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SNES Game Collecting (Tips, discussion, and info for like minded collectors)

S

SKINNER!

Banned
Just managed to score a boxed copy of Chrono Trigger with manual (but no posters sadly) for under $200. I've yet to open it up as my gamebit screwdriver is on its way in the mail but I've spoken to the seller about how he got the game and why he's selling it and I'm inclined to believe that its a legit copy...we'll see. I've always stuck to my guns and said I wouldn't pay well over what I wanted to pay for it but ever since 2014 - when I wanted to grab a copy - I didn't believe I would get it at the price I wanted it year after year...until now. The money has been kept aside since 2014 and finally it can now be used. So yeah, patience and belief paid off. Perhaps I'll cross paths with the posters one day and complete my set.
 
N

NDPsycho

Member
SKINNER! said:
Just managed to score a boxed copy of Chrono Trigger with manual (but no posters sadly) for under $200. I've yet to open it up as my gamebit screwdriver is on its way in the mail but I've spoken to the seller about how he got the game and why he's selling it and I'm inclined to believe that its a legit copy...we'll see. I've always stuck to my guns and said I wouldn't pay well over what I wanted to pay for it but ever since 2014 - when I wanted to grab a copy - I didn't believe I would get it at the price I wanted it year after year...until now. The money has been kept aside since 2014 and finally it can now be used. So yeah, patience and belief paid off. Perhaps I'll cross paths with the posters one day and complete my set.
Click to expand...

Congrats! Great game and a great feeling when persistence pays off. Impatience has costs me a time or two.
 
R

rothgar

Member
So can we expect the SNES Classic controller to work with an original SNES system using the 8bitdo receiver by hooking it up to a Wiimote?
 
G

Gin

Member
Hey Gaf

Looking to sell these SNES games and scope as a package

I am not familiar with SNES pricing.. how much should I ask for ?
Anything notable here in this group ?

Any tips would be appreciated - thanks!

FF2
FF3
Stanley Cup
NBA Jam
Super Mario All Stars
Super Mario RPG
Zelda LTTP
Donkey Kong Country
Super Scope 6
Metal Combat

20170924_043636-copy2vjk3.jpg
 
R

RadarScope1

Member
You're looking at a several hundred dollars in value there. Best way to check current values is to hit up eBay and look at recently sold listings. Pricecharting.com is another way to check, although it uses LISTED prices that sellers are trying to get rather than actual sold values. But it's a pretty good yardstick.

Are you looking to sell those in a single lot locally? Whoever buys it will need to have a lot of dough on hand. If you want to get rid of it all in one shot, your best bet might be a local vintage/game store if you have one. But if you really want to get the most out of this stuff, I'd recommend selling it individually. Most of those items are good enough to get plenty of interest on their own.

Might I suggest using the B/S/T thread here and letting fellow GAFers have a shot at owning these? I know I might be interested in a few....
 
G

Gin

Member
RadarScope1 said:
You're looking at a several hundred dollars in value there. Best way to check current values is to hit up eBay and look at recently sold listings. Pricecharting.com is another way to check, although it uses LISTED prices that sellers are trying to get rather than actual sold values. But it's a pretty good yardstick.

Are you looking to sell those in a single lot locally? Whoever buys it will need to have a lot of dough on hand. If you want to get rid of it all in one shot, your best bet might be a local vintage/game store if you have one. But if you really want to get the most out of this stuff, I'd recommend selling it individually. Most of those items are good enough to get plenty of interest on their own.

Might I suggest using the B/S/T thread here and letting fellow GAFers have a shot at owning these? I know I might be interested in a few....
Click to expand...

Appreciate the tips - I am going to try and price the items out - will head over to the BST thread and see how people do things over there - thanks again!
 
C

Cactus

Banned
I've been on a SFC buying spree the last few weeks.

  • DoReMi Fantasy
  • Umihara Kawase
  • Little Magic
  • Sutte Hakkun
  • Gokujo Parodius
  • Kunio No Oden
  • Super Mario Kart
  • Top Gear
  • Super Bomberman 3
I spent more than I should have, but I think my SNES/SFC collection will be close to perfect after this!
 
S

SKINNER!

Banned
Cactus said:
I've been on a SFC buying spree the last few weeks.

  • DoReMi Fantasy
  • Umihara Kawase
  • Little Magic
  • Sutte Hakkun
  • Gokujo Parodius
  • Kunio No Oden
  • Super Mario Kart
  • Top Gear
  • Super Bomberman 3
I spent more than I should have, but I think my SNES/SFC collection will be close to perfect after this!
Click to expand...

Serious question, do you know Japanese? or do you buy SFC games that doesn't have much Japanese in it? I usually come across SFC games but I hesitate to buy them because of language barrier.
 
