Flash cartridge!!

R3C · Post by **R3C** » Wed Sep 22, 2004 9:22 am

Woooooo!!!! This thing is so cool! I have 13 large-ish games on my Advance, a NES emulator with about 30 games, and a PCEngine emulator with about 15 games. The software is nice too. The 512Mb version that I got, came with the cable for $99. There is also a 1Gb version. I highly recommend this.

R3C · Post by **R3C** » Wed Sep 22, 2004 9:46 am

Here's where I got it...

http://www.easybuy2000.com/store/ninten ... index.html

So, it looks like the Nintendo DS has an extra cartridge slot for GBA games. I wonder if they have to adapt the software or anything for flash cartridges to work. I think I'm going to get a DS. It will be cool, because I can put in 512Mb worth of games in the GBA slot, and then have DS games in the other slot.

Nice!

R3C · Post by **R3C** » Thu Sep 23, 2004 12:59 pm

Woooo, I'm about 40% through Aria of sorrow. Weeeee. That is one fun game. I'm going to go through backwards. I'll play Harmony of Dissonance next, then Circle of the Moon. I hear Circle of the Moon is rather difficult compared to the other ones. I just got a katana on AoS. Does plenty-o-damage.

R3C · Post by **R3C** » Thu Sep 23, 2004 8:07 pm

DO NOT GET THIS FLASH CARD!!! IT TURNED OUT TO BE A PIECE OF CRAP. I just requested an RMA a few minutes ago. Bleh. It actually is nice if it worked right. I did some more extensive research, and found the one I should have ordered in the first place. Order has been placed. I'll post an update when I get it. Over...

McNevin · Post by **McNevin** » Thu Sep 23, 2004 9:10 pm

http://www.gameboy-advance.net/flash_card/compare.htm

Which one did you get?

R3C · Post by **R3C** » Fri Sep 24, 2004 9:59 am

I got the 512Mb version of this:

http://www.gameboy-advance.net/flash_card/xg2turbo.htm

It has among the lowest battery usage, has a replaceable lithium battery (the other ones are soldered in,) It charges the GBA/SP while it's plugged in using USB power. It has the clock, extra memory for beyond normal save capacity, 2Mb SRAM, etc. It also doesn't have a big bulky box thing on the cable like the X-ROM has. The cost was within $20 of the X-ROM too. You have to use a special version of PogoShell, but I haven't really used PS yet anyway. I tried it out for a minute. It's a lot like Workbench for the Amiga. I may run it, I may not. (Plus PS just added support for X-ROM, so I assume they'll eventually support XG2T natively.)

I really wish I would have read up a bit more on these first. I didn't see this page until right after I got the X-ROM. Now I have to pay to ship the X-ROM back.

The X-ROM is cool, when it works, but I don't have time or $ to deal with something that isn't 100%. I'm going to give my preliminary recommendation of the XG2T just based on reviews and specs. I think there are a couple that some people like better, but I like the replaceable battery, and low GBA battery usage. Some of those carts can halve your battery life, so it does actually matter.

R3C · Post by **R3C** » Fri Sep 24, 2004 1:40 pm

I was nearly half way through Aria of Sorrow. Now I have no savegames. I have to play it all the way through again when I get the new flash device. Oh well, it's incredibly fun. I had all kinds of nifty powers and weapons too. Bleh...

Guess I need to play Rondo of Blood again in the meantime. (It has multiple paths, and I've only beat it one way.)

I plan to play Symphony of the night next, but I have to wait for Choki to finish. Can't have two people playing the same CVania, when there are 5000 other ones. I just beat Super Castlevania 4 the other day too.

McNevin · Post by **McNevin** » Fri Sep 24, 2004 2:15 pm

Think im around 60% done with AoS.

Great game, i need to get back into it.

R3C · Post by **R3C** » Fri Sep 24, 2004 2:18 pm

I couldn't stop playing it once I got about 15% of the way in. I got to around 40-50% the first night. It really makes me want to play Symphony of the Night. Think I'll play that one last though.

Post by **enderzero** » Fri Sep 24, 2004 2:56 pm

I cherished every minute of beating Aria of Sorrow and then enjoyed jumping around the castle after revealing missed secrets. Are the other GBA games as adventure like or are they more typical action Castelvania style? I really need to play Sympphony of the Night, which I have but have only watched Choki play.

R3C · Post by **R3C** » Fri Sep 24, 2004 3:21 pm

All the Gameboy ones are adventurous like AoS. AoS is just the most like that. The others are quite in depth as well. I hear Circle of the Moon is rather difficult. Definitely play Symphony of the Night. It's like AoS but infinitely bigger. You also really need to play Rondo of Blood. It's a little more on the "classic" side, but Symphony of the Night takes place right at the end of Rondo of Blood. The boss fight at the end of RoB is exactly the same as the beginning of SoN. Also, it's a good feeling to know you're playing a Castlevania game that sells for $300+ if you can even find a copy.

