Got a NGP cart dumper and I'm dumpin' my carts!

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Posted by Paleface on February 17, 2024 at 23:44:16 EST.

Got a NGP cart dumper and I'm dumpin' my carts!

MotM JP using an open source Sanni Cart Reader V5 ( https://github.com/sanni/cartreader ) and custom NGP adapter board, both made by the builder fullcircleembedded ( https://www.ebay.com/usr/fullcircleembedded )--who does great work--and running the freshly dumped MotM ROM in Mednafen ( https://mednafen.github.io/ ) in Windows.

The board goes in the reader's SNES cartridge slot, on the 3V setting (since the NGPC takes two AA batteries, and they're 1.5V each!).

I had to flash the Sanni's firmware first with a setting to enable the NGP adapter board, and I updated the game image descriptions as well; the directions for doing that stuff is on the Wiki:
-- https://github.com/sanni/cartreader/wiki/How-to-flash-the-Arduino
-- https://github.com/sanni/cartreader/wiki/Preparing-the-SD-Card

Looked scary but wasn't actually too bad.

There aren't very many of these NGP adapter boards out there because nobody makes a part compatible with NGP/NGPC cartridges--so pretty much the cartridge slot has to be taken out of an actual NGP or NGPC! I ordered a beat-up NGPC off eBay to sacrifice. RIP

Now, you could say, considering I don't have any unique carts that to preserve and share with the world that the world doesn't already have, this is all a bunch of silly privileged nonsense, and now I'm killing NGPCs for it! = o I don't know that I have a great come-back for that.

(Sillyface)

(05:54:44 02/18/24 EST)

Emulation fun: Dokodemo Mahjong Color running only in b&w in older emulators, etc! (inside)

(Paleface)

(17:15:53 02/18/24 EST)

I am curious, aside from just having something to do, why indeed are you dumping games that you can just download? heck of a lot of work for that.

(exodus)

(18:59:46 02/20/24 EST)

Just a big ol' square, I think.

(Paleface)

(19:50:38 02/20/24 EST)

that doesn't explain it!

(exodus)

(17:44:20 02/24/24 EST)

(Paleface)

(20:57:33 02/24/24 EST)

Possibly also the thrill of the hunt and showing off a physical collection are factors, although I'm not sure how much since I do love it when a publisher like sells a ROM for cheap in a weakly packaged emulator.

(Paleface)

(14:15:37 02/25/24 EST)

The thing about your level of obedience to copyright is that it’s as retro as the games and you’re the only one who has it. The people who actually code and create this stuff do not care if you jack it 20 years later and there is no way to “support” the creators so after the fact. A large number of them are dead from old age or working for someone else and the company has been re-established a half dozen times…currently in the hands of an evil king who frankly should not be supported in any way. My biggest question wouldn’t be “Why do you insist on dumping only what own?” but rather “What’s the point of dumping what you own when YOU OWN IT and can just play the OG?”?

(SignOfZeta)

(14:44:06 02/26/24 EST)

I like having the games on the big bright screen. : ) Plus it's way better for screenshots and recording. Was finding Mednafen's fast forward hotkey quite handy for Faselei!, too. ; D And yep, don't buy any MBS SNK stuff!

(Paleface)

(18:46:20 02/26/24 EST)

And it's great to be able to use the translation patches for Unitron 2, CFC2, and Rockman B&F. : )

(Paleface)

(18:49:47 02/26/24 EST)

Various screenshots (Mednafen emulation): FF: 1st Contact, Kikou Seiki Unitron, KOF: BdP (;P), Dynamite Slugger, Neo Geo Cup '98 Plus Color (;P),

(Paleface)

(18:56:53 02/26/24 EST)

The 105 character screens shown in the Puzzle Link 2 intro. The smaller ones show for 2 frames each.

(Paleface)

(20:50:06 02/27/24 EST)

these certainly are cute!

(exodus)

(17:56:33 03/04/24 EST)

…but you can do all of this with identical ROMs dumped already by someone else. Everything you’re dumping has already been dumped and possession of those ROMs is exactly as legal/illegal regardless of who dumped them. Over on the Laserdisc forum we see a similar thing. So many people filling piles of hard drives with captures of ultra common Hollywood stuff you can buy on Blu-ray for $7. The scene seems divided between people who don’t see any sense if it at all and those who see it as the most logical thing in the world. Making copies of things just entertains people, I guess.

