SNES "X*BAND" Memories

[CaryMG]

SNES "X*BAND" (http://xband.twksatellite.com/)
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b227/softBoy/xband_snes_box.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b227/softBoy/x-band_snes.gif

I always wanted one for the SNES but I'd hear stories of $200 phone bills! lol

So what I'd like ta know is ....
1] What are your memories of SNES "X*BAND"?
2] What features did it have?
3] Did you play online games?
4] How'd the email work? Could you email anywhere, or just fellow SNES "X*BAND" users?
5] How were your "X*BAND" phonebills?

Also, the Commodore64 had an online service called "QuantumLink" (http://www.qlinklives.org/qlink-new/index.html).
Recently, some technowizards have got it running again -- accessible through a Commodore64! > "QuantumLink" ReLoaded (http://www.quantum-link.org/)
So I was wondering ....
Could the same thing be done with our beloved SNES & "X*BAND"?
Could the "X*BAND" modem be opened up & the access phonenumber changed to a tollfree one?
Or let the number stay the same & a philanthropic retrogamer'd field the phone costs?

What do you guys think?


Later!
:) :) :)

[VACRMH]

Ah X-Band.... my cousin used to have one of these and I always would stay up all night playing at his house.

1. My memories, playing Killer Instinct at 2AM and kicking ass with Jago

2. Features, you could chat with people before and after the match, and send them messages. Plus, you could have a profile for each person that plays with the cart.

3. Did I play online games? In general? Well, X-Band was online :D

4. Email was just from user to user on X- Band

5. He never had a huge bill, as you could limit the X-Band to only making local calls.

Damn, good times.

[Jagasian]

There is currently an X-band revival project under way, to make it so that people can use their X-bands again for multiplayer SNES over the net. Search the web for "x-band revival".

[Cryomancer]

That would be highly awesome if that happened, I never got to try these either.

[alec006]

Lets hope they get the Genesis Xband back up to,and get more games to support xband.

[DreamTR]

I played XBAND as Dream Theater on SNES and Genesis. I think I had more games than anyone played overall on the fighting games LOL

[Mr Mort]

I played XBAND as Dream Theater on SNES and Genesis. I think I had more games than anyone played overall on the fighting games LOL

God I hated you...

I played you numerous times on SSF2 SNES, never beat you. You and Vincent Delpino made me hate Ryu for life. Just look at my avatar....

J/K, seriously, you are the man, I have much respect for your SF skills, and I'm well aware of your reputation in the fighting game scene.

Anyways,

1] Playing LOTS of Super Street Fighter 2, and seeing all kinds of oddball tactics. Getting very frustrated. Braking many controllers. Some great wins, some spectacular losses. Clans galore like NBK, and starting my own Weird Al Yankovic clan called Channel 62.
2] Not too many features to speak of, other than rankings, email, an online newsletter, and if you were waiting for an incoming match, you could play a single player game while the Xband waited for an incoming signal.
3] I pretty much only played SSF2, dabbled in Killer Instinct, and MK2 & 3 here and there.
4] You could send and receive emails outside of the Xband network, but it usually was more trouble than it was worth.
5] The bills were actually quite reasonable. I played a good amount for a while, and you could have the charges billed directly to a credit card which is what I did, but I never remember getting billed ridiculous amounts.

[ScottK]

I was one of the people with a huge ass phone bill. My first phone bill alone was over $800 just from Xband charges. I was able to get the phone company to drop the charges for the first month so only had to pay the $300 I owed the second month.

The reason why I got charged that much is that the Xband was linked up with CompuServe access numbers. If you didn't live in a major U.S. city, chances are you didn't have a local access number. The Xband would dial the closest number to you and you never knew if it was a long distance number or not until you got your phone bill.

I mainly played Killer Instinct, Super Mario Kart, and Super Street Fighter 2.

Emailing wasn't that bad. If you were sending an email (or "x-mail" as they call it) to another xbander you just had to enter their name. If you were emailing to a regular email address...you just entered the full address. However, you got like 10 emails back telling you every bit of detail on how your email left the xband network and arrived at it's final destination.

You could play people locally for free or pay a monthly rate to play anyone nationally.

[XianXi]

Funny because I recently came across one about 2 months ago and actually tried to log on hoping. But no luck...lol

I used to own with Ryu in SFII, nuff said.

