Was this old warning true? [Can you damage a console this way?]

[chuckwalla]

Didn't the Commodore 64 start to malfunction if used for too long?

Fried power supply (that sucker gets HOT after a little while) and sometimes it will take the C64 with it. I went through three C64's in the 1980's because of that crappo power supply. If you use C64 hardware, you need a power supply with voltage over-regulation or you're risking it.

When it comes to the power-on warning for consoles, i've accidentally taken out and inserted cartridges into 2600's and Colecovisions with power on and luckily haven't had any problems - pretty lucky compared to some others.

[chuckwalla]

Curiously, the Translator cartridge for the Atari XL/XE mandates that you to pull it and then insert the cart you want to use - all done with power on.

[Barbarianoutkast85]

http://nesworld.parodius.com/unines2.htm

So this actually works? I'm going to have to try this out tonight, on one of the spare toaster oven NES machines.

[Cryomancer]

Speaking as a representative of the Atari epoch, no one was really sure how exactly these new fangled consoles were going to affect our TV's. My first Atari 2600 was relegated to the black and white portable for fear that it would "blow up" the color Curtis Mathes if we played it too long.

Similar story told for us on the big TV upstairs right now. You know, the one with "game mode" options? Yeah.

I want to get a 360 eventually, but hell if there's any decent TVs in the house I could actually play it on. Looks like VGA for me.

[john_soper]

When you pull a cart out, there might be a short instant of time when the VCC pin is not connected and the part is being powered through the address or data lines. Not sure how bad this would be, the rule of thumb is to avoid it.

[8-bitNesMan]

Is there any real harm? Maybe, but it may be of 0.001%. The warning is need to be there because many people are dumb and need to be told everything and console manufacture is need to cover their self because dumb people are then file suit

"Because dumb people are then file suit" ???

So how many lawsuits have you filed lately junior?

[rbudrick]

So this actually works? I'm going to have to try this out tonight, on one of the spare toaster oven NES machines.

Yep, it works. Most games don't blink anymore for me and I can now play PAL games. :-)

-Rob

[TurboGenesis]

"Because dumb people are then file suit" ???

So how many lawsuits have you filed lately junior?

Excuse me if I am not speak good English like you are. I am Vietnamese and I am get shit on my whole life because of it

Thanks mate.

[8-bitNesMan]

Excuse me if I am not speak good English like you are. I am Vietnamese and I am get shit on my whole life because of it

Thanks mate.

Just yanking your chain man. Where's your sense of humor?

[TurboGenesis]

Just yanking your chain man. Where's your sense of humor?

I am sorry

Sometime I take things serious. I am take alot of abuse as I grow up.
I don't mean any harm

[8-bitNesMan]

I'm sorry you had it rough growing up. Please understand that I didn't mean to offend you. Cheers!

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Wasn't there some odd infinite-lives cheat for Strider (Genesis) that involved switching on the Genny with Altered Beast inside, pulling it out and putting in the Strider cartridge? (I forget the details, but it was apparently reproducable.)

There were more than a few Genesis launch, and early wave titles that involved hot-swapping between games to get strange cheats ...

I remember Last Battle had some kind of infinite lives reward ... does anybody have a complete list of those "cartridge swap" tricks for the Genesis?

[rbudrick]

There were more than a few Genesis launch, and early wave titles that involved hot-swapping between games to get strange cheats ...

I remember Last Battle had some kind of infinite lives reward ... does anybody have a complete list of those "cartridge swap" tricks for the Genesis?

Great idea, Frankie...I can't believe no one has ever brought these tricks up before. I remember reading about them in mags and saying, "WTF!? Who the hell figured this shit out!" It became only slightly clearer when I realized that the games it works on don't require you put in specific other games first...just use the same cart.