(SignOfZeta)

(11:55:14 03/01/24 EST)

Yeah probably. ^ D^ Anyway, you asked about using ROMs when I already have the physical stuff--at least, that's what I thought you meant--so that's what my answer there was specifically attempting to address.

(Paleface)

(20:49:18 03/01/24 EST)

You really know how to talk in circles…you’re dumping games to emulate them. Ok. Why not play games someone else dumped? Because it’s not ethical. So you buy the games? No, Satan owns them. So you don’t buy the games? I think “I like to copy stuff from one format to another all day” is the most accurate and honest answer. It doesn’t make a lot of sense but it’s not completely illogical.

(SignOfZeta)

(15:54:48 03/05/24 EST)

I stopped buying new stuff from SNK when MBS bought them. I think I probably wouldn't buy like physical discs of post-MBS SNK stuff even used since I dunno I would feel like that's still supporting the product in some way. I think I would be okay buying used pre-MBS stuff, but I haven't had to do that since I already had all the stuff I was after.

(Paleface)

(19:04:10 03/05/24 EST)

To put it a little more simply: I don't buy the stuff SNK is putting out now. The carts I dumped are carts I've had for over two decades.

(Paleface)

(19:24:19 03/05/24 EST)

it still doesn't make sense because if you aren't worried about supporting them and in fact can't ethically support them why not just use the roms that exist? the only thing can figure is you love copying stuff over! it's just a very mystifying thing otherwise.

(exodus)

(19:41:26 03/07/24 EST)

Well, in theory they could somehow shake whatsisname off some day and be cool again. Anyway, whatever their status, I don't feel like there's a legit excuse in there for me to turn to CRIME ; D just to play some games they made. There are always going to be plenty of games I can play that don't require theft, so I might as well play those instead.

(Paleface)

(13:54:09 03/08/24 EST)

right, I guess the key is that this isn't crime, but that's probably where we diverge!

(exodus)

(18:53:43 03/11/24 EST)

It reminds me of an old movie where they find a buried treasure and it turns out to be confederate money from the Civil War that was once a fortune that isn’t worth a broke dink anymore now that everyone who made it and everything it stood for has gone. These are all concerns for another era that will never come again.

(SignOfZeta)

(16:31:04 03/12/24 EST)

I believe that's an episode of Scooby Doo you're telling us about, Chad. I also believe that old Confederate currency has a pretty high value on the collector's market, which only goes to show that there's no accounting for people so don't insist on a logical explanation for what they do.

(One To Grow On and Opa Opa)

(21:03:49 03/12/24 EST)

It is an episode of Scooby Doo. It was also in The Dukes of Hazzard but before it was in many other things…Scooby Doo/Dukes not being things known for an original take very often. This was a useful evolution on the “confederate gold” plot device of movies going back…to the dawn of film, nearly. Confederate money/gold was almost as popular as quicksand. If its currency it can be instantly rendered worthless unlike actual gold. Either way, it’s hanging on to a dead idea in a vacuum.

(SignOfZeta)

(15:51:51 03/14/24 EST)

(Oh hey I did buy a used NGPC to extract the cart slot so yeah I guess buying used pre-MGS stuff doesn't bother me.)

(Paleface)

(19:31:27 03/05/24 EST)

The 12 b&w screens you get from MotM in a NGP:

(Paleface)

(04:07:33 03/03/24 EST)

yeah, I love these! I always felt the zangief one was a bit of a space filler though

(exodus)

(18:10:31 03/14/24 EST)

also shermie-morrigan's super long arm remains mildly disturbing to me

(exodus)

(18:11:39 03/14/24 EST)

On the Neo Poke, save data is part of the ROM and you dump them together, so that's one advantage. Maybe it's not important to Paleface, though, since he didn't mention it. I'm glad I made save backups for all my cartridges before I sold them off since it means I can play my original games with original saves on the 2DS now.

