Question about PSX Donpachi

[phase3]

hello fellow shmuppers.

apparently this has been discussed somewhere before, but I can't seem to find a relevant thread despite my searches.

i intend on buying the psx donpachi very soon. i have read that typical "swap magic" (which i never intended on doing, anyways) doesn't work, because the disc has to be fully read in order for the audio to work.

that being said, will a gameshark trick work? that would be my preferred method, mainly because my soldering skills are quite shoddy, and i'm going to be spending all i want to spend on donpachi itself. i would rather not have to import a ntsc-j psx console.

however, if that's what it boils down to, i suppose i can pony up.

any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[BazookaBen]

I don't know about Donpachi, but I have Dodonpachi, and I could never get the game to work properly on a US console.

I ended up importing a JP PS for $30 shipping included. It was listed "untested", but I knew I could replace the laser assembly with one from a working US console if need be. Considering I had already paid $50 to import Dodonpachi, $30 more to be able to play it properly wasn't really a big deal.

[DJ Incompetent]

Yeah, PS1 DoDonPachi the swap trick won't work. PS1 DonPachi will work.
There are swap tricks that don't require soldering. I have a "mod plug" called Gold Finger that hooks in the back corner port (old model).

[brokenhalo]

hello fellow shmuppers.

apparently this has been discussed somewhere before, but I can't seem to find a relevant thread despite my searches.

i intend on buying the psx donpachi very soon. i have read that typical "swap magic" (which i never intended on doing, anyways) doesn't work, because the disc has to be fully read in order for the audio to work.

that being said, will a gameshark trick work? that would be my preferred method, mainly because my soldering skills are quite shoddy, and i'm going to be spending all i want to spend on donpachi itself. i would rather not have to import a ntsc-j psx console.

however, if that's what it boils down to, i suppose i can pony up.

any advice would be greatly appreciated.

you could always import a jp ps2 instead. it's backwards compatible with jp ps1 games, plus you have access to the jp ps2 library as well.

[HydrogLox]

you could always import a jp ps2 instead. it's backwards compatible with jp ps1 games...

Within limits ...

http://www.racketboy.com/retro/sony/ps2 ... ps-library

Also, a few notes on the backwards compatibility of the PS2, as it relates to playing PS1 shmups. While most such games work fine, others are imperfect, and a few barely work at all thanks to uber-slowdown; the situation may sometimes vary further depending on which specific system revision involved, but here are a couple of documented examples. The most severe cases of the aforementioned slowdown occur with Toaplan Shooting Battle (on Kyukyoku Tiger and Twin Cobra), Gradius Deluxe Pack (on Gradius II) Gradius Gaiden (on Stage 7), and Namco Museum Encore (on Rolling Thunder) – some other shooters, including Night Raid, Strikers 1945 II, and Zanac Neo (on Zanac X Zanac) suffer from some degree of input lag.

[phase3]

Yeah, PS1 DoDonPachi the swap trick won't work. PS1 DonPachi will work.
There are swap tricks that don't require soldering. I have a "mod plug" called Gold Finger that hooks in the back corner port (old model).

i have a feeling the gold finger is very similar to a gameshark. does the mod plug swap trick involve listening to the cd audio on the non-import disc, then doing the exchange? and if so, is there a particular game that you use to swap it with?

I ended up importing a JP PS for $30 shipping included. It was listed "untested", but I knew I could replace the laser assembly with one from a working US console if need be. Considering I had already paid $50 to import Dodonpachi, $30 more to be able to play it properly wasn't really a big deal.

$30 isn't bad. i am seriously considering going this route, as long as i can find one priced as well as yours.

[DJ Incompetent]

Yeah, PS1 DoDonPachi the swap trick won't work. PS1 DonPachi will work.
There are swap tricks that don't require soldering. I have a "mod plug" called Gold Finger that hooks in the back corner port (old model).

i have a feeling the gold finger is very similar to a gameshark. does the mod plug swap trick involve listening to the cd audio on the non-import disc, then doing the exchange? and if so, is there a particular game that you use to swap it with?

The mod plugs were pretty much the same product circulated with several bootleg manufacturers who just added their company name in text to the upper right corner of the title boot screen. How it worked was the plug came with a separate spring (like a spring you find in a clicky pen, but much larger). You slid the spring in the PS1's disc closing mechanism so the PS1 is tricked into constantly spinning the disc while the eject lid is open. The mod plug changes the boot screen entirely, adding some extra options like graphics viewers to check the disc contents in different ways. Its main purpose was after you insert the your-region disc and close the tray and turn on the system, the mod plug will spin the your-region game disc to pass the region check, then it stops the disc while the eject spring tricked PS1 into thinking the disc tray is always closed. You would then eject the your-region disc, and insert the japan region game, close the tray, and boot the game.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Plus the fact that the Goldfinger cheat device went the extra mile in allowing you to decode the various PSX FMV clips and watch them at your leisure + view various JPEG images in the Omake file (if they were present). How cool is that? Disney had included some awesome high-quality FMV clips in their various PSX game titles including Toy Story 2 and the like.