C

Cactus

Banned
SKINNER! said:
Serious question, do you know Japanese? or do you buy SFC games that doesn't have much Japanese in it? I usually come across SFC games but I hesitate to buy them because of language barrier.
Click to expand...

All of those can be played through easily without any Japanese knowledge. I've generally stayed away from text-heavy imports. It really depends on the game.
 
S

SKINNER!

Banned
Cactus said:
All of those can be played through easily without any Japanese knowledge. I've generally stayed away from text-heavy imports. It really depends on the game.
Click to expand...

Awesome stuff :) How do you know if a game is Japanese text heavy or not? Its obvious if the game is an RPG but I've seen certain sports games that are text heavy so I'm always unsure.
 
C

Cactus

Banned
SKINNER! said:
Awesome stuff :) How do you know if a game is Japanese text heavy or not? Its obvious if the game is an RPG but I've seen certain sports games that are text heavy so I'm always unsure.
Click to expand...

I would search google/youtube for "best import friendly sfc games" or something like that. There are a ton of articles and videos that will tell you exactly which games are worth importing for non-Japanese speakers. Even some of the text-heavy ones (like Front Mission Gun Hazard, for example) can be played through without any issues.
 
S

SKINNER!

Banned
Cactus said:
I would search google/youtube for "best import friendly sfc games" or something like that. There are a ton of articles and videos that will tell you exactly which games are worth importing for non-Japanese speakers. Even some of the text-heavy ones (like Front Mission Gun Hazard, for example) can be played through without any issues.
Click to expand...

Cool thanks :)
 
R

rothgar

Member
sixteen-bit said:
I hope someone tests this. Does it works with the classic controllers plugged in?
Click to expand...

After doing some more research, it looks like it does.
I have irrational fear that all of my original SNES controllers are going to die so I'm always looking for backup solutions. Now I'm thinking about hooking up the new Hori SNES Classic Fighting Commander receiver to the Wiimote and then connecting the Wiimote to the 8bitdo receiver...
 
D

dubc35

Member
^ wow! Thanks!

+1 (on mobile):
http://www.meanmachinesmag.co.uk/pdf/secretofmanasnes.pdf

I found the main site yesterday and posted it to the Scanline thread. I was looking at the SoM review right before seeing your post lol.


Shall we play the SNES classic challenges via OG hardware and CRT's?
Stumpokapow said:
Here's a draft schedule for Q4 2017

SNES Classic Game Club
October 1 - 15: Super Mario World
Easy Goal: Beat the game
Tougher Goal: 96 Exits
Toughest Goal: Memory Overflow End-Game Warp

October 16 - 31: Super Punch-Out!!
Easy Goal: Beat Mr. Sandman
Tougher Goal: Beat the Game
Toughest Goal: Beat the Game without Save States and all Quick Kills

November 1 - 15: Star Fox
Easy Goal: Beat the Game, Easy
Tougher Goal: Beat the Game, Medium
Toughest Goal: Beat the Game, Hard

November 16-23: F-Zero
Easy Goal: Beat through the end of King League
Harder Goal: Beat all leagues in Master Difficulty

November 27-30: Kirby's Dream Course
Easy Goal: Beat through the end of Dedede in Course 8
Harder Goal: Beat the extra courses

December 1-31: Earthbound
Goal: Beat the game
Bonus Goal: Get all of the photos
Bonus Goal: Use the stairs glitch to beat the game fast
Finish early? Double back to one of the unfinished games (F-Zero Master difficulty is not easy.)

Feedback?

My idea was 2 weeks per game, mix up the genres a bit, give the RPGs a month, one RPG per quarter, take some of the skill based games that most people will not complete and probably won't have a lot of conversation due and reduce them to one week -- should be possible to get through all the games in one year. If the SNES Classic ends up hackable, I'll fill the empty weeks at the end of the year with games to add to the SNES Classic (games that are cheap to buy on VC or by cart to encourage people to actually own the games they're playing)?
Click to expand...
 
W

woodypop

Member
A couple days ago I picked up an original SNES console from Goodwill. After hooking it up when I got home, I discovered that pressing the A Button on the left-side controller causes the system to crash/black screen.

To isolate the issue, I experimented with two different cartridges, and tested two different controllers, all with the same result: crash. (I even connected the same two controllers to the right-side port, and there were no issues.)

I've never encountered something like this before. Any advice, SNESGAF?
 
I

IrishNinja

Member
phewww, Amy S is killing it this page! love that Mana art, and man even know it's rough reading that SD III gamefan writeup

woodypop said:
A couple days ago I picked up an original SNES console from Goodwill. After hooking it up when I got home, I discovered that pressing the A Button on the left-side controller causes the system to crash/black screen.

