Found this Genesis flash cart? on the ATgames website

[Tanooki]

They don't really announce this exists. I found it in their estore under the accessories area:
http://www.atgames.us/Mega-Expert-Passport-FBC110.htm

$50, it appears to be some wannabe everdrive or sorts that uses a SDHC card (like their handheld Sega I have) to fire up .BIN files on their TV version of the handheld that uses real carts.

I'm curious if any of you were aware of this and perhaps saw something somewhere if anyone tried one of these in a real console before to see if it would work out on there. All I can get from the reviews on the website, is that it just fires up games in the right format on the console they have, displays stuff the same way through its emulator, and because of the atgames emulator (like a real cart) you'll still get the off key audio and no saving.

I'm just wondering if it's a minimalist pass through or a cheap alternative flash kit to play stuff.


...also they're total cheapskates more than I thought. All that stuff 4~ years ago they threw in with the handheld unit they still make the stuff, and charge a high price tag for it individually on that estore which is annoying. Glad I had a spare ac adapter with the right voltage and an a/v cable too from a vsmile handheld my kid has. :)

[Niku-Sama]

http://www.rfgeneration.com/PHP/gethwinfo.php?ID=U-040-H-00880-A

seems like its been around a while, I found a few listings on ebay, one ended on the 6th and it was by another company in the UK sold for about 25 euros.
$50 US is a bit steep if that's the case most of the time....still digging

edit:
20 EUR
http://www.destockage-games.com/catalogue-megadrive-cartouche_passport_megagame_expert_port_sd_12_jeux _sega_megadrive-parent-24-fiche-3760106696954.html

the euro is real close to the dollar right now, its about $22 USD equivalent

[davidbrit2]

Intriguing. It's not really clear if it works with an original Genesis, or if it's a simple SD pass-through that only works with their Firecore platform. I could see that going either way. Would be interesting to hear from somebody that has one.

[CRTGAMER]

Intriguing. It's not really clear if it works with an original Genesis, or if it's a simple SD pass-through that only works with their Firecore platform. I could see that going either way. Would be interesting to hear from somebody that has one.

The ATGames PlugNPlay console is designed to take original Genesis game carts, that SD adapter most likely will work as a standard genesis game cart. Tempting, I already have the portable ATGames unit. It that takes a 2gb SD Card directly, no issue of fitting all the US Genesis game roms with decent emulation.

Ooh looks like the same built in games of both the console and portable built right in the cart! Perhaps a newer model at Tanooki's link?
http://www.maxconsole.com/maxcon_forums/threads/194034-REVIEW-FireCore-Passport

http://scmods.com/pictures/tn_firecore_passport7.jpg

My review of the ATGames Genesis PlugNPlay, with the 80 built in games and Genesis cart slot:
http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=52&t=33076&p=758615#p758615

http://www.racketboy.com/forum/download/file.php?id=8264

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EDIT
The game cart with the possibility of 40 Genesis games and 40 exclusive ATGames homebrews is intriguing. I suspect it is like the picture below though. Placed an order at the ATGames site! Oh crap, maybe a back order based on reviews from 2014? I may have to cancel if it does not ship in a few weeks. I telephoned ATGames and left a message, will post here on the results. :(

http://www.destockage-games.com/catalogue-cartouche-passport-megagame-expert-port-sd-12-jeux-sega-megadrive/image/3760106696954_02_cartouche_segamegadrive_passport_ a428ca9e4f370f593186676c0d59d07f.jpg

[Pikointeractive]

I can get Flashcarts as low as 15 bucks wholesale; so 50 for this one is pretty expensive!

[CRTGAMER]

I can get Flashcarts as low as 15 bucks wholesale; so 50 for this one is pretty expensive!

Links?

[Tanooki]

Yeah no shit, link? I'd love a $15 flash cart for my Genesis to try out stuff before I buy it as I am slowly growing a supply of black carts on my shelf.