Did I give you a copy of it in the olden days? If not, I need to send it to you. I have a CCD of it, so I can send it digitally. Perhaps I'll send it up to the Allen FTP over night or something. It took me around 5 years to get my hands on it. My search began well before you could just grab an iso or ccd off the newsgroups. Do you have a good copy of Magic Engine? I actually paid for mine. Such a good emu. The new version is going to r0x0r. Wow, never realized that r0x0r was a palindrome until I just saw it that way.

Anyway, I'm back on my Castlevania Bender, only this time it's a much more thorough bending. I'm even going to beat Simon's Quest, which tells you something.

spidermonkey · Post by **spidermonkey** » Sat Sep 25, 2004 12:05 am

I may be in this weekend for some more Castlevaniery....

R3C · Post by **R3C** » Sat Sep 25, 2004 12:36 am

Splendid! Let me know when you want to come over. I just started several of them, and am rotating, until I can get back to Aria of Sorrow. I'm just getting into Rondo of Blood again, and Bloodlines. My XG2Turbo has shipped from Hong Kong via Fed Ex, so I imagine it will get here sometime early-mid week. Give me a call tomorrow (or later today rather,) and we'll arrange some playing.

Post by **enderzero** » Sat Sep 25, 2004 12:14 pm

hmmm, unless I have it burned somewhere sitting on a spindle (which is very unlikely) then no I do need Rondo of Blood. Is it a completely different game than Dracula X? Wow all this castlevainery is getting me excited. I might have to go play some SotN right now...

McNevin · Post by **McNevin** » Sat Sep 25, 2004 5:30 pm

Dracula X = Rondo of Blood

There are 2 versions, SNES and PCE-CD (Turbo-Duo)

The SNES ver is a hacked up bastardized version of the Duo one.

If you've played only the SNES game, you won't understand a lot of what's going on when you finally play Symphony of the Night.

Post by **enderzero** » Sat Sep 25, 2004 6:50 pm

I've played through the snes version.

McNevin · Post by **McNevin** » Sat Sep 25, 2004 9:09 pm

I'm interested in playing Drac-X, but i cant get hugo-x to work!

Have you had any luck with HUGO-X?

R3C · Post by **R3C** » Sat Sep 25, 2004 11:25 pm

MAGIC ENGINE

The PC is the way to emulate a PC-Engine.

Hugo was second-rate on the PC, I can't imagine it being much better with an X after it. [TEE HEE HEE]

New version comes out in a few weeks.

Post by **enderzero** » Sun Sep 26, 2004 10:55 am

Hu-go X works fine for me, although I have never tried it with a turbo-duo game. It rocks my alien crush world though. It is an XPort emulator and therefore is pretty damn solid. In J3RK's bizarro world, a console system with a hard drive in it that runs emus for every system at the flick of the thumb isn't that cool of an idea. It's funny because you would think that would be something he would be into. You know, kinda like an emu box, small and compact, that plugs right into the tv, and has flawless joypad support, but with a thriving scene of developers perfecting things like emulation software. I don't even want to get into the fact that is a media-box, dvd player, and plays xbox games. It just seems to me that if someone had broken all of this down to J3RK before the xbox came out, he probably would have been pretty damned excited. In fact, he probably would have been the one reading about it and getting us all excited. Could it be that maybe since he didn't get in on it as early as other people he feels like he has kinda missed the boat and doesn't want to give it a chance? I don't know... I don't know...

spidermonkey · Post by **spidermonkey** » Sun Sep 26, 2004 11:30 am

It does seem to lack Joymaster MK II support....

Good Topspin support though...

Post by **enderzero** » Sun Sep 26, 2004 12:28 pm

Actually Beeeph's JoyXmasterMkX works like a charm. However I was really referring more to the plethora of console emulators than of the arcade emulators.

McNevin · Post by **McNevin** » Sun Sep 26, 2004 12:56 pm

Amen brother Ender!

I heavily agree with jerk that magic engine is hands down the best PC Engine EMU on the PC. Sure Iâ€™d love an x-port magic engine, but it is not freeware, and hence not what Mr. x-port chose.

I would much rather be chilling on the couch playing my Drac X, then to play it on the pc. The console emulation on the Xbox is exquisite, and should be experienced by all.

R3C · Post by **R3C** » Sun Sep 26, 2004 2:04 pm

The X-Box is not powerful enough. It also doesn't have the ease of updating that the PC has. New versions of the best emus come out every day. I can just click, unzip, and BAM! it's running. I also have too many computer emulators which require a keyboard and mouse. I've got an icon for every emu on the taskbar. One click, and I'm going. Scanlines on VGA is crispy too. Looks like an arcade monitor. I'd also take my PC's sound system over anything else in existence. Now, I agree that the couch is our friend, (which is why I'm getting RF controllers, and a long S-Video cable.) You won't see a Dreamcast emu running on the X-Box either. Don't be telling me about emulators, I'm the emu-fucking-master!