To isolate the issue, I experimented with two different cartridges, and tested two different controllers, all with the same result: crash. (I even connected the same two controllers to the right-side port, and there were no issues.)

I've never encountered something like this before. Any advice, SNESGAF?
Click to expand...

that's....wow, never heard that one before, man. sorry i can't help but do post back if you get it sorted, i'm curious what's going on there!
 
C

Cheerilee

Member
woodypop said:
A couple days ago I picked up an original SNES console from Goodwill. After hooking it up when I got home, I discovered that pressing the A Button on the left-side controller causes the system to crash/black screen.

To isolate the issue, I experimented with two different cartridges, and tested two different controllers, all with the same result: crash. (I even connected the same two controllers to the right-side port, and there were no issues.)

I've never encountered something like this before. Any advice, SNESGAF?
Click to expand...

If you have access to another Super Nintendo, you could open both systems up and disconnect the controller ports from the motherboard. They're connected with a ribbon cable and can be removed. That would allow you to swap the controller ports between the two systems, and confirm whether the problem is somewhere in the controller ports, or deeper into the motherboard.

Without another system to swap parts around, maybe disconnect the controller ports and inspect them carefully for any damage? *shrug*
 
S

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
As suggested above, I made a thread for the SNES Classic Club. We're going to be doing a game every two weeks (a month for the RPGs, only one week for the short stuff) until we get through the SNES Classic library. Despite the branding, the Club is open to people playing on Virtual Console, Emulators, clone consoles, or the original hardware.

The cool twist is that I wrote a bot that listens for certain hashtags, so you can report completing goals and get "stamps" in your "passport", which is basically a spritesheet image made to look kinda like a passport with the goals you've completed. Achievements?! In my SNES?!?!? How Dare He!!! Yeah, yeah. I thought it'd be neat.

If this works out I'll adapt the code from the robot and we can maybe do a SNES game of the month afterwards? I know the NES thread did one for a while.

Either way, would love to see you guys join us. Most of the SNES Classic games are pretty cheap and/or widespread, and I think to a game the US/EU library is excellent so definitely well worth the time investment.

 
I

IrishNinja

Member
^YES

one day you'll find a way to patch them into a ROM and they'll be on my everdrive that very night

speaking of, i totally forgot about that retro game achievement emulator thing i posted about forever ago, balls
 
A

Anth0ny

Member
cool i got a snes classic

and i have a pal one on the way


and i want a super famicom classic


some might call this an unhealthy obsession with an amazing console.



anyways, back to hunting for SNES carts...
 
P

PumpkinSpice

Banned
I'll join in on the SNES Classic Club, but it will be with a real system and real carts for nearly all the games if that's OK. ;)

Super Punch-Out!! is one of the few carts I don't own, mostly because a JP cart never existed. :(
 
G

Grief.exe

Member
Quick preservation question.

There's a battery in certain carts for the save files, which is easily replaceable, but do the ROM chips themselves require some kind of voltage to preserve their data?

Is there another battery that provides this voltage, or am I totally off base?
 
T

Teknoman

Member
Anth0ny said:
cool i got a snes classic

and i have a pal one on the way


and i want a super famicom classic


some might call this an unhealthy obsession with an amazing console.



anyways, back to hunting for SNES carts...
Click to expand...


That and now the first world problem of "do I replay this SNES game on cart or the mini version?".
 
C

Cheerilee

Member
Grief.exe said:
Quick preservation question.

There's a battery in certain carts for the save files, which is easily replaceable, but do the ROM chips themselves require some kind of voltage to preserve their data?

Is there another battery that provides this voltage, or am I totally off base?
Click to expand...

Battery-backup carts have two different kind of chips inside them. They both look similar, because they're both made of dark grey silicon with little metal legs sticking out which get soldered to the board, but they're different.

The ROM chip (Read-Only Memory) is "non volatile" memory. A computer program (basically a gigantic maze-like map) is physically burned into the chip, like ones and zeroes burned into a CD. Little bits of electricity run through the maze, and where they end up determines how the program works. The maze is solid, and is always the same, and will always work the same way, until the maze walls themselves literally crumble and fall due to old age.

The RAM chip (Random Access Memory) is "volatile" memory. It's like a maze, but when the little bits of electricity start running through it, some of the electricity stops and turns itself into doors, closing pathways, opening pathways, directing, redirecting, it's a maze that constantly rearranges itself based on what all the other electricity does while it runs the maze. But that means that once you turn the power off, all the electricity fades away to nothing, and the complicated nature of the maze is lost. That's why they include a battery backup. If you occasionally send a little bit of electricity through the maze, it can "refresh" all the little electricity based doors, to make sure the maze keeps it's shape.
 