[DreamTR]

Xian wrote:
I used to own with Ryu in SFII, nuff said.




HAHAHAHAHAHHHHH!!!! That was a good laugh.

[CaryMG]

There is currently an SNES "X*BAND" revival project under way, to make it so that people can use their "X*BAND"s again for multiplayer SNES over the net. Search the web for "x-band revival".

Oh ....
My ....
GOD !!!!!!!! lol
This is why the InterNet's so cool -- I never even would've dreamed that someone was likeminded like me to get into this much less actually do it!

Man I SO hope it actually happens ....

Read about here > SNES "X*BAND" Revival Project" (http://board.acmlm.org/thread.php?id=14914)


Later!
:) :) :)

[Jagasian]

There is currently an SNES "X*BAND" revival project under way, to make it so that people can use their "X*BAND"s again for multiplayer SNES over the net. Search the web for "x-band revival".

Oh ....
My ....
GOD !!!!!!!! lol
This is why the InterNet's so cool -- I never even would've dreamed that someone was likeminded like me to get into this much less actually do it!

Man I SO hope it actually happens ....

Read about here > SNES "X*BAND" Revival Project" (http://board.acmlm.org/thread.php?id=14914)


Later!
:) :) :)

All X-band owners should help out, by dumping their X-band's SRAM. Contact neviksti directly or make a post in the aforementioned thread, and he will help you get your X-band's SRAM dumped. The reason it is important to dump the SRAM is that the X-band actually stores patches for games that it supports in SRAM. These patches add online multiplayer capability to games, but the limitation is that the SRAM only contains patches for games that you have played with the X-band, which were supported by X-band.

The more SRAM dumps the better, because as time goes on the batteries inside the X-band will die and the SRAM data will be lost forever... unless it is dumped. Many X-bands already have dead batteries and therefore have lost their SRAM.

I've already dumped mine. Have you dumped yours?

[CaryMG]

I was thinking....

When I'd see screenshots of "LucasArts" ' classsic graphic adventures -- like "The Secret Of Monkey Island", "LOOM", "Zack McKraken & The Alien Mindbenders" and "Maniac Mansion" for example -- I'd think, "This is more than do-able on an SNES ...."

Could you imagine ....
Those games with "Donkey Kong Country" graphics?

I even read a letter in "Nintendo Power" magazine where -- when asked what you'd like to see on the SNES -- someone said that very thing!


Later!
CaryMG
:) :) :)

[CaryMG]

Sorry about that -- I put the previous message in the wrong place. lol


Later!
CaryMG
:) :) :)

[XianXi]

Xian wrote:
I used to own with Ryu in SFII, nuff said.




HAHAHAHAHAHHHHH!!!! That was a good laugh.

I dont want to brag but I ranked 3rd in the state during the tournament.

[DreamTR]

XianXi: LOL

Unless you have fought real competition, third in the state of Hawaii at some random old tournament on SF2 does not mean much of anything.

[Mattiekrome]

:D

Wow man, I totally forgot about X-band! I still have one (hopefully complete) somewhere. I only had online access for a month, because when my parents got the phone bill it was about $125.00 for just my X-band.

The only time I EVER got to play a game was against someone in Killer Instinct. His account had that special "long distance" thingie on it. I used the boxer guy (name escapes me at the moment). I did win the match, which I would say is my first EVER online gaming experience.

My name on X-band was - Jester X - LOL I remember right before I had it cancelled I created 3? more accounts and downloaded all the "news" from the X-band newspaper that I could. Hell, I even have some pictures of it somewhere around here :/

[XianXi]

XianXi: LOL

Unless you have fought real competition, third in the state of Hawaii at some random old tournament on SF2 does not mean much of anything.

It was in 91 I believe there were 2000 entries and had a lot of players from Japan who loved to use Chun-Li is all I really remember.

So what tournies have you won if you're so good?

[Daltone]

XianXi: LOL

Unless you have fought real competition, third in the state of Hawaii at some random old tournament on SF2 does not mean much of anything.

It was in 91 I believe there were 2000 entries and had a lot of players from Japan who loved to use Chun-Li is all I really remember.

So what tournies have you won if you're so good?

Oh if only the X-Band service was still working. You could have settled this using the ancient art of virtual fireball flinging.