CRT good luck. I did find very little info which is why I posted. I did some screwball type searches with google and I did come up with the fact there have been revisions, and not the usual shit the chinese pull overseas with their console/handheld where it's microscopic. There's been at least 2-3 changes over time from when it came out. The oldest only worked on the AT games console you showed (original model), but then later ones I couldn't find an answer but read they were changed. I ran out of options and figured I'd dangle the carrot here. The model on the atgames site is the newest and renamed version of it.

[FieryReign]

How is the sound on the console? Is it as nasty and off as the handhelds?

[Pikointeractive]

I tried to look for it. They were commonly sold on Aliexpress for 39.99 (retail price) but seems like they are out of them. I know the factory that makes them, but to get the 15 bucks price point you need to order a lot when they have in stock. If you want a run just for you the minimum quantity is 1000 units; however you get a price reduction at those quantities.

Found it on ebay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/5-Generation-Version-MD-Card-Flash-Cartridge-for-Sega-Genesis-Console-/131598432333?hash=item1ea3e0b84d:g:ogsAAOSwuTxV7l4 g

[Tanooki]

How is the sound on the console? Is it as nasty and off as the handhelds?

Firecore emulator, they don't make changes based on if it's portable or not, and have rarely made any changed period to it other than very minuscule things most probably wouldn't even notice.


Piko for $46 shipped overseas that's not bad. Also nice it seems to support SMS too.

[CRTGAMER]

I tried to look for it. They were commonly sold on Aliexpress for 39.99 (retail price) but seems like they are out of them. I know the factory that makes them, but to get the 15 bucks price point you need to order a lot when they have in stock. If you want a run just for you the minimum quantity is 1000 units; however you get a price reduction at those quantities.

Found it on ebay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/5-Generation-Version-MD-Card-Flash-Cartridge-for-Sega-Genesis-Console-/131598432333?hash=item1ea3e0b84d:g:ogsAAOSwuTxV7l4 g

WOW! That looks like the cart to get, 32x and game save capability!

However, I am now having second thoughts on any cart due to already owning a Genesis, the ATGames 80 game console and ATGames portable. On my portable I already have all US Genesis games on SD Card with 99% working. I sent ATGames an EMail requesting a refund, this in light of no response to my phone call and chance the Mega Game Expert cart is not in production currently.


Flashed game will stay in memory after power off. So no need to choice and reflash game after each reset or power off

A concern of the internal flash chip eventually failing from transfer rom error.
The SD card adapter for a regular Genesis console is apealing, but the thought of loading each game rom to internal flash of the cart evokes bad memories of my six N64 GameShark carts that would fail. I can easily replaced a SD Card from backed up Roms from the PC but not the adapter cart itself should the Flash chip inside fail. :?

EDIT - Pay Pal Protection
Been a few hours and have not heard back from ATGames. I know they might need more time to weed thru both their EMail and Website messaging, but I did not get a return telephone call or text message from my call yesterday. Just to play it safe, I contacted ATGames thru Pay Pal as well to start the claims process on file.

[dgdgagdae]

I'm not following. Why is it that you want a refund? And on what?

[Niku-Sama]

probably better off with this:
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/EDMD-with-8GB-MicorSD-400-Games-for-16-bit-Sega-MegaDrive-Genesis-Console-Ultimate-Mortal-Kombat/32594729068.html?ws_ab_test=searchweb201556_9%2Cse archweb201644_1_10014_10001_10002_10005_301_10006_ 10003_10004_62%2Csearchweb201560_6%2Csearchweb1451 318400_6149&spm=2114.01020208.3.7.O3Zn4h

[Tanooki]

Nice find if that's not some knockoff subpar version of the everdrive with the card included and that price. Very tempting I would imagine for many who would want a device like that.

[PreZZ]

Nice find if that's not some knockoff subpar version of the everdrive with the card included and that price. Very tempting I would imagine for many who would want a device like that.

I have this one and it works perfectly fine, its an everdrive md v2 0sv35, IIRC i read that Krikkz made a deal with some chinese guy to sell them ONLY in china, so they are genuine but not supported for new firmware update. So youre stuck with an old firmware, but I never had any problem with it, also bought the n64, nes and snes everdrive china versions. No complaints, just dont update or youre screwed.

