Tell me about the Everdrive

[evil_ash_xero]

I'm interested in these things, but I don't know if they're good or not.

Do I need some kind of "region free" stuff done to a system to get it to work? Any lag? Anything I should know about?

Or is it basically that I can play all ROMs on my systems, without any issues?

And if so, where do I get one?

[Fudoh]

perfect. I've got one for Famicom, SNES, Mega Drive and PC Engine. Pretty much 100% compatible except for custom chip equipped games on the SNES and some Famicom mappers. The MD one even plays SMS games on the Mega Drive / Genesis.

Check the dealer list on krikzz.com to find a seller with stock available.

[Drachenherz]

I've got an everdrive md last week.

Unfortunately I'm still waiting for the mega drive itself to arrive, so I can't tell you yet how awesome it is.

[blizzz]

I got an Everdrive 64 last week. I'm happy with it. The only downside is that you have to desolder a CIC from a cartridge and put it into the Everdrive.

Compatibility is great. A few games are auto patched by the OS or need [f] versions to work perfectly. But that's only Banjo-Tooie and DK64 in my case.

[evil_ash_xero]

perfect. I've got one for Famicom, SNES, Mega Drive and PC Engine. Pretty much 100% compatible except for custom chip equipped games on the SNES and some Famicom mappers. The MD one even plays SMS games on the Mega Drive / Genesis.

Check the dealer list on krikzz.com to find a seller with stock available.

Wow. Sounds awesome. So games like Yoshi's Island or Rockman X2 won't work?

EDIT: Is retrogate reliable?

[eightbitminiboss]

perfect. I've got one for Famicom, SNES, Mega Drive and PC Engine. Pretty much 100% compatible except for custom chip equipped games on the SNES and some Famicom mappers. The MD one even plays SMS games on the Mega Drive / Genesis.

Check the dealer list on krikzz.com to find a seller with stock available.

Wow. Sounds awesome. So games like Yoshi's Island or Rockman X2 won't work?

Correct because the extra pins for the custom chips are not on the Super Everdrive's board. There's a competing flashcard, the SD2SNES that has the pins and some support for the custom chips. I believe SuperFX is still WIP.

[evil_ash_xero]

Do you stick an SD card in these things or what?

[eightbitminiboss]

Do you stick an SD card in these things or what?

Yes.

[evil_ash_xero]

The prices are higher than what I expected. Still, it seems kind of nuts that you can play all these ROMs like that.

[brownvim]

Im looking to get a Mega Everdrive too for my MegaDrive, I have a Super UFO Pro 8 for the SNES which I would NOT recommend.

[evil_ash_xero]

Is the SD2SNES worthwhile? If it can play the games with chips, and does it well, it would be a must have for me(at some point).

[ZellSF]

I would say go for the SD2SNES, it's more expensive than the competition, but it loads games faster and supports some more special chips. No Super FX support yet though (it's coming) and nothing has been said about SA-1 support.

Don't think I ever had any region issues with my Everdrive64 or SD2SNES, but I stick with US version games and translated Japanese games. I'm guessing it gets worse if you want to involve European games or consoles.

[blizzz]

The SD2SNES is only worth the price if you believe that it will receive support for SuperFX (and SA-1). It's done by one guy and as far as I know there hasn't been any progress in the last year. An update will most likely come eventually, but there's the possibility that it will never support these chips.

[mickcris]

perfect. I've got one for Famicom, SNES, Mega Drive and PC Engine. Pretty much 100% compatible except for custom chip equipped games on the SNES and some Famicom mappers. The MD one even plays SMS games on the Mega Drive / Genesis.

Check the dealer list on krikzz.com to find a seller with stock available.

Wow. Sounds awesome. So games like Yoshi's Island or Rockman X2 won't work?

EDIT: Is retrogate reliable?

Retrogate is Krikzz's store, so you would be buying directly from him. I have ordered all of my carts from retrogate and never had an issue. They ship from the Ukrane so it usually takes a few weeks to get to me in the US.

[ZellSF]

The SD2SNES is only worth the price if you believe that it will receive support for SuperFX (and SA-1). It's done by one guy and as far as I know there hasn't been any progress in the last year. An update will most likely come eventually, but there's the possibility that it will never support these chips.

I would say it's worth it for better BS support, Cx4 support, a much nicer interface and instant loading times.

Of course not everyone feels that's worth a 100$ premium, but the coming Super FX support most definitely is not the SD2SNES' only advantage.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

The Turbo Everdrive flash cart works just fine on either a PC Engine/PC Engine Duo/Duo-R/Duo-RX or even the USA region TurboGrafx-16 and Turbo Duo consoles. There is no need to have any of the aforementioned consoles region modded either as there's an on-board switch to select either PC Engine or TG-16 mode when booting up the TE on said console. Up to a 32GB sized micro SDHC card is supported but I use a 4GB micro SDHC card (which is plenty more than enough for loading up on your favorite PCE & TG-16 game roms). You can even use the TE as a System Card all the way from 1.0v to 3.0v + even as a Game Express Card as well to play those 3rd-party Game Express CDs on the Duos.

The only thing is that you can't use the TE as an Arcade Card Duo or Arcade Card Pro as the TE doesn't have any on-board RAM whatsoever. There's an on-board Reset button to get back to the main menu selection screen to boot up another PCE or TG-16 game rom if you get tired of the current rom already booted up at hand.

