anyone have one of these? Super Everdrive for SNES?

[MyTurnToPlay]

http://shop.retrogate.com/Super-Everdrive-DSP1-US-shell-SNES-DSP-US.htm

so anyone have this AND the snes powerpak and can give me the pros and cons of each....and your general feelings about them.

p.s. still waiting for a bigger price drop on both devices :(

[Lady Jaye]

Please make the title of your thread more clear (ie. specify what you're actually talking about)...

[Icarus Moonsight]

Price drop? I think the prices are more likely to hold or even increase over time rather than go down. No mass production or distribution in this field for such an effect.

I own both an NES and SNES PowerPak and a Gen/MD Everdrive. I highly recommend kit from either source. Your choice is going to come down to what suits you best, and others will have a hard time determining your own specific criteria, because they're not you. From what I have heard and what I know about each of the SNES carts, I'd say go PowerPak and buy a CF card with it from RetroUSB at the same time so you don't have to hunt for one that will work and not give you grief.

[Purkeynator]

I have a NES powerpack and a Super NES everdrive. I am pretty happy with both. The powerpacks usually cost a bit more but they are very nice quality and pretty much ready to go out of the box. The everdrive I bought comes as a bare board so there is some cutting, sanding, label making/buying, SD card buying, ect that has to happen to make your Everdrive nice and usable. The trade off is the money you save. The Powerpack has the DSP-1 chip so it will play games like Pilotwings and Mario Kart. The Everdrive will not unless you order the super duper deluxe version from Stone Age Gamer but the price pretty much gets up to the same as the Powerpack. I recommend both solutions, both have their strengths.

[Greg2600]

Powerpak is more expensive, especially if you buy only the Super Everdrive board and do the case yourself. Krikzz does many updates for his cards, and does respond to customers on Assembler Games (http://www.assemblergames.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=89). You can get DSP-1 on the Super Everdrive, or do it yourself technically. Saving games is much easier/better on the SED. However, game loading is much slower. Powerpak uses CF cards, so the largest SNES games load instantly. SED takes maybe a minute for the big ones, but they stay in ROM memory. I'd say the biggest issue with the Powerpak for SNES is the CF card compatibility issue. Too many people have had issues with certain games and the cards, and for me personally, I didn't want to go down that road.

[Greg2600]

double post

[Satoshi_Matrix]

Its' really a case of you get what you pay for. The SNES Powerpak is one of the best flashcarts out there.

[Leo_A]

The Super Everdrive does a better job thanks to it's save system. I've never encountered a 60 second load time and they've been very reasonable.

And you don't have the mystery surrounding compatibility with the PowerPak (Both with CF cards and some revisions of the SuperNes) and you actually have a creator of the device and also a supplier in StoneAgeGames that will talk to their customers and potential customers.

I've seen some person trying to get help from the PowerPak creator and just be repeatedly ignored via email, private messages at the forum, and help threads even though he's clearly active there and is even viewing the thread asking why he's ignoring the help request from the customer in question. There's no shortage of forum post from quite a few people with poor things to say about Bunneyboy's customer support (Although I've never heard of anyone that was ripped off either, it's just difficult to contact him and he often seems to ignore people for long lengths of time despite having their money).

The automatic saving more than makes up for the slight load times (I don't time it, but don't think I've seen a load time go much past 15 seconds). Assuming you don't mind waiting for a few seconds for your game to load and don't want to play Star Ocean, the better save system of the Super Everdrive, lower cost, and better customer support makes it the way to go.

[Greg2600]

One thing to remember is that Krikzz in the Ukraine is doing these carts full time now, I think's its his main source of income. Bunnyboy does them on the side. He was always very attentive and helpful when the NES powerpak came out, but I think he simply had no good answer to the CF Card issues. I remember the snesdev-parodius forum just being a slew of varied issues with the cards. I think a combination of a firmware/perhaps hardware update from him may have solved most of the CF issues.

PS: There's also that sd2snes project in Germany, where supposedly they're able to emulate all special chips on their FPGA. Still waiting to see that....

[badinsults]

I ordered a Super Everdrive a few weeks ago, hoping to have it soon! I heard the SNES Powerpak has a pretty annoying process where you have to manually create SRAM files for each game, so I don't think it is worth the extra price. Considering there is only a handful of hacks that exceed 48 Mbit (most notably the non-SDD-1 hack of Star Ocean), the fact that the SNES Powerpak can work with the theoretical maximum size for a snes game is not really an advantage.

[MyTurnToPlay]

I'm not too familiar with supported games for the Super Everdrive, Anyone have a list of games that would NOT be supported if I purchased the SED+DSP1 version? I know of Star Ocean, but what else? And would I really be missing out on some damn good gaming if, for example, I cant play Star Ocean and the other games? I am a fan of rpgs but do those missing games justify the extra $$$$

the more research i do, the more i'm leaning towards buying the Super Everdrive. The price is lower, the save feature is more efficient, and i've been checking out youtube videos of it and the load times are seriously not a big deal. i mean, come on, who the hell cant wait 50 seconds to play a game.

thanks for the input guys, it really helped. any other thoughts would also be appreciated!