[Tanooki]

Updates probably aren't worth it anyway. Given the price cut if all you want is a working menu, games that don't malfunction, and saves that work it is all that matters. Also reading that link its already preloaded.

[Niku-Sama]

I didn't see the 400 preinstalled games thing before. Might be a good way to see if i want to get any further into collecting for Genesis

[PreZZ]

I didn't see the 400 preinstalled games thing before. Might be a good way to see if i want any further into collecting for Genesis

At this point, collecting is stupid and a money pit, its not a hobby anymore. So yeah if you want to game on real hardware playing on a everdrive is the exact same experience, no emulator glitches or off pitch sounds, its the real deal it will make you save tons of money and you will have the complete library of games and saves tons of spaces on your shelves!

[Tanooki]

Hard to argue that first sentence anymore. Go back a couple years sure I would have, but now, nope. The Genesis isn't bad, but if you're talking the famicom, nes, snes or n64 everdrive, it's a cash cow saver. Still supposedly a GBa everdrive is under construction, I'd get that, it would be the most versatile. Fire up Goomba Color on there, you got the entire gameboy family rocking on 1 little cart.

[calgon]

I have a snes and Genesis everdrive yet I still play the originals 60% of the time. Does come in handy for translations and such

[Tanooki]

That it would but since I have that Retron 5 still, it does that on the fly with real carts which negates that a bit unless I had to buy another game of course. :)

[Greg2600]

Save a little more money and get an EverDrive-MD.

[Tanooki]

It still is one just no firmware updates which I doubt enough would care about. And since only one Sega game used a lame special chip you can use the library unlike SNES.

[Leo_A]

Sadly, I very much doubt the Everdrives that brick when updated are genuine. Can't imagine that he would technically cripple any of his multicarts nor can I think of a reason why he would even be tempted to.

If they can't handle getting updated, I'd bet good money that they're imitations and that they fail because they're not a 1:1 copy.

[PreZZ]

Sadly, I very much doubt the Everdrives that brick when updated are genuine. Can't imagine that he would technically cripple any of his multicarts nor can I think of a reason why he would even be tempted to.

If they can't handle getting updated, I'd bet good money that they're imitations and that they fail because they're not a 1:1 copy.

Krikkz has a deal with junfangames, he sells the chips only they are assembled in china and are not supported or guaranteed by krikzz, mine as worked perfectly for over a year, and feedback on aliexpress was good too. You can buy 3 china version with a cartridge shell, led light, sd slot and sms pause button dor the price of a single everdrive md pcb. Firmware is not the most recent but ita working fine, a good purchase IMO.

[Tanooki]

It does make sense, perhaps due to weird Chinese shenanigans with imports and other garbage (though they seem to care less about pirate crap going out) maybe it's easier to sell a bag of his custom chips, then the Chinese put them on their own board. In that way the firmware on the old chips could be something he locked due to the contracted deal with that group so they can offer it at a far cheaper price. Which in turn since now aliexpress is a thing unlike a couple years ago that people globally go after it's a way to get the thing on the cheap. The loss is no firmware updates, but seriously, what update could have been made in the last year or two worth a crap that is going to stop a game from running, saving properly, or some other oddball quirk? The Genesis was very vanilla if you think about it, nothing crazy going on like Nintendo with their open ended designs and bag full of special chips that are a complete bitch to emulate and even worse to get a copier cart to work (ie: SNES no SA1, no FX1/2, no SDD1, etc.) Your big deal here is trusting a Chinese company not to jack your info, and waiting on it a month to arrive and hoping it didn't get hosed in the mail.

[Leo_A]

Krikkz has a deal with junfangames, he sells the chips only they are assembled in china and are not supported or guaranteed by krikzz, mine as worked perfectly for over a year, and feedback on aliexpress was good too.

Where did you read this though? I still don't understand why if it's legitimate that it won't take updates, but if there's a forum post from the horses mouth, it must be correct.


It does make sense

It doesn't make any sense why they brick if you try to update them, if they're genuine. Even if they're assembling his components rather than him shipping them finished boards, it doesn't make sense why it will only work with the preinstalled firmware and fails if updated.