[neo-zen]

my xband name was M.Dogg
i played about every game you could on xband, but mostly killer instinct, i played up until it shut down.
man i miss playing on xband.
i still have mine complete in the box... :)

[DreamTR]

XianXi: I'm sorry, there were not "2000" people at this tournament you went to. Someone would have heard of it. At the MOST there might have been 200, and that was SF at its' heydey, but you are trying to tell me 2000 people played that game on the islands? Come on. That's a crock if I've ever heard it before.

As for tournaments, I've consistently placed top 10 in many major Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat tournaments in the following games:

Street Fighter II Champion Edition
Street Fighter II Hyper Fighting
Super Street Fighter II Turbo
Street Fighter Alpha 1, 2, and 3
Killer Instinct
Mortal Kombat 2
Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
Mortal Kombat 4
Street Fighter III
Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact
Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike
Capcom vs. SNK
Capcom vs. SNK 2

I'm not some newbie or anything, I've been traveling to tournaments for over 10 years, and I've played the very best in the country and Japan at many of the above games.

I'm sure some of the people on this forum that have played me or know their Street Fighter history can attest to that.

I also still run the MIdwest Championships now in its 11th year in Chicago each year.

Only reason I'm discrediting you is because, well, you're seriously full of crap. The largest fighting game tournament in the USA (contiguous or Alaska/Hawaii) was Evolution, which is mainly a console tournament nowadays.

[Jagasian]

At these tournements, which versions of these games do they play? The original arcade versions on original arcade hardware, or do they play a console port, or some kind of emulation of the arcade?

[XianXi]

XianXi: I'm sorry, there were not "2000" people at this tournament you went to. Someone would have heard of it. At the MOST there might have been 200, and that was SF at its' heydey, but you are trying to tell me 2000 people played that game on the islands? Come on. That's a crock if I've ever heard it before.

As for tournaments, I've consistently placed top 10 in many major Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat tournaments in the following games:

Street Fighter II Champion Edition
Street Fighter II Hyper Fighting
Super Street Fighter II Turbo
Street Fighter Alpha 1, 2, and 3
Killer Instinct
Mortal Kombat 2
Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
Mortal Kombat 4
Street Fighter III
Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact
Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike
Capcom vs. SNK
Capcom vs. SNK 2

I'm not some newbie or anything, I've been traveling to tournaments for over 10 years, and I've played the very best in the country and Japan at many of the above games.

I'm sure some of the people on this forum that have played me or know their Street Fighter history can attest to that.

I also still run the MIdwest Championships now in its 11th year in Chicago each year.

Only reason I'm discrediting you is because, well, you're seriously full of crap. The largest fighting game tournament in the USA (contiguous or Alaska/Hawaii) was Evolution, which is mainly a console tournament nowadays.

Well whatever dude, when you come down to Hawaii call me up so we can settle this, you are one cocky guy. I mean in the initial post I just said how confident I was about my skills with Ryu "BACK IN THE DAY" but you had to be the smaller person and talk smack about someone else since you seem to always have something to prove. Grow up dude. I'm done with this. Next.

[DreamTR]

Jagasian: It used to be on arcade machines, but since arcade cabinets/boards are hard to obtain nowadays, and most players are playing on console, it warped to finding replicas of these games on console versions.

XianXi: "Cocky" I was not the first person that stated in the this thread "I don't want to brag, but my Ryu skills were good back in the day, 3rd place at some Hawaii tournament blah blah" I have been on DP for YEARS and I have never talked about tournaments or fighting games much at all to be honest. I merely wanted to point out to SOMEONE who was bragging about something that was way over the top. It's just you were exaggerating the facts, that's all, and you are becoming so defensive about it that you are trying to partition off what YOU began as of it was me that brought it up!

AS for going to Hawaii, I'm not going to fly across the ocean and play random Street Fighter with someone that might not have the money or capabilities to stand up in the current games. There are plenty of major tournaments on the mainland that you can showcase your skills at each year here, and I'd be more than happy to play against you at one of them.

If that does not work, we'll have to play on XBOX Live, because as much as I do not like latency, it's the only thing we have at the moment.

You can play Street Fighter II Anniversary Collection on it, with a version of Hyper Street Fighter II (Super Turbo's sequel) that allows you to play the old SF2 version of Ryu against their counterparts from CE, HF, SSF2, and SSF2T.

