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Thread: PowerPak and Super Everdrive Questions

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    Peach (Level 3) dgdgagdae's Avatar
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    Default PowerPak and Super Everdrive Questions

    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.

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    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.

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    Pac-Man (Level 10) treismac's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by MyTurnToPlay View Post
    The Powerpak on the other hand is an aging piece of junk. Seriously, it's just crap.
    Care to elaborate?

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    Peach (Level 3) dgdgagdae's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by MyTurnToPlay View Post
    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.

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    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.
    Lum fan.

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    Cherry (Level 1) Shulamana's Avatar
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    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.

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    ServBot (Level 11) Steven's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by MyTurnToPlay View Post
    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.

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    Cherry (Level 1) Shulamana's Avatar
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    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.

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    Kirby (Level 13) Leo_A's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by MyTurnToPlay View Post
    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

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    Peach (Level 3) dgdgagdae's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Shulamana View Post
    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?
    Last edited by dgdgagdae; 02-24-2012 at 07:40 AM.

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    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.
    check out my classic gaming review site: http://satoshimatrix.wordpress.com/

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    Peach (Level 3) dgdgagdae's Avatar
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    Thanks Satoshi Matrix, that's helpful.

    I guess part of my confusion is this - it's emulation? I thought that the carts just held the roms, that it was just a convenient way of getting files from one place to a format the SNES can read. What exactly is being emulated, when you have the full console right there doing what it is that consoles do? The SNES doesn't just see it as a cartridge game, there's some emulation going on inside the cart?

    From what I've read about the SNES PowerPak, the game saving thing looks like a pain. You have to remember to hold down reset, or your games aren't saved, and then it looks like you manually have to copy the saves over to a new place so that they're not overwritten by another game's save file. If that's all correct, then that alone would drive me to the EverDrive.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Satoshi_Matrix View Post
    Once again, its best to simply ignore every single word MyTurnToPlay posted.
    You're an absolute troll you know that. You post a couple of youtube videos on games and suddenly you think you're the end all be all source for retro gaming. Well you're not. You never were, and you never will be. So get off your high horse already.

    And to dgdgagdae:

    Listen, don't take it from me. And definitely don't take it from that clown Sad-toshi. Check out all the online reviews and you'll see they all pretty much agree with me. When it comes to SNES, the Super Everdrive is the better product. But one thing the genius Sad-toshi did get right is...hold off for a bit and wait for the SD2SNES. It looks like it might be the the best out there, assuming it comes through on it's claims.

    thank you.

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    I've been pretty happy with both the NES and SNES powerpak.
    I checked the reviews before I bought my SNES flashcart and I decided on the powerpak over the everdrive. I haven't regretted the decision. I will admit that the new SD2SNES looks pretty awesome though.

    Mitch

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    Quote Originally Posted by dgdgagdae View Post
    I guess part of my confusion is this - it's emulation? I thought that the carts just held the roms, that it was just a convenient way of getting files from one place to a format the SNES can read.
    Nothing is being emulated so I don't know what he's talking about. It's the original code running through the original hardware just like you thought it was. And while he is correct about how the NES PowerPak can recreate many of the different MMC's used for NES games, it isn't relevent where the SuperNes is concerned.

    As far as I know, the Super Powerpak and the Super Everdrive have virtually identical compatibility. Both have the option of installing a DSP chip which was easily the most common expansion chip included with SuperNes games and both can play any SuperNes cartridge that didn't utilize an expansion chip. Neither one has the ability to play things like Super FX games and neither one will ever get that ability. The chips aren't installed in either and the FPGA of the PowerPak isn't nearly powerful enough to recreate them (Something even Bunnyboy has confirmed in the past). About the only differences in compatibility that I can recall off hand is that the Powerpak can play Star Ocean and the Everdrive seems to be better able to run Satiliteview hacks. Their compatibility list are 99.9% identical. And you can save games with both devices, it's not an advantage that the SuperNes Powerpak holds over the Super Everdrive.