In that way the firmware on the old chips could be something he locked due to the contracted deal with that group so they can offer it at a far cheaper price.

It's just firmware. It's not any cheaper because he's using an older version of it or that it's locked to a particular revision. What does he or this Chinese distributor supposedly gain by doing so?

If these are 1:1 and genuine, it should accept updates. Heck, if they fail when updated and are official, I very much doubt he would even allow for an accidental firmware update happening for one of his unsuspecting customers with this batch slated for China. That it not only doesn't accept updates but can actually be bricked by doing so, rather seals the deal on their legitimacy in lieu of a forum post somewhere proving otherwise.

They're cheap copies that aren't 1:1 replicas of the real deal and thus end up ruined when one attempts to update its firmware with an official update. It's the only line of reasoning that makes sense until one of you guys posts something up as evidence to prove me wrong (Which I hope you do if correct; While extremely skeptical, I've been wrong before and if I am here, I'd like to know for sure.).

[OldSchoolGamer]

Where did you read this though? I still don't understand why if it's legitimate that it won't take updates, but if there's a forum post from the horses mouth, it must be correct.

The only thing I have ever read or heard straight from Krikzz is that AliExpress and any non official retailer, Chinese import shops etc reverse engineered and stole his design WHICH IS WHY they cannot be updated and he has said that buying from and supporting such places literally is stealing from him so it is very odd to be hearing this claim that he sells chips to undercut his own product lol. X_x Until proven otherwise or read an official statement from Krikzz that is my belief.

Besides in Krikzz own forums the boards of genuine Krikzz and the AlliExpress have been compared in images clearly showing cheaper components and shoddy craftsmanship compared to official boards.

[Leo_A]

That's my thinking, too. Thanks for posting what you've seen on his forums concerning these.

It just doesn't make any sense that they're genuine in any way, so I can't say as I'm surprised.

[OldSchoolGamer]

That's my thinking, too. Thanks for posting what you've seen on his forums concerning these.

It just doesn't make any sense that they're genuine in any way, so I can't say as I'm surprised.

Well damn seems things have changed since I last visited Krikzz forums, regarding junfangames check these threads out

http://krikzz.com/forum/index.php?topic=3236.0

http://krikzz.com/forum/index.php?topic=1674.0

BUT with that in mind Krikzz has said -

1. If you buy from junfangames and your cart will broke, you should send it back to junfangames. I will not repair or replace such carts. So, i provide full software support, but not provide warranty service
2. junfangames allowed to sell only to China


Meh I will stick to buying from Retrogate or StoneAgeGamer (Though I pretty much got all the Everdrives I want already )

[Leo_A]

Interesting, at least that particular seller is legitimate.

It does state however that he provides full software support, even though he only sends them whatever PLD chips are. He also states that the hardware is 100% identical and that they're fully supported at the software end. He even shows a willingness to repair such carts in that one thread despite it not being his responsibility. Seems all quite the contrary to it will be bricked if you update it just because it's their own PCB rather than his.

Seems to rather reinforce that this other source is counterfeit, as I suspected. If true, at least they seem like they must work well. :)

[Greg2600]

I believe Krikzz worked out a deal where the Chinese group would produce boards for all his products, in exchange for the rights to sell them exclusively in China. When this began, Krikzz did not have much firmware security, and this group cloned his Everdrive and produced their own. So people began buying cheaply, and they would ship outside of China. Firmware updates would brick those products, as they were not truly Krikzz design. I'm not certain that he's still contracted with them at this time, but his hardware is much more sophisticated, and pretty tough to clone.

[Tanooki]

Seems interesting alright. I read that too, he sends the necesary chip so it functions, but the Chinese have their own other parts and boards and do it themselves. Maybe the Chinese in some contracted bit of the deal have it clamped down to just run on that firmware. Perhaps something with the preloaded stuff on the memory card they include make it a necessity. Krikzz isn't complaining and seems willing to help if I were to receive an item in the mail though support should be from the Chinese. There's probably more to it than can be said or can be clearly said since neither party does english as a first language so something could be lost in translation. As it is, if firmware is a worry, then don't bother updating it as it won't improve your basic game experience anyway. Take the discount, the free memory card pre-loaded with a crap ton of games by region or don't. Even if you don't want their junk, format the card at a low level and use it for something else.