I have nothing against you, but I just don't like people bragging about things they can not back up. (I.e I WAS SO GOOD AT THE GAME IN MY LOCAL MALL I COULD BEAT THE GAME ALL DAY AND NIGHT I WON 23 TOURNEYS IN MONTANA, etc) Because a 2000 man tournament is just impossible to fathom for Hawaii because, well, it just is not true.

[Mr Mort]

XianXi: No offense dude, but DreamTR is the real deal. He's actually being quite modest. I've played him both on Xband and Live, and he is exceptional at fighting games, especially Street Fighter. If you're into the fighting game scene on a serious level, you would have at least heard of him at some point.

Head over to the forums at Shoryuken.com and you'll see he's well known and respected in the fighting game scene.

[XianXi]

Xian wrote:
I used to own with Ryu in SFII, nuff said.




HAHAHAHAHAHHHHH!!!! That was a good laugh.


I am not questioning his skill but with the above quote being ignored I am now questioning his ability to read. This is the quote that started the "cockiness" I was speaking of. Each to his own though. Good luck in your future endeavors as for tournaments. I don't play much video games anymore as I am training in boxing anyways, so you would probably beat me in a video game.

[DreamTR]

XIanXi: my ability to read? I took it like it said. No one was talking about how good they were at a game, and you came out of nowhere saying you "owned with Ryu, 'nuff said". That basically says to me that you are trying to impose that "cockiness" about your game on an XBAND thread. So I did not misinterpet anything.

And now I see where your "hidden" messages come in. "Settling" things in Hawaii? "Probably" beat you at video games? You concentrate on "boxing" anyway? Come on, we're adults here. You don't know anything about me, so empty threats about physical violence is pretty silly. I have taken martial arts classes before, and I was quite proficient in two different forms awhile ago, but what does that matter? We're not talking about that, I was just trying to point out something about you randomly talking about something that is entirely not true. I think I made my point based on your responses.

[segarocks30]

SOMEONE LOCK THIS PLEASE!!!!!!!!! STOP THE FIGHTING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :angry: :angry: :angry: @_@

[segarocks30]

Now look, you are both good at video games. I never ever was good at fighting games, so take your anger out on me! Please just stop arguing. We are all supposed to be friends here. Stop this pointless arguing.

[DreamTR]

No, this thread should be locked. This is supposed to be about XBAND.

[XianXi]

XIanXi: my ability to read? I took it like it said. No one was talking about how good they were at a game, and you came out of nowhere saying you "owned with Ryu, 'nuff said".



1. My memories, playing Killer Instinct at 2AM and kicking ass with Jago





And now I see where your "hidden" messages come in. "Settling" things in Hawaii? "Probably" beat you at video games? You concentrate on "boxing" anyway? Come on, we're adults here. You don't know anything about me, so empty threats about physical violence is pretty silly. I have taken martial arts classes before, and I was quite proficient in two different forms awhile ago, but what does that matter? We're not talking about that, I was just trying to point out something about you randomly talking about something that is entirely not true. I think I made my point based on your responses.

Dude what threats? I have been boxing since I was 10, everyone on my local forum boards knows I have been boxing for a long time. I am even on Boxingsceneforums as "NeverBX". I drifted away at one point and am try to get back into it as a hobby not a career. And my statement as of coming to Hawaii to settle it meant to take it to Hawaiian Brains which is where all the newer tournaments are held.

Dude seriously I am just trying to point out that you are the instigator not me, that is all. I made my quote about Ryu just like the other saying he kicks ass with Jago but you never made a smart ass comment to him, why?

I don't have an Xbox so I can't play you on Xbox live, if I did we would be playing and having fun right now instead of playing post tag.

I am a friendly person but if someone pokes at me like you did I get riled up. I apologize to everyone that was affected by these posts.

If I ever pick up an Xbox I will let you know so we can play sometime unless the X-Band is gonna be up and running again.

[segarocks30]

Now am I the only one that thinks this thread is going no where?? :/ :texaschain:

[XianXi]

Now am I the only one that thinks this thread is going no where?? :/ :texaschain:

No you aren't. When I played X-Band I only tried with SF2 and MK, what other games worked with it, anyone remember?