    And there are under 20 games that utilized special chips beyond the DSP released in North American, many of which are extremely cheap and often already present in someone's SuperNes library (Beyond Super Mario RPG, the two Kirby games, and the two Mega Man X games, they seem to usually be extremely cheap. Even the uncommon Top Gear 3000, an excellent game that used an advanced version of the DSP chip not supported with these devices was far from pricey when I bought a copy a few years ago). And only 1 or 2 imports are in this category that might be of interest to the average import gamer. So we're talking under 20 games here that neither device can play or has any prospects of playing in the future.

    And I've seen more than a few people with serious issues with Bunnyboy, including being ignored for many months on end despite having the customer's money. No such issues with the Everdrive cartridge and vendors like StoneAgeGamer (And it sounds like StoneAgeGamer is making improvements to notify people when these things become available which addresses the primary issue noted in this thread). They both pretty much have similar features like onboard saving and compatibility, but you're much more likely to be pleased with the ordering process and support you get when ordering an Everdrive compared to Bunneyboy's version where you're ignored and just have to cross your fingers and hope for the best.

    And if the SuperNes Everdrive gets these enhancements that the Genesis Everdrive is getting, soon we will even have save states on real hardware and virtually zero loadtimes (Right now, you have to wait for the game to load into memory when you initially start the console, a process that takes a few seconds and seems strange at first for a SuperNes gamer).
    Last edited by Leo_A; 02-24-2012 at 05:41 PM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Leo_A View Post
    And you can save games with both devices, it's not an advantage that the SuperNes Powerpak holds over the Super Everdrive.
    I understand that both types can handle saved games. It just looks like, unless something has changed in a firmware update, that the PowerPak handles them very clunkily. That's the biggest reason for me preferring the Everdrive. The slowness of loading the game doesn't really concern me.

    Of course, that's assuming that Stone Age Gamer gets them in stock. I completely understand that they have a single supplier overseas, but it's discouraging when the projected in-stock date changed the way it did, and that there doesn't seem to be a way to be notified when they get them in stock.

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    Kirby (Level 13) Leo_A's Avatar
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    I actually tossed that in for Satoshi_Matrix. He mentions that the NES Powerpak supports game saves to the flash memory (Which is incorrect).

    By the time I started composing my post, I was mistakingly thinking he was referring to the SuperNes PowerPak when he mentions the ability to save games to memory (i.e., it was an advantage that the Powerpak had over the Everdrive when in fact both have that capability).
    Last edited by Leo_A; 02-24-2012 at 05:36 PM.

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    Yeah, the Super Everdrive and Super Powerpak should have identical compatibility. If you are willing to wait a while, the SD2SNES will have superior features (ie support for many special chips, MSU-1 support). I have a Super Everdrive, and I have to say that it is pretty awesome, and the menus are very easy to navigate.
    <Evan_G> i keep my games in an inaccessable crate where i can't play them

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    SD2SNES will/is superior to both, but the price tag is pretty high.
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    Didn't the Powerpak also have an issue where it enhanced that line through the middle of the screen that usually isn't very noticeable? So that's another thing to keep in mind.

    That's the first I've heard of the SD2SNES. Just read up on it and it sounds nice. Always wanted to play Star Fox 2 on a real system and it sounds as if Super FX support is just a matter of when, not if. Too bad it won't support everything, but it's still a nice leap it appears over existing carts in several ways (No load times ).

    Sort of makes the entire Powerpak vs. Everdrive question moot when this won't cost an arm and a leg more than either of those (I saw $200 mentioned (Hopefully what I saw wasn't the cost to produce one), where as the other two are around $150 with DSP chip installed, and in the case of the Everdrive, a cartridge casing). Might as well spring for the last few dollars and get zero load times, improved onboard saving, and wider compatibility and a greater chance of future expandability (Sounds as if several additional enhancement chips and other improvements are in the pipeline for later).
    Last edited by Leo_A; 02-24-2012 at 07:58 PM.

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