[Leo_A]

I read that too, he sends the necesary chip so it functions, but the Chinese have their own other parts and boards and do it themselves.

Yes, but he also says that...

"Hardware 100% identical, but assembled and tested in China. They all officially supported, incuding N8 and ED64."

So he's saying that even though he isn't sending everything out prefabricated, it's still 100% identical to his design. And his second sentence when he states that they're all officially supported means that carts from this source are fully compatible with his firmware and thus can be reflashed with updates that he releases.

Since nobody has been forthcoming with information to confirm the legitimacy of these other products that are bricked when an update is attempted, I think that all but confirms that this other source is counterfeit like Greg2600 said (At least I believe that's what he meant; The carts sourced through Junfangames are the real deal while alternate supplies such as Aliexpress at the very least, are not).

Chinese companies if they see a demand for something aren't afraid to produce a cheap imitation. At least this other company over there did it right and went through the maker and assembles a product that he states is 100% identical to his own assembled boards.

[Tanooki]

Well whatever it is, it is, and really who gives a crap right? It's far cheaper, it works, and it's loaded with hundreds of ROMs so lazy people won't have to do the work themselves. Seems like a perfect solution given how expensive everdrives can be compared to other devices. I know someone will snark out you pay for quality with a premium, but a lot of people just don't care which is why the chinese piracy racket is strong.

[PreZZ]

I have a ed64PLUS, a nes jack DIY (everdrive n8), megadrive md, and snes everdrive china version. So maybe I got clones or counterfeit everdrives, but they all work perfectly never had a single problem with any of them, they all have old firmware but im ok with it. I didnt know about krikkz story when i bought them, and thought they were the same but only cheaper made from china. Sorry krikkz! But i would never have bought everdrives for 170$+ each. Total cost for all china versions was 240$ usd.

[Az]

It just doesn't make any sense that they're genuine in any way, so I can't say as I'm surprised.

My understanding when the MD clone first appeared a few years ago was that this was basically a shotgun wedding; the Chinese developer cloned the hardware and was going to sell it with or without anyone's approval. Krikkz basically chose the lesser of two evils, he agreed they would be the "official" distributor of the clone but only sell it in Eastern markets and he would provide no support for it. At least he managed to make a little money by taking that route.

Fast forward a few years, couple the cottage industry of flash-cart selling with sites like Aliexpress making it painless for Westerners to make purchases and the cheaper clones invaded quickly. Which is always a tasty bit of irony... people get all bent out of shape over "pirated" flash-carts. "I want to play my illegal pirated software on a REAL copier, not some cheap imitation!"

[Tanooki]

Which is always a tasty bit of irony... people get all bent out of shape over "pirated" flash-carts. "I want to play my illegal pirated software on a REAL copier, not some cheap imitation!"

I got nothing really, just really had to quote that because it's very funny and very true. Pirating a pirate, arrr-some. :P

[retro junkie]

Ummmm... I got one of these. Mine came from Aliexpress. Never considered that it would need any kind of update. Works great as is. Didn't know at the time it was pirating someone else's work. I consider it a nice sampler and I seek out the games I think a lot of, and purchase them. :rocker:

8416

[Greg2600]

The MD hasn't needed an update in years. In fact most of his Everdrives are functionally fine, I assume even in pirated form.

I have ALWAYS purchased an authentic Krikzz product, either from him, Stone Age Gamer, or another site. If not for folks like me, he wouldn't have been able to develop additional flash carts beyond the first one. Playing on an "official" pirate device has nothing to do with it. A) some Krikzz updates I feel are vital and B) like I said if you don't support the inventor, he won't invent new things.

[Leo_A]

Fast forward a few years, couple the cottage industry of flash-cart selling with sites like Aliexpress making it painless for Westerners to make purchases and the cheaper clones invaded quickly. Which is always a tasty bit of irony... people get all bent out of shape over "pirated" flash-carts. "I want to play my illegal pirated software on a REAL copier, not some cheap imitation!"