[segarocks30]

Too bad I was born in 1993, I would have went right to the store and bought a X-Band for a SNES (Yes i know what a SNES is for the people who think I'm a little kid who only cares about NEW CONSOLES). It sucks because I don't have the following online based systems:Xbox,Xbox live, and PS2 online (Because i do not have a router). :(

[XianXi]

Too bad I was born in 1993, I would have went right to the store and bought a X-Band for a SNES (Yes i know what a SNES is for the people who think I'm a little kid who only cares about NEW CONSOLES). It sucks because I don't have the following online based systems:Xbox,Xbox live, and PS2 online (Because i do not have a router). :(

Same here but I don't own an Xbox because I hate it and I don't have online with PS2 because I still have dialup at home because I just use my T1 at work if I need to.

[segarocks30]

I wonder how many times you could beat me in a row at Street fighter 2? LOL You would probably set a record knowing how bad I am at fighting games. I was never born to play fighting games period.

[XianXi]

I wonder how many times you could beat me in a row at Street fighter 2? LOL You would probably set a record knowing how bad I am at fighting games. I was never born to play fighting games period.

No ways. You never know, you would probably beat me more than once. The one thing I hate more than a pro is a beginner. I used to hate playing at the arcade and beating like 5-10 guys then some kid who is a button masher comes along and just presses whatever and keeps spinning the joystick. That kid was using Zangief and kept grabbing me from across the screen...lol All I remember after he beat me and then he looked at me and smiled, I had to laugh because his glasses were some taped up it looked like wristbands on his glasses. Cute kid though. I just smiled and walked away and then played Sonic Blastman.

[segarocks30]

LOL LOL LOL LOL LMAO thats funny kids glasses were taped up like wrist bands!

[Mr Mort]

Now am I the only one that thinks this thread is going no where?? :/ :texaschain:

No you aren't. When I played X-Band I only tried with SF2 and MK, what other games worked with it, anyone remember?

http://www.gamersgraveyard.com/repository/snes/peripherals/xband.html
Doom
Ken Griffey Jr. Baseball
Killer Instinct
Kirby's Avalanche
Madden NFL 95
Madden NFL 96
Mortal Kombat II
Mortal Kombat III
NBA Jam TE
NHL 95
NHL 96
Super Mario Kart
Super Street Fighter II
WeaponLord

[XianXi]

Now am I the only one that thinks this thread is going no where?? :/ :texaschain:

No you aren't. When I played X-Band I only tried with SF2 and MK, what other games worked with it, anyone remember?

http://www.gamersgraveyard.com/repository/snes/peripherals/xband.html
Doom
Ken Griffey Jr. Baseball
Killer Instinct
Kirby's Avalanche
Madden NFL 95
Madden NFL 96
Mortal Kombat II
Mortal Kombat III
NBA Jam TE
NHL 95
NHL 96
Super Mario Kart
Super Street Fighter II
WeaponLord

How can I forget NBA Jam??? :eek 2:

[Jagasian]

Jagasian: It used to be on arcade machines, but since arcade cabinets/boards are hard to obtain nowadays, and most players are playing on console, it warped to finding replicas of these games on console versions.


As a purist, that saddens me. The different ports of Street Fighter vary wildly, and MAME's emulation of the series is... less than ideal. It isn't very hard at all to obtain the PCBs of the Street Fighter series, for example. Back around 1999, I bought a bunch of PCBs on ebay. Each sold for around $15. They aren't too big either, and all you need is either a "SuperGun" or 1 arcade cabinet, rigged up so that you can swap out arcade PCBs.

Really, I am only a purist when it comes to games that I have played so much that I notice a pixel's worth of a difference. The Street Fighter 2 series is definitely one of those games.

[DreamTR]

Jagasian, it actually is VERY difficult to get numerous boards and cabinets for 1000 peopel nowadays. It's harder to move them place to place since arcades are basically non existant. Many Japanese players come to play as well, and you need to make sure you have Japanese/USA sticks for them, which means a "linked" cabinet. Couple the fact that games like CVS2 and MVC2 are NAOMI board games, those cost upwards of $400-500 APIECE still. There aren't any tournament games that cost "$15" or so. Hyper Fighting is a pretty cheap board, but there has not been a tourney for that in years. Everything would need to be at LEAST CPS2 related, and the SUPERGUN experiment failed two years ago because well, people don't want to be forced to use Supergun joysticks.

[MrJeffy]

A while back my friend and I thought about connecting a mini-network so we could use our X-Bands to play each other. I Googled and Googled, until I found the online resume of someone that had been on the development team for X-Band.