Nor can you use the TE as a Tennokoe Bank Rom-Ram Card either as again, no on-board RAM to save your games, high scores and high score initials -- they'd have to saved with the Duo's built-in 2MB Backup Ram functionality or by using a dedicated Tennokoe Bank card with it's whopping 8,000kb of RAM.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[evil_ash_xero]

Just to double double check...no input lag? Just like playing the original cart?
This isn't emulation?

[lettuce]

Wow. Sounds awesome. So games like Yoshi's Island or Rockman X2 won't work?

EDIT: Is retrogate reliable?

We'll this was my thinking, I know with the SD2SNES cart that FX games are still unplayable (apparently the developer said he would add support!?) and thought that some other special chip games like Rockman X2 (MegaMan) didn't work either, but in the latest FW for the SD2SNES it lists a fix of.....

'MegaMan now destroys the boss in level 2 in the attract sequence on MegaMan X2'

So I think the MegaMan games do work!?

And no input lag on the flash cart side of things, the consoles just see it as a normal cart

Is the SD2SNES worthwhile? If it can play the games with chips, and does it well, it would be a must have for me(at some point).

Definitely get the SD2SNES, atm it is the best snes flash cart, was out of stock everywhere for ages but now there is stock about apparently but not sure how long this will last. Their becoming harder and harder to get it would seem and the price reflects this but defo worth it!!

[evil_ash_xero]

Thanks!

[Drachenherz]

Just to double double check...no input lag? Just like playing the original cart?
This isn't emulation?

You play the gamedata on original hardware, so no, this isn't emulation.

[evil_ash_xero]

OK, was just a little unsure.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

It's interesting to see what various PCE homebrew apps could do, especially with the PCE homebrew developed by Chris Covell.

The upcoming PCE shmup of Xymati is still in development...asked if it will be released as a dedicated Hu-Card. The response back was the game is too large to fit on a single Hu-Card as it is, so it'll be released as a Super CD-Rom2 format game. It'd be interesting to try out a single stage demo if burned to a 700MB based CD-R for playtesting/evaluation purposes.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[rCadeGaming]

The thing that interest me about these flash cards is using them for consoles where traditional reproduction carts/discs aren't possible. For example the N64. I've heard that Ocarina of Time: Master Quest will work on an Everdrive 64. Is it possible to put only one ROM on an Everdrive and get it to boot that game immediately on start-up, without showing any front-end or menu beforehand?

I was thinking the same thing about Hucard games. Speaking of which, are Hucard reproducitons possible?

[Fudoh]

get it to boot that game immediately on start-up, without showing any front-end or menu beforehand?

no.

I was thinking the same thing about Hucard games. Speaking of which, are Hucard reproducitons possible?

certainly. Remember King ? The Taiwan company with all the HuCard bootlegs in the late 80s ? HuCards are incredibly easy to construct.

[rCadeGaming]

Not even with a custom firmware for the Everdrive?

Is anyone still making the Hucard repros by request? Are they doable in a home workshop, meaning, by me? I didn't have a problem making SNES repro carts, but what kind of tiny little memory would I have to program in a Hucard? I've never had one apart. I searched on this but couldn't find anything.

[Fudoh]

Not even with a custom firmware for the Everdrive?

what's it good for ? The ED is way to expensive compared to a cart mod by simply sac'ing old games. Even if you want to do 50 or 100 pcs....

Nobody makes HuCard repros right now (or ever has), but it would be really easy. Much simpler and cheaper than a NES cart for example.

[rCadeGaming]

what's it good for ? The ED is way to expensive compared to a cart mod by simply sac'ing old games. Even if you want to do 50 or 100 pcs....

I would only ever do it for that one game (Oot Master Quest). It's the only N64 game I want that I can't easily get on a real cartridge. Hence, it's the only thing I'd need an Everdrive 64 for, so it'd be nice to put that PCB into an Oot case, and have it boot right up.

Nobody makes HuCard repros right now (or ever has), but it would be really easy. Much simpler and cheaper than a NES cart for example.

Really? What kind of memory do they use and how would we program it?

I'm just curious about the Hucards. I don't really have a need to do it, as I already have all the Hucard games I want. I would really like to play Master Quest on a real N64 though.

[blizzz]

Is it possible to put only one ROM on an Everdrive and get it to boot that game immediately on start-up, without showing any front-end or menu beforehand?

Maybe if you ask krikzz he'll add a feature to auto-boot a rom based on a text file on the SD card. Even if he should do it, it would show the init screen for the Everdrive64 first.

What's possible with the current OS is to remember a game, so that you can launch it with a single button.

[jdubs]

Is it possible to put only one ROM on an Everdrive and get it to boot that game immediately on start-up, without showing any front-end or menu beforehand?

Maybe if you ask krikzz he'll add a feature to auto-boot a rom based on a text file on the SD card. Even if he should do it, it would show the init screen for the Everdrive64 first.

What's possible with the current OS is to remember a game, so that you can launch it with a single button.

Maybe AFTER he get's the SuperFX chip emulation working....

-Jim

[evil_ash_xero]

I went ahead and ordered a Mega EverDrive from Retro Gate.

If this thing works as well as everyone says, I'm going to sell my reproduction carts, and some of my extra loose carts...hell, my Game Genie too. Maybe I can make some of my money back.

I'll definitely post the repros on here, so keep an eye out. They're done by Mr. Mark.