There are a lot of uses for it that don't involve piracy though. And I'm not just nitpicking since some of mine like my Cuttle Cart II have spent much more time on homebrews and other perfectly legal uses than piracy.

But it's not really because it's "pirated" and I'm afraid that I don't care too much of the creator loses a sale or two or if people are very pleased with their purchases of copies. I think the genuine deal is the way to go simply because if these imitations don't even accept his updates, I really doubt they work as well in general as his own Everdrives do.

And while I see some folks minimizing updates in here, I have updated mine several times through the years and gained much appreciated functionality. So while not a killer, let's also not pretend that it doesn't matter either.

[Tanooki]

Ummmm... I got one of these. Mine came from Aliexpress. Never considered that it would need any kind of update. Works great as is. Didn't know at the time it was pirating someone else's work. I consider it a nice sampler and I seek out the games I think a lot of, and purchase them. :rocker:

8416

That's the one I saw too with like 400 games or so pre-loaded on the memory card. It's sooo tempting if anything because of the memory card. So much stuff one could try out to buy later. I've been telling people to do that lately with the everdrives on NES and SNES since I still people all jacked up to jump in and not realizing even some common games are getting into stupid price levels which will cause frustration, burn outs, and rage quits. An everdrive can save a fortune sifting the turds away from the gems. It's a reason why I even have that AT Games handheld, the SD slot. Try before you buy (and in this case, sound issues aside, portability factor since the NOMAD is a battery murdering brick.)

[CRTGAMER]

CRT good luck. I did find very little info which is why I posted. I did some screwball type searches with google and I did come up with the fact there have been revisions, and not the usual shit the chinese pull overseas with their console/handheld where it's microscopic. There's been at least 2-3 changes over time from when it came out. The oldest only worked on the AT games console you showed (original model), but then later ones I couldn't find an answer but read they were changed. I ran out of options and figured I'd dangle the carrot here. The model on the atgames site is the newest and renamed version of it.
Just got an EMail from PayPal that reported ATGames credited a full refund including shipping charge. Not sure if out of stock, but never heard from them other then the initial EMail stating the Mega Expert Passport Cart was purchased. I suspect it was in fact out of stock and took PaPal to settle the dispute.

http://www.atgames.us/media/FBC110%20ID_FB8200R.jpg

Too bad the game roms have to be individually pulled from the SD Card and flashed onto the flash cart memory every time a different game is selected. Any Flash cart could eventually fail from a bad file transfer. The N64 Gameshark notorious for this, glad I bailed out.

http://www.micro-64.com/features/gsrepair1/good_pro.jpg

[Gameguy]

Which is always a tasty bit of irony... people get all bent out of shape over "pirated" flash-carts. "I want to play my illegal pirated software on a REAL copier, not some cheap imitation!"
It's more for reliability and build quality. There have been some pirated fake GBA and DS flash carts that either wouldn't work completely right or would break down because they were poorer quality compared to the legit ones. I know of someone who fixed a GBA one by reflowing the solder on the board, they're just poorly made compared to the legit ones.


That's the one I saw too with like 400 games or so pre-loaded on the memory card. It's sooo tempting if anything because of the memory card. So much stuff one could try out to buy later. I've been telling people to do that lately with the everdrives on NES and SNES since I still people all jacked up to jump in and not realizing even some common games are getting into stupid price levels which will cause frustration, burn outs, and rage quits. An everdrive can save a fortune sifting the turds away from the gems. It's a reason why I even have that AT Games handheld, the SD slot. Try before you buy (and in this case, sound issues aside, portability factor since the NOMAD is a battery murdering brick.)
If you just want to try out the games before buying them you can emulate them on a PC for free, that's what most people did before flash carts existed.

[Tanooki]

CRT good for you and I agree.

Game guy we're not going to agree but I'll say this much it's not the same using a fake console sketchy PC emulator with ROMs and a different controller versus the real deal. Anyone knows that and given it's that cheap with over 400 games on there it is better. The time involved in downloading cataloging and installing those onto a slow SD memory card I would safely say my time and anyone else's time is worth the expense versus all that lost time finding downloading and setting it all up on your own.