He essentially said that the X-Band used proprietary code that was specifically written for each SNES game that X-Band supported. He said even if you could create a pseudo-network that two or more people could access and have their consoles "linked", the code needed was proprietary and carefully licensed through the respective game companies.

Basically, even if you can get everything set up to work like the X-Band service did, you would be in copyright violation by having the SRAM patches on a server, whether money is being made or not.

Now how "possession" of the SRAM patches is defined and how the actual ownership and use of that SRAM code is goverened is another matter.
ò¿ó   http://www.videogamefever.com/atariage_forum/smile_to_katamari_damacy.gif

[MrJeffy]

Sorry about ignoring the topic. My X-Band days lasted until two consecutive $200+ phone bills, then I gave up. And typically all I would play was Mortal Kombat (record was about .500) and Mario Kart (record was around .750--850).

My friend and I freaked out when we figured out how to always get the Choco Island track. It's been a while, but during the connecting screen, it was something like "hold L button, R button, Select) and it would always put you on the top screen and always on the Choco Island track. And I can't really remember about the screen position, but I played Choco Island a lot. :)

ò¿ó   http://www.videogamefever.com/atariage_forum/smiling_to_nintendo-2.gif

[Jagasian]

Basically, even if you can get everything set up to work like the X-Band service did, you would be in copyright violation by having the SRAM patches on a server, whether money is being made or not.

Now how "possession" of the SRAM patches is defined and how the actual ownership and use of that SRAM code is goverened is another matter.
ò¿ó http://www.videogamefever.com/atariage_forum/smile_to_katamari_damacy.gif
All that is needed is to re-use the SRAM patches that were already released for the X-band. Owning an X-band should allow you to possess the patches.

[CaryMG]

When I played X-Band I only tried with SF2 and MK, what other games worked with it, anyone remember?

Here ya go, XianXi!

"DOOM"
"Ken Griffey Jr. Baseball"
"Killer Instinct"
"Kirby's Avalanche"
"Madden '95"
"Madden '96"
"Mortal Kombat II"
"Mortal Kombat 3"
"NBA Jam -- Tournament Edition"
"NHL '95"
"NHL '96"
"Super Mario Kart"
"Super Street Fighter II"
"WeaponLord"


Later!
:) :) :)

[Cryomancer]

was going through some saturn discs today and i noticed that saturn bomberman and duke nukem 3d both had Xband stuff on them. There was an xband folder, and also various xband logos in the netlink folder.

anyone know the story behind this connection?

[Mr Mort]

was going through some saturn discs today and i noticed that saturn bomberman and duke nukem 3d both had Xband stuff on them. There was an xband folder, and also various xband logos in the netlink folder.

anyone know the story behind this connection?

Using the Sega Saturn Netlink Cartridge, there were a few North American Saturn games that you could play online. I might be missing some, but I believe the list is:
-Duke Nukem' 3D
-Saturn Bomberman
-Sega Rally Netlink Edition
-Virtual On Netlink Edition
-Daytona USA CCE Netlink

Sega and Catapult worked together, I'm assuming using some of the Xband code to get the games working online. Many of the icons and interfaces are lifted straight out of Xband.

The games played very well, especially virtual on, had very little lag, it was hardly noticable at all. The best part is, you can still play these games online. All you need is a Netlink cart, the game, and a phone line. Since it dials your opponen's phone number directly, you don't need to have internet access to play.

[The Manimal]

It would rule if there was a major online TECMO SUPER BOWL game. So all those who were showoffs in the day (it was like EVERYONE played this game if they had an NES!) can take on not just those that were their friends, but anyone on the 'net. That would rule. People fighting to pick the 49ers first. LOL

[Beefy Hits]

I was on xband from 95-96 on SNES. played Kirby's avalanche, MK2-3, and a little bit of mario kart. Never went national, but got to know everyone in my local area and even hung with them at arcades from time to time. I remember seeing Dream theatres name on the leader boards as well. It was a great service and my first exposure to online gaming.

I remember my folks using it as an email system to send me mail when I was at college. There was a trick to send and receive mail without using a connection credit.

I also remember using the spare accounts profiles as "boards" - posting news, reviews of Square Games on a popular board I used to run called Square Table.

