Customized Earthbound on cartidge for gift. Need some technical assistance...

[dranore]

So I'm the process of creating custom sprites for Earthbound. I have one of the 4 main character replacements done. Once I'm done, I'm replacing the original rom sprites with mine and making a few minor tweaks. Once I've got the rom customized, I'd like to write it to a eeprom and install it in a cartridge to give to my best friend as a gift.

I know the original Earthbound uses the SHVC-1J3M-20 revision board. NHL 97 seems like a good donor board accordingly, but it's not the cheapest game. Can anyone recommend a cheaper game that can still do a clean install (just curious if I can save a few bucks since this could end up being an expensive gift once everything is made)? Any particular eeproms more suitable for this project?

Thanks for the help.

[MasterJSP]

According to this link, http://www.snescentral.com/pcbboards.php?chip=SHVC-1J3M-20, NHL 97 is your best option. Everything else with that same PCB is either more expensive or import only.

[theclaw]

JPN copies of Chrono Trigger are similarly worthless in dollars, but still way too good of a game for this fate. Stick to NHL 97. I see even one with box/manual under $10 including postage haha.

[Parodius Duh!]

You have to make sure youll even be able to put your Hack on a reproduction cart to begin with, there might be some severe glitches, like with most "Hacks" put onto eproms and made into custom repro carts.