[Gameguy]

I can understand the want to try out games properly on legit hardware with a correct controller, that's a point I understand. I'm not sure why you would have that shitty AT Games handheld then for trying out games as that's not like real hardware either, and with emulating on a PC you wouldn't need to transfer ROMs to a slow SD card at all as they'd be on your hard drive so I don't get that point either. Downloading the ROMs would take more effort, but at the same time you could get an entire ROM set so you wouldn't be limited to what came with the SD card, plus if you're just using it to try out games you've never played before you'd want to try out all the games so you'd be forced to download them all anyway. You don't have to stay by the computer while it's downloading either so it's not that time consuming. I guess it's just personal preference really.

[Leo_A]

Unless one is still using dial-up or is going through their cell phone or something, I don't really see any appeal in a preloaded rom set. A complete set of known good roms for platforms like the Genesis is just a hop, skip, and a jump away.

The only things difficult are stuff not even provided here like patched roms for homebrew translated games, homebrew NTSC conversions of PAL titles, prototypes, original homebrew creations, and the like. Some of that stuff can actually take some searching to track down, but a complete North American released set for any cartridge system isn't a difficult thing to get.

With something like the Cuttle Cart II, I could understand since adding games is a pain in the butt and sometimes requires some detective work to determine such things as the bankswitching scheme that a game uses. But it's a non-issue for something like a Genesis Everdrive and most others since adding your games is a trivial task on more recent products.

[Az]

There are a lot of uses for it that don't involve piracy though. And I'm not just nitpicking since some of mine like my Cuttle Cart II have spent much more time on homebrews and other perfectly legal uses than piracy.

I totally agree with you, but I think it's safe to say that the vast, vast majority of use for a MD (and especially SNES) Everdrives is to play copyright infringing material. The amount of 100% legal, totally non-infringing homebrew available for the Genesis is minuscule and the SNES even smaller.

I personally do not care what people do with their toys, but what irks me is this: the same people that pull the tar and feathers out for pirates/counterfeits/repros and call for blood due to people "making money off something they don't own" and IP theft, yet they're perfectly cool throwing hundreds of bucks towards the 2-3 US/UK based stores/people that basically exist to sell nothing but flash carts. Dude in his basement soldering out a Starfox 2 repro is a leech that deserves a good thrashing, but a guy/store that sells a device where you can make your own personal repros deserves endless worship, praise, and money.

A) Sucks that Krikkz designed a product which was soon counterfeited
B) Sucks that Sega designed a product which was soon counterfeited

You can't be weep over one point and dismiss the other.


I think the genuine deal is the way to go simply because if these imitations don't even accept his updates, I really doubt they work as well in general as his own Everdrives do.

I own an original V1 MD ED and a SNES ED and both of the Chinese versions as well. The Chinese SNES one came with whatever the latest firmware was at the time (bought these over a year ago) and the MD version was one revision less than the newest version. I did read on one forum somewhere that supposedly a guy bricked his MD Everdrive clone when he went to update it to whatever that newest version was, I do not know if this is an actual fact or just bullshit, but I never bothered to update mine just in case. The update offered nothing that would help me personally so I figured I'd rather be safe than sorry.

Barring this possible(?) newest firmware issue on the MD clone, I can say that both of them work totally, exactly like the originals, with the exception that the ROM loading is slightly longer on the clones. If not for that you couldn't tell the difference.

[Tanooki]

I can understand the want to try out games properly on legit hardware with a correct controller, that's a point I understand. I'm not sure why you would have that shitty AT Games handheld then for trying out games as that's not like real hardware either, and with emulating on a PC you wouldn't need to transfer ROMs to a slow SD card at all as they'd be on your hard drive so I don't get that point either. Downloading the ROMs would take more effort, but at the same time you could get an entire ROM set so you wouldn't be limited to what came with the SD card, plus if you're just using it to try out games you've never played before you'd want to try out all the games so you'd be forced to download them all anyway. You don't have to stay by the computer while it's downloading either so it's not that time consuming. I guess it's just personal preference really.