By hooking up a Goldfinger to a mod-chipped PSX opens up new capabilities with the aforementioned perks/goodies.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[phase3]

Yeah, PS1 DoDonPachi the swap trick won't work. PS1 DonPachi will work.
There are swap tricks that don't require soldering. I have a "mod plug" called Gold Finger that hooks in the back corner port (old model).

i have a feeling the gold finger is very similar to a gameshark. does the mod plug swap trick involve listening to the cd audio on the non-import disc, then doing the exchange? and if so, is there a particular game that you use to swap it with?

The mod plugs were pretty much the same product circulated with several bootleg manufacturers who just added their company name in text to the upper right corner of the title boot screen. How it worked was the plug came with a separate spring (like a spring you find in a clicky pen, but much larger). You slid the spring in the PS1's disc closing mechanism so the PS1 is tricked into constantly spinning the disc while the eject lid is open. The mod plug changes the boot screen entirely, adding some extra options like graphics viewers to check the disc contents in different ways. Its main purpose was after you insert the your-region disc and close the tray and turn on the system, the mod plug will spin the your-region game disc to pass the region check, then it stops the disc while the eject spring tricked PS1 into thinking the disc tray is always closed. You would then eject the your-region disc, and insert the japan region game, close the tray, and boot the game.

i am familiar with that method, but i've never tried it.
from what little information i've been able to find on it, there are instances where any swap trick (including ones involving cheat devices) can be finicky because redbook audio on the pachi games is read during the initial boot. thus when using a swap trick, you can play the game, but you aren't going to be hearing any music.

so i understand you've never run into any problems with the music in donpachi using your goldfinger? what sort of issue have you had running dodonpachi using the goldfinger? (i intend on getting that one as well, just a bit further down the line.)

also worth noting: i do own a gameshark v. 1.9, however, apparently this particular version was a bit too early to support any disc swap functionality.

[BazookaBen]

what sort of issue have you had running dodonpachi using the goldfinger? (i intend on getting that one as well, just a bit further down the line.)

Wrong music playing during the first level, then it would freeze loading the second level. It's a TOC issue that I don't thank anybody has found a workaround for.

I wounder if that SD Card loader that guy is working on will work with redbook games.

[Laughingman.s9]

Couldn't you just buy a PS X change disc on ebay and play imports using that? It's what I use and never gotten any trouble. Works for backups/bootlegs to

[phase3]

Couldn't you just buy a PS X change disc on ebay and play imports using that? It's what I use and never gotten any trouble. Works for backups/bootlegs to

unless you've personally had success running donpachi (or dodonpachi, for that matter), i don't think so.

from what little information i've been able to find on it, there are instances where any swap trick (including ones involving cheat devices) can be finicky because redbook audio on the pachi games is read during the initial boot. thus when using a swap trick, you can play the game, but you aren't going to be hearing any music.

there are very specific conditions that have to be met in order to properly run donpachi on a western psx, which is what i'm trying to narrow down. for convenience sake, i'm probably going to purchase a ntsc-j model psx. however, i am curious to know if acceptable alternatives exist.

[Laughingman.s9]

Couldn't you just buy a PS X change disc on ebay and play imports using that? It's what I use and never gotten any trouble. Works for backups/bootlegs to

unless you've personally had success running donpachi (or dodonpachi, for that matter), i don't think so.

from what little information i've been able to find on it, there are instances where any swap trick (including ones involving cheat devices) can be finicky because redbook audio on the pachi games is read during the initial boot. thus when using a swap trick, you can play the game, but you aren't going to be hearing any music.

there are very specific conditions that have to be met in order to properly run donpachi on a western psx, which is what i'm trying to narrow down. for convenience sake, i'm probably going to purchase a ntsc-j model psx. however, i am curious to know if acceptable alternatives exist.

Can you help me understand tho? I don't see what the problem is, it's a japanese ps1 game. I have about 20 japanese and 2 pal imports that I play on my american ps1 using the ps x change disc I mentioned. What makes donpachi special?

[Fudoh]

With a swap trick you usually have the Playstation read the first disc's TOC (that's the disc matching your hardware region). If the import disc's track layout is different, you can get skipping audio tracks or wrong tracks for the wrong stages. That's only a problem for games with red book audio (CD audio tracks which are playable on a standard CD player).

[Laughingman.s9]

With a swap trick you usually have the Playstation read the first disc's TOC (that's the disc matching your hardware region). If the import disc's track layout is different, you can get skipping audio tracks or wrong tracks for the wrong stages. That's only a problem for games with red book audio (CD audio tracks which are playable on a standard CD player).

Ahh okay, I understand