G

Grief.exe

Member
In collecting terms, I ordered Aerobiz this morning. I'm currently redoing my office, so will have to get some pictures when I'm finished.

5tNTitU.jpg
Click to expand...

Cheerilee said:
Battery-backup carts have two different kind of chips inside them. They both look similar, because they're both made of dark grey silicon with little metal legs sticking out which get soldered to the board, but they're different.

The ROM chip (Read-Only Memory) is "non volatile" memory. A computer program (basically a gigantic maze-like map) is physically burned into the chip, like ones and zeroes burned into a CD. Little bits of electricity run through the maze, and where they end up determines how the program works. The maze is solid, and is always the same, and will always work the same way, until the maze walls themselves literally crumble and fall due to old age.

The RAM chip (Random Access Memory) is "volatile" memory. It's like a maze, but when the little bits of electricity start running through it, some of the electricity stops and turns itself into doors, closing pathways, opening pathways, directing, redirecting, it's a maze that constantly rearranges itself based on what all the other electricity does while it runs the maze. But that means that once you turn the power off, all the electricity fades away to nothing, and the complicated nature of the maze is lost. That's why they include a battery backup. If you occasionally send a little bit of electricity through the maze, it can "refresh" all the little electricity based doors, to make sure the maze keeps it's shape.
Click to expand...

So the answer to my question is no. The data "stored" on the ROM chip is physical and the ROM populates the RAM with data on boot.

The only thing you lose when a battery fails is the save files, which doesn't matter long term and is a fairly simple fix.

Great post, thanks!
 
R

RadarScope1

Member
Cheerilee said:
Battery-backup carts have two different kind of chips inside them. They both look similar, because they're both made of dark grey silicon with little metal legs sticking out which get soldered to the board, but they're different.

The ROM chip (Read-Only Memory) is "non volatile" memory. A computer program (basically a gigantic maze-like map) is physically burned into the chip, like ones and zeroes burned into a CD. Little bits of electricity run through the maze, and where they end up determines how the program works. The maze is solid, and is always the same, and will always work the same way, until the maze walls themselves literally crumble and fall due to old age.

The RAM chip (Random Access Memory) is "volatile" memory. It's like a maze, but when the little bits of electricity start running through it, some of the electricity stops and turns itself into doors, closing pathways, opening pathways, directing, redirecting, it's a maze that constantly rearranges itself based on what all the other electricity does while it runs the maze. But that means that once you turn the power off, all the electricity fades away to nothing, and the complicated nature of the maze is lost. That's why they include a battery backup. If you occasionally send a little bit of electricity through the maze, it can "refresh" all the little electricity based doors, to make sure the maze keeps it's shape.
Click to expand...

Amazing post.
 
W

woodypop

Member
IrishNinja said:
that's....wow, never heard that one before, man. sorry i can't help but do post back if you get it sorted, i'm curious what's going on there!
Click to expand...
Yeah, I’m not versed in console surgery, but if it’s an easy fix, I’ll give it a go...
Cheerilee said:
If you have access to another Super Nintendo, you could open both systems up and disconnect the controller ports from the motherboard. They're connected with a ribbon cable and can be removed. That would allow you to swap the controller ports between the two systems, and confirm whether the problem is somewhere in the controller ports, or deeper into the motherboard.

Without another system to swap parts around, maybe disconnect the controller ports and inspect them carefully for any damage? *shrug*
Click to expand...
Thanks for this suggestion! I do have a second SNES. I’ve opened them both up , and see the ribbon cable that connects the controller PCB to the motherboard. But I can’t disconnect the controller PCB to perform the swap. I can’t unseat either end of the ribbon cable, despite how much I pull on the (IDC?) connectors. =(
 
C

Cheerilee

Member
woodypop said:
Yeah, I’m not versed in console surgery, but if it’s an easy fix, I’ll give it a go...

Thanks for this suggestion! I do have a second SNES. I’ve opened them both up , and see the ribbon cable that connects the controller PCB to the motherboard. But I can’t disconnect the controller PCB to perform the swap. I can’t unseat either end of the ribbon cable, despite how much I pull on the (IDC?) connectors. =(
Click to expand...

It's been forever since I took apart my SNES so I can't remember, but a quick googling seems to suggest that all you have to do is tug on the cable (on the motherboard's end) and it should come out.

I really hate when I get to that sort of point where you're reading instructions and taking something apart, and then something stubborn refuses to cooperate. You end up wondering if maybe you need to apply more force, or if there's a trick to it that the instructions forgot to mention (or maybe you just read them wrong), and more force would break everything.

Anyone else with more recent experience want to chime in on the wisdom of tugging on the ribbon cable for the controller ports?
 
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