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    Default Super Famicom Barcode Battler II Interfacing

    So, I've had a Barcode Battler II for quite some time now, and since I had a few SFC games that support the interface unit, Idecided to go ahead and order one. I picked it up from the post office today and tested it out to make sure it works with Excite Stage '95. It works just fine, and scanning in the barcodes on the late pages of the manual seems to give stat boosts to certain players when setting up your team pre-match. I'll be fooling around with Conveni Wars this weekend a bit. I know there are several more games like Lupin the 3rd, Doraemon II & III, Dragon Slayer II, Yakyu News, Donald Duck, Excite Stage '94, and some goofy-looking Alice in Wonderland game that support this interface. I'll be doing a lot of first-hand research and playing around with this stuff, but I was curious if anyone has any experience with this setup and any particular recommendations, suggestions, or information beyond the usual stuff out there surrounding compatibility and features. Anything neat I figure out I'll be sure to post.

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    Okay, so from my tinkering I'm just gonna post some of the odds and ends as I learn them about this setup and the games that support it.

    So, first off, how to get the thing to work:
    You can't just plug the interface cable into to Barcode Battler II and the 2nd player controller port and turn it on. When I first tried it out I did this, and I got nothing. So, I started going through the instruction manual for Excite Stage '95. I learned that you have to hold down the R-Power and R-Battle buttons while turning on the power of the Barcode Battler AFTER setting it all up.

    In Excite Stage '95, there are barcodes printed on the outer edges of several of the back pages of the manual. You have to go into the game's options by the picture of the Barcode Battler and select that yes, you will be using one. Afterward, choosing your mode and team will allow you in your roster setup to scan barcodes. The ones in the manual give high-ranked players for various positions, so having the manual is desirable if you plan to use the Barcode Battler features. My next experiment will be scanning in other barcodes to see what they yield.

    In the Conveni Wars, one of your main menu options is simply a graphical interface for your regular Barcode Battler vs. game. It gives a Pokémon (or closer, Bio Motor Unitron)-like battle interface, and both sides are controlled by the P1 controller. It's a novelty, but doesn't offer a particularly new experience. Next on this will be attempting to scan robots into the grid-based strategy portion of the game.

    I've also ordered the Lupin III game and the Doraemon games, and am looking for a set of cards for my Excite Stage '94, as apparently there was a custom set for that game that didn't come with mine.
    Last edited by celerystalker; 04-24-2015 at 04:31 PM.

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    Ok, so my Doraemon 3, Dragon Slayer: Legend of Heroes II, and set of Excite Stage '94 cards came in. Like I thought, the excite stage cards do stat upgrades like the barcodes in the manual for Excite Stage '95. In the pre-match setup, you can swipe in cards, which give bonuses for different players. It's neat to try, but really, for 2 player it's most fun to deal them randomly and swipe in so you both have pronounced strengths and weaknesses. Kinda fun to try, but not a game changer, sadly.

    I haven't yet accessed the Barcode Battler features on the other 2 yet, but I can throw out a little info for the interested. Dragon Slayer II doesn't come packaged with any cards or barcodes in the manual, so you're not missing out with a loose cart. Looking through the manual, I can't tell if barcodes are used for items or to be used in some sort of colosseum... I'll find out as I dig in.

    Doraemon 3 is a side-scrolling adventure game. I tested it out a bit, but haven't yet figured out what I can do with the Barcode Battler. I have the manual, and again there are no special pack-ins here, so don't be afraid to go for a cheaper loose cart if you're thinking about this one. I'll try to find some time soon to see what can be done here, as it must surely be more interesting than Excite Stage's stat boosts.

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    Massive, massive progress Friday evening with this setup. I'll have to spread it out, as there's so much info.

    The biggest for me was laying to rest the mystery (at least to me) of how the Barcode Battler interacts with the many "Barcode Battler enhanced" platformers, as there is precious little information regarding this, and no menu options, either. So, I'll explain what Barcode Battler enhanced really means.

    On Doraemon 2 & 3, Donald Duck Mahou no Boshi, and Lupin III, after setting up the Barcode Battler interface, you select the second option on the main menu, which is to enter a password. At that point, you can begin scanning barcodes or Barcode Battler cards, which, if compatible, will function much like Game Genie codes, letting you view endings or cutscenes, skip levels, alter your number of lives, give you items, grant invincibility, and so on. On one hand, it felt like a disappointing way to use the interface without truly offering additional content. On the other hand, it was fun and fascinating to scan through barcodes to see what would happen next.