[badinsults]

The only games that are incompatible are on this list:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Super_NES_enhancement_chips

[Az]

I own the SNES Powerpak but have never used the SNES Everdrive.

Does the Everdrive have problems loading games with incorrect/no headers, or oddball file sizes? That's the one gripe I have about the Powerpak, a lot of oddball stuff like betas, trained games, or unlicensed efforts won't load due to it header problems.

[Greg2600]

The only games that are incompatible are on this list:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Super_NES_enhancement_chips
Except if you get the DSP-1 chip on it, all DSP-1 games will work. Yes, Star Ocean is too big. Also, the BS (satellaview games) don't work, but I think do work on the PowerPak. Those being BS Zelda (I think) and BS Excitebike.


I own the SNES Powerpak but have never used the SNES Everdrive.

Does the Everdrive have problems loading games with incorrect/no headers, or oddball file sizes? That's the one gripe I have about the Powerpak, a lot of oddball stuff like betas, trained games, or unlicensed efforts won't load due to it header problems.
No issues in that regard whatsoever. Krikzz has used his SD Card interface in several different cards now, no issues. Once in a blue moon a cart might be defective, and you have to send it back to be replaced, but it's a low failure rate. He tests them first. The problems you speak of with the PowerPak are all due to the CompactFlash interface. I don't know the reason, I don't think bunnyboy (creator) has ever fully identified the cause. It's why I never bought one. Had it worked as smoothly as the NES PP, I would have probably a year ago.

[Purkeynator]

Also, the BS (satellaview games) don't work, but I think do work on the PowerPak. Those being BS Zelda (I think) and BS Excitebike.

Actually I played BS Zelda on my Everdrive last weekend and it worked fine. I played the "hardware compatible" version of the rom from the BS Zelda site. I couldn't get the other versions to work, so I am assuming those mostly work on emulators.

[MyTurnToPlay]

yeah. after all of this, my own research, and youtube vids...i'm going to buy the Everdrive.

way too many issues with the powerpak, and retrousb customer support seems atrocious, whereas I've seen Krizz go out of his way to please his customers. In my opinion, that kind of service is very important, and is also indicative of the product.

Everdrive here I come! :) Cant wait to play Earthbound!!

[Steven]

Actually I played BS Zelda on my Everdrive last weekend and it worked fine. I played the "hardware compatible" version of the rom from the BS Zelda site. I couldn't get the other versions to work, so I am assuming those mostly work on emulators.

Anyone know if the BS Golf game works on Everdrive?

[Greg2600]

Actually I played BS Zelda on my Everdrive last weekend and it worked fine. I played the "hardware compatible" version of the rom from the BS Zelda site. I couldn't get the other versions to work, so I am assuming those mostly work on emulators.
Oh, that's good to hear. Remember the Satellaview games were designed to work with that unit, and were also designed with timers and required certain downloads. None of them work, even on an emulator, without modification. This website (http://www.bszelda.zeldalegends.net/) has done extensive work, including language translations and sprite replacement, and is probably the site you went to.


Anyone know if the BS Golf game works on Everdrive?
Would probably work if someone has done a hack to get it to work on SNES/SFC hardware.

[Steven]

Would probably work if someone has done a hack to get it to work on SNES/SFC hardware.


I'm pretty sure Kiddo's hack would work on an Everdrive. Would like confirmation from someone, though. His hack works on the PowerPak, and I heard the unhacked version works fine on a ToToTek flash cart.

[Greg2600]

Mine is in transit from Ukraine, so I'll test it (if I find the rom) when I get it, hopefully within a week. If nobody else does.

[Greg2600]

Okay, just got it today! BS Excitebike (modded here (http://dforce3000.de/index.php?p=news&t=satellaview)) does work. The only BS Zelda (http://www.bszelda.zeldalegends.net/bszelda.shtml) Third and Fourth Quests that works were the real hardware patches done by MottZilla. His has no timer limit, though the timer is there. It doesn't however replace the main character with Link, which I would have liked. BS Golf again would work if somebody did a real hardware patch. The biggest games, like DK Country, take about 35 seconds to load.

[Purkeynator]

Okay, just got it today! BS Excitebike (modded here (http://dforce3000.de/index.php?p=news&t=satellaview)) does work. The only BS Zelda (http://www.bszelda.zeldalegends.net/bszelda.shtml) Third and Fourth Quests that works were the real hardware patches done by MottZilla. His has no timer limit, though the timer is there. It doesn't however replace the main character with Link, which I would have liked. BS Golf again would work if somebody did a real hardware patch. The biggest games, like DK Country, take about 35 seconds to load.

Agree, I would have preferred a Link sprite instead of some satelleview schmuck. Also I'm not sure if saving works on this version. I made it to just before the 7th dungeon without saving before I got up to go get a snack and tripped over the controller cord and yanked out my system and reset it. Ahhh the corded controller days...

[Leo_A]

The biggest games, like DK Country, take about 35 seconds to load.

Really?

Everything I've played so far has had load times at about half of that, I'd estimate.

I'll have to fire up some rpg's or later releases for the system and see for myself.

