PowerPak and Super Everdrive Questions

[dgdgagdae]

Has anyone here ordered a PowerPak from RetroUSB lately? What is the turnaround time? I ordered one a couple of days ago, and my status hasn't been updated since I ordered it. It still says "In Production". Also, I emailed them about possibly adding an item to that order, and I haven't heard back. It looks like a one man operation, I'm just not sure what my expectations should be.

Also, how often does anyone know how often Stone Age Gamer gets Super Everdrives in stock? When I checked a couple of days ago, it said expected availability was February. Now it says mid-March. I'm not sure if that's because the date was pushed back, or because they sold out that quickly. An email to them asking if there is a waiting list or a notification list also went unanswered.

[MyTurnToPlay]

It's a shame you purchased the Powerpak. The Everdrive is by far the superior product...excellent quality and product support by the maker himself.

The Powerpak on the other hand is an aging piece of junk. Seriously, it's just crap. Oh well, I guess we can't all be winners. But if you're going to buy a Mega Everdrive definitely wait for the newest version. I think it's coming out soon and has great features.

thank you.

[treismac]

The Powerpak on the other hand is an aging piece of junk. Seriously, it's just crap.

Care to elaborate?

[dgdgagdae]

It's a shame you purchased the Powerpak. The Everdrive is by far the superior product...excellent quality and product support by the maker himself.

The Powerpak on the other hand is an aging piece of junk. Seriously, it's just crap. Oh well, I guess we can't all be winners. But if you're going to buy a Mega Everdrive definitely wait for the newest version. I think it's coming out soon and has great features.

thank you.

Is there even an EverDrive for the NES? I saw them for other systems, but not NES. The Power Pak is for NES.

[theclaw]

No. Most flash cart makers don't think the programming hassle NES entails is worth it. Or something like that.

And there isn't IIRC enough interest in Japan to get ones for Famicom, Mark III, etc.

[Shulamana]

There is also a SNES PowerPak.

In regards to Stone Age Gamer, they announced on Facebook a while ago that they're switching away from the back order system, as they felt it was too complicated and confusing for both them and the customers. Instead, they're switching to a new storefront soon that will allow customers to set up email alerts for when products become available again.

[Steven]

It's a shame you purchased the Powerpak. The Everdrive is by far the superior product...excellent quality and product support by the maker himself.

The Powerpak on the other hand is an aging piece of junk. Seriously, it's just crap.

That's overtly harsh, IMO. I love the Powerpak. It's a GREAT piece of technology. It helps bringing that to friends' house as opposed to grabbing 5-10 different cartridges.

You can't go wrong with the SNES Powerpak. I love mine and don't see myself ever getting rid of it.

[Shulamana]

As a Super Everdrive owner, I'm glad I chose the one I did, but I can't see any reason why you would want to get it if you already had a PowerPak, it's better, but I don't think it's that much better.

[dgdgagdae]

As a Super Everdrive owner, I'm glad I chose the one I did, but I can't see any reason why you would want to get it if you already had a PowerPak, it's better, but I don't think it's that much better.

I guess I need to clarify, as I didn't know there was a PowerPak for SNES.

I ordered the NES PowerPak, and I want to order the Super Everdrive for SNES. Is the SNES PowerPak a superior product to the Super Everdrive? And how?

[Satoshi_Matrix]

Once again, its best to simply ignore every single word MyTurnToPlay posted.

Now for real answers to dgdgagdae's initial post:

RetroZone's turnaround time varies, but I'd say give them around a month from the time you order to the time it shows up at your door. They aren't crooks, but it does sometimes take a while.

the NES Powerpak is a fantastic piece of technology, and is extremely advanced thank its its use of FPGA controller mapper codes. The NES is notoriously difficult to emulate accurately given the huge range of mappers and MMCs. The fact that the Powerpak is able to create 1:1 versions of nearly all of them at present (with future updates always possible) is reason enough to own one. Plus it saves game data to flash memory, making the Powerpak ideal for long NES RPGs where you might be worried about erasing your battery backed save.

You said you emailed them and haven't heard back. This is not unusual - Bunnyboy virtually never answers emails or pms. You can try asking around on NintendoAge, but yeah, I wouldnt' hold your breath for a response from Retrozone anytime soon.

As for StoneAge Gamer, I can only really tell you that it'll be available when its available. That's just how it is with these things. StoneAge gamer will porbably respond, but I don't think he'll tell you anything that I already didnt.

If you're interested in an SNES flashcart, you might again want to consider the Retrozone SNES Powerpak over the Super Everdrive. The Super Powerpak is again FPGA based, while the Everdrive isn't. The FPGA allows the powerpak to easily emulate any SNES game that doesn't use expansion chips other than the DSP1. The file structure system is also completely different on the Everdrive.

However, unless you need to get an SNES flashcart now, I'd recommend waiting and keeping an eye on an upcoming one called SD2SNES.

http://sd2snes.de/blog/status

It promises to run expansion SNES chips including DSP1 (Pilotwings, Mario Kart) CX4 (Megaman X2, X3) and GSU1 (StarFox) with more to be announced. This will make it the first and only flashcart to handle SNES games that used expansion hardware. It's very exciting stuff.

[Leo_A]

But if you're going to buy a Mega Everdrive definitely wait for the newest version. I think it's coming out soon and has great features.

I believe I saw zero (Or close to it) loadtimes mentioned for the revised Genesis Everdrive.

Sounds good