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Thread: Japanese SA-1 SFC games on US SNES?

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    drowning in medals Ed Oscuro's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Aussie2B View Post
    Even though it sucks that imports can't be immediately played on a US SNES or N64, I'm not going to complain or suggest that Nintendo was dumb.
    Well, if you're going to have regional lockout, a small mechanical barrier is as elegant a solution as you can get - it's just "dumb" in the sense it's a hoop to jump through.

    This simplicity is why I have trouble understanding the design problems of the converters...doesn't make sense to me but I've said that before.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Greg2600 View Post
    FWIW SA-1 games are playable on the SD2SNES now.
    If you can find an SN2SNES

    Quote Originally Posted by Ed Oscuro View Post
    Well, if you're going to have regional lockout, a small mechanical barrier is as elegant a solution as you can get - it's just "dumb" in the sense it's a hoop to jump through.

    This simplicity is why I have trouble understanding the design problems of the converters...doesn't make sense to me but I've said that before.
    Fuck yeah, I'll take mechanical lockout over a chip ANY day! Nothing like being able to mod a system for free.

  3. #43
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    Wait, I made a boo boo. SA-1 don't work, CX4 works, sorry had them confused. Chip enhancement has kind of slowed to a crawl on the sd2snes.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Aussie2B View Post
    You need some more serious tools to pull off a modification than merely a pair of pliers and a little elbow grease. Most methods require opening the system up to either remove the entire plastic piece with the tabs or to cut them out, so you'd need a game bit for those approaches. I personally melted the tabs down with a soldering iron, which didn't require opening the system, but it's not nearly as pretty as my SNES modifications (and I got a couple tiny melt marks on the flaps).
    I used a gamebit to open the console to pull out the plastic piece around the cart slot, and a pack of cardboard nail files. (could substitute sandpaper, I suppose. But nail filers were available more conveniently.)
    I think it took me like a half hour to an hour or rubbing down those corners. I did this mod to a spare pre-owned black console, though. Decided it was better to leave my original, green Funtastic console stock.

  5. #45
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    I got fed up with N64 on my limited cutting tools, eventually resorted to a cordless drill.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ed Oscuro View Post
    This simplicity is why I have trouble understanding the design problems of the converters...doesn't make sense to me but I've said that before.
    I started wondering about that as well. If the SNES has no region protection other than a physical barrier, why wouldn't any of my pass thru devices allow an SA-1 cart to play?

    In looking closely at the Game Genie and the Honey Bee convertor I had, I noticed that both made the physical allowance for the insertion of a cartridge containing the side 'wings' found on SA-1 cart. However, there were no actual electrical contacts in the wing area of the connector. Just room for them to enter freely, but making contact with nothing. On the console insertion side of both, there was no continuance of the 'wings' area to enter the console and even provide the possibility of a pass thru feature.

    I also have a Datel Action Replay Pro and it allows an SA-1 cart to be inserted, but has no connectors on either side of the convertor to make contact with the 'wings' portion of the cart and so has absolutely no chance of acting as a pass thru device.

    I then took a closer look at the Super 8 convertor made by Innovation. On top, it's cartridge connector has all the necessary electrical contacts to accept carts with SA-1 'wings'. On the console insertion side, there are 'wings' that would be inserted into the console that are identical to the 'wings' on the SA-1 cart. In theory, this is a perfect pass thru device, so why didn't it work when I tried using an SA-1 chipped game?

    I have no answer for that. Mine might even be defective, because it looks like a perfect pass thru device and should have worked.

    I started to wonder why the Super 8 even included an SNES cartridge port at all, since it's being used in an SNES console. Why even bother replacing what's already there? So I tried a few other Super Famicom games and they all played just fine. I guess because none of those had any special chips. I realized the Super 8 will act as a region bypass convertor, of sorts then.

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    I'm guessing that whatever tiny cost they could save by not including the necessary materials to support side pins is what made them leave it out. Considering that most games wouldn't need it, they probably figured they could get away with it. The real mystery to me is why many adapters have empty slots to accommodate the side pins, rather than just making it impossible to insert those carts. Why bother when the games won't work? You'd think leaving out that plastic or simplifying the design would cut costs too. Maybe they were trying to scam customers, tricking them into thinking the adapters would work with games that have the extra tabs.

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    drowning in medals Ed Oscuro's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Spartacus View Post
    In looking closely at the Game Genie and the Honey Bee convertor I had, I noticed that both made the physical allowance for the insertion of a cartridge containing the side 'wings' found on SA-1 cart. However, there were no actual electrical contacts in the wing area of the connector. Just room for them to enter freely, but making contact with nothing.
    Yeah, this is what I expected from most of the units.
    I then took a closer look at the Super 8 convertor made by Innovation. On top, it's cartridge connector has all the necessary electrical contacts to accept carts with SA-1 'wings'. On the console insertion side, there are 'wings' that would be inserted into the console that are identical to the 'wings' on the SA-1 cart. In theory, this is a perfect pass thru device, so why didn't it work when I tried using an SA-1 chipped game?
    Aside from traces that don't actually connect, I think it is more likely that the Super 8 uses some pins of the connector for its own purposes, like apparently the Xband modem does (although that one reportedly can be switched to passthrough mode).

    I started to wonder why the Super 8 even included an SNES cartridge port at all, since it's being used in an SNES console. Why even bother replacing what's already there? So I tried a few other Super Famicom games and they all played just fine. I guess because none of those had any special chips. I realized the Super 8 will act as a region bypass convertor, of sorts then.
    They may have included the port as an advertising bullet point. Sure it costs a bit more to include the SNES connector, but it also is a bit more convenient not to have to remove the Super 8 when you want to play a regular SNES game.

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