I'll add one:

Last Battle:
Everyone knows you can continue in Last Battle if you've made it past stage 1. You just hold ABC and hit start. A Stage Select appears allowing you to continue. To make the Stage Select appear without playing a single level, pull out the cart while the system is on and put it back in. Hit reset, then hold ABC at the title screen. It may take a few tries, but the Stage Select should appear.

I don't remember what the Thunder Force II one does (invincibility or unlimited lives or something, I think). Anyone wanna tell us that one?

-Rob

[Blitzwing256]

just a note about why these tricks work

when the genesis is reset its not a full hard reboot of the system, when you first turn the system on with a game it sets certain options in memory, when you hit reset those options like lives stage etcetc stay the same, so when you pull a game out with the power on and hit reset its not clearing the ram properly hence why most of the sega brand games have glitched out options. you'll note it only works on games with changeable options or "cheats" that require certain conditions to be made (like moon walker and last battle's stage selects)

a few of the more fun things you can do include getting dificulties on streets of rage 1 and 2 that just don't exist, super hard ones or insanely easy ones where mr X has less then half an energy meeter or where y.signal has 4 stars of life.

thunderforce 2:
you can get 255 lives,

altered beast:
you can mess with all the options in the 3 secret options,
inculding getting glitced out transformations that most likely will freeze the game


strider:
infinate lives

moonwalker:
stage select and invicinbility sometimes

revenge of shinobi:
unlimted lives and odd numbers of shurikens.
(you can also sometimes get the japanese title screen as well)

thunderforce 3:
you can mess up the high score (woo?)

eswat:
infinate lives

Streets of rage:
infinate lives, and new dificulites

Streets of rage 2:
infinate lives, new dificulty levels.
one thing i remeber is if you go to the options and hit left in most of these games you can change the messed up options a bit, if you hit right you tend to reset things to the default.

super thunderblade:
infinate lives

Space harrier 2:
infinate lives

Mystic defender:
start with other "spells" and I believe a level select.

i've never had last battle so I havn't been able to test that game out myself.

aside from sor1 and 2 you'll note most of those games are original release games

i've also been told you can't do it on some of the later genesis systems as they fixed the ram "bug" i've only ever had the release model so I havn't tested that theory.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Great idea, Frankie...I can't believe no one has ever brought these tricks up before. I remember reading about them in mags and saying, "WTF!? Who the hell figured this shit out!" It became only slightly clearer when I realized that the games it works on don't require you put in specific other games first...just use the same cart.

I'll add one:

Last Battle:
Everyone knows you can continue in Last Battle if you've made it past stage 1. You just hold ABC and hit start. A Stage Select appears allowing you to continue. To make the Stage Select appear without playing a single level, pull out the cart while the system is on and put it back in. Hit reset, then hold ABC at the title screen. It may take a few tries, but the Stage Select should appear.

I don't remember what the Thunder Force II one does (invincibility or unlimited lives or something, I think). Anyone wanna tell us that one?

-Rob

Really? You could get it to work by ripping the same cart out and putting it back in?

I thought you needed to use a specific cart like Altered Beast or Revenge of Shinobi FIRST and then swap in the cart that you wanted to do the specific trick to.

If you could do it by just ripping and re-inserting the SAME game that's pretty cool!

[Blitzwing256]

you get better effects from games that have more options like altered beast and sor, but some of the glitches work with the same game

[Jorpho]

when the genesis is reset its not a full hard reboot of the system, when you first turn the system on with a game it sets certain options in memory, when you hit reset those options like lives stage etcetc stay the same, so when you pull a game out with the power on and hit reset its not clearing the ram properly hence why most of the sega brand games have glitched out options. you'll note it only works on games with changeable options or "cheats" that require certain conditions to be made (like moon walker and last battle's stage selects)

Ah, that must be why you can get the best ending in Sonic 1 by accessing the Bonus Stage in the Stage Select repeatedly before starting a new game (or selecting the final stage).

[Blitzwing256]

yup, also why the reset thing in the mojo level of xmen works.