Good question and I get that too. Easy answer, portability, and that's it. I would NEVER use it to test out games except as a last resort. I'd rather get the chinese old firmware everdrive. I don't have a SD card yet for the atgames thing anyway (and I also have their actually accurate GG/SMS one too which was pre-developed before ATGames got it from Sega under their newer license.)

I'm not sure how many Genesis games are skipped on that Chinese card, but the better link Niku gave for it on aliexpress shows there's 500+USA games, 400+JP and 500+EU/PAL stuff and I skimmed the lists and they do have some overlap but stuff only certain regions got only show in that region so if it's not a full set I'd bet it's extremely close. That's why I said that the other day as it's just wiser to buy this older one and save a crap ton of time, effort, and cataloging games when someone else already did it in differing folders in alphabetical order.


I could say a heap but AZ -- Very well said, all of it, the pick and choose whining hypocrisy, the rumors over bricking everdrives from china, and the rest. It's like it's ok to steal one way but not the other. Picking your flavor of illegality is like going FULL RETARD, and you never go full retard.

[Gamevet]

Just curious. Why would you need to update the firmware on an Everdrive cart?

[Tanooki]

Two reasons would be bugs that could cause a problem with it, or they add a small feature (say like save/load states if it didn't exist already. I'm doubtful a thing like that could be released where a certain game wouldn't work if it required not extra parts (like Virtua Racing, the one, that needs SVP.) That's why I said if the rumor is true you can't upgrade the firmware, who cares.

[PreZZ]

The preloaded roms were crap, first thing I did was delete them and put a custom ever drive romset with hacks and translations I found online. Just DON'T fully erase the SD card you need the old OS file on the card.

[Gameguy]

I personally do not care what people do with their toys, but what irks me is this: the same people that pull the tar and feathers out for pirates/counterfeits/repros and call for blood due to people "making money off something they don't own" and IP theft, yet they're perfectly cool throwing hundreds of bucks towards the 2-3 US/UK based stores/people that basically exist to sell nothing but flash carts. Dude in his basement soldering out a Starfox 2 repro is a leech that deserves a good thrashing, but a guy/store that sells a device where you can make your own personal repros deserves endless worship, praise, and money.

I could say a heap but AZ -- Very well said, all of it, the pick and choose whining hypocrisy, the rumors over bricking everdrives from china, and the rest. It's like it's ok to steal one way but not the other. Picking your flavor of illegality is like going FULL RETARD, and you never go full retard.
It's not really hypocritical. If people are against pirates and counterfeits for games, they feel the same way towards piracy and counterfeits of hardware and accessories too. People would be angry if they bought a fake SNES controller branded as legit as they wouldn't be the same quality as the real ones. It's really the prospect of getting duped into buying something fake that you think is real that's the main issue people have, followed by the direct profiting off someone else's work as a distant second. Destroying legit games to make bootlegs is another reason people dislike them, especially when uncommon or rare games get destroyed for a bootleg. Flashcarts by themselves aren't ripping off anyone's work, no more than buying blank CDs or DVDs and recording them with whatever you want. Nobody would get confused between a flash cart and a real cart anymore than confusing a cart copier with floppies over a real game. People didn't care about pirates when they were easily distinguishable from legit copies, lots of people even collected them as oddities of interest. Now that they look close to real copies people hate them.

As for counterfeit flashcarts, I remember back with GBA flashcarts that a few fakes couldn't save games while the real versions could. The limited functionality and possible compatibility and build quality issues is what bothered people the most with the fake flashcarts. Back then a lot of the real flashcarts weren't exactly high quality to begin with, the fakes just got a lot worse and a lot just died on people. It's a big reason why people would want to stick with legit versions over fakes, just to avoid possible problems or issues with lesser quality ones.


Just curious. Why would you need to update the firmware on an Everdrive cart?
I guess if any new homebrew game comes out that isn't compatible, an update to the firmware could fix the issue. Otherwise there's not many reasons if everything else is stable and running well.