chips, primarily Super FX, SA-1, and DSP. But I wouldn't hold my breath. Maybe you could come up with a mod to an existing copier to switch between chips pulled out of cartridges and installed in the copier or something. But as Calpis said there are very few games using additional chips, most are just ROMs. Here is a list of about all the games you can't play on a Copier or Flash Cart. * 2 Dan Morita Shougi (J).smc SETA D * Augusta Masters 3 New World Golf (J).smc SA-1 * Bass Fishing No.1 (US).smc SA-1 * Dai Kaijyu Monogatari 2 (J) (No Good Dump Known).smc PLGS * Derby Jockey 2 (J).smc SA-1 * Dirt Racer (E).smc FX-Argonaut * Dirt Trax FX (E).smc FX-Argonaut * Dirt Trax FX (US).smc FX-Argonaut * Doom (J).smc FX-V2 * Doom (US).smc FX-V2 * Dragon Ball Z - Hyper Dimension (J).smc SA-1 * Exhaust Heat 2 (J).smc SETA * F1 Roc 2 - Race of Champions (US).smc SETA D * Honkakuha Igo Gosei (J).smc FX1 **probably doesn't contain fx chip/hacked** * Idaten (J).smc SA-1 * Igo Daidou (J).smc SA-1 * Igo Taisyou (J).smc Unknown SA-1 * J-League '96 Dream Stadium (J).smc SA-1 * Jumpin' Derby (J).smc SA-1 * Kakinoki Shogi (J).smc SA-1 * Kato Hifumi9dan Shogi (J).smc SA-1 * Kirby 3 (J).smc SA-1 * Kirby Super Deluxe (J).smc SA-1 * Kirby's Dream Land 3 (US).smc SA-1 * Kishi no Hanamichi (J).smc SA-1 * Marvelous (J).smc SA-1 * Masoukishin - Super Robot Wars Gaiden - Lord of Elemental (J).smc SA-1 * Mega Man X 2 (E).smc C4 * Mega Man X 2 (US).smc C4 * Mega Man X 3 (US).smc C4 * Metal Combat (US).smc OBC1 * Mini4ku Shineng Scopion Let's & Go! (J).smc SA-1 * New Shogi Club (J).smc Unknown SA-1 * Nidan Morita Shogi 1 (J).smc Seta D * Nidan Morita Shogi 2 (J).smc SETA R * Pachisuro Palusupe (J).smc ?KSS? * Parodius 3 - Jikkyou Oshaberi Parodius (J).smc SA-1 * Pebble Beach New Tournament Edition (J).smc SA-1 * Rockman X 2 (J).smc C4 * Rockman X3 (J).smc C4 * Satellaview BS-X (O.S.rom).smc BS-X * SD F1 Grand Prix (J).smc SA-1 * SD Gundam GNext (J).smc SA-1 * Star Ocean (J).smc S-DD1[ENIX] * Star Fox Competition - Weekend Edition (US).smc FX-V1 * Star Fox 2 (Beta).smc FX-V1 (probably V2... but falls in V1 category) * Star Fox (US).smc FX-V1 Or FX-V1Mario (depending on version) * Star Fox (J).smc FX-V1 or FX-V1mario (depending on version) * SNES Gameboy Emulator (J) (No Good Dump Known).smc GAMEBOY * Shogi Mahjing (J).smc SA-1 * Shogi Saikyou (J).smc SA-1 (not verified) * Shogi Saikyou 2 (J).smc SA-1 * Street Fighter 2 Alpha (US).smc S-DD1[CAPCOM] * Street Fighter 2 Alpha (E) (No Good Dump Known).smc S-DD1[CAPCOM] * Street Fighter Zero 2 (J).smc S-DD1[CAPCOM] * Stunt Race FX (E).smc FX-V2 * Stunt Race FX (US).smc FX-V2 * Star Wing (E).smc FX-V1 * Star Wing (G).smc FX-V1 * Super Bomberman Panic Bomber World (J).smc * Super Gameboy - Version 1.0 (J).smc GAMEBOY * Super Mario RPG (US).smc SA-1 * Super Mario RPG (J).smc SA-1 * Super Shogi 3 (J).smc SA-1 * Vortex (E).smc FX-Argonaut * Vortex (J).smc FX-Argonaut * Vortex (US).smc FX-Argonaut * Voxel (PD).smc FX-V2 **never a cart** * War in Europe Expert WW II (J).smc SA-1 * Wild Trax (J).smc FX-V2 * Winter Gold FX (E).smc FX-V2 * Yoshi's Island (J).smc FX-V2 * Yoshi's Island (US).smc FX-V2 * Yoshi's Island (E).smc FX-V2 * Far East of Eden Zero (and shounen version) SPC7110 * Momotarou Dentetsu Happy SPC7110 * Super Power League 4 SPC7110 Then there are the DSP games. DSP1 games can be played with adapters and such. The Game Doctor SF series has a light blue connector cartridge to add DSP1 support. The Super Wild Card series lets you plug in a DSP1 game to use its chip. Some copiers had a built in DSP1 I think. But DSP2, DSP3, and DSP4 are used in one game only and seem to be completely different than the DSP1, and I have no idea why they are groupped with it. * Ace Wo Nerae * Armored Trooper Votoms * Ballz 3D (1b) * Battle Racers * Bike Daisuki! Hashiriya Kon * Dungeon Master (2) * Final Stretch * Korean League * Lock On/Super Air Diver * Michael Andretti's Indy Car Challenge * Pilotwings (1... possibly also 1b) * SD Gundam GX (3) * Super 3D Baseball * Super Air Diver 2 * Super Bases Loaded 2 * Super F1 Circus Gaiden * Super Mario Kart(1/1b depending on version) * Suzuka 8 Hours * Syutoko Battle Racing 2 * Syutoko Battle Racing 94 * Top Gear 3000 (4) So you can see games like Top Gear 3000, SD Gundam GX, Metal Combat, Mega Man X2 (and X3) are used in just about one game. So if you want complete playability of every game you will have to pickup the special chip cartridges. That's no so bad. There aren't too many. Alot are japan only.
