What does an X-Band exactly do?

[theshizzle3000]

I went to Goodwill the other day and I picked up an X-Band thing for the Sega Genesis. I am confused about what exactly it does was it a primitive on-line gaming thing or am I completely wrong. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[CosmicMonkey]

Wikipedia is a wonderful thing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XBAND).

[theshizzle3000]

Yeah you are right. I completely forgot to look it up at Wikipedia.

[theshizzle3000]

Ok so I read the article I guess the only question I have is why is it not more valueable. It seems like it fell off of the face of the earth. How much do you think a sealed one of these would sell for?

[50TBRD]

I believe that the reason that it's not worth more is that you really cannot do anything with it. It's a dead accessory. It's almost like memorabilia.

However, it might be worth more if someone was looking for thier cart from the old days, but with the number of carts that are out there and the lack of information regarding a particular cart being sold, your more than likely never find that particular cart.

[Sweater Fish Deluxe]

The thing is that the XBand units for both the Gensis and SNES were apparently manufactured in simply *MASSIVE* numbers. Up until a couple years ago, you could almost count on seeing a stack of sealed units at any given flea market you went to and they're still available on eBay...at least for the Genesis, I don't see any SNES ones right now.


...word is bondage...

[theshizzle3000]

Ok that makes complete sense. My copy of the x-band is sealed, I am assuming this is similar to what happened with the ET cartridges from the Atari. The company made more than they really would ever need.

[Bratwurst]

There's been talk of a X-Band revival that I'm sure you could google up if you're so inclined. Not sure if it's heading anywhere but there are people out there trying to reverse engineer the things and make it possible to have a use for them in the future.

Nowadays direct connect software clients like Kaillera have taken over, and needless to say, support a lot more games than the X-Band ever did.

[Goblin]

...you really cannot do anything with it. It's a dead accessory.

It's not completely dead or useless:



X-Band - Genesis (Fish Pong, Blockade & Maze)
---------------------------------------------
Fish Pong: Press "Up, Up, Up, Up, Right, B" at the main menu.
Maze: Press "Up, Up, Down" at the call-up screen. For a longer
maze, press "Down, Down, Left, Left, Right, C" at the main menu.
Blockade: Press "Up, Up, Left, Right, Left, Right, button L a the
main 6-buttons screen.
http://www.digitpress.com/faq/hidden.htm

I keep one just for the novelty of it.

[theshizzle3000]

Hell I guess I will hold onto it seeing as its sealed maybe one day down the line it will be worth something. I can only hope right.

[50TBRD]

...you really cannot do anything with it. It's a dead accessory.

It's not completely dead or useless:



X-Band - Genesis (Fish Pong, Blockade & Maze)
---------------------------------------------
Fish Pong: Press "Up, Up, Up, Up, Right, B" at the main menu.
Maze: Press "Up, Up, Down" at the call-up screen. For a longer
maze, press "Down, Down, Left, Left, Right, C" at the main menu.
Blockade: Press "Up, Up, Left, Right, Left, Right, button L a the
main 6-buttons screen.
http://www.digitpress.com/faq/hidden.htm

I keep one just for the novelty of it.

What can you do with the SNES one?

If there was a revival, I think that you would want to have a used one rather than a NOS one. Because of the saved data. But I just about cannot imagine either being what the revival would use, if there was one.

I've aways wondered if there is anyone out there with a used XBand with has a number of credits left or says no credits on it. The two that I have both have unlimited credits on it.

I bought two way back wondering if there would be someone who could one day come up with a close-circuit sort of set-up to allow for game battles, more like a link cable that stored data.

[koster]

I've used X-bands (in pass-through mode) as cheapo import adapters, ie. no need to pop the tabs inside your Super Nintendo to play Super Famicom carts. IIRC, the SNES version even handles the signal lines used by FX carts.

[DreamTR]

They never did that credit thing AFAIK. I was on both since the inception, and it never happened. The idea was for it to occur, but it was strictly related to long distance calling, then changed when XBAND Nationwide with a monthly fee was offered.