[Greg2600]

Agree, I would have preferred a Link sprite instead of some satelleview schmuck. Also I'm not sure if saving works on this version. I made it to just before the 7th dungeon without saving before I got up to go get a snack and tripped over the controller cord and yanked out my system and reset it. Ahhh the corded controller days...Well there are versions that use the Link and other classic sprites, but they aren't the real hardware versions. Only work on emulator.


Really?

Everything I've played so far has had load times at about half of that, I'd estimate.

I'll have to fire up some rpg's or later releases for the system and see for myself.Actually I misspoke, it takes like 50+ seconds to write DK Country to the Flash ROM. Also takes 15 seconds or so to erase it.

[TheChristoph]

I bought a Super Everdrive from Stone Age Gamer around Christmas and have yet to use it. What the hell am I waiting for?!

[Az]

No issues in that regard whatsoever.

$150 later I can report that the same games that won't load on the Powerpak due to missing/bad headers WILL NOT work on the Everdrive either. If you're a fan of unlicensed games or betas, you're still shit out of luck.

Awesome.

[badinsults]

Hacking a header is pretty easy. I think only a couple of bytes need to be changed to make it playable, though I don't exactly know how the Super Everdrive actually determines the mapping type.

[Greg2600]

Az, what you have to remember is many of those games may have been created on emulators, which allow errors. The console won't. It's not the fault of the flash cart, and as Evan said you usually have to fiddle with the header.

[Az]

It's not that I expect either of these devices to have 100% compatibility, but it is rather disappointing that games that work fine on 15 year old copiers won't run (especially when some of them are dumps from actual carts I physically own).

I wanted to clarify that any game that won't run due to a header problem on Powerpak isn't due to some weird inherent CF interface problem that isn't present on the Everdrive. That was a rather costly purchase mistake on my part after finding out the information firsthand.

Edit;
Upon further testing I found several of these types of games that work fine with the Powerpak but don't work at all on the Everdrive. In that regard the Powerpak is actually more compatible. Also, I finally enjoy the error messages that display when the Powerpak rejects a file as the Everdrive gives you no clue as for a reason why your particular game won't work.

[GarrettCRW]

When I was weeding out games to put on my Super NES Powerpak, I used BSNES to play the games. If it doesn't play in that emulator, it's not playing in a Super NES, period.

I didn't have a choice when buying the SNES Powerpak, as the Super Everdrive hadn't come out, but I am satisfied with my choice, even though the saving thing is a real pain. Bunnyboy's customer service is garbage, though. It took me over a month to receive my Super NES Powerpak (after getting the NES really quick), and he wasn't helpful at all, esp. since his tracking number erroneously identified the thing as received.

[StoneAgeGamer]

It's not that I expect either of these devices to have 100% compatibility, but it is rather disappointing that games that work fine on 15 year old copiers won't run (especially when some of them are dumps from actual carts I physically own).

I wanted to clarify that any game that won't run due to a header problem on Powerpak isn't due to some weird inherent CF interface problem that isn't present on the Everdrive. That was a rather costly purchase mistake on my part after finding out the information firsthand.

Edit;
Upon further testing I found several of these types of games that work fine with the Powerpak but don't work at all on the Everdrive. In that regard the Powerpak is actually more compatible. Also, I finally enjoy the error messages that display when the Powerpak rejects a file as the Everdrive gives you no clue as for a reason why your particular game won't work.

I would suggest contacting Igor about your EverDrive issues or posting them over at AssemblerGames.com EverDrive forum. The PowerPak has been out considerably longer than the EverDrive so its no surprise it has more bugs worked out.

[Greg2600]

Yes I would definitely post issues on that forum (http://www.assemblergames.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=89). You will for certain get a response from Igor, though his English isn't perfect.

The other thing Az is that you could easily resell that Super Everdrive to someone on the web, taking only a small hit in your original purchase price (or maybe not). So it's not quite a paper weight.

On Garrett's point, while the PowerPak's super fast game load times were very enticing, I just didn't want to bother with the CF card issues, and a lot of people get a vertical line on their screen.

[Icarus Moonsight]

The only reason I suggested the PowerPak was that I bought mine before I even found the Everdrive project and Igor. I haven't found anything that wouldn't run that I didn't already expect beforehand (like the BS stuff). Even got Star Ocean decompressed translation patched running on mine.

[StoneAgeGamer]

By the way. If you purchased from us you can always mail it back for refund if its been within 30-days. Assuming its still in the condition you received it in. If you do mail it back though I suggest you insure it.

E-mail us at returns {at} stoneagegamer {dot} com if you decide to do this.

[MyTurnToPlay]

Everdrive > Powerpak.

[badinsults]

I got my Super Everdrive now, and have been playing around with it a bit. It works great, I highly recommend it.

[Greg2600]

I got mine too, with the DSP-1 installed, works terrific. Load times are not as bad as I feared. Bummed for some reason that Steven Seagal The Final Option proto doesn't work though! :)

[badinsults]

Again, you can get it to work if you hack the internal header. The information needed to hack the header is in these documents (http://www.romhacking.net/docs/226/). I imagine the only thing you have to do is edit the map mode, cartridge type, ROM size, and RAM size bytes.