Show me an X-Box emu, and I'll show you a PC "equivalent" with a million more useful features, support, etc. For a traveller like yourself, I think the X-Box makes a lot of sense. I'm also glad you like it so much, but it will never out-emu the PC. Try running DOSBox on it.

You won't be playing Ultima 8 or System Shock on it. There are also mostly working X-Box emus now.

My new thing though is emulators for handheld systems. I was quite impressed with the GBA emus. My new flash cart just left Alaska. I ordered it on Thursday night, it left Hong Kong later that day (in Hong Kong) and it's been moving all weekend. I thought FedEx ceased moving over the weekend. (Perhaps international doesn't.)

McNevin · Post by **McNevin** » Sun Sep 26, 2004 3:41 pm

I agree the XBOX is not powerfull enough to emulate N64, or most mame games. Dreamcast is out of the question, definately.

As far as GBA SNES NES GEN SMS PSX, it plays them well, and all from the couch.

I know you can do this with a pc, and video out, but i can do it without having to put the controller down, and pick up a mouse.

R3C · Post by **R3C** » Sun Sep 26, 2004 9:07 pm

I don't spend that much time on my couch, or in front of my computer, so that's not an issue for me. If I had the couch time though, that may be appealing. Actually though, I have most of my emus set up to be controlled via joystick/pad, so once I'm in them, I don't need the mouse and keyboard anymore.

R3C · Post by **R3C** » Mon Sep 27, 2004 9:44 am

My XG2Turbo arrives today. It also comes with new "crystals" (screen cover thingies.) So if I scratch my screen, I can replace it. Woooo!!! It comes with one for the GBA and one for the GBASP, so if anyone has a standard GBA and needs a new screen, I will have it on hand. I've discovered that the GBA flash devices will work in the DS. They work in all things GBA (including the Gamecube GBA adapter thingy.) So having one for the SP is a good investment. I'll have my DS packed with GBA games, and packed with DS games. The standard DS carts are going to be up to 1Gb, though, so if games are going to get up to that size, someone is going to have to release a HUGE flash device to get multiple games going. Of course, I could just keep a ton of GBA and emulators on it, and buy actual DS games individually. Doesn't seem like a 4-8Gb flash cartridge could be too cost effective for any platform. Hmm, maybe someone will make a really small hard drive setup for it. That would be cool. It would be very cool if it was the same shape as the bottom of the DS, had its own battery pack, and attached right to the bottom. It would make the device a lot heavier, so it would be good if it could detach quickly.

R3C · Post by **R3C** » Tue Sep 28, 2004 11:22 am

WOW!!!

The XG2Turbo (series pulse modulated donovan craft,) is the coolest thing ever. It has a rechargeable lithium battery for savegames. The cable charges the GBA off of the USB port. The software works 100%. It has extra memory to swap out save memory, so you can have more saves than normally possible. It's the same color as my GBA (by chance.) The cables are long, so I can set it on top of my desk. (The XROM had a short cable, so the GBA had to sit on top of the PC under the desk.) The software copies a little slower because it verifies everything, but it's worth it. I haven't had a single problem yet, and the compatibility problems I had with certain emulators on the XROM are gone. It has the lowest battery drain of all the devices. The screen crystal thingies it came with have sun filtering, so they are better than the standard ones. I made my way back to where I was in Aria of Sorrow too.

I 100% recommend the XG2Turbo. And it will work in the DS. I also recommend ordering from http://www.linker4u.com They are in Hong Kong, and my device managed to get to me in 2 business days. (It was even travelling on Sunday. Global FedEx must be somewhat enhanced in the weekend department. Anyway linker4u is a very cool store.

spidermonkey · Post by **spidermonkey** » Tue Sep 28, 2004 12:54 pm

Was that a paid endorsement?

spidermonkey · Post by **spidermonkey** » Tue Sep 28, 2004 12:55 pm

Sugarman's potted meat food product:
Have a cow, a Sugarman's cow.

R3C · Post by **R3C** » Tue Sep 28, 2004 1:06 pm

I should get paid for it. But no. I am just a happy XG2Turbo customer. Amounts of fun too enormous to quantify are being enjoyed. I've got about 200 games (including emus,) at the touch of a button or two on the go. Now I'm playing with power, portable power. And that's... ...Video Power!

[TEE HEE HEE]

I've got top quality 2D games without having to swap a cart. Super Ghouls and Ghosts, Castlevania, Mario, emulators. Weeeeeeeeeee!!!! Just in time for our long flight too.

teh Forum

teh Forum

Flash cartridge!!

Flash cartridge!!