[DeputyMoniker]

It sucks because I don't have the following online based systems:Xbox,Xbox live, and PS2 online (Because i do not have a router). :(

So you dont have any of those systems except a PS2 and your PS2 isnt online because you dont have a router? You can get a decent Linksys router for about $30 shipped off ebay. PS2 doesnt have a lot of good online-capable games to choose from but at least most of the online PS2 games are free to play.

[segarocks30]

It sucks because I don't have the following online based systems:Xbox,Xbox live, and PS2 online (Because i do not have a router). :(

So you dont have any of those systems except a PS2 and your PS2 isnt online because you dont have a router? You can get a decent Linksys router for about $30 shipped off ebay. PS2 doesnt have a lot of good online-capable games to choose from but at least most of the online PS2 games are free to play.

Heh, well that was back those months ago. I have a router now.

[Bleetness]

Too bad I was born in 1993, I would have went right to the store and bought a X-Band for a SNES (Yes i know what a SNES is for the people who think I'm a little kid who only cares about NEW CONSOLES). It sucks because I don't have the following online based systems:Xbox,Xbox live, and PS2 online (Because i do not have a router). :(
Nice, I have much respect for you my friend.
DreamTR:Hey Who won the ffa ranbat? I never got a chance to see them all.
And I think I saw one of those Xband cartridges at a flea market, I'll see if its still there next weekend.

[DreamTR]

Bleetness: No idea. I've only entered/been to one, and I got top 8 out of 52 a few months back....

[theMot]

one word.

zbattle.net

[DreamTR]

Everyone always talks about Z Battle. It's just not the same experience like Xband where you played from your modem at home on your console/tv without use of emulators, had XBand News, email, top 10 lists....there is no reason to play Zbattle unless you want to play emulated SNES fighting games..I would play Xband againm, but I would never play Zbattle, just not the same experience.

[thoudx]

top 10 lists.....

Man, there was nothing like waking up in the morning and turning on Xband to check the Top 10 lists!

http://home.comcast.net/~ratchanida/ssf2rankings.jpg

[LAYGO]

I have my Xband . . . and KEYBOARD!

I don't think I ever played anyone with a keyboard.

A cheat w/the keyboard on Doom was you could hit the SPACE button & see where your opponent was.

I used to freak out people when I was typing 50wds a minute w/the keyboard & you could only get 10wds/min w/the controller!

[ThePunisher80]

I was one of the few people to Beat u in mk2 and ssf2 for sega genesis, i nkow u will rememebr me, we had alot of wars together
my name was the Punisher and my other was Minor threat , i playe dyou alot we used to talk(email) wiht xband i hope you remmebr me...
later

[MarioMania]

I wonder if you could hook 2 X-Bands up to 2 SNES's like playing SSF II in one room & playing the Same game in the other room

[delafro]

It's too bad I just kind of dismissed x-band "back in the day"... sounds like it was a lot of fun, and w/ Xbox Live I now know how fun online (and occasionally frustrating!) online can be.

Can anyone give some more info on the Mario Kart Xband? Was it just Battle mode, or could you actually have split-screen races?

[Beefy Hits]

As far as I could remember, Mario Kart on Xband was just battle. You couldn't race each other I don't think.

[50TBRD]

I never got a chance to try out Xband. I didn't get into the SNES until 96 and I didn't think about it back then. I have two of them now. But have never played them seriously, only made sure that they worked. When they closed the online capabilities did they give everyone unlimited credits or what?

[50TBRD]

I never got a chance to try out Xband. I didn't get into the SNES until 96 and I didn't think about it back then. I have two of them now. But have never played them seriously, only made sure that they worked. When they closed the online capabilities did they give everyone unlimited credits or what?

[thoudx]

It's too bad I just kind of dismissed x-band "back in the day"... sounds like it was a lot of fun, and w/ Xbox Live I now know how fun online (and occasionally frustrating!) online can be.

Can anyone give some more info on the Mario Kart Xband? Was it just Battle mode, or could you actually have split-screen races?

You could do both match race and battle mode.

The person that did the dialing was the 1st player, and therefore was given the chance to choose whether the first matchup was a race or a battle.

*loved battling to death*

[thoudx]

I never got a chance to try out Xband. I didn't get into the SNES until 96 and I didn't think about it back then. I have two of them now. But have never played them seriously, only made sure that they worked. When they closed the online capabilities did they give everyone unlimited credits or what?