(Flat Pom and Opa Opa)

(19:29:55 03/07/24 EST)

Yeah that mystified me at first (I'd totally forgotten how far I'd played through some of my old catridges! ^ _^) but eventually I realized it explained why how I had access to loads of puzzles/pieces in Sonic Pocket Adventure, for instance, so yeah, definitely a cool feature! I'm not sure yet but I'll probably be pretty grateful for it in Neo Poke-Kun. What did you use to back up your cart saves?

(Paleface)

(13:58:13 03/08/24 EST)

I had the Bung-hole linker and flashcart in my erstwhile youth. The software that thing used was terrible (like almost everything unusual in Win9x days really), but it did have nice features beyond just writing the flash cartridge. It could separately backup the save data or rewrite it from/to regular cartridges in addition to being able to backup the whole game+save. I think it may have also had a "clean" game dump option that ignored the save region on a commercial cartridge.

(Lubrication and Opa Opa)

(20:45:59 03/12/24 EST)

Anybody know if there's a command to have Mednafen run a NGPC game as if it's in a (b&w) NGP? Mednafen took its NGPC emulation straight from NeoPop, bugs and all, and NeoPop has a menu setting for specifying whether you're running the game in a NGPC or NGP--so you can play the Yosaku minigame in KOF:BdP, for instance--but Mednafen's documentation doesn't list a command for doing so. I've asked about it on the Mednafen forum but no responses there so far.

(Paleface)

(10:56:45 02/22/24 EST)

Jab spam beats the highest level CPU setting in Gals Fighters. Doesn't work in the other fighters I tried: GD:1C, MotM, R1, R2. In R1/2 you have to be MUCH lighter on the button to get lights to come out; I think I prefer the heavier touch the others allow for lights.

(Paleface)

(12:07:51 03/13/24 EST)

Some new (since I last played it in 2018) info about the hidden b&w "Yosaku" minigame in KOF:BdP: the original arcade game was based on a popular song of the same name by Saburo Kitajima (video inside), the Epoch Cassette Vision port was unlicensed, and there have been some other bootlegs/hacks too!

(Paleface)

(03:54:37 03/14/24 EST)

That first wiki cites this very message board so you know their info must be 100% accurate. ; D

(Paleface)

(03:57:55 03/14/24 EST)

Oh like this Famicom Mario romhack (video inside).

(Paleface)

(04:08:36 03/14/24 EST)

Oops source link

(Paleface)

(04:11:24 03/14/24 EST)

Uh okay probably the last note I'll remember: Jeremy Parish did a long video about the Epoch Cassette Vision version of Yosaku (inside).

(Paleface)

(04:14:59 03/14/24 EST)

I wrote all about this in the SNK 40th anniversary collection!

(exodus)

(00:05:54 03/16/24 EST)

Hm I could go reinstall that on the PS4 to read it, I probably won't though. I don't suppose it's been handily transcribed somewhere online?

(Paleface)

(11:42:18 03/16/24 EST)

Okay I reinstalled and read it. : D So the obvious thing I was missing was that SNK is credited with developing and publishing 1979 arcade Yosaku, and scans of the arcade flyer seem to bear out at least the publishing aspect of it. But if they developed it, why credit development to "OLCA CORPORATION" on the title screen? Was it a joke? Were the Orca Corporation people working at SNK at the time?

(Paleface)

(12:05:42 03/16/24 EST)

Ah, some of the comments (Google translated from Japanese) below that one OLCA CORPORATION video (inside), mention that Orca Corporation produced a lot of pirated boards; so this could have been a pirate board by Orca of the SNK original.

(Paleface)

(13:00:38 03/16/24 EST)

Anybody know if there's a command to have Mednafen run a NGPC game as if it's in a (b&w) NGP? Mednafen took its NGPC emulation straight from NeoPop, bugs and all, and NeoPop has a menu setting for specifying whether you're running the game in a NGPC or NGP--so you can play the Yosaku minigame in KOF:BdP, for instance--but Mednafen's documentation doesn't list a command for doing so. I've asked about it on the Mednafen forum but no responses there so far.

(Paleface)

(13:08:47 03/19/24 EST)

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