    My brother and I are not skilled translators, but with his linguistic skills and my experience in interpretation, we were able to at least get a crude translation for some instruction manuals and of most all of the effects from scans in these games. We went through all of my Barcode Battler cards with each game and charted the results, so later I'll post a list of cards and their effects in each game for anyone who is interested.

    So, I'll try and post all of that info soon, but I wanted to get it out there that this is basically a Game Genie-like experience as opposed to opening additional content as many websites state, at least in the case of these platformers. Still, we had fun with our little "science" project, and I just wanted to put down an overview of what we learned before listing specific effects.

    I have full details on using the interface with the Conveni Wars campaign mode that I'll put here soon as well. We're still experimenting with Dragon Slayer: Legend of Heroes II and the Alice in Wonderland game, so that only leaves I believe 2 games to go: Spiderman: Lethal Foes and Pro Yakyuu News, at least to the best of my knowledge. So for brief summary info on what I do know:

    Compatible games:
    -Alice no Paint Adventure
    -Conveni Wars
    -Donald Duck: Mahou no Boshi
    -Doraemon 2
    -Doraemon 3
    -Dragon Slayer: Legend of Heroes II
    -Excite Stage Soccer '94
    -Excite Stage Soccer '95
    -Lupin III
    -Pro Yakyuu News
    -Spiderman: Lethal Foes

    Games that come with scannables complete:
    -Excite Stage '94 (card set)
    -Excite Stage '95 (barcodes in margins of manual)

    Interface Effects:
    -Scan-in characters and items:
    Conveni Wars

    -Stat upgrades for players:
    Excite Stage '94
    Excite Stage '95

    -In-game codes scanned into password screens:
    Donald Duck
    Lupin III
    Doraemon 2
    Doraemon 3

    Okay, details on card effects later, and 4 more games to figure out. Hope this is useful or intersting to someone, as I haven't seen this stuff documented anywhere in english other than a list of games.
    Last edited by celerystalker; 05-23-2015 at 09:12 PM.

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    Figured I'd chart out some results of the scanning. I'll start with Donal Duck and his magical hat.

    You set up the interface by plugging one end into the Barcode Battler II and the other into controller port II. The region of the console does not matter. You turn on the Barcode Battler while holding down R-Power and R-Battle. This is what causes it to boot up in interface mode. It does not matter if you turn it on before or after the SNES, or if you just leave it on in between games. As long as the Barcode Battler is in interface mode, you're good.

    For Donald Duck, you choose "password" on the main menu, which is in english. On this screen, you don't need to push any buttons. You simply swipe your cards and the game will begin. Every barcode I swiped that had an effect only started the game at different points for this one. I'll list which cards had an effect and what it was. I should note that I only used official cards, but you can swipe just about any barcode and have the possibility of a result.

    Card (set): Effect

    San Frecce (J-League Excite Stage '94): Start after the odd job levels
    Grampus (Excite Stage '94): Start at the stage select screen after clearing the first real level
    MC-Gradin (Conveni Wars): Start at final stage
    BT-Premi (Conveni Wars): Watch ending and credits

    After over 100 barcodes, that was all I found. It was easily the most disappointing, so it's all better from here!

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    Time for more of the scanning test results that nobody cares about but I post them anyway for that one person I'll never meet who's interested and stumbles across this while lurking. This time I'll cover the game that at the time of this post can be seen in Tanooki's signature: Lupin III for Super Famicom.

    You set the interface up exactly the same way as you do for Donald Duck, and go into the password screen. From there, you simply scan your barcodes, and if there's an effect, it tells you at the bottom of the screen, and in English no less! So, without further ado, the cards and effects...

    Card: Effect

    From the Conveni Wars sets:
    Mystic Jun: View Ending A
    HP-Glass: Sound Test
    CB-Rocket: Sound test
    Hitomebole: Items max quantity
    Macks Fry: No Damage
    VMD-Kurif: No Damage
    Devil Corn: Story C
    STR-Paper: Story B
    S-Ika: Ending D
    WB-Sundio: Sound Test
    Asazuke: Ending A
    Lemon-G: Ending A
    Ghost-LP: Story C
    MD-Camp: Ending A
    Chiezo: Ending A
    Ginseng: Ending A

    From the barcodes in the margins of the Excite Stage '95 manual:
    Gamba: Story B

    So, more varied results this time, especially with the invincibility and max items results. So, not much more than Game Genie stuff here, but at least it's more than Donald had, and it's a decent little game in its own right.

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