So do you guys think that buying something like a Wild Card DX or Doctor would be a better idea? Basically I don't want to keep opening my SFC boxes because the damage so easily. The idea would be that I back them all up to my PC's hard drive then simply copy them over to a flash card or disc (on a back up unit) for playing on the real hardware. I sort of get a kick out of using the real hardware rather than an emulator. Yakumo
If you have a PC with a parallel port, I'd recommend buying a Game Doctor SF6 or SF7, with 48MBits or more of DRAM. The GDSF is cheaper than the Wild Card series and works very well. It is what I use. I have a GDSF7 with 32MBits of DRAM, though I could install the 16MBit expansion from my GDSF3 in it to get 48MBits but that is only needed for certain japanese RPGs, the only one I can think of is Tales of Phantasia. Anyway, I have the Parallel cable going over to the Super Famicom so whenever I want to play a game I just select a program and then select the rom file and it sends it on over, and it is very convient. The GDSF7 can backup most games, pretty much anything without a coprocessor. So that is what I would recommend. You just need a PC (laptop or desktop) with a parallel port and Windows 98 or XP would be best though you could be using Linux or DOS I guess. I use WinXP and made my own frontend that makes uploading ROMs very simple. Also you should know that if you keep the GDSF unit plugged in, it will retain both save RAM and the DRAM you load the ROMs into. So if you load something like Seiken Densetsu 3, you don't have to reload it again until you either overwrite it or unplug the GDSF. The GDSF can load and save with Floppy Disks, but it's slower and annoying to switch disks after awhile. You'll have to decide really between the Flash Cart and GDSF. The Wild Card DX isn't really an option unless you want to spend alot of money. People want 200$+ USD for them. Meanwhile a Game Doctor SF6 might cost you 70$ or so. If I were you, I'd buy either a GDSF6 or GDSF7 64Mbit. If you want to play the Star Ocean decompressed graphics hack thing you'll need 96Mbits. Ofcourse you could go all the way to 128MBits. That might be nice if you want to keep more games loaded at once. The question is what do you want to play? 48MBits is enough for every game out there that it will play to be loaded into memory. The only exception is a special Star Ocean hack. Any memory extra to 48MBits would be to load more games at once, or if you need a slot for Real Time Save.
Hmm, looks like the GDSF is the way to go. I just really want to play the games I own so none of those are over 32Mbit from what I know. As for Star Ocean I won't be playing that so no worries, however loading more games in to memory would be a nice feature. Do you know of any good places to buy them from? Yakumo
Yes Tototek would be the way to go and it does seem prices have gone up. Maybe stock and future supply has gotten low or something. The GDSF divides your RAM into 8Mbit blocks. So you have 4 Blocks with 32Mbit, so you can load up to 4 8Mbit games or any other combination adding up to 32Mbit, however remember even if a game doesn't take up 8mbit, it still takes up the bank. I.E. with 32Mbits, size wise will fit eight 4mbit games, but you actually can only load 4. Hope that makes sense. So with 128Mbits you could have atleast 4 games if not more loaded at once. I'm not sure about having multipule games loaded that use SRAM for saving. You may have to be careful to load and save that to a file after playing and before playing games. It'll cost you 120$ for a 64Mbit GDSF7 with a 64Mbit expansion board. That's still better than a SWC DX by alot. You can always upgrade later though. Installing the RAM upgrade board is very easy to do. I kind of wish now that I had bought the GDSF7 with 64mbits built-in rather than 32mbits so that if I upgraded I could end up with that huge 128mbits.
Thanks for all the information :thumbsup: Looks like I'm going for the 64mbDGSF7. It works out pretty cheap in yen even after postage . Yakumo
I'm sure you'll enjoy it. Make sure to have a MegaDrive 1 power supply handy for powering it. Also pickup a parallel patch/straight-thru cable for PC linking. If you use Windows XP, let me know and I'll hook you up with a frontend I made for Ucon64 wich makes sending files much easier. If you use Linux or something else, there should be ucon64 builds for most platforms.
Yep, got a few MD1 Power packs here. I'd also love to have that WinXP software if you could mate. Shall I send you my mail address via PM? yakumo