Nationwide was shut down first, leaving only local play for a month or two. I don't think they ever gave out unlimited credits after that however. Too bad all of my other locals had backed out a few months before. The only thing left to do was to send X-mail to other users with hopes of seeing the web in the future.

[thoudx]

I wonder if you could hook 2 X-Bands up to 2 SNES's like playing SSF II in one room & playing the Same game in the other room

Wouldn't that be great!

Unfortunately, it wouldn't work. There's no way (yet) to control where the X-Band dials, leaving us without a way to have the modems direct dial other modems.

[john2kx]

I started playing DreamTheater+ on snes XBAND when he was in the Miami area, and the 954 and 305 area codes became local, iirc.

He was good, but he never chose any character besides Jax, and he would sit and pound the ground all day and keep you away with his high kick.

But I quickly found that I could beat him with Mileena by just spamming with her sai's. We went back and forth, but I'd get an easy win when he lost patience with all the sai's being thrown around..

at one point, I remember he called me "sai boy".. I went by the tags Hellraizer and Latin Assassin..

[Harkunan]

I have a X-band. However the SRAM only last a couple of minutes or hours and seems to depend on the cart that is placed inside ( like Killer Insticts ).

The problem is I can dump a new SRAM on the internet but I am unable to see if it actually worked since the bios of the X-band will not load up since it is needs to see another game ( like Killer Instict.

I wonder if any Japanese games could go online aside for the Dish thingy?



If I put my Mario Kart in will it erase the saved games? ( which I never finished on my own but this guy who borrowed it ).

I have

Killer Insticts
Mario Kart.

I don't know about others?

I might have had

NBA jam


My memories of X-band was seeing the ad for it in Nintendo power. I wanted one but it was too expensive. Seeing how even Michael Jordan had one:monkey:


The nice thing about it stand alone is the fact it gave the SNES a slight boost in power but you could listen to that X-band music as it constantly changes. Also there was the messaging feature.

Somebody got Dreamcast online with the use of a 56K card and a program why not X-band?

[DreamTR]

I started playing DreamTheater+ on snes XBAND when he was in the Miami area, and the 954 and 305 area codes became local, iirc.

He was good, but he never chose any character besides Jax, and he would sit and pound the ground all day and keep you away with his high kick.

But I quickly found that I could beat him with Mileena by just spamming with her sai's. We went back and forth, but I'd get an easy win when he lost patience with all the sai's being thrown around..

at one point, I remember he called me "sai boy".. I went by the tags Hellraizer and Latin Assassin..


Well, if you have selective memory and still think that you won more, sure. All I know is, I had the best record on Xband (2000+ wins to 72 losses) for MKII, and it's not the first time someone claims something that is not true.

Besides that, MKII on SNES was subpar at best, too much latency to play the game fluidly like the arcade.

[Flashback2012]

I was a SNES Xband user back in the day. :wink 2:

I was not very good at the fighters, probably only won 50% of my matches is that. I did play some Mario Kart and Kirby's Avalanche on there as well. I met some good friends on Xband though and are still friends with them. One of them I was playing with yesterday on World of Warcraft. :)

Still have my SNES Xband. It's a GREAT device to use if you need a converter for Super Famicom games. I have a few games like Jikkyo Oshiberi Parodius and Panic Bomber W that won't work with my Tri-Star adapter but work just fine played through an Xband.

[MrSparkle]

That would be highly awesome if that happened, I never got to try these either.

while theyre at it ask them to revive the sega channel ;)

[MrSparkle]

A while back my friend and I thought about connecting a mini-network so we could use our X-Bands to play each other. I Googled and Googled, until I found the online resume of someone that had been on the development team for X-Band.

He essentially said that the X-Band used proprietary code that was specifically written for each SNES game that X-Band supported. He said even if you could create a pseudo-network that two or more people could access and have their consoles "linked", the code needed was proprietary and carefully licensed through the respective game companies.

Basically, even if you can get everything set up to work like the X-Band service did, you would be in copyright violation by having the SRAM patches on a server, whether money is being made or not.

Now how "possession" of the SRAM patches is defined and how the actual ownership and use of that SRAM code is goverened is another matter.
ò¿ó http://www.videogamefever.com/atariage_forum/smile_to_katamari_damacy.gif

doing that much work maybe it would be easier to develop a new open source snes modem. would be a really cool piece of homebrew ;)